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Common Terms for Seeds and What They Mean
It is easy to be confused by the many different common term for seeds used in seed catalogs, on gardening websites, and in gardening periodicals. An accurate understanding of common terms for seeds will help you to decide what qualities are important to you and, accordingly, which seeds you should purchase and grow in your […]
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Onions: Their Companions and Antagonists
Onions provide mild pest discouragement that may help many other vegetables, especially when other vegetables are planted sparsely among denser plantings of onions. Onions are antagonists to beans and peas; traditionally these plants are believed to stunt or negatively affect each others’ growth. GardenZeus expert Darren Butler has seemingly endless bits of gardening lore and […]
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GardenZeus Quick and Easy Guide to Carrot Varieties
Carrots are generally considered a cool-season crop, although some varieties of carrots may tolerate more heat than others. Carrots produce the highest-quality, most-tender roots in soil temperatures of about 60 to 70° F, and are generally considered a cool-season crop. Carrots prefer shade during afternoons when temperatures are consistently above 80° F, and roots may lose […]
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Preserving, Storing and Using Freshly Harvested Lettuce
Learn how to preserve, store and use your freshly harvested lettuce to make the most of your gardening efforts. Freshly picked, loose leaf lettuce is highly perishable and can be expected to last no longer than two to three days even under the optimal conditions of 32° F and high humidity. For this reason, GardenZeus […]
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GardenZeus Quick Tips: Problems and Non-Problems with Chard
Chard is a relatively easy vegetable that offers abundant yields, and is one of the most consistently productive greens during warm weather. A potentially long-lived biennial, especially in seasonally mild areas of California, some varieties of chard can be harvested continually for 1 to 2 years after reaching maturity and before bolting. Chard is grown […]
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GardenZeus Quick Tips: Growing Winter Zucchini in Mild California Areas
Zucchini is an annual, warm-season vegetable in the Cucurbitaceae family grown in most areas from spring through summer. Advanced gardeners who have had consistent success growing zucchini over summer can consider growing zucchini from late summer through to spring in warm winter areas without frost, such as along the Southern California coast. Zucchini but may […]
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GardenZeus Quick Tips: Pollination Issues with Zucchini and other Summer Squash
Summer squash, including zucchini, are monoecious, meaning that a single plant produces both male and female flowers. Pollination is critical for squash plants to produce fruit. It is normal for the first few blooms to fall off a squash plant. Early squash flowers are usually all male; no fruits will form from these flowers. If […]
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GardenZeus Quick Tips: Diagnosing Common Problems with Pole Bean
Blossom drop: Bean plants will drop blossoms due to low humidity, excessive smog or air pollution, dry soil or unevening water, wind, excessive soil nitrogen, daily or consistent high temperatures above 85°F, heat waves above 90°F, and cold and/or wet weather. Flowering without setting pods: This may be caused by poor pollination/lack of pollinators, zinc […]
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Using Headed Lettuce in a Sustainable Garden
You may have thought of looseleaf lettuce as an ideal addition to a sustainable garden. Broadcast a few seeds in the open areas of your garden, and looseleaf lettuce can fit in anywhere. And if you allow some lettuce plants to bolt or go to seed, your looselettuce can magically reappear the following season. But […]
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