ARE YOU “MOREGANIC”? My friend Gayla Trail, a.k.a. You Grow Girl, turned me on to that description of how we care for our gardens more than organically. Gayla was the first garden blogger I ever heard of (online since February 2000!) and grows lots of unusual stuff.
She doesn’t have greenhouses or even a giant garden, but Toronto-based Gayla has plenty of homegrown leafy greens to eat over a very long season—including some wild varieties I bet you’ve never tried. Last time I checked, Gayla was harvesting basketful Number 50-something of the season (above) with more to come.
Learn about being “moreganic” plus her favorite greens and best growing tips and who knows what else, because when Gayla and I get to talking…well, you know.
Read along as you listen to the Sept. 3, 2018 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
being ‘moreganic,’ + growing greens, with gayla trail
Q. So, before we start on the promised subject of greens: I get a lot of reader and listener questions about what product to use to kill some insect or cure some disease with their plants. I read something on your website the other day, where you mentioned your approach to garden care, and called it not just organic but “moreganic,” and I want you to explain moreganic as a starter.
A. That’s a term that I don’t hear too often, but it’s one that I’ve embraced because what it means is really going beyond what is acceptable or “allowable” within the parameters of organic gardening practices. So that could be what are considered “safer” sprays and organically certified pesticides.
I hear the word moreganic used more with farmers now, who
The website greengrove.cc is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Living and working in northwestern Oregon, garden designer Wesley Younie is no stranger to dealing with challenging environments. When presented with this garden’s elevation changes, drainage management, and extreme climate conditions, he devised a plan that addresses it all—along with a specific functional wish list from the homeowners. Want to know which plants he used? Here are the plant IDs for this beautiful, sustainable landscape.
These days, we all look for a good way to refresh ourselves and fresh, home-made drinks are the perfect thing to do so. Especially if we can make something that includes the fruits of our labour in the garden.
The harvest video was on Hudson Valley Seed’s Instagram account, and one of that New York-based organic seed company’s co-founders, K Greene, talked with me about growing shallots and their more commonly grown cousin, garlic. He also shared some other ideas for succession sowing of edibles whose planting time still lies ahead—whether for fall harvest or to over-winter and enjoying in the year ahead. Read along as you listen to the Aug. 7, 2023 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) o
Bromeliads are one of the most colorful plants you can adorn your rooms with. If you want the most stunning ones for your home, then check out these Best Bromeliads Anyone Can Grow Easily Indoors!
Girl dinner is the latest dining trend to take over social media. Many of us already knew it existed (we were eating it, after all), but it didn't have a name until a few weeks ago. At its most basic, it's a pantry clear-out, cheese-and-charcuterie, snacking kind of meal. You can eat it with your fingers and graze on it while watching TV, reading a good book, and just doing a little self-care.
Commonly known as the Winter melon and Chinese watermelon, Ash gourd is native to Japan is found commonly throughout India. When touched, the fruit leaves an ash-like residue on hands. That’s the reason behind its interesting name! Here’s all you need to know about growing Ash gourd!
THINGS HAVE NEVER BEEN THE SAME HERE SINCE the oldest hoe went missing, and the long-handled shovel with just the right weight to it split (as in the handle cracked in half, not that it up and walked away). There are no more good tools, not like my old tools, and so I grieve (and curse at how heavy and unbalanced the modern equivalents really are).
IHATE SPENDING $1.49 OR EVEN 99 cents for a bunch of herbs, when all I ever need is a few springs at a time. And so I try to strive for herbal self-sufficiency, using simple tactics of growing and storing all the herbs I want all year—mostly in one of two basic frozen forms.You can make a “pesto” (as in: a sauce of crushed herbs) with many of your green garden flavors. Not just parsley (above), but sage, basil, rosemary, chives and garlic scapes will work—and probably more, using a little water or oil to semi-liquefy the harvest. I’m putting up some cilantro and dill, using both the ice-cube and rolled “log” tactics below, as a test this year, too.The recipes and how-to’s:Garlicky Green Ice Cubes. (How I make and freeze 365 days of basil pesto, and other herb pestos, too.) Will the Real Oregano Please Stand Up? (What a confusing herb this is! If your homegrown oregano tastes
This year, I’m late, late, late—and I’m conveniently blaming circumstances beyond my control. After frozen ground in April, no rain for three-plus weeks in May, and a June of incredible deluges, some of my best-laid plans aren’t looking so swell. Maybe you’re in the same situation. With all the upside-down spring weather that made headlines around the nation, I suspect it’s not just me who fell “behind.” There’s still time for a positive outcome.Ken (below, saving tomato seed), founder of Hudson Valley Seed Library catalog and an organic seed farmer, joined me on the public-radio show and podcast to talk about planting for late summer into late fall harvest (think: pea-shoot salad, a succulent fresh batch of basil and more), and about seed saving.Read along as you listen to the July 13, 201
In a series of emails and Skype calls since I began A Way to Garden in 2008, Gayla and I have found so much shared turf:We two longtime organic gardeners can get riled up—over topics ranging from the environment, to chemical companies and the “business” of gardening in general, to dyed mulch and more (her most recent rant on offcolor mulch is way down in this post). We both overdo it—on plants, work, and a major inclination to cart home lots of rusty buckets and other “vintage” metal stuff from tag sales. We both live in the garden offseason crammed into spaces where in many rooms, the plants get a majority of the square footage. (And why not?) In addition to the usual tools, you’ll find us both with a camera in the garden, though Gayla is a professional ph