Search Results for: blog gardening tips asparagus and more

Gardening Tips: Asparagus and More

I mentioned previously that growing asparagus requires more time and effort than many other plantings. I just learned this from the helpful folks at the ranch and farm supply center. You don’t just plant asparagus and then start picking the delicious, healthy, green vegetables soon thereafter. It actually requires over a year to get them going and about three years before you’ll have anything to pick. You begin as you would with other starter plants, but the seeds will become “crowns.” These crowns must be nurtured for about a year before they can be transplanted into the ground. Once transplanted, … Continue reading →

Friends in the Garden

Just the way we enjoy being with our friends, so do plants in your garden. To continue on with the friends in the garden or buddy planting, here are some other suggestions of plants that like each other’s company. Broccoli does well when grown with beetroot, chamomile, celery, onions, potatoes, rosemary and sage. Cabbage is another one that will happily co-exist with all the items mentioned in the broccoli list as well as dill, and mint. The one problem with mint is that is can tend to take over in the garden if left unchecked. Carrots like to have cabbage, … Continue reading →

Tin Foil is Not a Food Group!

Okay, I call it “tin foil” even though it’s actually aluminum foil. And for pets, that crinkly, shiny stuff can be scary… or very attractive. Roll it into a ball, you’ve got a fun toy to bat around. Shake the sheet and it makes a noise! But leave used aluminum foil in a place where your pets can reach it and you might have a health emergency on your hands. Case in point: my dog Moose (who has no sense of self-preservation!) recently ate the better part of a sheet of aluminum foil that had been used for roasting asparagus. … Continue reading →

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favorite fiction authors. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life is a work of non-fiction. It tells the story of an experimental year as Kingsolver and her family became locavores. They grew and harvested most of their own food, and bought local organic food for the majority of the rest. It’s not fiction, but it almost reads like a novel. I became very interested in the happenings around the farm, wondering about the crops, how their youngest daughters egg business would do, and anxious to see if the turkeys would hatch their eggs. … Continue reading →

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has enjoyed Easter Sunday. Easter egg hunts are probably well past done, along with the aroma of delicious holiday foods cooking in the background. Some folks may also have gone to church, to give thanks for what Easter represents and enjoy beautiful musical celebrations of praise. For those that don’t celebrate in a religious manner, I hope you enjoyed your families, friends, food, and fun. Our youngest woke us up surprisingly late this morning, a very unusual occurrence for any holiday. Never expecting her to sleep so late, I didn’t set an alarm and we missed church. … Continue reading →

The Garden of all Gardens

This is it. This is going to be our best and biggest garden yet. It’s huge! It is at least twice the size of the biggest garden we’ve had so far. My husband and I have been working hard for the past several days and we’re not done yet. We do have a good start though, nice and early, so our plantings can take advantage of those soon to be upon us April showers. So, what are we going to have in our garden this year? Well, there is plenty to tell you about! We started off with three kinds … Continue reading →