making life delicious blog
Since putting in our raised beds a few years ago we’ve tried a few different options for trellising our beans and peas. We were going for easy and not necessarily attractive. We certainly got “not necessarily attractive” and easy to put up, but unfortunately not easy to work with because they kept leaning and falling [...]
Sometimes you have to take drastic action to get rid of garden pests, like squash bugs. Every year we lose plants due to this persistent insect, which feeds on our squash, pumpkins, and cucumber plants. They lay their eggs on the bottom side of plant leaves, which hatch in about 10 days, and though one [...]
We started talking about worms about a month ago, thinking about adding them to our compost to help it along. Michael did the research and we talked it up with the boys, describing how they are beneficial in the garden. The boys started showing an interest, picking up every worm they found on the driveway [...]
This weekend it was time to check our potted potato experiment to see if we’d actually been able to grow anything. The plants got fairly tall as potatoes tend to do, and over the last few weeks had started dying back, though two of them still had some green leaves. We dragged the two pots [...]
Happy New Year! We started off the new year by talking about the garden, which we usually do in early January. This year the discussion centered around where to put in more raised beds this spring, where the fig and pomegranate trees should have their permanent home, and what to do about the potatoes we [...]
Ever since I found tiny yellow potatoes at Trader Joe’s last year, I’ve been planning how to grow some for ourselves. The flavor of those little potatoes is incredibly close to my favorite papas criollas from Colombia and after tasting them in ajiaco and clam chowder we knew we had to try them in the [...]
Last fall Michael decided we needed to cover our fruit trees with netting to protect the harvest from the local wildlife, and after seeing similar techniques on fruit trees while on a trip to Okinawa, our collection of net bags grew.
Of the three rhubarbs plants we put in last spring, only one survived the flooding, but it is coming up very nicely and this weekend we’ll plant two or three more. As soon as the leaves sprouted we inverted a large planter over it, a technique that encourages longer stems, and so far we are [...]
After the long cold winter we’ve had, seeing the crocuses and daffodils last week was a welcome sight. The crocuses only lasted a few days, but their bright purple and white blooms made a beautiful splash of color in the flower bed.
If you peruse garden sites and catalogs, you’ll find an abundance of products to help you compost, and frankly the prices can be pretty ridiculous. In our opinion, $200 or more for a compost bin plus another $40 for a pretty crock to store your kitchen scraps until you have time to take them out [...]
It's spring in the U.S. and the following foods may be in season in your area:
artichokes, fennel, fiddleheads, radishes, broccoli, rhubarb, kale, cresses, spinach, spring lettuces, chard, cabbages, chives, cilantro, collards, tatsoi, mustard greens, spring onions, asparagus, rosemary, wild garlic, ramps, strawberries, blueberries, cherries
Eat fresh seasonal produce to stay healthy and help your food budget.Learn more about seasonal and sustainable cooking at Sustainable Table - In the Kitchen.
