Vegetables

Rain, during summer months, is usually a welcome assist when caring for a vegetable garden. But when there is too much of a good thing, a flooded garden can be devastating. Beyond the physical damage to plants and structures, floodwater can introduce biological and chemical contaminants, making...

Tomatoes are one of the most commonly grown vegetables in home gardens. While tomatoes are relatively easy to grow, there are a few diseases you should keep your eye out for. Three of the most common diseases people encounter are early blight, Septoria leaf spot, and anthracnose. All of these...

As the growing season approaches, final plans are being made for home gardens. What to plant and where to plant are big questions that require multiple levels of consideration. What to plant requires an analysis of the intended use, what the growing space can support, and how the climate will...

After a lovely winter break, I returned to the office with a stack of seed catalogs begging me to order more seeds. I already have hundreds of different seed packets that I have accumulated over the years. Many of the seeds are old enough that they likely are not viable anymore, but I just have...

For the most part, we think of fungal infections as undesirable and cause adverse effects on plants. Fungal pathogens can destroy crops, weaken and deform plant parts, or kill the host plant entirely. Fungal pathogens cause billions of dollars of economic loss annually. Within this context, as we...

There aren’t many things more satisfying than going out to your garden and harvesting your produce. All the digging, watering, and weeding you’ve done in your vegetable garden suddenly become worthwhile when you’ve picked your first tomato. One of the advantages of having a garden is that you can...

With a new year comes opportunities for a new start… especially in the garden. As we look through seed catalogs, past garden records, and develop plans for next year’s planting, crop rotation in an annual garden bed is an important management method to implement. Crop rotation is a cultural...

Silky smooth potatoes, snappy beans, bright sweet potatoes, deep green collards, and turkeys the size of Volkswagens. It is that time of year when someone in your family cooks like a chef on a reality TV show. Once the yelling ends and smoke alarms are silenced, standing back from the table reveals...

As the summer days pass by, garden harvest becomes a regularly performed task of our Master Gardeners. The demonstration gardens that were so thoughtfully planned, plants or seeds so carefully planted, and growing plants so lovingly tended to for the past few months are producing delicious,...

I hope I am not the only one with a plant they have always been aware of yet never really paid attention to. For me, that is rhubarb. I recall my grandmother having a stand of rhubarb, and I am sure she made rhubarb pie, but that is where my memory stops. I do not recall eating rhubarb pie or any...