Posts tagged as:

Vegetables

Growing Peas in Cold Climates

July 12, 2009

Peas in July! Yes, we are harvesting the last of our peas this week. When you garden in a cold climate, you may grow the same vegetables as those in warmer areas, but you don’t follow the same schedule. I thought I’d run through our pea time line to give you an idea of how [...]

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When do I start tomatoes from seed in upstate NY?

February 21, 2009

A reader contacted Cold Climate Gardening recently to ask:
I live in area between Syracuse and Ithaca… near Cortland. I have tomato seeds–many different varieties. When should I start the seedlings to grow in peat pots inside the house? Is it too early? While I am at it…what else should I be starting? Thanks [...]

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Three gardening books for children

November 18, 2008

Many gardening books for children take what I think of as the art project approach: here’s what you need, this is what you do, isn’t that cute?, now show it to Grandma. Very few books out there take children–or a child’s interest in gardening–seriously.
I prefer to regard children as apprentice gardeners, gradually acquiring more skills [...]

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Leeks: A Good Vegetable for Northern Gardens

October 31, 2008

When the days grow shorter, when we’ve had several freezes (and even a dusting of snow), and when we finally concede it’s time to drain the hose and close down the storm windows on the last remaining screens–that’s when we begin to harvest the leeks.

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Grow Organic: Book Review

December 4, 2007

The subtitle of Grow Organic: Over 250 Tips and Ideas for Growing Flowers, Veggies, Lawns and More by Doug Oster and Jessica Walliser reads “for first-timers and old-timers alike,” but I think it excels at helping veteran gardeners who have been using chemical fertilizers and pesticides to make the transition to an organic approach.

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Colony Collapse Disorder: Are there any facts out there?

September 2, 2007

This looks like a bee visiting a corn poppy, but really it’s a fly. This comment explains.

Perhaps, like me, you’ve noticed there haven’t been as many bees flying around this year. If you’re the sort of person who gets nervous around bees, this might even seem like a good thing to you. But perhaps, like [...]

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Is vegetable gardening in the Rocky Mountains possible?

April 22, 2007

Readers, I’d like your help in answering this email:
I live at 8800 ft. in the Rocky Mountains ( yes, we have had snow recently also) and want to garden. I did not get 1 tomato last summer because nights are cold.–although my flowers and herb pots did well. This year I have cut [...]

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Artichoke Question

October 30, 2005

Denise Kemp writes:
My brother-in-law gave me an artichoke plant this spring that was given to him. He told me that I need to lift the plant in the fall but didn’t have any details on whether to take the leaves off or leave it in dirt or newspaper or what so I’m not sure [...]

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Everything In

June 10, 2004

I, at long last, (so it seems,) have everything planted. It always seems I reach this state with less dignity and aplomb than I would like. Later winter and early spring are spent dreaming up all sorts of things that I’ll want to get done and complaining that I can’t do everything. Then, starting sometime [...]

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Organic Gardening in Cold Climates: Book Review

January 7, 2003

I’ve been reading the 1991 edition of Organic Gardening in Cold Climates by Sandra Perrin, which I checked out of the library. (Since there is now a 2002 edition, some of my comments might not be appropriate.) First off, it might better be called Organic Vegetable Gardening–there wasn’t much about flowers except how to use [...]

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Weeding

September 25, 2002

I weeded half the asparagus bed yesterday. It hadn’t been weeded at all this season because of my hospital stay and then Deirdre being born, and since it hadn’t been weeded it was never mulched. The asparagus seem to be doing okay despite the neglect, although some are leaning way over, which makes me think [...]

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