Rain Barrel

Since we don’t have enough undrinkable water coming from the tap, I bought a rain barrel. That way I’m more than ready for Day 3 and counting in the Great Boston Boil Order of 2010. I was so clever, I placed the order over a week ago and picked it up last Wednesday.

Things are squirrelly around here

If you’re dealing with Day 2 and counting in the Great Boston Boil Order of 2010 (aka #aquapocalyse ), hang in there! Not by your back feet, but hang in there! You can deal with this. You can deal with the sudden arrival of summer weather, too. Warm, sticky weather. Maybe we should boil some […]

Water, water, boil and trouble

Pond water. This is what we’re drinking. Guppies not included.

Mining for miner bees

When I was digging up some of the swallow-wort yesterday, I got an unexpectedly close-up look at one of the little brown bees I’ve seen darting around down on the ground and up in the fruit trees. Plus this was near an area of ground that stays bare and hard, and in the summer I […]

Weed patrol: Black Swallow-wort again

These are weeds. Evil, evil weeds. Black-hearted Black Swallow-wort. Working their way up to becoming the army again of last year.

Unweeds: Violets

Not all uninvited plants are weeds in my yard; some are welcome guests. The violets that pop up on every patch of cool bare earth make a lovely groundcover. They flower well into summer. They only grow a few inches tall. (No way do I ever mow.) And if I want to claim the space […]

Weed patrol: Trees?

For all the griping I do about the evil swallowort, right now all the maple shoots seem almost as bad. Those things pop up everywhere, every year. No matter how many you pull, the next thing you know, the shoots you missed are turning into seedlings, the seedlings you missed are turning into saplings, and […]

Feasting bees

I’m not all that fond of the grape hyacinth. The color is nice, but plant one and the next thing you know, you have thousands. Not only do they flop over at the end of spring, but resprout in the fall with more messy leaves that flop over. On the plus side, the blue seas […]

Apples tame and wild

This wild fruit tree is getting into the flowering act, too. The flowering and handful of fruits this little tree produced last year is part of why I ordered two domestic apples last fall.

Weed patrol: Mullein

This is a rosette of Common Mullein, just before I dug it up.