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Vegetable Gardening

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Garden Journal: A helpful gardening tool

What was that really excellent pepper variety we grew last year?  What type of tomato was resistant to disease?  Those are the types of questions we think we will always remember the answer to, but now we are coming into the 2020 garden season; some of those details have...
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Green Salad

Grow a combination of salad greens

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator I grew several different types of salad greens indoors this winter. We ate them in salads, on sandwiches, in tacos, and more. With spring just around the corner, now is the time to plant salad greens outdoors in the garden. There...
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Sweet potato or yam?

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator As the holiday season approaches, it seems appropriate to discuss the issue of sweet potatoes versus yams. Officially a sweet potato is never a yam, but sweet potatoes are often sometimes referred to as yams. Sweet potatoes (...
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Ornamental Gourds

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator It's fall festival time again. Time for spiced apples, beautiful fall colors, arts and crafts, and locally grown produce. I've never been to a fall festival when those items didn't include gourds either for sale individually or...
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Solving tomato problems

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable grown in the United States, said a University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator. "They are probably one of the easiest vegetables to grow, but no vegetable is problem proof," said...
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Midsummer Vegetable Gardens

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Are you enjoying the "fruits of your labor" from your vegetable garden this summer? With proper care, vegetable gardens provide fresh produce well into the fall. It is essential to keep plants watered consistently during the heat of...
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Fresh Tomato Salsa

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Over the past decade, Americans have grown to love salsa, surpassing ketchup as a favorite condiment. While there are many variations, a basic salsa recipe includes tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro and tomatillos. I make...
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Horticulture at the fair

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Winning at a county fair brings great notoriety. Remember how excited Farmer Zuckerman was in the book "Charlottes Web" when Wilbur won! The county fair is meant to bring together exhibitors in many categories across the county to...
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Supersweet Sweet Corn

Did you know that the sweet corn you eat this summer most likely has direct ties to the University of Illinois? John R. Laughnan, a University of Illinois professor of botany and plant genetics, discovered supersweet corn in 1953. He discovered that the kernels of a mutant of corn were "unusually...
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Grow vegetables in containers

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Vegetables are most commonly grown in traditional gardens in rows. Large gardens can seem overwhelming, especially during the heat of summer or after a vacation. If you don't have space for that or just want to try something...
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Time to plant potatoes

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Potato ranks with wheat and rice as one of the most important staple crop sin the human diet around the world. Certainly potatoes are an important part of our diets as we eat French fries, potato chips, mashed potatoes, augratin...
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Tips for new vegetable gardeners

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator According to the Garden Media Group, our younger generation (15-49 year olds) is just learning to garden and is hungry for information. They are most interested in growing edibles (herbs, fruits, and vegetables), gardening with their...
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Tomato Terminology

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Tomatoes are the most popular home garden vegetable grown in America. We answer many questions each summer about tomatoes. There are literally hundreds of varieties of tomatoes available, making it difficult to choose which one to...
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Midsummer Vegetable Gardens

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Are you enjoying the "fruits of your labor" from your vegetable garden this summer? With proper care, vegetable gardens provide fresh produce well into the fall. Although we had record rainfall amounts in June, July might be...
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