 Friday, May 14, 2010 by Barbara Pleasant (26 comments)
Summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) is fast and easy to grow in warm summer weather, and the plants are often phenomenally productive. Courgettes (zucchini), yellow squash, Middle Eastern types and scallop squash are all summer squash. In my garden, I may grow three or four varieties, though I grow no more than six summer squash plants, total. The big, burly plants take up quite a bit of space in the garden, which you don't want to waste by growing more than you will actually eat. And then there is the more serious risk of boring the household cook to the point where he or she puts their foot down and says they have simply had enough. In a good year, summer squash burnout becomes an imminent risk in most gardening households. Read more...
Categories: gardening summer squash |
 Friday, May 07, 2010 by Jeremy Dore (10 comments)
Weeding is one of the least popular jobs to be done in a vegetable garden. If the weather is fine and there is time to spare then it can be quite enjoyable. However, during busy periods weeds can quickly take hold and controlling them feels like more of a battle than a leisure activity. So, what are the best ways to keep weeds under control without resorting to harmful methods such as weedkillers? Read more...
Categories: weeding vegetables gardening |
Friday, April 30, 2010 by Barbara Pleasant (15 comments)
From its Himalayan home in Tibet, rhubarb got a lift to Europe with Marco Polo, and was introduced in America around 1820. Hardy and resilient, rhubarb is now grown in temperate climates around the world. One of only a few perennial vegetables, rhubarb plants often produce for years with little care. Read more...
Categories: growing cooking rhubarb |
Friday, April 23, 2010 by Jeremy Dore (9 comments)
To most people plant pots are just throwaway items – flimsy bits of plastic packaging for houseplants bought from a garden centre or DIY store. To gardeners, however, plant pots are an essential part of raising plants from seed - which often predominates the early parts of spring when the ground is still too cold for outdoor sowing. Choosing plant pots and containers is something we may not give much thought to but there are a surprising number of options and choosing the best types can make a big difference to the success of young plants... Read more...
Categories: gardening growing pots |
Friday, April 16, 2010 by Barbara Pleasant (6 comments)
This time of year my garden is so littered with pots, cloches, and flapping sheets of row cover (garden fleece) that it looks just plain trashy. This is a temporary state of affairs that will soon pass as the weather settles down, but meanwhile the view is cluttered at best. The untidy scene is worth bearing in light of the good work being done by various mud-smudged objects, each of which has an important job that helps protect young veggies from the stresses of the season... Read more...
Categories: gardening seedling protection |
Saturday, April 10, 2010 by Jeremy Dore (8 comments)
Traditional gardening advice is often based on a scaled-down version of agriculture: dig in manure, till the soil, plant the seeds, wait until they mature, harvest and then you’re done for the year. The problem with this is that it assumes you have plenty of land which is often not the case for home-growing. Over the years several techniques have been developed which can dramatically increase the quantity of vegetables you can grow in a garden area but how do you know which will work well for your situation? Here’s a concise guide to the available options... Read more...
Categories: gardening vegetables succession planting intercropping deep beds |
Friday, April 02, 2010 by Barbara Pleasant (10 comments)
About half of the seedlings I start indoors grow exactly as they should, with one sturdy plant near the middle of each seedling container, so that the root ball forms a plug plant type mass. The others come up crowded, and need to be “pricked out” – gardening lingo for separating the little seedlings and transplanting them to individual containers. Gardeners who buy seedlings also do a fair amount of pricking out, because it’s not usual to find several lettuce, basil or even tomato seedlings growing in the same pot. Transplanting the young seedlings to individual containers can double or triple your supply of plants... Read more...
Categories: Gardening seedlings transplanting |
Friday, March 26, 2010 by Jeremy Dore (3 comments)
The French are famous for their sophisticated cuisine but the past week has seen a blow to their national pride as it was revealed that the British are now better at home cooking. A survey, jointly commissioned by British and French magazines, found that the British cook more regularly and with more variety than their French counterparts! Home cooking is certainly something that we should be proud of given the increasing trends of obesity and nutritionally-poor processed food. Even better is to be using home-grown vegetables but can meals from your garden be quick and easy to prepare? Read more...
Categories: Cooking fresh garden produce |
Friday, March 19, 2010 by Barbara Pleasant (2 comments)
In our GrowGuide article on Starting a New Vegetable Plot, there is a detailed guide to the best ways to transform any site into a fine vegetable garden. Quite a bit of digging is required, so it’s best to start with a small space and do it right. But what if you can’t? I know of three quick ways to create growing space for veggies: bag beds, bale beds, and comforter compost. I’ve tried them all, and each has its pros and cons... Read more...
Categories: new vegetable garden bed |
Friday, March 12, 2010 by Jeremy Dore (1 comments)
Kitchen gardening has undergone a revolution over the past decade as garden companies, keen to exploit the resurgence of interest in healthy home-grown vegetables, have pushed the idea of ‘convenience gardening’. This has led to some strange excesses such as the recent expose by Gardening Which magazine that found carrot plug-plants being sold at £1.09 each ($1.60) – more than a whole bunch of organic carrots would normally cost. There is definitely a place for plug plants and convenience but sometimes the traditional methods are worth reviving and the art of creating a seedbed is one of those methods definitely worth learning... Read more...
Categories: organic gardening seeds |