Research Study Archives - gardenmyths.com

Science Shows A Better Way to Start Cool Weather Crops

Cool season crops are cold-hardy vegetables that thrive at lower temperatures. They are typically planted in very early spring for an early summer harvest. This includes things like lettuce, spinach, peas, carrots, radishes, beets, cabbage, and onions.

Such seeds are normally planted as soon as the soil can be worked. It is usually still cold and they can even get snow and frost. The seeds of cool-season crops don’t seem to have a problem dealing with these harsh conditions. I’ve been gardening for 50 years and have given classes on vegetable gardening and made many videos on the topic. I have always told people to plant their cool-season seed as soon as they can. That is the advice everyone gives. But ….. we may have been doing it wrong!

Watch this post as a video: https://youtu.be/l2CIzGEGMeA

Key Takeaways

All seed germinates better warm.
Planting cool-season seed in cold soil does not make sense.

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Growing Streptocarpus: Light Conditions

Streptocarpus are becoming popular houseplants and for good reason. They are relatively easy to grow, they don’t need high light and they bloom all year long in the right conditions.

How much light do they need?

Small plant with dozens of purple flowers which have a yellow center. — Streptocarpus RP Sassy Angel, bred by Robert Pavlis

Key Takeaways

Ideal conditions for Streptocarpus are at or above these values:

A DLI of over 7
10,000 lux for 12 hours
1,000 foot-candles for 12 hours

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Does Peat Moss Acidify Soil?

Some very desirable plants, like rhododendrons, azaleas, and blueberries, demand acidic soil, and many gardeners have alkaline soil, which is not suitable for growing these plants. The most common solution I’ve seen is to mix peat moss with the soil to produce an acidic environment.

Peat moss is acidic, so it makes sense that if you add some to your soil, the resulting soil will also be more acidic. But is this really true? How long does the acidity last? Can gardeners with alkaline soil use peat moss to grow rhododendrons, azaleas, and blueberries?

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Does AI Provide Good Gardening Information?

Artificial Intelligent (AI) programs have been all the rage for a couple of years now and they are being used more and more by gardeners to get their information. They are easy to use. Just enter a question and an answer appears. That is a lot easier than doing a Google search and having to read through blogs to get the information, but is it a better way? And most importantly, is the information correct.

Here are Garden Myths we don’t accept every answer, even if it is from AI, so we decided to do some testing.

NOTE: Since I published this post – some people have been getting errors saying the site is not safe and may have a virus – I have checked it several ways and it doesn’t have one. In an effort to try and resolve the problem, I have removed all the links in this post.

robot wearing a red hat with the words, AI can you trust it? — Does AI Provide Good Gardening Information? Source: mikemacmarketing

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Best Way to Germinate Baptisia Australis Seeds

Baptisia australis, also called false indigo or false blue indigo, is a native of North America and a great garden perennial. In addition to this species there are a number of other species in the genus Baptisia that are suitable for the garden. Some grow as herbaceous bushes while others are vines.

Germination of the genus seems to be difficult, at least in my hands. A single seedling might germinate, but in many cases none of the seeds germinate. This article summarizes a study conducted to better understand the germination of Baptisia australis seed.

Germinating Baptisia australis from seeds

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10 Ways to Germinate Pepper Seed Faster – What Works and What Doesn’t Work?

What is the fastest way to germinate pepper seeds? They do germinate a bit slower than other vegetables and that is especially true of hot peppers, so gardeners try all kinds of DIY solutions to speed up the process. In this post I will examine 10 popular ways to speed up the germination of pepper seeds and report on my own experiment that compares most of these methods.

Finally, a definitive answer to the question, what is the fastest way to germinate pepper seeds.

10 Ways to Germinate Pepper Seed Faster - What Works and What Doesn't Work? — 10 Ways to Germinate Pepper Seed Faster – What Works and What Doesn’t Work?, Credit: Daisy Dawes

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Soil Moisture Meters – Do They Work – Should You Use Them?

I see soil moisture meters for sale all over the place and now there are numerous brands listed on Amazon. A lot of people must be buying them, but do they work? Are they accurate enough? Should you use soil moisture meters to determine when to water your plants?

Let’s have a close look at this garden device.

Soil Moisture Meters - Do They Work - Should You Use Them? — Soil Moisture Meters – Do They Work – Should You Use Them?

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Straw Bale Garden vs Traditional In-ground Garden – A Critical Comparison

Straw bale gardening seems to be an “in-thing” to try and I have written about it in Pros and Cons of Straw Bale Gardening. I see people on line praising the technique, but I also see a lot of people reporting failure. What is rare is any side-by-side comparison of straw bale gardening to traditional in-ground gardening. Even proponents of straw bale gardening don’t provide evidence for their claims by making a comparison.

I wanted to see for myself how well it worked, so this year I decided to do a comparison between my traditional vegetable garden and straw bale gardening. Here is what I found.

Straw Bale Garden vs Traditional In-ground Garden — Straw bale garden vs traditional In-ground garden

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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?

Best Time to Water - Morning, Noon or Evening? — Best Time to Water – Morning, Noon or Evening?

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Growing Seeds in Ice Cream Cones – Great Idea or Ultimate Stupidity?

You have probably seen the memes showing you how to grow seeds in ice cream cones. There are lots of pictures on the internet, especially in places like Pinterest, showing nicely grown seedlings like the one pictured below.

The whole idea did not make sense to me, but who knows, maybe it’s a good idea and I’m just jealous that I didn’t think of it first.

I had to try it!

Growing Seeds in Ice Cream Cones - Great Idea or Ultimate Stupidity? — Growing Seeds in Ice Cream Cones – Great Idea or Ultimate Stupidity? Source: Sarah Neuburger

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Tomato Seed Fermentation – Is it Required?

Is tomato seed fermentation required? There are quite a few methods described on the internet for collecting and cleaning tomato seed, but which one works best? How do we define ‘best’? What works well for a commercial seed company may not be the best option for a home gardener.

A very common option is the ‘tomato seed fermentation’ method. Some say that it is absolutely necessary in order to get a high germination rate, but not everyone uses it, and they still claim to get good germination.

It is also believed that fermentation reduces pathogens on the seed. In this post, I will look at the science behind collecting and cleaning tomato seeds.

Tomato Seed Fermentation - Is it Required? — Tomato Seed Fermentation – Is it Required?

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Planting Garlic – How Late is Too Late?

I hear about a lot of people planting garlic in winter or even early spring. In most cases they never report how well the crop turned out so I wondered, how good is the crop if you plant late? Can you plant in spring, in a cold climate, and still get a good crop?

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