Where Home & Garden Secrets Come To Light
Where Home & Garden Secrets Come To Light
The Old Farmer’s Almanac’s all-new gardening annual features endless edibles, plants with pizzazz, front-yard foodscapes, guidance on planning a path, and more! As the weather begins to warm, gardeners are preparing for the bountiful and beautiful season ahead. This means selecting seeds, preparing the soil, and gathering their tools—including the newest edition of the Garden Guide, …
Many years ago my father-in-law was perplexed and then soon elated when he discovered a hearty, leafy green growing in his garden. He didn’t remember planting anything there, but soon realized that this large plant was one of his favorite vegetables – rhubarb. Rhubarb, of which ONLY the stem or stalk is eaten, is a …
GOSHEN >> Approaching the Ortlieb’s Goshen home, even the mailbox sits in a barrel. Husband and wife, both master gardeners, have filled their backyard with a massive vegetable garden all grown out of barrels. Adorning the backyard of the five-acre property are roughly 800 barrels, by Grant Ortlieb’s count. Filled to the brim with compost, the 40-inch polyethylene barrels stand about four feet apart and cover the yard, the various vegetables poking from the tops. A few houses down the street, a neighbor referred to Ortlieb as simply, “the barrel guy.” Grant Ortlieb had the idea 10 years ago. He’d been gardening for years but altered his approach as a way to control water. Grant Ortlieb initially had ten barrels catching water off the roof. He took a few of those barrels, filled them with compost and used them to grow tomatoes. “It was real easy,” Grant Ortlieb said. “They’re high and dry, the mice don’t eat them, they’re easy to find at the end of the year.” Grant Ortlieb said that he started off with a couple of barrels and it was so successful that he just kept adding more. Now, the sprawling garden has overtaken the Ortlieb’s backyard, with three types of vegetables in each barrel. This is called companion planting, placing romaine lettuce with cucumber and tomato, sunflowers with tomato and basil. Grant Ortlieb said he grows plants from “A to Z.” “Asparagus to zucchini,” he said. Despite the amount of food in their backyard, the Ortlieb’s do not sell or bring their crops to farmer’s markets. “We just give it away,” Pam Ortlieb said. “We could sell it. If people wanted to come here and buy it, it’s here.” She said they usually wind up giving the vegetables away, giving them to friends or trading […]
It is so gratifying to be able to make meals with vegetables and herbs harvested from your own garden. Yesterday I made a mushroom soup that called for a mixture of herbs like sage, thyme, marjoram and rosemary. I had all but the marjoram – which I substituted with oregano – right in my garden. …