My granddaughter demonstrates how some of us ARE in balance! (And why it's nice to keep a patch of lawn!)

Garden Overwhelm, Equinox, & Finding Balance

If you are like me and some 19 million other people out there (or more), you might be experiencing Garden Overwhelm. This time of year when night equals day (more or less) is a good time to think about our own equilibrium. This post explores how to get back on track, and when all else fails, your dog just might have the answers. Happy Autumn Equinox!

Daffodils: I would plant them for no other reason than that they make me happy.

Spring Blossoms Return! Yay!

Such a busy time of year! Sometimes, though, we need to set aside our To-Do lists and take a moment to breathe in the air of spring. Miracles all around us! I just wanted to share a few photos of some of the spectacular flowers blooming right now. SO gorgeous! So very much appreciated after the deep snows of this last winter! Take a quick look, and then go out in your own backyard and take a moment to wander and linger.

The Winter Garden Site Assessment: Gaining Perspectives

Spring is almost here! Yay! But before spring clutters the garden with a bunch of leaves, take a winter garden site assessment to evaluate whether your garden is growing toward your goals. Winter allows us to see the bare bones of the garden - the skeletal infrastructure - and a site assessment at this time can give us new insights into what works and what doesn't. Identify sectors, look at how growth over the past year may have changed conditions, think about priorities for the coming season. Hooray for spring!

Creating a Winter Snow Sanctuary for the Birds

Wow. We got hammered with the snow! Mild compared with the Midwest, but enough to make me think about how the birds survive in this crazy winter weather! Here are some ideas on how to help them survive.

Perennial Seed Germination Made Complicated (or rather easy)

Perennial seeds, which often have several mechanisms for delaying germination until the timing and conditions are just right, can be difficult to get going. Here are some tips and tricks to wake them up. Also included is my working list of those seeds that like cold stratification, along with general methods for that time-honored "Baggie-in-the-Fridge" method.

So many seeds and catalogs; so little time. We need a strategy!

The Plant & Seed Purchasing Strategy

Yay for Seed Catalog Season! In this post, I share the secrets of my Seed Purchasing Strategy, which enabled me to cut my seed wish list down to an almost manageable number! I also share with you my actual seed and plant order. Did I succeed? Or am I absolutely crazy? You be the judge!

2019 Goals and Strategies: Reflect, Observe, Interact, and Send out Ripples!

2018 Highlights; 2019 Goals, Strategies, and New Beginnings

It is that time again to reflect over the year’s ups and downs, an exercise that has become cliché but that can still be quite helpful. It was a busy year! Here is a quick summary of what went down (or up, as the case may be) at Barbolian Fields, along with a few goals and strategies for the coming year. What will 2019 bring? What will we be able to do to make the world a better place? How will we help one another? How will we heal our planet? We can start by getting back to the garden.