Seeing sunflowers makes me smile. They are so bright and cheery. Now, however, I have even more of a reason to smile about sunflowers.

I had heard about the mysterious disappearance of the bees. As mentioned previously on this blog, Haagen-Daaz has done a good job spreading the news. They have a wealth of information on their Help the Honey Bees Site. Not surprisingly, most of their campaign revolves around buying ice cream. I love ice cream and support the cause, but what else could I do?

The Great Sunflower Project gives you a great opportunity to help out in another way. Sunflowers attract bees that subsequently pollinate the plants we eat. If you register by June 15, The Great Sunflower Project will send you sunflower seeds to plant in your garden. They then ask that you monitor the bees that visit your sunflowers. Don't worry, they make it easy by giving you lots of helpful hints on how to effectively monitor your backyard visitors. They will use your information to help get a big picture of the state of bees in urban areas.

Is it really bad to say at this point that bees scare me and I'm not sure I want extra bees in my yard? Probably, but I think saving fruits, vegetables, and one of the loves of my life, honey, wins out over my fear of bees. I also don't need to plant the sunflowers right next to my porch swing.

Check out The District Domestic for more on the plight of the honey bee and what you can do to help.

I love the idea of a pizza farm! It's a farm divided into pie slices with each slice featuring a different pizza topping. Sections could include tomatoes, onions, peppers, broccoli, or even pigs (for bacon). There are several pizza farms in the US that have become popular as tourist attractions and for school field trips. Visit Suite 101 for a list of these farms.

What I love even more than the idea of a large scale pizza farm is the idea of a small scale pizza garden. Why do our home gardens always have straight edges? Is it harder to make circles? I'm sure mine would end up looking like a pizza cloud, but I could live with that.

Having a pizza garden would be a great way to give kids a taste of gardening. Let me know if you try it!

I used to have a pothos plant growing on my kitchen windowsill. It never did too well, so I was surprised one day to see it had grown a long, thin new leaf. Then I figured out that my roommate had sprinkled chive seeds in the pot. The pothos didn't make it, but the chives thrived.

Fresh chives are wonderful, always good for a dash of springtime green in egg dishes, soups, cornbread, and practically any kind of veggie dish. I'm a big fan of frittatas with chives, tomatoes, and Parmesan, and don't even get me started on crispy golden Chinese chive pancakes...

Chives are easy to grow, both indoors and out, as my roommate ably demonstrated. April is a good month for planting chive seeds outdoors - seedlings should appear within ten days. Check out Garden Action for a primer on planting and caring for chives.

Maybe you've heard about "eating green," but aren't quite sure what it entails. Or you already try to eat organic, but sometimes wish there was more you could do for the earth. Or maybe you're already aware of eating green but could use a refresher.

Well, our friends at GreenDaily have done the research for you, and come up with a handy little guide to everything you should know about eating green. Each part of the guide features handy, straightforward information about topics like gardening, artificial growth hormones, and fair trade, complete with online resources and opportunities to learn more.

• Summer is the time for bluefish.
• Quick tips on cooking rhubarb.
• When you get married, you get better cookware.
• New moms need a hand in the kitchen.
• Another way to cook asparagus.
• More restaurants should have a simple wine list like T.W. Food in Cambridge.
• Have you ever eaten an MRE?
• Some great ideas for your garden.
• This week's recipes: Pulled Chicken Sandwiches, Tangy Slaw, Fish Tacos, and Grilled Shrimp.

If you're not in sunny southern California, you might not even be able to get a trowel through the top two inches of ground in your yard these days, but that shouldn't stop you from planning now if you want to have red ripe tomatoes and fragrant herbs in your garden come Spring.

According to finance blog Get Rich Slowly, February is the perfect time to start planning your vegetable garden. Their post, Plan Today for Summer Success, has some great, basic information about how to plan, including such probing questions as "Do you actually like to eat vegetables?" and tips on how to make best use of the space you have. Since it's the last day of the month today, you still have time!

