Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

Visit the Gro Shop! merch hat Shop Merch

Articles

Tag: Jessie Keith

Bountiful Fall Berries for Gardens

Bountiful Fall Berries for Gardens

As a child, we had golden raspberries in our woods in southern Indiana. Each fall, as I passed them in the morning to meet the school bus, I would see how many were ready to pick and pop the ripened fruits in my mouth. The lingering memory of their warm, sweet, raspberry taste makes them my ultimate autumnal berry, but there are many others to be grown and enjoyed in the garden. After doing a little research, I discovered that our woodland raspberry was likely an escaped golden-fruited Rubus ideaus, or cultivated raspberry, which makes finding it at nurseries easier.

Late-season berries come in all forms—from grapes to cranberries to raspberries. In this piece, I am also bending the definition of “berries” a bit to include figs, another fall favorite. (Botany lesson: fig fruits are technically aggregate or collective fruits called “syconia” (singular syconium) made up of multiple tiny fruits from multiple tiny flowers folded inward to form a single fig. The resulting fruit has a berry-like appearance.) Fall and figs go hand-in-hand. And, my figs are going gangbusters on this early September day, so I want to include them. They should keep producing into mid- to late-fall.

Garden Berries for Fall

Cranberries grow best in boggy soils that are peaty and sandy.

American Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon, USDA Hardiness Zones 2-7): Ripening by late September to October, no berry says fall quite like the tart snap of an American cranberry. Cranberries are fully evergreen and grow in bogs with moist, sandy, acid soils. If you lack a bog (most of us do), it’s smart to create special beds for the best yields. Rows of low-set, broad nursery pots partially sunk in the ground and filled with sand and Black Gold Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss work well. Keep the pots moist and supply fertilizer for acid-loving plants. Lots of pink, bell-shaped flowers will appear in springtime (bees pollinate the blooms) followed by ripe red cranberries in fall. Full to partial sunlight is needed–that’s at least 6 hours per day. The variety ‘Pilgrim‘ is especially attractive and spreads to form a tidy groundcover with plenty of flavorful berries.

Cape gooseberries are easy summer fruits you can grow from seed.

Cape gooseberry or Peruvian groundcherry (Physalis peruviana, Zones 10-12): Imagine growing golden fall fruits that taste of tart pineapple, which can be grown like tomatoes or tomatillos. These are Cape gooseberries, close tomato relatives from subtropical regions in Peru. The husked berries are golden when ripe and mature from August until mid-fall when nights grow cool. Tender Cape gooseberries produce fruit the first year from seed, which is why they are grown as annuals. Eat them fresh or use them to make jam for canning or pie.

Concord grapes need time and training, but the fresh fall fruits make them worth the work.

Concord or Fox Grapes (Vitis labrusca hybrids, Zones 4-8): Sweet, aromatic Concord grapes are a late-season treat that taste of grape jelly and purple grape juice. The twining, woody vines need a strong fence or trellis for best production and begin to produce fruit by late September. Seasonal pruning in spring will keep vines productive and in control. (Click here for some grape-pruning tips.) Try the popular Seedless Concord. It has all of the great flavor and vigor of the traditional type but it lacks the seeds–making them easier to process into jelly, juice, and pies.

Many figs ripen in late summer or fall for fresh eating or drying.

Figs (Ficus carica, hardiness varies) grow very large (6 to 15 feet by 8 to 20 feet), even compact varieties, so plant them in an area with space. My Zone 7 garden requires that I choose hardier varieties. I have found that some hardy varieties taste better than others. My top choice is the small-fruited, super sweet sugar fig ‘Celeste’ (USDA Hardiness Zone 6-10) with its copious small, squat, purplish-brown fruits that produce most on second-year wood. This year mine is producing beautifully. Another that I want to try is the Louisiana State introduction ‘LSU Gold’ (Zones 7-9), which produces very flavorful, sweet green figs with pinkish flesh. Expect this more southern fig to be more cold-sensitive. When plants die back to the ground, they do not always set fruits on new wood. One means of protecting plants through winter is mounding mulch around the crown in late fall and then removing it in spring after the threat of frost has passed.  (Click here for a full overview of figs.)

Golden raspberries ready for the picking.

Golden Raspberries (Rubus ideaus hybrids, USDA Hardiness Zones ): Some late raspberries are red and others are black, but I like the gold ones for their delicate, sunny flavor and unique beauty. There are several from which to choose. The large berries of  ‘Anne Yellow‘ are deep gold with almost a hint of orange. Berries appear July and again in fall on tall, upright plants with thorned stems. Double Gold Yellow is a patented berry with thimble-shaped gold fruits blushed with pink. Thorned fruiting canes produce berries both in summer and again in fall. Pull and prune back new suckers to keep rows tidy.

Sink a few of these sweet berried plants in your garden next spring, and you will be rewarded with a wealth of fall berries. In the meantime, look for them at your local farmers market or roadside fruit stand.

Ask a Garden Expert Video: How Do I Stop Powdery Mildew?

