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By feral, on July 9th, 2011%
I realized the other day that I’ve been relying on my iPhone’s camera a little too much… It is very convenient, of course, but those pictures never make me as happy as those taken with my half-abandoned (and in dire need of repair/upgrade) Nikon. So, I armed myself with a macro lens two days ago and ventured out into the garden as soon as I woke up in order to catch some of that morning sunlight.
Sure, you can turn lemon balm into a delicious drink, but for me, in order to attain its truly ambrosial effect I have to be able to see it in its magical translucency.
 And since I also talked about the bees recently, I think they too deserve their spotlight. Here’s a fuzzy bee on a fuzzy borage flower.
 And another one on lavender. Lavender is in full bloom, by the way, and I can’t get enough of it.
 And the first pink zinnia is about to unroll its . . . CONTINUE READING → another photo tour
By feral, on June 24th, 2011%
 What a perfect day for a virtual feral garden tour!
Last week my dad came to visit us upstate, equipped with his new Nikon D90 camera and gardening expertise. In just 2 days he delivered such a load of constructive criticism that my garden probably won’t need any fertilizing in the nearest future… In addition to prolific advice, he helped immensely with many of my projects and took hundreds of photos. Today, I would like to borrow some of them to show you around.
Some of you have tasted the feral produce but today I’ll take you behind the scenes. The kitchen behind the kitchen, so to speak… That’s why I chose to greet you with this portrait — if you were one of my vegetables, the photo on the left would be a much more familiar image than the one below.
 But enough about me, let’s get moving.
Here's how the garden looks from below these days.
![]( "garden from above june 2011") . . . CONTINUE READING → feral garden 3.0 — a virtual tour
By feral, on June 9th, 2011%
For the past 2 days New York City had an air quality alert due to the “high levels of pollutant ground-level ozone level.” Even before I looked up what this meant, I took one look at that air and thought that it might not be the greatest breathing option. (The color scheme of this photo is not due to a sunrise — it was taken around close to noon.)
After I googled “ground-level ozone,” I learned that (or, perhaps, re-learned?) that it’s mostly created in urban and industrial areas, mostly in summertime. Why? How? Cars, industrial, residential and conventional energy facilities emit nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (don’t be confused by the term “organic” here; it’s nothing you want to find at your local Whole Foods) that enter into a chemical reaction in the presence of sunlight and produce ozone. Another important distinction: ozone up high = good (ozone layer); ozone down low = bad. The US Environmental Protection Agency website says that “[b]reathing ozone can trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and . . . CONTINUE READING → summer signs and warnings
By feral, on May 22nd, 2011%
 And it’s time to push out some content after an extended blogger’s block!
Last couple of weeks all of my energy was consumed by the grading marathon and other end-of-semester matters but now I’m officially ready for the summer. Whenever it decides to arrive.
While we’re waiting, let’s reflect on what I’ve done so far. This list has no particular order.
Peas — I planted most of them around St. Patrick’s Day. Thought I’d never see them again but they surprised me several weeks ago with some confident and strong shoots. I had to quickly improvise some trellises. To protect the young shoots from my resident rodents, I placed some plastic bottles, cut off on both ends, around them. Onions — planted in April and already sporting some nice green shoots. James’ rhubarb is already pretty enormous. Last weekend we had to remove its giant flower stalks to ensure it doesn’t throw all of its energy into seeds. When spring is as cold as this year, rhubarb tends to bolt (go to flower -> seeds) early, which stops the growth of its edible (stalks) and poisonous (leaves) parts. Kale . . . CONTINUE READING → grades are in, peas are up!
By feral, on April 26th, 2011%
We’re back in the city today, and I’m completely exhausted. It’s almost impossible to express how much I accomplished yesterday. I’ll try anyway, although no one would probably believe me.
