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Archive for September, 2009

Extra! Extra! 85 pounds of food from one plant.

Help!  Today has brought in a rainy September morning and a houseful of the ubiquitous butternut squash.   I just can't believe that one plant could produce 17 (!!!) giant squashes (85 pounds).   Some will go to the food shelf and some will go to friends (watch out). The truth is, I thought that I had planted delicata squash, which is my [...]

Planting the Perfect Pumpkin

We all want that giant, magical pumpkin come harvest time.  Here are a few tips to get you there.  Pumpkins are related to cucumbers, melons, summer squash, zucchini, and winter squashes and all of the vegetables in this family will benefit from this treatment. Warm soil. In Vermont wait until early June to put out the plants--a good rule of thumb is to wait until we have had [...]

The Autumn Garden: Time to Gather and Restore

In Vermont, the shortening days of summer and early autumn bring with them a new sense of pace and rhythm in the garden. The color change in the leaves of the plants is a signal that their energy is flowing back down into the earth and allowing for some repose from the activities of production and reproduction. Annuals decompose and become nutrients for future plants, perennials store some energ [...]

Garlic Planting Time is Coming

Garlic bulbs are like other bulbs that we plant in the fall for harvest the following year. There are two main categories of garlic varieties: stiff neck and soft neck. Soft neck varieties are the ones grown for making decorative braids. Stiff neck varieties are a little easier to grow and have the added benefit of shoots or "scapes" which is explained in further detail below. The [...]

Julie’s Introduction

If you ask me, September is the best month in the garden. The warm season crops are still doing well (in theory) and the colder season crops are starting to come back, thankful for the cooler nights. The harvest basket seems to just fill itself up the minute I step into the straw mulched paths, pausing for a moment to ask if I should eat the raspberries before or after I do a little gr [...]

Cheryl’s Introductory Post

There is not much I love like I love the smell of a tomato leaf. Sharp and minty and the very smell of summer, of memories of the garden my mother grew when I was a child. We were the weird iconoclasts in northern New Jersey, where a yard was a barely tolerated patch of green, maybe accommodating a yew or azalea or a few bulbs to bloom in springtime. But not my mom, who transplanted hydrangea [...]

Don’t Fear Frost! Extending Your Growing Season

Here in Vermont, we can count on just a few frost-free months. But with a little bit of planning, strategic planting, and getting the right tools, you can harvest through a bit of frost and snow. But by planning out crop planting so that [...]

Simple Food Preservation for the Home Gardener

The most important element of putting up food is safety. While problems like botulism are rare, they can be serious. Please make sure to follow recipes exactly, as the amount of acid, cooking time, and temperature can determine whether foods will be safe to eat. The type of food preservation you'll do depends on your storage space, what you like to have on hand to eat in t [...]


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