Corn on the cob can be frozen August was the sixth month of the year in the early Roman calendar–called Sextilis, which means sixth–until the Emperor Augustus came along and rearranged the calendar and named the month after himself. In the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, August is the height of summer. Even though
Begin to think about harvest in mid to late summer. Warm-weather crops will be ready then. Keeping the soil evenly moist as crops finish maturing is important; you will stop watering many crops just a week or two before picking to concentrate flavor. Succession planting of summer crops where there is enough season left before
Avocadoes have a rich buttery textured flesh with a slightly nutty flavor and can be eaten as a vegetable or a fruit. There are both winter and summer harvest avocadoes. Winter harvest avocadoes are available at your farm market now. There are dozens and dozens of avocado varieties spread around the world. The variety you
Baby beets are beets harvested just as they have started to round out. Leave these beets until they mature and you can call them table beets. Baby beets—just about the size of a ping-pong ball—have the most delicate taste and texture. Table beets—as big as your fist—still taste good, but don’t let them grow much
Bacterial leaf spot disease produces small, dark irregular spots on tomato and pepper leaves; leaves eventually turn yellow and drop off. This defoliation weakens plants and exposes developing fruits to sunscald. Small, dark, wartlike raised spots with slightly sunken centers may appear on green fruits. Rot organisms are able to enter the fruit at these
Béchamel Sauce is a basic white sauce made by stirring milk into a butter-flour roux. Roux is a flour and butter mixture slowly cooked over a low heat. When a roux is cooked to a beige color it is called white roux. When it is cooked to a golden color it is called blond roux.
Bean classification: Beans can be divided into two main groups: those that can be eaten pod and all and those that are dried. Beans are legumes whose seeds or pods are eaten, but are not classified as peas or lentils (which are also legumes). For the record, legumes are plants with double-seamed pods containing a
Blueberries are one of Nature’s Superfoods You can easily grow superfoods in your garden and quickly prepare and serve them in minutes. Superfoods are high in nutritional value and provide important chemical compounds—called phytochemicals—that fight disease and improve health. Superfoods have been around for thousands of years, but the term has gained popularity over the
Earthworms can eat their weight in organic matter and soil each day to create nutrient rich castings. Earthworms help create humus—a dark brown-black type of soil which holds important nutrients in place for plant growth and use. Earthworms also help create good soil structure; their burrows open up the soil and create aeration and drainage
Berries taste their absolute best when left to ripen on the plant, then picked and eaten immediately. Sweetness, aroma, and flavor determine ripeness; berries can reach their peak in a day or two once they begin to mature. Visit plants every day once fruit begins to deepen in color. Taste and smell to decide when
