Organic Gardening
How to grow your own nutritious food and enjoy superb, chemical-free flavors.
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2/17/2009
A reader asks about when to plant potatoes.
2/11/2009
Siegers Seed Company is attempting to patent and own a common cucurbit gene for warty pumpkins, and gardeners who know better are disappointed.
1/22/2009
A reader inquires about the best fertilizer to work on anything you might grow.
1/19/2009
Before space beneath your grow light is needed for onions and other early seedlings, fill it with baby lettuce grown in translucent clamshell salad containers.
1/14/2009
Get an early spinach crop with this easy gardening tip.
1/13/2009
A reader inquires about how to set up a community seed swap.
1/13/2009
The benefits of swapping seeds locally are many: save money, connect with your community, find rare and locally adapted seeds, preserve biodiversity, learn from experienced gardeners — the list goes on and on. So here are a few tips for organizing a seed exchange for your community.
1/9/2009
Delicious, easy to grow and prolific, fast-growing ‘Fagiolino Dolico Di Veneto’ heirloom dwarf cowpeas from northern Italy bring a lot more to the table than your typical Southern black-eyed pea. The flavor is somewhat earthy like mushrooms, but with a buttery texture. In Venice, it is often cooked with mushrooms, or served as a side dish with eel, a local favorite. Includes growing information and a traditional Venetian recipes for risi e bisi (rice and cowpeas) and fish stock.
1/8/2009
You can increase your garden soils fertility by adding biochar. This soil-enhancing ingredient has been made for thousands of years in the Amazon. You can make it in your own garden by partially burning woody brush, making a kind of charcoal.
1/8/2009
From North America to Italy and back again, heirloom grain corn ‘Floriani Red Flint’ packs a rich, warm, complex flavor. Find out more about this unique variety, how to find it and the delicious treats you can make with it.
12/24/2008
Choosing to grow peas of unique varieties in mid-spring can lead to great nutritious eating right from your backyard. Find out how to grow snap, snow, shell and soup peas in your garden at home. By knowing the basics of when and how to plant, you can produce a successful harvest. Learn other great information such as saving seeds for your next harvest, and pest and disease prevention tips.
12/23/2008
Cabbageworms can cause major damage to your cabbage plants. To protect the plants, sprinkle crushed eggshells and coffee grounds around the base of the plants.
12/23/2008
Reader Arthur Dear of Thorsby, Alberta, recommends compacting the soil around the cabbage seedlings to prevent the cabbage maggots from burrowing into the soil.
12/18/2008
Guest blogger and longtime advocate of sustainable food Gwen Roland reflects on the new popularity of local eating, and highlights some of the innovative local food projects funded by Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grants.
12/1/2008
Old strains of holiday cactus are easy to grow, but updated varieties rebloom more often and produce bigger, showier blossoms.
11/19/2008
Organic farming research has found that you can compost black walnut hulls successfully, despite the fact that they contain the toxic juglone compound.
11/14/2008
Garden soil left exposed in winter is easily damaged by compaction, erosion and leaching. Use mulches or cover crops to safeguard and build your soil during the winter months.
11/6/2008
Try doing something different this winter by growing mushrooms. It's entertaining, and it provides you with an edible treat!
11/6/2008
We have developed two customized search engines that make it easier to locate companies that offer specific varieties of seeds and plants, as well as organic garden products and tools.
11/6/2008
Garlic is one of the easiest plants you can grow, and fall is the time for planting. Here are a few resources to help you get started.
11/5/2008
Burr gherkins are a fun and interesting garden addition for those who love pickles or wish to add interest to soups and stir fries. They can also be eaten raw like cucumbers. Read about how easy they are to grow and harvest, and try out this recipe for a hot and spicy Brazillian stir-fry, called “maxixada.”
10/31/2008
Nutritious potting soil will give your seedlings and house plants a good place to grow. You can buy potting soil or make your own. Combine a bit of dirt, some well aged compost and a handful of sand for good drainage to form an inexpensive and handy planting medium for your new garden seedlings or old-friend house plants.
10/29/2008
As soon as seed catalogs start arriving in the mailbox, gardeners face some difficult choices. What should you plant next year? Based on these interviews with seed companies, vegetable gardening is more popular than ever, and people are planning bigger and better food gardens. Here are 15 trends for gardeners to consider when buying seeds this year.
