by katie | Jul 23, 2011 | Annuals, Baking, Cooking, Farming, Fine Gardening, Flower growing, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Self sustainability
There was a gypsy evening of storytelling and music, at a self sufficiency event I wanted to attend . I thought about a story I might tell. I didn’t end up going to the event as I did last year, since we are already living the self sufficient life ! We are so...
by katie | Jul 7, 2011 | Farming, Fine Gardening, Flower growing, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Self sustainability, Shrubs, Trees, Vegetable Gardening
My garden beds change constantly, so half of them look empty right now, or they have very small plants. I’ve recently read that bio-intensive is the traditional way the French and Italians would garden in their small farms, as well. There’s always a bed...
by katie | Jun 5, 2011 | Annuals, Baking, Cooking, Farming, Fine Gardening, Flower growing, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Pruning, Self sustainability, Shrubs, Trees, Vegetable Gardening
Last night eating a particularly wonderful fish chowder, fish caught by my daughter’s boyfriend, potatoes gently dug from under the plants, fresh purple onions, green garlic, parsnips (some of many currently), chopped parsley and fresh thyme. Then accompanied by...
by katie | Jun 2, 2011 | Farming, Fine Gardening, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Pruning, Self sustainability, Trees, Vegetable Gardening
When I took a fruit tree pruning workshop last fall, the organic commercial growers there described their maintenance regime. One thing they emphasized, was thinning fruit about 6-8 weeks after bloom when the fruit is very small . Thinning down to one per cluster....
by katie | May 28, 2011 | Annuals, Farming, Fine Gardening, Flower growing, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Self sustainability, Shrubs, Trees, Uncategorized, Vegetable Gardening
As the garden matures and perennials divide and spread, it becomes harder to just rototill through a bed. I find myself forking more and more of the beds this year. I think only three out of twenty, forty foot rows were rototilled by my husband this year. The rest had...
by katie | May 18, 2011 | Farming, Fine Gardening, Flower growing, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Self sustainability, Vegetable Gardening
I don’t believe in the row method of planting a crop. Maybe because I’m just not that linear, but I’m convinced at least here in California, that it’s more efficient to grow the biointensive method.Planting areas of plants fairly close...
