Like Ms. Brown, I am madly in love with summer—the smell of Coppertone is enough to get my heart racing—so in honor of the first day of the season, I bring you one of her tips for living life to the fullest in the upcoming months:

How to Play Beach Volleyball

Scout out a quiet place away from the water and sunbathers, then draw lines in the sand that measure approximately 30 feet wide by 60 feet long.

The serving player must hit the ball over the net and inside the court lines within three attempts. If the server fails to successfully place the ball within three serves, the opposing team gains control.

Players rotate positions clockwise whenever their team gains control of the ball (Thus, each team has a new server at that time.)

Once the ball is hit over the net to the opposing team, a player cannot contact the   ball twice in a row unless the first touch is off a block at the net. A player cannot grab the ball, allow it to come to rest in his hand, or touch the net. If he does so, he forfeits the ball to the opposing team.

A point is earned when the serving team wins a rally, or an ace is served.

The first team to reach 15 points wins. A match is played in sets of three or five games.

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This summer (which officially starts TODAY!), before you head off to your beach bungalow, pack a picnic for the park, or spend a day in the shade, pick up Summer: A User’s Guide and make the best of this short and sweet season.

None of us New Englanders will soon forget Winter 2011. Attitudes are mixed, depending on your point of view: skiers loved it, snow shovelers hated it, walkers slipped and slid.

No matter, day after day no one could deny the sheer beauty of it – sparkling ice-drenched branches, Zen-gardenlike patterns in windswept snow, late afternoon sun transforming woods and fields into studies in peach, lavender, and white.

But perhaps the biggest boon of all may turn out to be what that deep layer of snow did for our gardens, and as it melts, we’re just beginning to see its effects.

Sunday, March 20 was the iconic first day of spring – sunny, mild(ish), windy. It was impossible to resist the urge to check out what might be happening in the garden. (In reality, it was the first time since early December that we could even see the garden, never mind check it out.) Only a few weeks earlier, it was still under 2 feet of snow. We’re lucky: We live high on the slope of a steep, sandy hill, so as the snow melts, the icy water quickly runs off, leaving the garden ready to work much sooner than those of our friends in the valley. In spite of the fact that some of the debris we cleared away was still clumped in ice, the signs of life in the uncovered ground caught our breath: The knobby buds of hellebores were pushing through the soil like little fists, early daffodils already showed yellow buds, heuchera and azalea still wore their richly purple leaves (most years their foliage is completely winterkilled).

Spring is always magical, but never more so than this year. Under that heavy blanket of snow, both loved and despised, so much life has been impatiently waiting to explode. Snow’s protective covering is clearly a kind of magic to respect and treasure, and who knows how much lovelier than ever the rest of spring and summer will be!

Has spring sprung in Maine—or is your garden still under a blanket of snow?

Still a blanket, but there are some holes in it. Winter hangs on very late on the coast of Maine, because the ocean takes so long to warm up. Temperatures are still in the 30s, and it’s April! But some of my favorite signs of spring have appeared: the killdeer that build their perfect four-egg nests in our fields, the pussy willows, and, of course, mud. Living, breathing mud.

What fruits and vegetables are in season now? Which is your favorite?

Since we grow partly in greenhouses at Four Season Farm, there is quite a bit in season now. We’ve been harvesting spinach since fall in unheated greenhouses, joined in early March by baby leaf salad mix, head lettuce, arugula, radishes, tatsoi, Chinese broccoli, pac choi and scallions. My favorite is the pac choi, picked when the heads are only about 8 inches long. They’re deliciously mild and tender, the tops bright green and the white stems crisp and succulent.

How do you plan to prepare them?

I use them cooked in stir-fries and raw in salads, but my favorite thing is to slice them and serve them raw underneath fresh seafood. Tuesday night they were topped with lemony salmon. Tonight it’s going to be tiny Maine shrimp seared in garlic butter, and round red radishes sliced very thin.

What fruit or vegetable are you most looking forward to harvesting come summer?

I’d have to name three. Heirloom tomatoes such as Brandywine and Striped German. Charentais melons, perfumed and sweet. And raspberries, eaten by the handful right in the row. And a fourth: garden peas eaten the same way.

Any quick advice for gardeners looking to prep their tracts for the spring?

The most important thing is to keep from handling the soil until it has dried out. It should feel like a squeezed-out sponge, not a dripping one. Otherwise, you’ll do great damage to the soil’s structure. That’s why it’s best to dig or till in any soil amendments in fall. If you have done that, you could poke in early peas while it’s still a bit moist. Otherwise wait a while to dig in that all-important compost, even if it means missing out on some early crops. If it’s an unusually long, wet spring, use boards to walk on in the garden, and apply the compost on the soil surface, on each side of the row. It will work its way in later as you weed and cultivate.

Complete this sentence: When I’m not gardening or cooking, I can most often be found…

At the computer, writing books for Workman and my weekly column “A Cook’s Garden” in The Washington Post.

