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Author: JESSIE KEITH

Plants are the lens Jessie views the world through because they’re all-sustaining. (“They feed, clothe, house and heal us. They produce the air we breathe and even make us smell pretty.”) She’s a garden writer and photographer with degrees in both horticulture and plant biology from Purdue and Michigan State Universities. Her degrees were bolstered by internships at Longwood Gardens and the American Horticultural Society. She has since worked for many horticultural institutions and companies and now manages communications for Sun Gro Horticulture, the parent company of Black Gold. Her joy is sharing all things green and lovely with her two daughters.

Help Me Grow Zucchini Better!

“I can never seem to grow zucchini right. Is there a type of soil that would be best for this?” Question from Amy of Oil City, Pennsylvania

Answer: We have gotten this question a lot, both with respect to zucchini and summer squash (both are the same–one is just green and elongated.).  I have provided links to several of these Ask a Garden Expert answers. But, to directly answer your question with respect to soil, provide your zucchini with soil that is well-drained and rich in organic matter. It grows best in a near-neutral pH and requires a fertilizer for fruiting vegetables.  You will also need to grow it in full, all-day sunshine.

Ask a Garden Expert Answers For Zucchini and Summer Squash Growing

Help! My Zucchini is Not Fruiting

Why Aren’t My Squash Bearing Fruit and Do They Have Borers?

Beating Squash Vine Borers

I hope that these resources are helpful to you! If you read them all, you will have all of the information that you need to grow excellent zucchini.

Happy Gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

Are There Outdoor Cactus Hardy to Minnesota?

Image by Jessie Keith

I see people in pictures with cactus gardens outside in my area. Are there any cactus that can stay outside for the winter in Minnesota? Question from Sandra of Cottage Grove, Minnesota

Answer: Yes! There are a couple of alpine cacti that exist at high altitudes along the Rocky Mountains that will survive in your winters. There are also other northerly prickly pears that you can grow. These will survive in your USDA Zone 4 garden, despite the harsh cold. Here are several good options to consider.

Cold-Hardy Cactus for Northern Gardens

Devil’s Tongue (Opuntia humifusa): This tough prickly pear cactus naturally exists from southern Ontario, Canada all the way down to Florida and is hardy to Zone 4. It has low, spreading clumps that produce yellow, gold, or orangish flowers in spring. In summer, attractive purple-red fruits appear. The pads appear to deflate and shrivel in the winter months, but this is natural. They will green up and reinflate in spring. This cactus is native to your state.

Brittle prickly pear (Opuntia fragilis, Zones 4-9): With populations extending to the far reaches of Canada and western mountain ranges, this is little prickly pear is very hardy–surviving in Zone 4 or colder. The very low, spreading plant is prickly and has pretty, pale yellow flowers in spring. Its little roundish pads are “brittle” and tend to break off and root as they fall. This one is also a Minnesota wildflower.

Hardy Hybrid Pricklypear (Opuntia hybrids): There are loads of beautiful prickly pear hybrids with spring flowers in shades of red, orange, magenta, pink, and yellow. The best source for these is the Cold Hardy Cactus nursery. Have a look and check out the many options for your zone.

These are just a few of the hardier cacti for your area. All have beautiful flowers that attract bees. One note is that you really need to prepare the ground when growing hardy cacti. They require very well-drained soils in raised rock gardens or beds. I suggest amending their soil with Black Gold Cactus Mix in addition to fine pebbles, sand, and some additional organic matter (Black Gold Garden Compost Blend works well).

To get a better idea of how to prepare a rocky raised succulent bed, I encourage you to read my Black Gold article about succulent seascape gardening.

Happy cactus growing!

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

Why Aren’t My Cucumbers Fruiting?

Female cucumber flowers have underdeveloped baby cukes at the base while male flowers do not.

“Why are my cucumber plants not setting many cukes?  The blossoms fall off before setting.” Question from Ron of Cashmere, Washington

Answer: There are several possible reasons that your cucumbers are suffering from blossom drop before fruit set. These include pollination issues, environmental stresses, and soil nutrient problems. Let’s take a closer look at these possibilities.

Cucumber Pollination

Cucumbers are dioecious. This means that they have separate male and female flowers on the same vine. Male blooms appear first on the vines and will open and drop. A week or two after the male flowers appear, you should start to see female blossoms on the vines. These are easy to spot because they have undeveloped baby cucumbers at the base of the flowers. It could be that not many of your female flowers have appeared yet. Check to see if the flowers that have dropped have little underdeveloped fruits at the base. If not, they are male flowers and your fruiting females may just be getting started.

