The Turnip- A Fully Edible Plant Autumn is upon us, and the garden has been generous so far this season. For the past three or four weeks we have been regularly harvesting greens, but now the time has finally come for something a bit more substantial. The first turnips of the season are ready to pull!…
Watering The Garden It’s no secret that a consistent supply of water is a necessity for a healthy garden or landscape. Even desert plants need water occasionally. The questions are, how much and how often. Although there is considerable variation from plant to plant and location to location, the general rule of thumb that American gardeners…
Variable Climate, Consistent Garden It’s no secret that weird weather is the norm these days, case in point: one of the strongest “El Niño” patterns in decades is developing before our eyes. This phenomenon will likely have an effect on weather conditions for several months, particularly late fall through winter, with a trend of warm,…
Green Manure Cover Crop Cover cropping is a well known practice, and the current groundswell of interest in backyard organic gardening has everyone doing it. It is pretty common to find field peas, oats, buckwheat and other traditional agricultural cover crops in garden centers, packed in small packets to sow in plots as small as fifty…
Soil Gardeners spend lots of time digging, weeding, fertilizing, transplanting and working at a host of other chores. Sometimes it’s helpful to take a moment to think about what we’re doing. After all, what are we trying to accomplish by gardening in the first place? We all have our personal reasons for getting a little…