Editor’s Note: This column first appeared on 1 February 2017.   What to do this week: When you think about what seeds need to germinate, the main thing is soil, obviously. You want your soil to hold water, but not too much. Roots need air too, just like us. SoRead More

Editor’s Note: My day perennials have poked their heads up already, so I reached out to the Spectator’s gardener to ask how to deal with this situation.   What to do this week The flowers are understandably confused this year. They are going to be in for a shock laterRead More

Editor’s Note: This column last appeared on 24 January 2018.   What to do this week: It’s almost time to plant onions. Yes, already. This is seed catalog season, as you may have noticed by the previous few columns, but I must admit it is not actually necessary to placeRead More

Editor’s Note: This column last appeared on 17 January 2018.   What to do this week: It is still winter, and we are still holed up with our seed catalogs. In case you haven’t noticed, some catalogs are better than others. Some are pretty, and inspirational for that reason. OthersRead More

Editor’s Note: We’re re-running another of Michelle Smith’s timeless farming columns, this one originally published on 24 January 2018.   There is a country proverb that the best fertilizer is the footsteps of the farmer. Anyone who follows me through an average day could be forgiven for taking this literally,Read More

Editor’s Note: This column first appeared in September 2017.    Inspiration for this column can come from the strangest places. This time, I was deep in the heart of my favorite blackberry patch, high canes arching above my head, hands and mouth stained as purple as my bucket. A flockRead More

Editor’s Note: The Spectator is reaching into Michelle Smith’s archives for gardening tips and this week found a column that was first published almost exactly five years ago, on 29 November 2017.   What to do this week This week is a good time to get your seeds safely storedRead More

Editor’s Note: This column last appeared on 13 November 2019.   What to do this week The garden is just about done for the year, but already I want to keep the taste of something fresh in my kitchen. Fortunately this year it is not too late to bring someRead More

Editor’s Note: We’re reaching into Michelle’s Smith’s archives for posts as useful now as when they were first published and this week, we’re revisiting one of her lovely long-form essays, last published in November 2020.   The cat and I huddled under the blankets in the dark as the windRead More

Editor’s Note: I’ve been enjoying my favorite apples — Gravensteins — this season and they reminded me of this great Michelle Smith column about apples which first appeared on 15 February 2017.   I have something to confess. For someone in my position it is, well, more than a littleRead More