Grow What You Eat!

Krista said that I should write this week about why growing your own food is a good idea so I will. There are so many reasons that I can't possibly name them all, but here are a few of my favorites:

1. THIS IS THE BIG ONE!! The food you grow is fresher and tastes better. You simply will not believe how good a homegrown tomato tastes!

2. It is satisfying and fun to grow something you eat. It is very liberating to know you grew this for yourself and your family. Kids especially love to eat something they helped to grow and going out in the garden to "graze" encourages them to eat healthy snacks (and gets them out of the house).

3. You know what was put on the food as it was grown. You can grow conventionally or organically, or anyway you like. You also know where the water came from that was used to grow it. My hot button for this is green onions. I grow them indoors in the winter because I simply will not feed my family green onions grown in Mexico. There have been too many cases of food poisoning from those things and they are so hard to wash. If the ones in the store are not clearly marked I make the produce people go look up where they came from before I buy them. Of course in the summer I can simply get them at the farmer's market if I run out of my own. We eat a lot of them.
I also substitute chives, garlic chives and welsh onions for green onions if I run low. Those are all easy to grow even in a pot on the deck.

4. You can actually lower your food bill, especially if you preserve what you grow.This year there is a water shortage in California. That means that a lot of summer vegetables are not going to get planted. Tomatoes and lettuce in particular could be in short supply and expensive.

5. You can eat varieties of produce that appeal to you and your family. We grow over 40 kinds of basil plants, over 30 kinds of tomato plants, over 20 kinds of pepper plants, and lots of different cucumbers, squash, corn, and of course herbs for you. You can see our variety lists on our website: www.mountainsideherbalnursery.com

6. This is the ultimate in being a locovore ( someone who eats only food grown within a certain radius of where they live). How can you get any closer than your own backyard?

There are probably at least a dozen other reasons to Grow What You Eat, but these some of my favorites.

It's time to really start to plan what you are going to grow this year. Next week I will talk about my experiences with small space raised bed gardening.


Grow What You Eat!

Krista said that I should write this week about why growing your own food is a good idea so I will. There are so many reasons that I can't possibly name them all, but here are a few of my favorites:

1. THIS IS THE BIG ONE!! The food you grow is fresher and tastes better. You simply will not believe how good a homegrown tomato tastes!

2. It is satisfying and fun to grow something you eat. It is very liberating to know you grew this for yourself and your family. Kids especially love to eat something they helped to grow and going out in the garden to "graze" encourages them to eat healthy snacks (and gets them out of the house).

3. You know what was put on the food as it was grown. You can grow conventionally or organically, or anyway you like. You also know where the water came from that was used to grow it. My hot button for this is green onions. I grow them indoors in the winter because I simply will not feed my family green onions grown in Mexico. There have been too many cases of food poisoning from those things and they are so hard to wash. If the ones in the store are not clearly marked I make the produce people go look up where they came from before I buy them. Of course in the summer I can simply get them at the farmer's market if I run out of my own. We eat a lot of them.
I also substitute chives, garlic chives and welsh onions for green onions if I run low. Those are all easy to grow even in a pot on the deck.

4. You can actually lower your food bill, especially if you preserve what you grow.This year there is a water shortage in California. That means that a lot of summer vegetables are not going to get planted. Tomatoes and lettuce in particular could be in short supply and expensive.

5. You can eat varieties of produce that appeal to you and your family. We grow over 40 kinds of basil plants, over 30 kinds of tomato plants, over 20 kinds of pepper plants, and lots of different cucumbers, squash, corn, and of course herbs for you. You can see our variety lists on our website: www.mountainsideherbalnursery.com

6. This is the ultimate in being a locovore ( someone who eats only food grown within a certain radius of where they live). How can you get any closer than your own backyard?

There are probably at least a dozen other reasons to Grow What You Eat, but these some of my favorites.

It's time to really start to plan what you are going to grow this year. Next week I will talk about my experiences with small space raised bed gardening.


Grow What You Eat!

Berries at Mountainside Herbal Nursery

I potted up blueberry and raspberry plants this week so I thought that might be a good subject to talk about this week.

Berry plants are pretty easy to grow and provide you with fresh, tasty berries that are so... expensive in the store. What a treat to be able to just go outside and pick what you want eat. In the case of blueberries you'll probably even have enough to freeze some as well.

Blueberries are super because they offer the extra bonus of being a beautiful landscape plant. Blueberry foliage turns a bright red in the fall that rivals any ornamental. When mature(10 years old plus) blueberries can also produce 15-20 lbs of fruit. Imagine what that would cost in the store (or even at the Farmer's Market)!!

