By Katherine Montalto | August 13 2010

The North Cass Community Garden is in the Midtown neighborhood of Detroit. The neighborhood has long been known for cool college kids at both Wayne State and CCS campuses, local brews concocted at neighborhood bars, and just enough grit to keep it from getting too gentrified. "It's on the corner of 2nd and Willis." Marilyn, a gardener, explained to me over the phone. The 75 four-foot-by-eight-foot plots are visible in the satellite view on Google Maps.

Photo: Katherine Montalto

By Emma Piper-Burket | August 11 2010

One of the unsung joys of gardening is being able to harvest things you never planted. Wild amaranth is a common weed in our Oregon gardens this time of year; it’s often also called pigweed. Next time you’re weeding the garden, take this green back to the kitchen. It happens to be a delicious and nutrient-rich food.

Photo: Emma Piper-Burket

By Julie Blakley | August 03 2010

I am the first to admit that despite loving freshly grown produce, I just cannot grow it myself. I always manage to kill almost everything I try to grow—whether it be a houseplant or a tomato plant. My urban living situation in Portland the last few years (in apartments with no yards), has not given me much of an opportunity improve my gardening skills, either.

But this year, I set out to grow my own fresh herbs—ingredients that I love to use in my cooking.  I wanted fresh basil for caprese salad and pesto, rosemary for roasted potatoes and thyme for my barbecue salmon (get the recipe here).

Photo: Flickr

By Joanna McDonald | July 26 2010

The thing about squash is that they're sneaky. One day, a flower, the next, a foot-and-a-half-long monstrosity you need a wheelbarrow to cart back to the kitchen. Hardy as weeds, all most varieties of squash need is regular watering and as much sun as the well-done senior citizens found lining beaches and shuffleboard courts in the Sun Belt. As your squash plants hit their stride and start popping out fruit the length of your arm daily, it's wise to be armed with a few standby recipes if you don't want to lose the battle.

Photo: Joanna McDonald

By Karen Phillips | July 21 2010

You’ve got your squash planted, and they’re growing like crazy in the summer heat. When the first blossoms open, you can almost taste the zucchini that’s sure to appear in a few days. But when you check the plants again, the blossoms – with their tiny fruits attached – have shriveled and died. What’s wrong?

Male, left; female, right. Photo: Karen Philips