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How to Plant and Grow Cucumbers
Cucumbers–natives of India–love warm weather. Wait until soil and air temperatures average 70°F each day before sowing or transplanting cumbers to the garden. While warm temperatures are required for growing, cucumbers require a relatively short season–55 to 60 days from sowing to harvest. In long-season regions, you can plant successive crops. In cool or short-season […] More
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Cucumber Seed Starting Tips
Cucumbers are a tender, warm-weather crop. Start cucumbers indoors 6 to 3 weeks before you plan to transplant them into the garden or direct sow seed in the garden 2 to 3 weeks after all danger of frost is past and the soil has warmed. Plant cucumber seeds in the garden 1 to 2 weeks […] More
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Peanut Seed Starting Tips
Peanuts are a warm-weather crop. They require a long frost-free growing season to mature. If you can grow melons in your garden, you can likely grow peanuts. Start peanuts in the garden after all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed to 70°F (21°C) or greater. Peanuts can be started indoors but […] More
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How to Plant and Grow Tomatoes
The tomato is native to semi-tropical western South America. Tomatoes are warm-season annuals. To grow strong and healthy and to bear fruit, tomatoes require sun, warm air and soil temperatures, and rich, loamy, evenly moist soil. Tomatoes grow best when the soil temperature is at least 55°F (12°C) and the air temperature ranges between 65° […] More
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Seed Potato Starting Tips
Potatoes are grown from other potatoes. Small, whole potatoes are called “seed potatoes”. Plant seed potatoes to grow new potato plants. You can also grow potato plants from cut pieces of larger potatoes. Make sure that you plant seed potatoes or potato pieces that have two or three dormant buds, called “eyes”. Eyes are slightly […] More
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Tomato Seed Starting Tips
Tomatoes are a tender, warm-weather crop. Start tomatoes indoors 10 to 8 weeks before the last expected frost in spring. Set tomato seedlings into the garden after all danger of frost is past. Plant tomato seedlings in the garden 4 weeks after the last frost. The garden soil temperature for setting out transplants should be […] More
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in 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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How to Grow Sweet Bell Peppers
Peppers come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and flavors. From mild, sweet bell peppers to fiery, spicy chili peppers, there is a pepper to fit everyone’s taste. If you’re looking to add a little something extra to your garden, consider growing some peppers! Sweet peppers and hot peppers can be grown from seeds […] More
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Melons Seed Starting Tips
Melons are a tender, warm-weather crop. Plant melon seeds directly in the garden 2 weeks after the last frost date. Melon seeds can be started indoors 3 to 4 weeks before plants are transplanted directly into the garden, sooner if transplants will be protected by a plastic tunnel or row cover. Melons include cantaloupes and […] More
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How to Plant and Grow Eggplant
Eggplant is a very tender warm season perennial grown as an annual. Grow eggplant in the warmest, frost-free time of the year. The edible fruit can be long and slender or round or egg-shaped fruit. The fruit is creamy-white, yellow, brown, purple, or sometimes almost black. Eggplant is a small- to medium-sized bush vegetable that […] More
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in How to Grow, Plant
How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Celery
Celery is a cool-weather crop. It requires a long growing season–16 weeks of cool weather to come to harvest. Celery is a hardy biennial grown as an annual. It has a rosette of 12- to 18-inch (30-45cm) stalks, topped with divided leaves. Celery is grown for its edible stalks, leaves, and seeds. Celery is the […] More
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How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Hot Peppers
Hot peppers are distinguished from sweet peppers simply by their pungency or hotness of flavor. There are thousands of hot pepper varieties in the world. (This is the case because peppers easily cross-pollinate to produce new kinds.) The hotness of a pepper is determined by a number of blister-like sacs of capsaicinoids on the interior […] More