This article originally appeared on The Garden Professors blog in September 2020. As summer winds down and the summer crops and flowers start to slow down many gardeners start thinking about saving seeds. Who doesn’t love saving seeds from that favorite tomato or beautiful coneflower? Not only do you have some for next year, but…
Author: John Porter
John Porter is the Urban Ag Program Coordinator for Nebraska Extension and Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, serving both as an extension educator and professor of urban agriculture. He specializes in urban agriculture and horticulture, especially in the areas of vegetable and fruit production for home gardens and urban farms and edible landscaping.
Virtual Learning Series: Vegetable Garden Basics
Join the GROBigRed team for our virtual learning series via Zoom. Sessions are Saturday mornings starting at 10am CT and we’ll cover two topics each week. Come prepared to learn and to ask questions – our experts will be standing by to answer your burning vegetable garden questions. Sessions are free and hosted via Zoom….
Hydroponics for the Holidays? Home Systems are a hot holiday gift list item
This article was originally published on the Garden Professors Blog on Nov 22, 2020. Check out that blog for more great articles from John Porter and extension colleagues from across the country. Systems to grow fresh produce in your home using hydroponics or other automatic processes have been popular for several years but seem to…
Virtual Learning Series Sessions and Recordings
Over the past several weeks and for the next several weeks, we’ve been sharing gardening knowledge through the GROBigRed Virtual Learning Series live zoom sessions with our colleagues across the state. Each session consists of a short expert presentation and time to ask questions and discuss what’s going on in the garden. The expert presentation…
Is COVID-19 an issue on homegrown or purchased produce?
This post was originally published on The Garden Professors blog in May 2020. Now that much of the world’s attention is focused on limiting the spread of pathogens, well one pathogen, it seems like a good time to talk about some of the questions or concerns we’ve seen regarding vegetable gardens, community gardens, and farmers…
When Good Seeds Go Bad: How long can you store seeds?
Spring is just around the corner, gardeners! I’m ready to get seeds started…though that bring lots of work getting ready for the thousands of plants we’ll start for our variety trials this year. If you’re getting ready to start seeds you’ve saved from previous years, you might want to give this article a read. It…
To Fertilize or Not to Fertilize: That is the Question
You see a bright shiny package at the garden center saying that it can help you have the most bountiful garden ever, the greenest lawn in the neighborhood, your plants will have miraculous growth, or it will supply every element on earth to make sure that your plants are living their best life. It’s got…
Flooded Vegetable Garden Sites and Food Safety Considerations
The devastating, historic floods in Nebraska and Iowa will leave their mark on the region for many years to come. Loss of life, homes, livelihoods, and infrastructure are of major concern, but many people who rely on their gardens or vegetable plots for food or income may also have some concerns for the upcoming growing…
Growing Food Indoors? Sure!
As we celebrate National Indoor Plant Week, my question turns to can we grow food indoors? The answer is emphatically, yes! Perhaps the simplest option for indoor food production would be to grow some container plants that would work well. Crops like lettuce, arugula, and some of the other leafy greens have lower light requirements…
Last Hurrah! – Fall Veggie Gardening
Most people think that the only time to plant a vegetable garden is May. Those people are sorely mistaken. One of the most productive seasons in the garden is fall, and even early winter.