Hazelhedge

05/26/2026

Pizza box potato patch. Pizza boxes held down by wood chips make good walking paths in a garden you only do occasional light maintenance on (and maybe don't have to look at too often, either). I hilled these potatoes on the back side of the barn with compost today, will tuck a thick layer of straw around each plant tomorrow, and that'll probably be the last time I visit this patch for a while. Potatoes don't mind a little benign neglect once they've been given a good start. Which I'm hoping is a viable parenting strategy, too.

04/30/2026

The smallest native tree and shrub sticks (pic 1) can grow into stars of the landscape, but they need fairly long-term protection from bunny and deer damage. We use hardware cloth collars when they're tiny (pic 2) and green wire mesh as they grow, even for teenager trees (pic 3). The protection costs more than the tree. But there's not much more satisfying than sitting in the deep shade of one of these former tiny sticks (pic 4, yellow birch).

04/23/2026

The Allium genus really rewards your attention. Weeds can be over-running every other veg bed in my garden, and I'll be leaning over the garlic beds picking out the tiniest emerging bit of green.

A gardener friend and I are holding a friendly onion growing competition this year, and he said he plants his about a fist apart, and I replied that I did too. Then we laughed because we held up our fists and his was a solid two inches wider than mine. So I'm not sure who is right, and don't take my garden advice if you're counting on a more precise measurement than "just about a fist...ish."

But if you're planting onions this weekend, and it's a very fine time to do it, the last photo is your tip to take all the tiny scruffy worst ones, the ones you didn't see fit to plant in a premium bed, and cram them into a container, caring not at all about spacing. They'll reward you with tender green onions to cut and come again for all the early summer months, and you'll be so pleased to have gotten something out of next to nothing.

03/17/2026

03/08/2026

Hazelnuts are wind pollinated. Before this week, all the catkins were as small and closed as the one on the right. In early spring they open and elongate to release pollen for the tiny red flowers that line the branch. I like to think they're relaxing and letting go into the season -- a thought that makes stiff headwinds a little easier for me to meet.

03/02/2026

Another surefire sign of spring, even if it was 15 degrees this morning.

02/27/2026

Ozark witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) blooms in late February, while American witch hazel (H. virginiana) blooms in late fall-early winter. So the blooms are like bookends on either side of the growing season in northeast Ohio. Swipe right for the other sign of spring here. Welcome welcome welcome, little ones.

08/31/2025

Beginning/middle/end. Thanks for the gorgeous Buff Laced Polish chick, who grew up to win Reserve Grand Champion Large Fowl at the . Mopsy eats feed, of course.

08/08/2025

Why am I planting buckets of random organic materials? Find out as we nerd out together on Sustainable Garden Practices on Sat Sept 13 at 10 am at the Geauga County Extension Office. We'll go from the big concepts in regenerative ag and permaculture down to the nitty gritty of cover cropping and composting in your garden. Permaculture design breakout session, hands-on demos of soil blocking, and lots of take-home materials, all free.

07/09/2025

Okay, garlic growing friends from my programs on the topic: it might be time to harvest. It's been 4 weeks since I cut off scapes, which sets off my spidey sense to look. I want to see 5 or 6 leaves still mostly green and juicy but tipped in yellow-brown, and a few of the lower leaves fully died back.

If yours looks like that, dig up a test bulb. I liked the look and heft of the bulb in the 2nd photo, so I kept going.

Now you have to cure it for storage, because all those leaves will die back and form the protective papery skin layers. Not outdoors in the sun or in your basement, but somewhere dry and warm and airy. I have a drying rack in a sunroom. Hanging from a barn or shed rafter will work, or in a pinch lay them out in a single layer on an old sheet or piece of cardboard in your garage.

Celebrate your harvest triumph with a very garlicky meal, which is a good use of any bulbs you accidentally stabbed or sliced during harvest.