I went up to the garden this morning and found what I thought was an obvious indiscretion on the part of one of the restaurant patrons from last night.  The Noble Rot is a wine bar, and booze is served as well, so it’s totally possible that some rooftop visitors may have had more alcohol than […]

At home if I open up my drawers I find: socks, underwear, t-shirts, sweaters, running shorts, sweats. A drawer in the blogger’s bed room filled with handkerchiefs and knick-knacks On the rooftop there are drawers, too, but when I pull open a drawer at the Noble Rot, there’s only one thing within: King Stropharia mushrooms (Stropharia […]

Everybody wants a pat on the back, a round of applause or just the simple inner acknowledgement of succeeding, but beyond the momentary glow, success often leaves the mind, at least my mind, very little to feast on afterwards.  I sometimes experience a disquieting sense of vague puzzlement about what led to the success, and despite […]

Forced sterilization in human societies belongs to the realm of dictatorial dytopias, but in the garden it is routine, casual practice.  Ever since the evolution of sexual reproduction in plants hundreds of millions of years ago, we can only guess at the vast amount of plant energy spent in the pursuit of a more varied and […]

  I am doing a lot of weeding in the garden these days and realizing that one of my favorite tools for soil cleanup is the one I came equipped with from day one…my hands.  Working with another favorite, a stout Japanese hand cultivator fashioned from heavy-duty metal that takes a wicked edge, I follow up […]

Everyone knows that the two basic tools of the gardener from time immemorial are the watering can and the hoe.  This year I am tossing away the watering can, at least at one of my gardening spots, and entering the strange world of water-free growing.   I know you are thinking this when I say […]

I don’t care whether you are a professional grower or a hobbyist, there are some gardening milestones that when hit make you feel like a million bucks.  You just know you NAILED the thing, and that entitles you to a certain gardener’s swagger.  For me, getting some good tasting lettuce during April is one of […]

Though this title sounds like something Harry Potter or Hermione Granger would utter as an incantation, it is merely my prodding to get out there and get a crop at its absolute best during the brief window before it inevitably declines.  The crop is, as the title suggests, Petroselinum crispum, better know to us muggles as […]

That expression, “Get a Yield,” comes from the sublime wisdom of permaculture, which is a philosophy of and set of techniques for sustainable human living on the earth, first articulated under the permaculture label by some very smart Australians named Mollison and Holmgren.    Pure permaculture is a lot to chew on (metaphorically), so I’m going to give you something you can really chew on while […]

Well, now that the Winter Olympics are over, I can get back to blogging.  It was really wonderful to dig into the amazing athleticism…while lounging on my couch!, but having given my eyes a tremendous workout watching, it’s high time to give the fingers their due and return to typing blog posts.I came back from […]