10/29/2008
Choosing to grow delicious potatoes of unique varieties in spring can lead to great nutritious eating right from your backyard. Find out how to grow early, midseason and late varieties in your garden at home. By knowing the basics of when and how to plant, you can produce a successful harvest. Learn other handy hints such as saving seeds for your next harvest, and pest and disease prevention tips.
10/28/2008
Help grow an organic food garden on the White House lawn. Here are some easy ways you can participate.
10/28/2008
University of Florida entomologist Russell Mizell investigated ways to attract stink bugs to trap crops rather than cash crops—with great success. His experience can help you learn how to design trap crop scenarios of your own.
10/21/2008
Save time and avoid blisters and burnout by following these common-sense guidelines this leaf season.
10/20/2008
Use autumn's bounty of fallen leaves to expand your garden, protect your plants and improve your soil.
10/15/2008
The right recipe can convert people who think they don't like cooked greens, or energize cooks in need of fresh ideas. Here we offer a roundup of recipe ideas for garden-fresh greens from arugula to turnips.
10/8/2008
The instinct to share home grown herbs, flowers and vegetables runs strong in gardeners, so sharing home grown goodies brings heartfelt rewards.
10/1/2008
Growing the three sisters (corn, beans, squash) in the same plot of land actually helps yield healthier crops of each.
9/23/2008
Making compost is 1-2-3 easy — layer green and brown vegetable matter, keep it barely moist and stir regularly. It can easily be done in a corner of your garden or back yard. This article will get you started.
9/16/2008
Learn how bats can be beneficial for organic farmers, dramatically reducing the need for costly and harmful pesticides.
9/16/2008
Suddenly it seems like spiders are everywhere, which makes many people uneasy. Fear not! Autumn's awesome arachnids can be fun to watch and easy to capture using no-touch methods.
9/8/2008
Who needs pesticides and synthetic fertilizers? Many common lawn chemicals are associated with a number of health risks for humans,and can also be harmful to wildlife. But fortunately, growing a beautiful eco-friendly lawn is easier than you think. A little early maintenance can help prevent serious problems, and when pest and weed issues do arise, there are many less toxic solutions to choose from. You may also find you have fewer lawn worries than you think: Some weeds are actually beneficial to have in your yard, and you may decide that you can live with them, if not love them!
9/7/2008
Choosing to grow crisp, delicious spinach of unique varieties in fall, winter and spring can lead to great nutritious eating right from your backyard. Find out how to grow several varieties such as smooth-leafed, savoyed and semi-savoyed in your garden at home. By knowing the basics of when and how to plant, you can produce a successful harvest. Learn other handy hints such as saving seeds for your next harvest, and pest and disease prevention tips.
9/6/2008
An herbicide produced by Dow AgroScience, aminopyralid, has been responsible for killing thousands of home gardens across Great Britain. The chemical is found in two brands of herbicide commonly sold in the U.S. and used in pastures grazed by horses, cattle and other livestock. Aminopyralid can persist in manure or previously treated straw, threatening tomatoes, lettuce, beans and other sensitive crops with which these come into contact. Here’s how you can protect your garden, even if the EPA won’t.
8/28/2008
Brown rot is a serious disease of peaches, plums, and other stone fruits. For organic gardeners, spraying at-risk fruits with a milk solution can give good control.
8/25/2008
A garden that is efficiently laid out and attractive to look at will be more fun to work in. By developing permanent growing beds, your soil will be able to mature over the years into airy loose soil. Paths, spaced to allow you to move hoses and tools, encourage you to spend more time in your garden, enjoying the fruits of your labor.
8/15/2008
Sow leafy greens in late summer to reap abundant crops in the fall.
8/14/2008
Forget pesticides or kerosene. Instead, smother badly placed yellow jacket nests with a translucent cover.
8/4/2008
Many gardeners take lettuce off of their summer planting lists, but shade covers can put garden-grown lettuce on your table more than a month sooner this fall.
7/30/2008
Blister beetles can be picked up fairly easily; just remember to wear gloves!
7/30/2008
"Local" is always the best answer, even when it comes to fruit trees.
7/30/2008
'Papago' beans are hard to find, especially when their name changed in the 1980s.
