How to Grow Cauliflower

In my family cauliflower is one of those vegetables that you either love or absolutely hate. I am yet to hear anyone at our dinner table, when cauliflower is being served, say, "eh, cauliflower, it's ok". I get either a resounding "yuck" or a jubilent "gimme some more!"

Just like cauliflower's hit or miss on the dinner table, cauliflower has a similar personality in the garden. You either love to grow cauliflower (probably because you love to eat cauliflower), or you hate growing cauliflower regardless of whether you like eating cauliflower or not. The reason being, cauliflower can be stressed out fairly easily.

Cauliflower does not like getting hit with frost, nor does cauliflower like extreme heat and just when you thought your cauliflower is in full swing, you get some cooler weather which slows your cauliflower growth down.

Even with cauliflower's split personality, there are some steps you can take that will help ease that a bit, making it possible to have a less stress free experience with the cauliflower you are growing in your home vegetable garden.



Soil
Everything in your garden starts with the soil. I don't care how good your seeds or plants are, or where they came from, if you have bad soil, you won't grow much for long. Cauliflower likes a neutral soil on the pH scale. That is 7.0, however anywhere from 6.5 to 7.5 will work. If you are adding ample amounts of green and brown material to your composting operations you should be fine. Take a pH reading just in case.

Sowing Your Seeds
Sow your cauliflower seeds indoors about 4 weeks prior to the last frost in your area making sure your cauliflower seeds are not planted any deeper than a half inch. You can also sow cauliflower seeds directly into your garden if you have a season that lasts at least eighty days. Space out your cauliflower seeds (or plants) in your garden bed at least fifteen inches. Cauliflower can be susceptible to various root diseases so the the more room you can give their roots, the better it will be for your cauliflower.

Water, Sun, Fertilizing
Cauliflower likes a moderate watering. Overwatering can cause root damage, so keep a measurement on how much water your cauliflower are getting. Obviously you can not stop the rain if you get that in abundance, but you can control your own watering, so be sure to monitor what you are doing. As for sunlight, cauliflower does best in full sun but will tolerate light shade. Cauliflower requires a lot of nutrients, even beyond your normal composting. Compost and manure teas work great to replenish the soil as does fish emulsion.

Blanching
Finally, with cauliflower we have to talk about blanching. Blanching is the process of taking the leaves of your cauliflower plant and folding them over the cauliflower head. This is to prevent the amount of light the cauliflower head receives. Even if you grow self blanching varieties you will still need to do some blanching work of folding over some of the leaves. So keep an eye on your plants. When the cauliflower head is two to three inches, you can start blanching.

Additional Resources on How to Grow Cauliflower
Garden Definition: What is Club Root?
Growing Cauliflower
Cauliflower
Growing Broccoli & Cauliflower
How to Grow Organic Cauliflower in Your Garden

Is the word “Organic” losing it’s meaning?

I recently read in an issue of Mother Earth News magazine a great quote. “Every time you buy organic, you’re persuading more farmers to grow organic.” This quote goes well along with my lines of thinking. I am a true believer of not buying a product or hiring someone to perform a service from a business if that product or service does not meet my expectations for what I am paying.

In this case that product is freshly grown fruits or veggies. I grow a lot of my own food, but lack the space to grow it all. So, for the items that I am unable to grow in abundance I will search out quality farms in my area, that do not use chemical pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. I am willing to pay a little more because I am getting quality food, great customer service and get what I am paying for.

What I have also noticed in my search for local farms, is the term organic being thrown around a lot. The question I was mulling over, is that term overused? Has it become nothing more than a marketing gimic?

My dad, and grandfather before him, practiced organic methods when tending to their gardens. No use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, heck they did not even use gas powered tools. Everything was done with a little elbow grease and plenty of sweat. They each kept compost piles, and since my dad was (and still is) a big fisherman, all of the fish waste went into his garden beds. Everything was natural.

But one thing was common, you never heard them use the word organic. If you asked them if they practiced organic methods, they probably would be the first to tell you they have no idea of what you are talking about. They used safe, healthy methods to grow their food, not because they wanted to be “organic”, but because they wanted to put good food on the table.

In order for someone to use the word “organic” they must meet some criteria as outlined by the USDA. You can read up on what it takes to become certified organic on the USDA website.

Me personally, I think the word “organic” is quickly a word that is being overused. But what do you think? I understand the importance of needing to certify items to be organic, but do you think “organic” is being overused?

Growing Carrots from Seeds - Perfect for Kids

While I can not say that what I am about to tell you will make your kids devour carrots like a hungry rabbit, it should at least get them excited about growing and harvesting them. On a side note, sort of on topic, ironically, I have put some carrots out for the rabbits and they won’t eat them, only the carrot greens. The squirrels on the other hand, well, they will eat just about anything.

Here is how I got my two boys excited about growing carrots. I will get into a little trick my wife uses to actually get them to eat the carrots, a little bit later.

I built and dedicated a four foot by four foot raised bed, made from landscaping timbers that are readily available at any home center for a few bucks, for my kids’ carrot growing adventures. There is nothing fancy about this raised bed, as you can see. It is a simple square, two layers of timbers high.

