Homegrown Ideas, Tips & Guides

Are you keen on the idea of growing your own vegetables, but not really sure where to start? This list of ten easy to grow vegetables is a great first step on your grow your own journey.

They never even consider winter crops. A mere dozen lettuce seeds, sown every 10 days from late winter through late summer, the earliest ones indoors for set-out later, will guarantee a small household plenty of fresh, succulent salad greens early spring through late fall. Don’t plant 10 feet of row of lettuce at a time—3 or 4 feet at most is more like it, since lettuce doesn’t keep. And even with those 12 seeds, I like to mix it up a bit, alternating 6 each of two varieties at each planting, so I have a blend of colors, tastes and textures in every bowlful.There are three basic categories of lettuces, the earliest being the looseleaf kind, which take only 45-60 days to mature. ‘Black-Seeded Simpson,’ at 45 days, is about the quickest of all, so don’t be without it. Another non-heading lettuce I always grow is ‘Oakleaf,’ with beautiful ruffled leaves shaped like its namesake’s. There are red forms now, like ‘Flame,’ or various improved v

MY LIST OF HOMEGROWN INGREDIENTS FOR THE THANKSGIVING TABLE starts with the bumpy, oddball makings of a centerpiece. Gourds (like the warty or Bule ones), though delicious to look at, are more decor than dinner, but I did grow many edible parts of the harvest feast this year: sweet potatoes (which I’ve cooked with you here before) and Brussels sprouts and white potatoes and winter squash and green beans—and come to think of it, there might be something on the menu made with my apples, too, and garlic and parsley and sage and…well, you get the idea.

We all know homegrown tastes best and who better to show us why than bestselling cookbook author Rukmini Iyer. She reveals the crops she loves to to grow in her small London garden and shares delicious recipe ideas to get the maximum flavour from your harvests.

You waged a winning battle against marauding pests. You warded off nasty diseases. You watered, pruned, fertilized, and propped those vines up.Now it’s harvest time, and

Natural herbs have been the cure and prevention for many health issues for centuries. These were often delivered in the form of teas, tinctures, and balms. The medicinal properties of mint have been lauded through the years, with many benefits touted. In the modern age, however, we may wonder, is mint good for you? Mint health benefits encompass aromatherapy, digestive enhancement, and as a decongestant, among others. Mint is readily available as an oil, dried tea, and is very easy to grow in the garden.

Seeing red? If you’re looking at your homegrown tomatoes, I hope they are a bright, cheery red color as they’re ripening on the vine.And yet, I know that even experienced gardeners have times when t

To celebrate Spring the team from Bale Breaker’s Yakima farm is bringing 6′ hop plants sell at our their Ballard Taproom. We’ll be here selling our new Freyr trellis, our friends at Beyond Peat Professional Organics will have some of their latest soil to sample, and Ecolibrium Farms will also be in house selling plant and flower starts for the spring season!

Preserving freshly picked basil from the garden for future use is a wonderful way to savor its flavor throughout the year.Because the harvests can

Yesterday I was listening to James Wong (@Botanygeek) on Five Live talking through the merits of growing your own fruit and vegetables. For those of you that missed it James was questioning why we are still growing the same basic fruit and veg on our allotments that we grew in 1940.  It was his suggestion that buying all the kit to grow your own basics might end up costing you more than buying the actual veg from your local supermarket. I thought I’d do some digging to see if anyone had actually worked this out. Gold medal for accuracy goes to Tiger Sheds who have created this infographic breaking down all the costs. Pleasingly it’s still cheaper, healthier and more rewarding to grow your own ! Now, what James we

Onions are a vegetable garden favorite. They are members of the large and diverse Allium genus that includes garlic and leeks, and are staples in recipes from countries around the globe.We link to vendors to help

Since I’ve sadly outgrown the Flintstones Chewables stage of life, ensuring that I’m getting all of my essential vitamins can sometimes feel like a guessing game.As a dietitian, patients often ask me about taking vitamin supp

What do people, pills, and lettuce have in common?When they are bitter, they’re the worst.Mayb

There are two main reasons why I don’t like to see holes in the cucumbers I grow in my garden.The first was best stated by a work fri

We’ve been told since we were young that eating carrots will help our eyesight… or maybe it was just my mom who said that?There is some truth to this common recommenda

The world of edible plants often reminds me of paintings from the Renaissance era, when the most artworthy models were full-figured and had alabaster skin.Who wouldn’t want a lustrous and shapely e

Growing your own edible crops is rewarding, tasty, and perhaps most importantly, nutritious!Vitamins and minerals are found

Kohlrabi is a cole family plant with large, juicy bulbs that form above ground, emerging from a central stalk.Gaining in popularity, these c

Oftentimes, we gardeners are met with a dilemma – I’m talking about the burden of too much homegrown produce. (Yeah, don’t expect anyone’s pity for this predicament!)When harvests of a seemingly endless supply of cucumbe

One of the true joys of summer has to be finally getting to eat the fruits (or vegetables) of our labors from our gardens! Just today I came home from our mini-vacation and found a couple of my tomatoes ALMOST ready to pick! I was so excited I could hardly stand it! I can already taste that delicious B.L.T. sandwich I’m going to make with one of them right now! :-) (CLICK HERE to read my post on planting “topsy turvy tomatoes.”)

Popeye had it right when he encouraged us to eat our spinach!Why is that? Spinach is notably

A fellow gardener once asked me if growing potatoes was worth it. Why waste the space, dig the trenches, mound the hills, interfere with tomato rotation, and risk battling with potato bugs for a vegetable that we often experience in ways that are far from special?Here’s why:Recently harvested pot

Most people who are worried about “storing pumpkin” are looking only for ways to store the portion of puree that’s left in a can of pie filling after doing their baking for Thanksgiving.But when you grow your own Cucurbita pepo, C. moschata,