For a long time, a weed-clogged vacant lot in the shadow of West Philadelphia's elevated train tracks looked so much like the sad, forgotten sliver of land it was that it was practically a cliché. Close your eyes and see the chain link fence, the leftover building materials, the transit authority trucks. Now open them—all gone.

Today, there's a pollinator garden on the quarter-acre site, and an edible hedgerow, and an orchard, and a platoon of volunteers—including a local Girl Scout troop—who tend raised beds and pitch in for seasonal cleanups. The Walnut Hill Community Farm, created and operated since 2010 by The Enterprise Center with substantial funding support from the nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation, replaced a vacant eyesore with a pocket park and working farm in Philadelphia's Walnut Hill neighborhood. Says farm manager Allison Blansfield: "We are completely out in the open, right across the street from a grocery store and near the el, and at rush hour, you really hear all these city noises."

Photographs by David Ferris.

Above: A small tool shed, viewed through the kale crop. In partnership with Urban Tree Connection, Walnut Hill Community Farm grows organic vegetables for 68 customers who receive weekly shares of the harvest during the growing season.

Above: Salad greens, including red sail lettuce; The Enterprise Center has a 30-year lease and pays $1 a year to rent the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority's land.

Above: There's a little of everything in the farm's "crazy spring mix," including arugula, spinach, and red leaf lettuce.

Above: The farm also has a community garden with 15 raised beds tended by local residents.

Above: Bee balm and echinacea in the farm's pollinator garden, designed to attract bees.

Above: A fig tree and echinacea. Last year, the farm partnered with Philadelphia Orchard Project, which planted native fruit trees, a berry garden, an edible hedgerow, and the pollinator garden.

Above: The farm harvests water off the roof of the El station at 46th and Market streets; water is stored in two 1,100 gallon cisterns on the farm.

Above: Tomatoes grow against deer fencing. Planted intensively, the farm's raised beds yield 1,000 pounds of produce a year. The soil is 12 inches deep in the beds (an increase over a previous depth of 5 inches doubled the garden's yield).

Above: Queen Anne's Lace in the pollinator garden.

Above: A bee on a butterfly bush.

Above: Yarrow attracts birds and butterflies, as well as bees.

Above: Dill, gone to seed.

Above: The back side of the farm fronts Ludlow Street; purple phlox and Queen Anne's Lace welcome visitors. N.B.: Looking for inspiration? For 122 more images of Urban Farms, see our Gallery of rooms and spaces.)

The steps to creating a kitchen garden sound deceptively easy: build some raised beds, plant vegetables, harvest. Recently when we featured LA garden designer Art Luna's work, he revealed his secrets for creating thriving raised bed gardens:

Above: Most of the kitchen gardens Luna designs are built and maintained afterward by Pam Rownak of Culver City. Luna's beds are often 24 inches high (slightly taller than average), a feature that has several benefits. Plant roots can develop and spread out easily in soil that's a luxurious two feet deep, for one thing. The design is visually appealing and practical, as well, because it's a comfortable height for a garden who wants to sit on the edge of the bed while weeding. Photograph via Pam Rownak.

Above: Luna frequently designs beds that are detailed with copper edging. Copper tape repels slugs and creates a finished, tailored look. Photograph via Art Luna Garden.

Above: The tape "comes in different widths to accommodate the size wood you choose to build the raised beds," says Luna. If you use 6-inch-wide copper tale, it will give you a 2-inch lip on each side of a 2-inch top edge. A 13-foot-long roll of Copper Slug Tape (1.25 inches wide) is $9.95 from Gardeners Supply. For a wide selection of sizes, see Tape Jungle.

Above: Uniformity in size, shape, and height creates a pleasing arrangement in a kitchen garden. Photograph via Pam Rownak.

Above: Luna often adds wine barrel planters to a kitchen garden design. Not only do they provide visual contrast, they're also "a nice alternative for anyone who doesn’t have the space," he says. Photograph via Art Luna Garden.

Above: A repurposed oak Wine Barrel Planter is $169 from Viva Terra.

Above: Triangular trellises lend support to peas and other climbing plants. For trellis and garden support structures, see Design Sleuth: Willow Accessories for the Cottage Garden.

NB: For more of Art Luna's designs, see "The Landscape Designer Is In: Creating and Maintaining a Thriving Kitchen Garden."

This is an update of a post originally published Nov. 3, 2012.

Good news for the slackers among us: a self-watering planter.

Designer Joey Roth's self-watering terra cotta planter does require filling with water once in a while but that's it. Plants are placed in soil in the outer doughnut-shaped chamber, and the center chamber is filled with water. The natural porosity of the unglazed terra cotta allows the water to move from the center chamber and into the soil, based on the soil's moisture (regulated by the plant's need for water). Joey Roth will be launching the planter at Dwell on Design. The planters are $45 at Joey Roth.

Above: The terra cotta wall both regulates and filters the water.

Above: A simple lid on the top of the water chamber prevents evaporation.

Need a babysitter to water your plants while you're out of town? See Water from a Stone.

N.B.: This is an update of a post originally published June 19, 2012.

Our friend Mimi Giboin just got back from a trip to France (she was visiting her parents, who live in the town of Royan on the southwest coast). Lucky for us; she pulled out her camera and took some snaps of an out-of-the-ordinary herb stand run by Christine Bouquet (yes, that's her name) at the local farmer's market.

