By Vanessa Richins

Are you trying to grow your own salad but don’t have much soil to work with?

If you have a paved space that is 3′ x 5′, you can build your own salad table and still be able to enjoy fresh greens.

The table was created by Jon Traunfeld from the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service.

Their website gives detailed instructions for building a salad table. They also suggest several ways you can modify it for different crops – using wider boards to grow beans and peppers, for example.

There are other benefits to building a salad table. Those with problems kneeling won’t have to bend over much, since the table is 4′ high. Since the plants are up off the ground, it’s much less likely that they will be Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Nolan

As gardeners we are used to putting our hands in the dirt.

Whether we are tilling up part of our suburban yards or stocking up on containers for this year’s urban garden on the patio, we understand the feeling of calm that comes with nurturing a seed and the sense of accomplishment that comes from seeing that seed bear fruit.

When I moved from Birmingham, Alabama into a neighborhood in suburban Atlanta last month I joined a community in transition.

When I began working on the process of starting the first community garden here I began to realize that transition was being mirrored in me.

And so it goes that along with the help of the Atlanta Community Food Bank and a few willing volunteers, we will soon break ground on the Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Nolan

When Lauren Beckham Falcone from the Boston Herald wrote her lifestyle piece for the May 5th edition of the newspaper I doubt she anticipated drawing the ire of gardeners everywhere for her negative portrayal of the backyard garden.

She caught the attention of a tight-knit group of Twitter members, myself and Vanessa Richins included, who decided that we needed to inform her of the err of her ways so that we could perhaps curtail some of the damage her ill-conceived story would do to the readers.

“But Mr. Greenjeans wannabes, be warned: With wartime exceptions, Americans are about 100 years past our agricultural heyday.” says Falcone who obviously missed out on the current series on Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

The first plant that many kids grow, at least in my experience, is one lone green bean seed planted in a paper cup.

It has now become one of my favorite vegetables to grow.

Ok . . . if we’re being technical, it’s not a vegetable.

It’s actually a fruit – legume to be exact. Other legumes include other beans, peas, and peanuts. These plants are especially beneficial to the garden – they are able to “fix” nitrogen and add it back into the soil.

Ready to grow your own green beans? First you have to decide whether you want a bush variety or a pole one.

Bush beans are determinate – they grow to Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

Would you look at someone funny if they asked you about your soil’s texture?

It’s actually one of the most important facts to know about your garden, as it affects what plants you can grow.

Soil texture refers to the size of the individual particles. There are three basic kinds: sand, silt and clay, and are all found in your soil in different degrees.

Sand has the largest particles of the three. It’s great for plants that don’t like to have wet roots, since it drains very well. That also means, though, that water-loving plants may have problems since the water leaves so fast, taking nutrients with it.

Silt is the middle kind of texture. It’s a good Read the rest of this entry »