Yield Ideas, Tips & Guides

Check out the new rainfall calculator on the Clemson Weather website. This feature calculates the amount of rainfall received in a particular location over a specified time.

Zack Snipes reports, “It’s been a very cloudy and humid week in the Lowcountry. The temperatures are perfect, but the lack of sunshine has plants in a holding pattern. It has been very great strawberry planting weather. Most farms are finished up or are about to finish up this week. Overall, plants are clean with no insect or disease issues, but they are very small. If you have small plants, I recommend covering them here in a few weeks with a lightweight row cover to encourage fall growth before winter. Make sure you go behind your planting crews to make sure they are planting properly. I have seen “J-rooted” bare root plants and plugs planted too deep. Even the most experienced crews should be monitored carefully while planting. Our yield drag begins at planting if planted incorrectly.”

The effect of row covers on spider mite pest problems is not entirely clear. Studies in NC found that row covers did not influence spider mites during cold winters and when transplants were NOT infested with spider mites initially. Mite-infested transplants will likely fare worse. During warmer weather, extended row cover use appeared to exacerbate spider mite problems. Lastly, if you plan on buying and releasing predatory mites, you must release them when spider mite populations are still low and also avoid using broad-spectrum insecticides (e.g., pyrethroids). Some acaricides are also safer than others (e.g., Acramite and Nealta are safer than abamectin products). Furthermore, sulfur-based fungicides can also be harmful to predatory mites, so avoid spraying these fungicides immediately before or after releasing any predators.”

Freeze drying is a method of food dehydration that has been primarily used in commercial food manufacturing but is starting to make its way into home kitchens.

As the weather begins to warm up in February and March, our thoughts start toward pecan fertilizer applications.

Although it is possible to get an accurate reading of soil texture in a lab, it can be expensive and time consuming. That’s why it’s a good idea to learn to estimate soil texture accurately by feel.

ALOT OF MY ‘NEW LIFE’ IS SPENT RUMINATING, I admit, though sometimes while doing something else (mowing, driving, weeding, showering—you know how it works). Even if I were merely sitting still and pondering, I’d consider those stretches very productive, since they yield my inspiration.

My “selfish crabapple,” variety ‘Ralph Shay’ (above, with little bluestem grass), whose fruits are way too big when still firm for birds to reckon with or steal, so I get to look at them well into winter, hence the selfish label. After many freeze-thaw cycles they soften, and late-winter flocks of robins or waxwings have at them as the fruit finally yields. We both win, each in our time. The eight smaller-fruited crabs up in the hill? They’re already mostly picked over by migrants who passed through in September and October. #awaytogarden #crabapple #birdfood #littlebluestemfallen pear, fallen leavesSAID THE literary leaves and a similarly well-read

They are my vintage pair of “Super-Birki” clogs from Birkenstock (seen in apple green above), a polyurethane shoe that I have slipped my feet into on the way out into the garden so many times over so many years that I cannot count. A number of gardening friends have had theirs ever-at-the-ready by their doorsteps even longer. Indestructible.Long before there were Crocs, there were Birkenstock clogs, including the poly ones, which were (and are) favored by people who worked in labs, rest

AS PART OF Garden Conservancy Open Day at Margaret Roach’s Copake Falls, NY, garden–including a plant sale by Broken Arrow Nursery–guest expert and garden writer Lee Reich will be doing a morning lecture on fruit espaliers.

Looking to grow your own beans but are short on space? Check out our guide to the Best Types of Beans You Can Grow Vertically! From pole beans to runner beans, we’ve got you covered with tips on how to maximize your yield and enjoy fresh, home-grown beans in a limited space.

Many gardeners know the value of mulch around plant roots. Mulches stabilize soil, enrich it, and can contribute to better biodiversity. There are many landscape mulch alternatives to standard bark mulch. Many of these are cleverly recycled items that prevent landfill waste and foster a sense of sustainability.

Serves 4

Tickle Your Tomato Plant Like This for Bumper Harvest? This may sound absurd, but it is actually true. Keep on reading to find out!

Here are various Ways to Get Rid of Powdery Mildew to keep your plants healthy and beautiful. From using natural remedies like baking soda and neem oil to commercial fungicides, we’ve got you covered. So let’s get started!

Summer squash, especially Burpee's Rise and Shine Squash are incredibly versatile in the kitchen. They can be prepared for in salads, spiralized into «zoodles» as a pasta or noodle alternative, grilled, roasted, and sautéed. Its mild flavor and tender texture make it adaptable to a wide range of dishes and cooking methods. Try the recipe below to wow anyone in your kitchen! Topped with delicate squash blossoms, this cheesy frittata is almost too pretty to eat!

Transform your home into a flourishing garden with the Most Productive Vegetables for a Balcony and Patio Garden, ensuring a plentiful yield in limited space and enhancing your green thumb experience.

