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Every succulent garden needs a centerpiece. In our opinion, there’s no better choice than Haworthia obtusa. This succulent features extremely chunky leaves with wondrously transparent tips. In fact, it looks like a bundle of water balloons! Table of Contents Haworthia obtusa’s clear leaves are streaked with variegation. They have all shades of green veins (there’s even an aqua blue variety!). The rosettes of this succulent grow very similarly to Aloe vera, which has earned it the nickname “Mini Aloe”....

QUESTION: How many types of microgreens are there? Are there only a few? -Kenneth ANSWER: There are approximately one hundred (if not more) types of microgreens. Before we dive into a few of your options, let’s explore what a microgreen is, its purpose, and how you may grow them. Microgreens are young seedlings of a plant. They’re harvested long before they reach maturity. In most cases, you may harvest microgreens after one to three weeks of growth....

Vegetables Did you recently start growing basil to use while cooking, or for certain herbal scents in your home? If so, it's important to understand the proper watering schedule so you don't over-water or under-water this picky plant. In this article, gardening expert Taylor Sievers examines a proper watering schedule for Basil. By Taylor Sievers Last updated: October 28, 2022 | 6 min read Basil is a lush, aromatic plant that adds spice and flavor to your kitchen and garden....

On the flipside, there are folks who are ready and eager to toss on a backpack sprayer and spray away dandelions, gout weed, and every last creepy-crawler in a hundred-yard radius. Pesticides and other chemical applications are a viable solution, damn it. Don’t tell me what I can and can’t spray! Applying chemicals to the garden and yard can be a tricky thing. Too much and you’ve overdosed the landscape, but too little and you’ve done nothing but waste your money by pouring it down the drain....

Some plants are much easier to overwinter in their dormant state than keeping them growing through the winter. But, waking up dormant plants in the spring can be a challenge. Don’t worry, in this post, I will show you exactly how to wake up dormant plants without killing them. Our winters here in Minnesota are long and very cold. I have a large collection of plants that I overwinter inside the house every year....

ASTILBE X ARENDSII It took me far too long to discover the beauty and special quality of the shade garden. Since I’ve always been into those tough, hard-scrabble plants that eke out a living in any condition, the idea of a garden full of particular and at times sensitive plants was not of interest to me. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve discovered a keen appreciation for these gardens and the plants that call them home....

Chrysanthemum flowers consist of about thirty species and have a distinctive ‘snowball’ shape both in the individual flower shape and in the whole plant shape. These herbaceous plants grow to about 50 to 150 cm tall. They have very large flower heads with many petals. The flower comes in the colors of white, yellow, or pink. The flowers were named for the golden color that was present in the ancient cultures that gave the plant its name....

By Julie Christensen Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are among the most beautiful, low-maintenance perennials you can grow in the garden. Native to Asia, daylilies have naturalized throughout the U.S., and are often seen growing wild along ditches in both full sun and partial shade. Note that daylilies and true lilies (Lillium) are two different types of flowers. Old varieties of daylily flowers, including ‘Europa’ and the classic ‘Stella de Oro’ are worth growing, but don’t forget new hybrids....

The name green onion refers to many different types of onions. Learning how to grow green onions ensures you’ll always have access to the freshest, most flavorful alliums you can find! Table of Contents The true green onion is Allium fistulosum, also known as scallions, bunching onions, or just plain old green onions. These are the ones we’ll focus most of our attention on today. Traditional onions, Allium cepa, have a red or white bulb, but they can be harvested before the bulbs form, and the young stalks can be used like green onions....

In this article you will learn when and how to harvest rutabaga, proper storage techniques, as well as ways to cook and enjoy this versatile veggie. So you planted a rutabaga patch this year. If you’re anything like me, you are walking through your garden every day, impatiently awaiting the moment you can harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labor. You see those greens growing, and perhaps the bulbs beneath expanding....

