Home Grown
Tips and resources for farmers and gardeners
Tabletop Christmas Trees. Norfolk Island Pines have been used for holiday decorations for many years. They have a series of layered branches, five to a layer, that are covered with short soft dark green needles. The stems are widely separated, making room for hanging decorations, but in some cases have a sparse look. More…
Sun Protection For Tomato Skins Sunscald damage to your tomatoes depends on their stage of maturity, and the intensity and duration of the heat. The fruit is most susceptible when it is green or when the first pink color begins to show (called the breaker state). More…
Adding Color To Winter Landscapes. Red and yellow twig dogwood can remain colorful for many years in the garden by removing the older stems, allowing new stems to grow back. These young stems provide the color. More…
Potted Perennials In Winter. While perennials can be treated like annuals and replaced the next season, many gardeners prefer looking for ways to overwinter their potted perennials so they can have these plants survive the winter and come back next spring. More…
Growing Groundsel. When planting a groundcover that will help keep weeds out of the garden, Kathy Jentz recommends groundsel, Packera aurea. It's sometimes called Butterweed, Golden Ragwort or Senecio. More…
Starting An Apple Orchard. Garden paths are much more than just a way to get to a destination. They're an invitation to take a closer look, a promise that there's more to see. More…
Selecting Holiday Plants. Plants should have dark green foliage and abundant unopened flower buds or fruit. Wrap them carefully before transporting them to avoid subjecting them to freezing outdoor temperatures. More…
Preventing Sunscald. Many young, smooth, thin-barked trees like honey locusts, fruit trees, ashes, oaks, maples, lindens, red buds and willows are susceptible to sunscald and bark cracks. More…
Wrapping Trees for Winter. For trees such as red maple, crabapple, apple, cherry and peach a simple layer of tree wrap can make the difference between life and death this winter. The wrap protects the young trunks of susceptible trees from cracking. More…
Choosing a Garden Path. Garden paths are much more than just a way to get to a destination. They're an invitation to take a closer look, a promise that there's more to see. More…
Chop-And-Drop Mulching. At the end of the growing season, instead of ripping out and disposing of annual plants, consider the chop-and-drop mulching method. More…
Is It A Yam Or A Sweet Potato? Botanically, yams and sweet potatoes are not very close relatives. The yam is more closely related to lilies than the sweet potato, and the sweet potato is more closely related to morning glories than potatoes. More…
Tips On Watering Trees In Fall. When the leaves have fallen, the tops of the plants are dormant. This is the time to water your woody plants deeply to help them survive the winter.. More…
Beware Of Toxic Carrots. The carrot family, which boasts a variety of familiar edibles such as parsley, celery, carrots, anise, fennel, and cilantro, also contains two highly poisonous plants that many people confuse for their nontoxic counterparts. More…
Growing Oaks From Acorns. After collecting acorns for germinating, they should be soaked in a bowl of water overnight to rehydrate them. Floating acorns, along with any debris, should be skimmed off the top. The acorns that sink to the bottom are the most viable and pest-free. More…
Time to Plant Garlic. Fall is prime time for planting garlic. Fall-planted garlic cloves will produce a new bulb by the next summer. More…
Adding Color To Autumn Landscapes. Mums aren't the only word in fall gardens and landscapes. Here are some other wonderful plants that can add splashes of color to your fall: Asters are autumn-flowering, old-time favorites with blooms ranging from pale pink to deep purple. More…
Easy Fruits to Grow at Home Should I add fruit to my backyard? Grapes. Berries. Maybe apples? Great idea if you've got the space. But there's a lot to consider before you fill a patch in the yard, and months later, can reap the fruits of your labor. More…
Fall Lawn Care. Early September is the time to take care of your lawn before the winter. More…
Taking Care of Raspberry Plants In Autumn. This is important for future productivity of the patch. This is the time to cut back on fertilizing and watering so that the canes can start hardening off; and do not prune any raspberries at this time unless the plant is seriously damaged or diseased. More…
Pruning Lilacs. Old lilacs can be renewed or rejuvenated by pruning. Home gardeners can choose between two different pruning methods. More…
