How to Deal with Pillbugs When They Become a Problem

The key here is “when they become a problem.” In general, pillbugs, or roly polies as I grew up calling them, are quite nice little composters. The textbook “fact” is that pillbugs prefer to eat rotting organic matter and only graduate to other foods when they can’t find enough. That’s actually false. They’re opportunistic omnivores, and they’re going to eat…

How to Identify Fusarium Wilt and Septoria Leaf Spot in Tomatoes

I felt silly displaying a potted ‘Tumbling Tom’ tomato for the Urban Farm Tour since we already had 80 tomato plants in the ground but last week it paid us back with extra early ripe cherries. Now the garden is producing handfuls of medium-sized varieties, leading up to the bumper crop we’ll be able to sell to the public. I’m…

How to Combat Cabin Fever with Carrots and tell Climate Change from Weather

Aka “How to Write a Blog Post Title that You Can’t Say 10 Times Fast”. Am I ever lonely for some real homegrown produce… the glossy-photo winter catalogs just aren’t helping! Veggies aren’t all that relevant to the rest of this post. However, garden photos help me avert a rampant snow-induced garden fever with symptoms like an emptied bank account…