7/30/2008
CCA-treated wood fences can contaminate your garden if they're too close.
7/30/2008
Mulch can provide quite a nice habitat for slugs. If you don't want them to be permanent residents there, here are ways to kick them out...organically, of course.
7/30/2008
Although paper is a wood product, it's not always the best answer for mulch or compost.
7/30/2008
Don't worry about mole damage any longer; here's a nontoxic method of keeping them away!
7/30/2008
You can eat peppers at any stage of growth, but there color determines how ripe they are and, therefore, how tasty they are.
7/30/2008
Wild blackberries are rather tasty to eat, so don't let their "wild-side" scare you. Learn how to cultivate them instead, and put them to good use.
7/30/2008
When asparagus crops get weedy, just leave them where they are, instead of digging them up and starting from scratch.
7/30/2008
Don't want your tomatoes to rot? Treat the problem here!!
7/30/2008
Abundant moisture and soil acidity are major factors in the growth of moss. There's nothing wrong with moss in your strawberry beds, but here's a tip on how to get more flavorful fruit.
7/30/2008
Plastic bags can help you begin to grow rose roots, instead of starting them out in pots.
7/30/2008
Are there tiny white worms in your manure? They may be potworms!
7/30/2008
Growing fall brassicas can be a challenge, but here are some tips on how to prevent them from getting eaten by bugs or withering.
7/30/2008
Stick with culinary sage whenever you don't know if a specific type of sage is edible.
7/30/2008
Digging up places for new garden beds can take a long time. The sooner you start, the better!
7/30/2008
Japanese beetles feed for six to eight weeks, and in that time, they are able to feed on over 300 plant species. Although collecting beetles may seem like an exhausting every day task, you're plants will appreciate it.
7/30/2008
Peat moss can help improve soil, but it can be expensive and its production can hurt the environment. Find out whether or not you should use it in your garden.
7/30/2008
Learn how to encourage good pollinators when growing plants under row covers to keep out the bad bugs.
7/30/2008
Learn how to calculate best planting times for fall harvested crops.
7/29/2008
This photographic illustration shows how permanent gardens beds are beneficial, and prevent soil compaction.
7/28/2008
Hot summer sun can be hard on garden plants and their roots. If watering and mulching are not doing enough to keep your plants cool enough to continue producing, consider shading the plants or at least their roots. Late summer also is the time to plant your fall-producing crops, such as spinach, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, beets and radishes.
7/18/2008
Get this Gardening Guide and find answers to all your organic gardening questions.
7/11/2008
Send us your garden tips and you could win a free deluxe, ergonomic garden trowel.
7/9/2008
Food historian William Woys Weaver has been gardening since he was a boy. But finding his grandfather’s rare seed collection in a deep freeze may have been the critical point in determining his unique career path. Today, Weaver’s collection includes over 4,000 varieties of flowers, fruits and vegetables. Read the fascinating story of how he revived his grandfather’s garden.
7/9/2008
Choosing to grow crisp, delicious carrots of unique varieties in spring and fall can lead to great nutritious eating right from your backyard. Find out how to grow several varieties such as nantes, chantenay, imperator, miniature and danvers in your garden at home. By knowing the basics of when and how to plant, you can produce a successful harvest and have enough carrots to store throughout the year. Learn other handy hints such as saving seeds for your next harvest, and disease and pest prevention tips.
7/9/2008
Ruth Stout, author of No-work Garden Book, advises using heavy layers of mulch in the garden to smother weeds and retain moisture in the soil.
7/9/2008
You can enrich your garden soil for spring planting by burying your kitchen scraps during the winter.
7/9/2008
High quality, long-lasting gardening tools often are hard to find. We’ve located a watering wand that any gardener will appreciate. Read more about the Haws Co. wand and its many merits.
7/8/2008
Garden insects that damage your vegetable crops can be controlled. Using organic controls along with hand picking and row covers to exclude the critters can go a long way towards preventing crop destruction. These 11 organic pest control products along with other no-spray options will help to control the 26 most common garden pests.
7/8/2008
Is it too hot to grow spinach where you live? Try these fabulous alternatives.
7/7/2008
Participate in our reader photo contest by showing off pictures of your permanent raised garden beds.
7/3/2008
Try these organic techniques to help prevent tomato early blight.
