Posts

Vegetables If you are considering growing tomatoes and potatoes in the same garden together, there are a few factors you'll need to consider. While both of these plants are quite popular in many amateur vegetable gardens, do they make good companion plants when grown alongside one another? Read on and find out if you should grow these plants side by side! By Madison Moulton Last updated: August 22, 2022 | 6 min read Thinking of growing potatoes and tomatoes together as companion plants?...

If you don’t know how to tell the difference between a Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving cactus, you’re not alone. In this post, I’ll explain it all in detail so that you’ll finally know what type of holiday cactus you have. Two of the most popular holiday cactus varieties are Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus. They are also the ones that most people get mixed up. Add the Easter cactus to the list and things get even more confusing!...

Check out the Succulents to Grow From Seeds here Conophytum pageae Information Native to Southern Namibia and South Africa, Conophytum has a compact growing habit and spreads horizontally around 3 feet wide, displaying a dense cluster. Daisy-like flowers appear anytime between autumn to early summer from the center and can be found in hues of pink or white. Conophytums look stunning when they bloom together. Look at some Adorable Heart-Shaped Succulents here Toxicity The plant might cause mouth and skin irritation if ingested, so it’d be a good idea to keep it away from pets and children....

One of my favorite activities in the fall is collecting seeds from my garden. I use them to grow my annuals and vegetables every year, which saves me tons of money. I also love to share them with friends, and use them to trade for other varieties I don’t already have. For sharing and trading, I like to make my own DIY seed envelopes. It’s very easy to make your own paper seed packets, and inexpensive too!...

Succulents Did your hens and chicks plant start flowering, and now you aren't sure what will happen to your plant? While their blooms are beautiful, many gardeners do what they can to restrict their blooms. In this article, gardening expert Paige Foley looks at the life cycle of these popular succulents, and what to expect from them once they start to flower. By Paige Foley Last updated: January 15, 2023 | 4 min read Hens and chicks are old-time, charming succulent plants that can withstand harsh conditions....

The black sapote is an evergreen subtropical fruit tree, which is native to Central America and Mexico and cultivated for its tasty fruit. It belongs to the persimmon genus. It’s a stately tree with large foliage and can reach 20 m in height. Keep reading this article to learn how to grow black sapote. USDA Zones: 10, 11 Difficulty: Easy Other names: Diospyros Digyna, Diospyros Nigra, Black Persimmon, Chocolate-Fruit, Chocolate Pudding Fruit, Zapote Negro, Schwarze Sapote, Zapote Prieto, Chocolate Persimmon....

Mint is not just for mojitos! It’s for minted pea soup; stirring into baby boiled potatoes with lashings of salty butter; tossing into a Greek salad with chopped tomatoes and cucumbers; whipping into cream, sugar and chocolate to make chocolate chip ice cream…. is your mouth watering yet? Growing mint is a must for everyone and here are even more reasons to grow it! Table of Contents Used for its culinary and health benefits for thousands of years, mint is a powerhouse of health benefits containing vitamin A, C, B12, calcium, copper and manganese to name a few....

The world of epiphyllums is a fascinating one – but it can also be somewhat confusing. In this article we’ll disentangle those head-scratching snarls, and provide guidance for every step of growing these extraordinary cacti. Epiphyllum spp. Orchid cacti, or epiphyllums, are forest cacti with long, flat, succulent stems that produce incredible blooms. These long-lived plants are easy to care for, fun to propagate, and stand up well to neglect!...

Fall and spring gardens can put gardeners in a bit of a pickle. What to grow? With a wonderful crunch and sweetness that can stand on its own or delight stir-fries, growing snow peas is a delicious and savvy choice to add to any late fall or early spring garden with mild temperatures. Table of Contents The snow pea is part of the pea or Pisum family and thought to have originated some 10,000 years ago either in Europe or India....

QUESTION: How long do seeds last for planting? I have some old seed packets. — Lina V ANSWER: Seed packets should be printed with the year for which they’re intended. For example, they might say “packed in 2019.” Generally, you can trust an opened packet of seeds up to a year, and unopened packages of seeds can last longer than that. There are also variations in shelf life among different types of seeds....