“Lynda of West Warwick, Rhode Island writes, “Every year I get white mold on the leaves of various plants in my vegetable garden. I don’t use any fertilizer or pesticide, other than an organic compost in the soil. Is there something I could or should be doing?” Answer: The disease is powdery mildew, and it’s one of the most common fungal diseases of garden flowers and vegetables.

 

My Eight Favorite Summer Cut Flowers

A bouquet of summer dahlias and China asters will beautify any vase.

It’s always nice when the prettiest summer flowers can be cut and brought indoors for long-lasting arrangements. Aside from beauty and long vase life, several criteria make a flower suited to cutting. Long-stemmed, showy flowers of all sizes in unique and brilliant colors make the cut (pun intended). I also like heavy bloomers, so there are enough flowers to share with the bees and butterflies. Fragrance is another bonus.

My list contains a mix of flowering shrubs, perennials, and annuals that are most prevalent in the garden from mid to late summer. Some will flower until frost. When planting a garden with future cutting in mind, choose flowers that combine well in colors that please you.

Get Your Vases Ready

Match your flowers to your favorite vases and dot the house with them. (Image by Jessie Keith)

If you love cut flowers enough to grow them, you are likely an avid vase collector like me. My collection includes vases of all colors and sizes. (Click here to read my article about miniature flower arranging (many mini vases are shown).) It’s always good to have several large, medium, and small vases in various colors to show off your prized blooms. Just remember that colorful vases can compete with colorful arrangements. It’s better to choose flowers in monochromatic or neutral color schemes for multicolored vases. Neutral vases will best show off an extravagant collection of pretty flowers.

My Eight Favorite Summer Cut Flowers

All eight flowers are sun-lovers that grow best in fertile soil. Before planting, it helps to amend garden beds with Black Gold® Natural & Organic Flower and Vegetable Soil. Be sure to feed plants with a fertilizer formulated to encourage flowering to ensure full flowering.

China Asters

Pink and violet China asters should be a cutting garden staple.

Here’s a long-lasting cut flower that should gain newfound popularity. Few gardeners grow old-fashioned China asters (Callistephus chinensis) these days, but they are elegant, easy annuals that make fantastic arrangments. The Chrysanthemum-like blooms can be ruffled and double or starry and cactus-like, and their stems are long. Unlike Chrysanthemums, they come in shades of violet-blue and purple as well as pink, red, yellow, and white. The seed-grown annuals are a cinch to start in spring. Tower Custom Mix has ruffly blooms in many colors and long stems. ‘Starlight Light Pink‘, with its pale-pink quilled flowers, is also a good choice and has a very long vase-life. Caveats: these annuals cannot withstand drought and high heat.

Dahlias

Dahlias come in so many colors, shapes, and sizes, everyone loves them. (Image by Jessie Keith)

There is so much variation in dahlia flowers–from size to shape to color. The best for cutting must be long-stemmed, so plants should be 2-feet tall or more. My favorites have extra-large waterlily or cactus-type flowers reaching 6 to 12 inches across, but I also love the little guys with tiny pincushion blooms. Dahlias come in all colors of the rainbow except blue. Each year I try something new from one of my favorite sellers, Swan Island Dahlias. The 6 to 8 inch, soft orange blooms of ‘Honeymoon‘ caught my eye this year. Before planting dahlias, amend the soil with Black Gold Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, which also comes in handy for packing the tuberous roots for winter storage. (Click here to watch a video all about dahlias.)

Coneflowers

Here is my 2020 display of Cheyenne Spirit Mix coneflowers with my pink bigleaf hydrangeas in the background. It has been quite a spectacular season. (Image by Jessie Keith)

Fresh coneflowers last for up to a week in a vase, sometimes longer. There are so many different varieties (Echinacea hybrids) available in so many colors; it is hard to know what to pick. One of my favorite reds is Echinacea Cheyenne Spirit Mix, which comes in warm shades of red, orange, and yellow. My advice is to choose those with good hardiness that bloom for a long period and are reliably perennial. They are easy as pie to grow. Plant them in full sun and well-drained, amended soil, and you should be set. Always expect some seedlings the following year that you can move around or share with friends.

Gladiolus

Gladiolus flowers are so colorful and cheerful!

Gladiolus (Gladiolus hybrids, Zones 8-10) are inexpensive and very rewarding. They are sold in spring as packaged bulbs (actually corms) that must be planted after frost. Plant each just 3 inches down and cover. Add a little peat moss and bulb food at planting time to help ensure success. By summer, each bulb will send up spikes of brilliant flowers that are long-lasting when cut. After blooming, they will not flower again, so it is good to plant many. Gladiolus are tender but can be grown in colder zones as long as the corms are dug in fall and stored in a cool, dry place over winter. Try the unusual varieties ‘Fringed Coral Lace‘, with its frilled coral flowers, and ‘Passos‘, which has white blooms splashed with plum purple. Both look lovely together.