Once the raised bed garden is built, you will need to add in some soil. Your options really are limitless here with any of the organic soil varieties available at garden centers, to the “create your own” methods. One thing's for sure, since carrots are a root crop you will want to have soil that is loose and friable. It will allow your carrots to grow more freely and give their roots a chance to spread out.

Your bed is set up, you have your soil in the bed, now comes the time to plant the seeds. Two years ago I gave my sons a couple of packs of carrot seeds and told them to go ahead and have fun. While they enjoyed that very much, the bed had carrots everywhere and some too close together. Neither issue resulted in a less tasty carrot or reduced amount of fun, but we did make some changes for this year.

Instead, for this year, we created rows for 5 different varieties of carrots and spread the rows apart about seven to eight inches. I had them lightly sprinkle each variety of seeds in their marked row, making sure we did not overseed any particular spot. I was keeping a close on the project (sort of).

So, as you can imagine, up to this point, from working with wood, to playing with dirt, to planting seeds, they were having a ball. What kid wouldn’t like getting dirty right?

Once everything was planted I would go out to the raised bed with my sons every other day or so and help them pick any weeds, making sure they understood, the raised bed, was for carrots only. My way of convincing them that weeding was a good thing.

Fast forward a couple of months and the raised bed is filled with carrots. I think the big thrill for kids about carrots, or so it seemed to me by watching my sons, was the fact they could not actually see how big the carrot is until they pulled it. This also presented a slight problem because if my older son picked a carrot and it was huge, and my younger son picked one and it was smaller, my younger son would want to keep picking until he had the larger carrot. I was constantly on “do not pick too many” patrol.

Now that they have had so much fun picking carrots, how do you get your kids to eat them? My wife likes to shred the carrots and add them to just about everything she cooks. It keeps the pieces small, and when cooked, they soften up so it makes it easier for them, I suppose. 

I'll write about the onion bed in a future post :-)

About the Author

Mike Podlesny is the author of Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person: A Guide to Vegetable Gardening for the rest of us, the moderator for the largest vegetable gardening page on Facebook and creator of the monthly Seeds Club.

Watch the video below to learn more about Mike`s Seeds of the Month Club:

Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors

If the weather in your area of the world is anything like mine, then chances are there are many varieties of vegetables that you simply can not start from seeds directly outdoors. This is because the amount of time you would have from the moment the weather “cooperates” until the day when the weather no longer “cooperates” isn’t very long.

Take for example tomatoes. Most tomato varieties require anywhere from 70 to 90 days for full maturity. There are a lot of places that do not have the 70 days, let alone the 90. So what can a vegetable gardener do to overcome this?

There is one basic solution to this dilemma and that is to start your seeds indoors. Sounds like a no-brainer right? But before you just shrug off this as being common knowledge, lets take a look at what you need to do in order to maximize the chances of your indoor seeds actually being productive for the outdoors.

Let’s start with the soil for your needs. There are a variety of seed starting soil mixes on the market available at any home or garden center for just a few bucks (depending on how much you buy). These work fine. What you want is a soil that is very loose and filled with nutrients. So be sure to read the package if you decide to buy a pre-made mix and read what it contains. Peat and perlite will more than likely be the two top ingredients as peat is friable and gives the soil its looseness and the perlite helps with improved aeration and better drainage. They will differ on the nutrient end of things as organic seed starters will contain compost and protein meal whereas non-organic will contain chemical combinations for the appropriate N-P-K (nitrogen - phosphorous - potassium) needs of seeds.

You can always create your own seed starting mix as well, and if you have your own compost pile, I would highly recommend it since you know what your compost is made out of. Equal parts peat, perlite and compost should suffice and if you want to go even “greener”, substitute coir for peat. Coir is coconut husk and is just as friable as peat, just a bit more expensive.

Next you will need something to put the soil in. Here your possibilities are endless. You can go with trays, up through plantable pots, reuse old cottage cheese containers, you name it. The choice is really yours. I find using plantable cell flats are much easier, but I also use some leftover yogurt cups, with holes drilled into the bottom for drainage, as well.

Using warm water, I like to water the soil first before I put it into any pots and plant any seeds. I feel it makes it easier to work with. A bit messier, but easier to work with. Just make sure when you water the soil, you do so in a container that has plenty of drainage. You want your soil moist, not saturated.

Fill your pots, cell flats or whatever it is you have chosen with the moist soil. Poke holes to the depth that is needed for the seeds you are planting, drop the seeds in and lightly cover.

Your seeds will need plenty of sun and a good germination temperature. For me, I place my seed starters on or near the windows of my house that receive the sunlight first thing in the morning. This gives them the most exposure of sunlight throughout the day.

For germination temperatures, I like to use a propagation dome on all my seed trays. This helps keep a constant, warm temperature for the seeds and helps not only ensure the seeds will germinate, but do so rather quickly. Once in awhile we will get lucky in our area and have a 65 to 75 degree day when the average temperature is under 50. If this happens for you, don’t be afraid to take the seeds outside and into the full sun. This practice especially comes in handy when you need to start hardening your plants off.

