Here is a vintage copy of Little Women, and The Little Women Treasury -
which is a recently published collection of crafts and activities that
all are related to the beloved classic story about the four March
girls.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Little Women
Little Women
In the long dreary nights of winter, it is always nice to put one’s nose in a book to pass the time. I have always loved reading since the long ago days of learning how with “Dick and Jane.” Who remembers them with their dog Spot, their cat Puff and their little sister Sally? No one under forty I am sure.
My favorite book in my youth was “Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott. Through reading and rereading this much loved book, the four sisters became real characters or personages in my mind.
I loved the little part in the book where the author describes the gardens of each sister. The four girls were each given an individual plot to do with as they liked. The ever present housekeeper of the March household - Hannah - says in her thick accent, “I’d know which each of gardings belonged to, ef I see ‘em in Chiny.” Their gardens matched their personalities. Meg, the oldest, ever the romantic with her mind firmly set on marriage and becoming a wife and mother: her garden contained “roses and heliotrope, (very fragrant) myrtle, and a little orange tree.” This was clearly symbolic of Meg’s aspirations – orange blossoms are traditionally carried or worn by brides and myrtle wreaths were worn by brides in ancient Greece. Roses and heliotrope revealed her romantic nature. Jo, the tomboy of the family, who avoided anything romantic like the plague, was very adventurous. Her garden reflected her personality as well - “Jo’s bed was never alike two seasons, for she was always trying experiments. This year it was to be a plantation of sunflowers, the seeds of which cheerful land aspiring plant were to fed Aunt Cockle-top (their chicken) and her family of chicks.”
Beth, the third sister, who was fated to die an early death from her weak heart, was innocent, sweet, loving, and domestic, playing with dolls until she was a young teenager. She was always thinking of others, never herself, which indirectly caused her to get her case of scarlet fever – leading to her rheumatic heart. Her garden was full of nostalgic and sweet delicate flowers – “Beth had old-fashioned fragrant flowers in her garden, sweet peas and mignonette, larkspur, pinks, pansies, and southernwood, with chickweed for the birds and catnip for the kitties.” The southernwood, also known as Artemisia or Wormwood, traditionally known as the bitterest herb – may have symbolized her early death – indeed, bitter tears were shed by many for the sweet Beth after she died.
Amy, the youngest sister, was known as the artist of the March family. Amy’s garden reflected her artistic bent – “Amy had a bower in hers, rather small and earwiggy, but very pretty to look at, with honeysuckle and morning-glories hanging their colored horns and bells in graceful wreaths all over it, tall white lilies, delicate ferns, and as many brilliant, picturesque plants as would consent to blossom there.” The tall white lilies probably represent her pride, which was one of the character flaws Amy struggled with.
Quotes are from the book “Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott.
Words in parentheses are my additions.
My favorite book in my youth was “Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott. Through reading and rereading this much loved book, the four sisters became real characters or personages in my mind.
I loved the little part in the book where the author describes the gardens of each sister. The four girls were each given an individual plot to do with as they liked. The ever present housekeeper of the March household - Hannah - says in her thick accent, “I’d know which each of gardings belonged to, ef I see ‘em in Chiny.” Their gardens matched their personalities. Meg, the oldest, ever the romantic with her mind firmly set on marriage and becoming a wife and mother: her garden contained “roses and heliotrope, (very fragrant) myrtle, and a little orange tree.” This was clearly symbolic of Meg’s aspirations – orange blossoms are traditionally carried or worn by brides and myrtle wreaths were worn by brides in ancient Greece. Roses and heliotrope revealed her romantic nature. Jo, the tomboy of the family, who avoided anything romantic like the plague, was very adventurous. Her garden reflected her personality as well - “Jo’s bed was never alike two seasons, for she was always trying experiments. This year it was to be a plantation of sunflowers, the seeds of which cheerful land aspiring plant were to fed Aunt Cockle-top (their chicken) and her family of chicks.”
Beth, the third sister, who was fated to die an early death from her weak heart, was innocent, sweet, loving, and domestic, playing with dolls until she was a young teenager. She was always thinking of others, never herself, which indirectly caused her to get her case of scarlet fever – leading to her rheumatic heart. Her garden was full of nostalgic and sweet delicate flowers – “Beth had old-fashioned fragrant flowers in her garden, sweet peas and mignonette, larkspur, pinks, pansies, and southernwood, with chickweed for the birds and catnip for the kitties.” The southernwood, also known as Artemisia or Wormwood, traditionally known as the bitterest herb – may have symbolized her early death – indeed, bitter tears were shed by many for the sweet Beth after she died.
