August is Escapes Month!

Dog Days. One of the amazing things about NYC is that during August so many people leave. This means that, of all times of the year, the city becomes its most quiet, calm and relaxing.

The only rub, of course, is that you want to be outside.

Last Wednesday, on one of the hottest nights, we had the pleasure of being invited to cold drinks in Alex Bandon's amazing garden. Despite the busy-ness of the day, as we sat sipping ice cold Pims cups with mint leaves and eating bruschetta with tomato from Alex's own plants, we were far, far away. We have a little garden (that needs help right now), but it got us wondering how many of you have garden escapes of any kind?

Comments (8)

We just rescued our yard from a decade of neglect. It was done on a serious budget and still has a long way to go, but it is a joy to have. The bf blogged about it here:

http://fiveoftoast.blogspot.com/2007/08/it-came-from-yard.html

posted by rcwellington on August 13th 2007 at 7:31am
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I wish I had one. That's all.

posted by Frau on August 13th 2007 at 7:33am
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We have a garden plot at our (weekend) condo in CT -- but with business travel, vacation, and several obligatory weekends away -- it is now a jungle!!!! But we did manage to hack our way through to some zinnias (now adorning our bedroom and living room here in NYC) and some basil -- yummm!

Gardens need lots of attention -- wish we had more time to give to ours!!!!!

posted by Mid-C Frank on August 13th 2007 at 9:34am
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What I wouldn't do for a nice little yard, patio, or even a deck...

posted by trygve on August 13th 2007 at 10:07am
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somehow i lucked out and got a huge (by brooklyn standards) backyard. it's such a gift and i adore spending time in it, but during the heat of the summer the mosquitos are unbearable and ferocious. i could swim in deep-woods off and they'd still attack.

i got tiki torches but they only help if you create a tiki prison for yourself. citronella candles are worthless from my experience. what else can i do?

posted by homo_wner on August 13th 2007 at 12:24pm
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My little yard is currently swathed in scaffolding and roofers. Speaking of swathes, homo_wner could you do some sort of drape-y bed canopy hideaway thing with mosquito nets?!

posted by tin_angel on August 14th 2007 at 2:07am
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I wish a had a small garden or courtyard or a bigger balcony... i just love sitting outside after work, hanging around with friends for an "apéro" or just digg my fingers into the dirt and plant nice greenery.....

Homo_wner: i've jsut been to the Camargue in France where they also suffer a lot from moskitos. Where we stayed they had a device in the garden ( it looked like a zodiac-motos actually) and it was filled with kind of hormons which attracted the female moskitos and caught/killed them. They told us that it's only the female moskitos who bite. It seemed to work, i have no souvenir of being particularly annoyed about the moskitos...maybe you can find something like that in the US ? (or where-ever you live ?)

posted by Jany on August 14th 2007 at 5:29am
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thanks for the ideas! i think i might do a combo. have the bed hideaway for a definite mosquito-free space and then see if i can find the female mosquito hormone attraction device for when we're at the grill or gardening.

posted by homo_wner on August 14th 2007 at 10:54am
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