What's Growin' On Archives - Page 113 of 136

The New 2011 Spring/Summer Organic Seed Collection

This being the beginning of the holiday season, and the first day of Hanukkah, it felt only fitting to unveil the all-new 2011 Spring/Summer Organic Seed Collection from the Gardenerd Store. Read about the great choices for your spring garden (makes a great gift or stocking stuffer!) and see why we chose them for your garden.

Who needs gold coins when you can have gardener's gold like this instead:

All photos
courtesy of Seeds ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:December 2, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Kohlrabi – the Alien Vegetable

As most brassicas go, broccoli is pretty attractive, and cabbage conjures comforting thoughts of Irish stews and Asian stir-fry dishes. There's one brassica, however, that makes people double-take when they see it on the shelves of the produce aisle: kohlrabi.

Kohlrabi looks something like a broccoli stem that had its molecules reorganized in the transporter (sorry, couldn't avoid the Trekkie reference). It has leaves like broccoli, but instead of the long stalk, it has a bulb at the base of ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:December 2, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
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Pea Protection

Last week we talked about how to grow peas. Ordinarily it's easy as pie, but what do you do when creatures of the night and/or sky make it their business to snatch up all your delicate sprouts before they have a chance to take hold in the soil?

You build a fortress.

That's what we did, anyway. We planted 3 rounds of peas, and each time they were plucked out by rats or birds, we can't tell which. So ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 18, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
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Back to the Ranch – Huntington Style

I'd been dying to see the secret Huntington Ranch for over a year. Back then, I read an article in the Huntington Library and Garden's monthly newsletter about the development of a new vegetable garden on the property. I searched and searched each time I went to try and find its secret location to no avail.

Then an invitation to an all-day symposium for professional garden nerds hit my inbox, and when I saw that the events of the day ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 17, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:5 Comments

Growing Peas – The Garden Snack Food

Most people grow peas in the spring. I like to grow them in the fall. I think I started growing them in fall primarily because, A) we can, and I need my trellises for other things in the spring. Over the years peas have become a prominent part of my fall garden, lending height and tastiness to fall garden chores.

They never make it into the house. A ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 11, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:9 Comments

Bad Haircuts – the Cutworm Way

People aren't the only ones to suffer from a bad haircut every once in a while. Plants get them too. The only difference is that the garden stylist servicing your plants is much less forgiving - in fact, the cutworm's handiwork is usually fatal.

I've done a podcast about this already, but now I have pictures to go with it. So for those of you who haven't seen a cutworm in action, this is for you.
...

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 10, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:3 Comments

Harvesting Pomegranates

Do you ever wonder how the first person ever figured out how to do certain things? Like who figured out that rhubarb stalks are tasty eating, but the leaves are poisonous? Or who figured out that soy beans have to be cooked in order to be digestible? If you're wondering who figured out how to open a pomegranate without getting red stains all over themselves, I can tell you - it was my friend Lynn Jordan.
...

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 4, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

Swiss chard seeds

Growing Swiss Chard – Nature’s Multivitamin

"Eat your greens." How many times did you hear that as a child? If I had a dime for every time I sat in front of a cold plate of broccoli in protest as a kid, I'd be a wealthy woman. Now, that has all changed.

I love Swiss Chard! I admit, the residual resistance to wilted green things put me off trying Swiss chard until someone gifted me with a bouquet of it a few years ago (yes ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 3, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:4 Comments

A Dream Garden for the Dream Center

"It all started with a butternut squash," she said. About a year ago I got a call from Nina Girvetz asking for help on a garden project. She said that vacant lot next door to her church was the perfect place for a garden, and when her friend Dru Hammer handed her a butternut squash, they knew it had to happen.

The residents of the Dream Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping inner cities, have taken refuge there ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 28, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:3 Comments

The Potato Experiment

I'll admit it, I've never grown potatoes in the fall. It's always been a spring thing for me. When some scary looking potatoes greeted me in the pantry the other day, however, that all changed. Our Test Garden is chock-full of fall crops already, so there's no room for potatoes, but where there's a will, there's a way. The Way of the Pot.

(Cue Zen Buddhist musical interlude)

Potatoes are well-known for being suitable for growing in containers. They can be grown in trash cans, burlap sacks, bags of ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 27, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment