Dinosaur Kale For An Extraordinary Fall & Winter Garden - 7 Vegetables That Must Be Planted In August 2019 The Second Season has begun! We talked briefly about 7 flowers that must be planted in August in our last newsletter. Now let’s begin a discussion of vegetables that must be planted in August. FIRST, some of our newsletter topics are now available on YouTube. We will include a YouTube link whenever there is a YouTube video from Harvesting History that relates to a subject in the newsletter. The Second Gardening Season for most vegetable gardeners throughout theUS begins at the end of June or early July. It is the time to plant cold tolerant crops that will flourish in the cool autumn nights. Unlike planting in the spring where each day is growing
View more-
-
Canterbury Bells For An Extraordinary 2020 Garden - 7 Flowers That Must Be Planted In August 2019 Spring is definitely not the only season for planting flowers, vegetables and herbs. The months of August - November present numerous opportunities for planting flowers, vegetables and herbs, FROM SEED, that will mature throughout the fall or during the spring and summer of the following year. In fact, I have consistently found that mid-season and fall planting is easier, with higher rewards than spring planting. In this newsletter we will discuss seven flowers that can and should be planted from seed in August or the months from September to November. Hollyhock Indian Spring Hollyhocks are a very, very old cultivated flower which probably originated in Turkey or parts of Asia and was introduced into Great Britain in
View more -
The Naked Lady Lily Autumn’s Glory- The Rarely Available FALL BLOOMING Bulbs We welcome nearly 1000 new subscribers to our newsletter. If you are receiving this newsletter for the first time, you provided Harvesting History with your email address in exchange for a free seed packet at one of the early 2019 flower shows or outdoor garden festivals. At this time of year, we publish our newsletter once every 2 weeks with the exception of July 1, July 2, July 3, and July 4. During those 4 days each year we publish a little known but remarkable, true story about the creation of this country and therole that horticulture may have played. We hope you enjoy and learn something from these historically based newsletters, and that as a result you
View more -
Heirloom Squash Variety From the Prehistoric Americans to the Native Americans to the Immigrant Americans - The Vegetable That Nourished A Nation Squash have been a staple of the American diet since the first prehistoric peoples entered North America via the land bridge from Asia. Squash and pumpkins are native to many parts of the North American, Central American and South American regions. They were a significant part of the 3 sisters trinity – beans, corn and squash. The Native Americans used squash in all aspects of their lives and culture. The vegetable was made into soups, breads, desserts, stuffings, storage containers, musical instruments, utensils, etc. The Native Americans shared their knowledge of this vegetable with the Europeans who adopted many of the culinary practices they were taught. Today, squash
View more -
The Heirloom Scarlet Runner Pole Beans in Thomas Jefferson’s Hanging Gardens at Monticello Pole Beans Belong in Every Vegetable Garden- Here are 6 of the Greatest Visit THE LEESBURG FLOWER & GARDEN FESTIVAL site for details Visit THE SHEEP & WOOL site for details Beans, corn and squash are the quintessential American crops – the trinity of vegetables – The Three Sisters. Of these three sisters, perhaps beans, are now the most pervasive crop originally exported from the New World to Europe, Africa Asia and Australia. There are many types of beans: bush, pole, runner, half runner, wax, shell, cowpeas, etc., but in today’s America maybe the most relevant type of bean is the pole bean. For more than a century now, pole beans have been scorned by commercial and home gardeners because
View more -
The King of Purple Zinnias – Royal Purple How Zinnias Were Used To Communicate The Unspeakable During The Victorian Era WE’RE BACK!!! Thank all of you who visited our booths during the 2019 Indoor Flower Show Season, and a special thanks from me, personally, to those of you who cameto thank me for these newsletters. You have no idea how powerful the impact of a simple expression of thanks can be. Now that spring is really underway in most parts of the country, we are going to publish our newsletters every two weeks. It is time for all of you gardeners to be outside with your hands in the soil and your hearts with your plants. What precious little free time you have should be spent enjoying your gardens not staring at
View more -
Philadelphia Flower Show 2017 America’s Greatest Horticultural Tradition: The Philadelphia Flower Show This week the 190th Philadelphia Flower Show is underway. If you visit, the doors of the Pennsylvania Convention Center will swing open and visitors will flood through the gates and HALT! because as they enter the main floor of the Convention Center Hall, they will be greeted with a floral fantasy creation that will be like nothing they have ever seen before. It will take their breath away. It will stun their senses. It will intrigue even the most artistic of talents. Sometimes this entrance floral display soars 75 feet up to the rafters of the Convention Center. Sometimes it leads the mesmerized visitors across a gently arching bridge under which flows a river of 10,000 tulips. Sometimes
View more -
Heirloom Hot Peppers To Purchase Heirloom Hot Pepper Seed click this link The 6 Most Beloved Hot Peppers of All Time Sweet and hot peppers are indigenous to Central and South America. They have been cultivated since prehistoric times. Archaeologists have found chili peppers at sites dating to 7000 BC. The Aztecs, Incans and Mayans all cultivated peppers. The Aztecs had at least seven different words for hot peppers. We derive the term chili pepper from some of the Aztec words for hot pepper. The Incas used peppers as a form of currency. Columbus named the peppers he saw growing in the West Indies, pimiento, because he thought they were the pimienta, spice pepper, grown in the East Indies. He was painfully surprised to find out that the West Indian
View more -
The Paste/Plum Tomato To Purchase Heirloom Paste/Plum Tomato Seed click this link The Paste/Plum Tomatoes- Good for Everything! Of the three morphological classes of tomato – cherry, slicing/sandwich and paste/plum – the paste/plum tomatoes are the least popular. This is unfortunate because paste/plum tomatoes are, literally, good for everything. Cherry tomatoes are too small for making sandwiches and roasting and too much work to put in sauces, but they are great in salads and for popping in your mouth straight from the vine. Sandwich/slicing tomatoes are great for sandwiches, but they are usually too watery for sauces and salads. Paste/plum tomatoes have it all. Like cherry tomatoes they are small enough and firm enough to be eaten in salads and right off the vine. Like sandwich/slicing tomatoes they are just
View more -
Dinnerplate Dahlias Dinnerplate Dahlia Emory Paul To Purchase Emory Paul Dahlias click this link It is the middle of February and many of us have had a horrible winter and are longing for spring. This newsletter is dedicated to each of you. For those of you who routinely read this newsletter, you will note that there are many, many more photos than usual. This newsletter is designed to stimulate your imaginations for the gardens you will have this upcoming season and engage your memories of your beloved gardens from the past. Dinnerplate Dahlias are large plants which produce the biggest blossoms. The plants grow to at least 36 inches high, but more commonly 48-60 inches. The very first blossom each season will be the largest, and it is often
View more