Options For Xeriscaping. To start developing a water-efficient landscape, design and organize it with irrigation in mind. Having a nicely landscaped yard while conserving water is more than choosing drought tolerant plant species. More…
When Fruit Trees Bear No Fruit. Young fruit trees will normally begin to fruit once the tree has become established in its new planting site. Several things can influence how soon your trees begin to bear, including weather, climate, tree variety or cultivar, and pollination. More…
Turning Up The Heat in Peppers. Some people go to great lengths to get the hottest peppers around. So what can you do to turn up the heat in hot peppers? . More…
Growing Cool-Season Fall Vegetables. Autumn is often overlooked for growing cool-season crops, but it is a great time to take advantage of the cool weather and extend the growing season. More…
Planting for Fall Color. Add splashes of yellow to an autumn landscape with monkshood, balloonflower, gooseneck loosestrife or even blue and sideoats grama. More…
Attracting Butterflies To Gardens. Many butterflies will lay their eggs only on the particular plants the caterpillar will need to eat once it hatches. For monarchs, that includes any plants in the milkweed family -- butterfly milkweed, swamp or smooth milkweed, etc. More…
Ladybug Invasions. There are several thousand species of ladybugs, also known as ladybeetles or ladybirds. Most are considered to be beneficial insects... But some ladybugs are also pests, eating cultivated plants, invading homes, emitting stinky secretions, and even biting. More…
Stopping Squash Bugs. A squash bug infestation can hurt the crop; a large population can kill it. Here's some recommendations to help reduce the damage from this garden pest.. More…
Dividing Perennials. Dividing perennials is an excellent way to expand a flower border. It rejuvenates older plants which may have begun to die out in the center, and the new clumps are sturdy enough to become healthy, mature plants in the first year. More…
Small Shrubs for Small Places. When adding small shrubs to your home landscape it is important to select plants that are suitable for the space and visually appealing. Take time to fully evaluate the space and select plants that will both thrive and provide powerful visual stimuli.. More…
The Benefits of Earthworms. #5. Rainfall is better able to enter the soil when lots of earthworms are burrowing. This eliminates the water erosion and puddling which can kill young plants... More…
Tips On Watering Trees And Shrubs. How do you know how much water your plants need during the growing season? One way to find out is to check the soil moisture.. More…
Is Container Corn Such A Corny Idea? Some corn varieties are smaller than others and worth a try in containers. They taste great, they're fun to grow, and you'll have neighbors slack-jawed in disbelief when you tell them you're growing corn in a container on your porch.. More…
Trellis Home Vegetables For Better Fruit, Bigger Harvest. Trellising gets the plant and fruit up off the ground. This makes for better quality fruit and less disease. It also helps maintain order in the garden and makes harvesting easier.. More…
Preventing Thatch. Thatch is a layer of living and dead roots, crowns and lower shoots that often develops in lawns. It can weaken and even destroy a lawn if not prevented or removed. More…
Tips for Growing Tomatoes. Every gardener will tell you secret tricks for growing a bumper crop of tomatoes. But the biggest secret of all is: Tomatoes are easy to grow.. More…
Growing Corn. To grow corn successfully, focus on proven production practices such as timely planting, high-yielding hybrids and appropriate seeding rates. A major consideration is planting date. More…
Add Herbs to Garden. Regardless of how you decide to use them, herbs can make an exciting addition to any landscape. They can be used formally in an herb garden or informally mixed into beds of annuals, perennials or shrubs. Herb flowers and foliage provide a beautiful palette of color and variation in texture and form. Herbs also lend themselves well to small containers such as window boxes or whisky barrels. More…
Planting For Low Maintenance. Because annuals need to be replanted every season, perennials are preferred in the low-maintenance garden. Coneflowers are bright, cheery and easy to grow.. More…
Garden Anywhere With A Compost Sock. With compost socks, farming could be expanded to areas that generally aren’t considered ag-friendly or where fresh fruits and vegetables are not easily accessible. More…
Saving Rainfall. When summer arrives, gardeners will wish they could have saved some of the rain that ran down their driveways in the spring. More…
