Gardening

Chives are one of the simplest plants to grow in your vegetable garden and they have the magical ability to elevate any boring-looking dish to a five-star masterpiece. As Danielle Prewett and many others have said, “We eat with our eyes first.” For that reason alone, chives are worth including in...

The white russet potatoes common in most U.S. supermarkets and fast-food restaurants literally pale in comparison to the diverse array of varieties found in the plant's home range of present-day Peru. Potatoes were most likely first cultivated by farmers in the Andes Mountains, where they fueled the...

My love of growing food for my family is only matched by the love I have for planning my garden. At the Newcomb Farm, we use a structured planning process to ensure that our rows are intensively planted for maximum productivity throughout the growing season. In this video, I'll walk you through the...

Spring is here again in the Northern Hemisphere. For us vegetable gardeners, that means a big sigh of relief followed by a frenzy of activity preparing the garden for the upcoming growing season. Spring garden prep activities range from the practical, like pulling up hardy winter weeds, to the...

Once again it’s that wonderful time of year when plants begin to break dormancy, migrating birds return to their nesting sites, and every gardener is daydreaming about the possibilities of the upcoming growing season. If you’re brand new to growing food and planning to start a vegetable garden this...

When starting a garden, the first thing to ask yourself is why you want a garden in the first place. Perhaps you want to be more self-sufficient, want your kids to spend more time outside, or maybe you want to plant some flowers to support pollinators in your area. Determining where you will plant...

Although most modern strawberry varieties are a far cry visually from their small-fruited wild cousins, they are actually a species native to the Americas. Strawberries were first cultivated by indigenous people on both the northern and southern American continents. However, the development of the...

If you read our previous two articles about growing broccoli and brussels sprouts you might be wondering if all green vegetables are actually the same species: Brassica oleracea. They aren't, but not far off. This week’s growing guide covers yet another rendition of that species: cabbage. In the...

In our continued exploration of plants in the cabbage “family,” which are actually all the exact same species, Brassica oleracea, we can’t leave out broccoli. In the case of broccoli, brassica oleracea was bred over the years to exaggerate its tightly packed clusters of flower buds. The word...

Spinach originated in Persia and the Levant where it was eaten for hundreds of years before taking the world by storm through global trade. In the modern world it’s hard to imagine spinach being an uncommon regional food. In more recent times, spinach is found rounding out saag paneer in India...

Along with their culinary companion garlic, onions are thought to be one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in the world. Before cultivation, humans were likely consuming wild onions for thousands of years. Some form of onion can be found in almost every cuisine on Earth and it’s no wonder because...