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.
“I like to grow tomatoes on my steps in Brooklyn, NY. I believe I can do better and get a better product by having guidance.” Question from Chante or Brooklyn, New York
Answer: The plant in your photo looks quite healthy! As long as you have a spot with at least 8 hours of sunlight, you can grow great tomatoes. Here are five steps to growing strong, vigorous tomatoes in containers:
Plant in large containers. Tomatoes develop vast root systems and require a lot of fertilizer and water for good growth, so planting them in large containers is smart. Big pots hold more water and ensure roots will spread for better overall growth and higher tomato yields. (Be sure to provide extra water on hot summer days.)
Choose a really good potting soil that is OMRI Listed for organic gardening. I suggest Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend Potting Mix for urban tomato growing. It holds extra water, which is a good thing in harsh urban areas.
Provide fertilizer formulated for tomatoes. Tomatoes will grow and produce best if provided a quality tomato fertilizer at the start of the season.
Cage your tomatoes. Even more compact potted tomatoes grow better and are easier to harvest if caged.
For an easy tutorial, I also recommend you watch our video below about growing tomatoes in containers.
“For Central MS, what is your best suggestion for a good “eatin’ ‘mater?” Question from Judy of Louisville, Mississippi
Answer: You can never love just one tomato! I have three standbys for great overall eating tomatoes. These are the ones I grow each year no matter what, and they’ll grow well in your Southern heat.
The best tomato for flavor is ‘Gold Medal’, a golden heirloom beefsteak tomato imbued with red blotches. It has beautiful fruit with an amazing sweet tomato flavor. Its only downfall is that it is not a big producer, but the flavor is tops.
My favorite all-purpose tomato is Franchi Sementi’s ‘Red Pear’. I’ve been singing the accolades of this traditional Italian heirloom for years. It bears lots of large, red, pear-shaped tomatoes with excellent flavor and firm, dense flesh. They are super for eating fresh or making sauce. This one is an all-around winner.
Good soil is essential for high tomato yields and good flavor. The richer and deeper the soil, the better the root development. Deep roots give tomatoes an edge during hot, dry spells, especially down South. Black Gold Garden Compost Blend and Earthworm Castings are ideal amendments for tomatoes, and both are OMRI Listed for organic gardening. Also, be sure to feed your plants with a fertilizer formulated for tomatoes.
How do I keep cats out of the garden? Question from Richard of Winston Salem, North Carolina.
Answer: Even if you love cats, they can be real pests in the garden, even though they keep a wide variety of other garden pests at bay. Their love of soft mulch and soil for defecation encourages them to treat nice garden ground as makeshift cat boxes. Bird lovers also frown at cats hovering around their yards and feeders.
There are several methods for deterring cats from the garden. You will have the best luck if you target the areas where cats are the biggest problem. Here are my recommendations.
Repellent Plantings
First, you can rely on natural or store-bought repellents. Cats dislike strong citrus and menthol smells. So during the summer months, you can plant herbs that they dislike. These include the attractive cat repellent plant (Plectranthus caninus), lemon verbena (Aloysia citriodora), lavender (Lavandula spp.), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), rue (Ruta graveolens), and sage (Salvia officinalis). Oniony smells are also not cat favorites, so chives (Allium schoenoprasum) or summer ornamental onion (Allium ‘Summer Beauty’) are other planting options. (Click here to learn more about planting lemon-scented herbs or other garden herbs.)
Many commercial repellents also exist. I recommend reading customer reviews to find the best one to repel cats.
Catproof Plantings
Cats like open ground, so don’t leave large spaces between plantings. Dense groundcovers and prickly plantings of all kinds will do a lot to keep cats away. Roses, hollies, mahonia, and low-growing junipers and pines are all good prickly plant choices. Sweet box (Sarcococcahookeriana var. humilis), spotted deadnettle (Lamiummaculatum), thyme (Thymus spp.), and bugleweed (Ajuga reptans) are all good groundcovers to ward off cat digging.
Rethinking Mulch
Well-placed rocks or stone soil covers will also keep cats from digging in favorite places. You may also consider placing a mulch of prickly pinecones in strategic places. For vegetable gardens, I recommend putting down a layer of mulch cloth or thick wetted newspaper and covering that with an additional layer of hay or pine straw. Not only will this keep weeds down, but it will discourage cats from digging.
Automated Scarecrows
There are lots of motion sensor “scarecrows” to keep cats away from garden areas. These include those that spray water or emit ultrasound or other sounds to frighten away cats. Once again, read reviews before making an investment. Customer satisfaction is always the best means for determining whether a costly product is worth your money.
