Sample Chapter – Gardener’s Guide to Fruit and Vegetable Preservation

People have stored food underground since ancient times. Many times, this practice involved simply placing the food in an urn or barrel and burying it or digging trenches and mounding the earth over the food. The first walk in root cellars didn’t appear in England until the 17th Century. The North American English colonists took the concept along with them and used root cellars extensively to store food. Continue reading Sample Chapter – Gardener’s Guide to Fruit and Vegetable Preservation

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Succession Cropping

Here at Abe’s Beer Garden, I use a method of gardening called succession gardening. This simply means that I do not plant large quantities of most crops at the same time. I usually space the crops at 2 -week intervals, ensuring an almost continuous harvest throughout the season. Continue reading Succession Cropping

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This Week in Abe’s Beer Garden – Cauliflower

I have four plants which I planted in the greenhouse and one out in the garden. I planted the ones in the greenhouse back in late February. I have harvested three of the heads on the greenhouse so far with the fourth still developing. Continue reading This Week in Abe’s Beer Garden – Cauliflower

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The Week in Abe’s Beer Garden – Cabbage, Kohlrabi and More

The Week in Abe’s Beer Garden – Cabbage, Kohlrabi and More
We have been harvesting radishes, snow peas, lettuce for some weeks now from some plants placed in the garden in mid-March. Some other crops in the greenhouse are beginning to mature and will soon be ready for us to eat. Continue reading The Week in Abe’s Beer Garden – Cabbage, Kohlrabi and More

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Square Foot Gardening

A gardener named Mel Bartholomew developed the square foot gardening system in 1976. In this system a garden is broken down into four square foot squares and the vegetables planted in square foot blocks, using optimum spacing. I used the system for a year or two, but as I had not begun using raised beds yet, the system did not work well for me. Continue reading Square Foot Gardening

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Planting Potatoes

In February I began planting potato chits in 3″ pots. A potato chit is a sprout that has developed on the skin of the potato. I cut off the chits as we used the potatoes for other purposes and laid them in a 4″ saucer to form a callus. The photo below is a potato chit ready for planting. Continue reading Planting Potatoes

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The Quick and Easy Radish

The first of the radishes in the greenhouse are ready to join the nearby lettuce for an early salad. I usually begin planting radishes in bedding packs under the grow lights in mid-March and transplant them into the greenhouse about 2 weeks later. If you don’t have a greenhouse, plant the first ones about mid-April in the garden. Continue reading The Quick and Easy Radish

Gardener's Guide Serie, Sample Chapter

Sample Chapter – The Amazing Plant Seed

A seed is kind of an amazing thing. Everything needed to grow a plant is packed into such a small package. The type of plant, how big it will grow, what kind of leaves it will have, and its flower color. Continue reading Sample Chapter – The Amazing Plant Seed

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The Greenhouse in Early January

It is early January, and the greenhouse is full of lettuce, cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, some carrots, beets and an assortment of other odds and ends. The greenhouse is unheated; however, I have covered the plants with an additional layer of garden cover. Continue reading The Greenhouse in Early January

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Frost on the Way – Pick the Tomatoes

Until Monday, October 30, I had been covering the tomatoes and green beans with row cover and protecting them from the first light frosts. The nighttime lows during early and mid-November had ranged from 34 – 39 degrees, enough to cause a light frost on the lawn, but not so cold that the row cover would allow the tomatoes to freeze. Continue reading Frost on the Way – Pick the Tomatoes

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The Harvest Continues

The other day I was in conversation with a lady when I remarked, “It is so dry, I have to continue watering the garden.”

She replied, “Surely the garden is winding down now.” Continue reading The Harvest Continues

Abe's Beer Garden, Blog

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Everywhere

It’s early October and pumpkins seem to be everywhere. You can find them at grocery stores, farmers markets, fall festivals and farm stores. Continue reading Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Everywhere

Gardener's Guide Serie

Gardener’s Guide to Starting Seeds

The Gardener’s Guide to Starting Seeds is the complete guide to starting seeds. From direct sow to planting under grow lamps this guidebook provides loads of information about growing seeds. Information on LED, incandescent and fluorescent lighting as well. Continue reading Gardener’s Guide to Starting Seeds