Once your seeds germinate, you will want to keep an eye on them. When they get larger you will need to move them to bigger containers so their growth will continue, and the new soil, in its new container will have more nutrients for the young plant to take advantage of.

About the Author

Mike Podlesny is the author of Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person: A Guide to Vegetable Gardening for the rest of us, the moderator for the largest vegetable gardening page on Facebook and creator of the monthly Seeds Club.

Watch the video below to learn more about Mike`s Seeds of the Month Club:

#98: How to Photograph your Home Vegetable Garden

What a better way to share your vegetable gardening efforts with the world then snapping a few photos. In this podcast, Mike shares some tips from professional photographers

Click here for a full transcript of this podcast.

3 Tips for Growing Great Tomatoes from Seeds

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There is nothing more popular to grow in the home vegetable gardening world then tomatoes. By more than 3 to 1 it outshines it’s next counterpart (peppers or cucumbers, depending on which poll you read). Who can argue? Tomatoes taste great, have many uses, and there are so many varieties to choose from, that there is sure to be one kind for everybody.

Like many of you, I enjoy growing tomatoes and especially starting them from seed. While I won’t say it is overly difficult to grow tomatoes from seed, there are some things you can do to increase your chances of success. I put together a short list you can follow.

Start Indoors
As with many other other vegetable seeds, tomatoes are no different. Start them indoors. I had one friend who started his tomato seeds in February here in NJ. While that was way too far in advance, even he admits it as he lost all of his window sills for quite sometime, starting them indoors and being able to move fairly grown plants outdoors will get you to a tomato crop much faster. If you have a short growing season, starting them even earlier indoors isn’t a bad thing though.

Acclimation
More commonly known in the vegetable gardening world as “hardening off”, you will want to acclimate your tomato plants to the outdoors gradually so as to not shock them. As temperatures warm up out doors during the day, take your plants outside for a few hours at a time before you transplant them to their final destination. When the night time rolls around, bring them indoors. It may see like a lot of work, but it’s really not. It will become part of your daily routine for a couple of weeks.

Sun, Sun and more Sun
While many varieties of tomatoes will grow in partial shade, one thing is for sure, they love the sun. The more sun they get, the better off they will be. If you are limited with space available where full sun is possible, don’t be afraid to put some tomato plants in large pots and move them around.

What are some of your tips for starting tomatoes from seed? Be sure to post them in the comment section below and share with others.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the author of Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person: A Guide to Vegetable Gardening for the rest of us, the moderator for the largest vegetable gardening page on Facebook and creator of the monthly Seeds Club.

Watch the video below to learn more about Mike`s Seeds of the Month Club:

What are Open Pollinated and Heirloom Variety Vegetable Seeds?

Over the past few years there has been a large movement towards growing your own fruits, vegetables and herbs from seeds. The top three reasons people gave in a recent study conducted by the National Gardening Association, were to put fresh produce on the table, save some money and to know that what they were growing was safe.

Who can argue about all three reasons? Can there be anything in the store that is fresher than walking out of your back door, picking a tomato off the vine and then eating it right at that moment? I don’t believe so. As for saving money, the cost of a single vegetable seed is less than a hundredth of a penny. Yes that is one, one hundredth of a penny. Now of course you still need to water and tend to the plant, but in a recent USDA study, one tomato seed can produce over $50 worth of tomatoes. That’s a pretty good return.

When it comes to the safety of your vegetables, growing your own puts you in control of it. Unlike produce in stores, that are harvested in places you didn’t even know existed, you get control what goes into your soil and whether or not you want to treat your plants with a fertilizer. In other words, you make all of the decisions. That’s freedom to me.

This surge, and for these reasons, has lead to another push toward something. A variety of seeds that make vegetable gardeners feel safe when they plant them. They are open pollinated and heirloom varieties. Most of the time they can go hand in hand, but that is not always the case.

Open pollinated seeds are ones that have pollinated naturally. This type of pollination occurs when something helps pollinate the plants without “human” intervention. For example, the wind could be a source of pollination (this is also called Abiotic pollination), or some organism, such as a bee (Biotic pollination). The fruit of seeds that have been open pollinated will vary in size and shape. Unlike what you see in the store, all of your tomatoes won’t be the same bright red color or shape, but the ones from your garden will taste a heck of a lot better. A huge benefit of using seeds that are open pollinated is that you can save seeds from the fruit of the plants that you grow and get the same plant variety the following season (after you have dried out the seeds). That leads us to heirloom.

A great book to read on the subject is The Complete Idiot`s Guide to Heirloom Vegetables by author Chris McLaughlin. In there she talks about what an heirloom is, a little history on various heirloom varieties and importantly, a list of what types of heirloom seeds you can find today. As the name heirloom implies, it is simply a variety that has been passed down from one generation to the next. As you can see, open pollinated and heirloom can go hand in hand, however there are times when many gardeners hand pollinate their plants if it seems that natural open methods simply aren’t working. That doesn’t mean you can’t pass down the seeds from your heirlooms, it just means they weren’t open pollinated.

