A Growing Concern
In the fall I like to scatter fava beans on fallow garden areas so that something will be growing there over the winter. Favas are a great cover crop around here because they will germinate and grow even if planted in November. I also scattered a bit of crimson clover along with the favas, but [...]
I've been gardening in Oregon for a few years now, and I'm coming to appreciate evermore the humble fava bean. The first time I encountered it was in a cover crop seed mix that I got at the local garden store. I started using "field favas" and crimson clover as standard fare to plant in [...]
New growth is the name of the game in March. Until now, winter gardeners were mostly harvesting the stored fortunes of the previous growing season. The Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, cabbage, parsnips, and rutabagas put their future in stored nutrition in the form of tightly curled leaves, and oversized stems and roots. But with the longer [...]
With a couple of beautiful days this weekend, we are back to unseasonably dry winter weather. The temperatures squeaked up to almost 50 F both days, so the bees were flying a little. We are still eating lots of things from the garden. Earlier in the week, Ellen picked about a bushel of collard [...]
After a week of heavy rain, the garden was about as soggy as it gets--just right for extracting tenacious parsnip roots from the earth. So between showers I put on my muck boots and tackled the row. Last year's foliage has all died back now. Little fresh green shoots are just thinking about sprouting from [...]
As November closed in on the garden this year, I provided a little protection for a couple of my salad beds. Many salad plants are cold-hardy to well below freezing temperatures, but unprotected plants get battered by winter cold, wind and rain, and just never seem able to maintain enough vigor in the cold months [...]
The summer gardening season is really over now. The big Douglas fir trees in my yard that I complain about because of their shade also keep the frost away. Most of my neighbors have had a killing frost, but my tomatoes are still slogging along. The other summer crop still in the garden is my [...]
I am finding long-season crops more and more satisfying to grow. Shade in my garden doesn't matter as much once the trees have dropped their leaves. And the pace of activity imposed by the slow vegetables is more forgiving if I miss a week or two when planting or harvesting. I define long season varieties to be [...]
Squash Practice 