Farmer's Market Online

Have You Tried... Body Jewelry?

2020-01-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

The human body is not merely a body, it is a piece of art which has its own innate beauty and body jewelry is the perfect way to enhance the beauty of your body. Not only can you decorate your body with it, but you can also use it to bring into focus certain parts of your body or to enhance the beauty of certain parts.

Body jewelry items are usually for particular places on the human body. These more common places for body jewelry include the nose, eyebrow, nipple, ear lobes and naval, along with ear plugs (both curved and straight barbells).

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Artwork: Captive Bead Ring
Have You Tried...?
Jewelry

Home Grown: Ferns Freshen Flats

2020-01-28T00:10:00.002-08:00

Ferns bring life into a room any time of year.

In airtight winter homes, they also can be champions at filtering the air. Of 86 plants tested by researchers, ferns topped the list at formaldehyde removal. In fact, seven of the top nine performers were ferns.

Other researchers have ranked ferns in the top 15 percent of plants in air purification.

A fern can be 50 times more effective than other common houseplants at removing formaldehyde, a volatile organic compound that can build up in well-insulated modern homes.

Continued in... Ferns Freshen Flats

Home Grown
Plants and Seeds
Home and Garden Center
Artwork: Boston Fern

Home Grown: Add Silicon In The Greenhouse

2020-01-26T19:53:00.001-08:00

Modern greenhouse production methods have often eliminated conventional earth as a growth medium and, with that, eliminated silicon, a mineral naturally found in soil.

Greenhouse growers should consider adding silicon back to their nutrient applications, irrigation or potting mixes, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. A growing body of research suggests that silicon boosts yields and protects plants from toxicity and fungal diseases. Silicon may reduce the need for plant growth regulators and disease-control pesticides.

Continued in... Add Silicon In The Greenhouse

Home Grown
Home and Garden Center
Greenhouses
Artwork: Clear Greenhouse Film

Home Grown: Seed Catalog Terminology

2020-01-14T16:23:00.003-08:00

It won't be long before your mailbox is filled with seed and plant catalogs of every description. These messengers of good things to come arrive at a time when most of us are up to our ankles in snow and ready for the escape these publications offer.

However, as you thumb through the pages you might run across words that are unfamiliar. These words translate to 'horticulture speak' and are put there to help you make decisions in buying the right seed or plant for your garden.

Although words in seed catalogs might seem unfamiliar, it is important to understand their meaning. Knowing what these words means can add a lot to your horticultural knowledge and make you a better informed consumer.

For instance, when shopping for perennials, the term "hardiness zone" will be encountered.

Continued in... Seed Catalog Terminology

Home Grown
Home and Garden Center
Seed, Plant, and Nursery Catalogs
Artwork: Spaghetti Squash

Home Grown: Ornamental Grasses Stand Up To Winter

2020-01-12T16:26:00.002-08:00

Whether you love them or not, ornamental grasses stand on their own in winter. Even the heaviest snow can't permanently bend them to the ground and the low angle of winter light enhances their beauty and appeal. In the minimalist landscape of winter, grasses shine.

Few other plants offer such a huge variety of textures, forms, sizes and cultural adaptations as grasses.

Most ornamental grasses grow to mature size in just one season, and there's a grass to fit any landscape, even the narrowest strip of soil between walkways and buildings.

Continued in... Ornamental Grasses Stand Up To Winter

Home Grown
Home and Garden Center
Growing Guides
Artwork: Ornamental Grasses

Home Grown: Frost Seeding

2020-01-11T22:56:00.003-08:00

Livestock producers looking to renovate pastures should consider frost seeding, a low-cost method which increases yields and improves quality with little commercial nitrogen.

Frost seeding involves broadcasting a grass or legume seed over a pasture and letting the natural freeze/thaw cycles of late winter and early spring move the seed into good contact with the soil.

The best time to frost seed is usually from mid-February to the end of March.

Continued in... Frost Seeding

Home Grown
Home and Garden Center
Growth Spurts

Artwork: Field Plowing

Have You Tried... Seaweed?

