Save D. Landreth Seed Company

D. Landreth is the oldest seed house in America, and it's going out of business unless we help them. The bank has seized the company's assets and in order to pay back its debt, D. Landreth is selling seed catalogs to raise funds. Here's the scoop from their website:


"On August 30, 2011 the Landreth bank accounts were frozen by a court ordered garnishment because the company had failed to pay back some of the debt ...

Continue ReadingSave D. Landreth Seed Company

Take Cover! It’s Cabbage Moth Season.

Just a few moments in the garden reveal that it must be mating season for the cabbage moth. These deceptively cute white butterflies can be found twirling around one another and fluttering about the garden, looking for a good place to lay their eggs. Be prepared.

We planted out our kale and cabbage crops early this year, but took the precaution of covering them with floating row cover to keep the critters from settling in.

...

Continue ReadingTake Cover! It’s Cabbage Moth Season.

A Fall Thinnings Salad

If you grow from seed this fall, you'll have a chance to enjoy the benefits of thinning your seedlings right into the salad bowl. Baby greens may be expensive in the market, but they're free when you pick from the excess of sprouts in your garden.

Even when using Square Foot Gardening, I like to have a little bit of insurance. I plant two or three seeds in each planting hole, then wait for survival of the fittest to make itself known. The smaller seedlings are then snipped off (with scissors, rather ...

Continue ReadingA Fall Thinnings Salad

Vote for Gardenerd

And now a moment of shameless self-promotion...

I've entered the Gardenerd Test Garden in a competition for cash and fame, and I need your help. YourGardenShow.com has partnered with Mother Earth News to give two lucky gardeners $500 cash and a chance at being featured in an upcoming issue of Mother Earth News Magazine.



We're currently holding in the Top 25 Gardens, ...

Continue ReadingVote for Gardenerd

Aquaponics: A Field Trip to EVO Farm (Now Ourfoods)

Aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics and aqua-culture. It is a closed-loop system that uses aquariums (or aquaria if we're going to use proper Latin) of fish to produce the nutrient fertilizer for plants to feed upon. The plants then grow in the water that is infused with fish droppings (and filtered for solids). It uses no soil. The water recycles back through the system to the fish and the whole process starts all over again.

I paid a visit to EVO Farm, a local experimental site that combines yardsharing with aquaponics. ...

Continue ReadingAquaponics: A Field Trip to EVO Farm (Now Ourfoods)

Experimenting with Biochar

Ever heard of biochar?  Maybe the term "Terra preta" rings a bell?  Back in 2008 National Geographic published an article about a discovery of man-made nutrient-rich soil in the Amazon. Yes, man-made. It appears that by layering soil, charcoal, pottery sherds (yes, that's the correct spelling), and plant and animal wastes, the soil was transformed from nutrient-poor, desolate soil into the fertile ground that grew sustenance for ancient jungle inhabitants. I remember reading about it and thinking, "Hey, this could save ...

Continue ReadingExperimenting with Biochar

Pesto Madness

This is the time of year when the abundance of basil in the garden can often overshadow the need in the kitchen. What's a gardener to do?  Make pesto, of course.

Whether you preserve pesto by canning or freezing, you can make the flavors of summer last a long time. To start off the pesto season, I took a field trip to Pesto Madness, the Learning Garden's annual fundraiser.  


David King, the illustrious leader of the Learning Garden, was giving a ...

Continue ReadingPesto Madness

End of content

No more pages to load