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Viruses represent some of the toughest diseases to manage in cucumber, squash, pumpkin, and melon plants. Often the disease doesn’t kill but does reduce the size and number of leaves, which in turn decreases fruit production. Cucumber mosaic, cucumber green mottle mosaic, watermelon mosaic, zucchini yellow mosaic, and squash mosaic are some of the viruses... Continue Reading →
Do you have beautiful herbs in your garden and want to preserve them for use this winter? August and September are the time to get started drying your herbs. Harvest herb stems for drying from stems that are in the bud stage, but have not yet flowered. This is the stage at which leaves contain the highest amount... Continue Reading →
Have you ever thought about saving seeds from your own vegetable garden to grow next year? It can certainly be done and isn’t as hard as you might think. However, before you get started there are a few important things to keep in mind when selecting plants from which to save seeds. Avoid Hybrid Plants Many, if... Continue Reading →
Due to extremely frequent spring rains, some vegetable gardeners may not have been able to plant all the vegetables they would have liked. You might think “vegetable gardens can only be planted in spring, right?” Wrong – you can go on planting vegetables throughout summer and even into August if you choose your crops and... Continue Reading →
As a long-lived perennial, it's not uncommon for asparagus plants to live for 12-15 years or longer. So it's worth your time to take care of your plants, keeping the crowns healthy and vigorous to ensure a bountiful harvest each year. Follow these steps to ensure the health of your asparagus and next year's crop. Time to... Continue Reading →
Gardeners enjoy the beauty and fragrance of flowers, but from a plant’s standpoint flowers have one very basic and essential function – to ensure the production of seeds and thus the next generation. For a plant to produce seeds its flowers must be pollinated, either through self-pollination or cross-pollination, and most plants have evolved to... Continue Reading →
Earlier this spring, we looked at three ornamental plants promoted this year by the National Garden Bureau – dahlia, snapdragon and hybrid sage, Salvia nemorosa. It’s getting warm enough now (at least most days!) that we can begin planting their final “Year of the…” feature – pumpkin. Pumpkins are a fun plant to grow, especially when gardening with... Continue Reading →
One of the most easily recognized insects in the home landscape is the white grub. Almost every gardener has seen white grub larvae in the soil, while installing new plants or tilling the vegetable garden. The term "white grub" actually encompasses the larval stage of several scarab beetles, the most common, and most damaging, being... Continue Reading →
Even though this year’s flooding occurred in March before most garden crops were in the ground, there is still cause for concern when considering harvesting perennial crops and planning this year’s garden. Flood waters many be contaminated by any combination of sewage, river or creek water, farm run-off or industrial pollutants. Bacteria, parasites, viruses and... Continue Reading →
Spring has officially begun. That doesn’t mean we should get overly excited and go clean up our beds just yet, this winter has been long and cold so don’t get too ready for spring. However, Asparagus will soon be emerging from past years plantings and new plantings can soon be started. Planting Asparagus is a... Continue Reading →
This year All-America Selections announces four national vegetable award winners. To see pictures of these and other great plants visit the All-America Selection website. Pepper ‘Just Sweet’ is a small golden-yellow snacking pepper, that resembles a miniature bell pepper. Each fruit is 3-inches long, deliciously sweet, with nice thick walls. Many judges conduct consumer taste tests and... Continue Reading →
Thanksgiving is a holiday that is quintessentially American (or North American, since our Canadian friends also have their own Thanksgiving). A commemoration of not only the arrival and survival of the pilgrims in Plymouth in 1621, but of our thankfulness for what we have. It is a time for us to gather with family or... Continue Reading →
