Watch My Food Grow

Look at this you freezing Yankees… That’s the sun setting on my garden. It was in the low-80s all day, cooling off to around 76 when I finally headed inside. —Farmer Matt

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Behold, The Power of Time, Light and Water: Your eyes are not fooling you. No camera tricks are involved. Photoshop did not attack this photo. On the left, we have the one broccoli plant that wouldn’t fit in my garden. On the right, we have broccoli that has only been in the ground about three [...]

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It’s garden creation photopalooza today! Malcolm Surveys What Will Soon Become Our Raised Backyard Vegetable Garden Malcolm, age four, verifies that he is Taller than a Tomato Plant Having no idea how close to plant my vegetables, I did a dry run first, digging holes and dropping in the pots to make sure everything would [...]

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When I tell people I planted a backyard vegetable garden, after the initial shock wears off, the next question is always ‘what are you growing?’. The answer is ‘whatever Jan Norris and Tim Whelan (Art by Nature Garden Center) tell me to plant’. Early 2009 Season Garden Layout Here is what is in the ground [...]

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We have been pulling the oh-so-sweet sun sugar tomatoes off the vine and popping them into our mouth since the very first day we planted them. Sarah even grabbed a handful of cilantro for some pulled-pork tacos. But, we hadn’t really made a meal using our garden until Saturday afternoon. Garden Fresh Jalapenos and Bell [...]

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If you own a circular saw, you can build your own backyard raised vegetable garden. If you just Googled ‘circular saw’ and are still planning to build your own, please google ‘how to reattach fingers’, too. Really, there is nothing to the construction. Cut three long, even strips from a full sheet of plywood, cut [...]

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It was cold last night but not too cold, I hope. I checked the thermometer this morning shortly after seven and it was about 37 degrees Fahrenheit under the tarp. Not as warm as I’d like but probably warm enough. Update: Covering the garden must have helped keep it warm… When Sarah went outside around [...]

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The National Weather Service is guessing that’ll be below 40 degress tonight and may reach freezing for some parts of Palm Beach County. I’m not taking any chances with my recently-planted vegetables. The blue you are about to see on the webcam isn’t a technical error. I’m about to cover my plants to keep the [...]

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Consider this a somewhat unrelated to growing my food but bonus post of War Food Administration Victory Garden Posters. In researching my garden, I came across a lot of great WFA posters. Below are three. Enjoy! Plant a Victory Garden Grow Your Own: Be Sure! Can All You Can: It’s a Real War Job Canning [...]

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When I told my personal food advisor about my backyard raised garden plans, I could hear her eyes roll over the phone. She said something along the lines of ‘boy howdy, are gardens back again?’. Jan Norris is right, of course. Backyard gardens come and backyard gardens go. Backyard Gardens are Back in Style That [...]

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