As a side note there are two terms that get thrown in this mix that many new vegetable gardeners misunderstand. Open pollinated heirloom variety does not equate to organic. For a seed to be organic it has to meet the criteria of the USDA’s National Organic Program guidelines. Furthermore, a hybrid vegetable does not mean that a plant has been genetically modified. A hybrid is a cross between two plants to produce an offspring that has characteristics of both the parent plants. However the seeds of a hybrid child (referred to as F1) will not necessarily produce the same exact plant from which it came.

I hope this clears up some of the terminology.

About the Author

Mike Podlesny is the author of Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person: A Guide to Vegetable Gardening for the rest of us, the moderator for the largest vegetable gardening page on Facebook and creator of the Seeds Club.

Watch the video below to learn more about Mike`s Seeds of the Month Club:

5 Power Vegetables to Grow in Your Garden

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Vegetable gardening is a great activity. It gets you outdoors and is really one of the only hobbies that you can literally eat the fruits of your labor. Today, there is an emphasis on eating healthier, especially for our children, unlike anything I have seen in the past 20 years or so. I recently posted an article on our blog titled, Home Vegetable Gardening: The New Prescription from Doctors and Nutritionists where I discussed the increasing trend of how health professionals are making home vegetable gardening the new prescription.

I wanted to follow up that article with a list of vegetables that gardeners, looking to maximize their space, can grow to ensure they are eating the veggies that yield the highest amounts of vitamins, minerals and nutrients your body needs for a healthier you. I call them, the power vegetables.

I turned to nutrition expert Todd Cambio, BA, BS, CSCS, Sports Nutritionist who is also the author of the book Reducing Pain and Everyday Inflammation: How to Feel Better, Have More Energy, and Increase Flexibility. Todd specializes in sports recovery methods and nutritional counseling. “I highly recommend pretty much all veggies as long as you are mixing up the colors regularly and eating them raw as much as possible,” says Todd. “Eat veggies at every meal, at least one cup.”

The top five power veggies Todd recommends are Broccoli, Butternut Squash, Spinach, Onions and Red Bell Peppers. “I recommend these veggies because they supply you with numerous antioxidants, fiber, electrolytes and anti-inflammatory properties,” says Todd. “Also these red, yellow and orange colored veggies contain carotenoids. Carotenoids are powerful antioxidants, protecting the cells of the body from damage caused by free radicals. Carotenoids are also believed to enhance the function of the immune system.”

All 5 are easy to add to any home vegetable garden, although butternut squash will take up the most room, so you will want to grow them vertically if space is an issue, which you can read more about in Derek Fell’s book Vertical Gardening: Grow Up, Not Out, for more Vegetables and Flowers in Less Space.

Broccoli, spinach and onions are cooler weather crops, where as the red bell peppers love the heat, so plan accordingly. If you are looking for alternatives for any of these as maybe you may not like the taste or flavor, Todd says you can substitute cauliflower, cabbage & zucchini for broccoli; acorn squash and carrots for butternut squash; arugula and other dark leafy greens for spinach; other members of the onion family such as shallots for onions; and other varieties (either sweet or hot) for red bell peppers.

With your own home vegetable garden you have the ability to grow the foods your body needs to be healthier, and as we all know, and as studies have shown, home grown foods, taste better and are higher in nutrients than their store bought counterparts.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the author of Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person: A Guide to Vegetable Gardening for the rest of us and the administrator for the largest vegetable gardening page on Facebook.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

How to Start a Community Vegetable Garden

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Not too long ago I had the privilege of instructing a class on the basics of home vegetable gardening at my local library. During this class we went over such things as getting your garden ready, enriching your soil through composting, organizing the layout and of course managing the garden once it was all put together.

During the course of the evening I got to meet some wonderful people who are just as passionate as I am when it comes to home vegetable gardening. One of the gardening enthusiasts that I met did all of his gardening in a local community garden. Living in an apartment complex this gentleman did not have his own land but instead took advantage of the apartment complexes community garden.

The apartment owner had set aside a large piece of his land so that his tenants could use it to grow a garden. What they grew was up to the tenant who was assigned a piece of land, it just had to be legal and you had to care for the plot of land, meaning it could not look like an overgrown mess. The charge was $20 to rent a portion of the land for the entire year and you were given 1st dibs to rent the same plot (or more) the following year.

This got me thinking about how a community garden could be a great thing for many people who have little space and is it possible to start a community garden in any area of the country. So I started doing some research on the topic. What I found was, maintaining a community garden is no different then if the garden was in your backyard. There are just a few caveats.

The first thing you need to do is put together a committee for the community garden. Since, by definition, a community garden is maintained by a community of people, it goes without saying that putting together a committee to work on issues you may face will keep it organized and structured. Usually a committee consists of (all volunteers of course) a president, a vice-president, secretary and treasurer. Yours may differ but this is usually the standard for any organization.

Once you have your organization in place you need to find some land. This can be as simple as going to your local township government council and asking if there is any unused land that your group can use to garden on, or using land at your local church or place of worship, up through finding individuals who own land and are willing to let your group garden on it, sometimes for a small fee (or sometimes free as long as you maintain it properly).

Before you ever put a seed in the ground or pick that first ripe red tomato, find out if you will need insurance. The last thing your township, church or land owner wants is some kind of lawsuit because food grown there might have made someone ill, or someone gets hurt during gardening. Two vast extremes I know, but you have to be prepared.

