Fall To-Do List
There’s so much to do in the garden before it gets cold or late.
Really, really baby watermelons
The World’s Smallest Watermelon
It's harvest time, and while most of the harvest is abundant (corn, peppers, beans, eggplant), there were some smaller harvests--including the world's smallest watermelon. Let's not call it "disappointing" but rather a celebration of underwhelm. We planted baby watermelons (okay, so there's a genetic head start on "small" right there) late in the season, following a garlic harvest as we often do, in late June or July. Plants took off and did very well setting fruit, but at some point…
Dried tree leaves make good compost material
Ask Gardenerd: Leaves for Compost?
A great question came in from a curious gardenerd this week: "Just started composting! I have a composting tumbler in my yard as there are many animals I would need to keep out of a pile eg. deer raccoons, etc. I have a separate bin where I plan to collect autumn leaves to have available for adding to the composter with the green material. Is this acceptable? I have read elsewhere that it's better not to use dead leaves as…
Save Cash, Start Seeds
Be more planet-friendly by starting seeds in newspaper pots rather than plastic seed trays.
Biodynamic Beekeeping with Michael Thiele
I had the pleasure of taking a biodynamic apiculture class with Michael Thiele of Gaia Bees this past weekend. WOW. Talk about taking a different approach. Michael does not use smoke, doesn't wear a protective suit, and doesn't use conventional Langstroth hives to house bees. What he had to share was an entire day filled with alternatives to modern beekeeping. Just as with biodynamic farming/gardening, Michael guided the participants to view bees, the colony, the hive, and their entire process…
Using Eggshells in Your Garden
Today we have a guest post from Nancy Parker of eNannySource.com, a site that makes it as easy as possible for caregivers to sign up and find work. In addition, she spends quite a bit of her time writing freelance. Take it away, Nancy. We all love to reuse things and reduce waste, but some things still wind up in the trash. Items like eggshells often do, but what if you could use them in your garden instead? From handy…
Plant Perennials
Fall is a time to plant plants that live for many years rather than one season.
Making Ancho Chile Powder
It's important to try new things every once in a while, because that simple act of diving blindly into the unknown is the very thing that keeps life interesting. Yesterday I did exactly that; I made Ancho chile powder from garden-grown poblano peppers. Let me preface this by saying that my chile powder is green. I know, I know, you're supposed to wait until the peppers turn red before doing it, but the poblano plant was going crazy and I…
Tiny eggs on the undersides of milkweed leaves
Milkweed and Monarchs
Perhaps the most important part of any vegetable garden is the habitat surrounding the garden itself. Having a place where good bugs can thrive can be the difference between a successful garden, or one full of pests. Milkweed plays an important role in keeping one species happy: the Monarch butterfly. Monarchs are amazing for a number of reasons. First, they only lay their eggs on milkweed plants, because that is the single food of their young larvae. Second, most monarchs…
Seeding Ahead
Fall is a great time to scatter seeds for next year's annuals.