Good Gardening

Isn't it great when doing something nice for yourself doesn't hurt the planet, and helps other people too?Unfortunately, buying clothes and giving them to the thrift store doesn't fit that dream.

Your garden can produce a lot- of food, and of waste. Getting rid of the produce is easy- have seconds. And getting rid of the garden waste along with all your kitchen scraps is easy too because somebody else will do the work.

Residents of Eugene, Portland, Salem, Albany and Corvallis can put all their food scraps including meat and dairy into their green waste cans.  That is not true for any other areas in Lane County- ask your city counsellor if you want the policy to change where you live.

When I go to a potluck, the first thing people ask me is a garden question. Well, actually the first thing they ask is "Did Laurie (my wife) bring a pie?"

Then it's then garden question, and then something on recycling. As a Master Recycler, Master Composter, and Climate Master, I have a good base of knowledge on Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling.

In a weird way, you have to admire a good scam. We've been tricked into buying bottled water from Los Angeles instead of drinking our own MacKenzie River water.

Master Gardener John Fischer here with KLCC's Good Gardening. Sometimes careful planning, and benign neglect can produce the same results in your garden.  Having grown cabbage for many years, I know that leaving the base of the plant in the ground after harvesting the head of cabbage will allow three to five cute little "single serving" cabbages to grow where the first head was cut off.

Pests and disease can cause problems for your crops. Like you don't get to eat what you grew.  Resistant varieties have helped reduce disease problems, but resistant does not always mean immune. And to make things more confusing, the same plant will show different levels of resistance in different locations.

It can be tough to keep harvesting lettuce - at last edible lettuce-  through the heat of summer.  The first planting has gone to seed and since many fall vegetables won't sprout in warm soil, you can be left with no salad on the table.

The color and sheen of your vegetables can tell you a lot about how they will taste before you even take a bite. 

When your garden fills up with weeds, it's tempting to scowl at your neighbors’ dandelions, and assume all your problems came from over there.

It's more likely that most of the weeds sprouting were from seeds left over in your soil from last year, or the year before, or the year before...  And even more likely that the weeds are sneaking into your vegetable patch underground.

I don't spend much time on flowers, but this year the combination of a sudden spring after the April deluge has made them irresistible even to a dedicated edibles grower.  And there is a lesson coming for both ornamental and food gardeners.

It is cold, wet and gray outside. But if you can get out there for five minutes now, planting a tree or new shrub in the spring will be much easier.

Here's a quote from the March 1895 Eugene weather summary written in early April.    "While the coast range passes are still blocked by snow, they are expected to open in the next two weeks".  Yes the weather is different, and we must adapt to the changes in the way we garden. 

For many vegetables, harvest is a one day affair.  The carrot is either in the ground, or on the table.  And once you've picked the carrot, it won't grow back again.

Raspberries used to be called Raspis Berries. Somebody shortened is to raspberries, and mot of us stopped pronouncing the p.

Today were going to look at that age old question. Which came first- The chicken or the rat?

It's the time of year where you have to decide who will tell you what your lawn should look like. First a little history.   Lawns- front and back started as a safety system during medieval times.

Onions are a prime ingredient in so many recipes.   There are three ways to grow onions- seeds, starts, and sets.  Two won't surprise you, but one involves suspended animation.

I have a mental calendar of when plants should bloom, and I should put seeds in the ground for my vegetable garden. I rarely follow the schedule, and the plants never do.

Hops: A plant that produces no seeds and flavors beer. Just in time for the KLCC Brewfest February 9th and 10th at the Lane Events Center in Eugene, KLCC’s John Fisher takes a close look at hops in this month’s Good Gardening.

I love fresh home grown fruit. Especially fruit that lasts into the winter. We all know that apples store well, but most people are not as familiar with the winter storage pears. They grow well in Oregon, and if the only pear you have is a Bartlett, you need to expand your orchard.

I spent some time on a recent sunny afternoon, looking back on a long and fruitful life wondering what I would change if I could do it all over again.

September is the time of year your plants are doing double duty-- producing a crop, and trying to set seed.