Wild Leeks: Spring Favorite

Thursday, April 15, 2010

A bright morning here on the mountain. Last night's temperature only dropped to 30 and already this morning we are at 52 degrees. Rain is predicted for the next three days so I have to get clicking. There is plenty to do, especially when the sun shines and a warm morning such as this one melts away arthritis pain.

Karl the Wonder Dog was sick all night, apparently the result of winter leftovers during private spring walks. Dogs have bad habits in spring and what smells good to them is not always good for their constitution. We always worry about Karl when he gets like this as there have been a couple bouts that came closer than we wanted to end-of-life than start-of-spring. I hope I have found the last place to clean up from last night but do think he's looking better. His trip outside was momentary this morning and back to bed he went. My walk was solo.

This week I have seen two bears, one out back of the house and one down the road a mile or so. Neither was a bruiser but both may have had companions I didn't see. Food is scarce for bears in spring and I have been told that they look for green vegetables such as wild leeks and false hellebores to purge their digestive system and gain some sustenance. I grow both of these plants in my lower hosta garden, more for critters than for us.

Wild leeks are some different than the farm bought, cultivated version pictured up top here. To me, there's nothing like a pot of potato-leek soup made with fresh chicken stock and farm fresh cream and for most, that is the way to go. Some collectors, perhaps those who still carry a copy of Euell Gibbons twenty year old Stalking the Wild Asparagus in their back pocket, prefer wild leeks.

Here in Marshfield, Vermont wild leeks are prevalent along the Winooski River, actually named Onion River by aboriginal Vermonters. Almost any walk along the banks of the river kicks off ones olfactory system as unnoticed crushed leaves quickly offer an intense onion smell and cause the "what did I step on?" alarm to go off. The riverbanks contain more than just wild leeks and a really good read about the river is In The Land Of the Wild Onion, by Dummerston, Vermont native, Charles Fish.

Wild leeks are easy to spot this time of year as they occupy matted colonies that are obvious standouts on the forest floor. Gail and friend Diana passed through Northfield Gulf last week and the colonies were obvious. I was at Shelburne Pond a week ago and not only around the pond but all along Pond and also Falls Roads I found giant patches.

Wild leeks are strong in aroma and flavor and even when they are sliced and dehydrated for later use, they retain such strength. They don't get a lot bigger than what you see pictured here but they colonize so well that digging them is easy.

The roots are quite shallow and the plants do best where the rich woods soil retains moisture. By August the tops are gone and the seed scapes are all that remain above ground. Tiny black seeds drop to the ground over winter and expand the colony.

If you're out and about, use care this time of year as the forests are fragile and even a few footsteps can muddy waters and kill special plants. Often people do damage without knowing it which is why trails are closed this time of year. That's not to forbid spring walks but instead a reminder to show respect.

I better show respect for the clock and get going here. We have a delivery arriving at nine and it's getting close.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where pulmonarias are showing nice color, bleeding hearts are 6" tall and two partridge are drumming. Their brief thunder is a mysterious joy to the ears of spring. Come listen!


George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

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Where I Get Eggs

Monday, April 12, 2010

An on-again, off-again day here in Marshfield today. The morning started out cold and held that way for some time. I had plans to be at the nursery early for garden work but 30 degrees and a slight wind suggested an additional hour on the computer and phone and then an hour in the woods cutting out the old woods road that was littered with trees and branches from this winter. By the time I returned to the house it was good to smell fresh coffee and hear the wood stove crackling.

I stopped down by neighbor Mike's to get some pictures of his raspberries and blueberries for a blog piece I had in mind. But then I got hung up with the chickens as I often do and before I knew it, another hour had come and passed. I don't know where you get your eggs but as long as these girls at Mike's keep laying, this is the place I'm going.

