Why I Oughta...

Each season that I've put together a 'to-do list' for the yard and garden, I've also done an end-of-season accounting on how well I was able to complete the items on the list. Last year, I had 25 items on my list .  This post serves as the final scorecard of those 25 items. Historically, I've had REALLY good years.  And some not-so-good years. In 2023, I completed 22 out of 25 items on the list . 88%. In 2022, I marked 17 complete .  3 'mixed' and 5 not-completes.  68%. In 2021, I marked 17.5 complete .  2 'semi-complete' and 5.5 not-completes.  70%.  In 2020, I marked 22 complete .  3 not-complete.  88%. In 2019, I marked 12 of 17 complete .  70%. That means over five growing seasons ('19, '20, '21, '22, '23), I have had 117 items on my list. And, I have 90 marked complete (Math: 22+17+17.5+22+12 = 90.5). 90.5/117 = 77% overall. My 2024 list was full of BIG and little items.  I last did a 'late season' check-in on the li...

Last week, I included a mention of _Laceybakes_ - the focaccia baker on TikTok amongst other little pizza-related tidbits in a round-up post .   Her videos influenced me to make a batch of focaccia this past weekend.  I opted for a simple olive oil and garlic butter-topped bread. I was too impatient (and didn't plan well-enough), so I ended up doing a same-day dough - which lead to an underwhelming hole-structure.    Below are a few photos.   This is the second-ever batch of focaccia that I've made - with my original research back in 2022 .   Some notes:  I used the stand-mixer to do the initial incorporation.  That was a mistake.  Think I over-worked this dough.  I did about five-or-so rounds of stretch-and-folds.  That was probably fine.  I dimpled this focaccia *and then* let it keep rising.  Pretty sure...that I should have dimpled-it right ahead of the bake. Also, as I mentioned above, there was no cold...

In the Summer of 2023, I planted eleven (11) small (I mean...REALLY small, 1# nursery pots that were on sale for $5 a piece) Green Velvet Boxwood shrubs in a staggered pattern at the feet of the two Greenspire Linden Trees that are currently being trained into a horizontal cordon espalier.   I wanted to add some evergreens to this bed to provide structure, formality and Winter interest.   Today, 18-months-later, those boxwoods are starting to fill-out and provide exactly what I was looking for:  winter interest.   See below for a photo showing the Green Velvet boxwoods and the pair of Linden trees in the snow: I posted a photo of these in May of 2024 when they were putting on their annual, shaggy growth .  This past Summer marked their first full year in the ground.  While still small-in-size, these Boxwoods are providing contrast against the bright-white snow.   These will, with time, get to between three-and-four-feet tall and w...

Four-season gardening has been a goal of mine for a number of years.  Or...at least...considering the impact of the four-seasons on the garden vs. thinking *just* about bloom-time and Summer in the garden.  Conifers are a big part of that Winter Interest season and while my garden LACKED them for many years, I've begun to correct that in the past few seasons.  ( I've admitted to making a mistake on conifers and NOW believe in the advice:  "Conifers should come first." ) The original IB2DWs bed (closer to the garage) is a continuous work-in-progress.  I started with some Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses and have added things over the years.   This section typically gets piled high with snow during the Winter; as it is a natural place to put snow that is shoveled off the driveway.  I've posted photos of this area piled high with snow before: h ere's a post from one-year-ago (January 2024) showing that the snow was piled to the top of the Weeping N...

A few things pizza-wise that I've come across recently that I thought were worth noting: 1. Chris Kimball - Now on Milk Street -formerly from ATK.   Yogurt in his pizza dough . 2. Like a lot of other folks, I found and started to see in my FYP this focaccia maker on tiktok. Lacey from @_Lacebakes_ .    This one jumped out to me .  She also does a 'Will it focaccia?' series.  Fun.  She posts her 'overnight' formulation (she's talking about cold ferment), too.   Pasted below for posterity sake.  I will try this one soon. 3.  There were a couple of things in this Charlie Anderson video that jumped out to me .  They include:  naming things 'East-coast inspired' and/or 'NY elite'.  Not New Haven.  Not NY.  "East-coast inspired'.  Nice.  They also talk about higher hydration, hotter oven (650 degrees), shorter bake (than NY, longer than Neapolitan).  They also talk about Tomato Magic tomatoes ....

A few days back, I posted a photo of some snow-covered Angelia Sedum groundcover that was providing a little bit of Winter Interest near our back stoop.  On my way out to dump the kitchen compost bin in the larger bins in back, I stopped to look at some other groundcover that was 'showing up' in the snow:  Spine Tingler Epimedium.   Below is a photo showing the three plants - that I put in the ground in Spring 2023 :  There, amongst the light snow and leaf litter is the dried-out, rigid and spike-edged foliage of Spine Tingler.   These have fared a bit better than the Amber Queen varieties, so perhaps a few more of these should be on my list at the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale in 2025.