Jun 15
Fresh sweet corn picked directly from the garden has a flavor and texture that are difficult to match with ears that have spent days in storage or transportation. Fortunately, corn is not particularly difficult to grow, but it does have a few unusual requirements compared with many other garden vegetables. The most important difference is …
Jun 15
Sweet potatoes are one of the most rewarding warm-season crops you can grow. Given enough heat, sunlight, and loose soil, a few small slips can produce sprawling vines and a generous harvest of sweet, starchy storage roots by the end of the growing season. Unlike regular potatoes, sweet potatoes are not usually planted from chunks …
Jun 15
Tomatoes are one of the most popular crops in the home garden, and for good reason. A healthy tomato plant can produce pounds of fruit over the summer, and the flavor of a ripe tomato picked warm from the vine is difficult to match. Success begins with planting correctly. Tomatoes need warm soil, plenty of …
Jun 15
Onions are one of the most useful crops you can grow at home. They take relatively little garden space, store well after harvest, and can be used fresh or cooked in countless meals. Once you understand their unusual relationship with day length, onions are also fairly straightforward to grow. Unlike many vegetables, onion success depends …
Jun 15
Garlic is one of the easiest food crops to grow once you understand its seasonal rhythm. Unlike tomatoes, corn, or sweet potatoes, garlic is commonly planted in fall, allowed to establish roots before winter, and harvested the following summer. The key to a good crop is starting with healthy cloves, planting them at the correct …
Jun 15
Potatoes are one of the most satisfying crops to grow because so much of the harvest remains hidden until digging day. A few pieces of seed potato planted in spring can develop into vigorous leafy plants with clusters of underground tubers waiting beneath the soil. Unlike sweet potatoes, which are warm-season plants usually grown from …
May 19
Coffee grounds are one of the most commonly recommended kitchen scraps for the garden. Save them from your morning coffee, sprinkle them around your tomato plants, and supposedly they will add nitrogen, acidify the soil, repel slugs, attract earthworms, prevent disease, and produce enormous tomatoes. Unfortunately, many of those claims are exaggerated. Used coffee grounds …
Mar 09
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
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
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 …
