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Organic, locally grown,…are they the same?
Consumers used to ask me about products labeled for specific nutritional attributes such as sodium free, trans fat free and rich in omega 3’s. Now, they are asking if there is a nutritional advantage of organic foods.
My Top 10 Reasons to Garden
It’s SPRING. Warm weather makes me start planning for my flower and vegetable garden. Why?
Get Your Updated Garden Publications
It is almost time to plant the garden. You do not need a big space, container gardens and small plots (like 4’x4’ plot) will produce enough for you to enjoy that fresh garden taste. A couple of years ago, I blogged about “My Top Ten Reasons to Garden”. I skimmed them this morning and they are still on target.
Growing and Using Fresh Herbs
I have had good luck growing culinary herbs in pots on my sunny deck. I have also grown them in the garden in well-drained soil. I enjoy being able to experiment with fresh herbs in my cooking. Plus, you can buy herb plants for about the same price as you buy one bunch at the store.
Spring Produce
Each spring I love watching the plants pop up out of the ground. Some days I feel like I can see the plants growing in my yard. Now that we are in April, more and more fresh spring produce is popping up in the stores and in gardens.
Let’s Grow Tomatoes!
Last week Christine shared about how she grows greens in containers on her patio. This week I am going to share about my gardening experiences with tomatoes. My family and I have a pretty large garden in our back yard. We usually fill about half of it with tomato plants because we love to eat them fresh and make them into tomato juice to enjoy all year long.
Growing Herbs
In the spirit of gardening, today I am going to continue our series and talk about growing herbs. Growing herbs at home can save you money because buying fresh and dried herbs at the store can add up quickly. Growing herbs is something that started as a fluke for me and has turned into a passion.
Container Gardening: Big Benefits in Small Spaces
The interest in growing our own produce increases daily. Everyone can garden, even apartment dwellers and those with limited outdoor space. The Sow, Grow, Eat and Keep series is helping Iowans learn to grow their own food at home. This week’s “Sow, Grow, Eat and Keep” video from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach addresses how to start a container garden to grow tasty foods at home.
Gardening Starts With the Seeds
Each year, as the days get longer and temperatures rise, garden catalogs begin to fill our mailbox and planning for our garden begins once again. My husband and I each grew up in homes with large vegetable gardens. His mom had a separate potato garden and my family sold sweet corn and tomatoes at our farm. I remember dad putting the sign up at the end of our driveway each summer. My family used the money we made selling tomatoes and sweet corn for a summer vacation just before school started. As you might imagine, my husband and I have enjoyed planning, planting and harvesting our own vegetable garden through the years. What we plant and how big our garden is has changed through the years, as the season of our life dictates. Some years, our schedule for the summer hasn’t allowed time for gardening, and what we plant has also changed as our interest in certain vegetables has changed.
Herb Gardening in Small Spaces
Last week we heard about our friend Jill’s experience with gardening throughout her life. She shared some wonderful tips for planning a garden and using the information on seed packets to help you make decisions. I would like to share a slightly different perspective. I live in a small house and I do not have land to till up and plant a garden. I still love to grow some food though, so I do container gardening.
Growing Vegetables in Pots
This week in our gardening series, I’m going to share the plans my son and I have for doing some container gardening at our house.
Benefitting from Our Neighbor’s Talents
Gardening is not my strong suit. Quite honestly, the thought of gardening and planting flowers brings a lot of stress! After years of attempting to garden and losing motivation due to brown flowers and plants, I eventually came to terms with the fact that my family’s produce would need to be purchased from the grocery store or a local farmer’s market. Fortunately, one of our neighbors has a gift and has planted a garden to share with a few families on our street. Like mentioned in the previous gardening posts, our neighbor has done the research to determine what items to grow in her garden. With a lot of trial and error, she has become quite successful!