Design

My e-newsletters have been touting planting a 'second' garden lately ( Renee's Garden , Vegetable Gardener (Fine Gardening/Tauton Press), and the Tasteful Garden (a family-owned nursery in Alabama). I loved this piece (also on Vegetable Gardener) from Kitchen Gardens magazine archives on cold frames by Elliot Coleman. Geez, thanks to Elliot Coleman, I'm promoting growing vegetables year-round here in South Carolina. At least three seasons! One of the nicest things about the Vegetable Gardener e-newsletter is that they're providing archival material from KitchenGardener magazine . I had subscribed, years ago, just before it stopped publication, and there is great information to be gleaned from their archives. Happily, growing vegetables is a subject that doesn't change a great deal; we add new vegetables, extend the seasons, and grow organic, but it's still about improving the soil, plant nutrients, and water. I was delighted to have a nice group in...

April has been perfect so far. No late freezes. No unpleasant hot spells. It's been rainy (hooray!) Today's weather was exceptional (and 'normal') - a high of about 70° F with a morning low in the upper 40's. The same is expected tomorrow. Coming home, the light was lovely, although still bright enough to fool the camera. I took another picture of our front path; it's really worked out well . And then I admired these lovely Tennis Ball lettuces. A butterhead variety grown by Thomas Jefferson, they're so pretty, they're hard to thin, much less harvest. A nice salad was part of my dinner out on the porch (my gardening companion is off taking photos of spring wildflowers in the Smokies).