Beginner Gardeners' Guide

  1. Spring Bitter Plants and Awakening from Winter

    By: Kim Trenholm Danielle harvesting dandelion greens at Root 5 Farm in Fairlee, Vermont   The coming of spring is filled with the emergence of sun, rains, and the brave wild plant scouts ready to pave the way for their kin. Spring is a wonderful time of regrowth, inspiration, and renewal. Prior to this renewal, there is an awakening period...
    Read More »
  2. Best Practices for Long Term Seed Storage

    As growers, we map out our season in late fall and early winter and, by the time planting season rolls around, things can change. From one season to the next, we may find ourselves holding onto more seeds than we are able to get into the ground. Some farmers and gardeners have even had to cancel their growing seasons all...
    Read More »
  3. Growing Great Organic Corn

    There are few things that truly celebrate the summer sun more than a fresh harvested ear of sweet corn. This precious treat, along with the dent, milling and popcorns, is a true nod to what the summer heat and thunderstorms can bring. Corn is a warm-season tender annual that requires high soil fertility to produce uniform ears. Considered a cereal...
    Read More »
  4. Beneficials That Help You Grow

    When it comes to growing crops, it is easy to look around at all of the living creatures in and around your growing space with suspicion and worry. While it's true, there are many organisms that become pests on farms and in the garden, there are multitudes of other beings that naturally occur in our bioregions that bring many benefits...
    Read More »
  5. Growing Greens in the Heat of Summer

    The abundant summer heat and sunshine is notorious for drying up soils and baking the life out of tender greens. While it might feel impossible to get your salads at the same time as your okra and tomatoes, growing greens in the summer is an option in almost every region. With a few management techniques, the right varieties and some...
    Read More »
  6. Methods for Drying Cut Flowers

    The beauty of flowers is something that growers look forward to during the off season, sometimes even more than the flavors of summer vegetables. The first blooms in the garden or in the high tunnel are incredibly cheerful and hopeful and provide a unique form of nourishment that is powerful for boosting morale. While the season of sowing and growing flowers...
    Read More »
  7. Winter Lettuce Production

    Growing Lettuce in the Winter When we think of winter crops, we think of tough, leafy greens and durable roots that grow close to the ground and survive the low light and cold temperatures of winter, in part due to their robustness and strength. These crops are often delicious, sweetened with the frosts and hardy to the difficult growing conditions of the cool seasons. One crop that...
    Read More »
  8. Prepare for Virtual Conference Season

    As you’re likely already aware, farm conferences across North America are adapting to the challenges posed by the pandemic in new and exciting ways. The virtual frontier is here, and many organizations are preparing for a conference season that will occur entirely online. The valuable content of these gatherings will be served up remotely and this new realm of learning, connecting and interacting will pose new...
    Read More »
  9. Considerations for Starting Fall Crops in the Summer

    While we busily harvest the great bounty of fruiting crops, nutritious leaves, roots, flowers and herbs erupting from the garden in mid July, the sneaking thought that winter is coming plays like creepy horror film music in the back of my mind. We're all doing our best to can our tomatoes and make our cabbage into sauerkraut for use in...
    Read More »
  10. Introducing the Swede Midge

    There’s a new pest entering the scene and it is wreaking havoc on brassicas crops such as cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli and kale. It’s called the swede midge and it's larvae feed off of and destroy the growth point of plants.  As a new and invasive pest that currently has no organic approved pesticides that work to eradicate it, early detection and...
    Read More »

Items 1 to 10 of 114 total