This week in my garden I harvested a four pound napa cabbage. As you can see from the photo below that is a lot of cabbage! I put it inside and it took up half of my fridge so I had to think of how to use it fast so my roommates did not get upset. 

Sometimes the real glory of the mashed potatoes is not in the fluffy white.  It’s not in the gravy filling the soft crater and Vesuviusing down onto the Pompeii of peas beside. It is tucked away in the forgotten skins not completely peeled off and adding a delightful taste and texture that were unintended but are now savored. Organic home gardening is much the same way. The adulations usually go to the royal broccoli crown, the vibrant carrot and beetroot, or the robust garlic head. A backyard garden provides a chance to eat not only the celebrated parts but also revel in the forgotten “skin” by enjoying parts of the plants that we perhaps were not aware were edible, and sadly are often not commercially available. 

Much of gardening is waiting. Sow the pea and wait months until the first pod is picked. Plant the broccoli and wait until the head has fully formed. The best way to get through this tedious time is to eat your way through it.

The holiday season is here and time is running out to get the gardener on your list the perfect gift.  Despite the extra week of shopping preparation, the window is quickly closing.  Below is a list that gardeners from novice to expert are sure to love.  These are not the novelty items that they will use once every three months, but tools they will find indispensable.  All links go to Amazon for the sake of ease, but many of the items can be found at your local nursery!

Farmscape is seeking a part-time urban farmer for coastal Los Angeles south of the 10 freeway. We anticipate the position will grow to full-time work within a year. 

Farmscape is an urban farming company in Los Angeles.  We set up and tend intensive organic vegetable gardens, providing residents, restaurants and schools with the materials and ongoing support necessary for their garden to flourish. We are turning the city back into a farm one yard at a time.

As the baseball fields across the country are meticulously mowed, raked, and groomed, so are the garden beds turned, amended, and prepared. The solid ‘plap’ of the ball hitting the well-worked pocket of a glove and the sweet tangy scent of a juvenile tomato plant are equal signals of summer. They are both harbingers of the warm season ahead, but more importantly they are prophets of hope. All the mistakes, missteps and missed opportunities of past seasons are erased. There are no losses or strikeouts, no aphids or powdery mildew. The fan possesses the belief that this year will be the one they have been waiting for.

Just as the manager must maneuver his players, as the gardener I must make decisions about my plants. In spring training (garden planning) we both study the roster and line-ups, placing the players according to their unique strengths and characteristics. Pondering the arsenal of warm season crops eventually gives me my opening day roster.

Pitching wins championships, so there I begin. The summer squash clan will be my starting rotation with zucchini in the first spot, followed by yellow crookneck and patty pan. I know they will deliver with consistency day in and day out, becoming the trustworthy anchor that will provide winning harvests. The vining beans and cucumbers fill in the middle relief spots, not too flashy and rarely famed, but ideally they can bridge the gap until my closer sprints with fanfare from the bullpen in the bottom of the ninth inning. Here come the hot peppers, bursting with fiery delivery and unpredictable personality. Filling the role of a zany closer, the peppers pack a powerful punch.