Amy, the youngest sister, was known as the artist of the March family. Amy’s garden reflected her artistic bent – “Amy had a bower in hers, rather small and earwiggy, but very pretty to look at, with honeysuckle and morning-glories hanging their colored horns and bells in graceful wreaths all over it, tall white lilies, delicate ferns, and as many brilliant, picturesque plants as would consent to blossom there.” The tall white lilies probably represent her pride, which was one of the character flaws Amy struggled with.
Quotes are from the book “Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott.
Words in parentheses are my additions.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Russian tomato plants
A couple of photos I took of gardens in Russia - a view of a dacha with
a greenhouse, and the inside of a Russian family's greenhouse filled
with healthy looking tomato plants. These were taken in early June,
2004 in a dacha community near St. Petersburg, Russia.
Thinking about Spring
All the rushing around and excitement of Christmas and New Year’s is now over, and one can now settle back into “normal’ life. I love holidays, especially seeing family that I don’t often see – but like many of you I am happy to get back to having time for things like peacefully leafing through seed catalogs, perusing garden websites, and deciding what rose to order and squeeze into my fast becoming crowded garden.
My friend Teresa emailed me and told me that she spent the day in her garden weeding, planting leftover bulbs, raking shredded leaves into place, and also being amazed at how green and healthy some plants look right in the midst of winter. I am always amazed at this myself.
I took a little walk around my garden and spotted tiny new leaves at the crowns of some of my perennials – a welcome sight! I am still tired from the holidays, but did pull up my sunflower stalks to put in the trash, as I don’t have a shredder – yet. They are a bit too sturdy for composting. I also saw that the yearly plethora of wild strawberry weeds are encroaching everywhere – will have to spend a few hours pulling these up this spring. At least wild strawberries are easy to pull up as they are very shallow rooted.
If you plan to order or buy seeds to start, it is high time to begin selecting them. Many varieties tell one to start indoors eight to ten weeks before the last frost date – this tells me that these varieties will need to be started by the beginning of March. Always buy only quality seeds. If you are investing the time, energy, and resources to grow a garden, then it worth your investment in good quality seeds. Send for seed catalogs or study seed company websites and make your selections. Keep in mind your limitations of space and time to start the plants and to place them in your garden. Order soon, as supplies of unusual varieties can run out. Here is a list of some good sources for seeds online - www.superseeds.com, www.seedsofchange.com (organic seeds), www.heirloomseeds.com, www.reneesgarden.com or www.thompson-morgan.com. Renee’s Garden carries some very interesting varieties in attractive and informative seed packets – I have found this brand at a large local garden store. I am going to try a few unusual tomato varieties this year from Heirloom Seeds – they have such a tempting variety. I plan to grow “Lemon Drop,” a small yellow cherry type; “Cosmonaut Volkov,” a supposedly very healthy red tomato; “Black Krim,” a dark Russian heirloom tomato with unusual flavor; “Black Prince,” another Russian heirloom recommended for the “tomato connoisseur” and also definitely “Boxcar Willie,” an heirloom type red/orange tomato I have heard good things about. Russians are apparently very serious about their tomatoes, as when I visited a dacha community near St. Petersburg, Russia I saw homemade greenhouses everywhere with tomatoes growing safely inside in defiance of the harsh climate, where one can need a winter coat in May and one nearly always needs a wool sweater at the ready even on sunny days in June. “Pruden’s Purple” and “Mr. Stripey” were two varieties we grew in our garden last year, and they were wonderful – so they will be included again this year as well.
This weekend if I can get up the energy, I plan to visit Smith Park to pick up some free mulch, as I have a lot to mulch this year and my mother reported they have a good supply right now. I hope I can remember where my little wheelbarrow is, so I can begin to spread this mulch if our mild weather holds out a little longer.
For the next couple of weeks I am going to talk about gardens mentioned in literature – combining two of my favorite topics.
My friend Teresa emailed me and told me that she spent the day in her garden weeding, planting leftover bulbs, raking shredded leaves into place, and also being amazed at how green and healthy some plants look right in the midst of winter. I am always amazed at this myself.