Fencing
Cats can easily jump fences, but a 4-foot wire fence around a vegetable garden plot may be enough to ward them off. This will also keep rabbits away.
Cats Lures
It may sound counterproductive, but some people have had success planting catnip or other cat-attractant plants away from precious garden areas. A planting on your yard’s periphery may prove helpful.
“I have a new yard (bought a lot) and it doesn’t have good grass growth. This will be its first spring with its new dirt. Got any recommendations for grass seed that will take root quickly and be strong. I like to keep it 2-3″. Thank you.” Question from Michelle of Dayton, Ohio.
Answer: Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) is a good lawn grass for Midwestern homeowners. The cool-season bunch grass is easy to grow, while also being adaptable and disease resistant. It’s broad, coarse, deep green blades look good all season long, and it can also withstand the moderate heat and drought of summer. It also takes lots of foot traffic.
For a surefire lush lawn in the first season, you can always plant sod, but it is far less economical than seed. If choosing to seed, early to mid-spring is a great time to plant. The key is making sure that most of the grass seeds germinate, and the lawn fills in well. Here are six steps to ensuring your seed takes hold:
Plant fresh, quality seed.
Make sure your soil is smooth, weed-free, and top dress it with Black Gold Peat Moss to help germination.
Plant seed with a push broadcast spreader for good coverage.
Lightly rake in seed after spreading and consider using a lawn roller to press it down.
Add a layer of straw over seeded areas to hold moisture and encourage people to stay off.
Water the area lightly until the grass sprouts and starts to look lush.
Refrain from walking on your new lawn until it really begins to grow. Be sure to keep is moist, and fertilize it once it is full. Once it reaches a few inches, you can mow it to a 3-inch height. Wait until it is totally full to mow it down to 2 inches.
“I have planted heirloom tomatoes and they rot on the vine before they turn red. Why?” Question from Susan of Lexington, Kentucky
Answer: There are several reasons why this can happen, but the most common is a physiological disorder called blossom end rot. This is most likely your problem, especially if your plants look fine. You can see an example of this disorder in the photo. As tomatoes develop, the base of the fruits turn from brown at the green stage. As they turn red, the bases turn black. Look familiar?
Managing Blossom End Rot
Fortunately, this is a very easy disorder to manage. It is simply caused by a calcium deficiency, and big, old-fashioned heirloom tomatoes can be especially susceptible, especially if your soil is nutrient poor and low in calcium.
To get your soil where it needs to be, amend your soil with a quality amendment, like Black Gold Garden Soil with added fertilizer. This will enrich your soil with needed organic matter and nutrients. It also has a pH between 6.0 to 6.8, which is perfect for tomatoes. Next, feed your tomatoes with a fertilizer formulated just for tomatoes and then add extra calcium-rich bonemeal as an added precautionary measure.
Keep your tomatoes well fed and watered, and they should give you good fruit with no end rot. One caveat: Some older tomato varieties are really end-rot sensitive, and even with fertilization the first couple tomatoes of the season may show end rot, but the remaining fruits will not.
I have tomato seedlings that have tiny dark spots on the top of the leaves after it got down to 40 degrees the other night. I live in South Florida. Could this be cold damage? Question from Susan of Pembroke Pines, Florida.
Answer: The most common physical tomato leaf response to chilling is physiological leaf roll, which your tomatoes don’t seem to have. Unfortunately, cold stress, among other environmental stresses, can invite diseases to rear their ugly heads more quickly. It looks very much like your tomato may have Septoria leaf spot, a fungal leaf spot disease that starts on older leaves and spreads. Another possibility is bacterial spot. The way that you can tell the difference between the two is by looking at the center of the spots. Septoria blight will have tiny black specks in the middle of the spots, while bacterial leaf spot will not.
High humidity and rain will encourage the growth and spread of both diseases. Here is more about each.
Septoria Leaf Spot
The spots of this disease are generally circular and about 1/16 to 1/4 inches across. They have dark brown edges and grayish tan middles with tiny black spots in the center. An infected leaf will have many spots, which appear on the lower leaves first and move up to the younger leaves. Badly infected leaves eventually turn from yellow to brown. This disease rarely impacts fruit.
The first management step is to remove diseased leaves and dispose of them far from the garden. Then use clean shears to remove the most infected branches to increase air flow, which will discourage further fungal disease spread. Next, mulch the plants with straw or Black Gold Garden Compost Blend and bottom water to keep the disease from spreading. Refrain from overwatering! Then apply a copper-based fungicide every 7 to 10 days all season long.
