Our Permaculture programming is Growing! ​ The Permaculture Design Certification program is underway and we are brimming with new participants and new events. Many students seek out the permaculture classes due to their interest in sustainability, self resilience, growing smarter and in a changing climate of uncertainty.  We now offer more events to learn about […] The post Our Permaculture programming is Growing! appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more

Frost Tolerance of Vegetables By Bob Randall, Updated January 2024 With our first frost and hard freeze of the year fore-casted for Mon, Jan15th through Tu, Jan16th, it is time for extra protection of tropical plants and harvesting all of your crops. Usually, staring in early fall, it pays to keep an eye on nighttime […] The post Frost Tolerance of Vegetables appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more

Hurricane Preparedness in the Garden: Pt. 3 Part 3 of a 4-part seriesBy Bob Randall, Ph.D Trees start getting seriously damaged by high winds generally at about a Cat 2 Hurricane force of 96 mph. But they hit the coast at this speed or higher every 20 years on average. Fortunately, most of the Houston […] The post Hurricane Preparedness in the Garden, Pt. 3 appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more

Basic permaculture tells us that in flat humid areas, we should not select housing or gardens at the bottom of the hill because water runs downhill, and flooding will happen eventually. It should be no surprise that many of our freeways are built on the watershed highpoint between bayous, but it is surprising that many don’t realize where the hill bottoms are. The post Hurricane Preparedness in the Garden, Pt. 2 appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more

Pollination not only occurs in Nature but also at Urban Harvest ? With the idea of building an organization that mimicked nature, in the early days of Urban Harvest, our funders adopted one of the building blocks of Permaculture, the concept of Stacking Functions. Through Stacking Functions, each of our programs was designed to imitate […] The post Pollination not only occurs in nature but also at Urban Harvest. appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more

All Roads Lead to Rome. Good Food Leads to Urban Harvest. Individuals who support our mission through donations and ticket purchases share our commitment to a more sustainable and resilient food system in Houston.  On Saturday, October 29, Urban Harvest celebrated its Annual Fall Festival at Houston’s signature Saturday Farmers Market. As part of our activities […] The post All Roads Lead to Rome. Good Food Leads to Urban Harvest. appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more

Summer Tomato To Do’s For Fall Bounty Our tomato season was cut short thanks to the heat wave we’ve suffered. Usually, we can produce up until Fourth of July but not this year. Once it is this hot, tomatoes won’t set fruit any longer. The best we can do is keep an eye on any […] The post Growing tomatoes in a challenging environment appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more

By Justin Duncan. I have had many Allium adventures, growing them from seeds, from sets, and found in the grocery store. In fact, one of the things that help get me hooked on growing things as a child was snatching a sprouting onion from my mother’s kitchen, planting it, and to see it develop into three distinct onion plants. Propagation was always such a fascinating concept to me.   The post Adventures in Alliums appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more

Hurricane Preparedness in the Garden: Pt. 4 Part 4 of a 4-part series By Bob Randall, Ph.D. Our summers have been getting hotter. Most plants stop growing at 90˚ F or even lower.  Our early summer planted vegetables like sweet potatoes and okra will grow, and pears will survive because nights and mornings are cooler.  […] The post Hurricane Preparedness in the Garden: Pt. 4 appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more

By Angela Chandler Not all insects are pests. Many insects in and about our gardens are termed beneficial insects. Truthfully, all insects are beneficial to the environment. However, when a gardener uses the term, we are referring to a beneficial partnership we have with that insect – something that helps our gardens in some way. The post Put out a welcome sign for insects – The Insectary Garden appeared first on Urban Harvest ..read more