You're probably starting to expect I'll give a weather report every issue now, so here goes: 9.25 inches of rain in 8 days. Enough said. Onward we go, we intrepid-if-soggy gardeners, right?

tips for taking containers to the next step

Usually on Memorial Day or thereabouts, I teach a series of container-garden workshops in my garden with my longtime friend Bob Hyland, a garden designer and former public-garden administrator and nursery owner who always dubbed our duet "Contained Exuberance." Want to take your pot designs up a notch this year, without getting overwhelmed? Read (and listen) on.

after the hail, spinach and sorrel becomes soup

In case you're wondering what plants are hailproof, the list is short-especially in the tender springtime vegetable garden, where peas and lettuce, spinach and such don't take well to a thrashing. On Friday we rescued what could be salvaged from the recent store's mess, and made sorrel-spinach soup from some of it. Once it was all pureed, you'd never know there had been giant holes in the leaves. The recipe and more. 

free tickets for saturday's talks and more

Because of the recent crazy hailstorm, the garden's topsy-turvy. But with a little help from my friends, I've got an action-packed, improvised "Open Day" on tap for Saturday June 1, anyhow, from 9 AM to 1 PM, here in Copake Falls, New York, with three unscathed nearby Garden Conservancy gardens open, too...and a giant plant sale. Get details, directions and FREE lecture tickets NOW.