Primula sieboldii, is a fun little primula with lots of variation in its flowers in both color and petal shape. It blooms after many other primulas and its flowers last for more than 4 weeks. It is a great addition to any shade garden.
A Tomato Myth is Born – More About Tomato Ripening
A few weeks ago I published the post called Ripening Tomato Myths—Both on the Vine and in the Home, which explained why tomatoes ripen completely when picked at the breaker stage. Some people pointed out a discrepancy in that post. How could the fruit be sealed off from the plant at the breaker stage and still show fruit cracking due to excessive water in the plant? This was a valid point that needed some more investigation.
In this post I will clarify the situation and explain how this tomato myth got started. This will lead us to a better understanding of the tomato ripening process.
Should Hydrogen Peroxide Be Used in the Garden?
If you spend any time on social media or reading popular gardening blogs you already know that hydrogen peroxide does all kinds of useful things in the garden. You will see blog headings such as, “11 Mega Reasons why Hydrogen Peroxide for Plants is a Must” and “10 Amazing Uses of Hydrogen peroxide for Plants in the Garden.”
This stuff must be fantastic! Or not.
Not every claim is a complete myth, but many of these claims are just wishful thinking. Time to look at some science and get down to the reality of using hydrogen peroxide in the garden.
Foliar Feeding – Does it Work and Should Gardeners Use It?
Foliar feeding is becoming more popular among gardeners, in part because it seems to be an easy way to fix plant nutrient issues. When your plant is showing low levels of iron, spray some chelated iron onto the leaves and you have solved the problem. The second reason foliar feeding is more popular is that there are more products on the market. These include specialty foliar feed products as well as regular fertilizer which is being recommended as a foliar spray.
There is also great interest in using home brews like compost tea and comfrey tea . Use of compost tea as a soil drench has not really shown any benefits, so maybe it works better as a foilar spray?
It’s time for me to have a close look at foliar feeding and determine if gardeners should be using these products.
The Scientific Method and Why Controls Are So Important
My regular readers will understand that this is a science based gardening blog and that I rely heavily on the scientific method to debunk gardening myths, but what does “the scientific method” really mean and why is it so important? In today’s post I am going to focus on one aspect of this, the control.
Clematis heracleifolia
Clematis heracleifolia is an unusual clematis. It doesn’t vine and it’s semi-woody even though it is treated as a perennial. It also flowers late summer or early fall when most clematis are done for the season. If you see it in the garden for the first time you won’t believe it’s a clematis.
Are Vine Ripened Tomatoes Better – And Other Tomato Ripening Myths
You have worked hard all spring and summer to get some fresh red tomatoes from the garden. Now you have all kinds of green tomatoes on the vine and hope that they get red before the frost hits. What can you do to speed up the ripening process? Should you remove some leaves and let more sun reach the fruit? Can you harvest them green and complete the ripening process inside?
Some people suggest putting a banana or apple in a bag with green tomatoes to ripen them – does this work?
Does fertilize or water affect ripening? Would a change in culture speed up the tomato ripening process? Let’s have a close look at the facts and help you bite into a red tomato.
Caltha palustris
Caltha palustris may be a common plant but each spring it becomes a star in the garden for about 3 weeks. It has been in my garden for over 10 years, never gets any maintenance, never has pest or disease problems and it flowers like crazy. How many garden plants can match these qualities?
Best Time to Water – Morning, Noon or Evening?
The common advice is to water in the morning and not at night because watering at night keeps leaves wet all night and allows fungal spores to infect leaves. This seems to make sense, but is this really true? Do leaves stay wet a long time if watered at night?
What do farmers do? If they have to irrigate 100 acres, do they stop watering in the afternoon to reduce fungal infection?
Another common piece of advice is to water the soil only. Don’t get the leaves wet and you will have less fungal problems. I have always felt that water evaporates fairly quickly so is this really a concern?
Growing Hot Peppers – What Makes Them Hotter?
You are trying to grow hot peppers and you find they just don’t have enough heat. What are you doing wrong? What can you do different to grow really hot peppers?
People who love the heat from hot peppers are almost religious about making them hotter and hotter and this has resulted in a lot of online suggestions – many of them are just myths but some actually work. It’s time to separate fact from fiction and check the science to see what makes a pepper hot, and what can be done in the garden to make them hotter.
The Truth About Btk – Bacillus thuringiensis var. kustaki
Everybody is talking about Btk because of the gypsy moth outbreak this year. This microbial pesticide kills caterpillars but does not harm any other insects. Unfortunately, its popularity has generated a number of misconceptions about the product.
I see this all the time in the gardening world. A little bit of misunderstood true science morphs into solutions that just don’t work. Let’s have a close look at Btk and separate scientific fact from fiction.
Japanese Beetle Traps – Do They Work in the Garden?
Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) have become a major pest in Eastern North America and other places. The Japanese beetle trap is routinely recommended for garden use and is easily available commercially, but does it work?
One of the problems with this trap is that it does “seem” to work – it catches lots of beetles. But does it bring all the neighborhood beetles to your yard? Will a Japanese beetle trap reduce the damage this pest does to your roses and other tasty plants?
The answer to these questions is a bit more complex than you might think.
