I love the sound of seed catalogs dropping into the mailbox. There's a particular "clunk" of distinctive heft that only a thick garden catalog can make. I keep a pen close at hand as I dog-ear the pages and circle interesting new varieties, dreaming of their vibrance in the garden.
This year heirloom varieties are popping up all over. The hunt for biodiversity is on, and we're part of the plan for preservation. If you are into seed-saving, here are ...
I'm generally not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions, but rather like to make "gentle intentions" instead. It just feels kinder and gentler, and less likely to fail. This year, however, I'm feeling a little more assertive, at least where the garden is concerned. So without further adieu, here are a few New Year's Resolutions for the garden in 2011:
Heal the Sick - I will diligently ...
Each year it's exciting to try growing new things. This fall we planted an Italian broccoli previously unexplored: Cavolo Broccolo a Getti di Napoli
That's a mouthful. Basically it means that it's a broccoli from Southern Italy, specifically Naples, that has a sprouting behavior. "Getti" literally means "jets" in Italian. It shoots out little heads of broccoli, but more than that, the leaves are edible!
Broccolo a Getti di Napoli seeds
I picked up these seeds at the LA Garden Show at the ...
Each year it is a family tradition to form a wish list in October for holiday gift-giving ease. Inevitably, my wish list gravitates toward garden gear. I'm sure my family is sick of it by now, but when you're a gardener, what else do you need?
It has become a Gardenerd tradition to share the wish list on the blog, not to solicit gifts, but to revert back to childhood and dream big together. Here's what I hope Santa brings this year:
Patriot Electric ...
With cool weather upon us, it's time for soups and stews. What better way to showcase the often-neglected kidney bean (it's not just for the salad bar) than to highlight some of our favorite dishes made with this crimson legume?
I'll confess, I didn't grow kidney beans this summer, but I will someday. In the meanwhile, we buy them dry and soak them overnight to make great meals. We cook them for about 15 minutes in a pressure cooker and voila! Perfect beans.
Cooked ...
There isn't much that can't be fixed with duct tape. Garden tools are no exception. While I wouldn't trust a loose-headed pick-axe after wrapping it with several rounds of shiny silver duct tape, I would trust it to fix my reliable yet cheap, plastic Rite-Aid watering can with a broken rose attachment.
Plastic is, as we know, forever. Except in the case when it photo-degrades. Plastic pots or tools become brittle and cracked, and eventually useless for their intended purpose. ...
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:
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 ...
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?
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 ...