Category: Gardening

By Josh Reilly The mad rush of May has passed.  Spring garden vegetables are almost ready to harvest. But not quite. The burst of mid-April color is fading a bit. Spanish and French lavenders are bravely holding on, their gloriously saturated purple petals catching and drinking in the afternoon light. English Lavenders are just starting to bloom, their smaller, more… Read More

By Josh Reilly It’s February and garden columnists, gurus and boosters are telling us it’s no time to slow down. We are to plan vigorously, catalog our successes and failures, take photos of our gardens and mark them up with colored ink markers (as you might, when willing a hurricane to go where you want, rather than where it’s going).  We’re… Read More

By Josh Reilly In January, perhaps more than any month, I appreciate the big south-facing window looking out onto my garden. I can see almost the whole backyard without having to step outside, crunching through the film of frost that forms in the shade of my neighbor’s 120-foot Ponderosa pines.  Inside of the window, it’s about 40 F warmer than… Read More

By Josh Reilly Maybe the best thing about December in SLV gardens is the slow pace. There is almost nothing urgent to do. Four months ago, I spent time in the garden every day, watering, weeding, and worrying about one thing or another (usually gophers). In December, however, the memory of that non-stop whirl of activity has faded. The only… Read More

By Josh Reilly Perhaps there should just be a September Garden Holiday. For the entire month. In September, we harvest whatever is left of our late Spring gardens. We thin and weed what we planted in August, short season leafy greens and brassicas, beets, turnips, leeks and carrots, for Fall harvest. Apples and stone fruits are becoming fully ripe and… Read More