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Building a Raised Bed Garden
Raised bed gardening is a way of growing plants inside beds that are raised up above the normal level of the soil in the garden. They’re typically housed inside a wooden frame, generally rectangular. The soil may be mixed in with tilled soil underneath, or it can simply be new soil placed on top of untilled ground. There are many great benefits to growing plants in raised beds. One of the biggest benefits is the ability to harvest more produce from the same space. Raised bed gardens can actually double or even triple the amount of produce harvested from the space! This is due to the fact that the square…
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Free Demo Planting Calculator at Sarah’s Kitchen Gardens
For those of you who are starting to plan your gardens, Sarah Hemingway of Sarah’s Kitchen Gardens is offering a free demo of her Planting Calculator on her website. This is an amazing little app that does all the thinking for you, whether you are starting seeds indoors, in a cold frame, or directly in the garden. It even tells you when to transplant your seedlings, if necessary. The planner also lists estimated harvest times and recommendations for succession planting, with the full version providing information for over 70 garden herbs and vegetables! All you need to do is look up the last and first frost dates in your area…
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What to Do With Giant Zucchini
Anyone in my part of the world who has grown zucchini knows how prolific they are. They grow faster than you can give them away! My super-gardener friend Sue had only one zucchini plant in her garden this year and still managed to feed her family plus her friends and neighbors throughout the summer. Thankfully, zucchini is an incredibly versatile vegetable. A mild-flavored member of the squash family, zucchini can be used raw in salads or sandwiches, added to stir-fries, made into tasty relish, or baked into a sweet, delicious bread. Knowledgeable gardeners soon come to appreciate zucchini for its many uses. Even better, plants keep producing throughout the summer,…
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Love My Reel Lawn Mower
I just got in from cutting the grass with my reel lawn mower. In case you aren’t familiar with these marvelous machines, a reel lawn mower is people-powered and has a different type of cutting blade than the typical helicopter-style blade of a more common gas or electric powered mower. While I still get a good workout pushing it around, my reel mower, or push mower, is relatively easy to use and low maintenance. Pros Long Lasting – This machine is durable. It has no engine and few moving parts to break down and cause trouble. There are push mowers 50 years old and older still going strong.
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The Wily Mom’s Secret Reason for Gardening
There are two significant men in my life who don’t eat their vegetables. These are not my children. These are independent adults who, presumably, could choose to eat nothing but ice cream if they wanted. They both make their own dietary choices every day. Unfortunately for them, most of these choices do not include vegetables. They eat lots of meat. I have nothing against meat. They eat lots of carbs. Pasta, potatoes, bread. All these are fine in moderation for most people. But, left to their own devices, very few vegetables pass the lips of these two men. It’s not that they don’t know that we all need to get…
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Growing Garlic in your Garden
Sarah’s Kitchen Gardens has a new post about growing garlic in your garden. Tasty and good for you, garlic is also surprisingly easy to grow. The only twist is that you need to plant seed garlic in the fall. That means if you are thinking about planting, now might be the time to be looking for or ordering your seed garlic. For more information, visit Sarah’s blog at http://sarahskitchengardens.com.
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In Praise of the Tomato
The watery, anemic, store-bought tomatoes of the off season cannot even come close to the rich, hearty flavour of a ripe, juicy tomato fresh off the vine. Whether you prefer a full, red, beefsteak tomato to slice for a sandwich, or the instant gratification of a bite-sized cherry tomato, nothing beats homegrown for satisfying the tastebuds. Sarah’s Kitchen Gardens offers a fresh tomato salad recipe that you are sure to enjoy! Follow the link to read more.
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The New Self-Sufficient Gardener
The New Self-Sufficient Gardener by John Seymour is a backyard gardener’s dream come true! There is more information here than you will ever need to know about how to produce your own food. All types of fruits and vegetables, how to deal with pests, preserving your harvest, and more are covered in depth. Not just a comprehensive guidebook, The New Self-Sufficient Gardener is a visual treat as well. The illustrations deserve to be framed; they are so beautiful! You can even see a preview of the book from my Amazon store. Click on the book cover, here and at Amazon, to get a peek inside this gardener’s gem.
