Author's posts
Mar 09
Plum Tree Care: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest Plums
Plum trees bring together several qualities that make fruit trees so rewarding: fragrant spring blossoms, attractive foliage, summer shade, and baskets of sweet, juicy fruit. Depending on the variety, plums can be eaten fresh, baked into desserts, cooked into jams and preserves, dried into prunes, or used in sauces and savory dishes. Growing a productive …
Mar 09
Pear Tree Care: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest Pears
Pear trees are among the most elegant fruit trees for a home garden. They produce clouds of white spring blossoms, attractive glossy foliage, and fruit that can range from buttery-soft and aromatic to crisp, juicy, and apple-like depending on the type. They are also remarkably long-lived when planted in the right location. A healthy pear …
Mar 09
Apple Tree Care: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest Apples
Apple trees are among the most rewarding fruit trees to grow at home. A healthy tree can provide fragrant spring blossoms, summer shade, food for pollinating insects, and a harvest ranging from crisp snacking apples to varieties suited for pies, cider, applesauce, and long winter storage. They are also more complex than simply planting a …
Mar 09
Blackberry Care: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest Blackberries
Blackberries are one of the most rewarding fruits to grow at home. Once established, a healthy planting can produce bowls of deeply colored berries for fresh eating, baking, preserves, smoothies, and freezing — often from a relatively small section of garden. They are also more varied than they first appear. Blackberry plants may be erect, …
Mar 09
Raspberry Care: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest Raspberries
Raspberries are one of the most rewarding perennial fruits for the home garden. A relatively small planting can produce bowls of fragrant berries for fresh eating, baking, jam, smoothies, desserts, and freezing, often for many years once the plants become established. They are also more diverse than the familiar red raspberry suggests. Gardeners can grow …
Mar 09
Viola Care: How to Plant, Grow & Keep Violas Blooming
Violas are small flowers with an outsized presence in the garden. Their cheerful blooms appear in shades of purple, blue, yellow, white, cream, burgundy, orange, and countless bicolors, often with darker markings that give each flower a distinctive face-like appearance. They are especially valuable because they thrive during cooler weather, when many warm-season annuals are …
Mar 09
Radish Care: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest Radishes
Radishes are one of the fastest vegetables a gardener can grow. Some small spring varieties can go from seed to harvest in little more than a month, making them ideal for beginners, children’s gardens, succession planting, and filling temporary gaps between slower-growing crops. Their speed does not mean they are impossible to get wrong, however. …
Mar 09
Beet Care: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest Beets
Beets are one of the most useful cool-season vegetables because almost the entire plant is edible. Gardeners can harvest tender young leaves for salads, larger greens for cooking, and sweet earthy roots for roasting, pickling, soups, salads, and storage. They are also more colorful than the familiar dark-red beet suggests. Beet roots may be golden …
Mar 09
Carrot Care: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest Carrots
Carrots are one of the most familiar vegetables in the garden, but producing long, smooth, sweet roots depends on getting a few important details right. They need loose soil, consistent moisture, careful thinning, and patience during germination. When those conditions come together, carrots are remarkably productive and can be grown through much of the year …
Mar 09
Kale Care: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest Kale
Kale is one of the most dependable cool-season vegetables a home gardener can grow. It tolerates chilly weather, produces leaves over a long harvest period, grows equally well in traditional vegetable beds and containers, and can often remain productive long after summer vegetables have disappeared. It is also much more diverse than the curly green …
