Learn how to “chit” or sprout seed potatoes, to give them a good start in your home garden! It’s your first time trying to grow a potato patch, and you’ve got your sack of seed potatoes! The ground’s thawed out enough, you’ve prepared your soil, and now, you’ve got to get your seed potatoes ready…
Snapdragons are a much-loved garden classic to grow! Both dwarf and tall versions of these colorful flowers make a beautiful, long-lasting floral show throughout the growing season, and are a favorite for cut flower displays. Boasting a wide range of colors to choose from, snapdragons come in both single-color and bicolored flower varieties. The blooms…
You’ve got a glut of gorgeous broccoli heads, or the prettiest harvest of cauliflower: but the problem is, you can’t eat this many brassicas before they go bad! Luckily, it’s easy to freeze broccoli and cauliflower right at home. All you need is a few pots, a strainer, a cookie sheet, and a freezer, then…
Elderberry propagation might sound tricky and intimidating, but it’s simpler than you’d think! In fact, between creating clones via cuttings or starting new plants from seed, growing elderberry from cuttings is actually the easier way to get your hands on new plants! With just a sharp pair of pruning shears, a pot of soil, and…
Once you’ve grown your own Alpine strawberries, you’ll find that you want more! An easy way to create more free plants and keep them healthy is to divide your Alpine strawberries every few years. Here’s how to do that! Alpine strawberries grow in dense clusters, forming thick green mounds. It might come as a surprise,…
Learn how to identify, harvest, and preserve wild American persimmons, a tasty late-fall foraged food! Look for American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) trees growing along field edges. They can sometimes have a shrubby appearance, especially when young, but can eventually grow quite tall – 20 to 60 feet. Unfortunately, many invasive shrubs, such as Autumn Olive…
Learn how to turn ripe cayenne peppers from your garden into cayenne powder and red pepper flakes. It’s super easy to make your own healthy and wholesome kitchen spices! Related articles: Grow & Make Your Own Paprika Powder and How to Make Celery Salt When to harvest your cayenne peppers: Harvest cayenne peppers when they’re…
Now that you’ve grown some beautiful puma peppers, you can use them to make hot sauce! Puma hot peppers can be used to replace habaneros in most any recipe, keeping in mind that pumas tend to be a bit hotter than habaneros, so the finished product may be spicier. This sauce was created to be…
The stunning puma pepper is not only scorching hot at 300,000-400,000 Scoville units, but also pretty enough that you could use it as an ornamental plant in the front garden bed! About Puma Hot Peppers: Dark deep purple foliage and flushing on the fruits make this dramatic plant stand out among pepper varieties. Like other…
Learn how to freeze fresh berries, their expected shelf life, and what to expect when using them from the freezer. We’ll cover: alpine strawberries, blackberries, boysenberries, blueberries, elderberries, raspberries, and strawberries! 7 Berries to Freeze Berry season has arrived, and so the harvests begin! There are few things better than a bright bowl of your…
Spotted bee balm (Monarda punctata) is a stellar pollinator plant in the mint family which attracts all kinds of native bees and butterflies to your garden. As a bonus, the plant has use as an edible herbal too! At a Glance: How to Grow Like other bee balms, spotted bee balm is super easy to…
Learn how to turn black pansy flowers into a beautiful jelly. The flavor is light and mildly grape-like! (You can also use this same recipe with any other kind and color of pansy flowers!) Black pansy flowers are just like other pansies, only they’re a very dark purple – so dark that they can appear…