"Christine's stall is bit disheveled, in a good way," Mimi says. "The herbs she offers, you just don't find them anywhere else in the market. She specializes in seasonal and forgotten varieties of herbs, spices, and heirloom tomatoes. Christine's mother raised and sold flowers, and Christine worked alongside her throughout her school years. She ended up buying her grandparents' farm, and now she runs an organic herb, vegetable, and spice garden. She works from dawn until dusk; she's on a mission to make us comfortable using foreign flavors in cooking."

Christine can be found at the Central Market Royan, facing the boulevard Aristide-Briand; on the weekend off-season and daily in season.

Photography by Mimi Giboin.

Above: Christine's stand, laden with her herbal harvest.

Above: Braided garlic bulbs hanging from a pole.

Above: Mint and sage on display.

Above: Christine at her stand.

Above: Christine stacks wooden crates to display her produce.

Above: A wheat sheaf braided around the head of a garlic flower.

Above: One of Christine's favorites, salicornia, is a briny, crunchy succulent that grows in the regional marshes. We recently spotted salicornia at Far West Fungi in San Francisco's Ferry Plaza, and you can occasionally source it at Earthy Delights. For a Sea Bean Salad recipe, go to Honest Food.

Above: An array of tomatillos.

Above: Vintage scales used for weighing produce.

Above: L'hélichrysum Italicum, a flowering plant of the daisy family, or what Christine calls the "curry plant"; she uses it in Indian cooking.

You can never have enough ceramic vessels. At least this is true in Sweden, where most every windowsill is covered in potted plants (we have wide sills due to thick house walls). Here is a nice addition that would dress any indoor space (or outdoor for that matter).

Co-owners Cynthia Vargas and Jennifer Friend run LA-based Putikmade, making pottery from black mountain clay and porcelain. The stoneware clay turns deep brown after high firing and each pot is handmade on the wheel, making each piece unique. For more information, visit Putikmade.

Above: A Putikmade Ceramic Planter is $70 at Ilan Dei Venice. It comes with a leather strap for hanging. The exterior is unglazed and has a texture resembling sandpaper.

Above: The vessels have a green glaze on the interior.

Above: A ceramic bowl planter.

Above: Some of the vessels have drainage holes.

For more Swedish inspiration, see Outdoors: Ulf Nordfjell Garden Design.

N.B.: This is an update of a post originally published November 7, 2012.

As a child, I would walk down the street awarding points to each house and garden I passed. I had completely forgotten about this habit until I realized that when I moved to the Napa Valley, I had unconsciously chosen the people I wanted to befriend based purely on the way their house and garden looked. Carolyn Duryea was one of those people (full points awarded). Hers is a small house with a garden that is perfectly unkempt, with a mix of potted flowers, plastic beach balls strategically displayed, colorful hoops, a hanging chair, all signs that something good was going on inside.

When Carolyn, a stylist and interior designer, and her husband, Jeff, rented the charming cottage 14 years ago the garden was in serious disarray. There was a bedraggled vegetable patch, a few tired trees at the side of a creek (including a couple of palms and a grapefruit), and a concrete patio that consumed much of the back garden. Their plan of attack included wheelbarrow loads of gravel to cover the ground, 10 tons worth to be precise. As Carolyn tells us, "I love gravel and it made the single biggest difference in the yard." They added roses, hydrangeas, and gardenias, the flowers they love. "I don't like modern gardens," Carolyn says. "I like gardens that look as if they have gone to seed. Landscape designer Miranda Brooks does this best—she makes it look as if she hasn't done a thing." After 14 years of tending, Carolyn could say the same of her own garden.

Above: Carolyn painted two black sunbed loungers white and layered them with blankets (she confesses to "a textile problem"). Indian print sheets are covered in kantha quilts, part of Carolyn's ever-growing collection of the African fabric, most recently sourced at West Elm and at Karma Living on One King's Lane. "The plaids are my favorite," she says. Carolyn leaves the furniture out all year as she likes to see it from her bedroom window. The glazed ceramic colored side tables are another Carolyn obsession.

Above: French doors from the living room lead into the garden.

Above: The path from the house into the garden. Carolyn's inspiration was an image of an interior patio in Paris that had an overgrown feel. She purposely keeps the greenery untrimmed so you have to push through leaves to get to the garden.

Above: Carolyn had a frame built out of pipes which she covered with bamboo fencing to replace the original green plastic siding that was in its place. "The shade really took down the temperature, and I've only had to replace the bamboo three times in 12 years. We just let it weather naturally until it is time to replace."

Above: "We planted Boston ivy on the walls and it took off," Carolyn says. The Montauk Nest Chair is from West Elm.

Above: The couple decided to use terra cotta pots as they knew they would eventually move and wanted to be able to take their plants with them. The Malm outdoor fireplace is from DWR.

Above: The table is Jeff's old conference table, which Carolyn painted white.  She let if get messed up and "let the rain and dirt do its work until it got the right aged patina." All the chairs, including the Tolix, were flea market finds.

Above: A mix of candles and hurricanes. "Erica Tanov's original ET candles are my favorite. The Hurricane Lamps are a West Elm find as were the pots, which are rough and funky. I am really into turquoise blue. I'm missing the ocean." Three sea shell hangings are suspended over the table, "I'm going to have 10 of them in my next house," says Carolyn.

Above: The table sits under a Bay tree, which they discovered is a natural mosquito repellent.

Above: The hammock is from the local hardware store spiffed up with a down mattress topper for sinking into.

Above: A wall of hula hoops add a graphic note to the side of the house.

