WANING DAYS OF SPRING

There’s something powerful in eating locally grown vegetables, either from our own garden or the farmer’s market. It makes me want to eat much healthier in all ways when the main pieces of a meal showcase homegrown bounty. Something about the mountain air and my husband’s green thumb has bombarded our garden beds this spring,

THE RITES AND RIGHTS OF SPRING

It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want — oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain It’s a rite of spring around our house that my husband begins

#Garden – Pea Time

I decided to take a break from my job today to give a brief update on the garden now that we’ve moved into summer here in western Pennsylvania. The spinach has gone to seed, but we put up a few bags and ate quite a few meals of the fresh stuff. The raspberry bushes are

#Gardening – Spring Means #Spinach

This warm and wet spring weather means lots of big leaves on the spinach plants. It also means we’ll have it longer before it goes to seed, if the heat of summer stays away for a few weeks. Robert picks the spinach after it’s been watered or after a good rain. . .after it’s had

Asparagus – First Vegetable of Spring

  We had a real treat last night. We ate the most delicious steamed asparagus–picked fresh from our garden only moments before. Robert planted the asparagus crowns in a bed at the end of our garden two years ago. This makes its third season and the first one for harvesting. For the best results, it’s

Slow Start to Garden

It’s been a slow start here in western Pennsylvania after a tough winter. My husband has been preparing the soil and raised beds for a few weeks. The seedlings are growing under grow lights. He puts the trays outside each day for a few hours of sun, if possible. This weekend, he finally put the

#Gardening Update

Things are moving slowly here in the Zick gardening world. Robert has gone out and covered some of the raised rows so they won’t get too wet to work. The seedlings are straining in the grow lights, but he was able to put them outside yesterday for a few hours of sunlight. I walked around

#Love and #Gardening Go Together

Here’s our yard in February 2014. It’s hard to be excited about gardening, but my husband usually manages to bring a little spring into our home every winter. However, this year he’s had a  few rough months, starting with our trip to Mexico in October. Finally, now in the first week of March, he’s showing

Baby, It’s Cold Outside, But Summer Produce is Hot!

It’s that time of year when it’s difficult to imagine the green of a lush garden as we look at the winter vistas outside the window. The seed catalogs arriving daily give us hope that the frozen tundra of our landscape in a few short months will turn into loose dirt ready for planting. At

Garden Loves June

By Patricia Zick @PCZick We shelled peas on Saturday night. Then I blanched them for two minutes before putting away in nine freezer bags. I love those peas on a cold winter night. We’re not halfway through the pea season. Last year, our peas didn’t produce very well. My husband believes he put mushroom manure