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The Future of Vegetable Gardening in America
Vegetable gardening in the United States is experiencing a resurgence. The COVID-19 pandemic played a significant role in this revival, with 18.3 million new gardeners emerging during that time. This trend has continued, with many people, especially younger generations like millennials and Generation Z, taking up gardening. 55% of American households now engage in some…
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Sweetening Collard Greens: Benefits of Frost Harvesting
As the first frost and cold weather arrived at the Veggie-Bed, we harvested the last collard greens from the garden. Waiting for freezing temperatures can be a game-changer; the cold causes the plant to convert starches into sugars, making the greens taste sweeter and less bitter. This natural process enhances their flavor, resulting in even…
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Sustainable Watering: Understanding the Hydrologic Cycle
At the Veggie-Bed, we are committed to being more sustainable, and a big part of that is how we manage our watering process. By understanding the hydrologic cycle, or the water cycle, we can use water more wisely. The hydrologic cycle explains how water moves through different parts of the environment. Here’s how it works:…
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Reduce Your Garden’s Energy Footprint
Here at the Veggie-Bed, we take small yet significant steps towards more sustainable and eco-friendly gardening by reducing our vegetable garden’s energy footprint. You ask, “Energy footprint?” An energy footprint refers to the total amount of energy consumed by an activity, process, or system. It encompasses all the energy used, from production to end-use. This…
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Vegetable Gardening Basics: Biomes, Climate, and Microclimate Insights
If you want to be successful at vegetable gardening, it’s important to understand biomes, climate, and microclimate. Are you ready to dig into this with a green thumb approach?First, let’s sow the seeds of understanding by exploring what these terms mean in our vegetable gardening adventure. BiomesA biome is a large area of land that…
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Combining Hardiness Zones and Terrestrial Ecosystems for Successful Gardens
As vegetable gardeners, we know that hardiness zones are key to understanding which vegetables can thrive in our area. However, it’s also essential to consider the local environment and terrestrial ecosystems surrounding us, such as soil, climate, and existing plants, as they can impact how well our vegetables grow. Let’s take a closer look at…
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Optimizing Sustainable Vegetable Gardens with Phenomics
Did you know that those of us gardeners who save vegetable seeds from plants that did well in our gardens, and then save seeds from the most productive veggies produced from those seeds are practicing a grassroots form of something called Phenomics? So, you ask, exactly what is Phenomics? It’s all about choosing the plants…