Each spring when farm stores get in boxes full of chicks, I get this notion that I need a chicken house again and a bunch of chickens. And then I do a quick cost analysis and after figuring out all the things I need but don't have and the time I would spend, I always come back to a different way to come up with fresh eggs. But I never like the conclusion because there is something about chickens and eggs and the color of a couple yolks in a fry pan or the taste of the cooked product. There's something special about a favorite hen pecking at your shoe lace or looking for a private handout. This year I have come the closest to building a chicken coop and it's not over yet. I weaken every time I look at Mike's girls.

Mike reminds me of many people around here with a dozen or so chickens of mixed breeds. I'm not sure how Mike put this collection together but they are a good mix and they produce well. Each has a name and although I wouldn't know a Frieda from a Helen, they all seem nice to me. When you go to the store to buy chicks, you have a choice of sexed and unsexed. This has to be the job of all times--checking the sex on chicks so customers don't get a box of 24 chicks, 15 of which grow up to be roosters. I'm glad I am leaving the world of work so I don't have to consider chicken sexing as a life long profession.

It's good to get a mix as the chickens mature at different times and they lay for different lengths of time and some start laying sooner than others. Often they don't start laying before some would-be home chicken farmers want to give up and pursue something else. Patience is a virtue will chickens and good deals can be had for those who have patience and a couple bucks to buy out those who lack chicken patience. I am reading the classifieds every day now and expect I might hit it big before Memorial Day.


Before I knew it I was cooking up some fresh cod for dinner and the chicken experience was far behind me. It turned out to be a busy afternoon after the great chicken visits and the sun finally warmed the air enough that I could take off a layer of clothes and not feel chilled. I did get some pictures of raspberries and blueberries and I'll get back to that blog tomorrow. In the meantime, think of flowers you might need this year from Vermont Flower Farm and ask yourself where your eggs come from. If you don't know the answer to the egg question, I suggest you might find your own neighbor. If you need flowers, come see Gail.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the sun is long gone and the temperature is dropping. Peas and lettuce aren't up yet--maybe next week.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
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Supply Chain Helpers

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Quiet here on the mountain after heavy rains last night. Temperature fluctuation has kept me from putting out the rain gauge but it all started about 8:30 when Alex and I returned from a meeting of the Marshfield Historical Society last night At midnight it was still going strong which explains why the birds and animals haven't started moving about.

Retirement is going well. I am working harder than I did a week ago but I am enjoying every bit of it. Gail isn't used to me being around and Alex isn't sure he likes additional assignments and little "hey, can you help me on this?" requests. In time it will work out. Karl the Wonder Dog seems to enjoy me more than anyone but dogs are that way. He receives more trips in the truck, places to go, things to bark at. It's fun!

Yesterday the truck arrived from Montpelier with our potting mix. Although we won't start potting perennials for another couple weeks, our nursery is laid out in a way that certain deliveries have to be accepted and placed just so. We have to be able to get the trucks backed right to where we want to use different products to minimize labor and speed up the planting process for me and Gail and our helpers. So far it is working well.

This year I switched to a different brand mix. These mixes are all a high percentage of peat that is saturated with a wetting agent to hold water in the mix. Then there's perlite and some minor fertilizers. We mix the commercial mix with straight garden soil and then some of the Fafard mix I showed earlier. This is not the mix I would like to make for myself but lacking space for staging all the materials and the labor of mixing everything with the tractor, this is a fine way for a small business to go.

Yesterday we received 100 3.6 cubic foot bales. The driver only had a hand truck and without a pallet jack to lift 24 bales at a time, the job wasn't what I expected--but the price was still right! I had unloaded about 6 bales when my friend Mike appeared, munching on a breakfast sandwich and appearing like a knight, save for overalls and a Jack Russell sidekick named Rusty. Mike is the kind of neighbor who does not need an invitation to work. Two bites of his sandwich and the jacket came off and the bales started moving. That's just how Mike is and I know it will always be like that. We unloaded the truck, I paid the driver and the morning kicked off in high gear.

