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by Michael Weishan
Editor-in-Chief
Spring is upon us and with its arrival the gardens here in Southborough
have become a center of fevered activity. Although this winter
has been much less severe than normal, the single storm we did
get dumped 17 inches of the wettest snow I have ever seen, causing
so much damage that the normal spring cleanup tasks have quadrupled.
Besides my regular duties, massive piles of broken tree and bush
limbs lie here and there, ready to be burned or shredded. Several
of the perennial beds, yet to be cleaned out from the fall, glare
at me reproachfully every time I pass them on the way to my office.
The paddock and coop areas desperately need a new coat of gravel,
and my horse (helped by his ally-in-arms, the snowstorm) knocked
down a large section of the fence in a successful attempt to nibble
on my apple trees. I won't even mention my poor vegetable garden.
Yikes! I'd better hurry up and order those seeds or there won't
be much of a harvest before September!
As daunting as the sheer number of these tasks seems though, no
amount of work can diminish the deliciously teasing sense of anticipation
I feel at this time of year. The entire growing season remains
before us: the earliest crocus, the newly burgeoning tree buds,
that delectable moment when the first spinach is harvested and,
I think, my favorite time of all - the week the massive clumps
of hundred-year-old lilacs bloom. Oh, the lilacs! (Or perhaps
it is the moment I bite into my first fresh tomato, still warm
from the sun. I would be hard pressed to choose between the two!)
All these marvelous moments stand before us like a beckoning lover,
newly returned from a long voyage - much anticipated, and so ardently
missed! Nor is there any glimpse of failure in our vision: the
rabbits have yet to level our first lettuce planting, no late
frost has destroyed the delicate blooms of just-set-out tender
annuals, nor has any drought withered the lawn. All is new; all
is fresh; all is good. This is a feeling only gardeners can share,
and quite frankly, it is what makes the many petty trials and
tribulations of working in the garden worthwhile - a blessing,
truly, and something to be lovingly savored while we may!
For those of you who are regular readers, you will notice that
this issue lacks one of our standard columns - Letters from our
Readers. Rest assured it will return in the summer issue. (Your
editor in chief ran a little behind in answering his correspondence.)
In the meantime, my thanks to the almost one hundred of you who
have written in with comments, information and questions.
You also will notice that our staff has increased again. I am
very pleased to welcome aboard Victoria Marquis as associate editor
and Gary O'Neil, who will head up our new West Coast office, scouting
ideas and articles of interest to our ever-growing number of readers
west of the Mississippi. Also, Karen Watts at Seth Godin Productions
has taken on the task of adapting and marketing Traditional Gardening
to the book and television media, and Devin Smith who single-handedly
created our Internet Edition and who will be its editor.
Yes, Traditional Gardening is now online. Our special internet
edition, which contains a summary of all our current articles,
as well as a complete listing of topics in back issues, is available
at our Web site (www.traditionalgardening.com). You can even subscribe
online. Ah, the wonders of modern technology!
And one last note: I am extremely pleased and honored to announce
that I have recently signed with Ballantine/Random House to publish
a book on traditional gardens and gardening in America. It will
be available (with a lot of work on everyone's part) in the spring
of 1998. So wish us luck and godspeed, and to you, gentle reader,
good gardening!
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