Integrated pest management in the edible garden

Squash borers: Take action before they do damage.I ended up with some volunteer butternut squash vines from kitchen scraps buried in the garden. Normally, I would not be growing them during mid-summer, but we'll see how they do in our hot summer weather.One action item is to bury the base of the...

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Summertime, summertime...

Is it spring or fall?Several years ago, I purchased this native fall-blooming aster, but each year it has bloomed in both the late spring and early fall.  Its breaking of bud dormancy may be caused by the same length of day as its correct blooming time. Whatever its problem, we do enjoy its surprise...

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Lime basil

Lime basil took over my early lettuce rows. I'd grown it here last year and now I know that it's an abundant reseeder. I'd let it grow since early September when I set up these 2 rows, but now it was time to give the lettuce and the beets more room.Abundant harvest of lime basil! I shared some with...

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Beautyberry bread

Gathering the berries. I used only the ones at the ends of the branches because they are the last to ripen.I robbed the birds!Many birds feast on our beautyberries (Callicarpa americana) including mockingbirds, catbirds, and cardinals.  So I felt guilty removing even one cup of their winter berry...

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Gardeners know when to "fold"

Gardeners are gamblersWe plant seeds or seedlings and we bet that we'll end up with a bountiful harvest, but it doesn't always happen that way. So when a crop is in distress, we need to yank it out and move on to something else. Case in point: our fall cucumber crop that I talked about last time. We...

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Cole crops

Don't plant too many cabbages at one time.While they are easy enough to grow, do you and your family need 20 of these beauties all at once?Do you know cabbage? Cole crops are all the cabbage crops derived from a single species of Brassica oleracea. (Kohl is the German word for cabbage.)The cultivars...

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