Tag: Common Ground
Common Ground – November 2021
“Sit by the fireside with Sorrow” Shelley There was no frost here in the valley until late October. I can’t remember another year when the morning glories and other frost tender flowers were still…
Common Ground – October 2021
“I saw old Autumn in the misty morn…” Thomas Hood During the three days of heavy rain at the end of September we had an unbelievable seven inches of rain here in the valley.…
Common Ground – September 2021
“Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify.” Thoreau I recently came across an idea that I intend to try next year that appears to make growing tomatoes simpler. A gardener in Maine…
Common Ground – August 2021
“August’s harvest is rich, with all the heat-loving crops coming into full productivity…” Bob Thomson, The New Victory Garden I’m choosing to be positive about the garden in August. The trials of the spring…
Common Ground – July 2021
“Parnassus has its flowers of transient fragrance.” Dr Johnson The porch triffid, aka Nicotiana sylvestris, continues to confound visitors. Many people have asked me what on earth is that giant plant with drooping white…
Common Ground – June 2021
“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.” Lucy Maud Montgomery At the end of spring and beginning of summer the poets narcissus is the…
Common Ground – May 2021
“For May is full of flowers” Robert Southwell Like a lot of people I rushed out and cut daffodils before the late April snowfall. My rational mind knew that all the spring bulbs are…
Common Ground – February 2021
“A sad tale’s best for winter.” Shakespeare February, it seems to me, is the lowest point of the year. One can hardly believe in February that it’s still winter. The saving grace of February…
Common Ground – January 2021
“From winter, plague and pestilence, good Lord, deliver us!” Thomas Nashe It has been a quiet winter so far here in the valley. I brought in the porch wind chimes before the last big…