Month: February 2007

Deadheading: What firefly said

Shorter firefly:

… for things that get rained and snowed on, buffeted by wind, tickled by earthworms, munched on by aphids, and pooped on by birds, I’m supposed to tie on my frilly apron (or, judging by the ‘glamour shots,’ perhaps one with fringe and rhinestones), tuck my garden ‘housekeeping’ basket under my arm, and gyrate through the garden “pruning, cutting back, trimming, and, of course, deadheading” so everything sparkles and blooms, even when it’s supposed to be asleep?

Uh, I don’t think so.

Read the rest.

Granted, if I was still on a city lot? I’d probably be pruning, cutting back, trimming, and, of course, deadheading.

I also loved Eric Grissell’s Insects and Gardens, which I’d sum up in rhyme:

Don’t be
So OCD.

Sunday music: Chris Smither

Finally, some music that might actually have something to do with gardening. In Origin of Species, Chris Smither starts off in the garden and later actually rhymes cabbage.



And here’s No More Love Today, (audio from New Hampshire Public Radio), a song inspired by the call of a New Orleans produce vendor. Be ready for a rhyme with okra. Graham will like this one more, as Smither does more with his feet.

Because in the end no one will sell you what you need.
You can’t buy it off the shelf. You got to grow it from the seed.

Ancient peppers front-paged in WaPo

Washington Post Friday, February 16, 2007; Page A01

Inhabitants of the New World had chili peppers and the makings of taco chips 6,100 years ago, according to new research that examined the bowl-scrapings of people sprinkled throughout Central America and the Amazon basin.

Upcoming questions on the research agenda — and this is not a joke — include: Did they have salsa? When did they get beer?

Read the rest …