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    How to Grow Buddleia – Butterfly Bush

    Buddleia, butterfly bush

    Buddleia or Buddleja — commonly called butterfly bush — produces a great profusion of mostly long, colorful racemes in shades of lilac and purple mostly. Flowers appear in tapered sprays at branch tips. The blooms attract butterflies. They are also excllent cut flowers with a long vase lift. Buddleia is an evergreen, semi-evergreen, or deciduous […] More

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    How to Plant and Grow Melons

    Melon muskmelon1

    Melons grow best when summers are hot, dry, and almost always sunny. The best-flavored melons will come from the hottest-growing regions. Both cloudy and rainy weather will slow and all but stop melon growth. Melons grow best when both the soil and air temperature are at least 70°F (21°C). You can sow seeds directly in […] More

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    How to Plant and Grow Watermelon

    Watermelons on tiles to ripen

    The watermelon is a tender, warm-weather annual. Watermelons along with muskmelons and cantaloupes are sometimes called summer melons. They thrive in hot weather. Watermelons are easy to grow. They need plenty of sun, nutrient-rich soil, and plenty of water. Get watermelon started in the home garden after all danger of frost has passed and your […] More

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    How to Plant, Grow, and Prune Blackberries

    Blackberries on vine

    Blackberry plants are easy to plant and grow. The blackberry is a vigorous grower. Modern blackberry varieties and cultivars are derived from native species which are still found growing wild along roadsides. Blackberry plants vary from trailing to erect to bushy and from thorny to thornless. Some varieties and cultivars are suited for chilly northern […] More

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    How to Plant and Grow Kale

    Lancinato kale, also known as Tuscan kale

    Kale is a leafy cool-weather crop that requires two months of cool weather to reach harvest. Kale is a biennial plant, a hardy brassica (member of the cabbage/mustard family). Mature kale leaves can be coarse but there are several types that are grown for their tender, palatable young leaves. Kale is an important leaf crop […] More

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    How to Plant and Grow Artichokes

    Artichokes on plant 1

    Artichokes are perennial plants. Artichokes prefer cool, moist summers and mild winters. The perennial artichoke plant will not survive where the ground freezes. The artichoke is an edible thistle flower bud that is eaten before it opens. Artichokes are tender perennials that grow from 3 to 4 feet (.9-1.2m) tall and to 6 feet 1.8m) […] More

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    How to Plant and Grow Okra

    Okra plant and flower1

    Okra is a tender, heat-loving annual best grown in very warm climates. It is grown for the peculiar, mucilaginous taste of its immature pods, commonly called gumbo. Okra is primarily a tropical crop, but it can be grown where cucumbers or tomatoes are hardy. To produce the best, crop, however, it wants much summer heat […] More

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    How to Plant and Grow Tomatillos

    Tomatillos on vine

    The tomatillo is a warm-weather crop. Tomatillos are easy to grow and bear fruit all summer long. Tomatillo fruit is used to make sauces and salads and is very popular in Mexican and Southwestern cuisine. The tomatillo has a sweet-sharp flavor recognizable in the green sauce used on chicken enchiladas and fresh green salsa for […] More