Harvest Know-How

When to harvest? Before the squirrels do! September is upon us and overflowing baskets of garden goodies are everywhere. But harvesting in Zones 5 and 6 is not just an autumn endeavour. It's a season-long process that begins with the first herbs of April, rolls right into asparagus, ramps and cold hardy greens in May, and continues through early summer with the first appearance of heat-loving crops and last year's garlic. By late summer our fridges, counters and cold cellars are crammed with a stunning array of homegrown goodness....

From Home to Homestead – Growing your own Urban Farm

We all know what a home is – a place where you live, raise a family, each, sleep, play, socialize, perhaps work. A homestead is all that and more – it’s also a place where you grow and preserve food, raise animals, make compost, create biodiversity, build for the future, set roots and stay put, reduce consumption, invest in the land, and ultimately, find an ever-deepening relationship with self-sufficiency and independence....

Why Garden in Raised Beds?

Support Your Local Pollinators – and they will support you!

Pollinators range from butterflies, bees, beetles, small mammals, birds and bats that are responsible for facilitating 90% of the pollination of our world’s flowering plants. They may feed off pollen or distribute seeds. These pollinators do a lot of work that benefits humans, as they provide us with fruit, vegetables, nuts, and one half of the world’s oils, fibers and raw materials. They also help prevent soil erosion and increase carbon sequestration. To put it simply, we, and ecosystems in general, depend on them for our very survival....

Purging Pipes: The Who What When Where Why and How

Whether you use the most sophisticated and expensive in-ground irrigation with the latest tech, or your basic hose and nozzle system, you will need to shut things down for the winter. Not doing so can lead to broken hoses, burst pipes, a lot of waste and potentially great expense....

Goodnight Gardens – Feed the Soil that Feeds You

Autumn is a bittersweet time of year. The days are getting noticeably shorter yet garden-weary plant-lovers can now look forward to a winter rest. But before that can happen there is much to be done before putting your gardens to bed and putting your feet up with a hot toddy. ...

Grow your own Microgreens

Microgreens are densely seeded edible plants that are harvested and consumed prematurely. Microgreens are a nutritional powerhouse, holding up to 40 times more vitamins and nutrition than their mature counterparts.

Personally, I love how a sprinkle of microgreens can instantly transform my go-to meal of nuked frozen vegetables (don't judge me!) from slimy mush... to a posh affair worthy of the name "salad bowl"....

Life with Chickens: Expanding BUFCO’s Urban Farm

Question: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Answer: There is no right answer.

Grow Your Own Garlic

Attention garlic lovers! Why buy grocery-store garlic grown half way around the world when you can grow your own right at home? It’s an easy-to-grow, low maintenance crop that produces two harvests - first the edible flower stalk (called a garlic scape) in early June, and then the fat, juicy bulb in late July to early August....

What to do with all that Garlic?

So you’ve harvested all your garlic, and it’s curing in a nice, cool, dry place. Maybe you’re eating some that’s fresh from the ground (I hope so!) And once again, you’re looking at your too-large harvest wondering “what the heck am I going to do with all this garlic!?” There are a few things you can do to make your garlic last, abating that otherwise inevitable “ack! I let it rot!” guilt, the gardeners’ dilemma....