Jan
20
Everyone seems to associated carrots with the color orange. The orange carrot is the most common colored carrot. However it’s not the only colored carrot. You can find carrots that are white, yellow, red, gold, and purple. Sometimes you find them in specality grocery stores or the farmer’s market, but they aren’t always easy to …
Jan
11
I love looking at the new seed catalogs and see what kinds of neat things they have come up with now. Yesterday, I spoke about the white strawberries you could buy from Burpee. Today’s unique discovery is Flowering Brussels Sprouts. They are a combination of kale and Brussels sprouts. They grow on a stalk just …
Jan
10
It is that time of year again, when all the seed catalogs are being send out to get us gardeners excited about another planting season. I like to take some time in the winter to cover some of the new or unique items that I have stumped across. I am going to start with some …
Jun
24
I like to grow different colored vegetables in my garden. It brings variety and excitement to the space. So along with some traditional green colored beans, I am also growing some purple beans – Velour French Filet beans. The purple color however will disappear when cooked, but they will look pretty in pictures next to …
Jun
24
In the gardening world you have to have the attitude of if you don’t succeed try again. Last year, the animals keep me from enjoying any French filet beans. This year I have changed my strategy and the seeds were planted in an area where animals are rarely an issue. I choose to try these …
Jun
24
Last week, I got my first taste of homegrown broccoli this year. Five of my Packman broccoli plants were ready for harvest. I let them grow as long as I could. At the point I cut them off the florets were beginning to spread apart. If you see this happening this is when you need …
Jun
10
Today I wanted to post some pictures of my Dwarf Grey Sugar Snow Peas. These pictures were taken about 1 month after I planted the seeds. In the next month, the plants will more than double in size and begin producing delicious pods. At this point I decided to tie some string in between the …
Jun
08
When you are growing broccoli it is easy to look at the plant and wonder how does broccoli come from this? This is why it is exciting to watch the head forming. I recently saw the first heads forming on some of my Packman broccoli plants (click on the picture to enlarge to see the …
Jun
08
Yesterday I decided to harvest my Bibb Lettuce in the morning for three reasons: 1. A high of 94 degrees was predicted. 2. It has reached the right size. 3. The center of the leaves had formed a “firm head”. I have two harvest options. I could have just take off the outer leaves and …
Jun
03
Lettuce is a crop that is easy to grow (as long as it is not too hot) and gives you a variety of options for harvest. Take the Bibb lettuce I am growing right now in a container. I could harvest at the point you see in the pictures. But I am going to wait …
Welcome to my blog! My name is Eric. I live in Saline, Michigan with my wife (Donna) and two daughters, Hannah (3 1/2) and Autumn (1). I started this blog in October 2009 to share my culinary experiences from making my own food from scratch to what I find at farmer's markets and grocery stores.
