Sweet peppers are a versatile, colorful, delicious vegetable. They can be used in many different ways, both cooked and raw. They are used alone or in combination with many other vegetables. They are healthy, great for a diet, and a favorite of many people. There is a variety of mild peppers called bell peppers for their shape. They come in several bright colors - green, yellow, orange, red, b...

Modern society has created vegetables and flowers that are developed for shipping and to be uniform in size. They ripen at the same time for harvest. This makes getting them to markets throughout the country easier and with as little loss as possible. However, there has been one unhappy result. The flavor of the vegetable is definitely lessened. Many have described eating a store-bought tomato l...

There is a great variety of onions. Onions have been used for many purposes throughout the course of history. The most prevalent use for onions today is for cooking. People have been known to use onions for medicinal purposes and to cure colds that settle in the chest. Adding onions to the diet is an easy way to maintain quality of life and avoid serious diseases. Onions are comprised of nearly ...

Have you ever wondered about heirloom vegetables? They come from old, open-pollinated cultivars. Many gardeners say heirloom vegetables have a reputation for being high quality and easy to grow. These qualities are really what you want from a vegetable if you're going to take the time to garden. Most gardeners want to grow a tomato that tastes like a tomato so they select an heirloom like "Brandy...

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Onions can be harvested as soon as they're big enough to use as scallions.  Preparing onion bulbs for use through the fall and winter months is a three-step process; harvesting, curing and storage.  When your onion bulbs begin to mature, reduce the amount of moisture you give them, especially near harvest time.  This will reduce the chance that the necks will rot.  As bulbing...

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I had hoped to grow organic potatoes for the first time this year, despite not really having the space for it, but never got quite that organized.  They make it look amazingly easy in this video, just digging all these fat red potatoes out of the soil with their hands.  I've never thought of potatoes as particularly delicate, but repeated mention was made in the video to be gentle in han...

For many gardeners, late summer into fall can be the most productive part of the season.  Many frost-hardy crops that do well in the spring, such as peas and radishes, are even better in the fall as the days grow cooler and shorter rather than longer and warmer.  Another advantage to fall plantings is that annual weeds have lost much of their ferocity by this time.This can require some p...

Onions are a fairly easy crop to grow once you have the proper conditions. Essential to a good onion crop is the right kind of soil. Here’s where going organic is a real plus. In order for the onion bulb to develop, it needs an airy and light soil. By adding organic materials to your soil, you facilitate the arability of your soil. The fact that onions need nutrient-rich and lower acid soil is a...

After the recent tainted spinach scare, many gardeners are turning to homegrown vegetables, especially those vegetables that are consumed raw and do not have the sterilizing effects of cooking. Salad ingredients of all kinds fall into this category, including spinach. Whether you eat spinach cooked or raw, it is like other organic produce from your garden and is simply better for you, because you ...

The grill is fired up and ready to cook your favorite meat. What could be a better side dish than some fresh picked green bush beans? Grilled with a little olive oil and fresh garlic, they are packed with great nutrition and sure taste delicious. The bush bean is not only a vegetable, but also in the legume family. Phaseolus Vulgaris is its official name. Some call them string beans, some cal...

Sweet peppers are one of the favorite choices of gardeners today, right up there with tomatoes. There are dozens of varieties of sweet peppers and every one can be prepared the same way, eaten fresh, cooked in your favorite dish, diced in your salad, or in a relish. If you are going to plant peppers in your garden, there are quite a lot of different colors to choose from, from the green Californ...

When you hear the word heirloom, you instantly think of something that has been handed down from previous generations that is considered a precious keepsake. However, there are certain vegetables that are called heirlooms. They too, have been passed down from previous generations for the vegetable gardeners of today. They are open-pollinated, which allows them to re-seed themselves back to the...

Beans are annual garden vegetables that are grown from seed. They should be planted after the soil has warmed to at least 60 degrees and there is no danger of frost. There are many varieties of beans, and all can be grown in average garden areas using organic methods. The garden spot you choose for growing your organic beans needs to receive full sun. It should be well-drained, humus-rich soil...

After two centuries of breeding, strawberries have been developed with the ability to resist pests and to ripen at various times.  It's a good idea to grow at least two different kinds of strawberries to prolong the harvest season.  June-bearing types of this self-fruiting perennial ripen all at once in spring or early summer.  The everbearing cultivars bear two crops per season, on...

