Harvesting Delicata and Acorn Squash

Since we planted squash very early this year (in order to get the plants established by the time June Gloom set in) we are already set to harvest some of our winter squash. Our Golden Pippin Acorn
squash and most of our Delicata squash plants have withered, leaving behind golden fruits that will store through winter.

With pumpkins, it’s easy to know when to harvest – just let the vines turn brown and crispy, then pick your pumpkin. Not all winter squash is that simple. For example, I’ve …

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Use the Harvest: Swiss Chard Pie

There is only so much room in the refrigerator, and Swiss Chard can take up a lot of that precious space. Those bright colorful stems usually have to “go away” in order to fit a batch of chard into
the vegetable drawer (which is fine with me, since I don’t care for the stems anyway). I recently found a recipe that uses up all that chard in a tasty pie that lasts for a few meals.

Whether you hate or love Martha Stewart, you have to admit that her empire comes up with …

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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 4×4 square foot bed (using Grow BioIntensive hexagonal spacing. Confession: the bed should
only have fit 16 plants, but we …

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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 …

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When 1+1=10: Harvesting Potatoes

Garden math breaks the rules. It’s one of the only places where things multiply without the need for a calculator, or the stress of bubble tests or sweaty palms. Possibly the best example of garden
math is the potato. Plant one, get many.

Spring is a great time to plant potatoes, and lucky for us, spring is coming soon. In warmer climates, you can also plant potatoes in the fall. That’s what we did last October with a couple of
scary potatoes left in the pantry too long. Yesterday we …

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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.

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Harvesting Pop Corn

One of the great delights about gardening is growing something for the first time. Each season, we plant new varieties or a veggie we’ve
never grown before to see what it’s like. In our test garden so far, we’ve planted and enjoyed asparagus (3 years ago), brown mustard seeds , quinoa (details forthcoming), garbanzo beans (stayed for a blog on that) and popping …

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Harvesting Garlic

Growing your own garlic is such a joy, and harvesting it can be even more fun. Each October we plant what turns out to be a year’s supply of
garlic in about 7 or 8 square feet (using the Square Foot Gardening method). Then we nurture the bulbs through winter and into spring. In late spring, which is May or June here in Los Angeles,
the foliage starts to turn brown and die back. We cut …

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