Six Reasons to Join a CSA
by Amy McDowell


The air is abuzz with springtime chatter. And there’s more to the chatter than birds returning from their southern winter vacations. I hear talk all around me about who is joining which CSA this year and what new CSA opportunities are opening up in our community ...
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Thought for Food: Planning Perfect Produce
by Jan Riggenbach


Winter in Iowa is tailor-made for solving problems in the vegetable garden – before they begin. Our long cold nights are perfect for curling up in your favorite chair with garden books, magazines and the new crop of seed catalogs. Start by choosing troublefree varieties ...
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Edible Fig
Ficus carica
by Charlotte Kidd


Though we wouldn’t plant a fig tree (
Ficus carica) outdoors with winter coming, we certainly can buy one to grow indoors then plant outside in the spring. With global climate change and the USDA Planting Zone adjustments, some fig varieties will thrive where before they’d likely have died in temperatures below 10 F ...
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You Can Eat Your Roses!
And your daylilies, pansies, nasturtiums …
by Denise Schreiber


And your daylilies, pansies, nasturtiums … there are several beautiful common flowers in your ornamental garden that can add flavor to your food and add color as a garnish. Here’s where to start. Did you know that roses are red and edible too? Well not all roses are red, but they are edible and most definitely delicious too. I didn’t know that until I took a trip to England and Wales in 1999 with two girlfriends on a whirlwind tour of English and Welsh gardens ...
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Perennial Vegetables
by Laura Mathews


Now that it is February, we move from seed catalog season to seed starting season. While planning our spring gardens, why not ponder a permanent addition to the garden? Consider adding perennial edibles vegetables that inexpensively produce novel and delectable foods year after year while expanding the harvest season in the garden ...
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10 Easy Vegetables
by Patrick Byers


Interest in vegetable gardening is growing nationwide. The road to success with vegetable gardening, however, is sometimes bumpy. The astute gardener soon learns the importance of choosing a good garden site and planning. Even with all of the ingredients in place, however, challenges can occur that test the patience of gardeners, especially children ...
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Growing Tropical Fruit in the Midwest
by Tammy Weiss


With the cold winter behind and the warm, humid summer just about here, I begin to dream of the tropics, and with that, the full-flavored, juicy fruit whose sweet fragrances fill outdoor markets and lone fruit stands on the side roads. Sadly though, with the economy not cooperating and the present fashion to have stay-cations, I have decided I could and would have both. Thus began my search for the ever-elusive tropical fruits that I could grow in my Kentucky backyard garden.
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