Twisting, curling, and cupping of leaves are often symptomatic of herbicide damage on vegetable plants. The culprits that most readily cause this type of damage include 2,4-D (used to kill broadleaf weeds in lawns and pastures), dicamba (lawn and crop broadleaf weeds) and picloram (pasture broadleaf weeds). These herbicides are plant growth regulators, killing weeds…
Category: Edible Landscaping
5 Things to Know When Choosing a Spot for Your Vegetable Garden
Choosing the right place for your vegetable garden is an important first step in making gardening fun and productive. Here are 5 simple things you can do when selecting a site. 1) Vegetable gardens should be planted in full sun, but what exactly is “full sun”? To be productive, vegetable gardens should receive 7 or…
Weed Appreciation Day—In Praise of Dandelions
Weed Appreciation Day is March 28 and in recognition of this important day, I’m writing about the common dandelion. The dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, is a cool season perennial, having some of the first leaves to develop in early spring. Leaves can be used in salads and are high in potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium and vitamins…
A Happy Plant “Volunteer”—the Nanking Cherry
Nebraska Extension Master Gardeners are individuals who are passionate about gardening and sharing research-proven solutions. Potential volunteers apply and go through an interview to be selected as an intern. They will receive over 48 hours of initial education from experts in soils, botany, landscape design and more and give back 40 hours of volunteer service…
Gardeners Beware: Watering Tools
Recently I purchased a gardening wand for watering my garden and container plants. In tiny lettering along the length of the wand are these words “Note: The brass in this product contains lead. Warning: This product contains one or more chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other…
GRO Big Red Garden Podcast EP 10: Creating Edible Landscapes
Today’s podcast is all about how to make your landscape delicious!
Ooks! Cukes!
Have you ever been picking cucumbers and you find this massive yellow cuke that looks inedible and is a candidate for going straight into the compost pile? Then you wonder, “How in the world did I miss this the first time!” One easy way around this dilemma is trellising your cucumbers. It is, after all,…
Fall Seed Starting—Enlist the Help of a Board!
Now is the time to plant your fall vegetable crops. Seeds of lettuce, spinach, carrots, peas, beets, kale, and radishes are some of the options. With daytime temperatures in the 80’s, however, it can be tough keeping the seeds evenly moist so they can germinate. A simple and low-cost way to remedy this is with…
Leaf Lettuce
Summer was hard on our vegetable gardens this year. Two major storms in June followed by searing heat in July. My plants are tired and have slowed down producing. Its time to think about lettuce. Lettuce a cool season crop and what better way to end the summer by planting a few rows. There are…
High Temperatures Affect Tomato Production
With the week’s high temperatures, watch for tomato fruit set to be delayed. This is because pollen dies when temperatures reach 85 degrees F. or higher. Dead pollen means flowers don’t get pollinated and unfertilized flowers will fall to the ground, resulting in reduced production. Gardeners often want to know if hand pollination will help…