The weather was finally so lovely, and I spent the entire day in the garden, digging and planting, planting and digging… It was quite a contrast to Saturday when we woke up and saw snow on the ground. That sight nearly gave me a heart attack but also made me think of a Russian folkloric claim that it always snows during Passover. The politically correct explanation of this meteorological superstition ascertains that this phenomenon serves as a divine reminder of the manna from heaven, sent to the Israelites during their travels in the desert. There are, naturally, other interpretations of this belief that I won’t discuss but it will suffice to say that this unfortunate precipitation made my Easter break in Canaan feel more like a tribulation than a blessing.
It was cold most of the time. I was hoping to harvest at least some young stinging nettles but even they haven’t had enough sunlight to grow more than two inches tall. So, no stinging nettle soup for you! . . . CONTINUE READING → an Easter parade of amazing achievements
By feral, on March 23rd, 2011%
The spring break is over, I’m back in the city, and — yay! — it’s snowing here this morning. This thing you see hanging over Midtown and Times Square is not fog; it’s actually a snow cloud, and there’s snow falling out of it.
If you’re feeling bummed about the weather today, just keep in mind that New York City is much warmer than Upstate New York, sometimes by as much as 15 degrees. Or even more, if you sit on a hill, like my feral garden. It’s true, even the neighboring Hudson Valley can be 5-10 degrees warmer. Of course, this will become a welcome phenomenon in the summer but right now it is a rather anxiety-provoking one. I am consumed by sowing fever: when can I finally start planting things??? Is three days after the snow had melted too early?
All these questions. But we’ll have the answers soon enough because before we headed back to the city on Sunday, I boldly planted the following list of items:
tulip and daffodil . . . CONTINUE READING → hardiness choices
By feral, on July 15th, 2010%
By feral, on July 6th, 2010%
 Oh what a hot and exciting weekend it was!
I’m so happy about the new addition to the garden: the Moonstone Peony. This is what it’ll look like one day (I borrowed the photo to the left from the White Flower Farm’s website). Thank you for this perfectly lovely birthday present: H, G & A!!! I’ll call him Moonshine, in honor of my cultural heritage.
Yesterday was more of a cooking day than a gardening day — preparing a picnic for the 4th of July James Taylor & Carole King concert at Tanglewood. To be honest, I never heard of these people before; so filling the gaps in my knowledge of American culture on Independence Day was highly appropriate. Oy, that place was crowded… Good thing we made enough food for a small army. And then I passed out (as in fell asleep) during the fireworks. 
Today was the hottest day so far. I did plenty of watering and literally watched my first cucumber double in size throughout the day. (Terrible news re cucumbers: they are not as immune to . . . CONTINUE READING → more radishes and snakes
By feral, on July 2nd, 2010%
  Just a few photos from yesterday. These are supposed to be Laguna Gladiolus that I bought as bulbs from Hirt’s Garden on Amazon but mine (on the left and below) look quite different from the picture on the website (on the right)… Although still very pretty.
It’s supposed to be really hot in the city this weekend, so I’m a little concerned about my glads, although I did water them abundantly before leaving. I decided to leave Mr. Tomato on the vine for a few more days; so, I’m worried about him too now.
In the meanwhile, we’re back in Canaan. Bar-ken gave Jackie a shiny new oil pan, and she is back with the family.
The voles keep racing through the garden but seem a little bit less fearless now that they have less weeds to hide under. Also, I saw a little garter snake today — hopefully, it’ll eat some slugs.
  . . . CONTINUE READING → gladioli on the terrace
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The fog was so thick this morning that you couldn’t see the lake from the window. On my morning walk-through, wrapped in a magic foggy mist, I noticed the first sunflower! — as if the sun made a cameo to make up for its absence. Cheered up, I performed a few sunflower salutations with my camera.
A new lily opened its petals in the fog but you can’t see it from everywhere under the yellow umbrellas of dill flowers that grew wide and tall around it in the last couple of days.
It rained and drizzled all morning and early afternoon, so Barbara and I used the rain break for a long-planned trip to Zema’s nursery in Stephentown — where I’ve never been before — to pick out some new plants. It has a pretty large selection, and I, as expected, had to see 
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