It has been slow to warm up this year but finally getting some warm enough nights to bring my peppers outside for a little while. Though they were flowering in the grow box I was surprised to see a sweet yellow pepper already growing. This is definitely a record for me by at least a good month.
One thing I realized halfway through the winter was that I did not nearly save enough berries to make it through. With local strawberries showing up in my garden and in the farmers market this seemed like a perfect time to get an early start this year. Freezing strawberries is much like freezing other berries strawberries are just as easy with just a few simple steps: 1. Quickly wash…
And the winner of the GardenSafe Gift Pack is…Ashley. Thank you for everyone who entered. I am still looking for more giveaways coming soon so you should have another chance to win shortly…
Last week I was contacted by Garden Safe asking if I would like some samples and given I used the last of my insecticidal soap protecting my peas from aphids I graciously agreed. Expecting to get a couple bottles to try out I was definitely surprised to get the lifetime supply (at least fro my little garden above) Not wanting to share the love with my readers they also…
I guess while we are at lets not leave out shallots, salad onions, bunching onions, and green sticks. For the purists a scallion is technically slightly less mature than a green onions. No matter what you call them this is a very versatile version of the conventional mature bulb version of the vegetable and shouldn’t be overlooked in your garden. What is great about green onions is the provide…
Most often I start my seeds in a mix of coconut coir and perlite in seeding cells or small containers, though there are occasions when it may be better to start your seeds in a simple paper towel. Before going into the benefits first lets go over the technique: Get a paper towel, napkin, or coffee filter and spray with water so it is moist (not soaking wet or…
I actually thought I already posted about this bad boy which unfortunately is only a design concept from Philips. For those that are not familiar: Aquaponics is the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment. Aquatic animal effluent (for example fish waste) accumulates in water as a by-product of keeping them in a closed system or tank (for example a recirculating aquaculture system). The effluent-rich…
Pepper plants need specific environmental (temperature and humidity) conditions to establish growth and create high yields. If the temperatures get too low it will stunt its growth or not produce blossoms, when the temperatures get too high the plant will drop it blossoms resulting in no or reduce yields. The perfect temperature range for peppers is between 70 and 80 degrees F for Bell peppers and hot peppers can…
When I mention I grow tomatoes upside down many people ask me, “Why don’t you grow tomatoes in the ground?” The surprise answer is, I do grow both in the ground and in the air. The picture above shows my current tomato plants I am growing in the one location with sufficient sunlight to grow them, which might explain the reason why I look alternate options for adding more…
We normally would have already had our annual ladybug release for aphid control, though this year it has been a little colder than normal so we have to postpone until this evening. You want to release your ladybugs at sunset since they do not like to fly at night and gives you the best odds of keeping them in your garden. For fun and a little carnage we decided…
With a piece of cedar fence board and a few nails you can make your own ladybug house to give your army of aphid eaters I nice comfortable place to take shelter between battles This project started with my youngest daughter (5 years old) has been asking every weekend, “Can we build something with wood?” Finally I came up with this project which we had a great time building….
It is fairly uncommon for me to see these little green bugs on my peas. In case you didn’t guess these are pea aphids, which suck juices from the plant leaves ad spread disease between plants. This is a rare occurrence because normally it is warmer and drier this time of year and we would have our annual ladybug release to take care of these little pests. If the…