Spring this year has been one big tease week after week. We got an entire gorgeous week of sun and warm in March and then it turned cold again and we had snow. Then a couple weeks ago we got four days of sun and even as warm as 65! Then it got cold again. And we had snow. We’ve had a few days where the afternoon was sunny and in the 50s but then then the cold returned and it’s been gray and raining. This last weekend it was sunny and in the low 60s and then it surprised us and did it again on Monday. Bookman and I threw open the windows, the cats chittered at the birds and squirrels through the screens, and Bookman and I spent time outdoors pulling winter mulch off of garden beds. And now it is cold again. And rainy. And this morning the rain got suspiciously thick for about 10 minutes as it was trying to figure out if it was going to turn into snow.
Next weekend is the big gardening sale Bookman and I go to every year. It won’t be warm enough to plant any of our purchases except for the apple tree we are planning on getting. Honeycrisp. Have any of you had these most delicious of apples? The variety was created by the University of Minnesota and became available in the early 1990s. They are so tasty and also one of the more expensive apples you can buy. So we are getting our own tree. Yum!
Anyway, so I’ve been thinking a lot about gardening. And when we received several library books at work for a coworker on permaculture, I just couldn’t take this whole lack of spring business anymore. So I requested a book on permaculture too and it looks like it will be pretty good: Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture.
And then I had to raid my own collection of gardening books, not only to look at the photos, because gardening book photos are often so drool worthy, but also to share with you some of my favorites:
- Growing Perennials in Cold Climates. I grew up in a warm climate so moving to Minnesota meant having to relearn quite a lot of things and this book has come in handy.
- Creating a Perennial Garden in the Midwest. Another book that has been helpful for ideas on what to grow and how to take care of them
- The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control (link is to the 2010 updated edition). I have never thought pesticides a good idea and this book has come in handy in helping me learn natural ways to take care of my garden.
- The New City Gardener. This book falls into the inspirational category. It has lots of photos of gorgeous city gardens. It also shows you the amazing things you can do in a small space and proves you don’t need suburban acreage to have an incredible garden.
- Month-by-Month Gardening in Minnesota. This is a most helpful book with information about when to plant what, when to start seeds indoors, how to put the garden to bed for the winter, and much more.
- Carrots Love Tomatoes. Companion planting is a most wondrous thing. Like how planting marigolds with your tomatoes helps keep away those green caterpillars that like to eat them. The book also talks about what not to grow together.
These are just a few of my favorites. Do you have a favorite gardening book?
I’m learning about companion planting — planting corn and beans together this year! (I say” this year” as if we’ve had other gardens… ha!). Don’t have a favorite book yet but I get sucked into that Garden Web forum black hole all the time. so much good information! I bet you are just dying to get going.
Honeycrisps are yummy — I hope yours takes!
Spring here has not been a tease, it’s been completely absent. Nevertheless the weeds are growing like crazy…
I recently picked up two gardening books at the thrift store, Small & Container Gardening by McHoy and Donaldson, and The Creative Container Gardener by Elaine Stevens. Exactly what I need. I’m planning to get an apple tree too, though I have no idea which variety. I’m really looking forward to the blossoms! 
I could really use that book on organic insect control! and the Carrots Love Tomatoes sounds good, too. I’ve just started doing a bit of companion planting last year and this, but not sure if it’s helping the plants or not. My favorite gardening author is Thalassa Cruso, although she does tend to write more about houseplants than outdoor gardening.
We have been having a heatwave – lovely, of course, and nice at this time of year when it never gets too crackingly hot. But I have a nasty suspicion that this will turn out to have been our summer, and it will rain between June and September – that’s happened before! I do hope you have good pickings at your garden sale – I remember it from previous years!
Stefanie:
Here is a delightful post on Women’s Gardens:
http://www.onfiction.ca
Send me a carrot.
