Tomatoes and Companion Planting: Traditional Pairings and Other Suggestions
GardenZeus receives commissions for purchases made through links in this post. These commissions are earned without additional cost to you. GardenZeus expert Darren Butler has found tomatoes generally to be unfussy companions for many other garden vegetables. Most varieties don’t need insects for pollination, so planting fragrant herbs and flowers to attract pollinators is less […]
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Container Tomatoes: Variety Recommendations and Growing Needs
GardenZeus receives commissions for purchases made through links in this post. These commissions are earned without additional cost to you. Tomatoes can make excellent container plants, provided that a few important criteria are met. Choice of Type and Variety. Most cherry tomato varieties that are otherwise suited to your growing conditions will produce abundantly in […]
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Focus on Varieties: Paste Tomatoes
What is a paste tomato, also called “plum” or “sauce” tomato? These varieties are generally cylindrical in shape, and are the best suited of all tomatoes for cooking and preserving because their fruits produce fewer seed cavities and seeds, and have both lower water content and higher proportion of solid flesh than other tomatoes, which makes […]
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Pole Beans and Soil: pH, Fertility,Types and Textures
For best germination, health, and yields, beans require reasonable soil fertility, good soil structure with moderate organic matter, moist soil with good drainage, low salinity, and slight-to-moderate acidity, ideally with pH levels between 6.0 and 6.5. Beans can thrive in a range of soil types and textures; some types tolerate slight-to-moderate alkalinity up to a […]
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Eggplant Varieties: A Guide to Their Growing Characteristics and Uses
Stroll into a standard American supermarket and you might think that all eggplants are dark purple bell-shapes. Not so! Eggplant varieties are available in a range of shapes, colors, sizes and flavors, from the common bell-shaped variety to long, tender Asian varieties, to small round green or orange specialty varieties. To select your eggplant variety, […]
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Focus on Varieties: Zucchini Baby Round
GardenZeus receives commissions for purchases made through links in this post. There is no additional cost to you. Zucchini is a relatively easy vegetable that produces early and abundant yields, which make it a good choice for beginning gardeners. Those gardeners who have previous success with zucchini may want to experiment by trying an unusual […]
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Watering Sunflowers for Maximum Seed Production
When watered correctly, sunflowers can be drought tolerant and productive. Here are our tips: Watering Sunflowers. With larger seeds, newly planted sunflower seeds can imbibe more water than other types of vegetable seeds, making them susceptible to rotting in wet soils. Sunflower seeds should be planted into pre-irrigated soil, and only watered when the soil […]
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Cucumber Variety Recommendations: A GardenZeus Guide
Choosing varieties of cucumbers can be a bit overwhelming, at least until you know what characteristics are important to you. To guide you through the process and for information about the different types of garden cucumbers, see these articles in our special series “Getting to Know Cucumbers:” Part 1: Two Basic Cucumber Decisions: Slicers Versus Picklers, […]
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Watering Corn in the Home Garden
Knowing exactly how much to water corn can be more difficult than with other vegetables; curling leaves are not necessarily signal a need for more water and some varieties should be dry on the stalk at harvest. Corn requires consistent, sufficient moisture in well-drained soil, especially during seedling growth, during the critical pollination period […]
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