Watermelon Treats
Summer ends next Friday, so this week’s tip of the week helps you squeeze the most out of these last few days!
Petaluma Seed Bank Field Trip
Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company holds a place in the heart of many an organic vegetable gardener. Their gorgeous seed catalogs are the industry standard of "garden-porn", with beautiful pictures of hundreds of varieties many eyes have never seen before.
While away on a writing retreat, I stopped by their West Coast store, the Seed Bank. It is aptly named because it is located inside an old bank. A corner building in the center of town proudly displays Heirloom Seeds in the two-story bank windows. You can't miss it.
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Golden Guardian marigolds reduce root-knot nematodes
Harvesting Seeds: Nematicidal Marigolds
As you pull out your tomato plants this fall, check the roots for galls. These are lumpy swellings that indicate that you might have nematodes living in your soil that are stunting the tomato plant's growth. (You can learn more about it from our Got Nematodes podcast)
We had that problem last year so we planted Golden Guardian Marigolds, the roots of which contain a toxin that kills harmful nematodes. Now it's time to harvest the seeds and turn the crop under so it can do its job.
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Skylake Ranch Takes Pomegranates to New Heights
The latest post from Mar Vista's Bounty Hunter is ready for viewing. Find out great ways to use pomegranates in your daily cooking adventures:
http://marvista.patch.com/articles/skylake-ranchs-wonderful-pomegranates
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The New Dirty Dozen
This past June the Environmental Working Group (EWG) updated their trusted list of the Dirty Dozen – the top 12 fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residue in commercial agriculture.
Sprouts for Health
Sprouted foods are packets of dense nutrition ready for you to add to healthy meals. Check out the local sprout vendor at the Mar Vista Farmers' Market for ideas on how to use them:
Mar Vista Farmers' Market Sprouts Healthy Alternatives
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OVF Tomato Tasting
Ocean View Farms (OVF) organic community garden hosts a tomato tasting for its members and guests each year. I've never been able to attend in the past, but this year I was on site to sample over 65 tomato entries (such hard work!).
It's a blind taste test, and all varieties are places side by side, so this is strictly a "tasting" rather than an overall tomato competition. Prizes, however, are still given out for the tastiest tomato.
Signs welcome visitors to the tasting
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The End of a Garden
Summer comes to an end each year, as does the warm season vegetable garden, but gardening magazines rarely, if ever, show what that looks like. Why don't we celebrate the end as much as we do the bountiful beginning and mid-season garden? There is beauty in it as much as any garden when it is flourishing.
We took a walk through the end-of-summer garden to snap a few pictures to showcase the beauty of death and decay. It sounds corny, but there really is much to rejoice about the end of a ...
Water With Care
Drip irrigation disperses water right where the plants need it most – near the roots, and it also keeps plant leaves dry to prevent burning.
Summer Vegetable Frittata
In the never ending quest to find new and tasty ways to consume zucchini, this week we're featuring another great recipe from Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Fast Food. It's the Summer Frittata, which uses asparagus, zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, eggs and Parmesan cheese.
Not only does this dish showcase zucchini, but it also gave us a chance to feature our home-grown asparagus. We've been collection spears each day through summer and although it's hard to resist the urge to just serve home-grown asparagus plainly cooked, this frittata does a nice job of highlighting the produce. ...