Plants & Gardens Blog

What’s blue, sweet, healthy, and native to Brooklyn? Highbush blueberries! Vaccinium corymbosum is beautiful and bears delicious fruit bursting with nutrients. Read › Making Brooklyn Blue

Last spring, I helped launch North Brooklyn Farms (NBk) on the grounds of the defunct Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg. Once a weedy symbol of lost industry, it’s now a showcase for how to grow a variety of edibles. Read › Saving Seed for a Stronger City

Malabar spinach is an easy-to-grow green that grows more easily in hot weather than true spinach—and it's gorgeous. Read › Summer Spinach

Berries and other summer fruits can be pickled and used in tasty cocktails year-round. Read › Recipe: Blue Sunrise Cocktail with Pickled Blueberries

Traditional Japanese confections, or wagashi, are beautiful, texturally complex, and subtly flavored. Read › Recipe: Strawberry Kanten

It’s peak ramp-picking time in the Catskills, and my neighbor took us to his favorite spot for a foraging spree. Read › Foraging for Wild Ramps

Sweet potatoes are high in complex carbohydrates, beta carotene, vitamin C, calcium, potassium, and even protein. Their perfect partner? Dark chocolate. Read › Recipe: Valentine’s Day Sweet Potato Cake

When I recently decided to make a Dutch baby, a wonderful pancake variation, my extra farm share apples were an obvious addition. Read › Recipe: Apple Dutch Baby

Chile peppers grow readily in NYC, and preserving them is easy. Making homemade hot sauce is one of my favorite techniques. Read › Recipe: Chile Pepper Sambal

I love cooking with and eating all types of eggplants, whether they come from a supermarket, farmers market, or my own rooftop container garden. Read › Recipe: Eggplant Tzatziki