Mike's dog, Rusty is the best trained Jack Russell I have ever seen. The dog shakes with excitement when he appears at the nursery, a place he visits at least once a week. Jack Russell's are hunters and Rusty is no exception. He hunts for red voles and mice among the pots and he loves his title of Chief of Woodchuck Eradication. This time of year it takes him a little longer to get cranked up in the morning because the woodchucks and other critters have new holes, new entrances and Rusty has to reprogram himself for a morning tour. I often feel guilty seeing a pristine, freshly washed dog come out of hole with a mouth full of dirt and earth tone hair but that's the nature of the breed. This one is a joy he watch although I have to admit that for me it's more fun watching him bounce a ball or balloon in the air or race through a crowd of chickens pushing his ball with his nose.

Rusty is a very obedient dog and as our work finished. Mike called Rusty and put him up on a stack of potting mix. He loved the attention and had a good day. All businesses should be as lucky to have such a well behavior dog as Rusty.


Gail has another pot of coffee ready and it's time to pack up for a day at the nursery. I have tons of chores to do but like an early start on the spring days when the temperature is already 45 degrees. If you are out and about, stop by the nursery and interrupt me for a while. I need to be able to stop and stretch and chat once in a while.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the loons are talking over breakfast dives for small fish.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
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Lily Thoughts

Monday, April 5, 2010

Gray sky and 32 degrees this morning here on the mountain. Some different than yesterdays 60 degree start and 73 degree finish. Gail and I were rolling up plastic just after noon and the wind gusts were so strong that the two of us could hardly control the 60 foot pieces. Today is a different day and it will be colder as the next three days have promised some rain.

This weekend was beautiful but the hot weather warmed the soil quicker than I thought and I have already received reports of the first hatch of the lily leaf beetle. If you like lilium you have to get control of this beetle early in the season. Even then they might fly in and start a new generation of trouble.




I have written about the beetle on this blog and also on my disbanded Vermont Gardens. In the search bar in the upper left of the main blog pages just type in lily leaf beetle and you will get all the scoop. You can also Google lily leaf beetle for plenty of results. Many other gardeners are writing too and I do hope someone will come up with an organic solution that helps us out. Please, oh, please try to avoid Imidachloprid--we are already having enough trouble with loss of honey bees.







Hope these pictures help with your identification. The pictures of the beetle as an adult and as larva almost ready to bury in. They are difficult to confuse with other insects. Hand picking is not easy as they drop to the ground at the sight of an approaching hand and in nano seconds become invisible. Good luck!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the sun is getting stronger like the voices of the tom turkeys.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

Vermont Sunday Morn!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

A bright morning here on the hill. An Easter Sunday morning for some. The wind is coming up in companionship with the rising sun and the already 60 degree temperature is a surprise. Things may be different by nightfall as rain is predicted.

Karl the Wonder Dog was up at 3 barking at an unknown and Gail took him out after putting on her night time courage. The bears are active now looking for a nice meal and although Gail has no fear of bears, Karl could probably cause an unneeded confrontation if any bears were close by the house. The long and short of this is when it was time for our morning walk, Karl was deep in sleep. He opened one eye enough to confirm he had no interest in walking with me but I am sure that will change about the time I load the truck and head out.

I walked through the red pines this morning. The ground is now littered with freshly dropped cones. Gail has already been into the forest for big spruce cones and we'll gather up some crates and go pick up some of these. People have a habit of thinking about cones a month or so before Christmas but if you want easy picking of nice, clean cones, springtime is the right time. The leftovers from last year make great fire starters for the wood stove and the big Norway spruce cones, rolled in peanut butter and then bird seed make instant bird feeders to hang around outside the house as a magnet to chickadees and nut hatches. Probably seems strange that I speak of a season that is just passing but this is the time to gather cones.

Snow drops are a nice spring flowers. The are easy to plant, multiply well and kids like to pick little bouquets to give to grandmothers and the lady next door. These are growing near the compost pile where they probably dropped after a spring clean up. If you decide to plant any next fall, buy at least a hundred little bulbs and plant them in groups of 10-12. The reward will make you smile.
The image up top is one you have seen before. It was an Easter Lily bulb I bought at the store. It came complete with a red ant. The Easter lilies as we know them are not the lilies of the Bible but they are a beautiful flower. Growers start them almost 90 days in advance of the holiday sales period, control light and spray with growth regulators to try to match a holiday that changes celebratory dates each year. If you plant your spent bulb in the garden, it might well bloom next year but not at Easter. These bulbs typically bloom in August here but once they rejuvenate, they will bloom again. Try it!


