What’s a Potato Onion you ask? Well it’s definitely not a potato, not even distantly related to those starchy tubers. No, it’s not some weird genetic cross between a potato and an onion. Potato onions are actually a type of onion that has more in common with a shallot than either a potato or an onion, so don’t ask me how it got its name.

I’ve published a number of articles related to growing garlic here on this site, so I thought that I knew a little bit about gourmet garlic and growing it in the home garden. But after listening to a workshop on garlic presented by David Stern of the Garlic Seed Foundation, I realized that there is much more to discover about the workings of this amazing plant.

To wrap up the recent posts about the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture and its recent organic farming conference I wanted to share a little information related to the conference workshops and speakers. There was a long list of nationally and internationally known organic farmers, authors, and educators participating in this year’s sustainable agriculture conference.

I recently wrote an article about the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture and the work that they are doing to support natural farming and to ensure the integrity of our food supply. Many of the educational programs and agricultural information that PASA offers are also useful to small market growers and even backyard vegetable gardeners.

I took advantage of the opportunity to attend the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture’s (”PASA”) 16th annual conference a couple weekends ago. The Farming for the Future Conference’s theme was “Cultivating Excellence - Farming to Serve the Common Good.”

Yesterday I shared a few ideas for protecting and over wintering plants through the colder seasons, today I’ll examine a few steps that you can take to winterize your pond, garden fountain, or water feature to preserve them through the harshest weather conditions.

After a mild start to the winter season the U.S. is in the midst of a severe cold spell, and here in the Northeast we are becoming reacquainted with ice and snow. While the garden is now in a deep slumber, I thought it would be a good time to share some of the winter gardening gear that I’m using to protect my plants through cold weather conditions.