Getting the Most from Your Summer Vegetable Harvest For many crops, summertime is the heart of the harvest season. From picking peas and lettuce in early summer to gathering pumpkins and winter squash later in the season, the summer vegetable harvest is the primary time for picking and preserving your garden produce. Try these general tips on how to harvest in summer: Pick at the correct time. For some veggies this means picking at the peak of ripeness, others can be picked early and will continue to ripen off the plant....

When purchasing plant foods, the gardener may wonder what the differences are between organic vs. inorganic fertilizer. Each is beneficial to plant growth, but there are some very basic differences. While useful, some gardeners may feel the synthetic fertilizer disadvantages outweigh their use. But the same can be said regarding organic plant foods. Alternatives to fertilizer include soil amendments and homemade feeds, as well as other land management practices....

While this notion may not be realistic for everyone, there are still several ways to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner outdoors. Learning more about the steps needed to curate a special backyard Thanksgiving dinner is certain to help party planners create an event that is sure to be remembered. Celebrating Thanksgiving Outside When it comes to Thanksgiving ideas, outdoors and the fall season can be a great source of inspiration. Before planning to have Thanksgiving dinner outdoors, consider climate....

When to Put Fertilizer on Lawns All lawns need fertilizer in early spring when the grass begins to green up. Your fertilization schedule for the rest of the season depends on the type of grass in your lawn, the type of fertilizer you use, and your climate. Most lawn seed is a mixture of several different types of grasses, and both spring and fall fertilization are appropriate. The label on a bag of lawn fertilizer will recommend a schedule based on the type of fertilizer it contains....

When to Transplant Seedlings Starting plants by seed is a simple process. Seeds need warmth to germinate, a friendly soil composition, moisture, and finally light. But once they have a few pairs of true leaves they either need to go into larger containers or get transplanted outdoors to prepared beds. There is a bit more to transplanting plants than just installing them in soil. They need to go outdoors at the right time and after a brief period of exposure, a process called hardening off....

Care of Oleanders in Winter Oleanders are big shrubs. Most grow to 12 feet (4 m.) tall and 12 feet (4 m.) wide, and some shoot up to over 20 feet 6 m.). This doesn’t mean that they can survive cold winters without help though. Winterizing oleander plants is possible, wherever you live. Oleanders are hardy in USDA plant hardiness zones 9 through 10. This means that they can withstand the cold winter weather in those zones....

Toothwort Plant Information A hardy plant suitable for growing in USDA plant hardiness zones 4 through 8, toothwort is an upright perennial that reaches heights of 8 to 16 inches. (20.5-40.5 cm.). Toothwort’s distinctive palmate leaves are deeply cut and coarsely toothed. Bees, butterflies, and other important pollinators are drawn to the clusters of delicate, white or pale pink flowers that rise on slender stems in springtime. This plant emerges in autumn and adds beauty to the landscape until it goes dormant in early summer....

Growing Tomatoes in the South Gardeners looking for tomatoes in the South need look no further. We’ve put together a list of the 10 best tomatoes for the South. When choosing a tomato variety, first decide whether you want midget, determinate, or indeterminate tomatoes. Midget, patio, or dwarf varieties, such as cherry tomatoes, are compact plants suitable for hanging baskets or containers. Determinate plants produce most of the fruit in one crop, then decline....

Barley Spot Blotch Symptoms Barley spot blotch disease is found in many wild and cultivated grasses. Spot blotch of barley is caused by the fungus Bipolaris sorokiniana. The fungus is known to reduce yields by one to three percent. When barley kernels are produced, they often have black point, a discoloring on the tips of the kernels. In seedlings, look at the soil line for chocolate brown streaks. The infection progresses to turn shoots yellow, and they may die....

Strawberry Verticillium Wilt Fungus Verticillium wilt on strawberries is caused by two fungi, Verticillium albo-atrum and Verticillium dahliae. Unfortunately, an infected strawberry plant will probably not live to produce the delicious red berries you are hoping for. The really bad news is that if you have strawberries with verticillium wilt, it’s hard to get rid of the fungus. Once it is established in your garden plot, it can remain viable for over two decades....

