Weed It and Reap

Is this going to be about our Gardening book section?  Yes, indeed, it is.  In fact, I'm contemplating changing the name of that section to  the title of this blog post.  Is it a generational thing to know the phrase, Read it and weep?  I think its origin is in poker lingo, but I've always linked it to a book good enough to move one to tears.  And I'm probably not the first one to use, Weed it and reap, either, but for the moment I feel a tad clever.   

Anyway, it's the time of year for gardeners to be doing their thing.   Most of them consult books or magazines or seed catalogs or all of the above.   With the the last few years' resurgence of interest in growing food and best practices for doing so, the variety of books has exploded.   There are terrific ones now on growing is tiny spaces,  lush container gardening,  worms (the good kind) and non-toxic pest control,  compost, lots of books on compost.  For the time-challenged, there are advice guides.  I like that many of the offerings are aimed at the novice.  Just about anyone can get in on this worthy pastime.   A couple of fave titles of mine at the moment are "Alluring Lettuces"  and  "Talking About Dirt".

If you don't think you're ready to try the real thing, armchair gardening is a good activity.  There's a genre of memoir devoted to that pursuit.  With Michael Pollan, Mark Kurlansky or Wendell Berry, you can delve into the social commentary and history of growing food. And the magazines!  There are many gorgeous, idea-filled choices.  A great free local  one is "Edible Boston".  You'll be scurrying to a local farmers' market when you read it.   The Edibles magazines are available for other cities and regions, as well.  

Lucky for us, the last working farm in Boston is a few miles from the store.  Allandale Farm sits on the border of Brookline and Boston.  It's a farm stand and plant nursery and also offers educational programming.   The water lilies in the pond are spectacular at the moment.  Close as it is, if you can't get over there, the Brookline Farmers' Market opens June 17 and runs into Oct.   

A skillful blogger would have provided links to everything mentioned here.  I think I promised, in an earlier post, to provide that service soon.  I'm still planning to but for now, Google to your heart's content.  Or come to the store for your copy of Edible Boston and a tour of the gardening  section.  You'll know you've arrived when you see the fantastic flower boxes out in front of the store.