Like many who lost tomato plants to late blight last year, I’m wondering: How can I make sure it doesn’t happen again this year? Plant a diversity of tomato varieties to reduce the possibility of disease. Like many gardeners who lost their tomato crop to late blight last year, I’m wondering: How can I make sure it doesn’t happen again this year? Unfortunately, there’s no silver bullet. The most important thin…
Late blight on tomato foliage. Photo courtesy Meg McGrath, Cornell University Late blight, a disease that strikes tomatoes and potatoes, can quickly ruin an entire crop — and provide a source of infection for other plants. So far this growing season, the disease has been confirmed in Florida and up the East Coast up to Pennsylvania and New York, as well as in California. It is critical that gardeners understand that late blight is not like othe…
…rennials. You’ll likely to hear that 80% of their sales are in May and June. Next, you could ask them the difference in sales potential between a plant that’s in bloom and one that’s not. They will probably say that they sell 10 plants in bloom for every one plant that’s not in bloom. What’s in bloom during May and June when people like us are buying perennials? It’s the early-season flowers: peonies, columbine, lady’s mantle, delphinium and iri…
The weather in late summer and early autumn is perfect for establishing cool-season turfgrasses. In New England and other cold-winter climates, August and September are the best months to sow grass. After the contractors left late last summer, our back yard was a mess of tire ruts, torn up sod and exposed soil. Not that we had a great lawn to start with. We inherited the bumpy, rocky, weedy lawn when we bought the house and had done not…
…r drought and urban conditions, disease- and pest-resistance, and year-round ornamental features make this one of the best for summer bloom in zones 6 and warmer. Cultivars range in mature height from compact 3-foot shrubs to 20-foot-tall trees. The University of Georgia and Clemson University Extension Services have handy cultivar lists, plus thorough cultural information. -Ann Whitman Horticulturist, Gardener’s Supply…
Savvy gardeners enjoy some of the sweetest harvests of the year when the rest of us are already raiding our freezers or resorting to supermarket vegetables. Plant peas in late July to early August for a delectable fall harvest. Plant cold-tolerant fall vegetable crops in midsummer for late-season harvests. For lots of folks, the Secret Garden isn’t a physical place; it’s a time of year. These savvy gardeners enjoy some of the swee…
…mal DNA. Many Americans are concerned about the negative effects of GMO use on the agricultural economy and small-scale and organic farming. Surveys show a wide majority of Americans support mandatory labeling. At least 21 countries and the European Union have established some form of mandatory labeling. Mandatory labeling will allow consumers to identify food products they want to avoid. So why not label? Well, here are some of the argu…
Think you’ve had a hard year in the garden? You’re not alone. Vegetable gardeners are calling this season the worst in recent memory. A squash plant in our display garden, during better times. A squash vine borer, one of the many challenges of summer 2009. More than 50 percent of the squash plants in our display garden were hit by this pest. The unmistakable footprint of a deer….
Gardener’s Supply has created a free interactive tool that makes it easier for gardeners to identify pest and disease problems, and determine effective, earth-friendly solutions. The tomato hornworm. Learn more about this foe in our Pest and Disease Detective. Late blight was a major problem for gardeners in 2009. The 2009 growing season presented home gardeners with some of the worst pest and disease problems in recent memory. For the m…
…ently lift them. We harvested as a team with one person using a garden fork to lift the soil and the other person on hands and knees, sifting through the soil for tubers. If you have a modest amount of potatoes to dig (under 100 lbs.), I find this is the best technique. This way I can make sure that I find even those tiny little quarter-size tubers (yum!). The white and red potatoes were relatively easy to spot in the soil, but the dark blue one…