What’s a girl got to do to grow lettuce in the greater DC area? Spring is a fleeting season in DC. If you blink (or, because of pollen allergies, you sneeze), you’ll miss it. Case in point: I started experimentally sowing seeds for cool-weather plants, like radishes and peas, in February. The first ones that [...]
Mark Bittman must have read my post on oatmeal last week (he must have, right? Why else would he be thinking about oatmeal?), because he’s written a surprising post about oatmeal at McDonald’s. Granted, it’s really, really hard for McDonald’s to do anything that surprises me – but would you have guessed that their version [...]
There’s a problem with growing potatoes – or any root vegetables, really. You can’t tell what they’re doing, under the dirt. You can’t even tell if they’re doing anything at all. If you’re me, you suspect it’s all for show, that the plant has no intention of producing potatoes, that it might even be laughing [...]
Some folks have pointed out that I’m long overdue for a blog post, and particularly for an update on my garden. I know this is true. Perhaps the reason I’ve been putting it off is that there’s little good news to share; very little excitement for all the time and effort we put in. This [...]
Can these possibly be the same potato plants I wrote about 2 weeks ago? Those potatoes were just poking their heads above the ground for the first time. These are 8 inches tall and ready for hilling. (Potatoes need their stems covered with dirt as they get tall, to protect the baby taters from light.) [...]
It’s really and truly Spring now, and it’s garden time. It’s warm during the day, cool at night, and everything is green now. Even the trees all have leaves (thanks to our unseasonably warm March – which also means that my allergies kicked into gear early, they are now almost over, so everybody wins). Thanks [...]
It’s been a tense week. Last Sunday, I started my first set of seeds for this year’s garden: tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers. We put them in dirt, kept them nice and warm and wet, and waited. Nothing happened! For days! Nevermind that nothing was supposed to happen for days. Those seeds are certainly busy under [...]
The time for New Year’s resolutions has passed, you’ll tell me, but from our food’s perspective, the new year is right around the corner. Spring is already in the air. For food lovers, this is the exciting, difficult time when everything is growing, but just about nothing is ready to eat. It is the perfect [...]
Last weekend, between watching the snow pile deeper and shoveling said snow off my car, I spent some time ordering seeds for my garden. I have big plans for my garden this year – maybe “grandiose” is a better word, since last year said garden didn’t produce much of anything. I blame it on poor [...]