The Cost of Canning

After a sweaty afternoon spent laboring over pots of boiling water and green beans, I can’t help but ask myself: is it worth it? Is it worth a couple of hours on my feet–fingertips turning to prunes as they’re plunged repeatedly into the rinsing water–to turn 6 1/2 pounds of fresh beans into 5 quarts of canned ones? I…

Organic Fertilizer to Mix at Home

I’ve been writing a lot lately about my early failures in the garden. My hope is that some of you whose first experiences in the vegetable patch have been less than stellar will be inspired to keep trying, knowing that sometimes a year or two of experience goes a long way. I’m also hoping that…

Building a Cold Frame

One of my gardening dreams is to have a greenhouse. It doesn’t have to be enormous, just a pretty little affair like Lynnette’s over at Chooks and Roots blog, where I can grow a few prized tropical plants all year long. (Tomatoes… lemons… limes… bananas… mangoes… coffee… okay, maybe it’s going to have to be…

Going out on a Whim

I’m a big fan of experiments. This probably has a lot to do with my being too impatient to spend more than five minutes researching anything, once I’ve got it in my head that this is something that needs to be done. I love getting things done. I love sowing seeds, putting bushes in the…