-
-
“It’s a Long Long Time From May to December”
“Maypole” Columnar Apple Tree in Bloom on the Rooftop Garden 124 Merton Street in May 2011 The song, “It’s a long, long time from May to December”, chronicles the stages of love, womanhood and relationships. In retrospect the “Malus Maypole’s” journey to my rooftop garden started before May, but in considering the purchase of this particular tree, who could have imagined just…
-
Of Rye and Radishes
Rye in my garden This morning looking out at my garden, I noticed that the rye was ripening in the paisley bed near the elephant. How did that happen? Just yesterday I had pulled out the maple syrup taps from the maple tree. Meanwhile, on the boulevard in the front yard, my Spring planting of…
-
“To V. or not to V.” The 3rd Act
The invitation to my birthday party read, “To v. or not to v.?” That is the question. Come to a birthday party to celebrate my birth, rebirth and the birth of William Shakespeare. I’ll supply the Elizabethan feast, please supply your ideas of Shakespeare or of the Elizabethan era or just come as you. After…
-
Getting to The Root of the Matter, How Deep Are Your Roots?
If you think; ” a new broom sweeps clean,” is a refreshing adage, you have no idea of how the concept of getting to the root of my garden’s suffocation and plague is rejuvenating. After all, a new broom is only sweeping away some mildly irritating dust mites and dust bunnies revealing a clean floor but digging out pernicious roots…
-
Tomato Panic or Red Alert [or yellow, purple, white, pink or maybe, striped alert]
Last week I had a tomato panic. I found out that Doris Giardino, who grew my beautiful heritage tomato seedlings for my www.124merton.com rooftop garden, was not growing them again this year. What would become of the annual tomato tasting? Realizing that I would have to grow the seedlings myself, I went from window to window…
-
We all do what is takes to find sweetness: Maple; tap into it!
This year I decided to tap the maple tree in my back yard. Truthfully, I was never too fond of the tree. It blocked out the light from the rest of my backyard and however much I pruned it, it regrew in some mathematical equation until it was too huge to be easily trimmed. No plant ever survived…
-
Ground Provisions, St. John US VI
Buying groceries at the local supermarket named Starfish, I was also perusing the aisles for local fare. The only thing I came up with were basketfuls of tubers; tania, local sweet potatoes and yams. They were positioned in baskets next to several varieties of potatoes. I asked the women behind the deli counter how to prepare them. As I held…
-
Banana Bird
I am on the furthest eastward point of St. John US VI in a beautiful rented villa open to the sea and air on all sides. The only discordant part of the gorgeous setting and decor are the fake indoor plants that seem to be de rigueur in vacation homes. The silliest is the fake banana tree…
-
The Birthday; A Delight At Any Age
Touring Hungary, several years ago, I had to laugh as we passed Lake Balaton. Even being used to flowery Hungarian exaggerations, the fact that Hungary is a landlocked nation, and that Lake Balaton is the largest lake in central Europe, Balaton, didn’t seem to be “the great inland sea” that I had always heard it called. What passed as Hungary’s “ocean”…
