Preserving the harvest was never so fun as when making fruit leather. It's simple and easy and is far better for you than the sugar-laden stuff you get from the store. Kids love it, and grown ups do it. Here's our first attempt at making two different kinds. We use our solar food dryer as much as possible during the summer, and this was the perfect experiment to try outdoors. If you don't have one, you can make fruit leather…
We're up to our ears in leeks right now. We've made the giant vat of potato leek soup. We've dehydrated 3 jars worth of leeks for use in eggs and soups later on. Now what? Well, when we found this recipe for Provolone and Leek Greens on Country Sourdough, our inner 4-year-old jumped up and said, "YES!" We strive for extravagance here at Gardenerd, so we went full tilt on the melted butter and went a step above country sourdough…
It's zucchini time, and if your garden is "overproducing" zucchini like ours is, this one is for you. It's a quick dish that takes 30 minutes or fewer, and uses home grown ingredients. Succotash is traditionally something that features corn and a type of bean, but this one is bean-free, and highlights the fresh-tasting flavors of the summer garden. We used zucchini, garlic, lemon juice, mint and tomatoes from the garden. The rest of the ingredients came from the store.…
Every once in a while, we get to promote projects we think bring awareness to subjects we cover here at Gardenerd. Today's guest blogger has created a documentary film that explores one of our favorite subjects: urban farming. Meet Dan Susman, Director of Growing Cities. Dan has lived, breathed, and eaten urban agriculture over the past three years making Growing Cities. He has visited countless urban farms and food projects across the country, and worked with many leaders in the…
Father's Day is coming up, so it seemed appropriate to feature a new garden we just completed for a new dad. His little girl may not even be walking yet, but when she can she'll have a place to grow some food with her father in their own backyard. There was an existing garden, but it was made from pressure treated lumber, which isn't safe for food crops. So we made plans to replace the wood and some of the…
Allow us a moment to toot our own horn. We're pretty excited to announce that the Garden Writers Association (GWA) has bestowed the Gardenerd Blog with a 2014 Silver Award of Achievement in the category of electronic media. According to the GWA, this national award recognizes individuals and companies who achieve the highest levels of talent and professionalism in garden communications. “The Garden Writers Association Media Awards showcase the writers, photographers, editors, publishers and trade companies that have pursued excellence…
All photos taken during the May 24, 2014 March Against Monsanto. Hundreds attended, millions took part around the world.
Picture this: a large back yard with plenty of space for a garden. Then factor in this: mature trees all over the place, leaving little space for full-sun exposure. Not to mention roots--lots of tree roots, a network of thatchy root-hairs making it impossible to cultivate a vegetable patch. That's what we were dealing with in this Valley Village garden. The solution: a mini raised bed garden for maximum yield. The client had tried growing vegetables in this space before,…
A while ago, we reported that we were planting a new radish in the garden for spring: Bora King. It's a winter radish that claims to be purple on the inside as well as the outside. We were so excited to try them out, and this week the big day came: harvesting Bora King radishes. Winter radishes grow larger than spring radishes. Quite a lot larger. Bora Kings can grow up to 8 inches long without getting tough. On Sunday…
