If you’re a gardener, you likely have a stash of seeds. If you’re anything like me, these seeds vary from nice, neat and labeled packages gleaned from stores and friends to roughly-made envelopes with penciled names on them. Whether the seeds are gleaned from your own garden plants or from the garden store, you’ll want to keep them safe this winter so that you can plant them in the spring. Label your seeds so that you know what you have and where it came from. If you have more details about planting and growing that plant, add notes to your … Continue reading →

Raspberries: these sweet, tart little nuggets are one of the best things about summer. Put them onto cereal or eat them straight off the raspberry bush. Yum! H ow do you grow raspberries? It’s quite easy to grow raspberries from the various potted varieties in the nursery. If a friend has a raspberry bush, ask if she has any smaller plants popping up in the gardens. I see baby plants in my garden frequently, and they turn into new bushes to give to friends or to plant elsewhere in the garden. Plant raspberries in a dry, sunny spot in the … Continue reading →

Last night we ate deck salad. We ate some the night before, too. It’s rather good, this deck salad, even though its name brings to mind sweaty folks cleaning off the deck of a ship. This is my latest experiment in small-space gardening, and it’s working beautifully, probably due to our very cool and wet spring. The salad is growing on our deck in three planter boxes that I placed there last summer. If you have a small space, you can grow a garden too. It’s very simple! What could you grow? A tomato plant or two, a tiny apple … Continue reading →

When should we move our tender tomatoes and growing squash outdoors? This is the burning question in our house. When you’re living in a cooler and much wetter climate than most, when should you move your vegetable starts outside? How about when you live in a climate that’s just really cold until June? Or one that is hot, hot, hot come April? Here’s a quick guide to what you should be doing with your vegetable starts. First, let’s talk a little bit about why you start vegetables indoors. The majority of our vegetables are not well-suited to the exact climates … Continue reading →

In the winter, the garden becomes quiet. Everything nestles under the snow: a layer of leaves, sleepy bugs, and soil. But the gardeners are still busy. Inside their houses, they pore over seed catalogues, searching for the perfect tomato as the winter grows colder. By spring, they will have made their selections and ordered their seeds. It seems so simple, this winter ritual of choosing what will grow in the garden next spring, summer, and fall. How can you choose wholesome seeds that will grow into hearty plants that work with your local environment? This week, I’ll explore your seed … Continue reading →

It’s been a wild spring here, with hail and pouring rain and temperatures that are near freezing. However, the garden is calling and so is the soil. Soil is the foundation of the health of your garden. In your vegetable garden, you likely have a whole lot of soil at the moment. If you live somewhere that is a little warmer, you may also have perennials or annual food crops growing. If you live somewhere quite cold, your garden might be just stretching its tendrils and waking up. In the winter, adding a cover crop like those fava beans or … Continue reading →

Oh, spring around here has been cold. Some of you who live in cooler climates than I do might laugh at the fact that we’ve hit winter clothing temperatures repeatedly into May, but I’m not. My garden isn’t laughing too hard either. What can you do to salvage a cold spring in your garden? Take your cues from the weather. If it’s really, really cold, you don’t need to plant, even if it is officially spring. It’s better to plant when the garden is ready instead of by the clock. Get a head start, but hedge your bets. I’ve learned … Continue reading →

The pea: it’s a staple in soups, where it has the tendency to form a thick sludge on the bottom of your pot when you’re not looking. But oh, the taste of the fresh-picked pea in the summer. There’s really nothing better. How can you get that taste for yourself? Grow your own, of course! Luckily, the pea is quite simple to grow. It’s somewhat shade tolerant. Peas love my partial shade garden, which is a good thing because most other fruits and vegetables really don’t like it very much. If you have full sun, plant early. It grows early … Continue reading →