2020-01-10T20:05:00.002-08:00

Seaweed is among the strangest of vegetables and one, in the West, that we are not entirely comfortable about eating. Seaweed's association with the euphemistic "fresh sea air" of the seaside tends to linger. Yet seaweed can be extremely delicious and it is also extremely nutritious, being rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals.

Seaweeds have been a popular part of Eastern cuisine for centuries, and in Japan particularly, many species are so important that they are cultivated commercially.

Nori, for instance, is famous in the West as the traditional wrapper for sushi. It is made from a red seaweed, but when dried into sheets turns a dark green/black. The flavor is delicate and mild.

Continued at... Seaweed

Artwork: Dried Nori
Have You Tried...?
Specialty Foods

Home Grown: Growing Heirlooms

2020-01-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

Most gardeners have heard of heirloom seeds and probably have a fairly good idea what they are. Gardeners often refer to heirloom seeds as "Grandmother's seed" or something similar.

As the name implies, heirloom seeds are carried down from generation to generation, similar to handing down a desired antique from generation to generation. What is so special about this? Isn't that what a seed company can do? In short, yes. But the full answer to this question is a little more complicated.

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Growing Heirlooms
Home Grown
Home and Garden Center
Plants and Seeds
Artwork: Rainbow Blend Carrot Seeds

Home Grown: Saving Holiday Gift Plants

2020-01-03T00:16:00.000-08:00

Ornamental plants like poinsettias, Christmas cacti, Christmas Kalanchoe, amaryllis bulbs and miniature Christmas trees are often given as gifts during the holiday season. Unfortunately, these plants usually don't come with plant care information. And the gift recipient may not have a green thumb.

Many people mistakenly leave these plants outside without realizing they aren't very cold hardy. Freezing winter temperatures can quickly turn your new plants to mush. Then your plant-gifts are only suited for the compost bin.

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Saving Holiday Gift Plants

Home Grown
Home and Garden Center
Fertilizers and Compost
Artwork: Amaryllis

Home Grown: Companion Planting.

2019-12-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

Growers are learning how to pair their crops with “companion plants” that attract and bolster populations of beneficial insects that prey on costly crop pests. Other plants, repel the pests and “push” them away from the main crop.

Then, there are so-called “trap crops.”

These are companion crops you can plant next to the main crop to lure pests away to where it can be controlled with pesticides, biocontrol agents, or other means.

Continued in... Companion Planting

Home Grown
Home and Garden Center
Pest Control
Artwork: Garden Seeds Companion Set

Have You Tried... Kiwifruit?

2019-12-17T12:42:00.001-08:00

A sweet and juicy fruit, kiwifruit is grown in California, Chile and New Zealand.

The Vitamin C enriched fruit is available year-round in many areas. The egg-size fruit has a fuzzy brown exterior and brilliant green flesh.

Kiwis are ripe when the firm exterior begins to soften. They will keep at room temperature for 3-4 days, or in the refrigerator for nearly a month.

Continued at... Kiwifruit

Artwork: Fresh Kiwifruit
Have You Tried...?
Plants & Seeds

Have You Tried... Calendula?

2019-12-14T09:49:00.002-08:00

The petals of this annual flower can be used as a salve, ointment, diffused oil, tincture or tea. Resembling the marigold, the calendula has large yellow or orange terminal flowers which bloom from June through October.

"It prefers full sun and moderately fertile soil and readily self-seeds," according to The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Continued at... Calendula

Artwork: Calendula
Have You Tried...?
Plants & Seeds

Have You Tried... Plantain?

2019-12-11T23:51:00.003-08:00

A staple food source in the Caribbean, the plantain (platanos) is a type of banana that is treated like a vegetable. It is rarely eaten raw; instead, it is fried, boiled, mashed, stuffed, used for stuffing, baked, picked, and even grilled.

The plantain while green is considered a starch, when ripe a fruit. Plantains must be cooked. For those recipes requiring green plantains, choose the greenest without a hint of yellow. The best yellow plantains (called amarillos) are very yellow almost orange, often with black speckles. The favorite Puerto Rican plantain recipe is tostones.

Continued at... Plantain

Artwork: Fresh Plantains
Have You Tried...?
Plants & Seeds

Home Grown: Brighten Winter With Holly.

