Our beans have begun to come in – a great blessing, in my books, because I love French green beans, those slim little things that look like they were cradle-robbed from the plant. I’ve planted loads of beans over the years – bush, climbing, semi-climbing (which means they reach about 2 feet tall and needContinue reading “A Bean By Any Other Name”
Author Archives: Nancy Taylor Robson
Tomatoes and Rhubarb and Squashes, Oh My!
And so it begins. Every year I look forward to the garden producing fresh vegetables. Every year, I plan, prep, plant, and – most years and this one is no exception – get overwhelmed. Production and problems and pests, oh well. Even so, being able to walk out back and pick –ingredients for supper, radishesContinue reading “Tomatoes and Rhubarb and Squashes, Oh My!”
Protect Your Garden
Protect Your Garden: Eco-Friendly Solutions for Healthy Plants by Ed Rosenthal is a great book for young gardeners and young-in-experience gardeners, but it’s also one more experienced gardeners will occasionally take into the garden, too. It’s very well organized, helped tremendously for those looking for a quick answer to a specific problem by the color-coded page edges. WantContinue reading “Protect Your Garden”
Got Garlic Scapes?
I just noticed them a few days ago – they kinda hide in all the leaves that the hardneck garlic has sent up over the last two months. But then I caught sight of one of those green, downward curling stems with its barely-yellow arrow-pointed head and realized: It’s time to cut the garlic scapes.Continue reading “Got Garlic Scapes?”
Book Review of Gardening for Geeks
Gardening for Geeks by Christy Wilhelmi packs a big punch of great practical organic information, ideas, projects, and philosophy into a lot of small, easily digestible pieces. Bright and informative without being preachy, the book includes a huge range of stuff in a relatively small space. It runs the gamut from how to create a sustainable ecology toContinue reading “Book Review of Gardening for Geeks”
Pushing the Season – Protecting The Tomatoes
It was 36F when I got up yesterday morning, close though not actually freezing, but last night, we had a definite frost. And I have ten tomato plants that I started from see already stuck in the garden. I never seem to time it right – some years, I’m way early, some years wayContinue reading “Pushing the Season – Protecting The Tomatoes”
Pak Choi in the Pan
This time last year, we had been eating pak choi and kale out of the garden for several weeks. I had started it in little cells in the greenhouse and planted it in the garden in early-mid March. This is one of the beauties of blogging; I’ve got records and pictures so I know I’mContinue reading “Pak Choi in the Pan”
Blanching the Leeks
Well, looks like we finally have spring – or maybe early summer – so I’m hauling the cool weather greens that I started in the greenhouse in and out every day to both harden them and keep them from frying as the heat inside ramps up. (So far, the tomato seedlings are loving the heat). ManagedContinue reading “Blanching the Leeks”
Pests in a Packed House
It’s still cold as I write this (at least ten degrees below ‘normal’). I went out with the 75-pound puppy and played catch (actually it’s more like keep-away since once he gets the ball, he spends most of the time teasing me with it), and watched the sun try to melt the frost off everythingContinue reading “Pests in a Packed House”
This Is Planting Season? Really?
Woke up this morning – the fourth day of official calendar spring, mind – to snow. I’ve got baby leeks in the garden already, peeking out from beneath a light blanket of compost followed by straw and then blanketed (I sure hope) by row cover. And now snow. I’ve got pak choi in the greenhouseContinue reading “This Is Planting Season? Really?”
Nancy Taylor Robson 