Category Archives: harvesting

Bounteous harvest

Posted on 19 September 2015 by Debra

This long, lingering Indian Summer — or whatever the weather is doing with several weeks of hot, sunny days — is bringing in a huge crop of warm weather vegetables. Great, flavorful tomatoes. Great peppers of all shapes and colors. … Continue reading →

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“Garlic is as good as ten mothers”

Posted on 22 July 2015 by Debra

I harvested my garlic crop yesterday. Lots of beautiful heads now cure in my kitchen. I harvest the garlic when 4-5 of the leaves have browned but the paper that surrounds the head of cloves is still fully intact. This means … Continue reading →

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Pesto

Posted on 18 July 2015 by Debra

The basil is ready for eating, for making pestos. Just perfect.

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Fruits galore

Posted on 17 July 2015 by Debra

I go away for a week and come back to a garden bursting with produce. Six cups plus of raspberries. Beets and carrots for roasting. Three colors of fillet green beans. A green pepper, the first tomatoes, the first eggplant, … Continue reading →

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Spinach: Popeye and the prince

Posted on 19 May 2015 by Debra

Beautiful, fresh spinach is ready for harvesting now in your kitchen gardens on Chicago’s South Side. Spinach picked and eaten — raw or cooked — has a delicacy unfound in store-bought varieties. Now is the time to pinch off the first broad, … Continue reading →

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Microgreens with mega impact

Posted on 14 May 2015 by Debra

Microgreens are ready for harvesting. These are the young seedlings of vegetables and herbs that are powerfully nutritious. When harvested while petite, right after germination, they have a tremendous concentration of phytochemicals, nutrients we need in a healthy diet. In fact, … Continue reading →

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Rhubarb for early spring eating

Posted on 7 May 2015 by Debra

Rhubarb is always one of the first things up in any edible garden. It’s a hearty, cold weather perennial plant. Only the stalks, called petioles, are edible. The leaves are toxic because of a concentration of oxalic acid (which also … Continue reading →

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What to grow to fill your plate

Posted on 22 March 2012 by Debra

I spoke on What to Grow to Fill Your Plate at the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice program this past January at KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation’s Soil to Plate weekend of speakers and symposia. There were many impressive speakers and … Continue reading →

Posted in backyard microclimate, creating & caring for a garden, design & layout, ecosystem, fertilizing, harvesting, healthy soil, location, seeds and plants, sunlight, superfoods, watering | Leave a comment

Drying herbs

Posted on 27 October 2011 by Debra

Frankly, I always pick my herbs and hang and dry them in bunches. Research indicates that this is not the best way to dry some herbs to preserve the most flavor. I wrote earlier about drying small-leaved herbs in bunches; … Continue reading →

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Herbs, part one

Posted on 21 October 2011 by Debra

Small leaved herbs such as thyme, oregano/marjoram, rosemary and some sages can easily be gathered and dried in small bunches. Obviously, herbs can be harvested, used fresh or dried, anytime during the growing season. Since the weather is unseasonably cold, … Continue reading →

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