Renee's Blog
Growing Leeks From Seed
The best techniques for starting leeks from seed and transplanting seedlings properly. Follow Lindsay's directions to grow vigorous leeks into big, tall plants with tender and juicy white stalks, that can be harvested over a long period and enjoyed in...
Growing Leeks From Seed
The best techniques for starting leeks from seed and transplanting seedlings properly. Follow Lindsay's directions to grow vigorous leeks into big, tall plants with tender and juicy white stalks, that can be harvested over a long period and enjoyed in...
Plant, Grow and Harvest Great Garlic
Lindsay explains all the steps involved in planting, growing, and harvesting big, juicy heads of plump garlic cloves. She shows how to break up the planting garlic heads into individual cloves, prepare the garden bed, plant the cloves and how...
Plant, Grow and Harvest Great Garlic
Lindsay explains all the steps involved in planting, growing, and harvesting big, juicy heads of plump garlic cloves. She shows how to break up the planting garlic heads into individual cloves, prepare the garden bed, plant the cloves and how...
Growing Incredible Escalator Climbing Zucchini
How to sow, grow, and train these unique climbing squash vines up a trellis where they will produce an abundance of luscious, tender-fleshed zucchini. Climbing escalator vines yield abundant harvests of delicious deep green zucchinis you can find and pick...
Growing Incredible Escalator Climbing Zucchini
How to sow, grow, and train these unique climbing squash vines up a trellis where they will produce an abundance of luscious, tender-fleshed zucchini. Climbing escalator vines yield abundant harvests of delicious deep green zucchinis you can find and pick...
Growing Great Crafter's Gourds
Growing Crafter’s Gourds is both easy and rewarding if you follow some simple guidelines. Gourds need full sun and fertile soil, hot weather and a long growing season to reach full maturity. They are vining plants that look great twining...
Growing Great Crafter's Gourds
Growing Crafter’s Gourds is both easy and rewarding if you follow some simple guidelines. Gourds need full sun and fertile soil, hot weather and a long growing season to reach full maturity. They are vining plants that look great twining...
Sow and Grow Baby Lettuce in Containers
Our easy technique for planting, growing and harvesting baby lettuce in containers for continuous delicious fresh salads.
Sow and Grow Baby Lettuce in Containers
Our easy technique for planting, growing and harvesting baby lettuce in containers for continuous delicious fresh salads.
Growing Trombetta Climbing Summer Squash
How to grow this Italian heirloom climbing summer squash that tastes like firm-fleshed, nutty-flavored zucchini. Easily vines up any fence or trellis to effortlessly produce curvy elongated fruits to enjoy all season.
Growing Trombetta Climbing Summer Squash
How to grow this Italian heirloom climbing summer squash that tastes like firm-fleshed, nutty-flavored zucchini. Easily vines up any fence or trellis to effortlessly produce curvy elongated fruits to enjoy all season.
Important Tips For Growing Cucumbers
When you plant is important: wait until the nights are staying at least 50º F (10° C). to start seeds in the garden; too cool and you won’t get successful germination and good growth. It’s wise to cover them with...
Important Tips For Growing Cucumbers
When you plant is important: wait until the nights are staying at least 50º F (10° C). to start seeds in the garden; too cool and you won’t get successful germination and good growth. It’s wise to cover them with...
Juicing Nutritious Homegrown Wheatgrass
Juicing nutritious wheatgrass is as easy as using a blender. After having grown a batch at the trial garden, Lindsay harvests and juices it in just a few minutes. Boost your daily nutrition by growing and juicing wheatgrass at home....
Juicing Nutritious Homegrown Wheatgrass
Juicing nutritious wheatgrass is as easy as using a blender. After having grown a batch at the trial garden, Lindsay harvests and juices it in just a few minutes. Boost your daily nutrition by growing and juicing wheatgrass at home....
Harvesting Celeriac (a.k.a. Celery Root)
Celeriac is a European staple that's gaining popularity in U.S., Lindsay Del Carlo guides viewers on when to harvest this delicious root vegetable.