Bigleaf Hydrangeas

Let’s Dance® Rhythmic Blue® has bluest flower clusters. (Image by Proven Winners)

Any hydrangea flower is good for cutting, but bigleafs (Hydrangea macrophylla, Zones 5-11) are very pretty and come in shades of blue, pink, purple, red, and white. Mine is bubblegum pink and flowers throughout the summer. It’s an old variety that was in my yard when I purchased my 1926 home, so I don’t know its name. There are lots of new spectacular varieties on the market, if you have space for a bushy shrub in your landscape or garden. Let’s Dance® Rhythmic Blue® is a reblooming bigleaf with large purplish-blue flower clusters that impress, and it just reaches 4 feet high.

Rudbeckia

Indian Summer gloriosa daisy has huge blooms.

Otherwise known as black-eyed-Susans, Rudbeckia are cut-flower staples. They bloom over a long period, last forever when cut, and there are many kinds. Most are hardy perennials, while others, such as gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) are short-lived perennials.

Gloriosas are some of the best for arranging because there are so many varieties. A classic that I have grown for over 25 years is ‘Indian Summer’, which has dark-eyed gold daisies that reach a whopping 6 to 9 inches across. The award-winner may even self-sow a little. Henry Eilers’ sweet coneflowers (Rudbeckia subtomentosa ‘Henry Eilers’), with their matchstick yellow petals, are also pretty when cut.

Sunflowers

A sunflower glows against a background of red dahlias.

You cannot go wrong with annual sunflowers (Helianthus annuus). They are toss-the-seeds-in-the-ground-and-grow annuals that never disappoint. The heavy-flowering ‘Italian White’ is one of my favorites because its smaller ivory sunflowers are so unusual. This year I also grew the award-winning ‘Soraya‘, which has orange petals and brown centers. Another benefit is that the flowers produce little pollen, which can be surprisingly messy on a table or tablecloth. If you want to really grow sunflowers like the pros plant those in the Pro Cut Series, which have no pollen and bloom profusely. Expect sunflowers to continue flowering into late summer or early fall; be sure to let a few flowers to go to seed to naturally feed the birds. (Click here to watch a video about growing perfect sunflowers.)

Zinnias

Heat-loving zinnias are one of the best annual cut flowers of summer.

You cannot have a cutting garden without tall zinnias (Zinnia elegans). The upright annuals come in lots of vivid colors. My favorites have ragged, cactus-like blooms that stand out in arrangements, among others. The many colorful zinnia blends from Renee’s Garden Seeds are all excellent. (Raggedy Anne Mix can’t be beaten.) They come in color combos to suit almost anyone and bloom nonstop, with deadheading. 

Zinnias are easy to start from seed. Just clear out some good ground in late spring, sprinkle the seeds, cover them lightly with peat moss, and keep them moist. They should sprout in no time for an instant cutting garden.

Flower Cutting and Arranging Technique

I am so glad to have this section covered by a video, generously created by the award-winning floral designer, Jennie Love of Love n’ Fresh Flowers. Please watch it for a very simply how-to for creating the perfect summer bouquet. Then make the most of your cut flowers until the last bloom has been taken by frost.

Plants for Creative Fall Container Gardens

Combine Intenz™ Dark Purple spike celosia, variegated sedge, and a dusty purple ornamental cabbage for a fun fall container trio.

Tired of planting the same old door-side potted chrysanthemums year after year?  Then upgrade this year’s containers! Lots of cool new fall plants have bold good looks and bright colors to make container design a lot more exciting.

What makes a container plant great for fall? Its must flaunt its best color through the season and shine up until the first frost or beyond. Those that tough it out after frost include ornamental cabbages, kales, and Swiss chard. Some of these fall beauties will even survive through winter as evergreen biennials or perennials. Here are some of our favorites for creative late-season container gardening.

Super Celosias and Amaranths

The plume Celosia ‘Fresh Look Red’ will ignite your fall containers.

Celosias and amaranths (two closely related plants) of all shapes, sizes, and colors have become available for fall gardening. These include spike celosia (Celosia spicata), classic cockscomb, plume celosias (Celosia cristata), and purple-leaved amaranths (Amaranthus spp.). The annuals are rugged and tolerant of heat as well as the cooling temperatures of fall, so they can be planted in summer and continue to look bright through fall. Just remember to remove any old blooms that start to lose color. This will encourage new flowers to appear.

Pretty Peppers

Jolly pots of mixed ornamental peppers make great additions to mixed fall container gardens.

Ornamental peppers start to look great by late summer, and their pretty fruits of orange, yellow, red, or purple will retain their color up until frost. Some even boast deep purple foliage as well as pretty fruits. The hot ornamentals mix well with any seasonal garden flower or plant, and you can even save seeds for spring sowing. The peppers are also edible and spicy, with varying degrees of flavor. (See the video below for more designs using ornamental peppers.)

Happy Heirloom Squash

A slate-blue hubbard squash, white ‘Cotton Candy’ pumpkin, and bumpy ‘Galeux d’Eysines’ pumpkin are nestled in a pot of Proven Winners’ Diamond Frost® Euphorbia.

