Grandma Gigi’s home & garden hints from Vermont
Grandma Gigi Ashford 
A clothesline costs very little, uses no electricity, and gives sheets a clean smell that a dryer cannot copy. Many people hang laundry in summer and then give up when the weather turns. In my house the line keeps working in all four seasons, with a few adjustments that I will share here. This article … Read more
A north-facing window is the one many people give up on. It never gets direct sun, the light is soft and steady, and most plant labels that say “bright light” do not apply. But some plants come from forest floors and shaded places, and they are happy exactly there. Here are eight easy houseplants that … Read more
By January the air inside an old farmhouse gets as dry as a cracker, and my houseplants tell me so. Leaf tips turn brown and crispy, lower leaves yellow and drop, and a plant that looked fine in October starts to sulk. The cause is usually not neglect. It is dry heated air, weaker light, … Read more
Homemade laundry soap is a thrifty, old-fashioned idea, and I have mixed my share of it. I like it for some jobs and I do not like it for others, and nobody told me the difference at the start. Here I will give you the plain facts, so you can decide whether it suits your … Read more
You water a plant, and a small cloud of tiny black flies lifts off the soil. They are fungus gnats, and they are one of the most common houseplant pests. The adults are mostly a nuisance, flying around lamps and windows and drifting into your coffee. The real damage comes from their young, which live … Read more
Every grandmother knows the sight: a child comes in from the yard with green knees on a good pair of jeans and a very proud face. Grass stains look hopeless, but they are one of the easier stains to beat if you treat them before the clothes ever reach the dryer. In this article I … Read more
Every fall I open the closet where the winter coats hang and meet the same stale smell, a bit like a damp basement. A musty closet is not only unpleasant. Wool and cotton take on the odor, and the coat you reach for on the first cold morning smells like the closet. The smell comes … Read more
Spring gets all the credit for cleaning, but I think fall is the better season for it. Once the windows close and the heat comes on, you will be inside for months. Whatever dust, damp, and grime is in the house stays there with you, and the air gets drier and closer. So each October … Read more
Companion planting means growing certain plants side by side because they help each other. Gardeners have talked about it for hundreds of years, and some of it is solid, practical sense. Some of it is tradition that has never been tested well. In a small garden, where every square foot counts, it helps to know … Read more
The oven door glass is the first thing guests notice and the last thing I want to scrub. Grease splatters bake on again and again until the glass turns brown and you can no longer see whether the roast is done. The strong oven sprays work, but their fumes sting the nose and eyes, and … Read more