Above: The entry to the garden from the living room.

Above: The front porch with an Attic Birdhouse by  Chad Wright Bird House that Carolyn bought at the Remodelista Market last December.

Above: A vignette with colored plastic balls from Target.

N.B. After 12 years, Carolyn and Jeff are building a house. Stay tuned for the outcome.

If you are interested in seeing more of Carolyn's work, check out our post on their Hourglass Winery Guest House.

I'm the first to remind friends that we've still got three weeks of summer to bask in, but in the garden there are signs of a shift in the season. As crops begin to go to seed, rather than bemoaning the end of the summer and yanking withered plants out of the earth, gather the precious seeds for next year. 

Abby Meadow from the Tend Collective grows heirloom vegetables in her Oregon garden. She captured photographs of her own seed saving endeavors and explains, "Growing seed can be simple and intuitive. Most plants, if let be, will do what they need to, to reproduce themselves. Typically, a plant will fruit, flower, set seed, and then wither away. As the plants wither, the seed dries up, falls off the plant and sows itself for germination at a favorable time.

"In most cases, this is exactly how to approach saving seed for your own deliberate use. Allow the plant to take its full course, and when the seeds are fully mature and dried on the plant, it's time to take them inside to store."

Here are Abby Meadow's step-by-step instructions for saving seeds:

Photographs by Abby Meadow.

Above: This sage plant has given its show of beautiful purple blooms. In each dried blossom is a small cluster of seeds. 

Above: Sage seeds, which are almost black, fall easily from the flower when they're ready to harvest.

Above: Calendula seed is ready to harvest when it rubs away from the flower head with ease. Calendula seeds are often still a bit green at this point and can be set aside to thoroughly dry before storage.

Above: Calendula seeds drying.

Above: Sometimes saving seeds can take patience, and a sacrifice of garden space. The Bull's Blood Beet plant shown above is a great example of this. In the stage of seed production pictured, it is about 5 feet tall, and a leggy, floppy sprawl (and it's been this way for several months).

Above: But when the beet seed is ready to harvest, it won't need to be saved again for a few years. A few unruly months yields a few years' worth of viable seed.

Above: Peas and beans are simply left on the vine until their pods are fully dried. Says Abby Meadow: "I make a rough determination of how many plants I'd like to grow the following year, and make sure to leave enough pods on the vine to accommodate my hopes for harvest. Once dried, the interior peas/beans can be removed and stored."

Above: Coriander (cilantro) seed is a delicious culinary addition when still green. But for seed harvest, it's best to allow the seeds to dry on the plant. The seeds can be used in cooking, or for planting in a new season. Cilantro flowers also add a delicate beauty to the garden bed and are loved by bees and other pollinating insects.

Above: Kale is another generous seed producer. One plant will grow enough seed to grow countless gardens full of kale. Allow the pods to dry on the plant, then snip them off and extract the seed. Honey bees are crazy for kale flowers, making them a great attraction for beneficial pollinators.

In addition to providing food for the future, Abby explains that "saving seeds also provides pollen for insects during periods of the year that can otherwise tend to be pretty sparse. When we save seeds, pollen-producing flowers are left on the plants for beneficial insects, extra seed can be left for the birds, and the cycle of food production can continue for us gardeners."

Looking for ways to store the seeds you've saved? See Store Your Own Seeds.

"One woman, one terrace, 92 recipes" is how Brooklyn gardener Marie Viljoen describes her brand-new cookbook.

Her tiny 66-square-foot edible garden, planted in containers on her fourth floor terrace, yields enough food for a year's worth of seasonal recipes. We'll be giving away a copy of her  cookbook to a reader. Read on for the rules:

Viljoen's 66 Square Feet: A Delicious Life tells the year-long story of how an urban garden grows, produces food, and changes each month. Illustrated by Viljoen's lush photographs. the book offers seasonal recipes the author has developed to take advantage of her own harvest.

Raised in South Africa and transplanted to Brooklyn, Viljoen is a keen observer of New York City—its gardens, its seasons, its secret forager's spots—and each chapter of her book includes recipes for a seasonal menu inspired by her surroundings.

We'll be giving away a hardcover copy of 66 Square Feet: A Delicious Life to a randomly selected reader. Here's how to enter:

• Subscribe to our Gardenista Newsletter and leave a comment below telling us about your own favorite garden-to-table recipe. (If you are already a Gardenista Newsletter subscriber, mention that when you leave a comment below.)
• The winner will be randomly selected on September 9, 2013—be sure to check back to see if you've run. (We'll announce the winner next week.)

Photographs via 66 Square Feet.

Above: Viljoen's 66 Square Feet: A Delicious Life is $17.97 from Amazon.

Above: April on Viljoen's terrace. "I snip and strew the first chives of the year over a celebratory boiled egg," writes Viljoen. Her other April recipes include Fava Bean Leaf and Pea Shoot Salad, Lamb Roasted with Ramps and Anchovies, and Apple and Rhine Riesling Soup.

Above: September on the terrace. "Chives are over a foot long and I cut handfuls of them to turn into evergreen oil to live in the fridge through the barren, chiveless months," Viljoen writes.

Above: Edible nasturtium, herbs, pea shoots, and pole tomatoes all can be grown in containers in a sunny spot.

For more of Viljoen's urban gardening tips, see 10 Secrets for Growing an Urban Balcony Garden.

Brooklyn blogger Marie Viljoen's brand-new cookbook 66 Square Feet: A Delicious Life has arrived on my doorstep just in time.