Read on to learn how to identify and control cedar apple rust in your garden or home orchard. Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae Rusts are fungi that will not kill their hosts, although they sure make them suffer. There is even a term for pathogens that require living hosts: biotrophs (in contrast to necrotrophs, pathogens that kill their host and live off the dead tissue). Think Gloria Gaynor – your plants will survive! However, repeated infections of this pathogen can seriously weaken and destroy the health of susceptible plants....

In this guide, we’ll cover how to identify peach twig borers and what you can do to control them. Anarsia lineatella The peach twig borer (PTB) is a medium-sized gray moth. Its larvae can cause devastation on stone fruit and almond crops in Europe, north Africa, North America, and Asia. This pest originates in Europe and was first identified in the US in California in the 1880s. It attacks a variety of stone fruits, including peaches, apricots, plums, prunes, and nectarines....

Whiteflies are notorious pests, with a taste for a wide variety of plants including common vegetables and ornamentals. Aleyrodidae As you walk through your garden, admiring the bright flowers and productive vegetables, a cloud of white insects flutters up from the leaves of a plant as you brush past. Upon taking a closer look, you notice the leaves are speckled or turning yellow, and the plant looks like it’s shedding some leaves....

If you haven’t tried making zucchini noodles yet, you’re in for a real treat. They are delicious, gluten-free, and very low in calories. Yes! It’s simple to make your own homemade zoodles with the zucchini from your garden or the grocery store. Below I will show you what tools you need to make different types of zucchini noodles, give you tips for how to cook and use them, and even show you how to preserve them for later....

Flowers Are you looking for some new flowers to brighten up your garden bed? Globe Amaranth may be just the trick! These beautiful flowers can liven up any garden space, but they do have a few needs to satisfy before you'll get a perfect bloom. In this article, gardening and flower expert Taylor Sievers examines how to plant, grow, and care for Globe Amaranth. By Taylor Sievers Last updated: February 18, 2022 | 9 min read Are you looking for a plant for a sunny spot in your garden that will provide both fun color and texture?...

by Erin Marissa Russell Step one of planting a wintertime garden is starting seeds in winter, and we’re here to take you step by step through the process. Colder temperatures mean you may be starting seeds indoors when you’re used to sowing them directly in the ground. You’ll probably also need to take some extra measures to get young plants acclimated to the outdoors through cold acclimation, also called hardening off, before moving them into their permanent places in the wintertime garden....

Is a hugelkultur raised bed for you? If done right, it absolutely should be. Using this method of filling your raised beds can be a major benefit, particularly if you want to focus your finances on the highest quality growing medium to top them with. Table of Contents But what exactly is hugelkultur, and why is it a benefit to raised garden beds? Is this technique more valuable in its original hill-mound form, or does it perform better when enclosed in a raised garden?...

For thousands of years, gardeners have been using the rich nutrients found in organic matter to boost the health of their flower beds, shrubs, and lawns. At times, composting can be smelly, unsightly, and a bit of chore (especially in winter, when you have to run outside in your socks to compost kitchen scraps). However, if done correctly, the level of effort is minimal and the rewards rather delightful. A lot of inexperienced gardeners are put off by the notion of composting because they don’t want food and garden debris rotting in a corner of their yard....

In March 2021, the UN accepted a proposal made by India to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets. India’s proposal outlined how the millet plant can be a sustainable solution to food insecurity across the globe. As a crop, millet is very climate-resistant. It does not require a lot of water or very fertile soil, both of which are always in short supply anyway. Because of its ability to thrive in harsh climates, it costs less than quinoa to produce and uses less water....

Finding mold on seedlings is frustrating! In this post, I’ll show you step-by-step how to get rid of mold growing on your germinating seeds, starts, soil, and pots, and prevent it from coming back. When mold starts growing on your carefully cultivated seedlings, it can be very disheartening. It’s definitely one of the most annoying things about caring for seedlings, and something I get asked about a lot. But the good news is that it’s easy to fix!...