Squash Harvest & Storage Tips

What fall dinner table would be complete without a delicious winter squash dish? Harvesting and curing squash takes time, patience, and a little know-how.  Just because the squash has the correct coloration does not necessarily mean that its flesh will taste delicious.  If fruits are harvested too soon, they will not have optimal flavor. Their flavor comes from the conversion of starch into sugar and this process is best attained by proper curing and storage after fruits have reached their maturity in the garden. When To Harvest Squash Marking your garden calendar when your squash first sets fruit is the […]

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Fall Gardening: End Of Season Tasks

Fall brings shorter days, cooler temperatures, and time to enjoy the bounty of the gardening season. Taking care of some garden tasks in the fall is an excellent way to ensure the garden is at its best for the upcoming spring season. Fall Garden Cleanup As vegetable plants decline, they can be pulled up and added to the compost pile, tilled into the garden to break down, or pulled up and covered with organic mulch. Any plants showing signs of disease or infection are best disposed of or burned to reduce the chances of disease organisms overwintering and promoting problems […]

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Fall Planting: Garlic

Garlic is one of the best vegetables for fall planting. It is easy-to-grow, but has a somewhat long season, as it is not harvested until the following summer. Don’t let the delay in harvest put you off from planting this fantastic addition to the vegetable garden. When To Plant Garlic For best yields, garlic is most commonly planted in the fall. Garlic can be planted as late as 4 to 6 weeks before the ground freezes. Even in cold climates, garlic is hardy enough to overwinter and resume growth the following spring. If the weather after planting is mild, garlic shoots may emerge […]

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Seed Saving: 4 Important Questions To Consider Before Starting

Saving seeds sounds like a really positive and simple thing to do. It can be rewarding and helpful, but a conscious decision needs to be made way in advance if you are going to grow plants that you can collect seed from.  Especially if you are talking about saving vegetable seeds. You will generally want very opposite traits from those plants you choose to grow primarily for consumption. What Seeds Should You Save? Don’t bother saving from hybrids – F1 hybrid offspring don’t come true to type or their seeds are often, just plain sterile. Plants listed as OP – […]

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Fall Gardening Guide: Tips To Get Your Fall Vegetable Garden Started

Every year, gardeners rejoice at the arrival of the fall planting season. Many newer gardeners do not know that almost anything you plant in spring, can also be planted in fall. Fall planting is best for plants that can withstand light frosts, grow well in short daylight, and prosper in mild temperatures. Whether you’re planting flowers, vegetables, or fruit this fall, follow these expert tips and you’ll have healthier plants. 5 Tips For Fall Gardening Know Your Gardening Zone Before planting you should check planting zones to ensure your garden achieves maximum success. These gardening zones will help you determine […]

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Summer Vegetable Gardening: Common Problems & Solutions

We know this time of year the weather can get hot. For us, we can stay cool by being indoors but what about our vegetable plants? Problems With Higher Temperatures High temperatures can wreak havoc in our gardens. Do you have radishes producing all greens and no bulbous roots? It’s the heat.  Do you have lettuce or broccoli plants pushing up bloom stalks? They are bolting from the heat. The solution to these couple of examples is simple, plant earlier in the spring and replant additional crops for fall harvest. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Gardening is tough enough to […]

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How To Prevent Yellow Shoulder Disorder On Tomatoes

Tomatoes are fun and rewarding to grow. There can be challenges along the way such as diseases and pests. Two of the most common tomato disorders you will likely battle are Blossom-End Rot and Yellow Shoulder (sometimes called Green Shoulder). This article will help you learn how to identify Yellow Shoulder, how to prevent it, and what tomato varieties to choose that are less susceptible to Yellow Shoulder. Disease vs Disorder The first thing to know is Yellow Shoulder is not a disease; it is a disorder. It is an important distinction to make because 99% of disorders can be […]

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How To Prevent Bolting In Vegetable Crops

Why is my broccoli making flowers instead of nice round heads?  Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and Brussels sprouts are all Cole crops. They perform best in the cool temperatures of early spring vs other warm-weather summer garden vegetables like tomato, pepper, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, and such. Sometimes Cole crops will bolt before we can harvest. Can we prevent bolting? Read on to learn how to prevent bolting in Cole crops. What Is Bolting? Bolting is blooming. The flowering of many winter annual and biennial Cole crops is influenced by complex interactions between temperature, day length, and stresses of various kinds. […]

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Easy To Grow Salsa Garden

Cinco de Mayo is a holiday celebrated in the United States and some parts of Mexico to honor the military victory at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Celebrating in the United States, usually involves families and friends gathering together to eat some delicious Mexican foods. What better way to celebrate than with fresh salsa grown in your very own garden. Salsa gardens are fairly easy to grow and can be an enjoyable activity for the whole family. Nothing beats fresh vegetables and herbs used to create your favorite salsa. Concerned about having room for your salsa garden? You can […]

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6 Gardening Activities For Earth Day

For everyone around the world, we experienced hardship and loss in 2020. On April 22, 2021, the world will come together to celebrate our resilience and strength for Earth Day. The theme this year is Restore Our Earth™. What can you do to contribute to making our Earth a greener, healthier place to live? For gardeners, it can start in our own gardens and backyards. Start A Compost Pile Composting is a great way to recycle and reuse your waste products by turning them into organic matter to be used in your garden. Your garden and environment will greatly benefit […]

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