Gardening Joys – Harvesting Corn

There's an old adage that advises corn growers to have the water boiling before you pick the corn.   So as I write this there is a pot of water coming to a boil on the stove. It's harvest time for sweet corn here in our test garden, and here's the blow-by-blow:

We grew Stowell's Sweet Corn, an heirloom variety, for the first time this year. We planted 20 plants in a 4x4 square foot bed (using Grow BioIntensive hexagonal spacing. Confession: the bed should only have fit 16 plants, but we ...

Continue ReadingGardening Joys – Harvesting Corn
Read more about the article After-Vacation Harvesting
(Clockwise from top left) Orach Mountain Spinach, cilantro, Roc D'Or yellow wax beans, Dragon Tongue beans, Ronde de Nice zucchini, Bennings Green Tint patty pan squash.

After-Vacation Harvesting

There's a point at which every garden hits autopilot. With a little planning and adequate irrigation it can happen while you're on vacation. During my trip to Italy my garden took off, and when I got back it was time to harvest the first fruits of the season. (My apologies to those still covered in snow out there. Your time is coming )

Some  may recall that our community garden plot was going through some hard times last year - excessive zinc in the soil, nematodes - things were just ...

Continue ReadingAfter-Vacation Harvesting
Read more about the article Trials and Tribulations of Making Yogurt
I added some of the whey back in to make it a little thinner, since I "helped" by squeezing too much whey out of the yogurt as it was draining.

Trials and Tribulations of Making Yogurt

It happens every once in a while, probably every few months. Some people go on a bender. I go on a cooking jag.

The latest cooking jag involved making bread from a new book (more on this later), finding new ways to use a mountain of freshly harvested kale, and making the seemingly simple recipe for home made yogurt in a Thermos. It seems like every newsletter and magazine I opened in May featured home made yogurt, so the time had come to try it out.

...

Continue ReadingTrials and Tribulations of Making Yogurt

Italy Travelogue: Farmers’ Markets Abroad

In the last few years, Los Angeles has seen an abundance of Farmers' Markets popping up all over town. People are longing to get back to the way things used to be, by buying fresh local produce straight from the farmer. Well, in Italy it still is  the way it used to be, and nothing proves it more than a visit to a Farmers' Market.

There are many towns, even cities, in Italy where supermarkets do not exist. Instead the locals get their food needs met by stopping at the baker on the ...

Continue ReadingItaly Travelogue: Farmers’ Markets Abroad

Italy Travelogue: Umbria’s Beauty and Hotel Montali

I've just returned from 12 days in Italy filled with gelato, pasta, cheese and beautiful countryside. May is a wonderful time to be there - just before the stifling heat, but just after gardens have been planted. If there's one thing you see a lot of in Italy, it's front yard gardens. They are not obsessed with the idea of a grassy front lawn like we Americans. They use their land to grow food - lots of food.

Driving through the green rolling hills of Umbria, we saw small Medieval towns dotting the ...

Continue ReadingItaly Travelogue: Umbria’s Beauty and Hotel Montali

Dream Garden Grows Up

I stopped by the Dream Center garden in downtown Los Angeles yesterday to see how things are growing in and I was delighted to see what has transpired since my last visit. It's all grown up!

Not only did the flagstone and decomposed granite get installed in the pathway, but the mulch had arrived (free from the City) and it was all in place.

Pathway complete, plants growing in. Happiness is a thriving garden!

Some of the tomatoes even had fruit set already: ...

Continue ReadingDream Garden Grows Up

End of content

No more pages to load