Michele | March 9th, 2010
 Bulb Onions
Onions, one of the oldest vegetables, are found in a large number of recipes and preparations spreading almost the totality of the world’s cultures. They are part of the “Allium” Family, consisting of garlic, chives, leeks, shallots, and onions. They are available fresh, frozen, canned, caramelized, pickled, powdered, chopped, and dehydrated. Onions are bulbous plants having hollow leaves, that are cultivated worldwide for their rounded, highly aromatic, flavorful, edible bulbs.
 Onion Sets
There are many types of onions you can grow, but the most common is the “bulb” onion, sometimes called a storage onion. Grown from seeds, sets, or plants, bulb onions can range from sweet and mild (Vidalia, Walla Walla, Sweet Spanish), to pungent (Stuttgarter, Yellow Globe, Copra).
 Onion Plants "ready to plant" If you plan to grow your onions by seed in Pennsylvania, you will need to start them indoors by late January in order for them to reach a decent size for outdoor planting. Or, you can buy onion sets, and onion plants either online, or at your local nursery, to plant straight in your garden. Onions do great in the cold so you can plant them outside as early as March here, depending on the weather that year. As soon as you can work the ground, go for it. Continue reading Onions – Time To Plant
Michele | February 18th, 2010
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It is February here in Pennsylvania – time to put up my indoor lighting system and start sowing all my extraordinary seed varieties. I start most of my Spring/Summer plants indoors 1 to 2 months before they will be planted in my garden. My house is not huge, so my access to sunlight is limited due to fewer south/west facing windows.
Last year, I simply bought cheap, $9.95 indoor grow lights and hung them on a rack! I paid dearly for this in the form of spindly, weak, slow growing plants that either died, became diseased, or just simply performed poorly! My seeds would germinate, but would then just not grow properly. I knew I had excellent, sterile soil, air movement, the right temperature, and the perfect amount of water. So why wouldn’t they grow?
The answer was I had insufficient LIGHTING. I cannot stress enough the importance of a proper relationship between your plants and their light source! So this year, I am experimenting with a new lighting system that I put together right in my own kitchen! You might know from my introduction that I like to make everything myself, not only to save money, but to ensure a quality product in the end. The research was a little challenging, but it turns out it was actually pretty simple to put this together.
Continue reading Indoor Lighting System
Michele | January 21st, 2010
 It is January 18th today, and being that I live in PA I was not expecting the wonderful surprise I just stumbled upon. I have Spring fever, so I decided to venture out to the garden and take a look. To my amazement, I found my jerusalem artichokes bursting out of the ground ready to pick, turnips bigger than golf balls, and lettuce that survived under thick ice and snow! You can actually see all the snow surrounding these vegetables. This is proving to be a very positive advancement towards my goal of achieving a ”four season harvest.” I gave NO cover or protection to any of these vegetables, telling me that this is definitely possible…even if I don’t try very hard! I am a VERY happy gardener right now!
-Michele
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Winter/ Spring Events Visit Education page for more information
February 1-4, Permaculture at Pa Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) in State College.
February 18 - May 6, Phipps offers second annual Permaculture design Cerrtificate (PDC) course at the Phipps Garden Center in Mellon Park.
March 23 - April 1, Teaching Permaculture Creatively: A 9-Day Intensive Teacher Training with Dave Jacke in Eastern Pa
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