-Patrick Metz- As summer starts to wind down and fall approaches, it is time to start thinking about the post-harvest environment of your garden. Best practice shows us that, dollar for dollar, planting a cover crop is the best thing you can do for your garden. Here are some of the benefits: prevents erosion, improves soil health, adds organic matter, attracts pollinators, promotes and feeds your soil biology, increases tilth, and suppresses weeds. What does this mean for you? Your garden … [Read more...] about What are Cover Crops? And Why Use Them?
Humidity and Houseplants
-Mike Weeks- It’s still summertime in the South, but soon enough we’ll be getting our fireplaces, stoves, and furnaces running. And while that may keep us toasty warm, all of that dry heat can cause our tropical houseplants to suffer. Most common house plants are tropical plants, so they are used to moderate (at least) humidity in their environment. This blog post will provide some easy methods to help you help your plants survive the arid air of winter.. First off, when considering a … [Read more...] about Humidity and Houseplants
Homemade Smoke’n Hot Paprika
-Pam Scott- The days are getting shorter, summer is winding down, and I can’t say I will miss the beastly hot days that have kept me out of the garden. The cooler nights seem to be reviving some of the annual flowers, tomatoes and herbs, and my pepper plants are still cranking out lots of peppers that are turning fire engine red overnight. This is the promised bounty of plants seeded in late February, potted up indoors to mature early, and finally transplanted outside. We try to extend the … [Read more...] about Homemade Smoke’n Hot Paprika
Growing Thai Roselle in Hydro
-Luis Guerra- At the beginning of the Summer I was contemplating our next hydroponic display at the shop. Having grown Thai Roselle in my backyard in South Florida, I did some research into whether or not it would respond well to being grown hydroponically. I searched and searched, but it seemed no one had documented this trial. Well, I went ahead and germinated some seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in some propagation plugs inside a 7” Mondi Dome and tray. A few days later, I … [Read more...] about Growing Thai Roselle in Hydro
Never Too Late To Garden!
-Chris Amaya- Missed your opportunity for a bountiful summer harvest? Well don’t beet yourself up, because that’s exactly what we plan to do for you, with this Fall Planting Guide. Generally, I save most of my root crops (such as beets) as well as the entire short-season brassica family of vegetables for fall planting, as cooler days and nights pave the way for dense cabbage heads and perfect broccoli formation. Not to mention the fact that avoiding the summer heat and major pests like … [Read more...] about Never Too Late To Garden!
August in the Garden: Preserving the Abundance of Summer
-Pam Scott- August at our house has always been a time of frenzied pickling, jelly making, drying, canning, freezing and fermenting. Braids of garlic and onions hang from every doorframe. Pillowcases full of dripping grapes are suspended from the dining room chandelier, soon to be made into jelly. There are jars of vegetables in various stages of fermentation. Now, thanks to Fifth Season’s new Ball jar fermenting lids we have lots of small jars of fermenting pepper experiments. One of … [Read more...] about August in the Garden: Preserving the Abundance of Summer
The Ultimate Foliar Feed
-Gabrial House- This week on the blog I wanted to talk about foliar feeding. If you’re not foliar feeding, it could be the missing link in the chain of a strong vegetative cycle. The healthier the vegetative cycle you have, the larger, more bountiful your harvest will be. It’s simple, easy, and hardly takes anytime to mix up and foliar feed your garden. Foliar feeding is done when you mix up a diluted nutrient solution and mist it over the tops and, more importantly, the bottoms of the … [Read more...] about The Ultimate Foliar Feed
Seed Farming
~Luis Guerra~ We all love to grow our veggies, care for them, harvest them, and then prepare amazing meals. Every year we purchase new seeds for our favorite crops, but it can also be really rewarding to harvest and save seeds from our own vegetable plants to use for next year’s garden. When we buy seeds, we hope we end up with a delicious plant or fruit, but if you save seeds from a particularly tasty or prolific plant you grew yourself, you’ll know for sure what you’ll be getting next … [Read more...] about Seed Farming
New England IPA Part 2: How Do I Make It?
-Ethan Johnson- I think that my favorite thing about the Hazy IPA style (aside from drinking it…) is the fact that its origin is a function of the desire to create a very, very specific product. Thus, every aspect of the recipe formulation has intent and purpose. Previous IPA styles rose from a more simple drive; make them stronger, make them more sessionable, make them dark, make them sour, etc. At a certain point, it seemed like breweries were making IPA styles because they represented … [Read more...] about New England IPA Part 2: How Do I Make It?
Making Mozzarella and a Garden Caprese
-Gabrial House- As a gardener, summer is my favorite time of year. My garden is thriving and rewarding me for all the hard work and love that I have put into it. It’s bursting with life and color, and is full of fresh fruit and vegetables. One of the things I like most is trying to make complete meals with everything from my garden and my DIY hobbies combined together. In today’s blog I am going to talk about making fresh mozzarella cheese to add to a Caprese salad with fresh garden … [Read more...] about Making Mozzarella and a Garden Caprese