Richard
Daphne, Garden Web is a dangerous place! I think I purposely forget about it so I don’t spend all my time there! And if the honeycrip does well, you’ll probably get to enjoy some of the fruits in one way or another!
Sylvia, I’ve got a good container gardening book but I can’t remember the title (I’m at work and can’t check). I love container gardening, there are no weeds to pull! What variety of apple will you be planting?
Jeane, companion planting doesn’t solve everything but I have found it very useful. I’ve not heard of Cruso. I will have to look for her books. I used to have loads of houseplants butthe cats I have now like them too much so I only have a couple left.
Litlove, oh I hope your heatwave does not bode ill for a rainy summer! The garden sale should be pretty fun, we are planning a new flowerbed this year which is always enjoyable, except for the digging part. And the blisters from digging.
Richard, thanks for the article link! I like the idea of “garden studies” and garden as narrative. I’ve never thought about them in that way before. I’ll do better than a carrot!
I haven’t picked an apply variety yet. I think I will rely on the orchardist to suggest one I might like that will do well in my garden. I’d like something like a Granny Smith, and preferably self-fertile, but I also want a dwarf so that will limit my choices significantly. First I must dig a big hole! :O
How big of a tree are you going to get that it needs such a big hole? Maybe you could have some of your dog friends help you in the digging
Your first paragraph exactly describes what we’re experiencing this spring… a roller coaster ride! The first book on your list might be helpful for me, but I wonder how cold is ‘Cold Climates’. Does it include the great white north here above the 49th parallel?
(BTW, I clicked on your link of that book, is that price for real for a new copy?)
Arti, I didn’t notice the price! It’s because that edition is now out of print. There is a revised edition that’s a little more reasonable. Cold = to -20F or -28C (?) or zone 4. But I think it is useful for zone 3 too. Isn’t this roller coaster ride getting tedious?
Our spring weather is very up and down too and we haven’t experienced any very warm weather which they have had in England, but it’s great to get out into the garden again, even if the wind is Baltic! Organic insect control here consists of me squashing the greenfly off roses!
Katrina, LOL, yeah, even with companion planting and what not, pest control usually consists of plenty of bug squishing
I’m not much of a gardener myself, but I appreciate it when other people garden!
Our spring has not been very spring-like either. The weather was great today, but we’ve had tons of rain and temperatures all over the place. The rain returns on Monday, but it should be a gorgeous weekend. I hope yours is too!
Your first few sentences started to make me giddy. The thing I love about autumn (which is what we are in now) versus spring, is that autumn is so relatively settled. Spring here too can be giddy-making with its ups and downs. The thing I don’t like about autumn is that winter follows it. Wah! I do though have some cheery pansies in pots – that should brighten the days a bit.
Yuuum. Honeycrisp apples have ruined me for apple eating. None can compare. And the bad thing is you can’t (well not in NE anyway) get them year round. I love fall when I know I can get honeycrisp apples. Don’t just plant on–plant a whole garden and I’ll come help you harvest them!
I love the concept of companion planting and would like to know more about this, so I added this book to my wish list.
With regards to favorite gardening books, one of my favorites is Green Thoughts, by Eleanor Perenyi. I haven’t read it in awhile, but her essays are personal, informative, and inspiring. I also love Joan Dye Gussow’s This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader–I’ve learned so much from this book and it is a real tear-jerker to boot.
Dorothy, my weekend was not gorgeous. It seems the only nice days we have been getting lately fall during the week when I have to work!
whisperinggums, autumn is one of my favorite times of year. Do the trees turn colors where you are? Your pansies sound lovely. I could use to bright cheery flowers right now!
Danielle, haven’t they though? Few other apples are as tasty. I’m sure my neighbors would love for me to have several honeycrisp trees too so they could share in the bounty!
JaneGS, companion planting is a cool technique and it’s a fun way to learn about plants. I’ve heard of Perenyi but I don’t know if I have read any of her books. Will have to look into it as well as the Gussow book. Thanks for the recommendation!