In a word: we’re totally fine! Yes, Red Hook, Brooklyn was looking to be the eye of Hurricane Irene according to many experts’ forecasts in the few days before it hit the East Coast. But luckily, we chanced out, and our little rooftop garden suffered only a few snapped sunflower stems as a result. Hallelujah, [...]

Now that is what I call a hop-head! These hops, planted last spring and grown to taller lengths than their bamboo poles could reach by late summer, have come back with a vengeance this spring. And we didn’t have to do anything this time to make that happen. That’s the beauty of perennials — they [...]

I had no idea what had happened. But one day, my “ghost” eggplant (a pure white heirloom variety) had strokes of yellow on it. The next day, its entire surface was brighter than a canary. What? I’d been studying its progress ever since it was just a nub at the end of a stem. Eventually, [...]

Is it ever “too hot to eat,” as the gripe I’ve been hearing so much of lately goes? Is it okay to skip lunch in the summer? Maybe we all know deep down that it’s not really optimal for one’s health, but when it’s really hot, I see people putting off meals all the time. [...]

It’s been exceptionally hot this summer, reaching ninety degrees for hazy stretches of days so often. So many of the plants aren’t enjoying all the heat, no matter how much watering they get. (It also hasn’t rained much; the rainwater harvesting bins have been tapped for weeks.) But some plants seem to thrive, and these [...]