2019-12-09T08:33:00.001-08:00

How can we brighten up a bleak winter landscape?

One way is by incorporating evergreen and semi-evergreen shrubs into landscape plantings.

For centuries Europeans have been using hollies to dress up their winter landscapes, indoors and out. To brighten up your surroundings, consider these holly and holly-look-a-likes in your landscaping plans for the coming year.

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Brighten Winter With Holly

Home Grown
Holly
Christmas
Artwork: 'Blue Prince' Holly

Home Grown: Living Christmas Trees

2019-12-05T12:00:00.001-08:00

Before planting a living Christmas tree, however, some preparations and precautions will greatly increase chances of tree survival.

First, be sure you have a suitable site for planting the tree. Heavy clay soils are not ideal for planting most evergreen trees because they will not tolerate wet feet and it may be necessary to create a berm or mound of topsoil to assure good drainage.

It is also important to have enough space for the tree to grow. Pines or spruces should be planted no closer than 25 feet from other trees, unless they are planted in a row as a windbreak.

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Living Christmas Trees

Home Grown
Christmas Trees
Christmas
Artwork: Fraser Fir

Home Grown: Choosing a Christmas Tree

2019-11-30T14:03:00.002-08:00

There was a time when cut Christmas trees were more difficult to come by, as you had to venture out into the woods, find the right size tree, cut it down and haul it home.

Today, Christmas trees are available at garden centers, pop-up lots, big box stores, and Christmas tree farms. Here's some tips for selecting a fresh tree and keeping it looking its best throughout the holiday season.

First, choose a spot in your home to place the tree before heading out to buy it. Ask yourself a few questions. Will the tree be seen from all sides, or will some of it be against a wall?

Continued in... Choosing a Christmas Tree

Home Grown
Christmas Trees
Christmas
Artwork: Balsam Fir

Home Grown: Hold the Salt and Save the Plants

2019-11-23T18:20:00.001-08:00

Salt can cause problems for gardeners, especially if they live in a northern climate and use salt to clear ice from driveways or sidewalks.

There are many de-icing compounds on the market, and while they all set out to do the same job, there are some that are more friendly to lawns and other plants growing in the garden.

When shopping for de-icing agents, read the package label for ingredients. It may not be wise to choose the cheapest one on the shelf.

Rock salt or sodium chloride is the most commonly used ice-melting product. It is the least expensive and will work at temperatures as low as 5 degrees F. However, it is...

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Hold the Salt and Save the Plants

Home Grown
Home and Garden Center
Tools
Artwork: Salt Spreader

Home Grown: Tabletop Christmas Trees.

2019-11-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

Not everyone is able to enjoy a full sized Christmas tree in their home. For some, budgets may be stretched or space can be at a premium. Others may not have the time to put up a tree this holiday season.

Whatever the reason, an alternative to full sized Christmas trees are tabletop plants that can be decorated for the holidays, offered as holiday gifts, and in some cases can be used for several years.

Norfolk Island Pines have been used for holiday decorations for many years. They have a series of layered branches, five to a layer, that are covered with short soft dark green needles. The stems are widely separated, making room for hanging decorations, but in some cases have a sparse look.

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Tabletop Christmas Trees

Home Grown
Christmas Trees
Trees
Artwork: Norfolk Island Pine

Home Grown: Forcing Bulbs for Winter Blooms.

2019-11-20T19:39:00.004-08:00

To add a bit of color to the dull days of winter, consider starting a process known as "forcing bulbs."

It is possible to get bulbs like daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, and crocus to bloom indoors during January, February or March.

"Forced bulbs" are those which are induced to flower at something other than their normal time. The process is relatively simple and involves five basic stages or steps.

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Forcing Bulbs for Winter Blooms

Home Grown
Growing Guides
Flowers
Artwork: Forced Tulips

Home Grown: Adding Color to Winter Landscapes.

2019-11-19T10:34:00.000-08:00

Where's the color in a winter landscape?

Gardeners in milder climates have many options. They can turn to cool-season annuals such as pansy, calendula, diascia, and dianthus that can last from fall until early spring. But colder gardening regions have fewer options. As a result, those winter landscapes consist mostly of brown, gray, some green, and lots of white.

