Life on the Farm
Starting azaleas from cuttings is tricky business, according to everything I read before I gave it a try. And another try. And a third try — ah-ha, this time with success. Why Bother? Decades ago I bought several pots of...
Consult three different charts on how long garden seeds last in storage and you will find three different sets of answers. That’s because the longevity of stored seed has not been definitively determined. Too much depends on variables that include...
The method for preparing garden seeds for storage depends on whether they dry on the plant or are surrounded by moist pulp. The easiest way to start seed saving is to save garden seeds that naturally dry on the plant....
Judging from the number of published books on the subject, you might get the impression that saving and storing seeds from crops growing in your garden is a complicated affair. That’s certainly the impression I once had. But over the...
An herb that grows in the garden and can be used as a sugar substitute sounds too good to be true, so of course I had to try it. Naturally sweet stevia has now taken its place on my list...
Ginger seems like an exotic spice from a faraway place. I used it for many years before realizing how easy it is to grow ginger in your garden. My moment of epiphany occurred one year when crystallized ginger inexplicably became...
An editor once asked me if I was interested in writing a book about gardening. I replied that I didn’t see the point, since everything there is to know about gardening had already been written in great gardening books. At...
Some root crops harvested from the garden have soil sticking to them that needs to be washed off before the vegs are brought into the house. In searching for a comfortable solution for a garden produce wash stand to rinse...
If you have garden seeds and wonder about their germination rate, you can find out by doing a sprout test. The same process may be used to presprout seeds that need a head start.
Seed companies come and seed companies go. The garden seeds you like best therefore may not be available next time you’re ready to purchase. That’s what happened to me with Gusto bell peppers. For the past several years I have...
