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...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 20, 2010 | native pollinators
Monarch butterfly on asters in the wind, Danaus plexippus, Aster oblongifolius Butterflies are not as efficient at pollinating plants as bees, but they pollinate many species of plants. They are also prettier than most bees. While the Monarch Butterfly is...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 15, 2010 | entomology, native pollinators
Bumblebees are one of nature’s reminders that we humans do not know as much as we think we do. According to our laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees should not be able to fly. Obviously, we have overlooked something, as fly they do. Newer research shows...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 13, 2010 | native pollinators
The decline of the honey bee is in the news. It is a serious concern. However, there are other plant pollinators. Some of them are also endangered. Some of them are not. Honey bees, as we know them, are not native to North America. They were...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 6, 2010 | Asparagus
Green and blanched asparagus spears Asparagus is delicious. They are also expensive. The ones you get in the store have been transported long distances and are not at all like the ones you get from your own garden. While asparagus has a reputation of being hard to...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 4, 2010 | diseases
Powdery Mildew is a catch-all term for a variety of fungal infections in plants. Everything from crape myrtles, roses, lilac, phlox, fruit trees, and vegetables may get it. Some plants weather the problem, some plants are seriously injured and die. It is easier to...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 30, 2010 | beets
Beets are nice because you can eat both the tops, as greens, and the bottoms as root vegetables. About ten feet of row will feed the average person per gardening season. Since beets can be canned, pickled, or eaten fresh, you can have some all year. Where...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 29, 2010 | radishes
Radishes photo by Self, en:User:Jengod, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Radishes do not get much respect. One of the earliest vegetables to produce, they are usually thought of as those little globes of red on trays...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 28, 2010 | gardening101
Raised bed with a rabbit fence around it. Do you have rotten soil that won’t grow anything? Or are you just starting out and have nothing but sod? If you are dreading digging that out so you have a garden, you can build a raised bed instead. Advantages of...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 26, 2010 | Black berries
Blackberries on the vine Blackberries are good to eat and easy to grow. They may be a bit too easy to grow, as they are weeds in some areas. What this means is that when planning your blackberry growing area you must be able to keep them from spreading too much. How...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 24, 2010 | gardening101
Sweet Pepper Seedlings photo by Marco Verch Not everyone owns property with a yard suitable for vegetable gardening. You can still grow vegetables, however. Most vegetables grow just fine in containers, window boxes, or small raised beds. When using...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 23, 2010 | gardening101
Cover crops are crops used to cover the soil in between plantings of the crops you intend to use, such as vegetables. Why, you may ask, is it important to cover the soil between plantings? Two words: Dust Bowl. There are other reasons, too, but...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 22, 2010 | gardening101
Onions growing in red dirt Couleur / Pixabay Food safety is in the news more and more these days. Eggs are being recalled, lettuce killed some people, and hamburger is frequently recalled for contamination with E. coli. It is easy to watch the news and smirk as we...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 19, 2010 | gardening101
Snow in the peach orchard Chilling hours are one of the important things to consider before planting any fruit-bearing tree. There are at least a couple of ways to calculate chilling hours, and I will discuss them below. Oversimplified, chilling hours are the number...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 15, 2010 | herbs
Almost everyone uses herbs in cooking. Fresh herbs can be hard to find, so most people use dried herbs. Although more grocery stores are carrying what they call fresh herbs, the wilted stuff in the box doesn’t really compare to herbs that have just been cut from...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 13, 2010 | gardening101
Square foot gardening has become popular as people who do not have a lot of space want to grow more of their own food. The concept was developed by Mel Bartholomew but has been adapted by many others since then. You can grow an incredible amount of food through a...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 12, 2010 | entomology
Organic gardening is about working with nature to grow your plants, harvest the fruits of your labors, and share the planet with the plants and animals around you. Sometimes, though, the animals, specifically the insects, get greedy and you need something to make...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 10, 2010 | gardening101
Cheap seeds are expensive. They cost a great deal in wasted time, money, fertilizer, water, and space. This is because the germination rate, or the number of seeds in each packet that actually sprout, is usually very low. You plant seeds and do all the right...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 9, 2010 | gardening101
Seed saving can be an effective way to obtain seeds for your next garden. Heirloom varieties and plants that are adapted to local conditions can be saved this way. The basics are easy — you let some of your vegetable plants go to seed and save...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 8, 2010 | organic gardening
Organic gardening is all the rage now. However, what exactly constitutes organic gardening differs among the groups of people advocating it. The simplest definition is that organic gardening uses only natural substances, not synthetic ones, to grow...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 6, 2010 | other garden pests
Adult Emerald Ash Borer If you have ever traveled out of the country, you have been given a set of rules to follow when bringing back stuff from your holiday. This list includes no meat, fruits and vegetables, plants, cut flowers, and then other stuff. Do you know...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 4, 2010 | gardening101
Mulch around a shrub Mulching does more than make a garden look neat. It conserves water and helps keep weeds and diseases at bay. It even helps fertilize the garden. Read on for tips on mulching your garden. Mother Nature’s Fertilizer When you look at a...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 2, 2010 | onions
Couleur / Pixabay Onions right out of the garden make some of the best eating available. They are high in vitamin C and taste wonderful. Growing onions is not too complicated. There are some things you need to know to get a good crop. Day varieties...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 1, 2010 | tomatoes
Deciding which tomatoes to grow can be tough. You have to balance flavor with a plant’s ability to resist the diseases common in your area. You have decide whether you want open pollinated or hybrid, cherry or slicing, heirloom or modern. Finally, you have to...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jul 30, 2010 | strawberries
Almost everyone loves strawberries. They taste delicious and are easy to grow. Strawberries are commonly planted in February in this area. However, there are some varieties that actually do better and produce more strawberries if planted in October. Global...
