What’s Growin’ On

Read more about the article Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

Cooking jags strike without warning, and when combined with the innocent act of pruning the lemon verbena plant out front, it makes for a delicious combination. Lemon verbena is one of those romantic herbs that I imagine Victorian women picked as they walked through the garden and rubbed onto their pulse points to carry the fragrance with them all day. It's lemony, but floral.


Lemon Verbena is usually dried and used in tea, but adventurous cooks use it in other dishes with fish, chicken and breads. We at Gardenerd ...

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Read more about the article The Great Sunflower Project
The bees enjoyed the flowers of bolting kale and mustard greens.

The Great Sunflower Project

A few months back, we talked about the Sunflower Project on the Gardenerd Tip of the Week. It's worth repeating, especially since we recently discovered a cool tool on the website that you can use to gauge how many bees are in your area. You can also participate in reporting on bees in  your area.

It's all part of YourGardenShow.com's Citizen Science effort. Check this out:


The Bee-o-Meter - part of the Sunflower Project

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Read more about the article Beneficial Flowers Build Your Ecosystem

Beneficial Flowers Build Your Ecosystem

One of the first things I talk about in my lectures about organic gardening is the importance of creating an eco-system around the garden. After all, a garden is much more than just a planter bed. It's everything around it as well.

Beneficial flowers attract beneficial insects, which do a number of jobs for you in the garden. They can pollinate, they can eat other bugs, and they can also be food for birds. Let's explore some of the easy flowers you can grow in your garden to attract beneficial insects: ...

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Read more about the article Growing Lemon Cucumbers

Growing Lemon Cucumbers

They may look like lemons, but they taste just like cucumbers. That's because they are cucumbers - lemon cucumbers. These little unusual beauties are one of my favorite heirlooms to grow, and in recent years, we're starting to see them become more popular - to the point that the plants are being sold at nurseries. Oh lemon cuc, you've made it to the big time!

I have to admit, my first few years trying to grow lemon cucumbers, or any cucumber at all, were disastrous. The coastal weather would stunt the growth, then powdery ...

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Read more about the article Use the Harvest: Swiss Chard Pie

Use the Harvest: Swiss Chard Pie

There is only so much room in the refrigerator, and Swiss Chard can take up a lot of that precious space. Those bright colorful stems usually have to "go away" in order to fit a batch of chard into the vegetable drawer (which is fine with me, since I don't care for the stems anyway). I recently found a recipe that uses up all that chard in a tasty pie that lasts for a few meals.

Whether you hate or love Martha Stewart, you have to admit that her empire comes up with ...

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Read more about the article Look Ma – Homemade Bread in 5 Minutes!

Look Ma – Homemade Bread in 5 Minutes!

One benefit of taking a long airplane trip is that a tremendous amount of reading is accomplished. During my trip to Italy - land of wonderful food and bread - I read Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois's book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It has changed the way I think about making bread.

Confession: I have a bread machine, and while I learned how to make bread the old fashioned way prior to getting the bread machine (*cringe* - 20 years ago), I must admit that ...

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