Growing Tomatoes 101
Growing tomatoes is an enjoyable and rewarding experience that anyone can master. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, with the right knowledge and techniques, you can easily grow healthy and delicious tomatoes.
Grow Delicious Carrots from Seed to Harvest
Carrots are a cornerstone of the garden; they etch themselves into our memory from the very first bite. Learn what they need to grow the tastiest ones.
Growing Great Eggplant – What You Need to Know
Fresh-picked, home-grown heirloom eggplant is sweet and delicious and we’ll show you how to grow it and enjoy it at its best!
Grow Great Hardneck Garlic at Home
Hardneck garlic has a more complex, richer, spicier flavor that is more 'garlicky' than the supermarket types. We show you how to grow your own great garlic!
Heirloom Corn – Grow It to Save It
Heirloom corn is one of our oldest domesticated foods, feeding us for an estimated 7,000 years. Originating in Mexico, this cultivated grass is highly versatile and adaptable, providing so much more than simply food for our lives today. See some delicious varieties and how to grow in a small space.
Build Your Own Seed Starting Station
A seed starting station helps you germinate seeds better and grow stronger transplants for your garden. Better gardens start with robust, healthy seedlings; they grow from the ideal conditions a seed rack provides. We share our 20 years experience in how to build your own.
Shade Your Garden for Better Vegetables
Shade for a garden is a polarizing subject – it seems like we’ve either got too much or too little. Today we’re focusing on gardens that need shade and showing you easy and simple ways to add some shade to your garden.
3 Ways to Grow Great Onions from Seed
Onions grown from bulbs or transplants are a good way to get started, but growing your onions from seed opens up a world of diversity in tastes, shapes, sizes, and colors. Seed-grown onions are just better all around!
Growing Peppers 101
We look at the basics of growing both sweet and hot peppers in your home garden and some mistakes to avoid and myths to be aware of. Armed with a little knowledge, you'll be much more successful this season!
Arugula – the Wild, Ancient, Hip and Versatile Green
Arugula might just be the perfect cool season aromatic salad green for the home gardener. Used as an herb, salad green, and leafy green vegetable it's a very versatile ingredient.
Cool Season Vegetables to Love
Gardeners are sometimes baffled when thinking about cool season vegetables. This quick checklist will help you choose what you like to eat and cook with.
Grow Lettuce in Summer
Grow lettuce through the summer without bolting with a little knowledge and preparation we'll share with you. Imagine your own fresh lettuce this summer!
Homegrown Sprouts Safety
Homegrown sprouts are an excellent alternative to meat, especially for vegetarians and vegans. They are healthy and nutritious if grown, tested and sprouted right.
Spring Onions – When and How to Plant
Spring onions are easy to grow and give great harvest in about two months. See how to choose, plant, grow and harvest them!
Salsify – the Vegetable Oyster
Salsify or oyster plant is an ancient herb that was eaten as a vegetable by the Greeks and Romans. Hardy and tasty, it is being rediscovered today.
Seed Testing and Preservation: A Behind the Scenes Look at Seed Testing Labs and the USDA
Everyone wants higher quality seed - from the home gardener to the production grower. Seed testing and seed preservation improve seed quality.
How to Grow Sprouts at Home
Sprouts need only 5 minutes a day, matures in about a week and has more nutrients per calorie than any other type of food. Easy to grow and delicious!
Grow Great Pumpkins from Seed to Harvest
Pumpkins are an important fall mascot, from jack-o’-lanterns to delicious foods. After all, what says Fall more than pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin pies?
Fall Onions Made Easy
Growing fall onions usually comes down to one question - “What onions can be grown this fall?” Sweet onions are the safest bet, we'll show you why!
Second Chance Gardening
Fall is the "Second Chance" for an abundant crop of cool season vegetables. We share some unique planting tips to make your garden a success!
Vine Peach – Ancient Melon of Many Uses
Vine Peach is a hardy, drought tolerant, prolific ancient baseball sized melon of many uses from shade & windbreak to secret cooking element & room perfume.
Alpine Strawberries have a Sweet History
Alpine strawberries have captivated our taste buds for a very long time. They are tiny yet hugely flavorful ancestors of our common strawberry.
Achocha – the Unknown Cucumber Relative
Achocha is a delicious and unknown member of the cucumber family with almost complete immunity from the diseases and pests which attack other cucurbits.
