Melons, squash, and cucumbers grow best where the summer is hot, dry, and almost always sunny. The best flavored of these gourd family (Cucurbitaceae) crops will come from the hottest growing regions. Both cloudy and rainy weather will slow and all but stop Cucurbit growth. Heat Requirements Melons, squash, and cucumbers grow best when both…
Fruit Vegetables
How to Sun-Dry and Oven-Dry Tomatoes
Sun-dry tomatoes or oven-dry tomatoes to use for seasoning in salads, soups, stews, casseroles, mixed vegetables, and snacks. You can also rehydrate dried tomatoes for use in cooking. Choose firm, ripe, full-flavored tomatoes that are heavy for their size. Tomatoes with a high acid content dry best. Excellent tomato varieties for drying are San Marzano…
How to Freeze Ripe Tomatoes
Freeze the bounty of tomatoes you don’t eat fresh this summer for use in cooking next winter. Freeze tomatoes whole or cut into wedges. Wash and dry tomatoes for freezing and cut out any bad spots or bruises. Place whole or sliced tomatoes on a baking sheet and put the sheet into the freezer. Once…
Mid-Season Pepper Problem Cures
Peppers are tropical plants and can be temperamental–especially the further they grow away from the tropics. They demand warm temperatures—not too cool and not too hot, organically rich soil, and even soil moisture—not too little and not too much. Give peppers these optimal conditions and they will produce until the first frost in autumn. …
Short-, Mid-, and Long-Season Eggplant Varieties
Eggplants grow best in the garden when the soil temperature and daytime air temperature is at least 70°F and the night temperature is greater than 60°F. There is no reward for setting eggplant seedlings outdoors when temperatures are cooler—they will only suffer. Grow an eggplant variety suited to the number of days in your region…
Squashes for Winter Cooking
Butternut squash, acorn and Delicata squash, Hubbard and kabocha squash—all of these are winter squashes—you cook and serve them when the weather turns cold. Winter squashes are grown in the summer just like summer squashes, but instead of picking and serving them tender and immature (like summer squash), winter squashes mature on the vine, are…
Zucchini Growing Quick Tips
Growing conditions. Plant zucchini in full sun in compost rich, well-drained soil. Zucchini likes to get its start in the spot where it will grow, but if you want to get a jump on the season, start seed indoors 3 to 4 weeks before the last expected frost in 4-inch biodegradable pots (that can be…
Growing Early-Season Tomatoes for Great Taste
Early season tomatoes ripen fruit in 55 to 70 days after being transplanted to the garden as 6 week old plants. Because great tomato flavor comes with just the right combination of sugars and acids that are the product of sunlight and photosynthesis, early season tomatoes are often dismissed as less tasty than mid- and…
Planting Melons and Squash Early
Long-season vine crops such as melons and squash can be started early in the season if you adequately prepare and warm the soil. The right preparation will ensure even growth and ample yield. Melons, watermelons, winter squashes, and pumpkins can require 125 to 160 days from sowing or transplanting to harvest. Getting an early start…
Pea Growing Tips
Grow peas during the winter in mild-winter regions. In cold-winter regions grow peas in the spring and sometimes in the fall. The optimum seed starting soil temperature for peas is 75°F; this makes growing peas for fall harvest a strong option when they are planted 55 to 70 days before the first frost–depending upon variety….