Each year we plant a large vegetable garden
that is maintained throughout the growing
season. It is an on-going experiment and
one year's garden rarely looks like the
next. It is an 80 x 30 area enclosed with
rabbit fence. The fence just keeps the dogs
from running through, all other animals
can get in just fine!
The garden always includes tomatoes, lettuce,
spinach, snow peas, corn, carrots, peppers,
beans, pumpkins, potatoes, radishes, and
onions. Some years we have also grown beets,
kohlrabi, watermelons, cucumbers, broccoli
and cauliflower. There are permanent wide
rows of gold raspberries, strawberries,
rhubarb, and herbs. A 20+ year old asparagus
bed is outside the garden at the edge of
the orchard. There is a bed of gold
raspberries from a friend who salvaged them from
behind an apartment building in Madison.
They always produce fruit twice a season,
once with the rest of the raspberries in
the spring, and again in mid-August through
September. The fields are full of red and
black raspberries, so we don't bother to
maintain any formal plantings of them.
The vegetable garden is laid out in "wide
rows" approximately 2.5'x6'. The aisles
are permanently mulched with recycled carpet,
which we scavenge from carpet store dumpsters
(with permission), from trash piles at the
side of the road, and from a neighbor who
is a carpet installer. It easily cuts to
size with a utility knife, and most carpet
is the same tan burlap texture on the back,
so blends fine with the landscape. Most
carpet lasts several years before deteriorating,
at which point we haul it off to the "transfer
station" (i.e. dump).
Make planting and re-potting a pleasure with this easy-to-build
potting bench.
Home Vegetable Gardening -
A Complete and Practical Guide to the Planting and Care of Vegetables, Fruits and Berries
News from The Victory Garden
Fire Pit Safety
Have you recently added a fire pit to your outdoor space? "Stone Guys" Derek Stearns and Dean Marsico share safety tips important for any homeowner.
Brugmansia, "Angel's Trumpet"
Host Jamie Durie answers a viewer's question on Brugmansia (common name: Angel's Trumpet) and toxicity.
Hypertufa Containers
Garden correspondent Paul Epsom answers a viewer's question about hypertufa (faux stone) containers.
Botanical Names
Host Jamie Durie answers a viewer's question about the use of botanical names in Latin.
Jamie's Garden
Host Jamie Durie answers a viewer's question about what his own garden looks like at home.
English Gardens
Garden correspondent Paul Epsom, an Englishman himself, discusses why he believes people are so keen on gardening in the UK.
Enhancing a Deck
Host Jamie Durie explains how an outdoor room can enhance life at home.
Hydrangeas and Color
Garden correspondent Paul Epsom gives terrific tips on keeping your hydrangeas a beautiful blue.
Gardening TV
Host Jamie Durie answers a viewer's question about gardening television.
Sweet Potato Vine
Viewer question answered! Paul Epsom on tubers and sweet potato vines.
Stone Walls
"Stone Guys" Dean Marsico and Derek Stearns give practical tips on building stone walls.
Shade Defined
Garden correspondent Paul Epsom answers a viewer's question about types of shade and the right plant for the right place.
Lessons from the Getty
The beautiful modern garden at the Getty Center in Los Angeles is an influential landmark in design. Host Jamie Durie and producer Hilary Finkel Buxton discuss shooting the show at the Getty, and what lessons it provides for the home gardener.
Indoor Color
Viewer question answered! It's still cold outside in many parts of the country. What's the best way to bring the outdoors in during cooler weather to get a jump on spring?
Victory Garden: Simply the Best Tomatoes
Gardener Kip Anderson and lifestyle co-host Sissy Biggers tour the Victory Garden's vegetable garden and dish on the most delicious tomato varieties and give tips on how to grow them:
Tomato 'Isis Candy Cherry'
Tomato 'Black Pearl'
Tomato 'Snowberry'
Tomato 'Sungold'
Tomato 'Favorita'
Victory Garden: Row Cover 101
Host Michael Weishan and gardener Kip Anderson give you a primer on using row cover effectively in the vegetable garden - preventing insect infestations and shielding sensitive plants.