Writing from the mountain where male turkeys and partridges are performing rites of spring and providing free entertainment for morning hikers.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
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Spring Clean Up

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Another beautiful morning here on the mountain. 43 degrees and windless as the sun climbs above Peacham Pond. Karl the Wonder Dog and I just returned from our morning walk which was uneventful compared to yesterday's greeting by a young bull moose--a moose absent of a GPS for direction and running full tilt and perfectly lined up to run straight through the fence by the hosta garden. Karl's protective barking and my coarse expletives did the trick.

I'm heading back to the nursery in a few minutes. 70 degree weather is nice and I can get a lot more accomplished when I'm not freezing but fact is that snow could still return and the warmness I will enjoy again today could be gone by tomorrow as rain sets in again and perhaps even some snow above 1500 feet. Just the same, today will be great!

Deliveries are arriving and this pile of Fafard brand No 52 mix is just one of the piles of material necessary to make a nursery work. This is the best mix I have ever found for planting hostas and daylilies. It is a coarse mix that provides excellent oxygen at root level and hostas really excel.

We have purchased three shade houses over the years including a 20 X 30, a 20 X 60 and a 30 X 60. We really need another 30 X 60--maybe next year. All were purchased from
Rimol Greenhouse Systems in Hooksett, NH. If you live in the east, I can recommend no other company. Here's what they look like before we install the shade cloth on top. That's a job I usually do myself in May with a couple ladders and a lot of "ups-and-downs".



The white cloth in the pictures is an insulating blanket we found several years ago. It is about 3/8"s inch thick and the spun fiber composition keeps the plants warm. It allows us to mass the potted plants together in the fall, cover with the fabric and then cover it all with a sheet of construction grade black plastic and tires to hold everything in place. Yes, it is a lot of work but there is no mortality save from a few mice/vole losses.

As I finish cleaning up around the building this morning it's back to the daylily fields. After three years, I still pick stones moved forward by the frost movement. Also have to take out weeds and get ready for spring tilling. Today I will move along slowly as I begin to exercise old muscles. Gardening is good!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where I heard my first of the season male partridge drumming this morning. I like the sound.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
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Foamflowers and Spring Thoughts

Friday, April 2, 2010

Another beautiful day here on the mountain. 38 degrees, 98 % humidity and a sun rising above the fir balsams that stand between here and Peacham Pond. It will be another great day with a prediction of 80 degrees by early afternoon.

Today is the second day of my retirement from over 40 years of government work. I like it and apparently I am having no trouble hiding my enthusiasm for cutting the ties with old habits. My work ethic is strong so I will continue to rise early and get more accomplished by noon than many do in a day or two. That 's just the way it is. Yesterday I started things right and followed advice from my friend, Gail from Peacham. She advised to have fun every day, work deliberately if I must, but work slowly as there is plenty of time. I am following her advice. I told friends who stopped by the nursery that I had trouble on my first day picking the color of a shirt to wear and which boots would feel best in retirement. It wasn't really that extreme but I did sit for just a minute with a cup of coffee looking at two ducks on the trout pond and thinking that this will be fun for me and Gail and Alex.

I was in the middle of talking the plastic off the perennials when a visitor pulled into the drive at the nursery yesterday. Visitors are always nice in early season before we open as it breaks the chores and gives a chance to talk for a minute. The woman had just come down from the Lanesboro Road up above Depot Street. She had stopped to enjoy the rushing waters of Vermont's longest waterfall and had driven as far as Marshfield Pond. I have yet to make that trip this spring but she said the road wasn't too bad. She was driving an Audi so that suggested the pick-up truck will be fine. We talked for a bit about amphibian migration around that pond and then she left, promising to return when the flowers were up and we were open for business. It was a very nice conversation.