Unusual pumpkins and winter squash are all the rage and look lovely when nestled in pots alongside complementary fall flowers. Most are very tasty, so it’s nice to bring them indoors before a hard freeze, so you can enjoy them in Thanksgiving pies, soups, or cakes. (Click here to learn how to process squash for pie.) Look for collections of squash that look good together or with your favorite fall flowers.

Sumptuous Evergreen Sedges

A single mop of evergreen ‘Toffee Twist’ sedge will fill a pot, adding interest to other colorful potted plants.

Many grassy sedges are tough evergreen perennials that add an airy appeal to fall containers and mix well with practically any fall flower. Some lovely evergreen sedges to try include the gold-edged Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii ‘Gold Band’, 12 inches, USDA Hardiness Zones 5-9) or white-edged Silver Sceptre sedge (Carex ‘Silver Sceptre’, 12-18 inches, Zones 5-9); both have tidy bunches of colorful, curvaceous, strappy leaves that flow over container edges. Another star for containers is the finer, hair-like Toffee Twist sedge (Carex flagellifera ‘Toffee Twist’, 12-16 inches, Zones 7-9), a Proven Winners® plant with fine, caramel-colored foliage that looks great all winter.

Sturdy Succulents

A nest of evergreen hens & chicks is brightened by a single ‘Sweet Lightning’ mini winter squash.

Hardy succulents of all shapes and sizes look great in fall containers and will even survive the winter, where hardy. Go simple by nestling a few hens & chicks (Sempervivum spp.) within a small planter embellished with a few decorative additions. Or, go bold by planting a big, blooming sedum along with other fall flowers. Tall sedums are showy in fall, and there are many fabulous varieties to discover. (Click here to read more about tall sedums.)

Miniature Plants

Tiny hens & chicks, mosses, cabbages, thyme, heather, and sweet alyssum bring this mini fall garden to life.

Creating seasonal containers in miniature is a popular trend. Tiny hens & chicks, mosses, heathers, ornamental cabbages, and flowers give broad pots or troughs an alpine or rock garden look. Place plantings like these on an outdoor dinner or side table where they can be enjoyed up close. You can even try making your own hypertufa trough or centerpiece for attractive little fall plantings. (Click here to learn how to make your own hypertufa centerpiece.)

Planting Fall Containers

Give mums a lift with additions like purple heuchera, Sedum Rock ‘N Grow® Popstar, and arching willow branches.

Choose festive containers and arrangements of plants, and pair them according to color, size, height, and texture. For best results, choose good-fit containers that will accommodate the plants you have chosen, and fill them with Black Gold All Purpose Mix, which has excellent porosity and water-holding ability for great results. Keep pots watered through fall and feed them with quality plant food, such as Proven Winners® Premium Water Soluble Plant Food for Flowering Plants. Once hard cold hits, remove any unsightly dead annuals and leave any perennials in the pots for spring.

To get more excellent fall container garden planting and design tips, read Black Gold’s sponsored article on Garden Therapy: Fall Container Care and Maintenance + DIY Container Ideas!

Green Roof Essentials for Home Gardeners

Any green roof added to a home, such as this stylish patio green roof, should be fully or partially professionally installed.

“A roof of asphalt shingles is a desert wasteland compared to a living, cooling, vital green roof.” -Jessie Keith

Even small-scale green roofs need specialized knowledge for success. You can’t just throw potting mix on top of your garden shed, patio roof, or chicken coop, plant a few succulents, and call it a green roof. Do it slap-dash, and you’ll get a big mess. Start outright, and you’ll have a lovely longterm addition to your garden or home. Here are some essentials to consider when designing and creating a small-scale green roof.

Green Roof Benefits

It is not uncommon for European garden sheds, such as this shed in Norway, to have green roofs.

Well-crafted green roofs benefit buildings and the environment. They cool structures in the summer, hold heat in winter and reduce noise in homes. They benefit the environment by reducing stormwater runoff, increasing habitat and food for wildlife, and providing green space to reduce carbon emissions. On a larger scale, green roofs in cities reduce the urban heat island effect (increased temperatures caused by widespread heat-absorbing asphalt and roofs and too little plant life to reduce heat). According to the EPA, “Air temperatures in cities, particularly after sunset, can be as much as 22°F (12°C) warmer than the air in neighboring, less developed regions.” Green roofs are also perfect for those of us that have a little hobbit in our veins and simply love plants and green spaces.

Their real-world benefits are measurable. Cities invested in green-roof technology see positive impacts fast. According to the non-profit Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRFHC), “In 2019, 14 green roof companies recorded 763 projects in 35 US states and three Canadian Provinces, installing 3,112,818 square feet of green roofing.” The 3,112,818 square feet provided the following measurable gains:

  • 36.9 million gallons of stormwater retained per year;
  • 120 tons of carbon sequestered every two years;
  • 5.06 million kWh (equivalent) of energy saved per year;
  • 1,199 full-time equivalent (FTE) construction jobs;
  • 45 full-time equivalent (FTE) maintenance jobs annually.

Even small green roofs can make a difference to homeowners and the local wildlife. A roof of asphalt shingles is a desert wasteland compared to a living, cooling, vital green roof.