How will your community garden work? Will you create equal sub plots on the land such as was the case with the student in the class I taught or make it one giant garden? Which direction you decide will be up to the community using the land. For instance if the community is made up of multiple families with the intention of growing food for themselves, your best bet is to create equal sub plots. If the intention is to grow food to donate it to a local food pantry, then one giant garden will work. You get the idea.

Finally, in the whole idea of community gardening, be sure you get feedback from all of the gardeners in your group of what works, what doesn’t work, who had troubles growing items and so on. Having this information on hand and the answers to those issues will go a long way in making sure the community garden is a success.

Be sure to check out these books on community gardening and of course CommunityGarden.org which has a plethora of information to get you started.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the author of Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person: A Guide to Vegetable Gardening for the rest of us and the administrator for the largest vegetable gardening page on Facebook.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

Add Some Grapes to your Home Vegetable Garden

Every year I try to add something new to my vegetable gardening experience. Whether it is building a new raised bed, growing a different variety of fruit, vegetable or herb, I am huge fan that expanding one’s vegetable gardening knowledge will go a long way to a more successful garden.

Over the past three years I have made a conscience effort to add a new fruit. Three years ago I made an attempt at raspberries which did not pan out very well so I will put them back on the growing block for next season. However the one fruit that seems to be doing well are my grapes.

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I purchased two different varieties at the end of last season on closeout at a local home and garden center for a buck a piece. This season they really took off. The vines have grown thick and healthy and have taken over the trellis that I set up for them. The questions that popped into my own head were “what do I do now?” Do I trim it back? If so, when? Should I expand my trellis and did I even plant the correct variety to begin with? I mean, after all I made a huge investment of a dollar (ok it’s not that huge).

When it comes to growing grapes where else would you to turn for expert advice then someone who grows them for a living. John G. Kramb of Adams County Winery in Orrtana, PA, started producing wine from grapes in 1998. Today they produce over 30,000 gallons of wine from their 15 acres worth of grapes they grow on their farm.

According to Mr. Kramb, the biggest challenge someone can face in growing grapes, “is finding a grape variety that that will grow in their region. Some grapes, like vinifera, will not do well in cold climates. Some grapes, like American varieties, will grow anywhere.”

I asked Mr. Kramb what he would recommend as a good grape variety to grow and he said, “It all depends on what the grower is going to do with the grapes once they are producing a crop. If they want to make wine at home, they need to grow a variety which will produce a wine that the grower knows he/she enjoys. If they are growing table grapes, they probably want a seedless variety like Thomson.”

As of right now in my second year with the grape vines I purchased I have not reaped any fruits of my labor so to speak. Mr. Kramb says that is normal. He doesn’t expect any significant production until after the third year. In fact if the grape vine does produce any fruit prior to the third year that fruit is removed so the plant can develop a stronger root system.

As far as pruning the vine is concerned, he said you should wait until all of the leaves have fallen off and if you live in a colder climate wait until the spring to make sure your plant has not experienced any winter damage.

On a final note, when in doubt check with your local agricultural extension agent to get advice on varieties that should grow well in your area and don’t forget to ask commercial growers in your area to see what they do to get some advice from them. But above all, be patient. Good quality grapes takes a few seasons.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

Extend Vegetable Gardening Season with a Cold Frame

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Many of us live in climates where the weather changes from hot to cold in a matter of days. We are the unfortunate many that can not grow peppers and tomatoes year round, but with cold frame gardening we can extend our season through the cold winter months with great tasting lettuce greens, kale, spinach, chard and broccoli to name a few.

A cold frame is a way to protect what you are growing from the harsh cold winds that old man winter blows in. At the same time it allows plenty of sunlight to get in, and if designed correctly will give your plants plenty of air through proper ventilation.

There are a number of websites and gardening centers that sell cold frames. They range from the inexpensive to the “very” expensive. I find, however, the most rewarding cold frame is one that you can build yourself.

Roger Marshall, author of the book How to Build Your Own Greenhouse, agrees.

Roger does his gardening in Rhode Island, and having been in the great Ocean State myself during a winter a few years ago, I know it can get very cold there. In the coldest of winter months of January and February, Roger has grown various greens and broccoli in a cold frame he built himself out of some old storm windows.

Here are photos of Roger`s cold frame:


He recommends a number of ways you can build easy to use cold frames, such as using straw and hay bales as well as using a side of a wall of your house. You simply use these items to form a garden bed. Just be sure to cover with some clear plastic to let the light in but keep the cold out yet easy enough to open up for daytime ventilation.

What about watering methods and other tips to make cold frame gardening a success? According to Jana Vanderhaar of Verdant Connections Landscape Architecture, “Water your veggies by hand, and don’t forget to open the cold frame during the day for ventilation and close again in the evening.” He continues on, “We grow many lettuce varieties, kale, chard, arugula, bok choi, tat soi, parsley, green onions, cilantro, and mache. The greens taste best once a frost has passed, because the nutrient density is increased. Yum!”