It's too early now but along that very road my visitor had travelled grow beautiful patches of foamflower which will begin to leaf out with today's warm weather. The patches of white flowers will become really obvious by mid May and will be a harbinger to tiny dwarf ginseng, trilliums, trout lilies, false Solomon seal and finally the various wild orchids that brighten the forests come the end of May.

I like the hybridizing work that has been done with tiarellas. I often refer to Dan Heim's valuable resource book, Heucheras and Heucherellas : Coral Bells and Foamy Bells as it offers a pictorial evolution from tiarellas to the myriad of colorful garden beauties we have today. Actually since that book was written there are dozens of new varieties of heuchera out there.

Years back Gail and I offered a nice little assortment of tiarellas which did so well in the lower shade garden perimeters. We have promised to work back into those now when our new shade garden is finished by the end of this season. Spring Symphony, pictured up above, is a great plant and I personally love to see it full of unopened scapes the day before they pop.

Iron Butterfly is very nice and Cygnet is another I like. Both names are kind of neat too!

The tiarellas, wild or hybridized, work well with all the heucheras but I add a caution here to keep the heucheras headed towards sun and keep their feet more dry than most descriptions might advise. The center core of these plants needs air to do best and the difference between planting in deep shade and on woodland perimeters is quickly obvious. Do not disappoint yourself as the heavy snows of Vermont winters slow the beauty of this plant when really just a little more spring sun leads to a jump start on a bigger plant and almost no losses at all.


I lined the rock walkway leading down to the lower garden with tiarellas, epimediums, pulmonarias, and the Solomon's seals including the little Polygonatum humile from Korea and Japan. Small and miniature hostas are added here and there and up top there are a few different painted ferns. Of all these flowers, the tiarellas in bloom really do make you pause.

Well, the sun is up, and fun beckons. I have a friend's birthday party today at 1:30. I'm liking retirement. I love gardening!


Writing from the mountain where I can hear tom turkey's in the lower field. Yesterday a flock of 11 scooted by. It may be a bigger flock today. Have to check!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
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In the garden at 2263 US Route 2 Marshfield as "retired me"

Vermont Lupines

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Quarter of five in the morning, 32 degrees, rain has stopped for a minute, fire in Hearthstone is blazing brightly again. This morning is nice. I am leaving in a few minutes for next-to-last day of work before retiring after +40 years. Can you see a smile on my face from where you sit? It's nice.

Lupines are a plant that many gardeners ask for each year, usually at the wrong time, as if they just don't know how easy they are to grow from seed and why you really should grow them from seed if possible. They are kind of like daffodils which will be popping up near house and barn foundations soon as their cheery faces bring on people wanting to buy bulbs. Again, the wrong time to be asking but another example of gardeners old and new just not being familiar with the plant.

Lupines are very well publicized now and states such as Maine really promote fields of lupines as much as they promote blueberry festivals. This marketing leaves out the part about where they come from or how easily they naturalize.

Lupines are like hollyhocks with long roots that don't like to be disturbed. As such I start a few each year in large peat pots and then I can plant them right into the ground without challenging the roots. I soak the large seeds for a day in a light mix of water and fertilizer and they germinate well and grow on quickly. If you want a field full of lupines in fairly short order you can direct seed them into the soil but it's best to spend a few minutes and dig out the grass etc in one-shovel size holes before planting.

To be honest I am not a great fan of lupines unless they are naturalized in big masses some distance from the house. That's because they are aphid magnets. Although aphids are generally specific to the plant they go after, they do travel from plant to plant and in that process they do what vectors do and spread disease if any exists. To me a lupine plant full of aphids is not the least bit attractive and it sure raises issue with ones ability to grow flowers.

If you like lupines, pick up a package of seed and get them started in mid April. They can go into the Vermont garden by the first of June, earlier if you live in warmer areas.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the barred owl reminds me it's time to get going. Enjoy today, rain or not!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
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Bare Root Apple Trees

Sunday, March 28, 2010

A typical spring day in many respects but not what the weather folks predicted. The wind was stronger, the clouds thicker and the temperature never warmed things up as we hoped for. 25 mph winds right now in Burlington, a little less in Montpelier, 6 mph here.

