Welcome to the WCS fundraising site. If you are NOT looking to purchase as part of a fundraiser, please click here to visit westcoastseeds.com
Welcome to the WCS fundraising site. If you are NOT looking to purchase as part of a fundraiser, please click here to visit westcoastseeds.com
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Garden Wisdom Blog — how-to-grow

All About Garlic

category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Vegetable Talk garden-wisdom garlic how-to-grow

All About Garlic

Garlic has been used as both food and medicine since at least the 25th century BC, around the time that the pyramids were being constructed at Giza, Egypt. In his Ecologues, Virgil writes all about garlic being consumed by ancient Greek and Roman soldiers, and it is was grown in England by the mid-16th century. This is curious given the modern English attitude toward garlic. As late as 1997, Dr. D.G. Hessayon warned in his bestselling book, The Vegetable & Herb Expert: If you are a beginner with garlic, you must use it very sparingly or you will be put...

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Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes

calcium category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Insects Pests and Diseases how-to-grow irrigation prevention tomato

Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes

Blossom end rot is one of the most common complaints for tomato growers, particularly on plants grown in containers. It’s a complex problem that results from calcium not being available to the plants as the ovary at the base of the flower is fertilized and begins to develop into a tomato. It is very typical in plants that are in soil that is alternately dry and then wet. That fluctuation means that even if calcium is present, it is not consistently available to the plant. Another contributing factor is the use of high nitrogen fertilizers, which cause rapid growth, placing...

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Overwintering

category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Winter Gardening harvest how-to-grow overwintering seeds transplant winter-gardening

Overwintering

Some types of crops take an awfully long time to mature. To harvest leeks in the summer, the seeds have to be started indoors way back in late winter — leeks just take that long to grow. With preparation and planning, home gardeners can grow excellent leeks for summer use. There are some crops that take even longer to mature. Gardeners in relatively mild climates can take advantage of the long winter months with a kind of gardening called overwintering. This involves the same degree of planning for summer leeks. These crops are planted in the summer and fall and...

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Growing Food in Containers

category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Organic Growing Commit-to-Grow containers growing food how-to-grow rooftop

Growing Food in Containers

No matter where you live, growing food in containers can be accomplished if you learn some basics. While some types of vegetables are simply better suited to growing with their roots in the ground, the determined gardener can grow almost any kind of food plant in containers. It is the nature of all plants that some require more root space than others. Lettuce, for instance, has a relatively small root system that grows shallowly, near the surface of the soil. By comparison, some squash plants have roots that will have an eventual diameter of thirty feet if they’re allowed to...

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Bolting

arugula bolting broccoli category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Vegetable Talk garden-wisdom harvest how-to-grow transplant

Bolting

The plant above is spinach, and it’s getting ready to bolt. As we approach the summer solstice, the spring garden is transformed into something quite different. Various plants begin to behave in new ways. Growth really kicks in for vine-forming plants, while other leafy greens suddenly go to seed. The term “bolting” is not immediately intuitive, especially to new gardeners. But it’s a term that must be understood to maximize success in the garden. All plants have the genetic prerogative to make seeds, but they employ different strategies, and react differently to changes in the seasons. A large number of...

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