The pear tree in my backyard is an overachiever this year. I've canned pears, pear-walnut bread, and pear butter. Still the fruit keeps coming. Tonight's dessert: pears roasted in red wine, courtesy of 66 Square Feet: A Delicious Life ($17.97 from Amazon).

Read on for an ingredients list and step-by-step instructions.

Photographs via 66 Square Feet.

Marie Viljoen's Pears Roasted in Red Wine with Bay Leaves

serves 6

Ingredients:

• 12 small pears (or 6 large), peeled
• 2 cups red wine
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 10 black peppercorns
• 6 bay leaves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Halve and core the pears and arrange in a heavy pan or roasting dish. Add the wine, sugar, peppercorns, and bay leaves and place in the oven for two hours, occasionally spooning the wine over the pears. 

Serve hot, or cool.

Above: We're giving away a copy of Viljoen's new cookbook to a randomly selected reader. To enter, see Gardenista Giveaway: 66 Square Feet, a Delicious Life.

Struggling to find the perfect houseplant? When it comes to plants you'll share space with, emotions run high.

You may want a leafy houseplant, or maybe one that's small and tidy. Perhaps a tropical houseplant, or a hardy succulent. A houseplant you can't kill, even if you forget to water, or an indoor plant that will thrive in low light. 

Houseplants from large to small—including the World's Most Adorable—can be found in our photo gallery. Take your time and find your favorite, in Gardenista's Gallery of Houseplants.

Above: Tend a Tiny Herb Garden in your tiny apartment.

Above: Get out your tools and mount a Staghorn Trophy on the wall.

Above: Choose a Hardy Houseplant you can forget to water for a week. 

Above: Add some color while filtering The air.

Above: Or, grow Kitchen Vines, a la model Summer Rayne Oakes.

Find all these and more in Gardenista's Gallery of Houseplants.  

Whether you're saving them for yourself or giving them away as gifts, here are ten envelopes to help store your seeds this fall.

Above: Not designed with seeds in mind per se, these vertical envelopes with a string enclosure would make handsome seed packets. A set of six Midori Kraft Envelopes is available from Vetted for $8.

Above: Father Rabbit stocks classic Seed Envelopes with spaces to record seed type, variety, date collected, and notes. A set of 20 packets available for $15 NZD.

Above: For a rustic look, Handmade Paper Mini Envelopes are made from hand-pressed recycled paper. A set of 14 envelopes; available from Useless Paper for $9.50.

Above: The Seattle Seed Company sells packets of eight Seed Saving Envelopes for $4.95. Pre-printed spaces for record keeping include options for labeling seeds as organic, heirloom, hybrid, open-pollinated, hand-pollinated, and/or perennial. 

Above: Among the smallest of the bunch, these Itty Light Gray Coin Envelopes would be plenty big enough for most garden seeds. A pack of ten is available for $3 from Inkit.

Above: Classic manilla Seed Storage Envelopes designed by Burgon and Ball and for sale at William Sonoma; $9.95 for a packet of 20.

Above: Crisp white Paper Seed Envelopes lined for seed saving notes, 100 seed packets available for €7.90.

Above: Resealable Seed Saving Envelopes from Moonlight Mirco Farm have sift-proof corners and can be resealed from three to four times; 13 envelopes for $3.50.

Above: For a brighter option, E & M Heirloom Seeds gas colorful Seed Saving Envelopes screen-printed with spaces for recording seed type, date, and other notes; five envelopes available for $5.

Above: The largest envelope in the lineup, Red Cruisers Seed Saver Envelopes are $6 for a set of four.

To learn how to save seeds in the first place, see DIY: How to Save Seeds for Next Year.

If America's open space movement was born and gained its early momentum in northern California—and it was, and it did—then perhaps it should not come as a surprise to find 134 acres of the world's most glorious open space at the edge of the seashore a few miles north of San Francisco.

And yet, Slide Ranch takes your breath away. You approach from the south along the winding two lanes of Highway 1, and suddenly it's upon you—a sharp left turn and then the crunch of gravel and dirt under tires as you bump down to the beach. Tucked into the foggy furls of the Marin County hills are silvery gray barns, a rambling greenhouse, scrapwood cottages (for the live-in staff), and an organic garden gone crazy, under the influence of impossibly rich black soil and the cooling mists that roll in from the sea.

Photographs by Katie Newburn.

Slide Ranch is a teaching farm operating on the site of a former 19th century family farm, and it has 8,000 visitors a year—kids mostly, on field trips or at the ranch's summer camp—who come to work in the garden, collect the chickens' eggs, feed the ducks, or milk the goats. 

Funny to think that back in 1970, Slide Ranch was a dilapidated wreck and outpost for counterculture outlaws and drifters, owned by an absentee landlord with hopes of selling it to a hotel developer.

Instead, in 1970 a well-known environmental activist name Doug Ferguson, who also helped lead the fight against a planned development that would have destroyed the hilly southern peninsula of land known as the Marin Headlands, bought Slide Ranch and saved it.

For the full story of how the Headlands development plan got squashed and Marin County became the poster child for the open space movement, you can watch the documentary Rebels with a Cause (featuring Doug Ferguson).

 In the organic garden, under the care of garden manager Joanna Letz, ornamental and edible varieties are planted together, a feature of the French intensive gardening method to maximize productivity while minimizing irrigation.

Now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Slide Ranch is open to the public during daylight hours. Trails crisscross the property and the view of the ocean is grand.

Most of the buildings, including the greenhouse, are built from scraps, including bits of driftwood washed ashore on the beach. Everything is beat up, worn down, and grayed from the salt air; the buildings look as softened and comfortable as an old shirt. "This is harsh living out here," says Marika Bergsund, the ranch's executive director.

Live-in staff housing: tiny cottages built of scrap and driftwood have ocean views.

Slide Ranch's annual fundraising dinner, the Silver Trowel Awards Dinner, will be on Oct. 24. For more information, see Slide Ranch.

The inhabitants of the Duck Coop (Above), who usually enjoy free-range privileges, are currently on lockdown because a fox has been sighted skulking about.

Across the road from the Duck Coop, 40 chickens produce about 16 eggs a day.

The chickens get their wings clipped to keep them from literally flying the coop into fox territory.

Fresh eggs don't need refrigeration.

The outdoor kitchen (Above) has a pizza oven; campers and visitors use what's available—local eggs and the produce from the garden— to make lunch: frittatas, wraps in nasturtium leaves, rhubarb crisps, salads.

Container gardening at Slide Ranch means planting in recycled vessels—file cabinet drawers, old rubber boots, wheelbarrows, an abandoned sink.

Herbs in a bathtub (Above). "We want to show kids you can grow food anywhere," says Bergsund.

In the goat barn (Above) are 10 goats, 10 sheep, and five lambs. That's Amber, at the gate to say hello.

"The weather changes here dramatically in the course of a few hours," says Bergsund. Early morning fog gives way to sunshine by lunchtime in late summer.

Synchronized chewing (Above). 

Bye, Amber.

Planning a trip to Marin County, California? Wondering what to do after you arrive? See Hike of the Week: 7 Miles to Stinson Beach and Hike of the Week: Up to West Point Inn with Sadie.

You've toiled to reap a bounty from your garden. Don't let it drop now. Equip yourself with a trug to collect and carry your harvest. We've rounded up our favorite wooden and woven garden trugs to do the job.

What are our criteria? Light enough to cradle comfortably on your arm (or hang from a tree) for hands-free picking. Durable enough to withstand damp and dirt. Shallow and wide for collecting leafy vegetables, herb, and flowers; or, deep and sturdy for collecting tree fruits, potatoes, or other items that need containment. And, attractive enough to display your harvest indoors or serve double duty as a countertop holder for table linens or other kitchen essentials after the work is done. 

Wooden 

Above: The Sussex Garden Trug is handmade by Thomas Smith in East Sussex, England. This version is made of rot-resistant Sweet Chestnut and Cricket Bat Willow wood fastened with durable (and attractive) copper tacks and nails; $129 at Kaufmann Mercantile. 

Michelle demystifies the Classic Sussex Garden Trug and offers British-based sources. 

Above: Made in the US by a former shipbuilder, the Myrtlewood Garden Trug features copper hardware and measures 11 by 18 inches; $118 at Terrain.

Above: The double-handled round Wovenwood Garden Gathering Basket measures a generous 16 inches in diameter with 6-inch sides; $19.95 at the Tasteful Garden.

Above: Modeled after traditional Maine clam hods used to gather and rinse shellfish, the Pike's Original Maine Garden Hod is designed for harvesting and washing plants, fruits, and vegetables (and, rumored to be used for collecting vegetables from the White House Garden). Made in the US with an oak handle and food-grade PVC-coated wire body, it measures 19 inches in length; $44.95 at Maine Garden Products.

Above: The Geoffrey Fisher Bespoke Trug is made in Buckinghamshire, England of European redwood. Finished with food-safe eggshell paint, the 17.5-by-9.5-by-5-inch trug features a movable and removable handle; $99.95 at Williams Sonoma. 

Above: With a solid wood bottom, the Myrtlewood Bushel-Style Basket is strong enough to hold a generous load. It features a solid copper bale-style handle with a turned-wood grip; $69 for the quarter-bushel size at Barbers Baskets.

Woven

Above: The Large Wicker Gathering Basket features gently sloped ends and is 26 inches long. It's currently on sale for $59.99 (regularly $89.99) at Williams Sonoma. 

Above: Felicity Irons' Garden Trug is woven of British fresh water rush. The leather-handled basket measures 19.5 by 9 inches; £95 at David Mellor Design.

Above: Handwoven in Southern Ohio, the Weathered Westpy Gathering Basket measures 24 by 14 by 5 inches.  It's $84.90 at Bev's Baskets. 

Above: Keep your apples from crushing your herbs with a Natural Jute Garden Trug that features a center divider. The handwoven trug measures 10 by 17 by 3.5 inches and is $56 from Medina Baskets.  

Above: Individually woven from natural sea grass, a set of three leather-handled Harvest Baskets is $49.99 from Barebones.

Above: Perfect for gathering tree fruit, the 23.5-inch Harvest Basket features a rope and hook to hang from a tree or fence while you pick and load; $19.95 at Williams Sonoma. 

Now, how do we Pick That Fruit?

If you plant zucchini, you will eat zucchini. Every day. For weeks.

You will make zucchini bread, zucchini sauce for pasta, fried zucchini, sauteed zucchini, grated zucchini in eggs, and—around the time you reach the breaking point—zucchini and turkey burgers. Shouldn't you be eating the most flavorful variety?  

Costata romanesco is our favorite zucchini. For a lot of reasons. We like the pretty stripes, the nutty flavor, and the big yellow edible blossom on this Italian variety. 