[via: LifeHacker]

Using fresh herbs in your recipes is a sure way to brighten up your favorite chicken dish or add some dimension to a rice pilaf. The flavors from fresh herbs are more vivid and complex than those from dried herbs. Once way to obtain said herbs is by choosing bunches of fresh at your local market, but growing them at home is going to be more convenient and less expensive than buying them every time you need a few tablespoonfuls. These garden-in-a bag kits are perfect for anyone interested in trying to grow some fresh herbs who doesn't have the space - or gardening abilities - to handle something bigger. The indoor-friendly options include organic chives, mint, basil and lavender, along with a variety of flowers. To get your herbs to grow, all you need to do is stir the included seeds and water into the bag, full of already primed soil, and wait. Germination takes a few days and, depending on what you're growing, you'll have fresh herbs within a couple of weeks.

Depending on how you look at it, the Nation Trust's ugly vegetable competition is either a good idea or a bad one. On one hand, it gets kids involved in growing their own fruits and vegetables, which could start them with good habits for later in life. On the other hand, the sight of some of the "winners" could put them off veggies for quite some time.

The contest isn't just for children, though. It started as a way to cultivate some appreciation for ugly fruits and vegetables, most of which are underappreciated in the kitchen. There are multiple age categories: under 5, 5-7, 8-11, 11-16, 25-65 and over 65 years old. In each range there was a winner and this parsnip, grown by Mrs Hilary Nellist in the 25-65 group, took home the grand prize for the ugliest vegetable of the year.

There were no winners for the 16-25 category, which either means that they are all exceptional gardeners and can't grow ugly veggies or that gardening isn't exactly a cool past-time for that age group.

[via growabrain]

You may have sprayed garlic juice, tobacco juice, combonations thereof on your tomatoes to stave off aphids and the like...you may have sprayed any number of "organic solutions" on your precious crops. But, there is a naturally occuring compound that will not only protect your plants from unwanted insects, but for livestock as well. It's called Diatomaceous earth (DE, diatomite, diahydro) and it is a clever approach to pests. Yes I know, one plant's pest is some benign bat's snack...however, serious small-scale growers (say, tomatoes, green beans, squash, etc.) pull their hair out to keep insects nibbling on other things.

Diatomaceous earth is one good answer. It's simply a porous, chalky, white sedimentary rock composed of fossilized diatoms-- hard shelled algea. The compound absorbs the waxy outer layer of an insect's body; they die from dehydration.

DE can be used in livestock and humans, but the efficacy is low since there is no shortage of liquid in the digestive tracts of either. So, if you've run out of eco-friendly insecticide ideas, give this one a try. It doesn't smell and your plants won't mutate into super-tobacco.

If the store is out of the question and even the farmer's market is getting to be too far away, there is a growing trend of "delawning" and replacing the "useless" grass front lawn with a garden of entirely edible plants. Edible estates is a throwback movement to times in the early 20th century when yards had to be used for gardening and not for recreation. It is also a mission for its founder, Los Angeles architect Fritz Haeg, who has made connections to start several Estates all across the country, in addition to the ones currently operating in Salina, KS and just south of LA in Lakewood, CA.

The conversion process involves ripping out everything in a flat, sunny front yard and replanting it with up to 195 varieties of fruits, vegetables and other edible plants. The yards must be tended by their owners 7 days a week, and since no pesticides are allowed, the maintenance can become a second job. And with that many plants in a limited space, the foliage can become rather aggressive, making it even more of a standout from neighboring homes. Incidentally, neighbors aren't too thrilled when one of these springs up on their block, saying "what happens in the backyard is their business, but this doesn't seem...to be a front yard kind of a deal."

Check out the edible estates website if you're interested in learning more. I think I'll stick to the various markets in my area. I like to garden, but the only point I'm trying to make with it is part of my dinner, not one about eco-polotics.

By the way, the family in LA has a blog about their gardening that is quite interesting.

I know that it has been a while since I first mentioned my pineapple plant. If you recall, I was having some difficulty growing it because I followed less-than-wonderful directions when I began my quest. Thanks to the support of several excellent commenters, I decided to give it another go. Unfortunately, after the first few weeks, it looked as though the plant might not make it. I had it potted and outdoors in a sunny place, but it was first met with unseasonable cold then a massive heat wave. Some of the leaves began to brown and I figured that I had yet another failed plant on my hands.

I failed to pay close attention to it for a few weeks and, when I looked closely yesterday, what did I see? New growth at the center of the plant! You can see the contrast between the new leaves and the outer ones in the picture.