Tomatoes love and need a lot of sunlight and heat to grow. But too much of a good thing can cause the plant to get sunscald–the plant equivalent of a sunburn. “Sunscald in tomatoes can happen in all parts of the country, but it is more prominent in the South where the days are longer and the weather is hotter,” says Greg Key, gardener and CEO of Hosstools in Georgia.

Growing tomatoes can be a lot of fun as there are so many ways to do it! Here are some of the most interesting DIY Tomato Garden Ideas that you could use to grow them right at your home and enjoy the fresh and juicy yield along with your kids!

Most likely native to Southeast Asia, colocasia (Colocasia esculenta, Zones 7b–12) is used by many gardeners for its large, tropical-looking foliage. This plant also has a long history of being used in cooking. Visitors to Hawaii are often treated to poi, a starchy Polynesian edible food paste made from its rootlike corm. Common names of colocasias include taro, eddo, dasheen, and elephant’s ear. Elephant’s ear is the most commonly used common name, but that can be confusing because plants called elephant’s ear come from several different genera, including Colocasia, Alocasia, and Xanthosoma, all of which are members of the arum family (Araceae). While there are several different species of colocasia, cultivars and hybrids of Colocasia esculenta are the main ones you will find being sold in garden centers to home gardeners.

Summer is here! Vegetable gardens have yielded the first tomatoes of the season, perennial borders are overflowing with colorful blooms, fruit is ripening in the orchards, and rose bushes are flushing out with their second round of flowers. On the surface, it might appear that summer brings nothing but a profusion of delightful blooms, lush greenery, and a cornucopia of delicious summer veggies, but alongside all this flowery and fruitful abundance are the insects, birds, rodents, and larger critters that are the bane of any gardener’s existence: European earwigs.

Invite these Pollinators to Have the Most Productive Garden and maximize your garden’s yield. Discover how attracting these valuable creatures can enhance your gardening experience and ensure bountiful harvests for years to come.

Trichoderma is a genus of soil-dwelling fungi found all over the world that are highly effective at colonizing many kinds of plant roots, and inhibiting fungi that cause many types of diseases. It was one of the first types of biofungicides commercially available.One strain in particular, T. harzianum T-22, is

Whether you pronounce it correctly as puh-KAHNS or erroneously as PEE-cans, there’s no denying the aesthetic, nut-producing power of pecans.We link to vendors to help you find relevant products

I love gardening, but there is no denying it is hard work, and harvest time always seems to come and go too quickly!I don’t know about you, but I am always on the lookout for w

Companion gardening is a clever practice that boosts harvest, repels pests, and provides support to the crops. If you are planning for one, start with the Best Herbs to Plant with Tomatoes for a healthy organic harvest!

Don’t have any idea about the Tomato Problems and Solutions? That’s what we are here for! Keep on reading to get all the information.

In terms of culinary influence, it’s tough to find an ingredient used in as many cultural cuisines as sesame seeds—they’re found in Asian, Latin, Middle Eastern, and Indian culinary traditions, to name a few. Many of us automatically think of white sesame seeds when we think of this seed, but black sesame seeds have just as much (and maybe even a little more) to offer. Here’s what to know about this sibling of the traditional white sesame seed.

If you have an urban home with a small space, then growing veggies upright is a great way to make the best use of the available space. If you love plants from the gourd family, then here’s all you need to know about How to Grow Zucchini Vertically!

Discover the Different Types of Garlic to Grow in the Garden with their distinctive flavors and aromas. From robust and pungent hardneck garlic to mild and versatile softneck varieties, explore the diverse world of garlic cultivars!

Vegetables grow best in full sun. Provide at least 6 hours of sunlight daily to your plants. Exposure to the sun makes the plant healthy and improve their resistance to pests and diseases.

Growing strawberries is rewarding when you get a fresh and organic bountiful harvest of this delicious fruit! But you can make your growing experience even better with companion plants as they directly benefit your yield, and you also get to harvest them as well! Here are some of the best Strawberry Companion Plants you can grow!

When you plant cucumbers in your garden do you wonder how many cucumbers per plant you can expect to harvest? I know I do because I want to make sure I’ve got enough to provide months of crunchy fruits, but not so many that we’re overwhelmed. Plus, I like to make a couple of batches of pickles each summer and that means I need a generous supply of pickling cucumbers. Below I look at the different types of cucumbers and how that impacts production as well as easy strategies you can use to maximize cucumber yield. 

If you want to grow the hottest pepper plants, rule number #1 is to grow them in hot conditions. Apart from that, there are some super easy tricks below, based on the experience ofhot chili growers that you should follow.

As an established soft-hearted person and gardener, I strive to love all creatures great and small. But Mexican bean beetles, Epilachna varivestis, put me to the test.These bugs and their larvae plague different types of bean plants