Harvesting Celeriac (a.k.a. Celery Root)
Celeriac is a European staple that's gaining popularity in U.S., Lindsay Del Carlo guides viewers on when to harvest this delicious root vegetable.
How And Why To Thin Carrots
Lindsay shares her tips for abundant carrot harvests by explaining how and why to thin twice.
How And Why To Thin Carrots
Lindsay shares her tips for abundant carrot harvests by explaining how and why to thin twice.
Supporting Big Tomato Vines
We grow many tomato varieties each and every summer in the trial garden and we've tried many different methods of supporting the tall, vining indeterminate* varieties that grow heavy with fruit and foliage at maturity. For example, we used traditional...
Supporting Big Tomato Vines
We grow many tomato varieties each and every summer in the trial garden and we've tried many different methods of supporting the tall, vining indeterminate* varieties that grow heavy with fruit and foliage at maturity. For example, we used traditional...
Beth’s Guide for Growing the Cucurbit Family
We get many questions from gardeners about members of the cucurbit family, so our expert Garden Advisor, Beth Benjamin, has summarized her advice for successfully growing these mainstay garden vegetables. Planting: When you plant is important: all members of the...
Beth’s Guide for Growing the Cucurbit Family
We get many questions from gardeners about members of the cucurbit family, so our expert Garden Advisor, Beth Benjamin, has summarized her advice for successfully growing these mainstay garden vegetables. Planting: When you plant is important: all members of the...
Gardening with Children: Grow a Pizza Garden
Growing a pizza garden is a great way to get children outdoors and motivated to plant and eat vegetables. Our family loves homemade pizza, so my 4-year-old daughter and I have already started planning our pizza plot. So far, our...
Gardening with Children: Grow a Pizza Garden
Growing a pizza garden is a great way to get children outdoors and motivated to plant and eat vegetables. Our family loves homemade pizza, so my 4-year-old daughter and I have already started planning our pizza plot. So far, our...
Unbeatable Beets
Beets from your own garden taste terrific. Forget any old memories of rubbery, syrupy-sauced, canned beets that lurk in your tastebuds. Freshly pulled beets are truly beautiful and delicious. Their flavor is sweet, rich, hearty and earthy, and beet varieties...
Unbeatable Beets
Beets from your own garden taste terrific. Forget any old memories of rubbery, syrupy-sauced, canned beets that lurk in your tastebuds. Freshly pulled beets are truly beautiful and delicious. Their flavor is sweet, rich, hearty and earthy, and beet varieties...
Gardening With Small Children
What better place to stimulate babies’ and toddlers’ senses and cultivates their growing minds than in the garden? When my daughter, Emilia , was a baby, she'd grab the tendrils of vining snap peas, kick with excitement when I'd rub...
Gardening With Small Children
What better place to stimulate babies’ and toddlers’ senses and cultivates their growing minds than in the garden? When my daughter, Emilia , was a baby, she'd grab the tendrils of vining snap peas, kick with excitement when I'd rub...
What To Plant If You Don't Have Full Sun
I've found that a garden with some shade is ultimately more satisfying than one with full blasting sunlight. It offers the chance to create a cool retreat in which to sit and enjoy the garden or dine outdoors on hot...
What To Plant If You Don't Have Full Sun
I've found that a garden with some shade is ultimately more satisfying than one with full blasting sunlight. It offers the chance to create a cool retreat in which to sit and enjoy the garden or dine outdoors on hot...
Planting in May
At long last, spring weather is securely in place. The soil has drained and warmed and trees are stretching and quickly greening up. Many of us really get the gardening bug at this time of year but think that May...
Planting in May
At long last, spring weather is securely in place. The soil has drained and warmed and trees are stretching and quickly greening up. Many of us really get the gardening bug at this time of year but think that May...
June and July Are Still Prime Planting Season
Gardening is an ongoing process, and, while timing is important, don't be overwhelmed by a sense of being too late to plant by some arbitrary date. All too often, I hear gardeners use a day of a particular month as...
