January is the coldest month of the year in the northern half of the world. The Norseman named January for Thor, their gold of thunder and storms. The Anglo-Saxons called it Wolfmonth because the wolves came into the villages in the dead of winter to search for food. Legend says that the Roman emperor Numa…
In The Garden
November Garden in the Northern Hemisphere
If Novem is the Latin word for nine, then why is November the eleventh month of the year? It all started in 46 B.C, when Julius Caesar asked the astronomer Sosigenes to review the calendar and improve it. Calendars are systems for measuring and recording the passage of time. Nature gives us a regular sequence…
Autumn Soil Care
Autumn is a good time to begin preparing the kitchen garden for spring planting. Remove woody and diseased plant debris from the garden as soon as the harvest is complete–pull up tomato vines and beans and remove late cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli stalks. Plant debris that is not diseased can be finely chopped and added…
Planting Lettuce
Ready to stretch your growing season: get an early start in spring or keep the season going in autumn? Lettuce is your choice. Lettuce does not like warm days and nights, so the cool time of the year is lettuce season. You can lengthen your growing season dramatically with a lettuce box–that’s a cold frame…
How to Compost Faster
Composting turns garden and kitchen waste into humus. Humus is Nature’s best fertilizer and soil conditioner. The process of decomposition that we call composting happens in nature as billions of microorganisms feed, grow, reproduce, and die as they recycle kitchen and garden waste. Compost will happen gradually over time. Set a pile of leaves or…
Cold Frames for Autumn and Winter Crops
A cold frame can keep plants 7° to 10ºF warmer than outdoors, sometimes as much as 20ºF warmer. Use a cold frame in spring to give seedlings a head start on the growing season and protect them from spring frosts. Use a cold frame in autumn to extend the summer and fall growing season into…
Extending the Season: how to get more time out of your garden
Use cloches and cold frames to extend the growing season, either in spring or autumn. When freezing temperatures are expected, most vegetable garden crops will benefit from protection. The simplest crop protection–a light blanket or overturned cardboard box–will protect plants by 1° or 2°F. A plastic or glass cloche, plastic tunnel, or simple cold frame…
February Garden In The Northern Hemisphere
February is, no doubt, a cold and stormy month in the northern half of the world and cabbage and kale are popular vegetables for harvesting and cooking this month. Here is list of other vegetables and fruits that will come to harvest in February in the some regions of the northern hemisphere: Vegetables: asparagus, Brussels…
May Warm Regions Planting and Garden Checklist
Here is a vegetable and fruit planting guide for warm regions for the month of May and a food garden checklist. In the United States, rising temperatures and rain is probable in all or part of the states in the Gulf and South Atlantic Coasts, parts of the Pacific Southwest and Desert, and along the…
May Cool Regions Planting and Garden Checklist
Here is a vegetable and fruit planting guide for cooler regions for the month of May and a food garden checklist. In the United States, late frost is possible this month in all or part of the states in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, eastern Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains and Plains regions. These regions include the U.S….