Once you have both male and female flowers on your vines, bees pollinate the females. If your yard has few bees, fruit set can be a problem. Look for bees, and if you don’t see any, you may have to try moving pollen from the stamens of the male flowers to the central pistil of the female flowers. This is easily done with a small brush or Q-tip. Another option is to choose a self-fertile cucumber variety, like the award-winning ‘Diva’, which does not need pollinators for fruit set.

Cucumber Plant Stresses

Healthy vines will lack spots or wilting leaves.

Seasonal temperature extremes–above 90 degrees Fahrenheit and below 60 degrees Fahrenheit–can induce flower drop and inhibit fruit set. Too little or too much water can too, though in both instances you will see overall vine decline. There are also many cucumber diseases that can inhibit plant vigor and fruit set (click here for an expansive cucumber disease list), but once again, you will see signs of poor plant health.

Cucumber Nutrient Needs

Choose a vegetable fertilizer formulated for fruiting crops for vigorous fruiting. Soil that is too high in nitrogen can inhibit flower and fruit set. Cukes also need organic-rich soil with a near-neutral pH (6 to 7) grow to their fullest (Black Gold Garden Soil is a great soil amendment).

I hope that this info will help you determine the root cause of your cucumber problems. To learn more about cucumber growing success, watch the video below.

Happy Gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

DIY Garden Project: How to Prune and Deadhead Perennials

To keep perennial garden flowers looking nice in your beds, keep the old foliage, flowering stems, and seedheads but back. Cutting back old perennial parts keeps plants looking clean and attractive and helps rebloomers flower more. Here’s how!

Click here for a Step-by-Step pdf.

What Is the Best Narrow Conifer for Snowy Colorado Landscapes?

Eastern red cedar

“What is a good upright juniper, or other narrow conifer, to plant that stays nice and narrow and tight so snow doesn’t bend the branches down and damage them? My planting area only gets partial sun and is very dry for much of the year. I tried Skyrocket junipers, but they broke under the weight of the snow.” Question from Sharon of Westminster, Colorado.

Answer:  There are quite a few evergreens that can take snow load. The best are natives to your region, but there are also some cultivated, non-natives to consider.

Narrow stature can reduce snow load, but limb flexibility is even more important. Trees with unrelenting, stiff branches suffer the most breakage, while those with flexible branches bend under snow and pop back when the weight is gone. Often, the snow will slip off as the branches bend. Your native limber pine (Pinus flexus) is named for this trait.

Thinking along these lines, I would choose evergreens with good strength, bendy branches, some drought tolerance, and the ability to survive in lower light as young trees. Native selections will likely perform the best. Good options do not have to be linear.

Colorado Native Snow-Resistant Evergreens

  • The superlinear fastigiate Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii ‘Fastigiata’, is hardy to Zone 5 and has moderate drought tolerance.
  • Rocky Mountain cedar (Juniperus scopulorum), grows to 30 feet and can withstand some understory (partial shade) conditions as well as drought.
  • The Limber pine (Pinus flexus) will reach 65 feet, withstand some drought, and take lower light until it outgrows surrounding trees.
  • The columnar lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia ‘Fastigiata’) and tall, super-tough Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) are two more options tolerant of the conditions you mention.

Non-Native Snow-Resistant Evergreen Options

  • Prairie Statesman® Swiss stone pine (Pinus cembra ‘Herman’): This alpine tree may not be native, but it is narrow, upright and stands up to snow. It is also drought-tolerant, withstands very cold winters, and reaches 30 feet high and 10 feet wide.  Its bright green needles are very fine.
  • Green Arrow Alaska Cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Green Arrow’): This is about as narrow as you can get. No snow could hang onto these branches.  Green Arrow is very hardy, reaches 20 feet high and 2 feet wide. These look best planted in a group.
  • Hetz’s Chinese juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Hetzii Columnaris’ or ‘Columnaris’): This Chinese juniper is pyramidal, narrow, relatively compact (reaching 15 feet or taller) and provides a good windbreak for very cold areas to USDA Hardiness Zone 4.
  • Serbian spruce (Picea omorika, Zone 4). There are many tall, narrow varieties adapted to high snowfall, but the tree only has moderate drought tolerance.