June and July Are Still Prime Planting Season
Gardening is an ongoing process, and, while timing is important, don't be overwhelmed by a sense of being too late to plant by some arbitrary date. All too often, I hear gardeners use a day of a particular month as...
Early Birds Don't Always Get the Worm
January seems the perfect time to start thinking about gardening. After all, the holidays are over, and planning next spring's bounty is a great way to boost your spirits. Nothing can pick you up more than envisioning all the fabulous...
Early Birds Don't Always Get the Worm
January seems the perfect time to start thinking about gardening. After all, the holidays are over, and planning next spring's bounty is a great way to boost your spirits. Nothing can pick you up more than envisioning all the fabulous...
Growing Tomatoes From Seed
If you love succulent tomatoes, mid-March to early April is the time to start your own plants from seed. It's the only way to have the very best tasting and old fashioned heirloom varieties which are not usually available as...
Growing Tomatoes From Seed
If you love succulent tomatoes, mid-March to early April is the time to start your own plants from seed. It's the only way to have the very best tasting and old fashioned heirloom varieties which are not usually available as...
How To Sow Baby Kale For Endless Salads
Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager, shows how to prepare the garden bed and sow baby kale.
How To Sow Baby Kale For Endless Salads
Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager, shows how to prepare the garden bed and sow baby kale.
Harvesting Baby Kale For Endless Salads
Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager, demonstrates how to cut baby kale for salad.
Harvesting Baby Kale For Endless Salads
Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager, demonstrates how to cut baby kale for salad.
Starting Seeds Indoors
Why Start Early? It's fun to experience the whole growing cycle as you watch baby seedlings grow into sturdy plants that bear delicious fruit and beautiful flowers. We often need to give plants a critical head start by germinating and...
Starting Seeds Indoors
Why Start Early? It's fun to experience the whole growing cycle as you watch baby seedlings grow into sturdy plants that bear delicious fruit and beautiful flowers. We often need to give plants a critical head start by germinating and...
Grow Baby Leaf Mesclun Lettuce
Renee demonstrates how to have great success growing baby leaf mesclun "spring mix" lettuces and greens from seed: how to sow seeds using the "cut and come again" method, tend seedlings, harvest so you get a second crop, and then...
Grow Baby Leaf Mesclun Lettuce
Renee demonstrates how to have great success growing baby leaf mesclun "spring mix" lettuces and greens from seed: how to sow seeds using the "cut and come again" method, tend seedlings, harvest so you get a second crop, and then...
Starting Tomato Seeds Indoors
Generally, the time to start your seeds is about 6- 8 weeks before the last expected spring frost date in your area, planting the seedlings outdoors about 2 weeks after that date. Another way to figure is to plan on...
Starting Tomato Seeds Indoors
Generally, the time to start your seeds is about 6- 8 weeks before the last expected spring frost date in your area, planting the seedlings outdoors about 2 weeks after that date. Another way to figure is to plan on...
Heirlooms and Hybrids
Growing delicious vegetables from seeds is one of the most rewarding of all gardening activities. We gardeners get started doing it with great anticipation and relish. Selecting seed varieties can be a little daunting because there are lots of choices....
Heirlooms and Hybrids
Growing delicious vegetables from seeds is one of the most rewarding of all gardening activities. We gardeners get started doing it with great anticipation and relish. Selecting seed varieties can be a little daunting because there are lots of choices....
Celebrate the Three Sisters: Corn, Beans and Squash
By Guest Author Alice Formiga According to Iroquois legend, corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who only grow and thrive together. This tradition of interplanting corn, beans and squash in the same mounds, widespread among Native American farming...
Celebrate the Three Sisters: Corn, Beans and Squash
By Guest Author Alice Formiga According to Iroquois legend, corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who only grow and thrive together. This tradition of interplanting corn, beans and squash in the same mounds, widespread among Native American farming...
Celebrating Tomatoes
Nothing satisfies the gardening cook like the pleasure and satisfaction of harvesting big baskets of richly ripe, juicy tomatoes. Their tangy-sweet full flavor and jewel toned colors are one of the main reasons lots of us got started gardening. It...