It is hard to believe, but gardening season is upon us. This past weekend I started some seeds in my basement, and then started a fire and cozied into my couch to read the beginning chapters of Storey‘s new gardening book, Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook.

Some of the first advice the authors Ron Kujawski and Jennifer Kujawski give is “think small.” They elaborate on this advice: “Plan your first garden to include just a few favorite vegetables, no more than can be eaten fresh . . . until you are comfortable with home growing.”

The advice in Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook started me thinking about my gardening experience.

Here is my story.

I began gardening in 2008. I did start small. I started growing herbs, flowers, and a few vegetables in containers. All my plants were very successful.

The chive plant below was planted from a bought seedling in 2008 and placed on the outside of a whiskey barrel planter. The planter was also new to my yard in 2008, and was the container for two cherry tomato plants. It has since housed sungolds (a golden-orange-yellow variety of cherry tomatoes), more of the red cherry tomatoes, and bell peppers.

The blooming chive plant.

Due to my beginner’s luck in 2008 I was excited for the next gardening season and I began planning a ground garden. Our yard is a very odd-shaped plot of land, and was not well maintained by the previous owners. We had a Northeastern version of a jungle growing behind our shed. Despite the massive tangle of growing and dead plant life, I saw potential. I noticed that this overgrown area receives a good amount of sun and was a perfect sized spot for a garden.

I now knew what I wanted to do, but with the mess out there, I didn’t know where to begin.

The proposed site for my garden, March 2009

The chosen site for my garden was full of shubbery, weeds, vines, debris, roots, and rocks. The excavation of all of this was overwhelming — I didn’t think I could do this on my own. I needed someone with experience and equipment. I asked around at work and I asked friends and family if they knew anyone who could do this type of work and wouldn’t charge me a fortune. The husband of my co-worker had a retired friend who took on odd jobs similar to what I needed done. I hired him and a few weeks later I had garden plot that I could begin work on.

The first year wasn’t easy. There were still many roots, sticks, and stones that I needed to pull. Also, the dirt was very hard-packed. I did my best to get the big pieces out of the way and loosen up the soil. Then I spent a small fortune on bags of organic garden soil to build raised mounds.

The gardening books I was reading at this time, The Backyard Homestead and The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, both highly recommended raised beds — the main reason is for drainage purposes.

Before I built up, I dug out. I dug out the rocks, roots, and sticks, but I also dug out some of the dirt. I did not have my soil tested (as recommended by most all gardening books), instead I replaced the first 10″ of the soil with newly purchased organic garden soil. I filled in what I dug out, and then added more to make slightly raised rows.

I continued to keep it small. My 2009 garden had only 2 rows. One was mostly tomatoes (a total of 15 hybrid plants that I started from seed) and a few herbs. The second row was zucchini and summer squash on one end and a lettuce patch on the other. I also continued using my containers for flowers, additional herbs, cherry tomoatoes, and peas — some of which I started from seed in my basement.

My first in-ground garden, summer 2009

My squash was abundant, my peas produced plenty, the herbs grew well into the fall, and my tomato plants grew as tall as me (don’t jump off your seat, I’m only 5′ tall). I was very proud of my tomatoes, I started them in April, and they were just getting ready to turn from green to red, purple, or yellow (rainbow mix, remember), and then they got blight.

The late blight affected my tomatoes the first week of August.

I actually cried when I had to pull each and every one from the dirt and shove them into garbage bags. It was very disappointing, especially for a newbie gardener, who spent a fortune on dirt, stakes, grow lights, etc. So frustrating, in fact, I didn’t even attempt to grow tomatoes the following year — just cherry tomatoes that I bought already started.

Last spring I expanded my garden even more. I added three more rows and a 5′ x 5′ lettuce patch. I successfully grew garlic (planted the bulbs in November 2009), cucumbers, green beans, peas, banana peppers, bell peppers, zucchini, summer squash, boston marrow squash, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, Romaine lettuce, buttercrunch lettuce, and herbs in 2010. A few I started from seed, and many I purchased as small plants from local nurseries and farmers markets.

My 2010 garden

There are 4 rows in the center. The fifth row is along the fence to the left — beans and peas grew there. The lettuce patch is over to the right and is enclosed to protect it from hungry bunnies. Additionally, I had my husband make me a crude compost bin made out of old pallets. I’m hoping this year I won’t have to spend so much on dirt!

The compost bin.

I planted 40 garlic bulbs in November (some from past summer’s harvest and some newly purchased) — they should be be sprouting any week now.

2010's garlic harvest drying in the sun. I replanted some and cooked with the rest—I just ran out in February!

And, last weekend I started some seeds under grow lights in my basement: kale, parsley, basil, cumin, tomatoes (several varieties big and small), strawberries, leeks, peppers (several varieties), peas, lettuce, and broccoli.

Kale is the first to sprout—came up after only 4 days.

I clearly marked each row of seeds I started.

I still have more seeds to start in the second week of April, and even more to sow right in the garden in late May! I may have too many plants for my little garden.

