What's Growin' On Archives - Page 94 of 142

Bee on a cardoon

Field Trip: Edible Garden at Natural History Museum

Amongst the dinosaur bones, fossils, and taxidermy, there is a beautiful reason to step outside at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, CA: the Edible Garden (or Home Garden as they like to call it). You can see the expanse of fragrant and colorful roses from across the fence, but only in the Edible garden can you catch, marvel, and release insects of all sorts as you browse tasty heirlooms growing in abundance. Each plant is carefully marked to…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 25, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:5 Comments

Tassels can appear to be many shades, from purple to white

The Birds and the Bees: Corn Sex

It happens every day. Plants send up flowers, bees pollinate them and vegetables are born. But corn has its own way to doing things, bees not included. So how exactly does corn come to be? Let's explore: It all starts with a seed...but we'll skip that part and get to the juicy stuff. Jump ahead to when corn stalks are several feet high. Tassels start poking out from the top of the plant. The tassel floret - the male part…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 12, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

Poona Kheera cucumbers start out green and spiky.

Growing Poona Kheera Cucumbers

With Monsanto's renegade GMO wheat in the news, the importance of growing and preserving heirloom and open pollinated seed is even more evident. Every year we plant and heirloom we've never grown, and this year it was the Poona Kheera cucumber. The Poona Kheera is an heirloom cucumber from India, where the fruit's heritage finds its origins. It's a light colored cucumber with skin that darkens to resemble a russet potato when ripe. How could any gardenerd resist something that…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 11, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:22 Comments

Finished product - shelf stable green onions

Preserving Green Onions

No matter how we try to use up green onions from the garden, we always end up either with too many in the fridge or overgrown, leek-sized onions taking up space in the garden. This week we did something about it. Now that the days are longer, we hauled out our trusty solar food dryer to put it to work for the season. In addition to making delicious flax chips again, we've christened the solar dryer this year with our…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 6, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:6 Comments

Gardenerds Evan Kleiman and Christy Wilhelmi

Gardenerd on Good Food

And now for a moment of shameless self-promotion... For those who missed it, I was a guest on 89.9 KCRW's Good Food with Evan Kleiman on June 1, 2013. It was a dream come true to sit across from Evan and chat about gardening and soil testing. There was more to the interview than what aired, of course, including a moment where I revealed that I'd never baked a fruit pie because my mother is so good at it, there's…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 4, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:3 Comments

Getty Central Garden

Gardens of the Getty

This week we have a guest post from Michael DeHart, the Getty Central Garden Supervisor, as an enticement to visit the Getty's new exhibit, Gardens of the Renaissance. Take it away Michael: The Getty Central Garden as an Ever Changing Eden With the opening of Gardens of the Renaissance in the North Pavilion of the Getty Center, visitors’ thoughts are directed to things horticultural and growing. In the exhibit many flowers are displayed in intricate detail with precise placement and…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 4, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

Finished honey ready for eating

First Honey Harvest – Part 2

A few weeks ago, we harvested a frame of honeycomb from our bee hive. We've enjoyed eating thin slices of comb and chewing on it to extract the honey. What you're left with is like chewing gum, but in this case you can either spit it out or swallow it (it's technically a fat, not a wax, so it's safe to ingest). Regardless of whether that grosses you out or not, it's a fascinating experience. Still, we wanted honey to…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 29, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

Finished Blackberry Sorbet

Using the Abundance: Blackberry Sorbet

Two years ago we dug up a blackberry runner that had wandered over from a neighboring plot at the community garden. We planted it in a pot and year later it took over the place, diving down through the drainage hole and sending up shoots a few feet away along the back wall. Now it's safe to say we are in full production. Eating seasonally is a particular joy when you get to harvest blackberries and make something that would…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 28, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

Waste Not, Want Not – Food Waste Reality Check

I had the pleasure of attending an event last night called Getting Wasted, which focused on how much food is wasted in our country. From farm to table and from table to trash, we throw away a lot of food. A gathering of experts shed light on the subject. It was enlightening and informative, and I'd like to share some highlights with you. 40% of all food in the U.S. is wasted. What? How? My first thought was, sure - farmers…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 22, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

March Against Monsanto – This Saturday

We garden for many reasons, but whether it's a hobby, habit or homesteading way of life, gardening has a purpose. It feeds us. What's more, it gives us the opportunity to control where some of our food comes from. I do it to avoid pesticides, to assure that the methods used to grow my food are sustainable, and to reduce my carbon footprint (fewer miles from farm to table, less pollution from chemicals, lower water usage through bio-intensive planting methods).…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 21, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments