Vegetable gardening is the most popular hobby in the United States. In addition to the pleasure gardening provides, many gardeners cite a desire for organic food as a motivation in vegetable gardening. Yet, plant diseases in the garden can thwart your efforts to grow chemical-free produce. How much your garden is affected by disease depends partly on your climate. Gardens in dry climates with cold winters suffer fewer disease problems than warm, moist climates. This is one aspect of gardening that you don’t have much control over. Fortunately, how you tend your garden also plays
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There’s a lot of talk in gardening circles these days about the value of using heirlooms and saving their seed. Hybrids have fallen out of favor with many gardeners who favor older, often tastier, varieties. But do hybrids belong in the same category as GMOs? Do hybrids pose a safety risk, and just what are the differences between the two? Read on for everything you need to know about hybrids and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). What Are Hybrids? The process of hybridization occurs continually in nature as open-pollinated plants pollinate each other. Over years and
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A cooking staple, button mushrooms are actually a lot easier to grow than even the most seasoned of gardeners are aware. Some may feel hesitant about growing their own mushrooms, but the reality is that when you purchase spores from a reputable company, you won’t need to have any concerns about the mushrooms that you grow. There are numerous growing kits available from so-called mushroom boutique stores, and they can allow you the opportunity to grow portabella, oyster, shitake, and button mushrooms, along with several other kinds. This is a great way to experiment with
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If you found out you couldn’t run to your local supermarket or corner quick stop for many of the things you use every day, what would you do? Many people are answering this question by learning to live without commercially made products. This doesn’t mean these people are suffering or having to live without little
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You’ve probably heard the arguments for organic produce and food versus inorganic varieties, but what about organic fertilizers? Walk down a garden center aisle and you’re faced with a dizzying array of choices when it comes to fertilizers. Sometimes, choosing the right one can be downright impossible. Here’s the low-down on organic versus inorganic fertilizers. First, both supply nutrition to plants, primarily in the form of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Synthetic fertilizers are usually made using petroleum products, which makes them less environmentally friendly. In fact, excessive runoff from synthetic fertilizers after storms can actually
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As a vegetable gardener, you know that the quality of your soil can make or break your harvest. Vegetables need loose, light, fertile soil that holds water well without becoming sodden. Few gardeners are blessed with this soil, known as loam, occurring naturally in their garden. But with patience and a little help, you can slowly build loam soil. The regular addition of organic matter, found in manure and compost, is one of the best ways to make that ideal garden soil. But which manures are best? All livestock manures improve soil texture and drainage,
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Sure, we’ve all tried and loved Grandma’s strawberry rhubarb pie. What we didn’t know as we were spooning that delicious, tarty goodness into our mouths were the favors we were paying to our bodies. This extraordinary plant produces poisonous leaves, toxic to humans and animals alike, yet its stems are full of rich flavor and nutrients. Rhubarb is a plant often underappreciated— a plant whose versatility, flavor, and health benefits constantly remain overlooked. It’s time to pay homage to our dear old friend by exposing some facts about its nature. A Great Garden Tenant For
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Whether you are fully self sufficient, in a transitional in-between stage, or just a dabbler in do-it-yourself projects, making your own wine is a fun, relatively easy, and very satisfying endeavor. Good results are not difficult to produce, and with a little practice and familiarity with your variables, truly great results are within most folks’
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Growing rare and endangered plants is a rewarding experience that allows us gardeners to take on our role as stewards of the land. This stewardship can be taken a step even further as some gardeners choose to use their skills to help keep a rare heirloom variety or even an endangered plant species from disappearing forever. Benefits Self-Sufficiency: Rather than depending on garden centers or seed catalogues every year to grow your own food, you can harvest and re-sow native plants and heirloom varieties directly from your garden. These plants differ from hybrids by producing
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When starting a garden, the technical terms can sound a little overwhelming. Even those who have been gardening for years sometimes have to spend time in research. It can be especially confusing for those who are new to gardening, and spending an afternoon at the greenhouse can be a lot less enjoyable and when you’re trying to decipher the meanings on the plant labels. Commonly used terms when it comes to defining plants are “annuals” or “perennials.” This is a good starting place for your understanding of plants and gardening. What Are They? Annual plants
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