Victory Garden: Double Digging
Host Michael Weishan and gardener Kip Anderson demonstrate the cultivation technique of "double digging" - a tried and true way of creating a healthy garden bed for plants and vegetables.
Victory Garden: Lichen
Viewer question answered! What exactly is lichen, and will it harm the trees and plants it grows on?
Victory Garden: Plants for scent
There's nothing like fragrance in the garden! Host Michael Weishan and Mike Mahoney of Mahoney's Garden Centers in Winchester, MA, discuss their best bets for selecting plants with scent.
Get Super Early Tomatoes - check out our
early tomato log
from last year.
The
Classic Heirloom -- Big, Deeply Lobed Purplish
Fruit! Indeterminate vines bear heavily
over a long season. 80 days from setting
out transplants. Indeterminate. This is
an heirloom that really looks like it was
developed and grown long ago. Tomato
Brandywine Park Seed
These
Pear-shaped Treats are the Best for Sauces!
2 1/4-ounce fruits have a very small seed
cavity and rich, thick flesh beneath thin
skin. 75 days. The finest paste tomato we
have ever grown, La Rossa Hybrid combines
an attractive pear shape with all the great
attributes you need in a paste variety. Tomato
La Rossa Hybrid Park Seed
70 days from setting out transplants. ISI
(indeterminate short-internode). Everything
about Beefy Boy is larger-than-life, from
its succulent flavor to its generous yields!
Bred specifically for maximum flavor, the
taste is sweet yet meaty, with more solids
and less gel than other varieties, despite
its walloping 12- to 16-ounce size. Tomato
Beefy Boy Hybrid
85 to 95 days. Indeterminate. This is the
best-tasting heirloom Tomato our Director
of Seeds has ever eaten! Pineapple is a
beefsteak type with huge yellow-gold fruit
often striped in red and boasting fewer
seeds and more solids, for an extra bite
or two in every Tomato.
Tomato Pineapple
50 days (on average). Want a great variety
of lettuces in your garden without taking
up too much space or busting the garden
budget? This economical Certified Organic
seed mix is the answer, with a good blend
of mild and tangy, crisp and tender varieties
that all harvest about the same time, for
a long, delicious season of eating!
Lettuce Salad Bowl Mix Organic
45 days. A favorite among gardeners who
prize beauty as well as flavor, Red Sails
received an AAS when it was introduced --
and has never looked back! Among the very
first to arise, it resists bolting, giving
you an especially long season of delectable
eating. The large, erect leaves are deep
red at the ruffled tips, shading into a
bronzy-maroon and finally becoming green
toward the base.
Lettuce Red Sails
Contains 4 popular Lettuces: Green Ice,
Master Chef Blend, Summer Glory Blend, and
Green Towers. One season of Lettuces from
this collection and you'll never go back
to growing any others! You get a Romaine,
a Looseleaf, and our two top-selling blends,
which contain a dozen or so varieties between
them! Just think of it -- no two salads
alike, and every day a new and exciting
harvest of tender, fresh leaves! It's the
best deal for Lettuce lovers we've ever
offered!
Park's Best Lettuces Collection
70 days. The "gourmet" variety popular at
fine restaurants, Freckles is as easy to
grow as any other loose-leaf lettuce, yet
infinitely more attractive on the plate!
The large, lightly ruffled leaves are a
chartreuse-green, with irregular smatterings
and spottings of deep burgundy! It arises
over a long season and should be picked
the minute it's ready, so that a new leaf
will grow in place of the old. Treat your
family to this unusual, elegant loose-leaf!
Lettuce Freckles
Howden
-- The First Name in Pumpkins! These classic
deep orange pumpkins are beautifully formed,
somewhat egg-shaped 20- to 30-pound fruit.
92 days. Selected by John Howden himself
for success in the home garden, this is
the pumpkin Linus might have chosen to grow
in his really sincere pumpkin patch!
