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UrbanFig: Summer Squash

How to Grow Summer Squash

by on May 18, 2012

Summer squash is a favorite garden vegetable beloved everywhere for its mild flavor as well as for how easy it is to grow. As its name might suggest, summer squash is susceptible to frost and can be damaged if planted too early or too late in the season. AT A GLANCE: SUMMER SQUASH Temp Range: [...]

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UrbanFig: Strawberries

How to Grow Strawberries

Strawberries are a tasty spring and summer treat, but they are also on the list of the 12 fruits and vegetables most prone to pesticide use when you buy them commercially.  That’s all the reason you need to learn how to grow your own strawberries at home. AT A GLANCE: STRAWBERRIES Temp Range: 50 – [...]

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Top 12 Produce Items To Grow at Home

According to the EWG’s 2011 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, these are the “Dirty Dozen” – the top 12 produce items that are prone to pesticides when they aren’t being grown organically. These items should be either grown at home or purchased from trusted organic sources. Where applicable we have linked the produce item [...]

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UrbanFig: How to Grow Avocados

How to Grow Avocados

When you cut into a fresh avocado, the bright green color, aroma and creamy texture are immediately evident. Whether you are slicing it for a fresh salad or sandwich or putting together a homemade guacamole, you can’t go wrong. If you live in a zone that will support the warm climate needs of the avocado [...]

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How to Grow Oranges

The sweet tangy flavor of a fresh orange is something that you never forget, and if you live in a warm zone (zones 9-11) like California or Florida you can enjoy fresh oranges from your own trees. What follows are some tips on how to grow oranges at home. While germinating seeds is fairly easy, [...]

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Thumbnail image for Garden Design: How to Create a Beautiful Green Space

Garden Design: How to Create a Beautiful Green Space

Robin Horton is the creative director of Robin Horton Design.  Her blog, Urban Gardens Web, features eco-friendly garden designs that are innovative and just downright cool. We spoke to Robin and asked her to share her ideas about garden design. As we see it at UrbanFig, growing edibles is essential, but doing it in a well-designed [...]

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4 Ways to Increase Food Security

We have been talking for the past several weeks about food security. Today we take a look at 4 ways to increase food security easily and inexpensively. Each of these tips work well with the others and by incorporating them all, you are increasing your family’s food security exponentially. Grow Something. Sure, I know I [...]

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UrbanFig: How to Grow Corn

How to Grow Corn

Nothing quite says “garden” like tall stalks of corn reaching up to the sky.You don’t have to have acres of space to have a successful corn crop this year, just a few square feet can yield enough to enjoy throughout the season. AT A GLANCE: CORN Temp Range: 50 – 60 degrees F Seed to [...]

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GMO Talk: Is It Possible to Accidentally Buy GMO Seeds or Plants?

You’ve read the horror stories about GMO and GE – genetically modified “frankenfoods” grown from seed that has been engineered in labs to meet a variety of criteria from size and shape conformity to shelf life. These seeds are also bred to resist powerful chemical herbicides and insecticides like Roundup. In fact, many of these [...]

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UrbanFig: What To Plant In Your Garden in May

What To Plant In Your Garden in May

  Now that the final frost of the season has come for most of us, we can plant the remainder of our spring and summer gardens and stow away our frost protection equipment. 1. Corn is a fun plant to grow, especially if you have kids. The fast-growing stalks can keep the little ones interested [...]

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UrbanFig: How to Grow Apple Trees

How to Grow Apple Trees

Who can resist the allure of a crisp, delicious apple? If you are in USDA zones 3-8, you have a climate that can sustain apple trees, which means you can grow your own. You might think that you don’t have the space to grow your own apple trees, but with modern dwarf varieties it is [...]

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UrbanFig: Homemade Strawberry Preserves

Canning & Preserving: How to Make Preserves

One of the fondest memories I have of summers spent with my grandparents was big weekend breakfasts complete with everything you might imagine to be on a southern table. Thick slices of country ham and bacon, mounds of scrambled eggs, sliced tomatoes fresh from the garden, and homemade strawberry preserves. I am lucky that I [...]

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UrbanFig: Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter

The Underdog Who Invented the Mortgage Lifter Tomato

People often ask why I have such an affinity for heirloom tomatoes – and heirloom seeds in general. The answer is simple, if multi-layered. One of the biggest reasons is the incredible, often unbelievable history that comes along with heirloom plants like Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter Tomato, my favorite tomato plant. In the 1930s an [...]

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Thumbnail image for How to Grow Carrots

How to Grow Carrots

When it comes to staple foods in the kitchen, it doesn’t get much more basic than carrots. They are versatile, delicious and packed with nutrition, and they are easy to grow, prepare and preserve as well. AT A GLANCE: CARROTS Temp Range: 50-70 degrees Seed to Plate: 65 days +/- Light Needs: 6 hours of [...]

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UrbanFig: Dehydrating for Food Security

Food Security: Dehydrating

In our ongoing discussion of food security, this week we take a look at dehydrating foods for long term storage. The process of drying foods for storage has been in use for thousands of years, which makes sense when you consider that the canning of food has only been around since about 1800 and home [...]

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Thumbnail image for 4 Ways to Use Worm Poop: Gardening Gold

4 Ways to Use Worm Poop: Gardening Gold

I am now into my 3rd week as a vermicomposter and I am already an addict. There is something uniquely satisfying about feeding kitchen scraps and shredded paper to an industrious nest of earthworms and seeing that waste turned into gardening gold in a matter of days.  I’ve been daydreaming lately about how I plan [...]

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UrbanFig: How to Grow Cucumbers

How to Grow Cucumbers

Cucumbers are a garden favorite, both for fresh eating and for pickling. What surprises many Americans to learn is that there are quite a few dishes that use the tasty treat. From adult beverages to exotic cuisine, the cucumber deserves a space in your urban garden.Growing up, I always had to pick an extra cucumber [...]

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Thumbnail image for Home Canning & Food Preservation: A Brief History

Home Canning & Food Preservation: A Brief History

Food preservation has been around for as long as there has been food. The earliest forms of food preservation included drying, smoking and curing. Canning is a more recent innovation, being the discovery of a Frenchman named Nicolas Appert in 1795 who found that he could seal food under glass and by applying heat, make [...]

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Lasagna Gardening: The Basics

Lasagna Gardening: The Basics

What if I told you that you could have your dream garden anywhere you wanted it and you’d never have to dig or till to make it happen? Would you be sold if I told you it was almost weed-free as well? Well my friends, it is not only possible, it has been happening for [...]

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