Harvest to Table

Cucumbers plants that are stressed during the growing season may produce fruit that is bitter flavored. Commonly a lack of water or temperatures too cold or too hot cause cucumbers to bear bitter tasting fruit. But some cucumbers may have a slightly bitter flavor by nature. Cucumbers contain organic compounds called cucurbitacins that can cause [...]

Luscious, liquid sweetness: since watermelon is nearly always eaten on its own either sliced or quartered, growing it juicy and sweet is always the objective. To grow sweet and tasty watermelon, follow these steps: Temperature. Watermelon demands warm temperatures—both soil and air. Transplant or direct seed watermelon only when the average soil and daytime air [...]

When you open an ear of corn and some (or most) of the kernels are missing, that means the corn was not pollinated properly. To ensure pollination plant corn in a block, not rows. Corn is wind pollinated. The male flower is the tassel; it forms at the top of the cornstalk and produces pollen. [...]

Choose the carrots you want to grow by the carrot flavor you most enjoy. There are three common carrot flavor descriptors: sugary, pine-parsley, and woody. Carrot flavor is genetically determined—some carrots will simply be sweeter than others. Growing carrots when days are warm and nights cool and growing carrots in loose, organic soil can enhance [...]

Potatoes are easy to grow in holes, trenches, under mulch or landscape fabric, or in containers. Grow potatoes in full sun and well-drained soil or mulch. Plant potatoes when the soil temperature is at least 50°F. Potatoes grow best when the air temperature is between 60 and 65°F. Grow potatoes from seed potatoes—small tubers grown [...]

Delicate flavored shallots grow best in slightly sandy, well-drained soil. Where the soil is even a bit heavy with clay, you will get the best results growing shallots in raised beds evenly amended with organic matter such as aged compost. Plant shallots—like onions—early in the season. Leafy top growth which nourishes the bulbs comes during [...]

A wide garden row is ideal for growing leaf and small root crops. For easy planting and maintenance grow lettuce, spinach, radishes, and carrots in rows the width of a standard 15-inch bow rake. A wide row also can be used for medium-sized crops such as cabbages, bush beans, and eggplants grown two across. Wide [...]

Broccoli is easy to grow and offers not one harvest but several. Each plant grows two to three feet tall with a thick central stalk and several lateral branches. The central stalk is the first to bear a large cluster of tiny, dark green flower buds—the plant’s first harvest. After the central flower cluster is [...]

Plant sets of garlic, onions, and shallots early in spring to get large bulbs at harvest. Start indoors garlic, onions and shallots where snow or too much rain keeps you out of the garden early in the season. Garlic, onion, and shallot transplants started indoors are the quickest way to produce a crop. Garlic, onions, [...]

The secret to getting a good strawberry harvest in hot summer climates—where daytime temperatures are consistently greater than 85°F–is to have strawberries ready for picking in mid-winter, not in late spring or early summer as in cooler summer regions. Early spring is the traditional time to set out strawberries but where summers are hot, a [...]