Lets be clear from the beginning: growing vegetables in containers is not the same as putting a pot of geraniums in the sun. So many families are doing this that, thankfully, there is a growing amount of excellent information in print and on the Internet about how to do it successfully. Thus, almost any container can be retrofitted to be a plantable container: a work boot can host a salad of several cutting herbs or lettuce or radishes; an old wheelbarrow can hold peppers, perhaps a...

miller / Arizona Daily Star 2005 More Photos (2): Buckelew Farms as wildlife habitat Non-farmed areas contain grassland now dominated by velvet mesquite, desert broom, burroweed, snakeweed, cholla cacti and graythorn that have invaded the area due to past grazing practices and climate changes. miller / Arizona Daily Star 2005 More Photos (2): Buckelew Farms as wildlife habitat Non-farmed areas contain grassland now dominated by velvet mesquite, desert broom, burroweed, snakeweed, cholla...

It s not yet clear, though, that growing canola or other oilseed crops would make economic sense for California, which produces some of the nation s most valuable vegetables. LOS ANGELES -- California farmers are hoping to strike oil vegetable oil, that is with a series of experimental trials involving crops that can be processed into biodiesel, an increasingly sought-after fuel squeezed from oilseed plants. Other farmers are eyeing oilseed plants as a cover crop that might improve soil...

The project will include education seminars for growers, printing of a farmers market guide, advertising, signage and mini-grants to local farmers' markets. North Dakota Farmers' Market and Growers Association, $18,431, to increase interest in vegetable production among young people, provide growers with access to new plant varieties and provide a source of income for the association. Northarvest Bean Growers Association, $19,850, to develop a scientific advisory council to advise the...

The value of other crops--soybeans, cotton, wheat, rice and vegetable crops--also will likely climb as farmers switch to corn and cash in on prices as high as $4. In the past six months, the rush to produce more corn-based ethanol has doubled the grain's value, increasing costs for foods that include corn as an ingredient or rely on it as animal feed. Department of Agriculture said in January that if corn prices rise by $1 a bushel, grocery shoppers should see the price of pork rise about...