There can be a bright side to this picture if you consider adding reds and yellows from the red and yellow twig dogwood. Both of these plants can offer dramatic points of color in a colder climate. "

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Adding Color to Winter Landscapes

Home Grown
Growing Guides
Trees
Artwork: Red Dogwood

Home Grown: Overwintering Geraniums.

2019-11-15T22:59:00.001-08:00

You can beat the frost and save your geraniums by taking them inside to overwinter.

In freezing temperatures, unprotected annual geraniums will turn a mushy green and die. They can be preserved, however, by overwintering indoors before they get nipped by a hard frost.

Pot up the plants, take cuttings, or store the plants as bare-root specimens.Whichever method you choose, understand that success isn’t guaranteed.

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Overwintering Geraniums

Home Grown
Geraniums
Flowers
Artwork: Geraniums Garden Flag

Home Grown: Growing Paperwhites Without Soil.

2019-11-11T19:59:00.002-08:00

The short, dark and gloomy, cold days of winter can be made a little more tolerable by growing some flowers indoors.

One of the easiest flowering plants to grow inside is paperwhite narcissus. These bright, peppery-scented bulb flowers are actually members of the daffodil family. They require no cold treatment like all the other spring bulbs. They grow easily and don't even need potting soil. You can use a bowl with pebbles or marbles to help hold the roots in place.

Paperwhites are available at many garden centers and floral shops. You can often get them as a bare bulb or you can buy them in easy-to-grow kits. Pre-grown potted plants are available for those who want to enjoy the blooms with minimal effort.

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Growing Paperwhites Without Soil

Home Grown
Flowers
Forcing Bulbs for Winter Blooms
Artwork: Ziva Paperwhites

Home Grown: Starting An Apple Orchard

2019-11-06T08:02:00.004-08:00

For most homeowners, the most limiting factor when looking to become a home orchardist is their yard. The size of the yard will determine how many apple trees you can manage. Even dwarf or double-dwarf apple trees require sufficient space to grow and produce fruit and the home orchardist will need enough room around each tree to properly train, prune, and manage insects and diseases. Fruit tree catalogs provide recommended planting distances between trees and between rows.

Full sunlight is critical to the success of any fruiting plant. Apple trees use sunlight along with nutrients and water from soil to produce delicious apples.

Where you plant your apple trees is important for both water and air drainage. Be sure that water will not stand and puddle around the trees for more than a few hours after a rain event. Standing water in the winter can cause trunk damage near the soil line.

Continued in... Starting An Apple Orchard

Home Grown
Apples
Trees
Artwork: Pink Lady Apple Tree

Home Grown: Identifying Emerald Ash Borer

2019-10-16T18:31:00.001-07:00

As fall's colors emerge, it's hard to miss the striking gold and purple leaves of ash trees lining streets and roads in many Midwestern U.S. states. However, when emerald ash borer arrives, many ash trees planted in towns, cities and conservation plantings could be lost.

First detected in southeast Michigan in 2002, emerald ash borer, or EAB, is an exotic beetle that attacks and kills all native ash species, including white, green, black and autumn purple ash. To date, the beetle is present in 31 U.S. states as well as two Canadian provinces and has killed about 200 million ash trees.

With the help of the U.S. Forest Service grant, state forestry agencies in Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota and other Midwest states are engaged in regional initiatives to prepare for the insect's arrival.

Continued in... Identifying Emerald Ash Borer

Home Grown
Pest Control
Trees
Artwork: Emerald Ash Borer print on metal

Home Grown: Pruning Flowering Shrubs

2019-10-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Timing is important when pruning flowering shrubs. It can make the difference between a delightful show and a disappointment.

Buds of spring bloomers form on "old wood," which means they form during the late summer and autumn of the previous year. Therefor, the best time to prune spring bloomers is right after you enjoy the floral display, before the flower buds form on the new summer growth. If you prune them at any other time of year, such as early spring or fall, you sacrifice future blooms.

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Pruning Flowering Shrubs

Home Grown
Growing Guides
Plants and Seeds
Artwork: Hydrangea arborescens