Watermelon Anthracnose Info Anthracnose is a disease caused by the fungus Colletotrichum. Symptoms of watermelon anthracnose can vary and affect any or all aboveground parts of the plant. This can include small yellow spots on leaves that spread and darken to black. If the weather is damp, fungal spores will be visible as pink or orange clusters in the middle of these spots. If the weather is dry, the spores will be gray....

Fuchsia Plant Varieties Fuchsias are actually perennials, but they’re quite cold-sensitive and are grown as annuals in a lot of areas. The most popular fuchsia plant types are probably the trailing fuchsia varieties, especially in the northern U.S., where these are very common in hanging baskets on front porches. More recently, upright fuchsia plants have been making a strong showing, too. These varieties tend to have smaller flowers and look great in garden beds....

What are Hellebores? These perennial flowers are hardy to zone 4, so they can grow in many different gardens. They produce flowers early in spring and have evergreen foliage, so hellebore adds color and texture year-round. In milder climates, they may even produce flowers as early as January. Deer resistant and untroubled by many other pests, these flowers are also easy to grow. They prefer rich soil, partial shade, and only some watering during summer and dry conditions....

Growing Ginger Mint Ginger mint plants are usually sterile and don’t set seeds, but you can propagate the plant by taking softwood cuttings or rhizomes from an existing plant. You can also purchase a starter plant at a greenhouse or nursery specializing in herbs. These plants prefer moist, rich soil and full sun or partial shade. Ginger mint is suitable for growing in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 through 9. Once established, ginger mint spreads by runners, and like most types of mint, may become aggressive....

What is Variegated String of Hearts Much like other types of String of Hearts, variegated cultivars have small, delicate leaves. These grow opposite each other on a trailing, purplish colored stem. The spacing between the sets of leaves is dependent upon the light, with brighter indirect light creating shorter internodes. C. woodii is a tender perennial which hails from southern Africa. It can be grown outdoors in USDA zones 9 through 11 and is most often cultivated as a houseplant elsewhere....

Chaste Tree Info The chaste tree is a native of China, but it has a long history in the U.S. It was first cultivated in 1670, and since that time it has become naturalized throughout the southern part of the country. Many southerners use it as a replacement for lilacs, which don’t tolerate hot summers. Chaste trees, which are considered shrubs or small trees, grow 15 to 20 feet (5-6 m....

What to Feed Banana Plants Like many other plants, banana fertilizer requirements include nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. You may choose to use a balanced fertilizer on a regular basis that contains all of the micro and secondary nutrients the plant needs or divide feedings according to the plant’s growing needs. For example, apply high-nitrogen rich fertilizer once a month during the growing season and then cut back when the plant flowers....

What are Freedom Apples? Freedom is a variety of apple that was developed in the 1950s by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. It was created to be resistant to a number of diseases, like apple scab, cedar apple rust, powdery mildew, and fire blight. This is an especially good choice for your yard if you have struggled with these particular diseases in the past. Growing Freedom apples does require a pollinator....

What are Garden Symphylans? What are garden symphylans and what do they look like? Garden symphylans are small– no more than a 1/4 inch (6 mm.) typically. They will be white or cream, almost translucent in some cases, with relatively long antennae. They may have up to 12 legs, but may have less. They will be flat and segmented, like a centipede would be. In fact, they look so much like a centipede, that they are frequently called ‘garden centipedes....

Growing Snowflake Peas Plant Snowflake peas as soon as the soil can be worked in spring and all danger of hard freeze has passed. Peas are cool weather plants that will tolerate light frost, however, they don’t perform well when temperatures exceed 75 degrees F. (24 C.). Snowflake peas prefer full sunlight and fertile, well-drained soil. Dig in a generous amount of compost or well-rotted manure a few days prior to planting....