I am about to lose countless happy hours to my new favorite blog. It is called Fennel and Fern and it an amazing collection of posts from some of my favorite garden bloggers. It is written by a gaggle of of writers and designers, but was founded by Isabel Eyre. Her helpers, Debbie of Carrots and Kids, Chris and Harald of vegalicious, Kathy, Sarah, Ryan of Ryan’s Garden, and Susan pitch in to cover everything from rare plants to recipes to gardening with children. It is really a great mix and makes for an exciting blog after my own heart.
Isabel is a fan of the inspiration board too and I am really enjoying this potager (Kitchen) garden and the “raffish” garden below.
Image credits, from left to right: Martine at http://www.banlieusardises.com/; Oscar de la Renta’s vegetable garden, by Richard Felber at Domino Magazine; cat among nasturtiums by Microsoft; artichoke by Karen; Dorset Cereals Edible Playground Garden at Chelsea 2008, courtesy of the RHS; Oscar de la Renta’s garden, as above; potager design by Michelle; forcing pots in West Dean kitchen garden by Andrew; potager design courtesy of Country Living; Oscar de la Renta’s garden as above; designs for Oscar de la Renta’s garden, as above; Gardens of Plenty by Marylyn Abbott; Potager design by Sylvie Guillem; Marigolds and dahlias in potager at Growing appetite; Rural garden by Moser’s Maroon; potager by Noisy Sound.
Coincidentally, when I found Fennel and Fern I noticed the terracotta rhubarb forcers in the above board….I have been researching rhubarb since last year; my own installation of three plants is, I think, probably not going to make it through the winter. I love the stuff and dream of having it grow wildly out of control as my mother did when I was a kid, so I need to sort out what went wrong…my research introduced me to rhubarb forcers – though not probably the answer to my problem, I am wondering why I cant find a US based outlet for these lovely garden implements?hmmm…. And – any rhubarb tips would happily be appreciated.
charming inspiration boards, rochelle, thanks for sharing those.
About rhubarb…My long experience with both maintaining an old patch and starting new ones in zone 5 (central Mass) is this: Easy, easy breezy! Well composted material from your compost pile- mixed into yard topsoil- place in the corms 6-8″ down. stand back. If you planted them in a dry spring you will want to water 1″ a week for a few weeks- but usually our regular rainfall will do the trick.
Of course they disappear in the winter and wont pop their new growth up til the frost is out of the soil. Mine are in part shade, maybe they would b less spindly with more sun- but still very productive.
good luck!
charming inspiration boards, rochelle, thanks for sharing those.
About rhubarb…My long experience with both maintaining an old patch and starting new ones in zone 5 (central Mass) is this: Easy, easy breezy! Well composted material from your compost pile- mixed into yard topsoil- place in the corms 6-8″ down. (crown bud will be a couple inches below surface) stand back. If you planted them in a dry spring you will want to water 1″ a week for a few weeks- but usually our regular rainfall will do the trick.
Of course they disappear in the winter and wont pop their new growth up til the frost is out of the soil. Mine are in part shade, maybe they would b less spindly with more sun- but still very productive.
good luck!
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