Pest Alert: Watch Out for Zimmerman Pine Moth

Crispy lettuce greens are a must-have in salads, you can even grow them in pots easily. Lettuce leaves are healthy for human as they’re 90 percent water, low in calories and rich in fiber. But the more relevant question is whether you can include this leafy green in your dog’s diet?Is lettuce safe for dogs? Can dogs eat lettuce?

What would us gardeners do without dahlias? If your garden needs more colour in summer: plant some dahlias. If it needs more colour in autumn: plant some dahlias. If it needs some tall plants to make the back of the garden more colourful: plant some dahlias. If you’re looking for some easy cut flowers to grow that come back year after year: plant some dahlias. If there’s a colour missing in your garden (except blue!): there’s a dahlia for it.

If you’ve never heard of Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea), you probably don’t live in the tropics off the coast of Mexico or the American Southeast. In these locations, the Caribbean pine is known as an important timber tree and a useful tree to combat erosion. If you are interested in learning something about this tall, fast-growing conifer, read on.

The Best Pine Trees: 41 Noteworthy Varieties

Many gardeners adore the tasty pods and numerous culinary applications of okra, a warm-season vegetable. However, like all plants, okra can benefit from the presence of other plants in the garden. In this article, we will explore some of the Best Companion Plants for Okra.

Header image: Virgin Galactic’s Carrier Aircraft VMS Eve and VSS Unity Take to the Skies (Virgin Galactic)

A standard mission to the International Space Station is six months long. About nine months before launch, each astronaut tastes the 200 or so items on NASA’s space menu and chooses what they want to be sent into space for them. Nutritionists weigh in to make sure they get the nutrients they need, and astronauts can take some ‘bonus’ treats with them. These can be off-the-shelf foods, and astronauts from different nationalities often have special space meals prepared for them. (Tim Peake got a bacon sandwich, beef stew with truffles and sausages and mash, courtesy of Heston Blumenthal.)

Hope Johnson, Queensland University of Technology

Header image: One of the Vanguard satellites being checked out at Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1958. NASA

Header image: George Frey/EPA

Continuing my research into which of NASA’s African American astronauts are space gardeners, I turned my attention to the second name on the (alphabetical) list: Guion Stewart Bluford Jr.

…a team of researchers led by Dr Mike Dixon, director of the Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility (CESRF) at the University of Guelph, sent several thousand barley seeds to the International Space Station (ISS).