Planet Veggie Garden

Have you ever planted potatoes?
The argument against growing potatoes is:they’re cheap to buy, not worth growing (unless you have somewhat unlimited growing space).The argument for growing spuds is:Ahh, they taste so good fresh out of the garden. And a secondary argument is you can choose many different varieties that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to [...]

For the most part we take dirt for granted. We even speak of it disparagingly… dumb as dirt, old as dirt.And if you’re not a farmer, you generally take water for granted. We’ll leave that discussion for another day.
Today let’s talk dirt.Not celebrity dirt. But that amazing substance that’s simultaneously composed of rotting decaying material [...]

Garden Section A

Garden Section B

Garden Section C

We spent last weekend pulling out the tomato and cucumber plants – just about the last of plants.
We then moved a couple boxes and set up a couple new boxes.
The garden is now divided into three section (A, B, C).
Looking back at Guide to Rotating and As the [...]

This is the fourth installment in a series on plant nutrients and fertilizers.(Part 1 is here.Part 2 is here.Part 3 is here.)
Many folks think about “fertilizing” their soil… which of course is a good thing. However, soil pH is a strong determinant of whether or not the nutrients in the soil are available to the [...]

   plant micronutrients

This is the third installment in a series on plant nutrients and fertilizers.(Part 1 is here.Part 2 is here.)
There are eight micronutrients essential for plant growth and health. Their need varies with the plant. And their availability varies with the soil of course. Sandy soils and more alkaline soils tend to be more deficient.
The [...]

 Calcium-Sulfur-Magnesium

This is the second in a series on plant nutrients and fertilizers.
(Part 1 is here.)
Continuing on with our macronutrients. Today we’re featuring the secondary macronutrients: Calcium, Sulfur and Magnesium.
Calcium
Calcium keeps plants strong by keeping the cell walls strong. It’s also essential for cell division.
Generally farmers use dolomitic lime or gypsum to bump up the calcium.Lime [...]

This is the first in a series on plant nutrients and fertilizers.
When it comes to fertilizers you’ve probably noticed they’re labeled with 3 numbers such as 10-12-10. You may also see the letters N-P-K.
These are the periodic chart symbols for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and
Potassium.
The numbers are the percentage by weight of the three nutrients. So with [...]

  Guess who ate dinner

For the past month or so we’ve been fighting a losing battle with rats.
We’ve known rats have been in the neighborhood for years, but we haven’t had a personal experience with them.
When young lettuce was getting chewed down to the stub over night, at first we assumed it was squirrels (plenty of [...]

We live in Oakland California about 10 miles across the Bay from San Francisco.
San Francisco is known – probably worldwide – for being on the “liberal” edge.
In the past few years they’ve put through a rather huge restaurant food waste recycling program, banned plastic bags in grocery stores, banned polystyrene (aka Styrofoam) food containers and [...]

One of the local news shows did a feature on urban veggie gardens in Silicon Valley.
While the motivation to DIY these days may be the increasing cost of food or a desire to decrease one’s carbon footprint, as most longer term gardeners like Candace Simpson featured in the video will tell you… it’s a bit [...]