Tips for growing peppers: Pepper seeds need warm soil to germinate. Experiments by Georgia horticulturists have shown that the highest rate of germination (80 percent) occurs when the soil temperature is 70 to 80 degrees F. Water seedlings from the top with warm water. Start pepper seeds three to a pot, and thin out the […]
garden
Tomato Plants
VIDEO: Farmer Tracie’s Tomato Plant Tips Tips for growing tomatoes: A good tomato crop calls for sturdy stakes or cages; the best gardeners make their own cages from wire mesh, available at hardware- and builders’-supply stores. It’s sturdy, and six-foot lengths of it can simply be formed into cylinders that support the plants without restricting […]
Boston, MA: Boston Public Library
Just about any destination you head to in Boston takes you past the Boston Public Library on Copley Square. Don’t zip by–leave time to poke inside one of the city’s greatest structures. You just might find a day of enlightenment. The building itself is a grand bit of architecture and artwork, with structural references to […]
Block Island, RI: Snorkeling
Here’s how you find snorkeling in the “garden” in the ocean near Block Island. It’s about 250 paces from my cubicle at the Block Island Times, out the back door, across Corn Neck Road, and down the sand-dune path lined with Rosa rugosa, where I come to Crescent Beach. There’s nothing between me and Portugal. […]
Maine’s ripe berries find a sweet home in our best cook’s kitchen, when Ruth’s Feeney whips up her recipe for blackberry jelly. On a warm August day, Ruth Feeney’s kitchen is fragrant with fresh blackberries. She’s making jelly from the berries she picked this morning over at the old family farm in Bryant Pond, Maine, […]
Best Ethnic Food in New England
Food is such a great entryway to any country or ethnic group that I sometimes joke about saving the airfare and simply strolling the streets of a local Guatemalan neighborhood for baked goods in the morning. Or wandering through Asian markets for an afternoon vacation and lunch. Ethnic enclaves all over New England are teeming […]
Crafts: Painted Flower Pots
My garden is my extra summer room, and like all gardeners, I love sharing its bounty. Painted terra-cotta flower pots not only add color to your patio, garden, and front steps, but they also make a personal and pretty way to package extra herbs and flowers–or fill them with favorite seed packets, tools, gloves, and […]
Beginner’s Garden Tips
See vegetable growing chart If you’re ready to think about a vegetable garden, remember this — it’s better to be proud of a small garden than to be frustrated by a big one! One of the common errors for beginners is planting too much too soon and way more than anybody could eat or want. […]
Tree Planting Guidelines
A tree is an investment into the future, so it’s important to give every tree you plant the best chance of thriving. Choosing the right tree for your location and needs is the first step. But once you get the tree home, how do you ensure that it will be around to shade your children […]
Get out in the garden, even if you’ve never been there before, with these tips for gardeners — including a vegetable growing chart, and helpful hints for growing tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, beans, lettuce, carrots, and radishes. There’s more — an online seed swap, how to plant a tree, and planning your organic lawn care.
Salsa and Swordfish from the Greenlaw Cookbook
“Here’s another terrific salsa recipe, which we make when someone gives us a big bag of tomatoes and peppers from their garden. It’s delicious on fish, but also on just about everything else–chicken, scrambled eggs–or just used as a dip.” — Martha Greenlaw From Linda and Martha Greenlaw’s Recipes from a Very Small Island, Hyperion, […]
Melissa Kelly — Rockland, ME
Primo Rockland, Maine primorestaurant.com “Anything. Anything. Anything green,” says Melissa Kelly. “It’s such a relief and a release when things start to come up. We have a good-sized garden and try to grow as much as we can for the restaurant. Sorrel is among the first plants we can use. You feel rebirth. Rejuvenation. It’s […]