by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jan 14, 2011 | lettuce
Mixed lettuce plants photo by Rameshng Lettuce is another one of those cool weather crops. It does not grow well when it gets over 75 degrees, especially for the varieties that make heads. In my area of Texas, we plant lettuce in the first part of February. That...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jan 10, 2011 | spinach
Spinach in the field Spinach likes cool weather. It has grown in popularity and more and more people are planting it. However, it is somewhat temperamental to grow. Spinach will tolerate temperatures as low as 20 degrees but bolts and produces seed when it gets...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 20, 2010 | book review
One of the best ways to get locally adapted seeds is to obtain seeds from someone in the area who has saved them. That works the first year. What do you do after that? Well, you save your own seeds from a small percentage of the vegetables. Sounds simple, but it can...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 16, 2010 | gardening101
Companion planting is planting two plants together so that both grow better. In some cases, the second plant is bait for the pests that would otherwise plague the first, more desirable, plant. Before chemical pesticides were available, companion planting was used as...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 8, 2010 | Asparagus
Green and White Asparagus White asparagus is considered a delicacy. It has a milder flavor than green asparagus. White asparagus is preferred in gourmet cooking. It is also expensive. Here is how to grow your own. Blanched In Darkness White asparagus is grown just...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 5, 2010 | peppers
Ghost Pepper We all know that some peppers are hotter than others. Bell peppers and banana peppers are called sweet peppers. Jalapenos and various other peppers are called hot peppers. The compound that makes peppers hot is capsaicin. The amount of capsaicin in...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 4, 2010 | dogs
Amber, or Mi-Ste Lambda’s Amber Wave, as she was officially known, died Friday, December 3rd, 2010 in my arms. She was in pain and I could not stand to see her suffer. Enough about her death, here is the record of her life. Amber’s Breeder When...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 3, 2010 | gardening101
Napa Cabbage Do you evaluate your vegetable garden each year? How does it do? I don’t mean if it is an A student, but how does the amount of work put into the garden balance out with the amount of produce that comes out of the garden. Since most people plan...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Nov 26, 2010 | habitat restoration
Mason Bee Almost everyone has heard that the honey bee is in trouble due to some combination of factors that makes the hive collapse. Many people report having trouble with improperly pollinated plants as a result. The mason bee is a bee native to the...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Nov 23, 2010 | gardening101
I end a lot of my articles with instructions to consult your local Extension agent for specific information. Living in rural Texas most of my life, it never occurred to me to explain just what an Extension agent was and how to find the office nearest you. Not, that...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Nov 22, 2010 | gardening101
Diseased leaf We have all had plants die on us. Sometimes the cause is obvious — a big chunk chewed out of the plant, or so many bugs they kill the plant. Other times, the cause is not so obvious. Then it is often a disease that killed the plant. Types of...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Nov 19, 2010 | peas
Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 US https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons English Peas (P. sativum) encompass edible pod peas, snow peas, and sugar peas. In my area of Texas, we plant peas in February with the other...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Nov 19, 2010 | peas
Black-eyed peas have many names. They are called field peas, Southern peas, cowpeas, crowder peas, and some 50 other names. Whatever the name, up until the Civil War, black-eyed peas were grown primarily to feed cattle. Some may have been eaten by slaves, but free...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Nov 15, 2010 | beans
There are lots of kinds of beans, but green beans are a good example of how to grow the whole family of beans. There are bush beans, which are similar to little shrubs, and pole beans, which are like ivy and need poles for support. You can grow both kinds...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Nov 11, 2010 | turnips
Turnips are a two-for-one vegetable. You can grow them for their tops, which you eat like spinach, or for the turnip itself, or both. In any case, turnips are cool-season crops. In my part of Texas, they are planted around the first of February or in the fall, when...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Nov 9, 2010 | gardening101
Watering seems like one of those no-brainer things but can be deceptively complex. Generally, with lawns, shrubs, and trees, the goal of watering is not only to keep the plant alive but to do so in a way that produces strong roots. Then, the plant can find...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Nov 8, 2010 | gardening101
Planting a garden requires some preparation of the soil in which the vegetables will grow. Scratching a furrow with a hoe doesn’t work very well if you want good, healthy vegetables. Some preparation upfront will reap a lot of benefits later. Removing Weeds...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Oct 24, 2010 | other garden pests
Snail on plant Slugs and snails are attracted to a garden because there is lots of food to eat there. The nicely manicured areas with healthy plants provide a banquet that is hard to find anywhere else. However, it is not a banquet for them, at least not for long....
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Oct 21, 2010 | gardening101
Sometimes gardeners forget that not everyone speaks our language. We talk about sandy loam soil, clay soil, sand, and silt as if everyone knew exactly what those were. Well, not all gardeners know, and nongardeners, or beginners, certainly do not know all...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Oct 13, 2010 | corn
Sweet Corn photo by Rob Bertholf, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Sweet corn is one of those things that takes some room to grow correctly. If you have a small garden, you should probably pass on this vegetable. If, on...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Oct 3, 2010 | compost
Fresh Compost Do you have one of those little kitchen compost pails someone gave you but have no idea what to do with the contents when it fills up? Are you afraid you don’t have the stomach to make manure tea? Confused about composting? I can help with that....
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 30, 2010 | okra
Okra photo by Earth100, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Okra is one of the last things to bear in the Southern garden. Originally from Africa, it just continues to make okra through even the hottest summer. Still...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 23, 2010 | organic gardening
Image via Wikipedia Organic gardening, at its simplest, is gardening using only substances occurring in nature. No synthetic compounds are allowed. This means pesticides and fertilizers must be made of naturally occurring substances. Of course, it...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 22, 2010 | carrots
Carrots Growing carrots is not hard if you make sure the soil is well prepared. Carrots growing in hard clay gumbo will be stunted and look funny. Carrots grown in rich sandy loam are full of vitamins and taste better than store-bought carrots, which have traveled a...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 21, 2010 | tomatoes
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/people/mrbendy/ Tomato hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) attack tomatoes and sometimes pepper, eggplant, and potato plants. They chew up the leaves and fruit and can destroy the crop if not controlled. This is devastating for the...
