Grow Food

If asked to sum up zucchini in one word, I would say “prolific.” It seems as though once it takes off, it doesn’t stop until that first frost at the …

I’ve been eating mini cucumbers from the grocery store all winter long. But I ate my very first homegrown cucumber of the season the other day, and it stopped me …

We humans have been growing food for a hot minute. Roughly 10,000 – 12,000 years, depending on who you ask, but who’s counting? We’ve gotten pretty good at it, too. …

Aside from daffodils, rhubarb is my favorite “spring is really happening” marker. When I start seeing rhubarb at the farmer’s markets, I know winter is well and truly over. (Except …

Whether you purchased tomato seedlings from a nursery or grew them from a seed yourself, the moment of truth comes when you plant them out in the garden. Will they …

Adding seaweed to your garden isn’t anything new. The practice of using seaweed in the garden has been around for centuries. Use what you’ve got, right? Naturally, humans living near …

There’s just something about spring that makes a gardener’s heart beat a little faster. Those first warm days, the gentle buzz of bumblebees, the sun warming the soil. It’s the …

Wood chip mulch is an attractive ground cover that enhances the health of your soil and the plants you grow. For many gardeners, carpeting the landscape with organic mulches becomes …

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been thinking of the color of raspberry jam. It makes me want to listen to Edith Piaf and wear a beret. When it …

I want you to picture a beautiful cucumber, fresh from the garden – dark, emerald green skin, little pokey spines. You slice it open to reveal the cool jade interior. …

If, like me, you’ve been strolling out to your garden, knife in hand, and slicing rhubarb stalks like you’re playing Fruit Ninja (remember that game?), it’s time to put the …

Growing tomatoes in pots is a great way to enjoy them even if you’re short on garden space. Patio tomatoes, growing in containers, whatever you want to call it, there’s …

If you garden long enough, eventually, you’ll find yourself familiar with every pest and disease in the book. So, this spring, I was completely shocked to find myself dealing with …

Once you begin sowing seeds indoors, it doesn’t take long to figure out there are advantages to starting some veggies earlier than what’s suggested on the seed packet. Tomatoes, for …

With just five inexpensive ingredients, you can mix up the perfect potting mix for nearly any plant. Whether it’s houseplants, succulents, aroids, starting seeds for your vegetable garden, you name …

I have a hidden greenhouse in my kitchen. Yup. I grow herbs and lettuce and houseplants and all kinds of things in my kitchen all year long. But you can’t …

Worm poop! Yup, that’s what we’re talking about here. Worm castings are the byproduct of vermicomposting (composting with worms), and this stuff does amazing things when you stick it in …

Every year, gardeners everywhere sow seeds indoors. After all, starting your own seedlings offers a host of benefits over buying them. But there are three things you need to do …

If you still haven’t tried mycorrhizae, consider this your wake-up call – your plants are missing out! Your vegetables, your houseplants, the flowers you plant in the front flower bed, …

It’s February, and I’ll bet you’ve got blueberries on the brain. No? Well, if you have blueberry bushes, you should be thinking about blueberries. Despite the fact that it’s still …

Blueberries are a favorite fruit to grow among home gardeners because they’re delicious, don’t take up a ton of room, and are pretty easy to grow as far as fruit …

We’ve all heard that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The same goes for gardening. Or would it be something along the lines of an ounce …

Let’s take a look at Oregon Spring, the tomato variety created at Oregon State University specifically for the short, cool summers of the Pacific Northwest. Whether you live in a …

There’s something about growing tomatoes that begs for experimentation. Rarely do we get excited about a new carrot variety or see all the green beans in a catalog and think, …