Raspberries require a little more pruning and care than blueberries in theory, but I just set some plants in pots out a few years ago that I had dug up and was going to transplant then forgot about them. The next thing I knew the plants had transplanted themselves in of all places a mostly shady spot. I thought well that's not going to work, but last year I had some of the biggest Willamette raspberries I have ever seen. Imagine what I would have if they were in a good sunny spot like they are supposed to be.

We are going to have two varieties of blueberries this year. You always want to plant at least two different kinds so you get good cross pollination to get the heaviest crop. We will have my two personal favorites Duke and Darrow.

Duke is a late blooming, but early crop med to large sized berry. That is a big advantage if you tend to get late frosts. This variety has proved to to be very productive in my yard.

Darrow is a late VERY large berry. It is a lot of fun because of those large berries that really amaze people. It produces fewer berries because of that large size, but people who like to eat fresh berries or freeze them for their cereal in the winter really like these.

We will also have Willamette raspberry plants this year. This is a variety developed for this area and is an industry standard. It rarely gets crumble berry and is large, firm and sweet.

We will also have Tribute strawberries again. We like these because they can be container grown as well as in small space gardens. They are "ever bearing" or "day neutral" so they produce from the time the weather warms up in the spring until we get a hard freeze in the fall. They will sometimes quit producing flowers if we have a really hot period, but will start again as soon as it cools. I like this one because the berries are sweet and have a genuine Strawberry flavor. These make an especially fun "kid" project to learn about growing something to eat.


Now is the time to start to plan space for some of these great additions to your yard, patio or garden. Grow what you eat!!!

I potted up blueberry and raspberry plants this week so I thought that might be a good subject to talk about this week.

Berry plants are pretty easy to grow and provide you with fresh, tasty berries that are so... expensive in the store. What a treat to be able to just go outside and pick what you want eat. In the case of blueberries you'll probably even have enough to freeze some as well.

Blueberries are super because they offer the extra bonus of being a beautiful landscape plant. Blueberry foliage turns a bright red in the fall that rivals any ornamental. When mature(10 years old plus) blueberries can also produce 15-20 lbs of fruit. Imagine what that would cost in the store (or even at the Farmer's Market)!!

Raspberries require a little more pruning and care than blueberries in theory, but I just set some plants in pots out a few years ago that I had dug up and was going to transplant then forgot about them. The next thing I knew the plants had transplanted themselves in of all places a mostly shady spot. I thought well that's not going to work, but last year I had some of the biggest Willamette raspberries I have ever seen. Imagine what I would have if they were in a good sunny spot like they are supposed to be.

We are going to have two varieties of blueberries this year. You always want to plant at least two different kinds so you get good cross pollination to get the heaviest crop. We will have my two personal favorites Duke and Darrow.

Duke is a late blooming, but early crop med to large sized berry. That is a big advantage if you tend to get late frosts. This variety has proved to to be very productive in my yard.

Darrow is a late VERY large berry. It is a lot of fun because of those large berries that really amaze people. It produces fewer berries because of that large size, but people who like to eat fresh berries or freeze them for their cereal in the winter really like these.

We will also have Willamette raspberry plants this year. This is a variety developed for this area and is an industry standard. It rarely gets crumble berry and is large, firm and sweet.

We will also have Tribute strawberries again. We like these because they can be container grown as well as in small space gardens. They are "ever bearing" or "day neutral" so they produce from the time the weather warms up in the spring until we get a hard freeze in the fall. They will sometimes quit producing flowers if we have a really hot period, but will start again as soon as it cools. I like this one because the berries are sweet and have a genuine Strawberry flavor. These make an especially fun "kid" project to learn about growing something to eat.


Now is the time to start to plan space for some of these great additions to your yard, patio or garden. Grow what you eat!!!

When should I plant?

Krista and I attended the Yard, Garden and Patio Show last Friday. The show itself was interesting and one of the main themes was edible landscape. As I have said before I have done this for years because it just made sense to me.

We attended a seminar about small space gardening that was really quite good, but the speakers handed out a flyer that talked about when to plant and I kept thinking "I hope people in here realize that these suggestions are general and don't apply to every location in the area." They were saying that the frost free date was mid to late April. If you live in any of the outlying metro areas that is simply not true. It is sometimes difficult to determine exactly when your own particular frost free date is, but it is very important.

I hate to generalize because there are microclimates even within your own yard, but my experience has shown that in Hillsboro, for instance, frost free is generally about May 12th to the15th, but last year we had a hard frost at the Farmers' Market on the 18th( after having 80 degree weather the week before). I don't know how many people came to us and said that their tomato plants had died in Hillsboro, Sherwood and Tigard. If you do want to put your plants in that first week of May you need to think about protecting them with something like a Wall 'O Water or bell jar.

