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Growing Instructions

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  • The Brussels Sprouts

    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    The Brussels Sprouts Brussels Sprouts belong to the Brassica family of vegetables, the largest vegetable family known. This includes cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, collards, kale, kohlrabi, turnips, and rutabaga. The plant is believed to have developed from a form of kale-like wild cabbage. It was discovered and popularized in the 14th century near Brussels in Belgium. Brussels Sprouts suffer from a truly undeserved poor reputation. When prepared properly by gently steaming, Brussels sprouts have a sweet, nutty flavor and a crisp texture. If overcooked, Brussels sprouts produce a strong foul odor and become mushy in texture. An overcooked Brussels sprout is truly vile, while a steamed Brussels sprout topped with garlic butter or Hollandaise sauce is a gourmet delight. By the mid-19th century, Europe was enjoying the Brussels sprout,

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  • The Beet

    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    The Beet The beet is closely related to Swiss chard, another tall, leafy vegetable. Beet greens have been consumed by man since prehistoric times. The Romans enjoyed them this way and eventually found that they liked the roots when cooked. However, little else is known about the beet. During the 16th century, the beet began to grow in popularity in both Europe and the United States. It was known as the ‘Blood Turnip.’ In the 1848 Landreth Catalogue, six varieties of beet are offered, including three varieties of the ‘Blood Turnip,’ one Swiss Chard, one Silesian Beet (sugar beet), and the Mangel-wurtzel, which is a large-rooted white beet used for stock feeding. Beets are easy to grow if you remember that they strongly prefer cool or cold

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  • The Bean and the Cowpea

    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    The Bean and the Cowpea Bean cultivation can be traced to the earliest vestiges of human civilization. Beans may have been the first vegetables that mankind learned to cultivate. Fava beans have been found in Neolithic excavations in Switzerland. Chickpeas, favas, and lentils have been found in Egyptian tombs, and the Chinese started growing soybeans around 1500 BC. However, many of the beans that we are familiar with today, like the common or kidney, lima, and runner bean, came from the Americas and were not introduced to Europe until the time of Christopher Columbus. The oldest archaeological evidence of common beans in the New World comes from Tehuacan, Mexico, and has been radiocarbon dated to 7000 BC. A 1848 seed catalogue featured 18 different varieties of beans

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  • How to grow Garlic

    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    How to grow Garlic Garlic, which is a member of the same family of plants as the onion, has been cultivated for millennia. As a cultivated plant, it is so old that it is difficult to credit a country of origin for this vegetable. Some historians believe that the onion was indigenous to southwest Siberia and spread to southern Europe, where it became naturalized. Currently, it is widely grown in all the Mediterranean countries. All modern garlic belongs to one of two subspecies: hardneck (ophioscorodon) or softneck (sativum). Hardneck subspecies try to produce flower stalks with small aerial cloves called bulbils. Hardnecks will not produce large bulbs underground unless the flower stalks are removed. There are three varieties of hardneck garlic: Purple Striped, Porcelain, and Rocambole. For

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  • How to grow Broccoli

    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    How to grow Broccoli Broccoli belongs to the largest family of vegetables known as the Brassica family, which also includes cabbages, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts, collards, kale, kohlrabi, turnips, and rutabaga. In fact, broccoli is nearly identical to cauliflower. The only differences between the two are the vegetables’ color and the fact that cauliflower tolerates heat, while broccoli does not. Fundamentally, there are two types of broccoli. The older variety is called sprouting broccoli, or asparagus broccoli, and belongs to the Italica group. There is also a heading variety, which belongs to the Botrytis group. The Italica variety is thought to have originated in the Eastern Mediterranean as a form of European wild cabbage. It made its way to Italy by the 17th century and spread to Northern

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  • How to grow Asparagus

    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    How to grow Asparagus Asparagus has been a popular vegetable since ancient times. Roman chefs valued asparagus so highly that they dehydrated the stalks and kept them on hand throughout the year. Author Benjamin Watson wrote in his book, Heirloom Vegetables, that “One of emperor Augustus’s favorite sayings was…’Do it quicker than you can cook asparagus’,” referring to the Romans’ skill for handling this vegetable. Asparagus was also valued for medicinal applications. It was believed that an asparagus and oil liniment would prevent bee stings. For centuries, agriculturalists thought that there was only one variety of asparagus and that differences were attributed to individual growing environments. Eventually, this proved to be untrue, but it does point out the importance of local growing conditions for asparagus crops. Asparagus grows

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  • How to grow an Artichoke

    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    How to grow an Artichoke The artichoke is one of the most curious plants you will ever encounter. It is actually a perennial herb from the thistle group. Scientifically, it belongs to the Asteraceae family, which includes all asters. Artichokes are native to the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands. As an edible vegetable, the artichoke was first developed in Sicily, Italy, though there is mention of it in both Greek and Roman literature as early as 77 AD. It is known that the North African Moors cultivated the plant near Granada, Spain, around 800 AD and that the artichoke was introduced to England in the mid-1500s, however it was not well received. The Spanish brought the first artichokes to America when they introduced them to California in

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  • Celosia 


    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    Celosia 
- A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Celosias belong to a family of more than 50 plants that are native to the tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa and the Americas. The cultivars produce flowers that are either plume-like (Celosia Pampas Plume) or crested (the Cockscombs). They are believed to be related to Amaranths. The name Celosia comes from the Greek, kelos, meaning "burned" which probably refers to the color of the flower of the indigenous species - red. A dark red crested version of the plant was introduced into Europe in 1570. During the 18th century, the Cockscombs were considered a potted plant by the British while with the American colonists, they were a popular garden flower. Thomas Jefferson, ever the connoisseur of the

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  • The Celery

    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    The Celery - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Wild celery is believed to have grown throughout Asia and Europe. It was used by ancient peoples for medicinal purposes. The plant was a biennial which grew in damp, marshy areas and had a strong, unpleasant taste. Probably because of its unpleasant taste, it was ignored as a vegetable until the Italians and French developed a sweeter tasting, thicker stalked variety in the 1500s. In a 1848 seed catalogue, there were two kinds of celery offered, a white solid and a red solid. It was written of celery, “The Celery is a hardy biennial plant, a native of Britain, and known in its wild state by the name of smallage; the whole plant has a rank coarse taste,

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  • Castor Beans (Ricinus)

    Mar 01, 2016 Categories: Growing Instructions

    Castor Beans (Ricinus) - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Castor Bean is an annual native to the southeastern Mediterranean and East Africa. Its Latin name, Ricinus, means tick because the seeds are said to resemble a blood filled tick. It is an ancient plant that has been cultivated for thousands of years and considered by many civilizations to be an important medicinal herb. Seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs dating to 4000 BC. The Greeks and the Romans used the oil for wound healing, but the Greeks believed that the oil should only be used externally. In the Middle Ages, the Europeans used the oil as a kind of liniment and also as a lubricant. In the 18th century, the extraordinary capabilities of castor

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