Are you groaning under zucchinis this week? Tell us about your favorite zucchini recipe in the comments section below.

Above: Zucchini, broccoli, kohlrabi, and cucumbers from our friend Dee's Garden.

A packet of Organic Zucchini Costata Romanesco seeds is $2.75 from High Mowing Seeds. Pick it when the zucchini is blooming and eat the edible flower, as well. 

Low in calories, high in vitamins, and best eaten young (before it develops monster chewy seeds), zucchini has a high water content. After slicing or grating, let it drain for a few minutes before cooking unless you're making a dish to which you want to add moisture. For instance:

Above: I'm currently obsessed with the Spicy Turkey and Zucchini Burger recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem ($21 from Amazon), wherein adding grated zucchini to the ground meat mixture actually manages to make turkey burgers juicy and flavorful (a first).

For more, see 61 of our favorite Garden-to-Table recipes, including Blender Watermelon Gazpacho and Moroccan Preserved Lemons.

Labor Day might signify the unofficial end of summer for us humans, but our many-petaled friends know better than to think we've entered fall just yet. In New York, September means farmers' markets full to bursting with dahlias, zinnias, and sunflowers—not to mention a slew of tinier cutting flowers. Wearing riotous shades of fuchsia, magenta, green, and gold, September's farm flowers are not for the color shy.

I stopped by the prettiest stand at the Greenmarket last Friday and bought one of the expertly arranged bouquets made by the farmers at the Queens County Farm Museum. 

Above: The Queens County Farm Museum sells at the Union Square Greenmarket every Friday. You can expect similarly beautiful arrangements to be available for the next few weeks before the bouquets will take on decidedly more autumnal hues.

Above: What makes a beautiful farm bouquet? In this case, a rainbow of color and nearly as many textures.

Above: I decided to take home a bouquet and perform something of a dissection to determine the secret to farm bouquet success.

Above: At home, I snipped the ends off my bouquet to refresh the stems and to encourage them to drink water.

Above: First up, the bouquet relied on a smattering of focal flowers—larger varieties meant to steal the show—namely sunflowers, zinnias, and dahlias. These flowers are brightly colored for attracting attention, but they also grow on long, straight stems which make them easy to arrange. If you're planning next year's garden, these are similar varieties: 

• Sonja Sunflower Helianthus annuus, $3.45 from Johnny Selected Seeds
• Benary Giant Wine Zinnia elagans, $3.95 Johnny Selected Seeds
• Dahlia XXL Vera Cruz from White Flower Farm. 

Above: Next up, and no less important than the showstoppers, were the filler flowers: goldenrod, celosia, gomphrena globosa, gomphrena fireworks, and cosmos greens. The feathery texture and range of colors in the goldenrod, celosia, and gomphrena make them perfect for adding a pop of visual intrigue without looking too heavy. A stem or two of the airy leaves of cosmos will bulk up the bouquet and provide support for the larger stems without weighing them down. Here again, similar options to think about for next year: 

• Gomphrena fireworks, $4.99 from Summer Hill Seeds
• QIS Purple Gomphrena globosa, $3.45 Johnny's Selected Seeds
• Ruby Parfait Celosia argentia spicata, $3.95 Johnny's Selected Seeds
• Versailles Mix of Cosmos bipinnatus, $3.45 Johnny's Selected Seeds
• Goldenrod (Solidago), $4.99 Outside Pride.

Above: Added together, the bouquet makers focused on creating volume by varying the heights of the stems. Stems with tinier flowers poke up from the top, while the heavier blooms were kept toward the bottom of the arrangement.

Does the gomphrena look familiar? That's because it's in the same family as our beloved superfood.

For tips on growing your own cutting flowers see 12 Tips for Growing Cutting Flowers from Barberry Hill Farm.

See more adventures in floral arranging and our bouquets of the week. 

Japanese designers "[ 10¹² ]" understand that there's more to plants than what happens above the surface. Their Terra Hydro vases are modeled on terrariums, but they're designed with the express purpose of allowing plants to show off their roots. We like to think of it as artful hydroponics.

Above: No soil required, these vases are designed for plants whose roots will grow directly in water.

Above: The Terra Hydro comes in five different sizes to accommodate a whole collection of specimens.

Above: For more information about the designers head to Japanese Products Trading; to purchase, visit the Japanese e-commerce 10¹² site.

For a homegrown version, start your own bulbs in glass bottles.

At the Deer Isle Hostel in Maine, guests sign up for more than a typical escape from reality. The Deer Isle Hostel is located on an island that's just a bridge span away from the mainland, but for guests of the hostel the experience offers a glimpse into a way of life that might seem worlds away from business as usual. Named Homesteaders of the Year by Mother Earth News, owners Dennis and Anneli contend that more than just a good night's sleep, they offer guests the opportunity to enjoy an alternative way of life that "simple, rewarding and dignifying."

Photos by Anneli Carter-Sundqvist for Deer Isle Hostel

Above: Dennis and Anneli live year-round in a 17th century-style farmhouse that Dennis built from the ground up using hand tools and local materials (including the granite used in the traditional stone foundation). The three-story structure is based on the 1687 Boardman House in Saugus, Massachusetts and includes private and dorm-style rooms for guests.

Above: From the inside looking out at the homestead's impressive vegetable garden. Dennis and Anneli raise their own pigs and chickens and can and ferment their garden goods for year-round nourishment.

