 Friday, May 22, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (1 comments)
There is little argument that you will spend less at the market by growing your own vegetables, but some of the biggest money savers in your garden are humble herbs. In addition to cash not spent on bunches of parsley or basil, having fresh herbs in the garden makes cooking home grown veggies more interesting and fun. Culinary herbs offer big flavors, too, whether you’re sprinkling chopped dill over lightly steamed carrots or adding oregano to zucchini destined for the freezer. Many herbs can be dried in small bunches hung in a shady corner of your kitchen. You can easily dry a year’s supply of oregano or thyme from single established clumps. Read more...
Categories: gardening herbs |
 Friday, May 15, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (0 comments)
It is only when you grow your own lettuce leaves that you realise what a wonderful variety of textures, colours and flavours there are to experience. When I was young the most that went into a salad was sliced iceberg lettuce with some tomato and cucumber and this is still what many people limit themselves to today. Although supermarkets now offer more choice, it is so simple to grow a wide seasonal variety that would look good in even the most chic of restaurants. So, let’s get creative and celebrate the fantastic combinations that can be prepared from a garden... Read more...
Categories: gardening salad |
Friday, May 08, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (16 comments)
After 30 years of growing tomatoes, I am still discovering great tomato varieties, and there’s no end in sight. Consider the numbers. Let’s say there are 800 legitimate tomato varieties, and you have room to grow 4 varieties each year. After gardening for a century, you will have tasted about half of them. So here's my favorite varieties together with the reasons why I love them... Read more...
Categories: tomatoes, vegetables, gardening |
Friday, May 01, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (2 comments)
My youngest daughter has just had her first birthday which is a delightful stage. As she starts to take her first steps and learn to explore the world (especially our garden) it marks the first in a series of milestones that will see her gradually gain more independence. It is a process that is mirrored in the plant world as we, the gardeners, look after the seedlings in our care until they are ready to survive on their own and fulfil their purpose of producing a harvest. Plants have different needs during the various stages of their development and, like a young child, they need the right kind of attention at the right time... Read more...
Categories: gardening seedlings |
Friday, April 24, 2009 by Barbara Pleasant (10 comments)
Around 1570, potatoes brought back from South America by gold-hungry conquistadors were fed to a group of prisoners in Seville, Spain, to see if the potatoes would kill them. The prisoners survived, and monks soon began carrying tubers with them as they traveled around Europe. Two hundred years later, the potato had become a staple food. These days there are thousands of varieties to choose from and it is fun to grow the potatoes you like from one year to the next... Read more...
Categories: potatoes,vegetable gardening |
Friday, April 17, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (7 comments)
In discussions about the growing obesity ‘epidemic’ in the affluent countries of the world some people point to vegetable gardening as part of the solution. Obviously diet is a major factor in obesity and gardening helps people to reconnect with good food sources and increase their intake of nutritious substitutes for over-refined foods. Exercise is also listed as a reason for taking up gardening and I have heard many keen gardeners scoff at people who go to a gym, saying that if they just got out in the garden more they wouldn’t need it. So I thought I would take a look at whether gardening really is good exercise and how to maximise the benefit... Read more...
Categories: gardening exercise |
Friday, April 10, 2009 by Jeremy Dore and Barbara Pleasant (0 comments)
GrowVeg.com started life in Britain as a way to help gardeners organize their vegetable gardens and achieve more success through good planning. From the start we wanted to make a tool which made it intuitive to plan, space and rotate crops without having to wade through encyclopedias of gardening. What soon became apparent was the exploding interest in home-grown food developing around the world. Within a few weeks we had people emailing us from North America, Australia and across Europe. Just over a year on we are now a truly international company and I am delighted to welcome American garden expert Barbara Pleasant to introduce herself as our second regular contributor to GrowBlog… Read more...
Categories: GrowVeg.com, vegetables, gardening |
Friday, March 27, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (14 comments)
Plug plants are seedlings which have been germinated and grown in trays of small cells. When the roots have grown sufficiently they can be easily pushed out of the trays and either transplanted into larger pots or planted outside in the ground. Plug plants used to be largely confined to bedding plants and flowers but all that is now changing as edible gardening becomes more popular. Many nurseries and seed companies have started to sell a range of vegetable plug plants and these offer a very easy route to starting a productive garden. So what are the benefits of using plug plants and are they worth producing yourself Read more...
Categories: plug plants gardening vegetables |
Friday, March 20, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (6 comments)
The media image of the vegetable gardener is the typical suburban house in beautiful surroundings with plenty of space to grow things. In reality, many people who want to grow their own food don’t have a large back garden or convenient access to a plot of land. Particularly in cities, living in a shared house or an apartment can mean that there is only room for a few pots of salad by the back door. So what do you do if you want to grow more food but don’t have the space? One option that is becoming increasingly popular is the idea of sharing someone else’s garden or backyard... Read more...
Categories: garden vegetables city |
Friday, March 13, 2009 by Jeremy Dore (3 comments)
Every now and again I get asked how much money you can save by growing your own fruit and vegetables. Of course this is a very narrow way of looking at the benefits of gardening. The exercise and fresh air, the sense of working with nature and the health benefits of freshly grown produce are all very important factors and for many people this will outweigh the economic benefits. Yet the question of monetary value is still a valid one - increasingly important as food prices continue to rise and new building developments have to balance the desirability of garden space against extra houses. So just how cost-effective is a productive fruit and vegetable garden...? Read more...
Categories: gardening, cost |