Why Should I Grow Potatoes At Home?

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Since the big wave of low carb diets in recent years, potatoes have been somewhat blacklisted from the list of healthy foods. Although potatoes are high in starchy carbohydrates, they are very healthy and beneficial to our diets if prepared in healthful ways and in moderation. Potatoes are low-fat and full of essential vitamins, minerals and fiber – especially the skins. They have more potassium than bananas and contain a good amount of vitamin C and B6. They offer support for healthy blood pressure and clotting, digestive, immune and nervous systems. They also help to balance blood pressure and support muscle contraction and cell growth. However, if you fry potatoes or add other less than healthy foods as toppings on a baked potato, then yes they aren’t as healthy.

When it comes to a backyard garden, potatoes generally aren’t a vegetable that most people think about growing. However, there are several reasons to consider adding potatoes to your collection of home-grown veggies.

Mad Cow Disease From Bone Meal in Your Vegetable Garden?

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Last week, I wrote a post on Organic Vegetable Garden Soil Preparation which discusses the elements and properties of healthy garden soil and how to amend it to get it that way, if otherwise. I received an awesome comment/question that I felt deserved to be a post all on its own.

A fellow garden blogger, Bill Brikiatis from Suburban Hobby Farmer, asked,

“I’ve heard from other bloggers that bone meal can be dangerous due to the potential for mad cow disease. Do you think there’s any truth to this?”

So the answer is….. (drum roll)…..

Should I Be Growing Vegetables from Seed

One question that I get a lot at this time of the year is “should I be growing vegetables from seed?”. There are many benefits of growing your vegetable garden from seeds versus purchasing transplants.

Probably the most prominant advantage to starting your garden from seed is the fact that the varieties of seeds available to the consumer is enormous whereas most local garden centers carry only a handful of vegetable varieties. Imagine growing a diverse array of flavorful, vibrantly colored tomatoes that you may have never even laid eyes on before. Most folks don’t even know that so many varieties of fruits and vegetables even exist and it’s quite an adventure to discover them. Here’s a pic of just some of the tomato varieties I personally grew last season – most of them heirlooms.

New Year’s Resolution Garden

The holiday season is about ready to wrap up with the new year just a couple of days away. Last New Year’s we posted the Resolution Garden. Did you take part? Were you able to follow through? Well if not, it’s a whole other year and time for a new resolution to start planning that spring garden.  If you followed through on this past year’s resolution, then it is time to look at your garden journal and see what tweeks you can make to bring in an even greater bounty of fresh produce.

For those of you whom follow through on last year’s resolution garden, let us know what you did to bring in a successful garden.

Is the 2010 Home Garden Vegetable Seed Shortage Real or Myth?

2009 was one of the worst growing seasons in the U.S. and Europe in nearly 50 years. Soggy and cooler weather were devasting to home gardeners. This resulted in less seed being produced for this year’s gardening season. That’s a fact. However, will we see a true shortage in home garden vegetable seeds this year?

Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors

Time to start planning for your garden? You can get a head start on your garden by starting your seeds indoors, especially if you have a short growing season. There are also other benefits to getting your plants growing indoors. Starting seeds inside improves the germination rate and a garden established from transplants tend to mature much earlier than direct-seeded ones. Yes, vegetable starts are available at your local nursery, however, you are going to be limited to just a few varieties. When starting from seed, you will have hundreds more choices to choose from. Growing from seed also allows you to have full control over whether a plant was grown in a truly organic manner. For someone that’s never started their garden indoors, here’s a step by step guideline and some common pitfalls to avoid.

Lowering Grocery Bill and Buying Organic

One of the reasons that I garden is to have the healthiest organic foods available for my children and myself. This is in hopes that I am around longer for them without being a health burden to them when they become adults. However, here in the Northwest as with other northern states, we have a relatively short growing season. Although we preserve the excess summer harvests and grow herbs and vegetables indoors during the winter months, we do need to purchase more groceries throughout the winter. Like most households, we too feel the effects of the recession and higher food costs which leads us to employ strategies that we didn’t use before.

Another reminder of why you should grow and eat your own food in the U.S.

A new study just released found that Hispanics living in Florida have a 40 percent higher chance of getting cancer than their counterparts that lived in their native countries. The conclusion of this study suggests that the lifestyle and environmental changes (foods they eat being one of them) are probably the culprit. 

Of course the recommendation is to live a healthy lifestyle and avoid smoking, drinking, and bad diets. With the abundant use of processed foods in the U.S. that contain many additives cancer, once rare,  now affects up to a third of the country’s population. 

City Farming – Small Garden Spaces

Drive a few miles out of the city and you’ll see gardens all around, in almost every yard. Although the “grow your own food” movement is exploding, I can drive down just about any urban street in my city and see so much unused, wasted space in our urban areas that could be repurposed for growing food. Just because you do not live in the country doesn’t mean you can’t have a kitchen garden. You would be surprised to see how much can be grown in a very small area. Back, front and side yards could be better used. Patios, porches and balconies can be used for container gardening. Even fence and deck rail planters along with window boxes could be utilized instead of sitting empty.

Preserving Your Strawberries – Freezing

There is nothing like the flavor of a fresh picked strawberry from your garden or local farmer when it’s at peak ripeness. However, strawberry season is coming to a close for most of the U.S. Even though May is National Strawberry Month, in some areas of the country, like here in the Pacific Northwest, the height of strawberry picking season does not begin until the first or second week of June. Regardless of when your particular season is, that’s the time when prices are low, flavor is phenomenal and you’ll want to stock up and preserve them for use all year. Of course, there are several ways to preserve your strawberries such as canning/jarring, dehydrating and freezing. Today, I’d like to go over the best ways to freeze those red beauties. Strawberries only last about 4 or 5 days in the refrigerator, so if you want to keep eating your tasty garden strawberries well into the fall and winter, make sure you think ahead and freeze them.

Why isn’t my garden growing well?

I’ve heard this question asked by several people as of late. They all have variances in their garden setup – some are planting straight in ground, some in raised beds – some have tons of sunlight, while others have a limited amount – some started with seed while others bought starts. But one thing I’m hearing quite commonly is, “I bought some great veggie soil mix and had it trucked in. So I know that’s not the problem.” Wrong. This could very well be the problem.

How to choose a composter

Many people have asked us how they decide what type of composter they should get.  The answer is: it depends.  Not much help there right?  Well, let me see if I can lay it out in an easy to understand format.

Natural Slug Control

This year, I decided to go a step further in pursuit of  aligning with the “Food, Not Lawns” paradigm.  So I decided to rip out my azaleas, periwinkle and lily bulbs from my raised garden bed in the front yard and replaced everything with salad edibles like lettuces, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and kale. It was a bit painful since it was a beautiful display most of the year and one that I’d been cultivating for four years now. But I have so little space to grow food since I don’t get a whole lot of sun in my tiny backyard, so I took the plunge.

High Yield, Small Space – Container Gardening At It’s Best

Self-Contained Garden System

When you have a limited amount of space to grow vine crops, such as tomatoes, peas or beans, you have to get creative – or get the EarthBox Gardening Kit.