Last spring, I wrote about planting potatoes, and I described how to use potato bags. They are working out wonderfully. The plants have been growing all summer. I watered them carefully from planting time through the flowering period, and then tapered off. Since then, I’ve dug out a few potatoes to use as “new potatoes”. This can [...]

After the fourth of July, I pretty much quit doing things in the garden, except for picking flowers and vegetables, and watering. It is so hot that I usually limit my gardening time to early mornings and late evening. My garden has a lot of gaps from where I have harvested things like lettuce, broccoli, [...]

When the tops of the alliums (garlic, onions and shallots) turn brown and fall over, it is time to harvest. Today I dug up the garlic and shallot bulbs. Tomorrow, I’ll dig up the onions. The harvesting is especially easy to do with the moist soil from the plentiful rains we’ve been having this month! [...]

                                1.  The tomatoes are coming along . . . This year, I decided to use a more aggressive training technique for my tomato plants. Instead of just letting them scramble up willy-nilly through a tall tomato cage, I’ve been [...]

Whew, it’s been a busy spring! I never got around to planting seeds for some of the summer crops in my vegetable garden, which I normally would have planted a week or two ago, so I tackled that job this weekend between thunderstorms. Here’s what I planted: Pole Beans: ‘Scarlet Runner’ from saved seeds and [...]

Do you have one of those nightmarish stories in your family? The one that keeps getting told over and over, but you just wished it would go away? My dreadful story involves home-grown lettuce, a baby slug, and my six-year-old daughter. Yes, mommy was in a hurry. Daddy was out of town, so mommy rushed [...]

Home grown potatoes have a sweetness and tender texture not found in store-bought potatoes of the same variety. That’s why I like to grow enough for fresh eating. Potato plants require full sun and a light, well-drained soil that is loose for a good 12 inches deep. I’m planting my potatoes this year in a [...]

I recently planted a pot of peppers for pickling. Actually, several pots! It’s a good time to start pepper seeds indoors for planting out later this spring. I use peppers fresh, pickled and canned in salsa. I roast, peel, and freeze sweet red peppers and long, green Anaheim chilies. Some of my peppers are dried [...]

I was discussing seed starting with some students and was asked what tomato varieties I planned to grow this year. I love fresh tomatoes, and also preserve them by drying and by making homegrown salsa, tomato and chili sauce. My husband and daughter can’t eat fresh tomatoes, but luckily I have neighbors who help with [...]

This past week, I planted many varieties of vegetable and flower seeds in preparation for the garden. I typically start seeds of the cole crops (this group includes Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, broccoli), leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, endive), and solanaceous plants (peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, petunia, nicotiana), the first week in March. [...]