By Donna Levy Heaven, earth and water; body, soul and spirit; the beginning, middle and end. Threes are attributed to symbolism, aesthetic beauty, crop rotation schemes and, in this case, managing strawberries in raised beds. An avid gardener for years, I tended to get lazy about taking care of strawberries. Inevitably I didn’t renovate them
By Jack Kertesz There is an area of MOFGA’s fairgrounds where we have placed various types of fences to restrict human entrance to where livestock activity happens during the Common Ground Country Fair. Among some traditional and sometimes crude wooden rail fence designs are examples of even cruder types of make-do arrangements. There is a
By Jonathan Mitschele Years ago, The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener published an article about starting corn in mid-April in forestry trays from Stuewe & Sons, and I have used this method for growing early corn ever since, transplanting seedings in mid-June. There are downsides, however: (1) the trays with shipping are an expensive initial
by Sue Smith-Heavenrich If you garden, you’ve seen flower flies, though you may not recognize them. They’re the ones that look like bees and wasps and hang out on many of the same flowers that bees visit. Flower flies are also called hoverflies because of their ability to hang in midair by rapidly vibrating their
Absorbing rain water back into the earth with native vegetation By Anna Fialkoff In a changing climate with extreme storms and floods in our present and future, forests, meadows and wetlands are increasingly vital as densely vegetated areas that act like sponges in our landscapes. They soak up massive amounts of rainfall, slow and clean
By Will Bonsall Probably no single food has entrenched itself in the many cuisines of the world as much as the tomato. Before Europeans discovered the New World (that is, it was a first for THEM), this vegetable-fruit was restricted to the frost-free regions of Central America, where it can still be found growing wild. It was slow
By Will Bonsall While cabbage may lack the glamour of its chic relatives — broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts — it is an old ally which has nourished the people of northern Europe through good times and bad. It stores well to feed hungry bellies. I’m talking about true cabbage, not Chinese cabbage, which is
Tomatoes are often considered an essential crop to grow for both new and experienced gardeners. No supermarket specimen can compare with a garden-fresh tomato. Growing tomatoes in your organic garden also allows for a much wider fruit selection: from cherry, pear and grape tomatoes, to plum and paste varieties, to heirlooms, slicers and beefsteak tomatoes,
By Roberta Bailey In the last two years, seed companies experienced record sales which translates to new gardeners turning ground for the first time, some veteran gardeners increasing their plots and farmers planting more acreage to meet the growing demand for local, fresh produce and value-added specialty items. Food security is on people’s minds. This
By Will Bonsall Organic matter is basically composed of two types of elements: minerals and gasses. The minerals are obvious: they’re what’s left when you burn organic matter (like wood). The part that is gone is the gasses, four of them in all: hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon. Now of course reduced carbon (as in
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