Savvy Gardening

Gourmet vegetables to plant in the garden—and how to eat them

When choosing which types of edibles to grow, it’s fun to try a variety of different flavors and varieties. The gourmet vegetables listed in this article are picks that Niki, Jessica, and myself have tried and enjoyed. They will hopefully inspire you to get creative with your harvests in the kitchen this coming growing season. We pick veggies to preserve, sauté, grill, slice, steam, stuff, mash, and barbecue. So gathered here are some suggestions to help you figure out what to do with a new-to-you crop.

3 container garden ideas to give as gifts

Written by Tara Nolan

As things warm up, annuals are starting to tempt us from their colorful rows on display at the local garden center. Well, at least I’m finding them hard to resist! As I try to figure out this year’s container gardening combos, I also make note of what’s available in case I need a quick gift. While it’s fun to gather a cut flower bouquet to bring to someone as a hostess gift, I also love the idea of giving a whole pot of flowers that the recipient can enjoy all season long.
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4 vegetable gardening facts you need to know

Written by Niki Jabbour

It’s a fact; good planning can transform a simple vegetable garden into a high-producing, less-maintenance space. And, knowing a few basic vegetable gardening facts can save you time, frustration, and money. I learned early on that a vegetable garden is not a ‘plant it and forget it’ type of garden, but I’ve also come to realize that growing your own food is incredibly satisfying. Here are four facts to help you up your veggie garden game:

A chopstick tip to help separate seedlings

Written by Tara Nolan

A couple of years ago, when I was volunteering in the annuals greenhouse at the Royal Botanical Garden, I got to do all sorts of different tasks. At one point during the winter, my job involved taking flats filled with delicate little seedlings and separating them into their own pots. Guess what my most valuable tool was? A chopstick. One of the volunteers taught me a chopstick tip to gently separate seedlings that are growing too closely together.

Planting a spring herb garden for homegrown herbal teas

Written by Jessica Walliser

Last winter I was doing some research on the best herbs for container gardening, and the deeper I dove into the subject, the more I noticed that many of the herbs mentioned were also my favorites for making herbal teas. Mint, for example, is an excellent plant for teas, but its rambunctious, spreading roots make it a no-no for the garden (unless you have a whole lot of room!). Lemon balm came up repeatedly, too; I love it for the lemony zing it adds to teas, but it will easily overrun the garden. My takeaway from all that research was that most tea herbs are perfect plants for growing in containers. So, I added planting a spring herb garden to grow herbal teas in containers to my to-do list last March. Then, when planting time arrived a few weeks later, I came up with an awesome idea for creating a container herb garden that uses a unique repurposed container: an umbrella!
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Crops in pots: success with vegetable container gardening

Written by Niki Jabbour

There are many reasons to grow food in containers; no space for an in-ground garden, condo or apartment living, or you’re new to gardening and wish to start small. For me, I have a large raised bed vegetable garden, but I still love to fill my back deck with food plants. They’re nearby when I need a bunch of basil or a handful of cherry tomatoes, and they look great when paired with annual flowers like petunias, geraniums, salvia, and dianthus. Whatever your reasons for planting in pots, there are easy ways to increase your success with vegetable container gardening.