Strawberry plants in bulk are usually sold bareroot in bundles.  Cut the roots back to 4 inches and soak them in compost tea for 20 minutes just before planting them out.  Dust the damp roots with a 50/50 mixture of kelp and bonemeal.  Mulch around each plant once the soil settles after watering.  Pinch off all flower buds for the first three months to encourage strong root gro...

Rotating crops every growing season helps to manage soil fertility, since some plants, like broccoli, corn and tomatoes, are heavier feeders than others.  Rotating the placement of crops that belong in the same botanical family also helps avoid or reduce problems with soil-borne diseases and some soil-dwelling insects.Plants can be classified into four types for this purpose; leafy, fruiting,...

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We've had a week or so of unseasonably warm weather here in Michigan and my garden is starting to green up, including the everbearing strawberries I grow in a large, shallow container.  Strawberries are not deep-rooted plants, and the everbearing and day-neutral varieties don't send out many runners, making them perfect for container planting if you don't have a lot of space to spare.If you l...

Asparagus grown from seedlings will out-produce crowns and are less prone to transplant shock.  Soak the seeds in a 10% bleach solution for two minutes to prevent Fusarium wilt, then rinse them in clear water for one minute.  In milder climates, seeds can be sown directly into a nursery bed, 2 seeds per inch and spaced 18 inches apart.  When the shoots reach 3 inches, thin to 4 inch...

With many new varieties, it is now possible to grow potatoes anywhere in the world. In the past, potatoes used to only be grown in cooler climates. Potatoes are a perennial vegetable that love moist, acidic soil. When preparing your soil, use composted manure to fertilize. If you were to use fresh manure, it could damage the potatoes tubers. Plant your potatoes with the eyes facing upward with th...

Peas are one of the earliest crops you can start outside. They will tolerate soil temperatures down to 40 degrees, but this is not suggested, as the plants may not recover and will produce poorly. Early spring is suggested in cold winter areas and fall and winter for the hotter states. Seeds can be started indoors in layered wet paper towels. Coating the seeds first in garden pea inoculant will h...

There are two important things to keep in mind when choosing crops to grow in containers; growing speed and size.  Generally, the faster and smaller a plant is, the better it will do in a container.  Peruse seed catalogs for cultivars that will fit these specs, and use normal spacing.  To interplant, choose plants with different kinds of root systems, such as lettuce with carrots or...

I was really impressed by this site for its intense focus on all things 'tomato', including this article about heirloom tomatoes.  The article is very informative and accurate, except for a minor detail regarding hardening off seedlings.  When the hardening off process begins, seedlings should be placed in light shade at first and brought into the full sun gradually.  Too much direc...

Is there anything better than a salad of organically homegrown lettuce?  Just knowing that there is nothing in your lettuce that has the potential to harm you is an added benefit to growing organic lettuce. There are many varieties of lettuce that grow well throughout the growing season, so you can have fresh lettuce all summer long. Growing organic lettuce is not a difficult thing to do at a...

I've never grown potatoes in my small suburban garden, but I'm going to try growing them in containers this coming season after reading that potatoes are among the most toxin-doused foods we eat.  Potato farmers won't eat the potatoes they grow commercially.  They keep small organic plots to grow the potatoes that they personally consume.  What does that tell you?It tells me I need ...

Sweet potatoes are very easy to grow in your vegetable garden. They need about four months in the summer to grow to full size. Be sure to plant them where they get sun all day. The most popular sweet potato is Beauregard, which is grown commercially. You might want to try the Centennial or Georgia Jet, as these both grow in about 90 days instead of 100, which is true for most other varieties. ...

Do you love the aroma of sweet basil or the taste of rosemary and oregano in your pasta sauce? Have you thought about growing your own but don’t know how to start? If you have ever grown tomatoes, you can grow your own chemical-free herbs. Herbs have been used for everything from seasonings to medicinal purposes since about 2700 BC, all starting with the Chinese. When it comes to having genera...

Heirloom vegetables are usually varieties dating back between 50 and 100 years old. It has also been said that anything that was started after 1951 is not an heirloom vegetable. Some are so old that it is hard to find exactly where they first started. A lot of heirloom vegetables were passed on from one generation to the next. Some of our heirloom vegetables started with the Native Americans, ...