If you were thinking about hanging up your gardening gloves for the winter, think again. Cold frame gardening is a great way to keep going. Use some of these tips above to create your own cold frame and have a winter garden for yourself.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

What is Listeria and How do you protect yourself

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Last month experts confirmed nine cases of Listeria in the state of Colorado. First indications point the outbreaks to have occurred from infected cantaloupe, although one family member of an infected person claims it had to be the salmon she ate. Officials are still gathering information as to its cause, but as of right now, cantaloupe seems to be the culprit.

With that said, what is listeria and how do we improve our chances of not being infected by it?

“Listeria is a bacterium that causes listeriosis, a disease that usually causes flu-like symptoms, muscle aches, fever etc.”, says Biomedical Sciences Editor Dr. Kara Rogers. “It can also affect the heart and produce symptoms of meningitis, including headache, confusion, and stiff neck.”

In the recent cases that have occurred in Colorado it has been the cause of individuals lapsing into a coma up through two reported deaths. According to Dr. Rogers an outbreak in Canada a few years ago caused a mortality rate of 40% of those infected.

The transmission of this bacterium usually occurs through contaminated foods such as meat and unpasteurized dairy products. Dr. Rogers says it is rarely found on produce which makes the recent outbreak in Colorado involving cantaloupe so unusual.

You can take steps to reduce your chances of infection. Make sure you wash your produce thoroughly and just as important, dry your produce. Any and all meats should be cooked thoroughly as well and the consumption of unpasteurized dairy products should be completely avoided.

“As far as cantaloupe is concerned, it should be washed and dried and either eaten right away or stored in a refrigerator. Proper refrigeration, with temperatures 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, is important for preventing the growth of Listeria,” says Dr. Rogers.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money. A special thank you to Orly Telisman, the Director of Media relations for the Encyclopedia Britanica, for the contributions to this article.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

4 Ways to Piss Off Rabbits with a Vegetable Garden

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In your neck of the woods you may never see a rabbit. Your fuzzy vegetable garden predator may be a deer or woodchuck, but here in the good ole Garden State of New Jersey where I grow my vegetables, rabbits are the pain in the rear of choice. Or should I say, not really of choice, but forced upon me.

My kids absolutely love them and from a non-gardener point of view they are cute, look cuddly and lets face it, they are harmless. When was the last time you heard on the news about a killer rabbit wiping out a family of four or a crazy wild rabbit runs loose through Chicago, causing chaos and millions in property damage?

However, as cute and harmless as they are, they would just eat the `bejesus` out of my vegetable garden if I did not take the necessary steps to keep them out. Over the past 10 years I have come up with a simple way to do just that, which I will get to that in a moment, but what I have also come up with are great ways to really piss them off, or so I think.

Fence the Garden
Ok this is an obvious one and for 10 years it has worked for me. I use poultry fencing and make sure the height of the fence is no less than twelve inches. For some reason in the back of my mind I have this notion that the rabbits can leap like deer, so I don`t take any chances. God forbid they get a hold of some genetically modified clover on my neighbor’s lawn, I would be in trouble.

Close to the Fence
I love this one. I know that the rabbits absolutely love to feed on my tomato plants, lettuce, peas, beans, well, ok, pretty anything I plant. I found this out the hard way when I first moved into my house. We didn’t have rabbits in Trenton, where I am originally from, so it never occurred to me that I would need a fence. Needless to say the rabbits had a field day. I think they put on 10 pounds that day. What I do now is, after the fence goes up, I plant items near the fence as a tease. Try as they might to stretch and stick their noses through the poultry fencing, they can’t quite seem to get at my plants.

Vining Plants
I am still bumbed that I missed out on this one not having my video camera with me that day. But I had some cantaloupe growing in one of my garden beds last year and the vine made it’s way along the top of the poultry fencing. I woke up one morning to find a rabbit, trying with all its might, literally standing up as tall as it could to try and get the leaves from the vine. Tried and tried he might, he never succeeded. So now I make it a point with my vining plants to do this every year and one of these days I will have that camera with me so I can post the video on Facebook for the world to see, well, at least all of the members of the vegetable gardening page anyway.

My Dog
Finally, last, but not least, my faithful man’s best friend, my dog Bear. He is as loyal as they come. Follows me everywhere, barks when a stranger walks by the house, really barks when a strange dog walks by the house, but, beyond all that, he despises rabbits. Although he has never caught one, try as he will, I do my best to at least let him give it a go. When a rabbit is out in our back yard and he can see it through our sliding glass back door he whimpers and cries as to tell me, “Please, please, please, let me go chase him. I swear I can get him this time.” So I open the door, out Bear goes, and the rabbit scampers away. He has only been close once in the five years since Bear has been a part of our family, and when I say close, I mean I had a better chance of catching the rabbit then he did.

Ok so I know what the rabbit lovers are saying as they read this article, `How Cruel!`. So let me add this disclaimer, no rabbits were harmed in the making of this article...only my vegetable garden.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

Canning Vegetables from Your Garden

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Every year when the spring vegetable gardening season rolls around my wife always tells me to tone down the amount that we grow. Not because we do not have the room or that we take away space from the kids play area, but because we end up with so many fruits and vegetables that even after donating them to a local food pantry and giving them away to friends, neighbors and family, we always have way too much.