Aptly named, this burning bush’s claim to fame is the show-stopping scarlet hue of its autumn foliage. However, a better name might be the banned red bush. Euonymus alatus and E. atropurpureus The burning bush, Euonymus alatus, is a potentially invasive non-native woody shrub in the Celastraceae family. It’s related to the native burning bush, E. atropurpureus, as well as native bittersweet, Celastrus scandens, and its highly invasive non-native counterpart, C....

In this article, you will learn how to grow and care for columbine. Aquilegia Columbine, or Aquilegia, is an intriguing member of the Ranunculaceae family with exquisite petals that give it an ephemeral quality, like a briefly glimpsed hummingbird. It is an herbaceous perennial that blooms from spring to summer in USDA Hardiness Zones 3 to 9. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

But be warned: unless you live in Florida, Hawaii, California, or deep south Texas, the prospect of walking out to the backyard to harvest fresh avocados for a batch of guacamole is but a dream. Persea americana We all know, of course, that letter carriers deliver the mail. But I wonder how many of you know about the 1920s mailman who “delivered” what would become most popular avocado in the United States?...

Little houseplants are often underrated. They can be a boon to those with itty-bitty digs, as well as those with living spaces that look less like a home and more like a tropical jungle already! Nephrolepis cordifolia ‘Duffii’ As a miniature version of Nephrolepis cordifolia, the lemon button fern certainly puts the “fun” in “fun-size.” But I’ll admit that “fun-size” ain’t always the most fun. Exhibit A: fun-size candy bars given out on Halloween, versus the full-size version....

Ornamental peppers are technically edible, but are not considered particularly tasty. Many are also quite high on the Scoville scale, meaning they can be eye-wateringly spicy. See our full guide to growing hot peppers for more information. Splashy, colorful ornamental peppers add dazzling bursts of red, purple, yellow, orange, black, or white to the garden. And many cultivars display upright fruits that change color as they mature. While the species Capsicum annuum includes numerous pepper types that are commonly used in the kitchen, such as C....

By Matt Gibson Snowdrop flowers are very small plants that grow to only three to six inches tall. Each plant produces one miniature white flower, with a diameter of one inch or less. Snowdrops are among the first flowers to bloom in the spring, sprouting up as early as January or February, depending on location. A low-growing perennial flower that is known to multiply and spread out over time, snowdrops often naturalize to accommodating environments to which they are introduced....

Whether you fancy heirloom beefsteaks for burger season, bite-sized cherries for snacking, or piquant paste varieties for canning and sauces, they’re all well-adapted to cultivation in pots. Do you have a hankering for the taste of homegrown tomatoes, but lack the real estate for a garden plot? Well, there’s no need for despair. You can have your own tasty crop without the back forty, because technically, a garden isn’t even necessary!...

What’s more, with very few pests or other issues to worry about, these hardy perennials are incredibly easy to grow! Nepeta spp. Nepeta is a genus of flowering perennials in the mint family, including popular herbs such as catnip and Faassen’s catmint. Many feature attractive aromatic foliage and long blooming flowers that pollinators love. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

The process is much like lifting and storing other rhizomes, like dahlias. Among the most beautiful of cultivated flowers, irises add a touch of refined elegance to the garden with large, intricate flowers in a rainbow of colors that sit atop stately stems in a fan of foliage. They grow from storage roots known as rhizomes, and most varieties have excellent cold hardiness down to Zone 3 – which means they can readily overwinter in situ without damage....

Vegetables If you've planted potatoes in your garden, but aren't quite sure when to harvest them or how to do it, pulling them out of the ground can be a bit daunting. In this article, organic gardening expert Logan Hailey takes you through the best time of year to harvest potatoes, as well as each step you'll need to follow in order to harvest them successfully. By Logan Hailey Last updated: October 24, 2022 | 11 min read You’ve irrigated, fertilized, cultivated, and hilled your potatoes all summer long and now you’re probably wondering when to harvest them....