To prune or not to prune — there lies the question, whether it’s better to trim and stake, or leave the vines to ramble. Veteran North Country gardeners inevitably hold a position on that age-old query. Most believe that taking off suckers early, and continuing to prune the vines over the se…

Yes, I admit it. I took my whacker to several sections of the garden last weekend. Truth be known, utilized strategically, it is one of my favorite hand tools. Shearing pathways engulfed by witch grass prior to mulching is not pretty, but it is effective. A string trimmer is also very useful…

July’s second week of blistering heat has broken. Coupled with Canadian wildfire smoke and murky air quality, conditions were nothing short of insufferable. Hot, hazy and humid it was, and hard to keep up the pace as we head into the second half of summer. Every day is too short for the task…

“Got your peas in?” is a springtime refrain among local gardeners, some of whom jump hurdles to have their harvest on the table first. One method is to pre-sprout seeds and plant as soon as the soil can be worked, adding hoops and a plastic row cover to speed germination. And then there was …

The Strawberry Moon ushered in a week of classic summer weather, waxing full on June 29 in a run up to the Fourth of July. Independence Day is a benchmark of the growing season in the Mount Washington Valley, as the fruit and vegetable harvest gets underway in a serious fashion.

EFFINGHAM — Pollinator Week is an annual celebration dedicated to supporting pollinator health, initiated and led by the Pollinator Partnership, featuring events and programs by organizations around the world. It’s a time to raise awareness about the essential role pollinators play in our ec…

Labor Day is a bookend, marking the intersection of seasons. Behind us is the mad scramble of early summer, of getting the gardens in and growing, and June’s shimmering green landscape. July turned dry, August edged more recently into drought in all of New Hampshire. September’s full Corn Mo…

Since ancient times, summer’s “dog days” have been synonymous with sultry weather during 40 days, July 3-Aug. 11, coinciding with the rise and fall of the star system Sirius, in conjunction with the sun. And August has delivered a classic version, with unrelenting sun and heat. Many areas of…

There was a time when June in the mountains meant extended weeks of rain, and July brought steamy showers. But weather extremes are the new normal, including short-term drought. This year has mirrored that trend in late July, with extreme heat and minimal rainfall. 

As the garden hits full stride, so do the insects that inhabit it. The buzz of Japanese beetles accompanies my daily raspberry picking, particularly annoying because they are so difficult to control. It has not always been so. Until the early 2000s, Japanese beetles did not have a presence h…

July is traditionally a steamy month in the mountains, and 2025 is proving the case with withering heat and humidity. Thursday’s showers brought short term respite from extreme temperatures, and the prospect of improved outside working conditions in the days ahead.

Showers set in midweek, accompanying July’s Buck Moon as it waxed full on the 11th. The heat, humidity and precipitation translated into a quantum leap forward in local gardens, with the result that rows and beds are beginning to fill in, taking shape and finally the harvest is trickling in.