In the March post I mentioned the Garden Connect project that we’re participating in this year where gardeners from around the world grow identical 2 by 6 foot (60 x 180 cm) gardens, compare and share growing methods. Here’s an…
This post is a part of a new series about the things I usually do/sow/harvest in my garden in a given month. I post at the beginning of each month as inspiration for other (aspiring) gardeners. At the end of…
Whenever chatting with gardeners in spring, you are likely to hear things like: “The weather is two weeks ahead.” Or behind. Or whatever. It makes me wonder what spring ever became the ideal that every subsequent spring is measured against?…
Today is the first day of spring and spring means some of my favorite seasonal produce is almost in sight. I started blanching rhubarb a couple of weeks ago but despite the warm weather we’ve had, it is not quite…
Early spring is the time of discrepancy between what you can harvest from the garden and what you actually feel like eating. In the garden, it’s still the winter vegetables’ show that’s been on forever: the kale we’ve been picking…
This post is a part of a series about the things I usually do/sow/harvest in my garden in a given month. I’ll post at the beginning of each month and at the end of month I check in to let…
Unlike many of you, we are having an exceptionally mild winter this year. We have had few frosts so far and they did not even kill the calendulas. My husband is so longing for snow that he starts checking the…
January is the quietest month in the gardening calendar – it is cold outside and it is too early to sow anything, whether outside or indoors. Starting plants too early when there’s not enough natural light only results in lanky…
It is customary, as the year comes to an end, to remember, reminisce and reflect. At the beginning of the year I made a list of about 10 resolutions, trying not to be impossibly ambitious. Well – I kept one…
November is the month when we put the garden to bed before winter. I did a little weeding of the empty beds and put in a layer of mulch. This year, besides straw and cocoa shells, we’ve also used shredded…
When I teach a gardening course, we always do a short introductory round first, when everyone shares a little about how and where they garden and what their wishes for the future are. Every now and then, somebody will say:…
In the month of October, I am sorry to say, our vegetable garden has been sorely neglected. I was teaching forest gardening at a permaculture design course, and right after that, we left for a week in England to visit…
The above photo shows a typical September harvest from our allotment: kohlrabi, spring onions, Asian radishes, zucchini, lemon cucumbers, beets, beans and herbs. September harvests are still bountiful – the absence of frost so far means that even frost tender…
We came back from our holiday 11th August and just about the first thing we did after unloading the car was heading to our allotment. Visiting your vegetable garden after more than four weeks absence, can be a little scary,…
One of the main objections people have to planting edible gardens is that they think that a garden planted with just useful plants won’t be a pretty sight. Well, I think it’s perfectly possible to plant a beautiful garden filled…