Chile de Agua – An Unknown Heirloom Chile from Oaxaca
Discover the Chile de Agua, a delicious but unknown heirloom chile from Oaxaca, Mexico, grown for over 300 years.
Determinate and Indeterminate Tomatoes –What’s the Difference?
Are determinate tomatoes best for your garden, or would an indeterminate be better for you? How to tell, and what do the terms mean, exactly?
Heirloom Tomato Leaves – Potato Leaf vs Regular Leaf
Heirloom tomato leaves have two main different and distinct types of leaves – potato leaf and regular leaf. We'll show you the differences!
September Garden Vegetables
We’ve taken some glamour shots of September garden vegetables and wanted to share them with you, along with tips on how we enjoy them in different dishes.
Growing Quality Heirloom Chiles
Take a short trip with us to see what goes into growing quality heirloom chiles from a world-class breeder.
Succession Planting – Boosting Garden Production
Succession planting is basically one crop following another in the same space to maximize the amount of food produced. We'll show you how to do it!
Heirloom Corn Types & Planting Tips
Heirloom corn is becoming popular as people taste the depths of flavors they offer. There is much more than just the sweet, fresh eating varieties!
Heirloom Watermelons – Size vs Flavor
With watermelons, both size and flavor matter. Heirloom watermelons grown at home will give the absolute best flavor and taste, regardless of size.
Overwintering Cucamelons
Cucamelons can be overwintered as a perennial if they produce tubers in their roots. This technique gives earlier and larger harvests the second year.
Improve Lettuce Seed Germination
Lettuce seed won't sprout in too warm soil, so it's ideal for early and late season planting. We'll show you when and how to plant for the best results!
Wild Galapagos Tomato
The Wild Galapagos Tomato (Solanum cheesmaniae), is very popular for its production and adaptability to extreme environments from hot to cold.
The Carrot’s Odyssey
Ellen once again shows her agricultural research on the travels and history of the humble carrot and how itwent from wild to our garden.
History of Spinach
Spinach is a cool season crop, for most of the country it can be grown twice a growing season, as an early spring green and again as a fall and winter crop.
Alternative Spinach Greens
Spinach is either loved or hated, there isn't much middle ground. Spinach love can be learned, especially when that spinach is fresh from your own garden.
Rhubarb’s Story
Rhubarb is one of my favorite food plants; its red-green stalks beckon summer on and strawberry-rhubarb pie is one of my favorites.
A Short History of Beans
How beans feature prominently in a Christmas tradition, along with some unique peeks into their long history.
Grow Better Peppers with Shade
It's easy to grow more and better peppers through the hot summer with these proven techniques. Avoid heat stresses, diseases and extend your season.
Chile and Pepper Growing Tips
Chiles can be grown with great success in many varied garden climates across America. We give you some good tips for a great start in your garden!
World Famous San Marzano Tomatoes
San Marzano tomatoes are world-famous with a long and storied history as the best plum tomato for sauce and pizza, canning, peeling and drying.
Heirloom Tomatoes Have Flavor Lost in Commercial Varieties
Heirloom tomatoes retain the flavor that have been bred out of commercial varieties over the past 70 years, new research shows.
How to Pick Perfectly Ripe Heirloom Vegetables
Finding and picking perfectly ripe heirloom vegetables or fruit requires the engagement all of your senses. Read on as we show you how!
Heirloom Sweet Corn History
Heirloom corn has a richness and depth of flavor that can’t be forgotten. We share a bit of history on heirloom sweet corn from 1884.
Heirloom Tomato Growing Tips
The heirloom tomato has seen a meteoric rise over the past few years. We share tips to get the best out of your heirloom tomato plants!
The History of Heirloom Peas
Heirloom peas have a much longer history than most people realize, feeding mankind since before the Stone age.
Heirloom Gardening for Backyard Chickens
Raising backyard chickens is becoming increasingly popular, no matter where you live. Growing heirloom vegetables is the best way to feed them well.
Fearing Burr on Savoy Cabbage
Discover the captivating history of Savoy perfection cabbage. Learn about its origins and why it's considered the best in the world.
Growing Your Salad In A Container Garden
Here is one way to easily grow fresh salad vegetables year round in small spaces with a weekend project.