Green Roof Types

Intensive green roofs, such as this urban green roof, have soil that is deeper and able to sustain larger plants that require more soil and water.

There are two basic green roof types (with many variations in between), extensive and intensive. Extensive types are shallow (4-6 inches of soil), lighter, lower-care green roofs planted with tough, hardy succulents. Sometimes they are even planted as small grasslands. Intensive green roofs are deeper (6+ inches of soil), heavier, and higher maintenance. These are found on large urban apartment or corporate buildings with built-in green roof gardens or even farms.

Homes able to accommodate intensive green roofs are specially built to sustain them. Even those with extensive green roofs are bolstered to handle the extra weight. Extensive green roofs on architecturally simple yard or garden structures are less of a worry.

Extensive Green Roof Layers

Modular extensive green-roof boxes have layers for growing hardy succulents and fit together to cover waterproofed rooftops.
  1. Adapted from Small Green Roofs.

    Vegetation Layer: Low-growing, low-water plants are best.

  2. Soil Layer: The “soil” layer consists of a soilless growing medium that requires replenishment over the years. It often contains various mineral components, such as pumice and perlite, and organic components, such as coconut coir and Canadian Sphagnum peat moss. In some European countries, they use ground soil because its mineral content does not break down.
  3. Filter Mat: This is a thin, geotextile layer with fine pores that keep particles out of the drainage layer while allowing water through. (Heavyweight landscape fabric works well.)
  4. Drainage Layer: Lightweight small or medium lava rock (scoria) stones, expanded clay, or shale are common drainage-layer minerals that will not degrade. (Small lava rock is a good choice.)
  5. Waterproof Membrane: Choose synthetic waterproof sheeting made for green roofs. It is specially designed to resist weathering and cracking. (Deck waterproofing membrane is a good option for small-scale projects.)
  6. Thermal Insulation: A commercial insulation layer is required for heated buildings but not needed for small-scale, outdoor green roofs.
  7. Roof Deck: The roof base-layer is generally wood.
  8. Edging: A long-lasting edge must be applied to keep all layers in place while also permitting drainage. Pebbles are usually placed along the edge to allow water to filter to a downspout. Good drainage is essential to avoid washout or other problems. (Wood edges can be used, or metal edge restraints can be specially purchased.)

Some of these layers can be bypassed with the use of modular green roof trays designed on plastic bases made to sit and fit on a waterproofed roof deck. These are generally only accessible to professionals, so home gardeners would need to work through a contractor to get them.

Extensive Green Roof Essentials

Rustic logs edge this green roof that covers a small garden storage space.

Small-scale green roofs may be tiny enough to cover a doghouse, such as Schicketanz’s beautifully designed prefab doggy dream house, or can bedeck larger garden structures, such as a pavilion or succulent covered patio roof. (A knowledgeable contractor is needed for bigger projects.) Here are essentials to consider when planning any green roof project.

  1. Design for Maintainance – Easy access is essential for future maintenance. Consider how you plan to weed and modify plantings on your roof. Irrigation may also be needed during very hot, droughty times. On larger, flat roofs, maintenance walkways of stone increase accessibility. Laying down irrigation tape that is easily hooked up to the hose makes watering easy.
  2. Determine Structural Load-Bearing Capacity – According to the National Park Service: “When fully saturated and with mature plant cover, a thin extensive green roof can weigh about 13 pounds per square foot. A more typical extensive roof with 3 to 4 inches of growing medium weighs 17 to 18 pounds per square foot.” Some sources calculate higher weights. Then you need to consider load. For instance, if your green roof load was 20.5 lb./sq.ft. over the span of 8.5 ft., the roof would need 6 x 2″ timbers spaced 16″ apart for a strong enough platform (numbers from the sadly-out-of-print Small Green Roofs: Low-Tech Options for Greener Living (2011) by Nigel Dunnett et al.)
  3. Budget – Costs generally range from $13 to $45 per square foot, installed by a professional. If you build a smaller outdoor green roof on your own, the cost can be much less.
  4. Plants and Soil Depth – Succulents can be purchased by the flat, which is the most cost-effective way to start. Most will grow beautifully in 4-6 inches of growing medium.

Extensive Green Roof Plants

Colorful sempervivums and sedums add color and interest to a small, decorative green roof.

Hardy, evergreen, low-growing succulents are the best for extensive green roofs. Choose those that spread and have different colors and textures that pop.

Tasteless Stonecrop (Image by Mountain Crest Gardens)

Coral Carpet Sedum (Sedum album ‘Coral Carpet’, USDA Hardiness Zones 6-9) – The white-flowered sedum reaches 4 inches high, spreads to 8 inches, and has greenish-red foliage that turns dark coral in winter.

Angelina Stonecrop (Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’, Zones 3-11) – The golden spruce-like foliage turns shades of orange in winter, and plants reach 3-6 inches and spread to 12 inches.

Histoni Sempervivum (Image by Mountain Crest Gardens)

Kelp Forest Stonecrop (Sedum ‘Kelp Forest’, Zones 4-9) – Soft mounds of sprucy leaves can reach 6 inches and spread to 18 inches.