Above: A cabbage from the hostel garden. Guests staying at the hostel can enjoy a nightly communal meal grown and prepared on site. Guests are expected to participate in the meal, either by bringing a contribution of their own (olive oil, coffee, tea, and wine are welcome additions) or by helping in the prep or cleanup.

Above: The hostel embraces life off the grid and encourages guests to do the same. Water is hand-pumped from a well on the property and solar panels power electric lights, but the hostel goes without refrigeration, instead relying on their granite cellar to keep perishables cool. For guests seeking creature comforts, the hostel provides heated water and a metal watering can that can be hoisted and tipped for showering. Toilets are no-flush but odor-free. All bedding is provided by the hostel.

Above: The newly-built Spruce Hut, available for $60/night single or double occupancy.

Above: Bikes are available for guests to use; opportunities for kayaking, canoeing, and hiking also abound on Deer Isle and the surrounding mainland and coastal islands in Penobscot Bay.

The Deer Isle Hostel is open seasonally from May through the beginning of September. Rates are generally $25/person or $30/person for a private room. Call 207.348.2308 or email info@deerislehostel.com for more information. 

Interested in heading off-the-grid yourself? See Laura's tips for Growing Vegetables in the Middle of Nowhere. Just looking for a place to spend the night? Earn Your Wilderness Stripes at the Minam River Lodge.

The French word for "mule" is easy to translate (la mule), rather like "le weekend," which is when you are most likely to use La Mule. As its name implies, this wooden barrow from France is a hard worker and will carry out a variety of unrelated tasks. Unlike a mule, it is ravishingly good-looking.

As an amateur gardener, La Mule creator Jean-Baptiste Cachera was frustrated by the workman-like barrows on the market, which lacked beauty or versatility. Blessed with an "esprit d'enterprise," Cachera got together with a carpenter friend and they came up with a traditional yet modern chestnut wheelbarrow. In his words (and I translate) it is "aesthetic, multi-functioning, light, and ergonomic."

Photographs via La Mule except where noted.

Above: Removable partitions help to save your tools from ending up in the compost. The basic wheelbarrow or "brouette" is 830€ including VAT, as is the cart. 

Above: Removable sides, for bulky work. The large wide wheels are kind to the lawn. 

Above: The cart, or "carriole," prefers to be at a picnic but is happy to help out in the garden. Photograph by James Corbett.

Above: Both the barrow and the cart are surprisingly lightweight. The cart (above) is made from chestnut and aluminum and has an attachment for bicycles. A non-plastic trailer for the market, or visits further afield. 

Above: The cart becomes the most comfortable seat around. Photograph by Jean-Baptiste Cachera.

N.B.: This is an update of a post published Oct. 8, 2012.

The iTunes store is not making things easy with its mind numbing array of garden design apps—all of which promise to change your life.  We sifted through the clutter, tested a ton, and came up with ten apps that actually do what they say they do:

Photographs by Michelle Slatalla.

1. Garden Designer, $9.99 from Artifact Interactive

• Lay out a garden by tapping on and moving around a host of symbols:  plants, buildings, paths, ponds, garden furniture etc.  For instance, open the list of trees and choose "small," "leafy," "fruit tree large" or lots of other options.  Tap on the circular green tree symbol and move it to a grid.  Tap again and a blue box appears around your choice.  Spread it with your fingers to enlarge it or pinch it in to make it smaller (takes practice: one of my circles elongated into an oval and refused to return to round, forcing me to delete it and start over). The app will give you the dimensions of the objects you add—but you have to keep track of whether it will all fit.   

2. iScape—Design Your New Surroundings, $9.99 from Home Revivals

• Improve the curb appeal of your house and have fun doing it.  Take a picture of your home (or your backyard) with your iPhone or iPad. Then landscape it; iSpace offers all sorts of plants, planters, and "textures" (lawns, pavers, mulch, gravel, water, tar etc.)  that you can add to your photo. One tap on a picture of a tree or shrub gives you cultivation information, two taps adds it to the photo. After you finish, you can save it to an album, print it, or email it.  This app is intuitive and great fun to use.  However, the image database is limited and I was never able to view the choices in "Hardscapes" because when I tried (numerous times) to download that category, the app crashed. 

3. Garden Plan Pro, $9.99 from Growing Interactive

• Aimed at the serious vegetable, fruit and herb gardener, this app helps plan for next year's harvest. Fortunately there is a video tutorial to get you started, because the app has many features and, on first look, does not seem intuitive. It will find your location and keep track of plants to grow in your climate and when to plant them. With free registration at gardenplanpro.com, you can keep track of your garden, store a backup plan, and receive email planting reminders. Save up to five years of garden information, including notes about your successes and failures. It will remember where you have planted your crops and alert you if you need to rotate something to a different location.

 

4. Florafolio—Native Plants of the North East, $3.99 from Holi Moli Media

 

• Marnie Majorelle, of the Brooklyn garden design firm Alive Structures, recommended this app to me and says it's helpful if you use native plants.  It is a compendium of plants which you can browse or search by specific criteria.  Plants are organized by trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, ferns, and vines.  You can search by a long list of characteristics including growing conditions (sun exposure, water needs, USDA zone); flower color; leaf shape; autumn foliage color; wildlife benefit ("attracts butterflies"), and season of interest.  There is an easy-to-use notes section where you can write comments about a plant and there is a handy "favorites" section. 

