Search Results for: label/vegetable%20gardening/page/16/2010/06/the-urban-homestead/2011/04/making-it

977 results

Polyculture

Avatar photo
Permaculture
14 Comments
...ted, interdependent plants, mimicking in your garden (in our case a raised vegetable bed) the complex relationships that are found between plants in nature. In the case of food crops, a polyculture tries to set up conditions where you can eat almost continually out of a garden bed filled with different varieties of plants maturing at different times. The faster growing plants protect the tender ones from the sun. The thickness of the planting virt...

Read…

What I’m Growing this Winter

Avatar photo
Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
11 Comments
...ltivata Sel. Ortolani” One can never have enough arugula. It’s my favorite vegetable. This year I’m trying Franchi’s arugula “Coltivata Sel. Ortolani.” Franchi sells both “cultivated” and “wild” varieities of arugula (confusing, since the “wild” varieties are actually cultivated). Cultivated varieties tend to be milder and less sharp in taste. I like them both. Franchi highlights certain varieties by featuring them as “Selezione Speciale” which is...

Read…

Straw Bale Garden: What I Learned

Avatar photo
Gardening, Straw Bale Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
29 Comments
...traw bale garden I started this spring has been one of the most successful vegetable gardens I’ve ever planted. In fact it’s still producing well into November. Here’s what I learned from the experiment: Plants that suck up a lot of nitrogen, like squash, do well in a straw bale garden. My tomatoes flourished but, due to the high nitrogen, made more leaves than fruit. I’m not saying you shouldn’t plant tomatoes in straw bales–results will be bette...

Read…

Direct Seeding vs. Transplants

Avatar photo
Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
34 Comments
...Willits a few years back. Jeavons transplants everything. One of the best vegetable gardens I ever grew was done following his instructions to the letter. But I’m not big on double digging, nor do I look forward to the twice a year transplanting chores. Look what’s growing in the new raised beds–nada! This year I tried to direct sow the summer garden instead of growing trays of seedlings and I have to say I’m not getting good results. A week of t...

Read…

Parkway Plantings

Avatar photo
Vegetable Gardening
1 Comment
...asses for agriculture in this country have taken all the flavor out of our vegetables. Rapa da Foglia senza Testa, i.e. rabe without a head. Yet another bitter vegetable, this is a kind of turnip green that looks kind of like broccoli rabe, except that you eat the leaves. A bit susceptible to bugs, but we had a successful crop last year. Carrots – Carota Pariser Market. This is a small round carrot that French folks apparently like. Around the wir...

Read…