I took a little walk around my garden and spotted tiny new leaves at the crowns of some of my perennials – a welcome sight! I am still tired from the holidays, but did pull up my sunflower stalks to put in the trash, as I don’t have a shredder – yet. They are a bit too sturdy for composting. I also saw that the yearly plethora of wild strawberry weeds are encroaching everywhere – will have to spend a few hours pulling these up this spring. At least wild strawberries are easy to pull up as they are very shallow rooted.
If you plan to order or buy seeds to start, it is high time to begin selecting them. Many varieties tell one to start indoors eight to ten weeks before the last frost date – this tells me that these varieties will need to be started by the beginning of March. Always buy only quality seeds. If you are investing the time, energy, and resources to grow a garden, then it worth your investment in good quality seeds. Send for seed catalogs or study seed company websites and make your selections. Keep in mind your limitations of space and time to start the plants and to place them in your garden. Order soon, as supplies of unusual varieties can run out. Here is a list of some good sources for seeds online - www.superseeds.com, www.seedsofchange.com (organic seeds), www.heirloomseeds.com, www.reneesgarden.com or www.thompson-morgan.com. Renee’s Garden carries some very interesting varieties in attractive and informative seed packets – I have found this brand at a large local garden store. I am going to try a few unusual tomato varieties this year from Heirloom Seeds – they have such a tempting variety. I plan to grow “Lemon Drop,” a small yellow cherry type; “Cosmonaut Volkov,” a supposedly very healthy red tomato; “Black Krim,” a dark Russian heirloom tomato with unusual flavor; “Black Prince,” another Russian heirloom recommended for the “tomato connoisseur” and also definitely “Boxcar Willie,” an heirloom type red/orange tomato I have heard good things about. Russians are apparently very serious about their tomatoes, as when I visited a dacha community near St. Petersburg, Russia I saw homemade greenhouses everywhere with tomatoes growing safely inside in defiance of the harsh climate, where one can need a winter coat in May and one nearly always needs a wool sweater at the ready even on sunny days in June. “Pruden’s Purple” and “Mr. Stripey” were two varieties we grew in our garden last year, and they were wonderful – so they will be included again this year as well.
This weekend if I can get up the energy, I plan to visit Smith Park to pick up some free mulch, as I have a lot to mulch this year and my mother reported they have a good supply right now. I hope I can remember where my little wheelbarrow is, so I can begin to spread this mulch if our mild weather holds out a little longer.
For the next couple of weeks I am going to talk about gardens mentioned in literature – combining two of my favorite topics.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Happy New Year!
Another New Year! I personally cannot believe we are so far past the year 2000 already. As always, the thought of a new start or fresh beginning is heartening. I have made my yearly resolution to lose weight, but have also thought about resolutions I want to make as a gardener.
I resolve to mulch, mulch and mulch some more in my rose and perennial areas to cut back on weeding this spring and summer. Last summer was an endless battle against mostly thistles, and a thick layer of newspapers and a few bags of mulch should go a long way to alleviate that problem.
Speaking of roses I resolve to be more regular with a good feeding regimen – starting in March at least a monthly feeding of ½ cup of Epsom salts and a gallon of fish emulsion/seaweed solution per rose - I have about forty roses so this will take some determination. Also concerning my roses – I also plan to buy some silica gel and this year try drying some of my huge harvest of roses I have in late May/early June. A fellow member of a roses email group I belong to (FortheLoveofRoses – Yahoo Groups)
shared that she dries roses every summer and then uses the dried roses to decorate a rose themed Christmas tree every year. What a great idea! I could also use the dried roses to accent my pine roping, or to make arrangements for homemade gifts. I have air dried many roses but silica gel is supposed to give superior results.
I also resolve not to buy too many seeds to start in the late winter months. I will select a few that I really want to start and stick with those. If one tries to start too many some just get neglected and sadly languish. I will definitely start my parsley much earlier, maybe even in January. Last year I think I started it in April and it didn’t even get going until October. I have some nice shelves with grow lights in the basement for this resolution. Fresh parsley is so good in so many things, especially chopped coarsely and sprinkled on nearly any soup. More on seed starting in the very near future.
I also resolve not to have my yearly collection of unplanted pots of perennials at the end of the season. I had surgery in early November and then had to tell my husband where to plant a few things and only be able to supervise – I dislike not being in control of my garden. Three sad little plants are still in pots under a small boxwood shrub near my front door – maybe they will survive to be planted and maybe they won’t. I had a few dozen bulbs still left and last week I planted them all in one of those large pots made of a foam like material. I think they will all come up – twenty-five Darwin tulips, some random species tulips, and a couple of dozen small Fritillaria bulbs.
