Gardening Tips
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Summer Squash Care and Maintenance: A Gardener’s Guide
Summer squash is one of the easiest and most rewarding vegetables to grow in the home garden. With the right care and attention, you can harvest tender, flavorful squash all summer long. Summer squash comes in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes—from classic green zucchini and golden zucchini to yellow crookneck, straightneck, and scalloped […] More
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Winter Squash Care and Maintenance
Caring for winter squash properly is the key to growing strong, productive plants that yield flavorful, long-lasting fruit. After decades of growing winter squash in home and market gardens, I’ve developed a simple but effective care routine that supports healthy vines, improves pollination, and increases yields. In this post, I’ll share proven tips and personal […] More
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Planting and Growing Winter Squash
Winter squash is a rewarding and flavorful crop to grow in the home garden, offering a long shelf life and rich, nutritious flesh perfect for soups, roasts, and baking. As a longtime gardener with decades of hands-on experience growing dozens of winter squash varieties—from sweet Delicata to hearty Blue Hubbard—I’ve learned what it takes to […] More
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Best Ways to Support Your Tomato Plants
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from growing tomatoes over the years is that proper support makes a huge difference in plant health, fruit production, and ease of harvest. Without support, tomato plants tend to sprawl across the ground, making them more susceptible to disease, insect damage, and rot. Whether you’re growing bush […] More
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Pinching and Pruning Tomatoes: A Gardener’s Guide to Healthier, More Productive Plants
Pruning and pinching tomato plants is a simple but essential practice that can significantly improve plant health and fruit production. Over the years, I’ve learned that proper pruning helps direct the plant’s energy toward producing bigger, healthier tomatoes instead of excessive foliage. If you’ve ever struggled with a tangled, unmanageable tomato plant or small, lackluster […] More
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Watering and Feeding Tomatoes: Expert Tips for a Healthy, Productive Crop
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my years of growing tomatoes is that consistent watering and proper feeding make all the difference between a thriving, high-yielding plant and one that struggles with disease, blossom-end rot, or weak growth. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and need the right balance of nutrients and moisture at every […] More
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When to Plant Tomatoes: A Gardener’s Guide to Timing and Success
Over the years, I’ve learned the hard way that patience is key when planting tomatoes. One spring, eager to get a head start, I set my transplants out too early—only to watch them struggle as cold nights stunted their growth. Since then, I’ve fine-tuned my approach, and I’m here to help you avoid the same […] More
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How to Ripen Tomatoes
Standard-sized tomatoes take 20 to 30 days from blossom set to reach full size–commonly called “mature green”; they take another 20 to 30 days to ripen, that is begin to change color. A tomato can be picked when it begins to change color–from green to red, pink, yellow, or orange depending upon the cultivar. The […] More
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How to Prune Tomatoes
Pruning a tomato means removing unneeded growth tips from the plant. These growing tips are sometimes called shoots or suckers. Growth tips are the new growth–the small leafy-bud growth–located in the “V” or crotch between two stems. Pruning or pinching away new growth allows a tomato plant to concentrate its energy on the development of […] More
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in Gardening Tips, Plant
Grow Tomatoes on Stakes
Grow tomatoes on stakes to ripen fruits earlier than plants that are not staked. Grow tomatoes on stakes to keep fruit cleaner and easier to spot at harvest. You can grow almost twice as many staked tomatoes in a given area than if you let plants grow unstaked or in cages. Tomatoes grown on stakes […] More
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6 Easy Steps to Grow Organic Potatoes
Organic potatoes are a great addition to any home garden. Not only are they packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, but they also provide a unique and flavorful cooking experience. Growing organic potatoes in your home garden is both rewarding and easy as long as you are well-versed in how to grow potatoes. Here are […] More
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Growing Bulb Onions: Pick the Right Variety for Your Garden
Bulb onions are particular about where they grow. Onion bulb development is highly dependent on daylight and temperature. Not all onions will form bulbs where you live. You must pick the right onion variety for your garden if you are growing onions for bulbs. Onion bulb formation is triggered by the number of summer daylight […] More
Stephen Albert