I encourage you to search out more varieties via the ever-useful Morton Arboretum’s Tree Database.)

Happy conifer growing!

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

Do You Think That Vegetables Produce As Well in Containers?

“Do you believe veggie plants grow and produce as well in large containers as planting straight in the ground?” Question from Donna of Newberry, South Carolina

Answer: It depends. It’s all a matter of plant size, rooting needs, container size, and overall care.

Container Size and Care

Large or standard-sized vegetables do not grow as well in containers because they need more space to reach full potential. Containers also require more upkeep in terms of water and fertilization, so gardeners often lose steam and quit giving them the right care, resulting in poor output.

Soil is another factor. Garden loams have more mineral content and water-holding ability, allowing for better, deeper root growth and development. For this reason, it’s nice to fill large pots with a mix of topsoil and an organic amendment (Example: 1 part topsoil to 3 parts Black Gold Garden Compost Blend). This will increase water-holding ability and add weight to top-heavy pots.

Compact Vegetables

For real growing success with container vegetables, choose the right vegetables. Compact or small plants yield better harvests. For an excellent list of compact vegetables, click here for a recent article on the subject.  It covers everything from tiny tomatoes to baby beets and mini melons.

More Related Articles

For more tips on successful veggie container growing, I encourage you to click here to read our full article about succeeding with container vegetable gardening. I also answered two similar Ask a Garden Expert questions: “What are the Best Root Vegetables for Containers?” and “What are the Best Edibles for Sunny Patio Containers?”

Let me know if you are having any specific troubles with your container vegetable growing.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

How Do I Keep Deer Away From My Vegetable Garden?

“I have put up a fence, a scarecrow, dog hair, a windmill, aluminum pans, liquid fence and still the deer come in at night and eat off my peas, cukes, and beans. I just called today to talk to wildlife pro from the county to see if they can do something as I live in town and the deer don’t belong here. What else can I do? Thanks for any help you can provide.” Question from Sylvia of Belle Plaine, Minnesota

Answer: Deer are such a nuisance and will eat up crops down to the ground quickly if given the chance. Physical barriers are better than any available chemical deer repellent, so opt for these if you want to really protect food crops from these monstrous four-legged pests.

Deer Fencing

Was your deer fence tall enough? Fences are truly the most effective means of control, but they have to be considerably tall (7-8 feet high) to keep deer out. If your fence was shorter, then I would try fencing again. A rugged, permanent fence, like a chainlink fence, will be expensive, but there are other less expensive options. Poly deer fencing is reputed to be very good and pretty affordable. You could also take a comparable but even less expensive route and create a wood-framed fence to support a mesh of lightweight deer fencing. This type of fence will work well as long as the fence and entryways are fully secured.

Crop Tenting/Netting

This means surrounding your vegetable rows or trellises with surrounding supports and covering them with strong netting or floating garden fabric secured well around the plants. Movable hoop frames covered with summer-weight garden fabric offer great cover to bushy or low-growing veggies in rows. Vining crops along the ground can simply be covered with garden fabric and firmly secured along the edges. You may get a few hoofprints around your cucumbers, but the deer should not be able to get through if the garden fabric edges are held down well.

Doubling Up

For added protection, you may try a couple more highly reputed deer repellents to use in conjunction with fencing and/or covers. One that gets rave reviews is Deer Mace. It can’t hurt.

Deer troubles in the vegetable garden are tough and terrible; there is no such thing as a deer-resistant vegetable (maybe some deer-resistant herbs).  So, fortify your barriers, double up, and hopefully, the deer will have no chance of reaching your homegrown vegetables.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

My Barbados Cherry Flowers are Dropping Prematurely. Help!

“The flower blooms of my Barbados cherry are pink with yellow but they fall off the whole stem while in bloom. What am I doing or I should ask what I am not doing? I water it a little extra, but they seem to keep falling off.” Question from Carol of Joaquin, Texas.

Answer: It sounds like you are hoping for fruits in addition to stopping premature flower drop. It is typical for most of the small pink flowers of Barbados cherry to fall from the tree, but using a product called Blossom Set can help flowers remain for longer to encourage fruiting. It is also important to know that older, more established Barbados cherries flower more because the flowers occur on old wood. Good irrigation and extra care can also help these trees to flower. Try adding compost around the base of the tree and feeding it with a fertilizer formulated for flowering trees and shrubs. (Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations regarding fertilizer quantity and method.)

