august garden chores; last call to win 'vegetable literacy' cookbook; fight pond algae

august chores; last call to win 'vegetable literacy' cookbook; fight pond algae

Greetings!

Remember the late-1980s ad for a medical-alert device, where a woman says: "I've fallen and I can't get up"? (Jack, above, agrees, and has made a resolve to spend the rest of the summer expanding his range of sleeping postures and locations. And yes, he's a Mac user; no PCs for him.)

But I feel a bit like that woman in the ad when it comes to the garden right now -- like I wouldn't mind if a rescue crew showed up to offer a helping hand. Sound familiar? Plantings may be looking weary, too -- yellowing, floppy, holey -- as if to match the gardener's state of mind. We can't start all over in August, but we can edit out many botanical signs of fatigue with the month's key garden chores, like this.

algae in the water garden? a recap of top tips

It's that time -- when the algae wants to turn your water garden green. Review my tips for how I fight the stuff naturally, and usually win.

Margaret Roach
A Way to Garden

P.S. -- I keep dipping back into my interview with Deborah Madison -- and into "Vegetable Literacy," her latest cookbook (you can win a copy, and get her Romesco sauce recipe right now). Some herbs she wouldn't be without:

Shiso, or Perilla: add slivers to a salad, or serve it with beets.
Epazote: "a stinky, strange herb," she says, and "a bean herb" (meaning often cooked with beans, but also good with cheese).
Lovage: "I'm crazy about it-and the gophers love it, too."
Salad burnet: "An absolutely exquisite-looking herb."
And if your cilantro is going by? "The green coriander buds were my big discovery last year -- divine!" says Madison. "They're a little wild, and lovely in a salad, faro or wild rice."

Get more of this master garden-to-table cook's advice, and maybe win her book.