I can not disagree with her assessments. By mid July we do have a lot. But come December I would love nothing more than to eat a tomato from my garden. Unfortunately here in NJ we are unable to grow tomatoes due to the cold. That is where canning comes in.

My grandmother was an expert in canning. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to learn her skill set so to me canning is still fairly new but I am finding that it is easy. To get a better understanding of canning, I turned to canning expert Linda Amendt.

Linda is an award winning cookbook author and also the winner of the international book awards for canning and preserving. So who better to get the dirt (or jar in this case) on canning.

Canning is the process of preserving vegetables in jars. You place the vegetables in jars specifically designed for home canning and cover them with liquid. The jars used, I will get into in a moment where you get these jars, are then fitted with a special two-piece closure consisting of a canning lid and a screw band.

A piece of equipment that Linda says you will need is a pressure canner. This helps create a vacuum inside the jar and tightly seals the lid. This process helps make the jars of vegetables safe for shelf storage. As a side note, Linda says, “A pressure canner should not be confused with a pressure cooker. They are not the same piece of equipment and are not interchangeable. A pressure canner is specifically designed for home canning and has a gauge that allows you to monitor and adjust the amount of pressure inside the canner to ensure safe canning.”

According to Linda canning is an easy skill to learn. Just follow a few basic safety rules and techniques and you can create an array of preserves from summer produce to enjoy throughout the winter and into the spring months.

I asked Linda where does she find the supplies needed to properly can vegetables grown in one`s garden. She says that beyond the normal tools most people have in their kitchens currently, such as a cutting board and knives, the canning supplies such as jars, lids and screw bands can be found at most grocery stores, Walmart, Target and Kitchen stores, as well as online through website like Amazon.

One final note on canning. Canned vegetables are at their best when used within one year. In that time that is when they will have the best flavor, color and texture. After that, although they will be safe to eat (so as long as they are well sealed), the flavor and appearance will begin to deteriorate.

Be sure to store your canned foods in a cool, dark, dry location. Heat can cause the seals to fail which could cause the food inside the jars to spoil. Also, exposure to light will cause colors to fade and moisture can cause rust on the lids.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

E. Coli and your Vegetable Garden

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There have been plenty of mentions about e. coli in the news as of late. It has affected our meat supply to vegetables grown on farms throughout the country. Many people ask, can e. coli contaminate our home grown veggies. While the short answer is yes, the long answer would be it depends on where you grow your garden, who are your neighbors, do you wash your veggies before you consume them and so on.

As with any problem, the more you understand about what the problem is and what is causing it goes a long way to finding a solution. Being able to stay e. coli free in your home vegetable garden really depends on making sure you understand what e. coli is and the steps you can take to avoid it.

According to an agricultural and resource economics update conducted by the University of California, over 12% of food borne illnesses linked to e. coli occur in fresh fruits and vegetables. These are of course fruits and vegetables that are grown on farms and transported long distances.

So what exactly is e. coli? According to Doctor Ajit Mahapatra of the Food Engineering Lab, Agricultural Research Station at the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Technology for Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, GA, “E. coli is a bacterium that lives in our intestines. Most types of E. coli are harmless. However, some strains of E. coli (such as E. coli O157:H7 linked to food born illnesses) cause diarrhea. The diarrhea can be accompanied by severe stomach cramps. Symptoms usually occur within 2 to 3 days following exposure. Young children and elderly may develop Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), a condition that can lead to serious kidney failure and even death, if exposed to E. coli.”

E. Coli is derived from a variety of methods that go simply beyond farm workers not washing their hands. The farm may be using contaminated water, improperly managed manure up through and including not properly washing the machinery that is used to harvest and cut the vegetables. One affected fruit or vegetable in contact with other fruits and veggies can make e. coli spread very quickly.

There are steps you can take to reduce your risk of e. coli. According to Doctor Mahapatra, “If the product is labeled "washed", “triple washed" or "ready-to-eat", there is no need to rewash before being eaten. Because rewashing may, in fact, increase food safety risk.” Also be sure to wash your hands and utensils prior to handling any fresh fruits or vegetables, then wash the fruits and veggies as well.

Although the possibility of an e. coli outbreak is low among home vegetable gardeners, the risk is still there as your fruits and vegetables may come in contact with those that you buy in the store. Be sure to wash them thoroughly after you harvest them and if possible not harvest until you are ready to eat, which makes for a fresher meal anyway.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

Preparing Your Garden in the Event of an Emergency

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As I write this, hurricane Irene is barreling down straight towards our location. For us here in the NJ, PA & NY areas this isn’t something that happens, since, well, ever in my lifetime. In fact, according to the latest news, nothing this strong has hit this region since 1944, so we are talking over 70 years ago. What I wanted to address in this article is what you can do about your vegetable garden so all is not lost. For help with this article I turned to some friends in the Florida area for their advice.

Let me strongly preface this article by saying that your vegetable garden is by no means more important than friends, family and the family pet. make sure you are prepared for their and your safety first.