Tasteless Stonecrop (Sedum sexangulare, Zones 5-8) – Is more tasteful than its name suggests. The fine, low-growing evergreen spreads quickly to form an attractive mat of fine foliage. Starry yellow flowers appear in late spring or early summer.

Rolling Hens-and-Chicks (Sempervivum globiferum ssp. allionii, Zone 5-9) – Rolling Sempervivums create lots of offsets and spread. Electric green rosettes that develop red-flushed tips in winter make this variety extra pretty.

Histoni Rolling Hens-and-Chicks (Sempervivum globiferum ssp. hirtum ‘Histoni’, Zone 5-9) – Bright green rosettes tipped in cherry red give this rolling hens-and-chicks bright color that deepen in the winter.

 

 

How to Grow Your Own Blueberries

Everyone who loves to grow their own food should grow their own blueberries. Blueberries are ideal for edible landscaping. They grow well in-ground or in containers. They’re bushy, attractive, and their leaves turn brilliant shades of orange, purple, and red in fall. Before adding them to your yard or garden, it’s good to know what types are available. You will be glad that you learned how to grow your own blueberries.

Blueberry Varieties Listed

Highbush Blueberries: ‘Blue Ray’ has extra-large-fruits early to mid-season, ‘Duke’ is high-yielding with upright shrubs, and ‘Elliott’ is a good late-producer.
Rabbiteye Blueberries: ‘Tifblue’ has large berries midseason and ‘Brightwell’ produces large clusters early to midseason.
Southern Highbush Blueberries: large-fruited ‘Cape Fear’, robust ‘Sharpblue’, and upright ‘Legacy’, which has very large, tasty fruits.
Designer Blueberries: The boxwood-like Blueberry Glaze® and cute, round Jellybean® have delicious fruit, tidy habits, and bright fall color (from Bushel & Berry).

Click Here for the Step-by-Step pdf About How to Grow Your Own Blueberries

How Do I Stop My Tomatoes from Cracking?

How do I stop my tomatoes from cracking? There are several ways to end this problem.

“Stop my tomatoes from cracking! Last year even though the weather was optimal with sun and rain my cherry tomatoes continued to split as they grew and most were not edible as the bugs got into them as soon as they split. Is there a way to stop them from splitting like that?” Question from Sylvia of Belle Plaine, Minnesota

Answer: There are several things that you can do. Let me start by explaining what causes tomato splitting. Splitting occurs when a tomato is ripe and full of natural sugars and then it rains significantly. Tomato plants take up water fast, and due to a natural process called osmosis, the water is attracted to the plant parts with the most sugar–ripe fruits. So essentially, those sugary tomatoes fill up with too much water too fast and split. Here are the three best solutions to keep this from happening.

Ways to Stop My Tomatoes from Cracking

1. Choose crack-resistant tomato varieties. Some tomatoes either naturally resist cracking or were bred to be crack-resistant. The sweet cherry tomatoes ‘Ladybug‘ and ‘Jasper‘ are just two of many that are reliably crack resistant. You may see a crack here and there, but they are infrequent when compared to average cherries. ‘Baby Cakes’ salad tomato is tasty and both crack- and disease-resistant. And ‘Big Rainbow’ is a beautiful heirloom with great taste and crack resistance. And, if you like delicious orange slicers, ‘Chef’s Choice Orange‘ cannot be beaten for flavor and crack resistance. These are just a few of many options.

2. Give your tomatoes maximum drainage. Amend your vegetable garden soil well, and berm it up in your tomato beds to facilitate the best drainage possible. Excellent soil drainage will keep your tomatoes from taking up as much water as fast. Our best vegetable garden soil amendments include Black Gold Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, Garden Soil, and Garden Compost Blend. Till these in and then rake up the bed areas into wide berms where you plant your tomatoes. (Click here to read our top 10 essential tips for vegetable gardening success for more bed prep tips.)

3. Pick tomatoes just before they are fully ripe. If you pick tomatoes just before they are fully ripe and allow them to ripen in a bag or on a windowsill, you can avoid the cracking problem. Slightly underripe tomatoes lack the full-sugar load that causes cracking.

For further tips on growing beautiful tomatoes, I recommend you watch our video about growing tomatoes from seed to harvest below.

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

Five Steps to Creating a No-Till Vegetable Garden

The author’s no-till garden in early spring after compost and straw have been applied. (Image by Jessie Keith)

To till or not to till? Why ask this question? Tilling does good things for the soil. It increases needed aeration and porosity, allows the easy incorporation of organic amendments, and it makes all the little green weeds at the top of the soil go away. But it also has its disadvantages. Tilling draws dormant weed seeds from the soil’s subterranean seed bank to the surface, which can mean more weeds. It encourages soil erosion and disrupts all manner of beneficial creatures and microbes underground, which support healthy soils and plant roots. In time, the no-till approach can save time, money, and greatly reduce weeds. These are the reasons it is trending.

