Plants and stone always look great together, so it is often a top choice for hillside beds less than 18 inches (45cm) high. There are no rules on the materials you choose provided they don't leach nasty chemicals into the soil, as can happen with treated...
The corn plants may not use up all the fertilizer applied to the row middles, so it's a cushy planting niche for heavy-feeding fall crops like collards and spinach. Cool-season cover crops are a beautiful and bioactive way to increase your soil's organic...
How to Ripen Peppers Peppers – both sweet/bell and chili – can be exceptionally prodigious once they get into their stride. Once consistently cooler weather arrives it's time to bring all of the fruits indoors, whether they're ready or not.
Top up mulches with new material. You can let us know by dropping us a comment below. Beans will also stop producing more pods if the existing ones are left to ripen to biological maturity – by forming seeds, the plants will have completed their lifecycle,...
Simply leave some areas of your garden unmanicured, or you can install a bug hotel . Share it with us by leaving a comment below. Not only can it be used to create protective tunnels for the likes of brassicas (for instance to exclude cabbage white butterflies...
Ensure they have all the space and nutrients they need by carefully weeding between plants with a hoe or by hand. Either way is totally delicious! Cabbages you've grown yourself are undeniably sweeter and crunchier than anything you can buy.
Place your beers, wine or sodas inside, then lay a soaked towel over the top. Sit the smaller pot inside the larger pot, levelling up the rims by pouring sand into the base of the big pot till they are even.
Some of the newest daikons are purple rather than white or green. Asian radishes including daikons, Chinese radishes, and watermelon radishes are great fun to grow as summer turns to fall, but you'll need to get busy.
Label each bag with the date and details of what's inside – you'll quickly forget and it can be hard to identify frozen produce through the haze of ice crystals. The exact length of time required to blanch your vegetables depends on the type of vegetable.
Then store them in plastic bags in the refrigerator, or packed in damp sand or sawdust in a cold basement. After the first frost passes, harvest your rutabagas during a period of dry weather.
Only save seeds from heirloom varieties Saving Bean & Pea Seeds OK, so let's begin with the easiest of the lot: peas and beans! As the end of the season approaches leave some pods to dry out on the plant.
Cutting them out sooner rather than later means you can make smaller cuts that are less likely to become infected. They are a whitish colour, with a wooly surface and purplish-brown underside.
A spiral ristra not only looks prettier, it improves airflow around the fruits, which will help them to dry out quicker. The knot will support the first chili so it needs to be a good size so it won't drop off.
Concentrate your watering where it's needed: young seedlings to help them establish, salad leaves to stop them wilting, fruiting vegetables like tomatoes and anything growing in a pot.
If you thought growing potatoes was hugely satisfying, second-crop potatoes will prove even more so! Give your holiday season dinners a home-grown boost and try them for yourself. Planting Second Crop Potatoes Second-crop potatoes take about three months...
Selectively removing young fruits is called thinning. Many tree fruits, including apples and pears, naturally thin their fruits in early summer during the so-called June drop . Aim to leave about 4-6 inches (10-15cm) between individual apples of eating...
You can buy sticky traps, or make your own. They will attack plants growing outdoors as well as in the greenhouse. They'll feast on aphids too. And it gets worse. Yes, really! In a bad outbreak a handheld vacuum can be very effective at sucking up clouds...
They will root during the winter, and multiply into a cluster in late spring or early summer. Spacing Single Plants: 5" (15cm) each way (minimum) Rows: 3" (10cm) with 5" (15cm) row gap (minimum) Sow and Plant Set individual cloves in prepared ground in...
Delaying spring planting by two weeks can often help with cucumber beetles management. Floating row covers are the most dependable way to protect plants. Damage: Striped cucumber beetles emerge in late spring and immediately begin feeding on cucumber,...
Troubleshooting Beware of sleepy bees when pruning or otherwise working with mature borage plants. Frost tolerant Seedlings will survive light frosts, but older plants are easily damaged.
Damage: When young onion plants wilt for no apparent reason, pull up a sample plant to check for legless worms (maggots) feeding on it roots. Tips: Yellow sticky traps or yellow pans of water can be used to monitor and trap onion flies.
Position Full sun to partial afternoon shade. Harvesting Dig roots in fall or early spring and dry outdoors, because they release an unpleasant smell as they dry. Gather them for use as cut flowers to keep valerian from reseeding and becoming invasive.
You also can start seeds in late winter, and set out the seedlings in spring. Lemon balm can be transplanted from early spring to early summer. Frost tolerant A cold-hardy perennial, lemon balm can survive temperatures to -20F (-30C).
Allow 4in (10cm) between bulbs of miniature tulips, and 6in (15cm) between taller varieties. Notes Tulips will return for several years where winters are cold, but may rot when grown in warm, moist climates.
Position Full sun to partial shade. Notes Blue ageratum provides excellent contrast when combined with flowers with orange blossoms. Our Garden Planner can produce a personalized calendar of when to sow, plant and harvest for your area.
Companions Marigold, Broccoli, Chives, Mint, Borage, Parsley, Basil, Pepper, Asparagus, Monarda, Lettuce, Garlic, Dill and Calendula. Harvesting Pick regularly as soon as the fruits turn color but are still firm.
Feeding Not required. Notes Thin seedlings to proper spacing when they are 4 inches tall. Position Sun or partial shade. Planting and Harvesting Calendar < Back to All Plants Pests which Affect Parsnip Aphids (General) Carrot Rust Fly Slug Snail Plant...
