There are some vegetables in our gardens which come back yearly, and those plants must be nurtured in a way very different from the other vegetables and edible flower varieties. Others need to be harvested daily and not allowed to go to seed or they will cease to produce. With the upsurge in survival gardening these past twenty years, people need to ask, can you pick asparagus the first year.
The answer to that question simply, is yes, but also no. These spears are a plant which will winter over nicely and come back stronger and better each year. Experienced gardeners will tell you that first-year spears can be harvested for about two weeks, then allow the rest to mature in order to have an even better harvest for the next season.
Broccoli is totally different, as it will die and only come back through the gathering of seeds. If one does not harvest the florets religiously, then it will make pretty yellow flowers and go to seed, but there will be no more floret to harvest. If the seeds are not harvested, then it is possible there will be no new broccoli in that area the next Spring.
In some climates the seeds do not die, but it is generally recommended that the gardener try to harvest the seeds when they mature. This is only possible if they know for certain that they planted an heirloom variety of broccoli. Hybrids and GMO plants generally have seeds that are sterile and, while they might grow a plant the next year, that plant will generally not produce any fruit.
One thing seen in some of the new gardens around the country is a chicken run set up all around the perimeter of the vegetable beds. A chicken run is just what it sounds like. It is an area enclosed, sides and top, with chicken wire and this allows the chickens to roam the area, eating bugs one might not want in the garden, without getting in and damaging the vegetables themselves.
It may sound like they are not free-roaming, but guinea hens in the wild have a small territory. Chickens do not need to have acres of space to roam in, but the average back yard will do. Should one live in an area where such farm animals are forbidden may want to stick with hens and have no crowing roosters, and a privacy fence is also a good idea.
Many people start gardens because it is important to them that their children have that experience. Others are gardening because they love the way it makes them feel. However, the primary reason people are growing their own food these days is to combat the presence of unmarked GMO foods all over our grocery stores.
Growing fruits and vegetables in the yard allows one to make sure everything is sun-ripened on the vine. Many fruits and vegetables one might find at the local supermarket are picked green and allowed to ripen in transit. Most fruits and vegetables done this way are hard and lack the flavor that foods had when most of us were children.
The answer to that question simply, is yes, but also no. These spears are a plant which will winter over nicely and come back stronger and better each year. Experienced gardeners will tell you that first-year spears can be harvested for about two weeks, then allow the rest to mature in order to have an even better harvest for the next season.
Broccoli is totally different, as it will die and only come back through the gathering of seeds. If one does not harvest the florets religiously, then it will make pretty yellow flowers and go to seed, but there will be no more floret to harvest. If the seeds are not harvested, then it is possible there will be no new broccoli in that area the next Spring.
In some climates the seeds do not die, but it is generally recommended that the gardener try to harvest the seeds when they mature. This is only possible if they know for certain that they planted an heirloom variety of broccoli. Hybrids and GMO plants generally have seeds that are sterile and, while they might grow a plant the next year, that plant will generally not produce any fruit.
One thing seen in some of the new gardens around the country is a chicken run set up all around the perimeter of the vegetable beds. A chicken run is just what it sounds like. It is an area enclosed, sides and top, with chicken wire and this allows the chickens to roam the area, eating bugs one might not want in the garden, without getting in and damaging the vegetables themselves.
It may sound like they are not free-roaming, but guinea hens in the wild have a small territory. Chickens do not need to have acres of space to roam in, but the average back yard will do. Should one live in an area where such farm animals are forbidden may want to stick with hens and have no crowing roosters, and a privacy fence is also a good idea.
Many people start gardens because it is important to them that their children have that experience. Others are gardening because they love the way it makes them feel. However, the primary reason people are growing their own food these days is to combat the presence of unmarked GMO foods all over our grocery stores.
Growing fruits and vegetables in the yard allows one to make sure everything is sun-ripened on the vine. Many fruits and vegetables one might find at the local supermarket are picked green and allowed to ripen in transit. Most fruits and vegetables done this way are hard and lack the flavor that foods had when most of us were children.
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