My tomato plants, post end-of-summer pruning. It’s not quite time for the annual winter garden clean up (just typing that made me feel a little ill), but it’s a good idea to start to prepare for fall by planting your winter garden, and by pruning your tomato plants. Why prune? Two reasons: to focus the […]
Archives for August 2010
Now Harvesting: late-August
The word harvest takes on new significance at this time of year, as the garden really steps it up. Right now I’m harvesting tomatoes, fresh herbs and beans daily, with cucumbers, peppers, and zucchinis making a semi-regular appearance. Pulled up my crop of ‘Ambition’ shallots today, too, and was impressed with how they’d multiplied. If […]
Fruit and flowers
My husband, Ben, and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary on Friday. We don’t normally exchange gifts, but since the traditional gift for a four year anniversary is fruit or flowers, I told him he could at least buck up and get me some blooms. Being the man that he is, Ben took it one […]
Contest! Win one of three sets of reusable totes or mesh produce bags from Bag the Habit
A while back I wrote a post called Seven tips to make gardening “away” easier, which consists of—you guessed it—seven ideas for making it easier to garden at community garden plots, guerrilla gardens, or any garden that can’t be accessed simply by opening your back or balcony door. The main challenge with these “away” gardens, […]
Why you should plant your winter garden in summer
Plan and plant in summer for harvests all winter long.
Now harvesting: mid-August
When I got back from holidays, it was pretty clear that my potatoes were done. The leafy tops had been dying for a while, and I’d been sneaking the odd new potato here and there, but until last week, you could still pretend the tops were green. No longer. Have you ever harvested potatoes? No? […]
The best low-maintenance edibles: food growing for the time crunched
Potatoes: it doesn’t get much easier. I don’t have hours a week to spend in the garden. I wish I could say that I do daily rounds of all my garden spaces, carrying a big wicker basket and leisurely harvesting things that need picking, casually plucking the occasional weed, and generally doing a lot of […]
Some summer photos
I’ve been back from vacation for a few days now; long enough to be pining for days spent by the water and evenings with a bottle of wine and a few dozen mosquitos. I’ve got what feels like a few million posts to write, but I’m not quite ready to leave holiday mode just yet. […]