Organic Pumpkin Howden Park Seed
95 to 100 days from sowing. We're calling
Rumbo a pumpkin, but this winter squash
from Korea actually defies classification!
Despite its appearance, it tastes nothing
like a pumpkin -- its flavor is sweeter
than Acorn Squash and not at all stringy,
and the fruits themselves are much more
dense, giving you extra meat in every bite. Pumpkin
Rumbo Hybrid
The Best for Juicing . . . and for Supersweet
Munching! Long, well-filled, and almost
coreless, this carrot is all juicy-sweet
flavor! 70 days from direct-sowing. I'll
toss my hat into the ring on this one: Ithaca
Hybrid is the juiciest, sweetest Carrot
you have ever tasted! Carrot
Ithaca Hybrid Park Seed
90 days. Yes, all these colors came from
a single packet of seeds -- and Rainbow
is NOT a mix of varieties! It's the first-ever
Carrot to produce every shade from white
to deepest orange, so now when you dig your
Carrots up, you never know what color you'll
be getting!
Carrot Rainbow
Seedless
Cukes in Just 45 Days--Without Cross-Pollination!
This French Cornichon is well-adapted to
the range of U.S. climates. 45 days. You're
going to love this French Cornichon type
Cuke. We did--it was the favorite in our
company-wide taste tests!
Cucumber Cool Breeze Hybrid Park Seed
48
to 50 days. In just 7 weeks from sowing,
you'll start harvesting beautiful cucumber,
8 1/2 inches long by 1 1/2 inches wide,
with a sweet, crispy flavor! Completely
burpless and without a trace of bitterness,
they are also seedless if grown apart from
other cucumber plants!
All-Season Burpless Hybrid
The
Classic--Heavy-Yielding, Plump, Tender Blue
Lake 274! Dark green pods are 5 1/2 inches
long and so succulent! 55 days. This is
the bush bean by which all others are judged,
a classic favorite for many years among
gardeners across the U.S. The secret? Huge
yields, great taste, and reliability.
Bean Blue Lake 274 Park Seed
55
days. This gourmet European treat is now
available from organically-grown seed! Opera
is a superb filet bean, stringless and very
heavy-bearing after a long season. Its disease
resistance package makes it perfect for
the organic garden, and its terrific flavor
will delight all palates! Bean
Bush Opera Organic
End
the Broccoli Season with a Bounty of Tender
Florets! The best mid- to late-season variety,
with plenty of yummy side shoots! 63 days
from setting out plants. Enjoy an extra-long
Broccoli season this year with late-maturing
Lucky Hybrid! These firm 5- to 7-inch heads
arise in a cool blue-tinted green that looks
as good as it tastes!
Broccoli Lucky Hybrid Park Seed
55
days from setting out transplants. This
mighty one-foot midget does all the work
of its taller, bigger cousins in a fraction
of the space! The answer to problem of how
to grow broccoli in small gardens, Small
Miracle Hybrid bears just as many and as
large heads as any other, yet these plants
can be planted just 8 inches apart!
Broccoli Small Miracle Hybrid
65 days. Where would we be without the Jalapeno
atop our nachos and chopped into our Mexican
food? Now everyone's favorite hot pepper
is available in Certified Organic seed form,
for a heavy-bearing little plant that will
keep you in great eating for months to come!
Organic Pepper Early Jalapeno
Small
Enough for Flowerpots, Sweet Enough for
the Whole Family! Big, horn-shaped fruits
have wide shoulders, a tapered shape, and
green-to-red color. 75 days from transplanting.
Here's a Sweet Italian Pepper you can grow
on the porch or balcony as well as in the
vegetable patch! Just 28 inches high and
about 16 inches wide, these plants are so
compact they'll "fit in" anywhere, yet so
heavy-bearing and delicious they won a 2006
All-America Selection! Pepper Carmen
Make planting and re-potting a pleasure with this easy-to-build
