Vegetable

AnimalsGarden Design & CarePodcastVegetable

How to Grow: Dog Friendly Gardening

Listen to this podcast on how to create a garden to be dog-friendly. Includes tips on the types of plants, fences and ways to keep your dog out of the garden.   We have two dogs, Rosie and Linus, and lots of gardens. Luckily, our Cavalier spaniels aren't big dogs nor are they interested in digging, flopping on plants and wreaking havoc in our garden. But I have friends with other dog breeds that struggle having a garden AND dogs around. So I thought to offer some tips on how to have a dog-friendly garden and a garden friendly dog. I'm...

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CompostingGarden MaintenancePodcastSoils & FertilizerVegetable

How to Grow: Earthworms

Learn about the benefits and problems with having earthworms in your soil. Listen to podcast: We all have played with the wiggly earthworm since childhood. As gardeners we've been taught to revere the earthworm as a master decomposer of organic matter and savior of plants growing on clay soils. But all is not what it seems with the earthworm. There is a dark side to this creature. First a little history. There are no native earthworms in North America. All the earthworms were wiped out in the last ice age 11,000 years ago. It was only when...

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AnnualsVegetable

How to Grow: Edible Flowers

Learn about edible flowers, including how to plant and grow them. Listen to podcast: On this week's Vermont Garden Journal on Vermont Public Radio, Charlie profiles edible flowers. There are many varieties to choose from that are good for salads, drinks, stir fries, soups and desserts. Charlie delves into the history of edible blossoms and discusses the best methods for preparing floral foods. Tune in Friday evening and Saturday morning for more about edible flowers on the Vermont Garden Journal on Vermont Public Radio. When someone sees a...

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Annuals Fruit HerbPerennials Shrubs TreesVegetable

How to Grow: Edible Plants with Seasonal Color

One of the popular ways to have color all season in your foodscape yard is to grow plants that flower in each season. This common concept is used to make cottage flower gardens look so great from spring to fall. You can use it in the foodscape, too. You don’t have to exclusively use just foodscape plants, but they can help provide color, especially ones that will continue to bloom all summer. These might include eggplant, citrus and roses. Some foodscape plants, such as daylilies and bee balm, may flower for a limited amount of time and...

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Vegetable

How to Grow: Eggplant

Learn about growing different varieties of eggplants in this podcast Listen to Podcast: podcast transcript How to Grow: Eggplant Growing up in an Italian-American family, eggplant parmesan was a part of life. I didn’t realize until I grew up how many other uses and types of eggplant (Solanum melongena) there are. You can grow tiny green eggplants the size of a cherry tomato to oval-shaped, purple fruits the size of a melon. I love the long thin varieties available now that come in green, white, or purple-striped colors. They’re great for...

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Vegetable

How to Grow: Endive

It looks like lettuce, but sure doesn't taste like lettuce. Endive (Cichorium endivia) and, its cousin, escarole, are distinct tasting greens popular in Europe, but gaining in notoriety in our country. Endive has deeply cut, curly leaves, while escarole has broad, smooth-leaves. Both form loose heads with tender white leaves and stems in the center. I grew up eating my mother's escarole soup, so I love these slightly bitter greens, that stay slightly crunchy even after cooking. The greens can be used like lettuce in salads or cooked in...

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Vegetable

How to Grow: Fava Beans

Learn about fava beans, including varieties and how to plant and grow them. Listen to Podcast: Vicia faba is a legume that has been grown around the world for 6,000 years. It’s a food in countries from Ethiopia, Peru, Nepal, China, Italy, and England and can also be used as animal feed and a soil builder. It grows in a wide variety of soils, including clay and salty soil, and, unlike other beans, likes cool weather. Yes, it’s the broad, Windsor or fava bean. Now before you go ho-hum about the taste of fava beans, consider that if you’ve...

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HerbVegetable

How to Grow: Florence Fennel

Learn how to grow Florence fennel including information on varieties. Listen to podcast: podcast transcript Although listed as an herb, I think of Florence or bulbing fennel (Foeniculum vulgare azoricum) as a vegetable. I've made a meal out of a fennel bulb. Once you get hooked on the licorice flavor of fennel and the juicy, crunchy texture, you'll be growing these 3-inch wide bulbs for grilling, steaming, or roasting. No Easter meal would be complete in my mother's house growing up without a marinaded fennel salad. There is also the...

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Garden Design & CarePodcastVegetable

How to Grow: Gardening With Kids

Learn about the best ways to engage kids in gardening. Listen to podcast: One of the best gifts you can give a child, is to garden with them. Like myself, most adult gardeners started in the garden with mom, dad or a favorite grand parent. Introducing kids to gardening at a young age leads to a lifetime of healthy eating and loving plants and the environment. Yes, I believe gardeners make better people, too, as they learn life skills such as nurturing and working together. We're blessed in Vermont with many gardening organizations...

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Vegetable

How to Grow: Garlic

Learn about garlic, including how to plant and grow them. Listen to Podcast: podcast transcript How to Grow: Garlic Being an Italian-American who likes to cook, I eat a lot of garlic (Allium tuberosum). Lucky for me growing garlic is almost as easy as eating it. Growing your own garlic offers some distinct advantages. You can try unusual varieties with spicy hot to almost a nutty flavor. You can grow softneck garlic which is great for braiding or hard neck varieties that produce scapes (green curlycue flower stalks) in early summer that...

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