Considering the talk of frost warnings, I set out on a recent morning walk to find out what might be blooming still. I let my steps be guided by the flowers, pulling my camera toward their range of colors both firey and soft. It turns out fall color isn’t just about the trees.

The plantable space available to Martha and me near our apartment is limited  to a 8×20″ window planter in which we raise a jumble of herbs every summer and fall (last year we also tried small pots with tomatoes on other windowsills, but they jumped to their death in a windstorm). This is hardly enough […]

We’ve enjoyed an unusually mild March with no snow fall–something that hasn’t occurred in Minnesota since 1878. Tom and I have been taking advantage of the weather with bike rides, after dinner walks, patio happy hours, and Bell’s Oberon (released this week!). The coming of spring has another thing on our minds as well: the opening […]

After a long hibernation, this morning was my first opportunity to return to work in the Common Roots Garden since the final fall harvest. Danny Schwartzman, owner of Common Roots, was up early to help me and fellow volunteer Elise (pictured below) to get some of the early seeds into the ground. As you can […]

As I’ll be stuck at work this afternoon, I decided to volunteer on my own this morning to get started on what Common Roots is calling the final harvest. Details below. It’s been a great season for the Common Roots garden. The garden has already provided 1300 pounds of produce! Frost is predicted soon, so TODAY […]

The worst part about living an apartment is that we can’t garden (the best part is never having to mow a lawn or shovel a driveway). Sure, we can put a box or pot in the window that will yield a pepper or a little bundle of herbs, but it’s nothing compared to what even the smallest yard will produce […]

I’m thinking of taking advantage of this end-of-summer sale at Chiasso to get a hanging planter for our dining room. At half their original price, this is a deal I thought I’d share. Not all hanging pots are meant to be used inside, so I was most excited to find these planters are indoor-friendly. I’m […]

Besides all of the edible treasures from today’s trip to the Midtown Farmers’ Market, we also took home a small group of succulent cuttings ($2.00). I thought I recognized the plant from my new (old) book, Plants for the Home, purchased at a thrift store for just $0.69. Of the succulents for sale, this was […]

Last year Tom decided he’d like to start an herb garden on one of our window sills (After my agreement, this went into the grocery budget!). Living in a older brick building, we have the luxury of having large areas outside of every window on which to place planters. It’s true we have a northern […]