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Special Series
Growing Food
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Durian—The Real Forbidden Fruit
In The Malay Archipelago, famed Victorian naturalist and evolutionary theorist Alfred Russell Wallace wrote, "To eat durian is a new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience." Roughly 150 years later, some adventurous members of the science department at BBG, including yours truly, decided to test his assertion.
By Niall Dunne -
Saffron Crocus—Conjuring Color and Flavor in the Autumn Garden
Long before flowers were cultivated solely for their good looks, they were grown to serve some practical, or even preternatural, purpose. This was especially true in the good old days of Minoan Crete, about 1500 BC, when a thriving industry and religious iconography grew up around Crocus sativus, the corm better known as saffron crocus.
By Ilene Harfenist Sternberg -
Grape Tomatoes: Giving the Cherries a Run for Their Money
Grape tomatoes combine a number of desirable tomato qualities, including very sweet flavor, firm texture, and at least the semblance of having been ripened on the vine.
By Niall Dunne -
Growing Chile Peppers
You can grow chile peppers just about anywhere in the United States and southern Canada, as long as you prepare your soil, nurture your seedlings properly, and provide the plants with their basic needs.
By Doug Dudgeon -
Preserving Chiles
In midsummer, chile peppers mature, begin to ripen, and become more pungent. Some are fiery hot, while others are crisp, slightly sweet with just a hint of heat, and full of flavor. This is the time to put up that prize-winning corn relish, those pickled peppers, salsas of every kind, and hot pepper chutney.
By Susan Belsinger -
Lemon Grass: A Very Versatile Herb
Lemon grass is a tropical perennial, native to southern India, but cultivated outdoors in practically all tropical regions. In the United States, it is root-hardy to about USDA Zone 9 (California, central Florida) where it goes dormant during the mild winter.
By Robert Newgarden -
The Four-Square: A Classic Kitchen Garden Design
Like a country kitchen, a four-square kitchen garden evokes thoughts of hearth, home, and abundance. It is a garden design based on a very simple layout that provides a rich, unpretentious display of color, form, and, quite literally, good taste.
By John D. Simpson -
Tomato Terms—or, What is an F1 Hybrid, Anyway?
Seed packets often carry more abbreviations than contents, making many of us wish that seeds still came in cloth bags labeled simply BEANS or PUMPKIN.
By Karen Davis Cutler
