The abundance of autumn can get a little overwhelming – not only is there all the garden produce to take care of, store or preserve, there are also a lot of wild delicacies available for free in the nature. But…
Every year we cover a strip of ground under the trees of our young food forest with cardboard to eradicate perennial weed and then plant squash through holes in the cardboard. Later, this space will be planted with perennial herbs…
Back in July when my birthday was coming up, Remco asked me what I wanted as a present and I said: ‘Pergola!’. This pergola has long been planned (& dreamed about) and I must admit that in my lack of…
When I was young, I remember often coming down to the kitchen early in the morning to find my mom next to the stove, a wooden spoon in one hand, a book she was currently reading in the other, absent-mindedly…
How are your tomato plants doing? Still pumping fruits by the bucket or finished because of blight, hornworms or early frost? Here the only tomato variety I have known to keep going outside past August is ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’. Many…
It’s Wednesday evening and I’m finally sitting down to look back at what we’d made with our beautiful harvest. The abundance at this moment is such that, to be honest, I did not even get around to using everything –…
September is a time of wonderful abundance in the garden – most of the summer vegetables are still producing while the cool weather crops are coming into their own. Which means we’re picking lots of sweet corn, zucchini, tomatoes and…
For about 15 years now I’ve been experimenting with fruit tree guilds. Most of the plants I plant in the herb layer under my fruit trees are edible and/or medicinal but they fulfil other functions, too – some fix nitrogen…
There are gardeners who embrace the repetitive nature of gardening and are content to grow the same vegetables in the same way, year after year. And then there are gardeners who approach every season as a new adventure, an opportunity…
Like all urban backyards, ours is surrounded on all sides by walls and fences. Instead of complaining about the shade, I choose to see this as an opportunity to grow lots of crops vertically. Depending on how warm or shady…
I have this big tub that I bought from a second-hand store many years ago. I used to fill it with water for my kids to play with in the garden but when they were no longer interested, I turned…
Most of the time it’s just the two of us working in the garden so on the rare occasion that we get some help I’m always amazed by how much can be done in a couple of hours. About two…
It’s finally gotten warmer which means the plant growth has accelerated. Up till now things were moving slowly – April was cold with some heavy frosts and I was delaying planting out non-hardy vegetables like tomatoes and squash. But with…
My daughter is in the middle of her finals, marking the end of her high school career. She’s pretty calm and undoubtedly doing well in her exams. There’s not much we can do for her at this point but in…
I am not always successful at growing spinach which is why I have back-ups: other plants from the goosefoot family, both annual and perennial, which can be used much in the same way as spinach. Actually, so far this year…