5. The Landscaper's Companion—Plant and Garden Reference Guide, $6.99 from Stevenson Software

• Another compendium like Florafolio, this app can help you make and organize plant lists for yourself or your clients. Manhattan Garden designer Bruce James of  City/Country Gardeners says he uses this app even though he found the search function somewhat difficult to get used to.  The Landscaper's Companion offers an extensive database of plants (it claims 26,000) you can search by various criteria including size, color, cultivation requirements, and resistance to deer. As with Florafolio, there is a "favorites" file for organizing plant selections.  You can also email plant lists and individual plant fact sheets... a very handy way for the professional gardener to communicate with clients. To add your own pictures, you have to upgrade to the $9.99 "Professional" version. 

 

6. Dirr's Tree and Shrub Finder, $14.99 from Timber Press

• Several garden designers recommended this app to me, which is not surprising since Michael Dirr is a rock star of the horticulture world. His exhaustive The Manual of Woody Landscape Plants ($67.41 at Amazon) is revered and universally depended upon by serious gardeners.  The app is based on the classic book and purports to cover 9,400 woody plants including trees, shrubs, vines, and ground covers.  The photos are excellent. Tap on Aesculus parviflora, Bottlebrush Buckeye, and you get a choice of three varieties. Tap on the photo of the species and you get six larger pictures, including an amazing closeup of the flower. However, not every entry is illustrated.  Aesculus chinensis, Chinese Buckeye, is one of many with no picture.  It's disappointing, and I'm hoping this will be corrected in updates. Like Landscaper's Companion, it has a favorites tool and you can email plant info.  I found the search function rather mysterious and would have appreciated some instructions.

7. Foolproof Plants for Small Gardens, $2.99 from Sutro Media

• This specialized app lists fewer than 100 plants, all handpicked to work in a small garden.  There is an informative introduction page which tells you what information is included about each plant and describes how the search function should be used (Dirr app designers, take note).  Type in "Echinacea" and you get Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower. Tap on the photo and you get two other shots, all with the photographer's name noted in the bottom left corner. Along with the usual cultivation tips there is a pronunciation guide and a link to an online nursery where you can buy the plant.

8. Garden Tracker-Bumper Crop, $3.99 from Portable Databases

• This app is for the vegetable gardener.  It will help you create a graphic illustration of your bed, showing which crops you have planted. You can choose from the pre-loaded list of vegetables with their growing information or add other plants or varieties of your own.  After you set up the garden, you can input dates for watering, fertilizing, and harvesting.  There is a "Pests" feature with a (non-searchable) list of more than 50 insects and diseases common to vegetable gardens.  Unfortunately the photos are quite small, which is frustrating because many pests resemble each other.  In what appears to be compensation for that shortcoming, there are links to posts with more information on Wikipedia and Google.

9. Gardening Toolkit HD, $3.99 from Applied Objects

• This app lets you select plants from a database and move them into up to four virtual gardens.  Because there is no feature to record the dimensions of your actual space, these "gardens" are really just lists of plants.  In the database is information about a plant's cultivation needs, but when you add it to your garden most of the cultivation information disappears.  It is frustrating to have to go back to the database every time you want to know more about the plant, although there is a space for making notes. When you add a plant, the app automatically lists the current date as the planting date. This is confusing if you are planning a garden that you will plant later.

10. Perennial Match, $4.99 from Harmony Systems, Inc.

• This app contains an easily accessed database of perennials, but its real purpose is to allow you to see how plants look together.  You select from a long list that includes a lot of natives and place them in a template that shows their photos side by side.  Tap the data button and it will display the requirements for each plant in adjoining columns for easy comparison.  If you can't find the plant you want, it is not difficult to add a photo of it as long as you know both its Latin and common names.  The template will only allow a maximum of three plants to be compared at one time, which some users may find limiting.

By the way, if the idea of taking your beautiful, shiny iPad out into the garden with its dirt and water hazards fills you with dread, here's a tip.  Seal it up in a plastic bag.  It will stay clean and dry and still respond to your touch.

Want to ID plants and leaves on the fly? See Identify Leaves and Flowers (There's an iPhone App for That). 

For more, see The Top 10 Gardening Apps You Need Now.

When I walked into the MUJI SOMA store in San Francisco the other day and saw the Mobile Garden House on display, I forgot my shopping list and started fantasizing about my new tiny backyard studio on wheels. 

The Mobile Garden House by Japanese architect and artist Kyohei Sakaguchi came to life in San Francisco this summer during a DIY workshop at the J-Pop Summit Festival (a Japanese pop-culture street fair).  Sustainable, economical and elegantly functional, the Mobile Garden House is part of Sakaguchi's ongoing Zero Yen House art project inspired by homeless people's structures built on the streets of Tokyo. 

Thought provoking in its intent, the Mobile Garden House is also inspiring as a DIY project concept.  Building a simple shed on wheels using minimal materials, many reclaimed and recycled, is a great model for a playhouse, greenhouse, storage shed, meditative retreat, or tiny guest quarters. 

Photos by New People via Flickr. 

Above: The Mobile Garden House was on exhibit at MUJI SOMA store in San Francisco. 

Above: The Mobile Garden House was constructed using a simple shed design with wood siding and reclaimed windows.

Above: The compact interior furnished with a small sofa, mats, and a table create a peaceful retreat. 

Above: An abundance of reclaimed windows pulls light into the tiny space.

Above: Potted plants as a green roof.

Above: The Mobile Garden House DIY Workshop in progress at the J-Pop Summit in San Francisco this summer. 

Want to try building one yourself? Wood scraps and reclaimed windows come to life in another Garden Shed Made From Scraps.