From the category archives:

Fruits & Vegetables

Post image for Interview with Holly Hirshberg from The Dinner Garden

While you’re flipping through all those glossy seed catalogs and marking down heirloom varieties of tomatoes and zinnias, take a second to consider the people in your own neighborhood who may not have enough to eat. Did you know that just a few bucks worth of seeds could help a struggling family grow their own vegetable garden? Give a man a tomato, he eats for a day. Give him a handful of seeds…

That’s the idea behind The Dinner Garden, a 501(c)(3) non-profit started by Holly Hirshberg. The Dinner Garden gives people fruit and vegetable seeds free of charge, along with advice and tips for how to grow them. The charity has been able to reach all over the country and has provided seeds to tens of thousands of families. I was honored to have the opportunity to interview someone like Holly, who saw a problem and has found an inventive way to help fix it.
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Post image for An Easy Rule of Thumb for Deciding When to Direct Sow

The vast majority of time, it is better to start seeds either indoors, or in a smaller container with the intention of transplanting the seedling to a larger pot. This is because it is really hard to get plants started from seed into the right spot in a mixed container if the seeds are sown directly into the container. That being said, there are a few plants that I think you should always directly sow into their first and only pot, and there is a simple way to remember which seeds to directly sow and which you should transplant.

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Thumbnail image for Save Yourself the Heartache, Don’t Grow Fruit Trees from Seed

Save Yourself the Heartache, Don’t Grow Fruit Trees from Seed

January 22, 2010

I promised I would share all the good information I learned at my Master Gardener classes, and today I learned a whole bunch of great stuff. The class was an introduction to horticulture and was taught by a professor from a nearby college. The first tidbit I want to pass along is the answer to [...]

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Thumbnail image for Are You a Total Veg Head, Flowers-Only, Or Somewhere In Between?

Are You a Total Veg Head, Flowers-Only, Or Somewhere In Between?

January 21, 2010

I don’t know about you guys, but I have been giddily flipping through all of the seed catalogs I’ve received of late. It’s always hard for me to decide how many flowering and foliage plants to pot up versus how many vegetables, fruits and herbs. That’s part of the reason why I like edibles that [...]

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Carnival: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Edible Container Gardening

Thumbnail image for Carnival: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Edible Container Gardening January 18, 2010

I am so excited to publish the very first Life on the Balcony Blog Carnival! Thank a million times over to all of the people who participated. Without further ado, I give you a plethora of great posts on edible container gardening for your reading pleasure…

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Thumbnail image for 10 Questions to Ask Yourself When Planning Your Container Garden This Year

10 Questions to Ask Yourself When Planning Your Container Garden This Year

January 15, 2010

This is the time of year when everyone goes crazy with seed and plant catalogs. Who can resist gorgeous photos of vegetables and flowers with equally tantalizing descriptions? It doesn’t help that the catalog deluge hits mid-winter when people are feeling a little cabin fever. But if you want to have a happy, healthy container [...]

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Thumbnail image for Is It Okay To Totally Geek Out When It Comes to Plants?

Is It Okay To Totally Geek Out When It Comes to Plants?

January 13, 2010

I realize that asking that question here is like asking an alcoholic if it’s okay to have another drink, but at least gardening is good for you. Have you ever seen Apple fanboys videotape the “unboxing” of a new gadget and then upload it on You Tube? Well, I did that today with a box [...]

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Thumbnail image for Keep Your Mind Out of the Gutter – But It’s OK to Garden in One

Keep Your Mind Out of the Gutter – But It’s OK to Garden in One

January 12, 2010

I’m excited to publish Life on the Balcony’s second guest post from Janet Luke. Janet is a Landscape Architect who has a Masters degree, with Honors, in Environmental and Resource Planning. She has a passion for sustainable design, edible landscaping and permaculture. Her website–Green Urban Living–is inspiring many urbanites to grow their own food, keep [...]

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Thumbnail image for How to Read a Seed Packet: What You Need to Know

How to Read a Seed Packet: What You Need to Know

January 10, 2010

Growing things from seed is incredibly rewarding and fascinating, not to mention fun. But there are a few things you need to know before you get started. And if you buy good quality seeds, you’ll find everything you need to know on the seed packet itself. But you still need to understand what the info [...]

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Thumbnail image for 5 Beginner Crops to Enjoy, Even if You’re Not a Good Cook

5 Beginner Crops to Enjoy, Even if You’re Not a Good Cook

January 8, 2010

One of the most popular posts of all time here on Life on the Balcony is this list of best fruits, vegetables, and herbs to grow for beginners. So I was pretty excited to see that there was a list with a similar theme in this month’s issue of Sunset Magazine. Their list focused on [...]

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Thumbnail image for Hot Plants for Gardening Hipsters: Edibles

Hot Plants for Gardening Hipsters: Edibles

January 5, 2010

Yesterday, I trotted out some of the coolest up-and-coming ornamental plants for the gardening hipsters out there, and also for the rest of us that aren’t as cool, but still like beautiful plants that no one else has yet. Today, I have a few vegetables that will surely turn heads as people spy you tending [...]

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Thumbnail image for Join the Innaugural Life on the Balcony Container Gardening Blog Carnival!

Join the Innaugural Life on the Balcony Container Gardening Blog Carnival!

January 1, 2010

Have you ever heard of a blog carnival? It’s when one blogger requests that other bloggers publish posts on a certain topic and then the carnival host(ess) publishes a post on their blog with links to everyone’s submissions. For example, Keeper of the Home hosts a blog carnival about organic gardening. I thought I would [...]

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