‘Garden Babies’ butterhead lettuce poses on my balcony. Here in Vancouver, summer is a little delayed. While the incessant rain and cool weather has meant stunted warm season crops, rust on my garlic, and pepper plants that are still biding their time indoors, it’s also meant a bumper crop of lettuce, scallions, herbs, arugula, spinach, […]
Veggies & Edibles
Before and after: A leek makeover
I just lined up my posts for the week and by pure coincidence they all seem to be before-and-afters. But who doesn’t like a good makeover story? This story features leeks, the hardy and mild allium. It starts late last summer with the planting of my winter garden. The leeks held strong all winter, really […]
Welcome to the warm season
An explanation of cool and warm seasons in gardening, and why vegetables and herbs sometimes bolt (grow tall and set seed).
Now Harvesting: late-May
Peas! The peas are here! The sugar snaps made their debut on my balcony veggie garden this week, and MY GOD, there is nothing better. Also: lettuces, scallions, leeks, radishes, arugula, spinach, and herbs. What are you harvesting? You can see what others are harvesting now on Harvest Mondays, hosted by Daphne’s Dandelions.
Now Harvesting: mid-May
I’ve decided to introduce a regular weekly feature on Heavy Petal called Now Harvesting. I hope to share with you what I’m eating out of the garden every week until winter, or until the garden is completely empty. For my own sake, I think this will be a great way to look back on what […]
Square foot update
In March, I wrote about the creation of my newest garden space, a raised bed planted using the square-foot method (of planting in 1′ squares). I’m happy to report that the garden, so far, is a success – turning out early producers spinach, radishes, and arugula. Left to right, top to bottom: ‘Easter Egg II’ […]
Kale blossoms are just about the greatest thing
Kale makes a great crop for overwintering in the veggie garden. But if you’re hoping to harvest an early spring crop of your overwintered kale greens, be warned: it may just bolt (flower and set seed) as soon as the weather starts to warm in late winter or spring. Kale flowers taste like a cross […]
Using common ground to create a new garden space
Last fall, Ben and I built three raised beds and installed them in a small grassy area above the parking garage for our townhouse complex. The area was rarely used, so we decided to build a mini community garden to be shared by interested residents. (We also photographed the making of these beds for my […]