If you have gardened a while in your yard you have probably have a pretty good idea when frost free is, but if you are new to gardening or at a new location you might try asking a neighbor about their experience with frost free.

Some plants, of course, don't mind a light frost. Hardy herbs like rosemary, lavender, winter savory and even parsley don't really mind at all. We have a new flat leaf parsley this year called Survivor that is supposed to be frost tolerant. Vegetables like peas, cabbage, rhubarb, onions and artichokes like to go in early too.

If you have questions about your when your favorite vegetables or herbs should be planted we will be posting calendars on our website: mountainsideherbalnursery.com
, but remember your area may be different. We will try to help as best we can with specific questions if you email us at mtherbal@aol.com.

For the best tasting food:

GROW WHAT YOU EAT!

Krista and I attended the Yard, Garden and Patio Show last Friday. The show itself was interesting and one of the main themes was edible landscape. As I have said before I have done this for years because it just made sense to me.

We attended a seminar about small space gardening that was really quite good, but the speakers handed out a flyer that talked about when to plant and I kept thinking "I hope people in here realize that these suggestions are general and don't apply to every location in the area." They were saying that the frost free date was mid to late April. If you live in any of the outlying metro areas that is simply not true. It is sometimes difficult to determine exactly when your own particular frost free date is, but it is very important.

I hate to generalize because there are microclimates even within your own yard, but my experience has shown that in Hillsboro, for instance, frost free is generally about May 12th to the15th, but last year we had a hard frost at the Farmers' Market on the 18th( after having 80 degree weather the week before). I don't know how many people came to us and said that their tomato plants had died in Hillsboro, Sherwood and Tigard. If you do want to put your plants in that first week of May you need to think about protecting them with something like a Wall 'O Water or bell jar.

If you have gardened a while in your yard you have probably have a pretty good idea when frost free is, but if you are new to gardening or at a new location you might try asking a neighbor about their experience with frost free.

Some plants, of course, don't mind a light frost. Hardy herbs like rosemary, lavender, winter savory and even parsley don't really mind at all. We have a new flat leaf parsley this year called Survivor that is supposed to be frost tolerant. Vegetables like peas, cabbage, rhubarb, onions and artichokes like to go in early too.

If you have questions about your when your favorite vegetables or herbs should be planted we will be posting calendars on our website: mountainsideherbalnursery.com
, but remember your area may be different. We will try to help as best we can with specific questions if you email us at mtherbal@aol.com.

For the best tasting food:

GROW WHAT YOU EAT!

When should I plant?

I have been a proponent of the concept of edible landscape for about 20 years. I have a bit of a practical streak and really just couldn't see doing all of that work in my yard and not getting something great to eat out of it. ( Besides the deer usually eat anything that is too far from my house so I had to start planting closer). At Mountainside Herbal Nursery we have put that experience to work for you and will offer an amazing variety of herb, vegetable, fruit and even edible flower plants for you this year. Whether you have a large garden that you want to feed your family from year round or room on a deck for some great fresh tomatoes and herbs we will have what you need.

I think I have finally completed the seed buying process for the year and did I really go crazy this year. We had so many requests last year year for additional types of vegetable starts that I decided to do a little research to find out which vegetables do well as transplants. Boy was I surprised! Many vegetables actually do better in this area as transplants due to our very cool spring soil temperatures. As we get closer to planting season I will discuss the many varieties we have added to help you get started on your edible landscape.

Check out our plant lists for 2009 at www.mountainsideherbalnursery.com . If you have any questions please email at mtherbal@aol.com or call 503 709 6947

I have been a proponent of the concept of edible landscape for about 20 years. I have a bit of a practical streak and really just couldn't see doing all of that work in my yard and not getting something great to eat out of it. ( Besides the deer usually eat anything that is too far from my house so I had to start planting closer). At Mountainside Herbal Nursery we have put that experience to work for you and will offer an amazing variety of herb, vegetable, fruit and even edible flower plants for you this year. Whether you have a large garden that you want to feed your family from year round or room on a deck for some great fresh tomatoes and herbs we will have what you need.

I think I have finally completed the seed buying process for the year and did I really go crazy this year. We had so many requests last year year for additional types of vegetable starts that I decided to do a little research to find out which vegetables do well as transplants. Boy was I surprised! Many vegetables actually do better in this area as transplants due to our very cool spring soil temperatures. As we get closer to planting season I will discuss the many varieties we have added to help you get started on your edible landscape.

Check out our plant lists for 2009 at www.mountainsideherbalnursery.com . If you have any questions please email at mtherbal@aol.com or call 503 709 6947