First and foremost harvest what you can. If you are fortunate enough to either know how to can those vegetables or own a vacuum sealer such as a food saver, harvesting lots of veggies all at once won’t go to waste. Harvesting what you can now and bringing that food indoors will do two things. You will have food, just in case that after the storm you are unable to get to a market, and two, the veggies won’t get destroyed with the high winds that you will experience.

Second, remove all tomato cages, stakes and other loose items that you use in your garden. According to one source, in heavy winds these items will act like missiles. Get them indoors and out of the way of the wind. Your plants will be fine laying on the ground and you can always prop them back up later.

Third, fill up buckets of water and bring them indoors. You may be without power and clean water for a while and although your plants will more than likely survive for a while without a daily watering, it’s better to be prepared.

Lastly, after you secure everything down, if you are in serious harms way, get the hell out of there. You can regrow crops, and sow new seeds, but you won’t be able to either if you are no longer around. Always err on the side of caution and follow your local news for any type of evacuation plan.

Stay safe!

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Radish

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In the cooler months whether it be the spring or fall, when someone asks me what is one vegetable they can grow that produces quickly and will do well when temperatures drop, I always answer the radish. Sure there are plenty of others that thrive great in cooler temperatures, but if you want something quick, I honestly can not think of one where you can reap the benefit within as little as 40 days.

They, radishes that is, have very different tastes from variety to variety. Some are very hot (almost an oxy moron I know), while others are simply spicy. They go great in salads, salsas and soups to name a few. My dad would simply pick, wash and eat. I, however, like to mix mine in with some other veggies.

The radish is a root vegetable and grows underground. They are part of the Brassicaceae family which also contains other popular vegetable varieties such as broccoli and cauliflower to name a couple. It is written that the radish was first used in Europe in the pre-Roman times.

Radish grows best in full sun with a soil pH of 6.5 to 7.0. I mentioned earlier that many varieties of radish grow quickly. Some varieties can mature in as little as four weeks in some parts of the world, but the norm for the most common varieties of radish is forty to forty-five days.

Most soil types will work for the radish but they do like sandy loams. Loams are nothing more than a combination of sand, silt and clay that contain large amounts of humus (the final result of compost) which allow for better drainage but still retain water better.

If you are looking to grow your radish and get some seeds out of them, know that their seeds growin in siliques. A silique, sometimes called a pod, is where you will find them. It is a “seed capsule” fused by two carpels.

Radishes are a great source absorbic and folic acid as well as B6 and Calcium.

Although the most common portion of the radish that is eaten is the taproot (an enlarged, somewhat straight to tapering plant root that grows vertically downward), the entire plant is actually edible. The tops can be used as a leaf vegetable. The seeds of the radish can be pressed to extract oil that can been used to create biofuel. Many radish varieties have been shown that their seeds contain as much as 48% oil content.

Finally, if you ever find yourself in Oaxaca, Mexico around Christmas time (December 23rd to be exact) you will find the locals celebrating Noche de los Rábanos or the Night of the Radishes. They will carve religious and popular figures out of radishes and display them in the town square.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club:

3 Vegetables To Grow in the Fall

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Sure the months are still warm, even hot in many areas of the world, but that is no reason to not start thinking about what you will be planting in the cooler autumn months in your home vegetable garden. That time of the year, when the leaves change to vibrant colors and the kids head back to school, will be here before you know it.

My discovery of fall and winter garden (on a larger scale anyway) is still fairly new to me. I did not expand my garden during this period of the year until about 10 years ago, maybe 15 but that is probably pushing it. What I found were some favorites that I like to grow. Favorites because for starters my family eats them, second, they are easy to grow, and third they love cooler temperatures.

Lettuce
Which one? Doesn’t matter, pick! I love them all, although I have to admit a crispy romaine variety is my favorite. Lettuce does great in the cooler temperatures and I have read in various USDA reports that many varieties of lettuce will enhance with flavor as temperatures begin to drop. Right about now to the next week or so is when I begin my seeds indoors. It is a bit cooler inside which makes for a perfect environment for the seeds to germinate. I will move my seedlings outdoors around the end of August, beginning of September.

Spinach
It’s not just for fictional cartoon characters anymore. Spinach has been shown to be loaded with so many vitamins and nutrients that it has not only become a mainstay in my personal diet, but also in my home vegetable garden. With my new vacuum sealer I know I will be storing plenty of these great greens all year long. You can start spinach indoors and move it to the outdoors just as you would lettuce.

Radish
What finishes off a salad like a good radish. Champions are my favorite as they are not too spicy but still add plenty of kick to a nice bowl of fresh mixed lettuce and spinach (see the theme occurring here?). Radish grows rather quickly and there is no need to start them indoors, or at least not here in NJ. I wait until the first or second week of September then use one of my four foot by four foot raised bed for nothing but radish. Needless to say in 35 to 45 days I have all the radish I will need until spring rolls around. If I get lucky and time it just right, I may be able to get a few harvests.

If you are in an area of the country like me that experiences various temperature changes, and you may not have thought about gardening in the autumn months, start with these three and you won’t be disappointed. If maybe these are not your ideal options then you can always look towards broccoli, carrots and kale to name three more. If you are thinking about broccoli though, you better get started, they take awhile to grow.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Seeds of the Month Club: