 Friday, September 11, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (0 comments)
Everyone has an opinion on turnips. They either like them or they don’t, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about turnips’ super-nutritious greens or crunchy roots. This food finickiness can present a problem in autumn, when turnips plump up like magic in gardens. The next thing you know, your house is divided into turnip lovers and turnip haters, and cooking from the garden has become a sticky business. Here are several great recipe ideas to help turn your harvest of turnips into dishes your family likes to eat! Read more...
Categories: cooking turnips |
 Friday, September 04, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (11 comments)
I recently returned home after camping with my family to find four of my tomato plants had been attacked by blight while I was away. All the symptoms were there – blotches on the leaves and stems, fruit turning brown and sections of the plant dying. My first concern was how to prevent it spreading to my many other tomatoes and to keep it from affecting next year’s crop. Understanding how plant diseases and pests spread is central to this as may plant diseases and pests can survive over winter in a garden, ready to attack young seedlings the following year. Read more...
Categories: garden disease pests |
Friday, August 28, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (1 comments)
Fast and dependable, beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are among the most popular crops grown in gardens. Over 85 percent of GrowVeg users grow beans, which come in a huge array of types and colors. Trying them all will keep you busy for years, especially if you grow both snap beans and shelling types. Read more...
Categories: gardening beans |
Thursday, August 20, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (4 comments)
When talking with new gardeners I am often asked what vegetables I would recommend for beginners to grow. To their surprise I often suggest swiss chard and the usual response is “what’s that?” Chard is one of the most versatile vegetables available and will keep cropping from early summer right through winter. Not only that but it is incredibly easy to grow, suffers from almost no pests and will withstand most forms of neglect in a garden – erratic watering, competing weeds and even poor soil... Read more...
Categories: Gardening chard |
Friday, August 14, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (2 comments)
My little patch of sweet corn is only 3 rows deep, so I plan to help with the pollination process. Unlike most garden crops, which are pollinated by insects or vibration, corn depends on wind to bring its male and female parts together. In a small planting, pollen shed by the tassels at the tops of the plants (the male parts) may blow away before enough of the microscopic grains land on the silks at the ear tips (the female parts). Fortunately, it’s easy enough to lend a hand. Read more...
Categories: gardening pollination corn |
Friday, August 07, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (17 comments)
Hot chilli peppers are something I have always had mixed success with. Usually I grow plenty of sweet peppers with a few chilli plants on the side. Yet despite trying several varieties over the past few years I have rarely managed to get much heat out of home grown peppers. Growing here in the UK does mean they take longer to ripen and need extra care and attention. Still, the results were disappointing – plenty of peppers but where was the heat? Read more...
Categories: gardening peppers |
Friday, July 31, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (6 comments)
Yes, ratoons is spelled correctly, and my garden is full of them. By midsummer most of my lettuces are ratoons, as are all of the cabbage and broccoli. What is a ratoon? Derived from the Spanish word retoño (to resprout), ratoons are second crops that grow from the stumps or stubble of the first. This makes ratoon cropping different from a cut-and-come-again growth cycle, in which harvested leaves or stems are quickly replaced by new ones (chard and basil are prime examples). Ratoon crops regrow from the lowest part of the stem, or stump. Sugar cane and rice often produce sizeable ratoon harvests, as do some vegetables... Read more...
Categories: vegetable gardening |
Friday, July 24, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (1 comments)
There’s no doubt that gardening is a great family activity. As well as exercise, fresh air and fun there is the prospect of encouraging healthy eating by growing your own fresh produce. Whether it be lending a hand on the vegetable plot or helping grandparents with the digging there are plenty of opportunities for growing together. So I thought I would round up some of the best ideas I have come across recently for encouraging adults and children to garden together... Read more...
Categories: gardening children family |
Friday, July 17, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (12 comments)
As gardeners watch their tomato plants load up with green fruits, the question of whether or not to thin them can keep you up at night. To make things worse, thinning methods that work in one climate can prove disastrous in another – so much so that debates between American and European gardeners on the subject have led to nasty conflicts. In order to set the record straight – and help you grow your best crop of tomatoes – here’s a global report on thinning trusses of tomato fruits... Read more...
Categories: gardening tomato pruning |
Friday, July 10, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (3 comments)
Growing your own food is the best way to ensure that you know exactly what went into producing it. However, most gardeners are unable to be completely self-sufficient in food and have to also rely on fruit and vegetables grown commercially. It is this which makes the question of pesticide residues so important – what exactly is on the fruit and vegetables we buy? Should we only buy higher priced organic produce or is it OK to compromise? The best way to answer this is to look at the extent of the pesticide problem... Read more...
Categories: pesticide, fruit, vegetables |