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Easy to Grow Vegetables

If you are new to vegetable gardening or if you want to introduce kids to this wonderful pastime, why not start simple with the vegetable plants that are the easiest to grow? Most vegetables require a lot of sun, about six to eight hours a day, so first identify a sunny spot in your yard where you will do your planting. A raised bed is nice but not necessary. Tomatoes I think tomatoes were the very first vegetable I ever attempted to grow. You can purchase them as seedlings, which makes planting them a snap. Wait until the danger of … Continue reading →

Container Gardening: Is Your Site Suitable?

As one of the many parts of my day job, I help run workshops on gardening. One of the most popular workshops is one on container gardening. Our city is expensive, and buying land is one of the most expensive parts of it. It’s no wonder that many people live in apartments or in townhouses like we do. However, many of these apartment-dwellers have thumbs that yearn to be green. This is where container gardening comes in. If you’re thinking of creating a container garden, you need to determine whether you have a suitable site. Container gardening frees you from … Continue reading →

Easy, Peasy: Growing Peas

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The pea: it’s a staple in soups, where it has the tendency to form a thick sludge on the bottom of your pot when you’re not looking. But oh, the taste of the fresh-picked pea in the summer. There’s really nothing better. How can you get that taste for yourself? Grow your own, of course! Luckily, the pea is quite simple to grow. It’s somewhat shade tolerant. Peas love my partial shade garden, which is a good thing because most other fruits and vegetables really don’t like it very much. If you have full sun, plant early. It grows early … Continue reading →

Growing Education: Families Are Heading Back to the Farm

What’s green and brown all over? A farm, of course! Every spring, more and more families are heading back to the farm. They don’t necessarily live there, but they’re flocking to farms in ever-greater numbers to connect themselves and their children with their source of food and the farmers who grow it. In our community, urban agriculture is booming. This morning we are going to the grand opening of a small urban farm, one that was born out of the abandoned end of a soccer field. It was relatively unused land, so the city donated it and it is becoming … Continue reading →

Lawn Weeds: Why You Should Love Your Moss and Clover

Shhh! Your garden is talking to you! When you look out onto an expanse of lawn, it’s telling you things. When you bend down close to the ground, you can hear what it’s saying. Take a look through your lawn once it comes out of dormancy in the spring time. What you’ll see if a fair bit of flattened green grass. Quite likely there will be a fair number of weeds in the mix too: weeds like moss and clover. Of course, weeds are in the eye of the beholder. Some people cultivate soft moss lawns or encourage a clover … Continue reading →

Fruits and Vegetables Aren’t Healthy Anymore?

What if I told you that all of the fruits and vegetables that you have been serving your family aren’t as healthy as they should be? That in fact, you’ll have to eat almost three times the amount of sat, broccoli, to get the nutrition that you think you are getting, that the government has been telling you that you are getting? Prevention Magazine is reporting on a story that reveals that fruits and vegetables just don’t have as much of what it takes anymore. In fact, the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables is dwindling. Take the broccoli example. … Continue reading →

Is Your Microwave a Danger to Your Health?

Modern conveniences are all very well and many make life easier. But sometimes I wonder about some of them. One in particular which is a staple appliance in most homes has come under criticism. It is the microwave oven. I remember when Microwaves first came out, there were a lot of rumors and people were wary about whether they were safe. It took me a long time to warm to the idea of a microwave and I’ve only ever used it in an emergency to defrost the meat or to cook vegetables. Then this week I was directed by someone … Continue reading →

Gardening With Your Preschooler: Easy and Early Plants to Grow

We finally have our garden started, a little late for the very early plants like mizuna and fava beans. My daughter has her garden started too, a pot of peas in her playhouse. She’s interested in having her own garden this year. If your preschooler is also interested in growing a garden, what foods are suitable? Out of the early crops, I’d pick peas, radishes, and lettuce. All of these can withstand cooler temperatures, so you can plant them in early spring or late winter, depending on your climate. All of them also do well in pots or planter boxes … Continue reading →

Early Spring Vegetables that Kids Love to Grow

While my daughter has a garden, our food growing tends to occur in our communal vegetable garden. As I ordered seeds for a new year, she decided that she might want to try growing some vegetables in her own garden. What are some ideal early spring crops for kids? Radishes are an early crop, and in many places they can be planted as soon as the ground is unfrozen. Make a simple cold frame with some clear plastic or plexiglass to warm up the ground a bit, just in case there is a late frost. I love the Easter Egg … Continue reading →

Growing Your Own Vegetables

There’s nothing quite like vegetables from your own garden. They have a freshness and taste that is missing from shop bought vegetables and fruit. Part of our garden is dedicated to growing vegetables and some fruit. It helps the finances as well. The other week Mick bought vegetable plants. He usually grows tomatoes. They have a totally different taste to shop bought tomatoes. Most years our tomatoes are in well before this, but because he was unwell it didn’t happen as early in spring this time so he bought larger plants that he would normally. Beans we grow from seed. … Continue reading →