We recently received the following question: I am a home vegetable/herb gardener in San Diego.  I have only been growing for three years, so I am still learning.  I tried to grow cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage last cool season and they looked so wonderful.  I harvested them and got ready to cook, and they were FULL of aphids!  What a disappointment.  I spoke to my local nursery, Walter Anderson, and they advised me to “just give up growing cole crops organically.”  Well, I just refuse to believe that!  Can you help me with some tips on controlling aphids on my cole crops here in San Diego?  I'm in Sunset climate zone 23. Thanks, Jennifer Boles

For the answer, we contacted Nick Sakovich and here are this thoughts.

I wouldn't give up. There are some things to do: The two main organic insecticides you can use are horticultural oils, including neem oil, and soap sprays. These will do a decent job. Spraying when you first see the problem, i.e. when the aphid population is low, is best. Other organic insecticides that can be used -- but are more toxic to humans and beneficial insects -- are the pyrethrins (derived from the chrysanthemum flower) and rotenone. One should always read the labels to make sure the product is registered to be applied to that particular crop. When spraying with insecticides, repeat applications are needed since the sprays usually do not control all stages of the insect’s life cycle. Labels usually recommend at least two applications at 5 - 7 days apart.

Other options (click "read more" for rest of article):

Downtown Dallas is not exactly the place you’d expect to find an organic kitchen garden -- but find it you will at The Fairmont Dallas. The garden was created by Executive Chef jW Foster (pictured, right), who started working for the hotel in the fall of 2007 and by spring of 2009 had built a 3,000-square-foot kitchen garden on the terrace level as part of his reopening of the hotel’s Pyramid Restaurant & Bar.

The garden includes benches and other seating so guests can sit and enjoy the space – or they can go further and take one of the cooking classes taught by Chef Foster or go even further and help plant and harvest the produce and then work with chefs to turn that produce into a signature menu creations, something the hotel is working into a package for next spring.

We recently talked to Chef Foster about putting in the gardens, what he’s learned and how he’s using the produce in his kitchen. He was also kind enough to share a recipe for one of the chutneys they make in-house – this one is tomato-apricot. (Click “read more” to continue.)

At the end of 2009, we caught up again with Chef Marc McDowell at the Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, who, as you may recall from previous posts, put in an extensive kitchen garden on the grounds of the resort. Echoing the feelings of many a new gardener, Chef McDowell said he spent the year alternatively exhilarated -- when his crops did well -- and disappointed -- when pests invaded. “I have never felt so hopeless than those times when I see total devastation, but when I see something doing well it’s a real feeling of pride,” said McDowell, who said gardening has become a real passion for him. We discussed the similarities between gardening and cooking – and how they both involve trusting your intuition a bit. “It's a feeling. If you think it’s going to taste good, it’s probably going to taste good. And if you think a plant needs water, it probably does,” said McDowell.

McDowell’s goal for the new year is to take what he’s learned and become more proactive. “I’ll adjust when I put certain vegetables in and try to be more ahead of the game instead of just reacting,” said McDowell, who’s been selected for the 2010 University of Hawaii Maui Master Gardener Training Program. The program begins on January 20 -- right around the same time his wife is due to give birth to their second child.

Chef McDowell sent along a recipe for a corn-and-lemongrass veloute – which he describes as a great soup that combines Hawaiian and Southwestern tastes and is made using ingredients right out of the garden. “It’s a chicken-stock-based soup that thickens itself because of the corn,” said McDowell. “We add crab to make it our signature soup.” (Click "read more" for recipe.)