Finally, really clean your garden at the end of the season, and rotate your tomatoes. This disease overwinters on infected tomato refuse or nearby weeds.
Bacterial Spot
This disease is a little worse because it can damage fruit as well as foliage. The spots on infected leaves are dark, small, irregular and eventually join together, causing overall leaf yellowing and decline. No little black spots will be visible in the center of the spots.
Care for your plants as you would for those with Septoria leaf spot. Another recommendation is to spray plants with a preemptive streptomycin antibiotic before transplanting. During periods of early flower and fruit set, you should also spray with a pesticide that contains mancozeb plus copper. This spray is not approved for organic gardening, so if you garden organically, another option is to replant your tomatoes for the season, while you can.
Contaminated seed or plants can be a source of the disease, so be sure to purchase your tomatoes from reliable, disease-free sources. The disease will also remain in the soil and old plant debris for a year or more, so clean your garden well at the end of the season and rotate your crops.
“What kind of soil do you use to replant cacti?” Question from Joy of Hemet, California.
Answer: Most true cacti grow best in nutrient-poor soils that drain fast, whether grown in-ground or in pots.
In-Ground Cacti
If dividing and replanting your cacti in a dryland garden, remember that they need ground that is well drained but porous and deep with little water-holding ability. Some organic matter is recommended, but it should be minimal. You can rely on amending the soil with products like Black Gold Cactus Mix and crushed granite for extra drainage. I also like to cover the base of plants with rock or pebble to help surface water trickle down while holding it better at the roots. Newly transplanted/planted cacti require extra water for several weeks after planting while they set deep roots.
Potted Cacti
If replanting your cacti in pots, choose a pot that’s several inches wider than the old and a good bit deeper, and transplant it in Black Gold Cactus Mix, which drains well while holding just enough organic matter. A deeper pot will help plants set deeper roots in your hot, dry climate. Be sure to cover the potting mix with attractive rocks or pebbles.
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Growing house plants all together in a dense tangle encourages pests to spread and multiply!
When garden plants are outdoors, pest populations are generally lower or more diffuse due to natural predators, harsher weather, and more host plants. But, once you bring plants indoors, all of that changes. Predators are gone, climate conditions are good, and the pests that enter your home have just a few plants to feed on. This means hungry pest populations will explode on your house plants, causing damage and wreckage along the way.
It is essential to start an integrated pest management (IPM) program as soon as pests are spotted. But, each pest and its management is different. Here we detail some of the worst house plant pests and how to tackle them indoors.
Aphids
(Photo by Jared Belson)
Aphids fly in from the outdoors or enter on infested house plants. They suck the juices from tender stems and leaves, leaving a trail of sticky honeydew that sometimes attracts ants. (Click here to learn how to manage unwanted ants in gardens.) Thankfully, they are easy to manage. Simply wash and wipe aphids away from leaves and stems with a warm, moist cloth, and then spray any remaining aphids off with tap water. Let plants dry, and then spray again with an OMRI Listed insecticidal soap. Check your pot’s topsoil to make sure any wayward aphids are not hanging out in wait to reinfest plants. Continue these practices, and your aphid problems will be gone in no time.
Fungus Gnats
Fungus gnats can fly into homes or enter via infested plants or open potting mix bags. They breed on moist soils and their larvae damage roots and spread plant diseases. Truly they are everywhere soil, algae, fungus, and plant material can be found. Once indoors, populations explode because most gardeners don’t understand how to stop them or how they enter the home. But, don’t despair! Follow the simple cultural guidelines in this video (click here to watch) to easily stop fungus gnats from breeding in your house plants.
White Flies
Whiteflies on a leaf underside
Whiteflies are sucking insects that remove the juices from leaves and stems. They can cause terrible damage to plants, leading to leaf drop and general decline. Without management, the undersides of leaves will become covered with clouds of tiny white flies and clusters of their small, round, white egg masses.
If you have an infestation, remove the worst of the white-fly-covered leaves, especially those with lots of egg masses, and bag them for trash disposal. Then spray, wash, and wipe the remaining stems and leaves thoroughly. Make sure no more egg masses remain. Finally, spray the plants with insecticidal soap or Neem oil. (Click here for an overview of horticultural oils for organic insect control.) Continue to check for whiteflies and wipe and spray leaves as needed.
Spider Mites
A top view of two-spotted spider mite damage.
