Are you an onion addict who dreams of a steady supply of fresh Allium? Expanding your onion repertoire with perennial onions is your best bet. Egyptian walking onions (Allium x proliferum), also called tree onion or topset onion, is a three-in-one perennial onion that can be harvested from spring to fall in Zones 5 to 9.
My mother used to grow “low acid” tomatoes because high acid levels gave her mouth cankers, or so she thought. There is a concern that canning low acid tomatoes causes botulism because the acid level is too low.
Lots of seed companies and garden blogs talk about low acid tomatoes and usually identify yellow, orange and small fruited varieties as low acid. Some claim that modern breeding has increased the acidity of tomatoes and that heirlooms have less acid. Others claim that there is no such thing as low acid tomatoes.
It turns out that this story starts as a myth. People tried to correct the myth only to create a new myth in the process. I’ll have to debunk the debunkers.
Pinching and topping refers to the removal of the top part of a plant. Pinching peppers results in more side branches and a bushier plant which, it is claimed, leads to more fruit and a higher yield. Is this true? Should you pinch pepper plants?
Some people also suggest removing the first bloom to allow the seedling to grow larger and develop a better root system. Does this really happen? Does it increase yield. Should you pinch the first bloom?
There are lots of opinions online and in blog posts, but I found none that actually presented any scientific evidence for their suggestions. What does science say?
What is the difference between straw and hay? I am always surprised at all of the misinformation that is spread whenever discussions start about using straw or hay in the garden. Which one has more weeds? Do they improve soil? Are lingering herbicides a problem? Should either be used in the garden?
The answers to these questions are quite simple if you first eliminate the myths and that is what I’m going to do in this post.
Squash, cucumber and pumpkin belong to the cucurbit family and most garden varieties produce both male and female flowers. Since only female flowers produce fruit, gardeners get concerned when they see too many male flowers and like any other gardening problem they invent lots of ways to fix the problem. Unfortunately most of these so-called fixes don’t actually work.
What causes too many male flowers on cucumbers, pumpkins and squash, and what can be done about it?
I have put together a 12 part class to provide all of the basic information you need to grow better vegetables. The course is designed for both beginner and intermediate gardeners and is offered free on YouTube.
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.
I was working on my new book, Plant Science for Gardeners (to be released spring 2022), and came across a claim that most beans twine anti-clockwise, but that runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) twine clockwise. This claim was on a government extension site, so it just might be true. It seemed really odd to me, but why would someone make this up? Surely this is something that is easy to check?
I have been growing runner beans for many years but I decided not to plant any this year so I couldn’t even check my garden.
There are also claims that plants, including beans, twine differently in the Southern and Northern Hemisphere. The idea that water drains in a different direction in the south is a myth, so what about twining vines?
I recently asked our Facebook Group, Garden Fundamentals, what they used for washing fruits and vegetables and I got quite a range of answers. Some did not wash most items. Quite a few used just water and many used a type of soap. Vinegar and baking soda were also popular for washing fruits and vegetables.
What does the science say about different washing solutions for fruits and vegetables?
Everyone loves fresh veggies but the amount of work that goes into a vegetable garden is a lot less appealing. Perennial vegetables are gaining popularity as a lower-maintenance alternative to conventional annual crops. You can plant perennial vegetables once and enjoy harvests for years to come.
This is not a new concept – many parts of the world rely on perennial vegetables, like cassava and taro, that live for many years and can be maintained and harvested by hand. Many annuals in the north are grown as perennials in warm, southern climates. Still, there are many wonderful perennial vegetables that grow well in colder climates.
To prune or not to prune suckers on tomatoes – the age old debate continues – until now!
There are two distinct camps here. Some people prune suckers on tomatoes so that they end up with a single stem and they claim that is best. Others don’t prune suckers at all and they claim their method is best. And then there are the ones that sit on fence and sucker to two or three stems. In this blog I’ll tell you the best way to prune tomatoes.
Is organic food better? I know you have heard the marketing. It is more nutritious. It is healthier. It is better for the environment. But is any of that really true? How much of this is marketing hype by both companies and pro-organic groups, and what is the real science behind organic food.
Let’s get the facts about organic food.
