You searched for how to harvest - Page 92 of 102

Gardenerd is Mar Vista’s Bounty Hunter

Gardenerd’s Christy Wilhelmi became a columnist for Mar Vista Patch.com this week writing the weekly Farmer’s Market report, Mar
Vista’s Bounty Hunter. If you love the Mar Vista Farmer’s Market like we do, you can sign up on Patch.com to get the latest news about what’s fresh at the Farmer’s Market delivered right to your
inbox.

This week’s story is all about the strawberries. Even if you don’t live in the Los Angeles area, you’ll find some great tips about …

Growing Kale – Ironman of the Garden

There’s a thing that happens when someone discovers kale for the first time. They become addicted to it. Well, maybe not addicted, but if their experience is anything like mine was, they can’t get
enough of it. My intro to kale was with Esalen’s Raw Kale Salad and I’ve been growing kale ever since.

What kind of kale is best? It depends upon your preference. Many people like the color and texture of Italian kale, also known as Lacinato (laa-chee-nah-toe) or Dinosaur kale, and because it
is not …

Romantic Notions of Roasted Vegetables

In my early years of cooking, I found that my attempts at roasting vegetables ended with deflated, soggy lumps that once resembled fresh veggies. Perhaps that is why I still hold romantic notions
about serving amazingly caramelized, oven-roasted, Mediterranean fare cooked to perfection at elegant parties.

Well, it may not have been an elegant party – just a thrown-together dinner for two based on this romantic notion – but success was finally achieved in the roasted vegetable department.

First, the old stand-by – baked/roasted home grown potatoes: …

When to Pick an Avocado

This week a question came in from a student at my Santa Monica College class:

“I am wondering what is the best time (or how do I know when) to pick an avocado [off a tree]. Thanks and I really learned a whole bunch in your class! Best, John”

Now I confess, I told John to send his question in to Ask Gardenerd because I didn’t know the answer. We joke around here at Gardenerd that if I can’t …

Winter’s Bounty 2011

As the winter growing season is winding down, we’ve already planted some spring crops, and planned out the summer crops. There’s still one important thing to do, however, before we move on to spring:
appreciate winter’s bounty.

Even though we can see what’s growing above ground, there’s an element of surprise when harvesting root crops like carrots, parsnips and potatoes (okay – it’s a tuber, not a root crop). Students
always ask me how they will know when to pick their root vegetables. I tell them to run their index finger around the …

How’s that Broccoli Coming Along?

Experimentation yields results – just not always the results we expect. Such is the case with our trail planting of the Italian broccoli, Cavolo Broccolo a Getti di Napoli. The picture on the seed packet indicates that this
sprouting broccoli is harvested mainly for it’s leaves, but those leaves (and the shoots of sprouting broccoli) are reported to be slender and spear-like.

Well… not so much.

While it’s true that this is a …

Squash Bug Battles

A question came in last week from a concerned gardenerd:

“As we start to thaw (and possibly refreeze this coming weekend) out here in NE TX, I’m planning my garden for 2011. We will be starting seeds this weekend and a friend has offered us the use of
their greenhouse, as long as we share our harvest – no problem. My question as I start planning, and remembering last year, what can be done about Squash Bugs? I lost the battle last year, due to a
back injury that put me in …

Storing Garlic – Sprout Not, My Friend

A great question came in to Ask Gardenerd this week:

“If I braid my garlic and hang it in my kitchen, how long will it keep? When I buy garlic and the store and put it in my fridge, it begins to sprout after a month or so. Will the same thing
happen to my braided garlic?”

Would you believe that it depends upon the variety of garlic you choose to grow? The truth is that, like onions or apples, some varieties are known for better storage than others. …