These are tiny plant pests, and once you notice their damage, they are numerous and have already become a large problem. You will notice the damage when the tops of leaves look like they have little white spots across them. These are dead leaf cells that the mites have sucked dry. You might also see little webs on the leaves and tender stems of infected plants.
To see if you have mites, take a clean piece of white paper, hold it beneath the leaves, then tap the leaves onto the paper. If you have mites, lots of tiny specs will fall, and eventually, they will start crawling around. These are spider mites!
As with aphids and whiteflies, always clean plants before treating them. Remove the worst of the damaged leaves. Then spray, wash, and wipe the remaining stems and leaves thoroughly. Remove the top inch of potting soil and replace it with fresh. (We recommend using Black Gold All Purpose Potting Mix.) It also helps to wipe the container down, in case any mites have strayed. Finally, spray the plants with insecticidal soap or Neem oil. Continue to do the tap test and wipe and spray leaves as needed. In time you will overcome your spider mite problem.
Mealybugs
A mealybug infestation on croton.
Mealybug infestations are hard to manage because these pests travel and spread as crawlers. Crawlers are the nearly invisible nymphs that hatch from the pest’s egg masses and “crawl” several feet to quickly infest other plants. You can’t always see these crawlers, so to manage them, you have to clean plants, containers, and surrounding surfaces when you see an infestation.
Mealybugs are soft, white, and feed on the juices of plant leaves and stems, particularly in the crevices between leaves and stems. They produce copious crawlers, so the sooner you notice mealybugs, the better.
To remove mealybugs, start by cleaning your plant, its pot, and all surfaces surrounding the plant. Remove the top two inches of potting soil and replace it with fresh. Finally, spray the plants. One of the best mealybug sprays is a 10-25% solution of isopropyl alcohol. Fill a spray bottle with 1/4 cup of isopropyl alcohol and 2/4 cup water and shake to combine. When treating plants with this solution, keep them out of direct sunlight because it can cause leaf burn in the bright sun. You can also treat plants with insecticidal soap or Neem oil. Repeat spray treatments until plants are mealybug-free.
Another method to stop crawlers is to loop stems surrounding infected areas with double-sided tape traps. As the crawlers hatch and begin crawling, they will get stuck on the tape and die. You can also surround pot edges with double-sided tape to keep crawlers from moving beyond an infected plant.
Armored Scale
Citrus scale on an indoor orange tree.
Armored scale is tough, a pain to remove, and many different species attack many different plants. Like mealybugs, they are sucking insects that produce crawlers. Their chief damage is the removal of water and nutrients from stems and leaves, which will slow growth and cause general decline. Severe infestations can even kill a plant.
Armored scale insects have tough, plate-like coverings to protect the insects underneath. Most have several generations a year when plants are actively growing. Simply washing or spraying these tough, slow-moving pests won’t do a lot of damage. What helps is to scrape or pick them off, without doing damage to stems. Badly infected stems should be completely cut off. Then wash plants down with insecticidal soap.
It also helps to spray plants with dormant oil spray in late winter or early spring, and then again in early summer, when crawlers are most active. Double-sided tape traps should also be applied, as suggested with mealybugs. Monitor your plants regularly to stay on top of any scale infestation and repeat management steps as needed.
Monitoring Pests with Sticky Traps
Flying indoor plant pests are attracted to yellow sticky traps, which can be purchased at most garden centers. Placing them around house plants is a great way to determine pest types and population numbers in the home. They also capture flying adults. It’s just one more way to stay on top of difficult house plant pests.
“Have been using your Black Gold Cactus Mix and Perlite for about a year now. I am growing primarily succulents. When I started, I experimented with many different kinds of soil and your soil mixed with perlite gave me the best results. In Hawaii, my climate is hot and humid. I have noticed lately that the soil is becoming hydrophobic. Is there any solution to this problem or ways that I can avoid this from happening? I really love your soil and would want to avoid this with future planting. Thank you.” Question from Patti of Mililani, Hawaii.
Answer: Yes! There are several things you can do to make dry soils moist again.
If the soils in your pots are repelling water, I suggest incorporating some Black Gold Peat Moss Plus or Black Gold Just Coir into your mix. Both products soak up water well and Peat Moss Plus contains an added organic wetting agent to keep soil water retentive. I also suggest adding a pebble layer on top of pots to help keep moisture in the mix.
For bagged soil, seal your bags well after use to keep the soil from getting dry. You can even add a little extra water to the mix and blend it by hand before sealing it. The ambient heat should help re-wet the mix.
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