Celebrating Tomatoes
Nothing satisfies the gardening cook like the pleasure and satisfaction of harvesting big baskets of richly ripe, juicy tomatoes. Their tangy-sweet full flavor and jewel toned colors are one of the main reasons lots of us got started gardening. It...
Growing Vertical Vegetables
One of the easiest ways to grow rambling or vining plants is to train them up trellises or supports. In a small garden, growing things upwards is a good solution because space is limited but you still want a lush...
Growing Vertical Vegetables
One of the easiest ways to grow rambling or vining plants is to train them up trellises or supports. In a small garden, growing things upwards is a good solution because space is limited but you still want a lush...
Cooking And Growing With Fennel
Renee highlights the differences between growing bulbing fennel, the vegetable, and using the butterfly attracting herb, bronze fennel, in flavoring. Moving to the kitchen, she demonstrates making a delicious Fresh Fennel Salad with Oranges and Cashews.
Cooking And Growing With Fennel
Renee highlights the differences between growing bulbing fennel, the vegetable, and using the butterfly attracting herb, bronze fennel, in flavoring. Moving to the kitchen, she demonstrates making a delicious Fresh Fennel Salad with Oranges and Cashews.
Grow Great Greens
In both early spring and early fall I relish planting diverse crops of crispy flavorful greens to harvest from prepared garden beds. These fast-growing, really nutritious varieties are a delicious way to get my body and spirit awakened and toned...
Grow Great Greens
In both early spring and early fall I relish planting diverse crops of crispy flavorful greens to harvest from prepared garden beds. These fast-growing, really nutritious varieties are a delicious way to get my body and spirit awakened and toned...
Exploring Asian Vegetables
More tasty and nutritious Asian vegetable favorites are showing up in supermarkets and farmers markets nationwide every spring. If you have relegated these tasty veggies to the category of tasty exotics mostly encountered in restaurants, you’ll find adding easy to...
Exploring Asian Vegetables
More tasty and nutritious Asian vegetable favorites are showing up in supermarkets and farmers markets nationwide every spring. If you have relegated these tasty veggies to the category of tasty exotics mostly encountered in restaurants, you’ll find adding easy to...
When the Time Is Ripe: Harvesting for Best Flavor
By guest author Alice Formiga All fruits and vegetables have ways of telling us exactly when they taste best, even before we’ve picked them. As I was picking blackberries this morning, I found myself explaining to my 2-year-old how to...
When the Time Is Ripe: Harvesting for Best Flavor
By guest author Alice Formiga All fruits and vegetables have ways of telling us exactly when they taste best, even before we’ve picked them. As I was picking blackberries this morning, I found myself explaining to my 2-year-old how to...
Cool Kohlrabi
My memories of kohlrabi are full of fond nostalgia. When I was a little girl in suburban Cleveland, weekly visits to my grandmother's wonderful garden were a highlight of summer. I couldn't wait to go look at all the growing...
Cool Kohlrabi
My memories of kohlrabi are full of fond nostalgia. When I was a little girl in suburban Cleveland, weekly visits to my grandmother's wonderful garden were a highlight of summer. I couldn't wait to go look at all the growing...
Lettuce Heads Up
Growing heading lettuces, with their mosaic of colors, textures and leafy rosette shapes is one of the most rewarding aspects of having your own kitchen garden. Unfortunately, many of us have grown up identifying head lettuce only with the rock...
Lettuce Heads Up
Growing heading lettuces, with their mosaic of colors, textures and leafy rosette shapes is one of the most rewarding aspects of having your own kitchen garden. Unfortunately, many of us have grown up identifying head lettuce only with the rock...
October Treats
October is the time of year to begin preparing your favorite foods for the fall and winter months ahead. Happily, the last summer garden crops can provide a wealth of raw ingredients for scrumptious desserts and holiday sweet treats. With...
October Treats
October is the time of year to begin preparing your favorite foods for the fall and winter months ahead. Happily, the last summer garden crops can provide a wealth of raw ingredients for scrumptious desserts and holiday sweet treats. With...