Long-time readers of the LTI blog will remember that I used to track my gardening hours under the rubric of doing an hour a day through the growing season. My last post under this title was in late 2019, and I shelved this idea while we ran the Foodmageddon simulation in 2020–21 and then did … More The (Triumphant?) Return of Hour-A-Day Gardening
We are going to try and increase our planting density, thereby decreasing the overall area we have to maintain. To do that, we’re going to re-establish our beds, improve our propagation techniques, and be even more diligent this year on weed removal. … More Gardening 101: Establishing Beds
This year we harvested wheat from our neighbor’s field. It was a learning experience. As we didn’t have a teacher with real experience with this harvest, we made a lot of mistakes. I plan to put these together in an upcoming post, but the first thing we can correct is the type of wheat we … More Small-Scale, No-Till Heritage Wheat Experiment
It is high summer, but I have to be thinking about what we will be eating this fall. The average first frost date for this area is September 30th. That means I have just over sixty days of growing outside. The greenhouse next door will give me another week or two and our own greenhouse … More Late-Season Crops
Our grow-your-own project is underway. Right now, we’re in the planning stages. In February, we get a month of “business as usual,” to order and plan for the upcoming decrease of fossil fuels in our food system. Starting in March, we’ll only have a quarter of our trips to the grocery store and less shipping … More Foodmageddon: Grow, Glean, and Forage Over Two Million Calories for a Year?
A note at the top, especially for my academic friends: this is a simplified discussion of domestication of plants for the purposes of an upcoming presentation on the history of gardening. The dates and theories have been rounded off for the amount of time and target audience. Until about 10,000 years ago, all humans on … More Gardening: The First Domesticated Plants?
The hour-per-day gardening project is through mid-summer. Daily temps have come down to the mid-80°Fs, and regular rain is back. The weeds seem to be winning the battle, even in the plot where I used cardboard sheet mulch. My theory is that the wet spring rotted the cardboard quickly and then the weeds were able … More Hour-Per-Day Gardening Continues
Are you feeling overwhelmed by weeds this season? Have I got the garden tour for you to know you’re not alone. We’ll be hosting a group from the Sustainable Gardening Club out of Madison this Sunday at 3:00 p.m. You’re welcome to stop by. Stops on the Tour We’ll hit the highlights of the garden … More Garden Tour, Sunday, August 11, 3 p.m.
The hour-per-day gardening project is through mid-summer. Daily temps have come down to the mid-80°Fs, and regular rain is back. The weeds seem to be winning the battle, even in the plot where I used cardboard sheet mulch. My theory is that the wet spring rotted the cardboard quickly and then the weeds were able … More Hour-Per-Day Gardening Continues
The hour-per-day gardening project slogs on through the heat. Daily temps are at least in the high 80°Fs, and we haven’t had any significant rain for weeks. The wet spring and now-hot-and-dry conditions have thrown the garden for a loop. The Neighbor’s Plot Next door, my corn is growing high and the amaranth is quickly … More Hour-Per-Day Gardening Continues