I was very happy with my vertical gardening with vegetables last year and plan to do more of that. The tomato and cucumber vines I grew alongside a large garden arch structure did so well that I was amazed. I also resolve to try some okra and tomatillos this year for the first time. I also resolve to plant more cucumbers as I would really like to hae enough to try making a few pickles.
As much as I love sunflowers – I do resolve not to plant any this year, as they take up too much valuable room in my small yard. If I someday own a larger lot – a half-acre for example, I would plant dozens. The three or four I grew last year shaded my sun loving peppers and I could have fit one or two more tomato plants in that space.
I also resolve to keep on gardening organically as I have been doing for the past nineteen years with my present garden– no Miracle-Gro, no weedkillers, no bug killers – as I see the splendid results of organic methods. Every year my soil is richer, loamier, and all my plants healthier with less work.
I also resolve to document better – when I plant things, when seeds are started, names of perennials or vegetable varieties or maybe how many tomatoes are actually harvested, as these facts could be helpful in future years. Next fall I hope to have put into practice some of these “conceived in hope for the future” resolutions. And maybe have lost thirty pounds ?!?!?
I resolve to mulch, mulch and mulch some more in my rose and perennial areas to cut back on weeding this spring and summer. Last summer was an endless battle against mostly thistles, and a thick layer of newspapers and a few bags of mulch should go a long way to alleviate that problem.
Speaking of roses I resolve to be more regular with a good feeding regimen – starting in March at least a monthly feeding of ½ cup of Epsom salts and a gallon of fish emulsion/seaweed solution per rose - I have about forty roses so this will take some determination. Also concerning my roses – I also plan to buy some silica gel and this year try drying some of my huge harvest of roses I have in late May/early June. A fellow member of a roses email group I belong to (FortheLoveofRoses – Yahoo Groups)
shared that she dries roses every summer and then uses the dried roses to decorate a rose themed Christmas tree every year. What a great idea! I could also use the dried roses to accent my pine roping, or to make arrangements for homemade gifts. I have air dried many roses but silica gel is supposed to give superior results.
I also resolve not to buy too many seeds to start in the late winter months. I will select a few that I really want to start and stick with those. If one tries to start too many some just get neglected and sadly languish. I will definitely start my parsley much earlier, maybe even in January. Last year I think I started it in April and it didn’t even get going until October. I have some nice shelves with grow lights in the basement for this resolution. Fresh parsley is so good in so many things, especially chopped coarsely and sprinkled on nearly any soup. More on seed starting in the very near future.
I also resolve not to have my yearly collection of unplanted pots of perennials at the end of the season. I had surgery in early November and then had to tell my husband where to plant a few things and only be able to supervise – I dislike not being in control of my garden. Three sad little plants are still in pots under a small boxwood shrub near my front door – maybe they will survive to be planted and maybe they won’t. I had a few dozen bulbs still left and last week I planted them all in one of those large pots made of a foam like material. I think they will all come up – twenty-five Darwin tulips, some random species tulips, and a couple of dozen small Fritillaria bulbs.
I was very happy with my vertical gardening with vegetables last year and plan to do more of that. The tomato and cucumber vines I grew alongside a large garden arch structure did so well that I was amazed. I also resolve to try some okra and tomatillos this year for the first time. I also resolve to plant more cucumbers as I would really like to hae enough to try making a few pickles.
As much as I love sunflowers – I do resolve not to plant any this year, as they take up too much valuable room in my small yard. If I someday own a larger lot – a half-acre for example, I would plant dozens. The three or four I grew last year shaded my sun loving peppers and I could have fit one or two more tomato plants in that space.
I also resolve to keep on gardening organically as I have been doing for the past nineteen years with my present garden– no Miracle-Gro, no weedkillers, no bug killers – as I see the splendid results of organic methods. Every year my soil is richer, loamier, and all my plants healthier with less work.
I also resolve to document better – when I plant things, when seeds are started, names of perennials or vegetable varieties or maybe how many tomatoes are actually harvested, as these facts could be helpful in future years. Next fall I hope to have put into practice some of these “conceived in hope for the future” resolutions. And maybe have lost thirty pounds ?!?!?
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