January is the perfect time of year to plan for the kitchen garden of your dreams, no matter how much space you're working with. In this month's lesson, Cynthia walks us through her thought process as she approaches planning and goal setting in the Kitchen Garden display beds here at the Farm.

This month, we're building upon the foundation we laid in January and tackling a few to-do list items before the primary growing season arrives, from preparing the soil in our garden beds to starting a few seeds, taking care of any winter pruning, and even planting a handful of early crops.

Get out your garden journal and get ready to delve into the principles and practices of succession planting. In March, Cynthia teaches us how to make efficient use of our garden space (and the growing season) to maximize our harvest so that we can further refine our plans for our kitchen gardens this year.

Take a deep dive into the wonderful world of herbs this month, from an exploration of their culinary and medicinal value to their role as companion plants in our vegetable gardens and beyond — plus a spotlight on rosemary with our very own Juan Posadas, a student of herbalism who distills his own essential oils.

As we wrap up our final succession plantings of cool weather veggies and greens, we're making room for cucumbers, melons, beans, squash, zucchini, peppers, and — everyone's favorite — tomatoes! Nothing beats the taste of a juicy, ripe tomato harvested from your very own garden, and Cynthia is here with tips to make sure this year's crop is the best you've ever grown.

This month, we officially welcome the start of summer, which means that — if you haven’t already — it’s time to plant your summer veg! As we harvest our remaining cool-weather crops, we're fully transitioning over to summer fruits and veggies, with an eye towards the principles of succession planting.

In the heat of summer, keeping the our kitchen gardens (and ourselves!) hydrated is more critical than ever to maximizing our harvests. For this month's lesson, Cynthia is outlining her top tips for summer watering to help us out.

As the harvest comes rolling in this month, there's plenty to keep us busy in our kitchen gardens! In this lesson, we're following our lead kitchen gardener, Cynthia DuVal, through the display gardens at Cornell Farm as she harvests herbs, veggies, and fruits to create a beautiful — and delicious — harvest basket.

We're walking around the Farm with Cynthia as she talks about some of the many options for preserving the backyard bounty we're harvesting. And we're looking ahead to fall garden tasks to come, from harvesting our late succession plantings to cleaning up the garden, and tending to our strawberry patches at the end of the season.

While we may be winding down for the year, that doesn't mean there isn't anything to be done in our gardens for the remainder of fall and winter. Our lead kitchen gardener, Cynthia DuVal, has tips for fall garden cleanup, soil amendment, and planting select crops — or cover crops — that will overwinter happily in our gardens.