While I didn’t build the raised beds for our vegetable garden with my own hands, I supervised. I was super impatient about making choices and getting the beds built so I could start planting, but there are some important decisions to be made. You’ll want to consult with other gardeners in your area to determine the species of wood and… Read more »
When I read about planting and growing tomatoes, books and websites say to plant them deep. So that makes me think, “OK, dig the hole a little deeper than other plants.” I learned this spring that it’s a little bit more than that. As I’ve looked more closely at photos and especially this video by Deb’s Greenhouse, I see that… Read more »
My basement seed starting experiment was going full speed ahead. Tomato, pepper, romaine, spinach and cauliflower plants were plugging along happily when I noticed a few tiny bugs crawling around on the table under the seed trays. I identified them as clover mites, which, as I now know, love to snack on plant material. I really didn’t want to spray… Read more »
Healthier diets! Fresh tomatoes! Less stress! Better life! There are so many benefits of gardening, so we’re building raised garden beds for growing vegetables this summer. There is a ridiculous amount of research on why gardening is good for you and here’s some of it. A study conducted in the Netherlands showed that gardening can reduce the level of the stress… Read more »
My lettuce seedlings are doing extremely well under grow lights. I had been having the same problem I often have with seedlings — sad, spindly growth, even after a few weeks. I put a new batch of romaine ‘Freckles’ seedlings under lights 20 days ago. Just after my last update, I noticed that the roots of the seedlings had reached the… Read more »
When I started baby spinach and romaine lettuce seeds for a fall harvest, the seedlings were spindly and sad. This has happened to me more than once while trying to start plants from seed and I never knew why. In the past, I’ve planted these sad sprouts outside (where they failed) and eventually just gave up on growing from seed…. Read more »
It’s time to talk about fall vegetables. What do gardeners think about taking on a second planting? What are their questions? Here’s a sampling of activity from this week’s #HowToNature Twitter chat.
I’ve never planted fall vegetables before, but I am doing it this year. Here’s my plan: Seeds: Acorn squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, romaine lettuce, baby spinach. Based on the fact that these were pretty much the only seed packets for sale at the garden center, they seem to be excellent choices for this time of year. The seed packets mainly give sowing information relevant… Read more »