We've recently decided that if we can't eat it, we're going to try to filter unnecessary plants out of our lives. Ivy that eats houses unless it's trimmed for hours every month is one of those plants. Naturally, our house plants are not going to get the ax but we're...
A day of work in the orchard
Don't let my lack of posting let you think we haven't been busy or that I don't have TONS of things to blog about. I've just been in a bit of a blogging funk I guess and also have been having a hard time finding time to sit down and git 'r done. But I'm trying to get...
The 2009 Frankfurt Dragon Boat Festival
Yesterday we took a little trip to Frankfurt for the Dragon Boat Festival. It's something they've been doing on the Main River since 1991 but we've never been there ourselves. Although it's not one of the biggest events they hold down along the edge of the water,...
Neem oil – a gardener’s best friend
Although our winter was insanely cold, we didn't have a very hard freeze when it finally started to warm up here. Thus the bugs are out in force because they didn't get killed off by the cold wave. I've often read about using neem oil on plants to combat aphids,...
Meet our newest acquisition
Now that all the paperwork has finally been finished, I'd like to introduce you to our new orchard! Our name for it perhaps is a bit dramatic since it's only around 1000 sq. meters or a quarter of an acre. But it's only 10 minutes walk from our front door and has 19...

Erasing the dog residue in the entry way
I wanted to post this almost two weeks ago but things have been a bit hectic around here (what's new right?) so I'm only getting to this now. Before my dad and his wife Barbara arrived here in Germany on April 28th, we were trying to get a few things done to spruce up...
Stocking up on rain water
Our summers here in Frankfurt have been extremely dry the last couple of years. When it rains, it may drizzle for a couple days but we generally go several weeks with no rain at all. As a matter of fact, it's raining now but unfortunately we don't have all our new...
Decorating with your bush & shrub trimmings
Spring has sprung in Germany and the weather this week has simply been GLORIOUS! We've had highs in the 60's and 70's...and this weekend it's supposed to be up to 80F. Hard to imagine that spring is truly here after our -18C winter - but hopefully this lovely start to...
How you doin’, garden?
You might recall in my last garden update (20 days ago exactly) that we had finished tilling our raised beds, had the majority of the weeds out of them and were basically just waiting for the last frost to pass by or to get our tunnels built before we put anything in...
Trees, tripods and other random stuff
I've been in a cleaning frenzy today. We're trying out a new system here where I use Monday as my "get the house back in order after the bomb went off weekend is over." We're usually so busy focusing on getting big projects done that the house is in disarray and there...


