Grow Your Food at Home

Just the other day, I paid $5 for a head of cauliflower. Lettuce, tomatoes, grapes and bread also are more expensive than ever. With food prices skyrocketing, it may be the right time to take another...

Let Nature Take Its Course

“Once, while walking through my garden, I saw a hummingbird jab its beak into a leaf where a horde of whiteflies had nested. The whiteflies scattered in a cloud. Seconds later, the hummingbird ...

Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth

“Even into this century, when a country girl was going to be married in France, they fixed the amount of her dowry according to the weight of the manure produced on her father’s farm.R...

On Good Land

Although we live in a world where loud, relentless self-promotion is the only sure way of being noticed, there will never be anything more magnificent to behold than quiet devotion. In the garden, su...

When the Elite Dig in the Dirt . . .

“Dirt” (Dell Publishing; $18.95) is a book that says as much about the trendy crowd for whom it was written as it does about plants. ”Mine is the fast-lane, quick-gratification appr...

A Brief History of Organic Gardening

“The Best of Organic Gardening” (Rodale Press) is sure to become a classic. Fresh off the press, it is a book you must get if you are thinking of planting a vegetable garden – an ac...

So You Want to Be a Gardener . . .

Q: Can you direct me to sources for learning about what to plant and when to plant it? Also, what type of fertilizer should be applied and when? Walking into a nursery and seeing the plethora of prod...

Observing Life, As Opposed to Living It

“People who enjoy growing herbs or perennials are forever touting it to anyone who will listen. I listen politely, but I’m not converted. I would rather be taking a shower.” Thus st...