Soil Quality Determines the No-Till Approach

If you have good garden soil, starting a no-till garden is simple. Those with poorer soils need to do a bit more work.

There is more than one way to establish a no-till garden. And one’s approach is often related to soil quality and topography. Those with good garden soil can opt to simply clear weeds from the ground, add thick compost and fast-to-degrade mulches for vegetable gardening (straw, leaf mulch, etc.), fertilize, and start planting. Others with poorer clay (or sandy) soils, like me, need to feed the soil for the beforehand. It’s ironic, but my successful no-till garden needed to start with, well, tilling, in addition to double digging, and amendment. Lifting or berming the soil is also important, especially if your garden’s topography is low.

Creating a No-Till Garden

Ample soil amendments and mulches will enrich your no-till garden and keep it weed-free.

For me, creating a good no-till garden started with a big investment. I dug deep, enriched my beds to the hilt, and lifted and bermed my planting areas. For excellent no-till bed longevity, I started by lifting and aerating the soil as deeply as possible.

Materials

  • Tiller
  • Amendments, such as peat, compost, and castings (add at least a 1:4 ratio of amendments to ground-soil)
  • Hard rake and shovel
  • Straw
  • Mycorrhizae
  • Fertilizer
  • Tarp
  • Wheelbarrow (for moving mulches and amendments)
Till in amendments to at least a 1:4 ratio of amendments to ground-soil until well-combined, and airy.

Here are the five steps that I took to establish my no-till garden.

  1. Till deeply: Creating good garden soil is all about adding air pockets, loft, and good fertility to encourage drainage and deep rooting. If you have heavy soil, you cannot accomplish this without initial tilling and amendment with lots of organic matter. Till on a day when the soil has enough moisture to sink a shovel into but is also a bit dry. I recommend double or triple tilling the new garden area to break up the soil as much as possible.
  2. Double dig: Extra deep digging is time-intensive and should be reserved for areas where you plan to plant deep-rooting vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips, and other root crops. Move the lofty tilled topsoil onto a tarp beside the bed and dig another few inches deeper and break up the soil further. (Click here to read more about double digging.)
  3. Amend all of your backfill: Amendments rich in organic matter and microbes are essential for the longterm health of your garden. Shovel lots of organic matter, like Black Gold compost, earthworm castings, peat moss, and even composted manure and mushroom soil, into your backfill, and till it in. I also recommend adding a granular vegetable fertilizer and an endomycorrhizal inoculant, which can be purchased in powder form. Beneficial mycorrhizal fungi help plants grow better by allowing them to more efficiently access water and nutrients.
  4. Define pathways, fill, and berm: If you have a large or relatively large garden space, it’s nice to establish paths for easy garden access and harvest. Most gardeners choose a row or block design. I always like my pathways to stand a bit lower than my beds, so I berm up fill in the bed areas using a hard rake. This gives beds an even deeper pad of lofty soil and ensures that they will not be walked upon.
  5. Cover: As a final step, I cover my walkways with black & white newspaper or non-waxed corrugated cardboard and cover the paper with a thick layer of seed-free grass clippings, straw, or even leaf mulch or pine straw. You can even plant nitrogen-fixing clover in the walkways. Then I add a thick layer of compost to the beds to detur weeds, and fresh straw to the pathways to stop weeds and keep them from getting muddy after rain.

Each year, I clean up and refresh the walkways, and add fresh compost as a mulch in lieu of tilling. Invest in your no-till garden like this in the beginning, and you will be wowed by the results.

Raising Beds to New Heights

Other garden types, such as raised beds, do not require tilling either.

There are other no-till options for vegetable gardening, but I prefer the freedom of a large garden bed with tidy straw walkways. Traditional raised beds, hugelkultur, strawbale gardening, even container gardening don’t require tilling. Here are articles about each gardening type, if you want to learn more.

Raised Beds: Respecting the Law of Return

Hugelkultur Layered Vegetable Gardens

Do You Have Tips for Straw Bale Gardening?

Succeed with Container Vegetable Gardening

Invest in your no-till garden from the beginning, and it will reward you in the future. Support it with fresh mulch, feed it well, and watch your harvests explode!

Double dig areas for root vegetables, and add a layer of protective compost over beds each year.

How to Water House Plants

Watering house plants…it sounds simple, doesn’t it? But, if it were simple, there would be fewer black thumbs out there. Proper watering is at the heart of good plant care, and if you don’t know how to water a plant, then its little green future may be in peril. It is surprisingly easy to drown a plant with aqueous attention.

There isn’t a one-fits-all watering method because the needs of plants vary so widely. Some specialty plants, like many orchids and African violets (click here to learn more about African violet care.), require special watering, but lots can be grouped into heavy, average, and light watering categories. These are the plants covered in this article. Many characteristics impact watering, including the plant type and size, the growing environment, and even the pot type.

Watering and Pots

Consider drainage, pot material, and pot size before planting. You’ll also need a good saucer for catching overflow.

Before considering how to water what, it is necessary to cover planting containers. Consider these three container characteristics before potting up a plant or determining a water regime.