When it comes to fruiting, planting more than one tree can encourage cross-pollination and fruit set, though some trees are self-fertile. Native bees are the primary pollinators, so avoid using any pesticides on or around your tree.

I hope that this helps answer your question!

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

What Are Some Good Hardy Succulents for Colorado?

“What succulents will grow outdoors in Colorado ZIP 80021, Growing Zone 6?” Question from Joe of Westminster, Colorado.

Answer: I love hardy succulents and have written about them extensively because they are beautiful and easy to grow in many areas of the country, with good bed prep. I see that Westminster has an average rainfall of 17-inches per year, a good bit lower than the 38-inch-per-year national average, so you live in dry country. Thankfully, there are loads of hardy cacti and succulents beautifully adapted to your Zone 6 Cold Hardiness. Here is a very small sample of my favorites.

Agave

Parry’s Agave (Agave parryi): This amazingly cold-hardy agave can survive winter cold to Zone 4, as long as the winters remain quite dry. It is compact and has tough, silvery foliage with sharp black tips. Plant it in very well-drained soil.

Havard’s Agave (Agave havardiana): This super bold agave forms very large rosettes of grey-green foliage and is hardy to Zone 5, where winters are dry.

Cacti

Orange Chiffon Prickly Pear (Opuntia ‘Orange Chiffon’): This amazing cactus is hardy to Zone 5.  It is one of many beautiful prickly pear hybrids with fantastic spring flowers. This one is also nearly thornless.

Claret Cup Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus): This super hardy hedgehog cactus has spectacular orange-red flowers, and plants will survive to Zone 5 in a raised rock garden. It is a real beauty that’s well worth growing.

Fragile Pricklypear (Opuntia fragilis): This low, creeping pricklypear is an alpine native of Colorado and bears lovely pale yellow flowers in late spring.

Sedums and Sempervivums

There are so many amazing sedums and hens-and-chicks to grow it is hard to know where to start, but here are a few beautiful varieties of various sizes to consider.

October Daphne Sedum (Sedum sieboldii ‘October Daphne’): This pretty 9″-12″ tall sedum has rose-edged, blue-green nickles of foliage and clusters of rosy flowers that bloom in fall. It is hardy to Zone 5.

Cliff Stonecrop (Sedum cauticola): This hardy (Zone 4) low-growing sedum has dusty purple foliage and deep rosy pink flower clusters in summer.

I cannot choose a single variety of hens-n-chicks, so I suggest you view this expansive list of them for sale at Mountain Crest Gardens. All are hardy.

For a good list of tall sedums, click here for an article on the subject. Also, if you want to propagate any succulents that you have on hand, check out this article.

Succulent Sources

It’s important to mention that you have a very good source for cold-hardy cacti and succulents close to you called Cold Hardy Cactus. It offers an excellent list of beautiful and unusual succulents well adapted to the drier regions of Colorado.

For a cool succulent rock garden design, check out this succulent seaside rock garden that I created last year. It is chock full of very hardy succulents from Mountain Crest Gardens. For gardens like this sharp drainage is a must, so I added Black Gold Cactus Mix to the pebble base in addition to Black Gold Garden Compost Blend.

I hope that these tips help!

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

How Much Light Does Ponytail Palm Need Indoors?

“I just fell in love with the ponytail palm plant. I would like it in my dining room that gets some afternoon light. How much light does it need?” Question from Ann of Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

Answer: I have a ponytail palm, too, and just love it! Ponytail palm (Beucarnia recurvata) is native to arid regions of Mexico and needs low water, especially in the winter months, and high sunlight. It can withstand partial sun in winter, if necessary, but if you want your specimen to really thrive, I recommend bringing it outdoors in summer.

Don’t take it outdoors in spring until the threat of frost has passed and days have warmed up. Then let it soak up the sun in a slightly covered area that won’t get inundated with heavy rain. It is fine to give it moderate water outdoors in the summer, especially when days are very hot and dry. To ensure fast soil drainage and protect roots from rotting, I recommend planting it in Black Gold Cactus Mix.

In mid-fall, bring it indoors into your partially sunny dining room. Clean it before bringing it inside as a house plant. (Click here for tips on cleaning plants before bringing them indoors.) Once inside, you can water less. Then in November, give it very little water until the following spring.

(Click here to learn a lot more about growing ponytail palm indoors and out!)

I hope that these growing tips help.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist