Archives for Crop Guides
Can You Grow Barley in a Home Garden?
Barley is one of those crops that changes the scale of the conversation. A tomato plant can feed you a salad. A pot of basil can change dinner. A potato…
How to Grow Asparagus Without Harvesting Too Much Too Soon
Asparagus is one of the great patience crops. Not the kind of patience where you wait a few weeks for radishes. The other kind. The kind where you plant roots…
How to Grow Apples in a Small Garden
Apple trees are dangerously romantic. A blossom-covered tree in spring. Fruit hanging in autumn. A basket on your arm. A pie cooling somewhere in the distance, because apparently your fantasy…
The Best Nitrogen to Phosphorus Ratio for Growing Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi can look extremely confident from above. Big leaves. Strong stems. A plant that appears to know exactly what it is doing. Then you move the leaves and find the…
How to Grow Sweet Potatoes for Slips, Vines, and Storage Roots
Sweet potatoes feel like one of those crops that should be harder than they are. The vines are dramatic, the harvest is hidden underground, and the curing step sounds a…
Indeterminate Tomatoes: What They Are and How to Grow Them
Tomato labels can be oddly intimidating. You go looking for a plant that will give you tomatoes, and suddenly you are asked to understand words like determinate, indeterminate, semi-determinate, heirloom,…
How to Grow Runner Beans for Food and Beauty
Some plants earn their place in the garden twice. Runner beans are one of those plants. They climb. They flower. They feed pollinators. They make a trellis look alive. And…
How to Grow Eggplants in a Home Garden
Eggplants look a little dramatic before they ever reach the kitchen. The leaves are broad. The flowers are pretty. The fruit can be glossy, purple, white, striped, round, long, tiny,…
How to Grow Cucumbers Without Letting the Vine Take Over
Cucumbers are summer abundance with a timer. One day the fruit is crisp, green, and perfect for lunch. A little later, it can be oversized, seedy, and much less pleasant…
How to Grow Radishes for Fast Cool-Season Harvests
Radishes are small, quick, and full of opinions. They can be one of the fastest crops in the garden, going from seed to harvest in just a few weeks. That…