1. Drainage – First, unless you are watering an aquatic plant, pots must have drainage holes at the bottom, which allow water to fully drain. Otherwise, water will pool at the bottom and stagnate because of a lack of air. This will result in root rot or no root growth the soppy bottom of the pot. So, not only do drainage holes allow roots to get fresh water from top to bottom at each watering, but they help give roots needed air.

2. Material – The pot’s material will also impact a plant’s access to water. Terracotta pots soak up and release water, which increases the need to water. So, refrain from planting water-needy plants in Terracotta. Ceramic, fiberglass, and plastic pots are more watertight.

3. Size – Consider pot-to-plant and root-to-soil ratios. Larger plants in smaller pots need more water, while smaller plants in larger pots need less water. Why? Because smaller root systems soak up less water, and if little plants are grown in larger pots, the soil will hold water for longer. The flip side is that when the roots of a large plant outgrow a pot and become intertwined, they no longer have room to take up water, so the need to water greatly increases, especially when conditions are hot, dry, and sunny. Plant roots need room for good water uptake.

Watering and Environment

Most tropical house plants grow best in indirect light but prefer average warmth and relatively high humidity (or the occasional water spritz).

Just use common sense when weighing environment and plant watering needs. When conditions are sunny, dry, hot and/or breezy, plants need more water. So, if you place them in a hot, sunny window, near a vent or radiator, or in a warm conservatory or sunroom, plan to water more. Likewise, in lower-lit rooms that are cooler or very humid, the need for water will be reduced.

The soil environment also plays a big role in watering frequency. The more water your potting soil holds, the less water the plant will need. For example, Black Gold®Waterhold Cocoblend Potting Mix holds a high amount of water, unlike Black Gold® Cactus Mix and Black Gold ® Orchid Mix, which hold far less water. Black Gold® All Purpose Potting Mix is somewhere in the middle. We create different potting mixes because plants have different soil-water needs. That’s why it’s important to pot up a plant in the right mix.

Watering and Moisture Testing Methods

Succulents require far less water, especially in winter, so test the soil to be sure it is quite dry before watering.

The most basic watering method is simple; water the pot entirely until the bottom saucer is filled. Do this every time you water, and make sure there are no dry pockets in the potting mix down below (this can happen when soil becomes too dry between waterings). Consistent, thorough watering will also allow you to better calculate when to regularly water a plant.

When to rewater is the trickiest bit that gets new house-plant growers into trouble. How can you tell when you need to rewater? There are a few ways to determine this with average house plants. Most gardeners use the finger test. Stick your finger down into the soil. When it feels dry down to a couple of inches, then rewater. But, some gardeners want greater precision. Soil-moisture meters are accurate and popular with calculating gardeners. They indicate the level of moisture in the mix down to any given depth, allowing for more precise watering. Once you have a good watering rhythm, the need to test should be less frequent or even unnecessary.

Plants That Need Heavy Water

Ferns and many large-leaved tropicals are among the plants that require more water.

Think big. Large and thin-leaved tropicals, fast-growing plants, and those with big, fast-growing root systems require more water. They soak it up and spit it out quickly. (Some large-leaved plants with thick, tough, waxy leaves can be exceptions because some hold onto water quite well.) Elephant ears (Alocasia and Colocasia spp.), Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata), and peace lilies (Spathiphyllum spp.) fall into the heavy-watering category as well as semi-aquatic plants, like papyrus (Cyperus papyrus). Depending on the growing environment, they may need to be watered daily or every few days.

Plants That Need Moderate Water

Many tropicals with slender or average-sized leaves perform very well with moderate (sometimes even low) water.

Moderately vigorous plants that are not succulent often require moderate water. These are your not too much, not too little, in the middle plants. Soil moisture meters are perfect for these. Begonias, spider plants, peperomia, pilea, palms, and philodendron all fall into this category. They may need to be watered once or twice a week under average indoor growing conditions.

Plants That Need Little Water

Cacti and succulents are among the easiest to kill because wayward gardeners tend to overwater them.

Cacti and succulents, such as agave, aloe, echeveria, and jade plants (click here to read more about growing jade plants), require the least amount of water. The main killer of these plants is heavy winter watering. In their natural habitats, most endure a dry winter period, so this is what they expect in homes as well. Root rot, stem rot, and plant death are the side effects of heavy watering, so it’s best to err on the side of safety and water little to none between late fall and spring–maybe once a month. If you bring them outdoors in hot summer weather, the need for water will increase to approximately three to four times a month.

Lots of semi-succulent tropicals are also surprisingly tolerant of low water. Snake plant (Sansevieria spp.), cycads (Cycas spp.), and ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) are included in this group. (Click here to watch a video about tough, low-water house plants.)

When getting the hang of watering a new plant, make sure you fully understand its growing and moisture needs. Then refrain from the desire to water just a little bit more or a little bit less than it needs. Get basic watering right, and you will be on your way to having a true green thumb.

If you are not certain of a plant’s specific water needs, then ask our garden experts via Ask a Garden Expert!

ZZ plant is a semi-succulent tropical that also requires low water.