April 2021

April is a month of immense growth. At the beginning ,the world around us is still relatively brown, the grass is sodden underfoot and many branches are yet bare, but by the end, Spring is sweeping away all the grey and brown, replacing it with a bright new green punctuated with blooms.

April is also a month of busy busy work. Where there is much to do in the garden. And what’s more, things done at this time of year pay you tenfold, the plants simply love having the full season to grow.

Creating a Year Round Garden: Cornelian Cherry

In this last few weeks of March I have spot a handful of Cornelian Cherry trees and I have been struck again how beautiful a tree they are. The Cornelian Cherry is actually a dogwood, Cornus mas. In early spring, the tree will be covered in a profusion of small yellow flowers.

Modern Homestead, Plant SpotlightAbby Ytzen-HandelApril 3, 2021Modern Homestead, Seasonal Garden, Gardening TipsComment

Creating a Year Round Garden: Spring Bulbs

For this month plant spotlight I wanted to highlight Bulbs!

Now, to be fair, I am not really highlighting a single plant, but a number of plant, but I couldn’t pick just one. Because there really is no equal to seeing the bulbs come up in the later winter / early spring, at times even through bits of snow. Their presence in the a garden can carry that garden while other perennials are still waking up and annuals are not ready to put out. If you have ever come across a bed full of snow drops or crocus then you know what I mean, they transform the early spring garden.

Modern Homestead, Plant SpotlightAbby Ytzen-HandelMarch 3, 2021Modern Homestead, Seasonal Garden, Gardening TipsComment

March 2021

When I first started writing this it was decidedly winter out there, the snow was softly falling, and the air cold. But the end of February brought us a week of warmer weather, and March 1st proved one of those glorious early spring days. Here in Essex a light rain fell for most of the morning, giving way to a warm, late afternoon sun. The snow is rapidly disappearing everywhere we look, only the shady nooks and spots where it was piled in heaps remain. Walking through my gardens on the 1st, I did the only sensible thing to do in an early spring thaw, I found a bit of warmed earth and put my hands in, feeling the wet soil and smelling the earthy musk. Stooping here and there, examining the garden, looking for life, I push leaves aside and shift the heavy mulch, revealing the tiny spear tips of daffodils and crocus just poking up through the crust. Snow drops are popping up under the Hazels, just coming up in places, delicately slender, and in others just coming into bloom.

Modern Homestead, Garden JobsAbby Ytzen-HandelMarch 3, 2021Modern Homestead, Winter 2021, Gardening TipsComment

February 2021

The beginning of February brings us a bit closer to spring, winter has by no means left us yet, there are still many days, months even, to keep a fire blazing in the hearth and to bundle up as we move about the garden. But February always feels to me that we are over the hump of winter, and even if it goes on for quite a bit, there is a steady hope that spring is just around the corner.

Modern Homestead, Garden JobsAbby Ytzen-HandelFebruary 1, 2021Modern Homestead, Gardening Tips, Winter 2021, February

Creating a Year Round Garden: The evergreen hedge

The winter garden depends on good evergreens, for their structure, their obvious greeness, and the host of life they bring to the garden even in our coldest months. They are without a doubt crucial in the winter, but they are just as important in the summer, but they move to the back then, letting other players take center stage. I have come to realize their sculptural structure shouldn’t be under valued in any season.

Looking back and Ahead

Welcome to the Modern Homestead blog!

Every January I find myself reading a lot, thinking a lot, and dreaming a lot about my gardens. It feels simultaneously a time of reflection and introspection as well as a time dreaming and planning.