Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes At Thanksgiving you may call the creamy orange potatoes topped with marshmallows “yams” but they are actually sweet potatoes. Yams are a totally different vegetable that are actually roots, while sweet potatoes are stems. Sweet potatoes can have yellow, red, white orange or even purple flesh. Sweet potatoes are easy to grow, […]
Finish reading: Sweet Potatoes-Not Yams!Author: Anne (page 9 of 17)
After seeds germinate, use a complete houseplant fertilizer at 1/2 strength to provide nutrients. Two weeks later, use the recommended fertilizer rate on the fertilizer bottle. Over-fertilizing seedlings can easily damage and kill plants, so follow directions carefully. Once seedlings are large enough to transplant outside, you’ll need to “harden” them off. This is the […]
Finish reading: Spring Seed Starting 101 Part 2 of 2Is it time to start seeds in your area? To find out, click here. Then, count back 6-10 weeks from when you plan to plant. This will give you a date range for when to start seeds. Choose seed packets with instructions that say “sow in spring” or “plant when soil is warm.” Seeds for root vegetables such as beets, carrots, radishes, etc. are best planted […]
Finish reading: Spring Seed Starting 101 Part 1 of 2
Hands down, “Irish” potatoes are THE most fun to grow of all vegetables. Not only are they easy to grow, harvesting is like digging for buried treasure. Kids and adults alike go crazy when digging them up. At some point you may need to take the shovel away before they dig up your entire garden! […]
Finish reading: How to Plant “Irish” Potatoes
Some years ago on a beautiful fall day, I found myself without a lunch while volunteering in the University of California at Davis Children’s Garden. Annoyed that I had forgotten my food, I was loathe to leave the garden to bike all the way back to my apartment to get it. What I really needed […]
Finish reading: Persimmons: Squishy vs. CrunchyHachiya vs FuyuWhen I was a little girl, we had bearded iris plants growing in our yard. The flowers happened to be a deep shade of purple, and influenced me to choose purple as my favorite color. For some reason this was a very important decision for me, and I told all my friends the next day. […]
Finish reading: Bearded IrisMany everyday occurrences in the bug world sound like science fiction. Unsuspecting hosts eaten alive by internal parasites, broken legs that regenerate, and females who eat their mates… I strongly suspect sci-fi writers found much inspiration for novels while reading about bugs. Take for instance, the fascinating assassin bug, which lies in ambush awaiting its […]
Finish reading: Assassin Bug…Assassinates!One of the most common misconceptions people have about ants is that they “attack” and eat plants. Although ants are pesky creatures, they cannot be blamed for munching on plants since they can’t digest plant fiber. So if you see them on your plants, they are usually “farming” other insects such as aphids, scale, whiteflies […]
Finish reading: Ants on my Plants!!!Latest Blog Posts
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