Ask yourself if you will tend a garden plot. Will I have time to water and weed? Start small. It’s best to start out with a few pots or maybe one bed. Starting with these vegetables from seed can be very rewarding: carrots, lettuce, kale, cucumbers, beans, squash. Take a long look at the light [...]
If you are like me, you’ve got a lot of houseplants from tropical to cacti, all liking a different environment. It’s best to not choose a new plant like I sometimes choose a bottle of wine. The one you find the prettiest might not be suited to the spot you have in mind. I live [...]
First off, why is this happening? Thoughts on La Nina, active solar storm season, and global warming all come to one’s mind. With solar storms come beautiful auroras, that were highly visible last Tues in some parts of the world (image above is Matthew Hodges‘). Now, what can one do for the garden? Well, mostly [...]
We just got snow last night and what perfect timing…all the seed catalogs seem to be coming my way with every winter day. I thought I’d share R.H. Shumway. The old-timey-ness is just plain endearing with little caricatures and drawings throughout. Flipping through the pages, you get transported into a different time. Postcards of the [...]
This year was my first to grow potatoes, and I started thinking about grains. Is it possible to grow grains in your own city yard? I’ve heard of folks canoeing along the Wisconsin rivers harvesting wild rice, and I’ve heard of cover crops, which are grains…so this is what I’ve learned. Seems that there is [...]
This is the forest pumpkin and below is the kitty pumpkin. Both are from a farm stand in Wisconsin. I saved a few seeds to try to grow next year and roasted the rest. Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe heat oven to 325 degrees rinse seeds, coat with butter or olive oil and season with salt [...]
The first frost hasn’t come yet, and with today’s temperature in the 60s, the garden is still blooming and producing. Instead of deadheading this last round of blooms, let your flowers go to seed. It’s a great way to attract and feed our little feathered friends. Black-Eyed Susan, Echinacea, Coreopsis, Aster, Thistle, Goldenrod, Basil, and [...]
Fall temperatures and the flowers are producing seeds! Collect some and let some fall for the birds to munch on. Just remember a few things when collecting. collect each type of seed individually store in an envelope and label with type and year store in a cool, dry, and dark place til spring share them [...]
Interestingly, basil is a mild anti-bacterial. Studies published in the February 2004 issue of Food Microbiology, have shown that washing produce in solution containing either basil or thyme essential oil at the very low concentration of just 1% resulted in dropping the number of Shigella, an infectious bacteria that triggers diarrhea and may cause [...]
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got tons of tomatoes. I love searching out the little red and yellow fruits, but when the fridge is full and more are ripening on the vine, it’s time to save. Blanching tomatoes and making sauce to freeze are great ways to keep some summer for the winter [...]