Spring is a great time to plant fruit trees and apples are no exception. Bare root trees are often available from Vermont growers and they never seem to get the publicity they should for being an easy, inexpensive way to start a home orchard. Local papers are beginning to have ads for trees and selections are greater than you might think. Honey Crisp, a favorite in our house (pictured in bowl up top and on tree just below) are now commonly available.

There's plenty of advice about planting bare root trees and the only thing I will add is get it done promptly after accepting delivery of your purchase. Do a good job digging a good sized hole at least twice as big as the current root system, free the soil of old grass, roots and stones and plant away. Retailers usually have a hand out to explain planting depth and follow up care.


I'll try to remember to send along some pictures when I plant our trees. It will be years before you'll fill an apple crate like this shot of Macintosh apples but they do grow faster than you think and there are always nearby orchards to carry you through until your orchard can meet your needs. Time planting a tree with a new child, new house, new pet and with an apple tree you'll have a time marker still standing a hundred years later.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the anemometer turns slowly and the birds and animals of the daylight hours have tucked themselves into the forest for the night.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Twitter daily as vtflowerfarm
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Galarina apples in second picture

Prune, Pruned, Pruning

Saturday, March 27, 2010

A bright, sunny morning after about 7 degrees just before daybreak. A light 4 mph wind is keeping the temperature under 30 right now but that's fine for cutting wood and pruning apple trees which is what I am up to today. Karl the Wonder Dog begged for a long walk this morning so I took him out twice, first down the road and then out back into the fields. The wild turkeys had already been through and he found an errant feather to chew on before I chased him for it. He can smell out a turkey with ease and the feathers are toys to him.

Apple trees are easy to prune but they take a while and there's a certain amount of up and down the ladder. I use a hand saw for most of the bigger work and the chain saw for any bigger work that I can do from the ground with the saw bar never higher than mid chest. I often see people do some scary things with chain saws and I try to remind myself they are serious instruments of death even if you are careful. I have been using chain saws since I was probably 14 or so--long before chain breaks and other safety features. Experience is not a substitute for thinking with each project, with each cut. This is not an tool you need to work quickly with.

Later today I'll convince Gail and Alex to bring out the truck and we'll begin bringing in the blocked wood to the pile by the splitter. They may vocally resist the job a little but they know it's part of the way we live--cleaning up the woods, waste not want not.



Enjoy the day and get out and about if you can. Fresh air cleans leftover winter thoughts in preparation for busy spring gardening.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where one red squirrel competes on the platform feeder with two "we're not scared of you fella" mourning doves.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

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Spotted Salamander Search

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Quit a day in Vermont as rivers rose above their banks after heavy rains that started yesterday afternoon. Banks along the Winooski River in Waterbury where I work necessitated evacuation of a parking lot. Fields along the river in Middlesex were covered the entire distance to Route 2 and the river road on the opposite bank was under water in places. Here in Marshfield the walk to the new Martin Covered Bridge was under water as were surrounding fields. We were fortunate that the thick ice broke up in early winter when another "spring" came and left.

Tonight I wanted to go looking for amphibians knowing that all the rain would wake them from their forest hiding places. The rain finally stopped and the temperature dropped and now at 36 degrees it's just too cold to think about going tonight. Amphibians, like aging gardeners, don't move quickly in cold weather.

These pictures of spotted salamanders are from two years ago. I usually put some wet moss in a couple dish pans and then take a couple wide beam flashlights. Any salamanders in the road I move along to safety and those that look like size records go into the pans until I can measure or photograph them. Soon the weather will warm and the migrations will be obvious. In the meantime, take a look at the North Branch Nature Center site and check out your neighborhood if you get a chance. Understanding what grows in your backyard is as important as growing flowers and vegetables.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the rain is now silent and the streams will have a chance to slow over night.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
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