Should I expand again or am I growing more than I can chew?

Knit combinations together with a theme: If you feel overwhelmed stepping into your local garden center, try going in with a plan. One of the easiest ways to stay on track is by choosing a color theme and sticking to it. Also because leaves last longer than flowers, choose a mix of foliage plants that match your motif.

Select a succession of perennial blooms: Because summer is a season loaded with flowers, it’s easy to have a non-stop flower display throughout the season. Pick strong performers that peak at different times throughout the summer to have an endless parade of blooms.

Have fun with see-through plants: Bed and borders do not always have shorter plants in the front with taller in the back. Taller plants that have an airy habit (such as tall verbena) can be placed closer to the front, yet still allow you to see the plants in the back. The effect can be dramatic and playful.

Give it up to summer-flowering shrubs: A fair share of shrubs give a good floral show in the summer. Try Virginia sweetspire, clethra, bigleaf hydrangea, or sun-loving butterfly bush.

Choose partners that “pop”: To create unforgettable combinations, choose plants that contrast in color as well as texture. A splash of deep burgundy or bright yellow foliage really helps to make neighbors stand out. Or the combination of small and large leaves and flowers provides extended interest.

Preserving Herbs in Sugar:
You can preserve some of the sweeter herbs (lemon verbena and lavender work well) in sugar. The flavors blend and make lovely, subtle companions to use instead of regular sugar in any cold food. Pack fresh herb leaves in granulated white sugar in airtight containers. Stir every day to prevent clumping. After the sugar stays dry and loose, remove the leaves before they become crumbly and use the finished “herb sugar” in iced teas or desserts. (Note: The aromatic oils bake off, so they don’t work well in baked or cooked dishes.)

Herbal Honeys:
Honey makes herbal teas palatable, but it is also good medicine on its own—it is very soothing for sore throats and coughs. It is also an antibacterial and is said to strengthen the immune system.  To make an herbal honey, sterilize the jar by boiling it for 10 minutes or running it through the sterilizing cycle of your dishwasher. Pack it with the herb of your choice. Heat enough honey to fill the jar, bringing the honey to the point where it is steaming but not boiling. Pour over the herb, seal the jar, and let it sit in a sunny window for a few days. Strain out the used herb and put a sprig of fresh herb in the jar with the flavored honey.

Herb Butters:
Many herbs—cilantro and dill, for instance—make delicious herb butters. The simplest way is to soften unsalted butter and combine it with chopped herb and lemon juice. The proportions: 4 parts butter, 2 parts herb, 1/2 part lemon juice. This freezes quite nicely and will give you a touch of the herb flavor whenever you need it.

Here are a few pointers to get started:

Rather than spending a lot of time digging up sod, mow the grass down to the nub and cover the space with several layers of newspaper or brown kraft paper.

Treat your raised bed like a giant container and fill with a mixture of half potting mix and half high-quality compost.

If you like, line the edges of your little garden with wooden planks, scrap wood or bricks…anything really (But keep away from pressure-treated wood, which leaches chemicals into the soil).

Plant seedlings that have been acclimated to the outdoors. To do this, take your seedlings outside for a few hours at a time until you can finally leave them out overnight on a sheltered porch. Water them with a gentle, but thorough, sprinkling.  You want the earth to stay moist but never be flooded.

Give plants some extra protection from sun, wind and cold those first few days they’re in the ground. Cover them with old baskets or a thin sheet for a day or two, until they’re used to their new digs.

Make sure your outdoor space is prepared for you to enjoy it! Put up a hammock or bring out some blankets and a book.

Set up your own budding entomologist with a readymade backyard toolkit in The Bug Book and Bug Bottle by Hugh Danks. Or encourage your maddest scientist to wreak experimental havoc with Sean Connolly’s The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science. She may not wind up changing the course of history–but then again, who knows!

1. Stop using chemicals in the landscape. Period.

2. Learn sustainable or organic techniques by reading and taking courses.  Google “organic gardening” plus “courses” plus your state’s name. Understand how to transform a chemical-dependent landscape to a healthy, sustainable landscape. Find where to purchase and how to use certified organic fertilizers and control products.

3. Work with your local conservation commission. They are generally very reasonable people trying to do the right thing for your community and for the earth.

4. Healthy soil is the basis for all life. Prepare planting beds and lawn areas appropriately.

5. Plants want to grow. Learn your horticulture, match plants to the cultural conditions they prefer, give them a healthy soil environment, and then get out of their way.

6. Use compost to top-dress and even to mulch.

7. Use water wisely. Design landscapes that will need virtually no supplemental water after two or three years.

8. Protect neighboring wetlands during landscape construction. Whether or not local ordinances require it, you are a steward of the environment and should install a temporary silt fence and hay bales to catch any erosion that may run into a storm drain or foul a nearby wetland.

9. Dispose of all refuse and detritus properly. Recycle everything you possibly can.

10. Walk the walk. Practice sustainable gardening in your own gardens.