Who knows if it will ever bear any fruit for me, but frankly I'm pleased just to know that I don't have a "brown thumb" when it comes to pineapple growing.

I learned long ago that, unless I wanted to be eating zucchini at ever meal for three months, it is best not to plant it at home. Besides, when they are in season they are so inexpensive that you can buy as many as you want for very little money - and if your neighbors decide to plant them, you'll probably have plenty of free ones anyway. But just because I don't plant zucchini doesn't mean that I don't have vegetable problems. While some people have problems with zucchini overrunning their gardens during the summer, I have a problem with cucumbers.

Over the past two days, I have accumulated roughly 30 pounds of cucumbers, both English and Japanese. Though I didn't try to pile them all into one photo, for reference, the cucumber in the center of this picture measures 11"x4" and weighs just over 2.5-pounds. And it's not the biggest that I have at the moment. The one in the fridge looks remarkably similar to a baseball bat.

Bartenders don't usually use a whole range of vegetables in their mixing unless they are particularly fond of bloody marys and celery garnishes. More and more often, however, fresh herbs are cropping up in cocktails. The Seattle Times had an interesting look inside a bartender's herb garden this weekend. Herbs can generally be grown indoors and require only a small amount of care relative to maintaining a whole garden. The taste of a fresh herb is unmatched and, if you're going to be using them frequently, they are nice to have at hand without a trip to the store. Their suggested list of herbs and cocktails, which is practical for pros and weekend mixologists alike, includes: 

• Spearmint, for classic mojitos and anything that needs a refreshing touch.
• Basil, can also be included with mint in a mojito
• Thyme, adds a layer of flavor to a peach Bellini.
• Rosemary, add to a gin cosmopolitans.
• Sage, works well with tequila and "will raise your margarita to the next level."

They also recommend cilantro and tarragon, but for me, mint or basil is a better choice for an addition to summer lemonade than cilantro, which the Times suggests. Basil, thyme, rosemary and sage can all be used in cooking, too, though I don't necessarily endorse adding spearmint to, say, a grilled chicken dish. And a word to the novice gardeners: basil grows quickly and aggressively. Fortunately, you can make a killer pesto with the leftovers.

Last year I tried to plant a pineapple. Actually, I tried three times. Each time, I bought a nice, fresh, organic pineapple at Whole Foods and, after eating the fruit itself, I prepped the crown for planting. The first time, I left some of the fruit attached to the crown and the plant did not do so well. After finding this nifty guide online, I learned that I should have cleaned away any remaining bits of fruit before planting, as the way the fruit decomposes in the soil would is not conducive to growth. Scratch plant number one.

Following the directions from the same guide, I cut away the stem to expose the "root buds" on the crown. The website also recommended drying the crown for several days before planting. Seven days later, my crown was clearly dead and unfit for planting. Two strikes.

Undeterred, I trimmed a third crown, dried it for only one day (a warm day) and popped the top into some potting soil. I made sure it had light, tried to keep it warm (even in winter) and I didn't over-water it. And yet it looks exactly the same as it did a year ago: some of the leaves are a bit brown, others are still green and it clearly has not gotten any larger. I'm reasonably certain that it isn't dead, and yet I have real doubts as to whether it will ever progress beyond its current state.

Depressed about my pineapple prospects, I searched for a couple more resources and finally found someone in Southern California who has successfully grown pineapples! While this has renewed my hopes about growing my own, I am still wondering whether the project is worth it. How many times should you try before you give up on growing a plant?

Green Tables is a project started by two health and eco-conscious groups, Les Dames d'Escoffier (LDEI) and the National Gardening Association (NGA), that hopes to encourage people to be more aware of their food, where it comes from and to make better food choices. Their program is called LDEI Civic Agriculture & Garden Initiative and it involves the 26 international chapters of the LDEI getting out and running projects in their communities, from cooking demonstrations to scholarships and other educational classes.

While many of the components of the initiative are public, most of them are aimed at encouraging youths to think about what they ear and, hopefully, to appreciate it more. Green Tables wants to educate people about why they might want to use locally grown foods and increase their environmental awareness. Ideally , participants will gain a deeper interest in community food, gardening and agriculture efforts, leading to both healthier foods and healthier lifestyles.