Fruit & Vegetable Gardening

Harvesting potatoes is easily one of the most fun garden tasks! Big, bushy green plants on top of the soil hide incredible riches beneath. But the exact thing that makes harvesting so fun—the glorious surprise of your bounty—also makes it a little tricky to know exactly when to dig up those delicious tubers. We’re going … Read more

Poppies are beloved garden flowers that provide a splash of vibrant color in spring and summer. After the delicate petals fade away, the ovary of the poppy flower transforms into an decorative seed pod. Inside this unique capsule, hundreds of tiny black poppy seeds are developing. These edible seeds can be harvested and used for … Read more

Spinach is a leafy green vegetable that is beloved around the world for its nutritional benefits and versatility in the kitchen. With its vibrant green color, unique leaf shapes, and importance as a crop, the spinach plant is also visually striking and has been the subject of countless pictures throughout history. In this comprehensive guide … Read more

If you’re like me, you love blackberry everything – jam, cobbler, pie, glaze, you name it. But good, fresh blackberries have a short season and, if you’re buying responsibly (that is, from a reputable local farmer), they can be expensive. This expense is for good reason: while blackberries are one of the easier fruits to … Read more

I love Greek salads, but I’ve ruined a few by tossing in cucumbers with tough skins and big, chewy seeds. Fortunately, making a tender Greek salad instead — with fresh, homegrown cucumbers — is simple. Now, I just include a few English long cucumbers in my garden each year. I love Greek salads, but I’ve … Read more

Sunflowers are one of the most beloved flowers with their bright, cheery yellow petals and tall, stately stems. When they’re in full bloom, fields of sunflowers are a stunning sight But when exactly is sunflower season? Here’s a guide to when and where you can find sunflowers in their prime across the United States When … Read more

“Elephant ears” is the common name for a group of tropical perennial plants grown for their large, heart-shaped leaves. Most of these herbaceous species in the arum or aroid family (Araceae) that are offered as ornamentals belong to the genera Colocasia, Alocasia, and Xanthosoma, although there are others that have similar appearance and growth habits. … Read more

Basil flowers are delightful in salads and for tea, but plucking them also benefits the growth and aroma of the green leaves that are so tasty in cooking. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. When a basil flowers, most gardeners quickly remove the … Read more

I recently helped out on a project for a local folklorist looking for information on broom lore, and wound up with easily twenty pages of notes on the topic from a wide variety of sources. I thought that today I would share a few of the commonly held beliefs regarding brooms, as well as look … Read more

The Perfect Planting Time for Pomegranate Trees Pomegranates are a delicious and nutritious fruit that can be grown in many backyards. However, in order to get a good harvest from your pomegranate tree, it’s important to plant it at the right time of year. Choosing the optimal planting time can make all the difference in … Read more