When my husband Tom asked me why I wanted a greenhouse I said that I wanted to be able to can and pickle and preserve vegetables and fruits. He replied that those are not exactly things you do in a greenhouse. He has a point. I realized at that moment that I had constructed in my mind an elaborate fantasy that involved growing things from seed to transplant to harvest to preserving.  I pictured a factory production line in my…

We have decided to give away 3 pairs of garden gloves this week because we liked so many of your comments and gardening resolutions. We are sending a pair to Taylor who is 14, because we were inspired that someone so young dreams about gardening; we are sending a pair to LaManda Joy because we like her idea of teaching 5 people to garden and asking them to teach 5 others; and finally we are also sending a pair of…

Now that the holidays are over, in northern climates the ground is frozen. Now is the time to apply a winter mulch to keep the soil cold and insulate it from alternate freezing and thawing. The action of freezing and thawing, which occurs throughout the winter season, causes shallow-rooted and fall-planted perennials to be heaved out of the ground and roots to become desiccated. I find…

One lucky reader each week in January will receive a free pair of Womanswork High Performance Gloves! Send us your gardening resolutions for 2010 by adding a comment below, and we will pick one lucky winner each Thursday in January to receive a free pair of Womanswork garden gloves to help you with your resolution. We'll get the ball rolling by telling you ours:  Dorian Winslow's 2010 Gardening Resolutions-- Get my clivia miniata to bloom. I bought it in full bloom in Jan…

Last week I had the greatest pleasure of seeing Judith Jones speak about her philosophy of food and eating, and her new book “The Pleasures of Cooking for One.”  Judith Jones is the senior editor and vice president at Knopf.  She was responsible for publishing “The Diary of Anne Frank” and Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”.  In her talk she spoke of her early years in France…

Having taken a walk around our neighborhood today after the first snowfall of the season, it is pitiful to see how some evergreens take such a beating with wet heavy snow. One's instinct is to bash the snow off as soon as you can, but beating on an already stressed branch from above is trouble. Always brush snow off gently from below with a broom…

This year it was Thanksgiving weekend before I had a chance to start tidying up in my garden. I'm not exactly a "neatnik" but I do like it to look nice and garden hygiene is important too. Be careful to clean up any dropped leaves beneath roses for fear of spreading black spot spores when the spring rains come next year. The  spores overwinter in organic mulch (I like to remove the mulch) and will be splashed up onto new…

The Alien Pod--Before it becomes soup I finally used the Hubbard squash that Mary-Lynn (in charge of Womanswork shipping and receiving) gave me from her garden.  I made Hubbard squash soup! Soup should be a comforting thing to make, and there is always room for substitutions and experimentation.  This recipe would still be delicious if you substituted carrots or pumpkin for squash. Onion is obviously an important base flavor, so if you are out, use a leek or even some shallots. …

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Rosemary Harris, author of gardening mysteries and an Anthony and Agatha Nominee for Best First Novel. I had read her first book in her "Dirty Business" series, Pushing Up Daisies, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Her lead character is Paula Holliday, a cheeky 40-something woman, newly single and launching a landscaping business in a small town in Connecticut after being downsized from her…

What’s that noise?” my husband Tom asked.  “Oh that?  It’s just the cement truck backing up in the yard,” I answered.  Last week it was the jack hammer digging the hole in our yard. When I said I wanted to build a greenhouse I did not mean the kind you pick out of a greenhouse catalog and construct in a weekend if you are a “handy do it yourselfer.” I…