I AM ON THE ASPARAGUS DIET, because that’s what the garden has to offer at the moment: beautiful spears of tender asparagus. I like them tossed in olive oil and sea salt and roasted till nearly crispy, but sometimes I want not a side, but a meal, and here’s my favorite one: Easy Asparagus-Parmesan Bake, a fast concoction that’s not quite a quiche nor a frittata, but does involve a nice fresh egg or two. [read more…]
edible plants
One of my great gardening pleasures is growing a portion of my own food: fruits and berries, vegetables and herbs. I eat them fresh in season, of course, and put many things up or otherwise store them for the offseason, bringing the color and flavor of the summer garden to the winter table.
in season: easy asparagus-parmesan bake
April 25, 2012 at 7:27 am
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tomato 101: sowing, transplanting, caring
April 16, 2012 at 10:13 am
THE ANNUAL RITUAL BEGINS: At tax time in the Northeast, we start our tomato seeds indoors, though many of you may be putting your seedlings out in the garden already or otherwise way ahead of me. Whatever part of the delicious but sometimes confounding tomato-growing cycle you’re in, we’ve got it covered:
growing under cover: tips from paul gallione
April 4, 2012 at 1:05 pm
I PLAN TO GROW Crucifers and Cucurbits under cover this year, and the rampaging local woodchuck is the least of the reason why. But I wanted to get the details right from the sometimes-overwhelming catalog choices—the appropriate weight of fabric, and the gear to support the row cover and hold it in place, among other tips—so I called Paul Gallione of Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Maine for some advice. [read more…]
how to grow carrots, with dr. john navazio
March 15, 2012 at 8:10 am
WHEN THE MOST COMMON CHALLENGE readers confessed in a recent story on vegetable gardening was “I can’t grow carrots,” I knew whom to call: John Navazio, Ph.D. to the rescue. John, who these days serves in a joint role as Senior Scientist for the Organic Seed Alliance and the Washington State University Extension specialist for organic seed for his home state, has grown—and bred—more than a few carrots in his time. John, whose dramatic and delicious purple ‘Dragon’ carrot is bright orange inside, was reassuring as ever. First, don’t feel bad, he said. “Carrots are one of the harder vegetables to grow,” confirms John (with flowering carrots in an OSA photo, above), and for a few reasons: [read more…]
finally! my 2012 seed order (+ an afterthought)
March 13, 2012 at 11:56 am
I’M LATE ON THE ANNUAL TRADITION of posting my seed orders, but finally, here they are. Looking the list over now, weeks after the actual purchases and with a little distance, my reaction: That’s a lot of winter squash vines for your not-very-big vegetable garden, Margaret (five kinds in all). Why? [read more…]
refresher course: thinking about starting seeds
March 4, 2012 at 10:02 am
IT’S TOO EARLY HERE to start anything for the vegetable garden but leeks and onions, as I mentioned in the March chores, but it’s never too soon to brush up on seed-starting timing and tactics. To that end, a little refresher course: [read more…]
giveaway: growing wholeness at turtle tree seed
February 19, 2012 at 11:19 am
ONE SQUASH SLEPT ON THE WINDOWSILL, another in the cabinet beneath the sink. Both stayed firm (and presumably delicious) all winter long, and then some—far into the next year. Lia Babitch and Ian Robb, co-managers of Turtle Tree Seed in Copake, New York, may store their ‘Butternut’ differently, but the greater mission they’re part of is the same: to offer biodynamic, open-pollinated seed to gardeners and farmers that’s been selected to be the very best it can…which if you’re a winter squash means sticking around a good long while. Meet these gifted gardeners and more of their very special seed varieties, and maybe win one of two $20 Turtle Tree gift certificates I’ve bought to share with you. [read more…]
growing (or just eating!) heirloom dry beans
February 15, 2012 at 10:09 am
SOME YEARS MY ‘SCARLET RUNNER’ BEANS—a pole variety and hummingbird favorite I’d never be without—finally peter out and then dry right on their bamboo teepees, when the fall is neither too wet nor complicated with an early frost. I always grab some of the big, flat purple-and-black-mottled seeds for next season’s planting, leaving the rest for whatever furry creature comes along to cache them for their own winter use, but lately I’ve been thinking: Why not grow beans for drying (a.k.a. shelling beans)—or at least start experimenting with dry beans for cooking, and see if we can get you hooked? [read more…]
giveaway: rose marie nichols mcgee’s herb q&a
February 12, 2012 at 7:43 am
WHEN I CALLED Rose Marie Nichols McGee after much more than a decade, it was like we’d just hung up moments before. “Do you still grow Phlomis?” she asked without missing a beat, referring to a mint relative I’d loved early on in my garden’s life, a former Nichols Garden Nursery purchase I’d almost forgotten (since I’d eventually killed it, oops). That’s OK, she said; it got tricky here, too. The nursery, with more than 60 years selling herbs and much more—one of the first places I ever shopped as a gardener—is Rose Marie and her husband, Keane’s, family business (that’s them above), and they’ve seen lots of plants come, and go, and come around again. With a gift-certificate giveaway and an herb-growing Q&A, meet an old friend and some great new and old plants as well–and learn tricks for growing them. [read more…]
