Kitchen Garden & Kitchen Gardener Magazine Back Issues by Taunton Press
Early on, when I first started gardening, I subscribed to Taunton’s Kitchen Garden magazine starting with the Premier Issue in 1996. I think I received about the first year’s worth of issues before life got busy and I decided I needed to have less to do so I dropped the subscription. A few years later when things slowed down a bit and I had more time for gardening I picked up my old Kitchen Garden magazines and read them cover to cover again. These are awesome magazines and probably the best ever published related to fruit, vegetable, & herb gardening. I searched the internet and finally, after a lot of effort, was able to piecemeal the complete collection of 33 issues together. Sadly, the magazine was discontinued after Issue #33. I think it was just way ahead of it’s time …
These are great magazines and I keep them to read through from time to time. There is always an article that inspires me to try something new like fennel or blackberries or different varieties of heirloom tomatoes and peppers. Or information on trellises, garden layout, or composting that I find and try.
Harvest Gardener maintains an inventory of Kitchen Garden (Issues 1 – 18) and Kitchen Gardener (Issues 19 – 32) magazine back issues that we keep in order to share with our gardening friends. Note that the magazine format and title changed between Issues 18 and 19. Buy them singly to fill the holes in your partial collection or order a complete set. A complete collection also makes a great gift!
2016 Update
We had a busy year and were unable to get our plants started in time for spring planting. We planted only a few items in our own personal garden: onions, garlic and broccoli. Hopefully, we’ll be back at it next year with tomatoes and peppers for sale.
2015 Plants Growing Strong
It’s still chilly in the Houston area, but warmer, sunny weather is in the forecast. Soon it will be time to get our tomato, pepper, and tomatillo plants in the ground. We normally plant out around the second weekend in February due to our mild, zone 9 location along the Gulf Coast. Of course, those further north are still living in an icebox for a few more months …
We started hundreds of seeds indoors several weeks ago, and the seedlings are now ready to be potted up into larger containers. Another few weeks of nurturing and the plants will be ready to venture out into the garden. It’s amazing how fast the cycle goes from a tiny seed, to transplant, mature plant, then fruiting and essentially back to seeds, if saved, ready to start the process all over again the next season. For those new to gardening or just needing a refresher, make sure to check our tomato planting guide.
We have updated our Store with available varieties and quantities for those in the local area who can pick up their plants (we don’t ship). We will have over 30 different varieties again, including many hard to find heirlooms. Pick-up day will be February 14, 2015 in League City, Tx. Those placing orders will receive detailed information on pick-up details as the date gets closer. Log in to My Account to view your previous orders. Order early for best selection!
Compost for Gardening Success
There are few things that will help your gardening efforts more than the application of quality compost. Compost helps to build a healthy soil structure with partially decomposed organic matter and is also a great source of natural, balanced fertilizer. Making your own compost is a very low cost way to build soil health and is also a great way to recycle vegetation from your lawn and garden as well as use fruit and vegetable trimmings from the kitchen. Compost can be worked into the soil when preparing for planting or used as a mulch for plants like garlic and onions that like a rich, fertile soil and are in the garden for a fairly long time.
Check-out our new guide to building a compost pile.
Tomato, Pepper, & Tomatillo Plant Pre-Orders
Its hard to believe that with all the cold and snowy weather across the country lately that its time to start thinking about the Spring garden. But that’s exactly what those of us in Zone 9 are doing right now! It’s virtually year round gardening for us with tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos going in the ground in February and March.
We are now taking pre-orders for tomato, pepper, and tomatillo plants through January 1st for local pick-up in League City, Texas in early- to mid-February. Please note we do not ship plants. They must be picked up locally.
Check out our store for over 30 varieties including hard to find heirlooms that do great in the Houston area. Order early – once our growing capacity is reached we will have to stop taking orders.
Harvest Gardener Now Live!
The Harvest Gardener website is finally ready! It’s been a fun challenge to learn how to design and build a website over the last few months. We’ve designed the website to include information on how to grow and use garden fruits & vegetables, reviews of books, magazines, and equipment, and also provide convenient pick-up sales of our locally grown plants. Of course the content will take some time to build so check back to see what’s new.
Sign up for our Harvest Gardener Newsletter today to keep up with when our local transplants are available for sale and with the latest information on the Harvest Gardener website.