Articles by Reeser Manley
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Common Mullein: A Welcome Garden Volunteer
on Jan. 30, 2013, at 5:42 p.m.
In the middle of January a blanket of deep crunchy snow covers Marjorie’s Garden. Everything lies buried except the tall spent stalks of a half dozen common mullein (Verbascum thapsus), rigid stems emerging from the sea of white like periscopes. Withered woody seed capsules, ravaged in autumn by a flock ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
This Year’s Subject in the Garden Classroom: Shallots
on Jan. 17, 2013, at 5:26 p.m.
I often think of the garden as a classroom that every year offers at least one new course. For the coming season, one of the subjects will be shallots. The seed for this idea was planted last summer on a visit to the garden of Nate and Berta Atwater in ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Vegetable Varieties for 2013: Open-pollinated and Heiloom Lettuces
on Jan. 07, 2013, at 4:42 p.m.
Deciding which lettuce varieties to grow each year is a daunting task. The list is long and a small garden allows room to grow only two or three lettuces at once. I imagine that a person new to gardening could easily feel overwhelmed. Hopefully, this column will help as I ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Garden Vegetable Varieties for 2013: Heirloom Peas
on Jan. 04, 2013, at 9:51 a.m.
For most gardeners in northern New England, pea seeds are the first to be sown in a new gardening year. On a sunny day between mid-April and late May, the date to be determined by rates of snowmelt and inches of spring rain – “when the soil can be worked”, ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Vegetable Varieties for 2013: Heirloom Summer Squash
on Jan. 02, 2013, at 9:34 a.m.
Along with cucumbers, summer squash are always a part our summer vegetable garden. I enjoy their reliability, their prolific nature, and the immense selection of varieties from which to choose each year. And I love to eat them, slicing a sweet nutty cousa zucchini into salads, shredding yellow crooknecks for ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Vegetable Varieties for 2013: Cucumbers Other Than Green
on Dec. 27, 2012, at 8:26 a.m.
Cucumbers are among my favorite vegetables. I like their robust growth habits and enjoy the wide variety of fruit shapes, colors, and sizes. Most importantly, I love to eat them! While I will always grow traditional green-skinned cucumbers, I am planning a 2013 trial of cucumber varieties that have white, ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Thoughts on Selecting Vegetable Varieties for the Home Garden
on Dec. 17, 2012, at 7:52 p.m.
Seed catalogs began arriving earlier than ever this year. The pile on the living room floor of my Eastport rental began in late November with the arrival of Johnny’s Selected Seeds’ impressive 200-plus-page publication for commercial growers and home gardeners. Then came catalogs from Totally Tomatoes, Vermont Bean Seed Company, ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Choosing Vegetable Varieties for the Home Garden
on Dec. 11, 2012, at 6:04 p.m.
Author’s Note: This week’s column focuses on vegetable variety selection. Marjorie and I offer the following thoughts from our new book, The New England Gardener’s Year (Cadent Publishing, Thomaston, Maine), available as e-book in December 2012 and in print version in February 2013. After the decision of which crops to ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
What Vegetable Crops Do You Want to Plant in Your Garden?
on Dec. 06, 2012, at 5:45 a.m.
(Author’s Note: This is the first in a series of weekly columns focused on helping new gardeners achieve success.) In January, just when it seems the New England winter will drag on forever, the seed catalogs arrive in the mail. Weeks before the sap rises in the sugar maples and ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Winterberries Add a Touch of Color to the Winter Garden
on Nov. 28, 2012, at 7:16 p.m.
Winter has arrived on schedule in Marjorie’s garden. The wheelbarrow path from wood pile to porch is covered with a carpet of pine needles and cones. Out in the vegetable garden, the recently turned soil of the garlic bed has hardened to a crust beneath a blanket of straw. Bird-pecked ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Looking Ahead to Your First Vegetable Garden
on Nov. 19, 2012, at 6:37 p.m.
Author’s Note: ‘Tis the season to start planning next year’s vegetable garden! To get this process started, Marjorie and I offer the following thoughts from our new book, The New England Gardener’s Year (Cadent Publishing, Thomaston, Maine), available as e-book in December 2012 and in print version in February 2013. ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Forcing Paperwhite Narcissus Indoors for the Holidays
on Nov. 14, 2012, at 6 p.m.
Forcing paperwhite narcissus (Narcissus tazetta) for fragrant indoor blooms is a winter tradition in our home. It begins in early November with a trip to the local garden center for a dozen paperwhite bulbs and perhaps a new pot if something special catches my eye. Otherwise, one of the old ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Protecting Trees and Shrubs from the Ravages of Winter
on Nov. 07, 2012, at 3:32 p.m.
The garden is nearly in order, ready for the blanket of snow that all gardeners hope will soon come and grow ever deeper through the months ahead, protecting roots and crowns from the bitter bite of January and February, even March. While we wait, there are still a few loose ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
The Garden in Winter
on Nov. 01, 2012, at 12:30 p.m.
November brings the first hard freeze, the kind that forms ice needles on the bright red and yellow leaves of highbush blueberries and the still-green foliage of raspberries, that rimes the tawny pappus of goldenrod and aster seedheads. In the woods at the edge of the garden, the tamaracks are ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
October Garden Tasks Include Planting Garlic
on Oct. 23, 2012, at 6:09 p.m.
In October the sun travels a low arc, barely making it above the tree line surrounding Marjorie’s Garden. Long shadows crisscross the garden throughout the day. In the wild border at the foot of the drive all of the goldenrods have gone to seed, leaving only small clouds of fall ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Give Hardworking Tools a Good End-of-Season Cleaning
on Oct. 15, 2012, at 6:27 p.m.
Through the summer, my garden tools hang out in the garden, rain or shine. When not in use, garden rakes and scuffle hoes lean against spades or digging forks, each waiting its turn. Wooden handles become rough and cracked, working ends stay caked with soil and composted manure. At the ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Native Herbaceous Perennials for the October Garden
on Oct. 02, 2012, at 6:40 p.m.
(Author’s Note: The following article is excerpted from my upcoming book, The New England Gardener’s Year. The book is scheduled to be published as an e-book later this year (November) and in print version early next year (February). To see more photographs of the herbaceous perennials discussed in this article, ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Tipping the Balance toward Native Trees and Shrubs
on Sept. 26, 2012, at 8:49 p.m.
In a garden in tune with nature, the majority of woody plants should be native species of trees and shrubs that have co-evolved with the insects, birds, and other animals of the region. Such a garden grows as part of the local ecosystem and helps sustain local biodiversity. But this ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Composting in Autumn
on Sept. 17, 2012, at 8:24 p.m.
September begins the busiest composting season. Through the autumn months, one of our compost bins fills to overflowing with discarded plant material from every part of the garden, while the contents of another bin are harvested. It begins when the first chilly nights finish off already worn out potted annuals. ...
GARDENING IN TUNE WITH NATURE (blog)
Astilbes in the Summer Garden
on Sept. 12, 2012, at 8:53 a.m.
In 1965, Dr. Charles Richards, while still teaching at University of Maine, purchased a secluded cottage and three acres of granite outcropping in Washington County, overlooking the Gulf of Maine. He immediately set to work, planting native trees among the sheep laurel and other coastal scrub wherever there was enough ...
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