Gardening

D uring the winter months, one of my main chores as a gardener is to keep the grass growing tall and healthy. I’m not talking about the lawn outside, I’m referring to the little pots of oat grass that my cat depends on for her fix of greenery. Serena is nearly 15 years old and limps from arthritis, so I don’t let her go outside anymore. The only... [Read more of this review]

H ere’s a cute Valentine’s day gift idea for gardeners and foodies alike — although packaged like candy, these bonbons are really seed balls. Depending on which collection you choose, seeds for either Italian herbs or tea herbs are packaged in a candy-shaped ball of clay and organic compost. To plant, you just set the bonbons in... [Read more of this review]

I magine this scenario:  it’s a bleak winter morning in early February – that colorless sort of day when the sky is the same shade of gray as the pavement. All of a sudden, from the car, you catch a glimpse of a little tree blooming gloriously, a profusion of pink flowers against the drab backdrop of sky. This happened to me twice last week while... [Read more of this review]

Recently the L.A. Times ran a piece about the vegetable plot cultivated by Meryl Streep’s character in the hit film “It’s Complicated.” I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s on my list. And this still-photo from the film just about says it all: this garden is too good to be true. My first impression was that it looked like an illustration from... [Read more of this review]

W hen I was growing up on the Great Lakes, there was always that one day, usually in late March, that signaled winter’s dreary days were numbered. I’d come home from school and there, right next to our side door, in the narrow strip of earth between the driveway and the foundation, would be a clump of yellow or purple crocus, often still... [Read more of this review]