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22 Mar 10
Tornado Season will soon be upon us here in the midwest......And with tornado season comes lightning. And my favorite
quote from Roger Swain, Victory Garden TV alum, in his book, Earthly Pleasures: Tales from a Biologist's Garden: "My curiosity about lightning is tempered by my reluctance to
be electrocuted." Nevertheless, there's
nothing like a good spring light show...
20 Mar 10
The Spring Equinox Arrives...The past 24 hours has been a List of Firsts: The first day of spring. The first spring snowfall. The first flock of
turkey vultures. The first butterfly landing on a beehive at the nature center. The first big day of garden cleanup--cutting
back the miscanthus grasses and raking up the debris from last fall. The first prairie fire--a conflagration that consumed
acres of dry phragmites, the flames jumping in the great gusts of wind. The first bumble bee. And the first pair of
wasps visiting the pansies--the first flowers to arrive at the local garden center. The first flat of flowers to make
it into my car.
18 Mar 10
Big Bumble Bee Look Alikes...Another sure sign of
spring...when the goldfinches change from their dull winter coat to a bright shiny new look. Like a feathery bumble
bee. 
16 Mar 10
Spring is Inspiration,,, One elegant observation that I turn to each spring
is a passage in the 1876 book, "A Year in the Fields" written by the American naturalist John
Burroughs: "Spring is the inspiration, fall
the expiration. Both seasons have their equinoxes, both their filmy, hazy air, their ruddy forest tints, their cold rains,
their drenching fogs, their mystic moons; both have the same solar light and warmth, the same rays of the sun; yet, after
all, how different the feelings they inspire! One is morning, the other the evening; one is youth, the other is age."
6 Mar 10
Coming to a Gardening Center Near You: ONIONS!
Onion "sets"--those bags of little dried white or red onions--will soon hit the
garden centers. For a continued harvest, I buy several, store them in a cool spot and then use them to replant every
7 to 10 days until early June, harvesting them as scallions (green onions). For bulbing onions in zone
5, "transplants" (see www.thisgardencooks.com home page) of long-day onions work best.
8:21 am cst
3 Mar 10
Season's Starters--The Fastest Crop on EarthIf your only experience growing radishes involved a paper cup, soil, a few seeds and a teacher’s encouraging
words, or you gave up after harvesting round, red orbs that tasted like peppery plywood, you are in for a treat. 
Given the right conditions, radishes are fast growing, colorful root crops
that offer a range of flavors from deliciously mild and mellow to pungent and spicy.
Sliced thin and served raw, they add a crispy zing to salad, but their versatility entitles
them to a place in soups, dips and in many side dishes.
Radishes
are incredibly easy to grow--they’ll perform in a pot on a sunny patio or balcony, in a windowbox or in a small row
or two in the garden. Growing is the easy part. The secret to tasty radishes is to harvest while they’re tender
before hot weather settles in.
8:50 pm cst
1 Mar 10
Bambi Meets Bird Seed
Each winter, we cover up the birdbath outside the kitchen window and sprinkle a little seed out there for the
chickadees, bluejays, cardinals and sparrows. A suet feeder hangs nearby. The deer come by in the late
afternoon -- and sometimes during the day -- to check out the sunflower seeds. A tap on the window gets their
attention. Except, instead of being frightened, they think that's their cue for more grub.
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