Seed-Starting Every Which Way
Starting vegetables from seed may be a little more advanced, but it isn’t all that hard. This tip of the week will explore seed propagation techniques.
Squash Bug Battles
A question came in last week from a concerned gardenerd:
"As we start to thaw (and possibly refreeze this coming weekend) out here in NE TX, I'm planning my garden for 2011. We will be starting seeds this weekend and a friend has offered us the use of their greenhouse, as long as we share our harvest - no problem. My question as I start planning, and remembering last year, what can be done about Squash Bugs? I lost the battle last year, due to a back injury that put me in ...
Lima Bean, Barley and Vegetable Soup
With all the talk of winter storms and canceled flights, it's clear that comfort food is in order. As a blanket apology from Southern California and our lovely weather, I offer this warming recipe to those in icy places across the country.
It starts with baby lima beans, but we used Christmas Lima Beans that we grew this past summer:
It also calls for pearl barley, but we didn't have any on hand, so we used brown rice, since they cook in ...
When 1+1=10: Harvesting Potatoes
Garden math breaks the rules. It's one of the only places where things multiply without the need for a calculator, or the stress of bubble tests or sweaty palms. Possibly the best example of garden math is the potato. Plant one, get many.
Spring is a great time to plant potatoes, and lucky for us, spring is coming soon. In warmer climates, you can also plant potatoes in the fall. That's what we did last October with a couple of scary potatoes left in the pantry too long. Yesterday we ...
Terro Readings for Ants
This tip of the week isn’t about that deck of divination cards gathering dust on your bookshelf, but it does reveal a future of fewer ants and aphids in your life.
Ladybugs – Nature’s Aphid Brigade
For some unknown reason, my Swiss chard is covered - no, make that enveloped - with aphids. I have fed the plants with worm castings and compost and worm tea. I have sprayed them off with a strong hose blast. I have squished the aphids with my bare fingers. I have pleaded and begged for them to go away, to no avail.
My next plan, as a last resort before pulling out the chard, would be to try laying down a layer of tin foil around the base of each plant, to reflect ...
Storing Garlic – Sprout Not, My Friend
A great question came in to Ask Gardenerd this week:
"If I braid my garlic and hang it in my kitchen, how long will it keep? When I buy garlic and the store and put it in my fridge, it begins to sprout after a month or so. Will the same thing happen to my braided garlic?"
Would you believe that it depends upon the variety of garlic you choose to grow? The truth is that, like onions or apples, some varieties are known for better storage than others. ...
Pre Spring Cleaning
If you are planning to start plants from seed this year, now is a great time to spruce up your seed-starting equipment. This week's Tip of the Week will show you how!
False Garlic – you lie, you lie, you lie.
I don't know where it comes from, but it shows up in the strangest places. Unannounced, just after the rain, it pokes its slender leaves up through the soil to bring terror to the fastidious gardener. I'm talking about false garlic.
False garlic (Nothoscordum borbonicum Kunth) is found primarily in California, Oregon and the Southeastern states, as well as some warmer parts of Europe. It's pretty, but don't be deceived. This little bugger will infest a garden and is ...
Gingerly We Grow
A great question came in to Ask Gardenerd this week:
"Hi Christy, I want to try growing ginger in my zone 24 garden. I'm planning to start with a store bought (or farmer's market if possible) piece. Do you have any experience or tips for growing ginger? Thanks!"
I've grown ginger once before, when a neighbor at my community garden handed me a rhizome they had just pulled from their own garden. It had plenty of growth on it already, so I just ...