6/19/2008
If you've added too much nitrogen fertilizer to your garden this expert advice can help you figure out how to correct the mistake.
5/28/2008
A growing number of American cooks and gardeners are discovering that they love leeks. Their flavor is mild and sweet, their uses are many, and — best of all — they’re easy to grow and survive cold temperatures.
5/14/2008
Expert advice on adding single nutrients, such as Epsom salts, to your garden and house plants
5/14/2008
Expert advice on best organic fertilizer options for new apple trees and grape vines
5/6/2008
The second week of May is International Compost Awareness Week. Learn more about what different communities are doing to ramp up home composting, and find out what you can do.
4/29/2008
They’re sometimes referred to as “unicorn plant” and often as “devil’s claw,” but their real name is martynia, and they’re a multipurpose heirloom garden addition that will attract lots of attention to your garden. Martynias have the flavor of okra, only intensified, and sometimes with an undertone of morel mushrooms. Also, the interesting hooked shape of the baby pods lends them to all kinds of culinary applications, from stir-fries to pickled. Read about how to grow martynias, how to cook them, and why they’re called “devil’s claw.”
4/29/2008
Your all-inclusive guide to growing sweet corn. Read about the varieties best suited to home gardens, when and how to plant seed, disease and pest prevention, and harvesting and seed saving.
4/29/2008
Texas-based Willhite Seeds has the perfect watermelon for any taste. Choose from a variety of colors (red, orange or yellow); seeded or seedless; and tried and true favorite or trendy hybrid. These melons are prized all over the world — here’s how to secure your seed for 2008.
4/29/2008
Ask your favorite coffee shop to save their coffee grounds to put into your garden compost pile.
4/28/2008
You can find hornworm caterpillars on your tomato plants at night easier than in the day time, when they like to hide under the leaves. The caterpillars can be fed to your chickens as a morning treat.
4/28/2008
While row covers are one excellent method of protecting garden crops from insect damage, encouraging beneficial insects, such as wasps, can also discourage cabbage moth or cabbage worm damage.
4/28/2008
This couple’s use of raised beds, nutritious soil and intensive planting resulted in a bountiful harvest in their Texas garden.
4/28/2008
The swan neck hoe, diamond shuffle hoe and the broadfork, also known as a U-bar, are useful tools for weeding and loosening garden soil.
4/28/2008
If you need extra space for this year’s flowers or vegetables, but the gardens are full to the brim, consider making instant beds by using bags of good quality top soil. Just plunk down the bags wherever you want a garden bed, poke drainage holes in the bottom of the bags, cut the top of the bag off and then plant your seeds or seedlings right in the bag. Read more ways to make instant, no-dig beds.
4/28/2008
Learn how you can use the free services of resident earthworms to make one of nature’s most potent fertilizers. Discover the soil-building benefits of earthworm castings and read all about the best earthworm varieties for your garden. You’ll also find out how to make a worm bin, encourage new generations of earthworms and make the most of these helpful, industrious garden critters.
4/28/2008
Everybody loves fresh, juicy peaches. And free peaches are even better! Growing trees from seeds is remarkably easy. Not all fruit trees produce reliable results if grown from seeds; but peaches, nectarines and apricots are exceptions to that rule. Collect pits from your favorite fruits this summer, let the pits dry and crack them open to get the seeds. After a brief chilling period, plant the seeds. In a few years, you’ll have fresh peaches — free for the picking!
4/23/2008
A gardening expert discusses what you should do with your seedlings after they sprout in their indoor greenhouse containers.
4/10/2008
In the long term, using tire planters or rubber mulch in your garden can cause problems. Here's why.
4/3/2008
Find out when to sow which seeds and how to determine when the danger of frost has passed.
3/27/2008
Check out this expert advice for keeping an organic garden pest-free.
3/13/2008
If you have orange Asian ladybeetles in your house, what should you do with them? On the one hand, they're an exotic species. On the other hand, ladybeetles are beneficial insects for your garden. Is releasing them outside a good or bad idea? Get the scoop here.
3/12/2008
Many gardeners save seeds from their plants for use the following year, but this technique doesn't work equally well with all vegetable varieties. Here's what you need to know to figure out which plants in your garden you can save seeds from.
2/27/2008
Learn how to start seeds indoors using inexpensive fluorescent lights.
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