San Marzano Tomato Paste tomatoes have a meaty texture and concentrated flavor. They are also known as “sauce,” “pear,” “plum,” “saladette,” “Roma,” and “Italian.” Use paste tomatoes for cooking sauces, juicing, drying, or eating fresh sliced in salads or on the side. Paste tomatoes come in a variety sizes—from an inch or two long to
Growing Organic Potatoes: Start potatoes from “seed” potatoes—which are not actually seeds, but small potatoes or pieces of potatoes. Potatoes are easy to grow organically. Plant potatoes in spring raised beds or mounded beds after the soil warms and dries out. Plant potatoes where they will grow in full sun. To prepare potato planting beds
Blueberries are easy to grow in a home garden and yield abundant sweet, delicious, and colorful berries. Plant blueberries in compost-rich soil that is well-draining. Blueberries like acidic soil with a pH between 4.5 and 4.8. Lots of organic compost should make the soil just right, but you can add pelletized sulfur to the soil
1. Peppers prefer deep, aged-compost–rich soil. If your soil is heavy with clay, grow peppers in a raised bed, adding loam and sand. 2. Growing peppers in your native soil: add at least 2 inches of aged compost across the planting bed and sprinkle with 5-10-10 organic fertilizer, then turn the soil to at least
Eggplant seedlings When nighttime temperatures are consistently warner than 60°F it will be time to plant tender crops such as eggplant, melons, squash, and zucchini. Prepare the planting spots these crops by for digging holes 12 inches square, 12 inches deep, and 3 feet apart. Add a forkful of well-rotted compost or manure to
Earwig Earwigs are reddish brown with short leathery forewings and a pair of pincers or forceps at the end of the abdomen. Earwigs are about ¾ inch long. They are mostly nocturnal. Earwigs eat seedlings and the tender tips of plants, but they also eat decaying matter and pest insects including aphids and mites. In
Spider mites on web Spider mites are nearly microscopic creatures about 1/50 inch long. They are reddish brown or pale in color with eight legs, much like a spider. The spider mite is not an insect; it is an arachnid, the class of invertebrate animals that includes spiders. Mites are the smallest creatures that you
Adult squash bug Adult squash bugs are flat-backed, shield-shaped, brownish-black insects with a triangle shape on the back. Young squash bugs are greenish grey with reddish legs. Squash bugs are ½ to ¾ inches long. Adult and young squash bugs suck the juices from leaves causing leaves to wilt, dry up, and turn brown. Squash
Adult Colorado beetles Adult Colorado potato beetles are oval with hard convex yellowish-white wing covers marked with lengthwise black stripes. Adults are about ⅓ inch long. Larvae are humpbacked grubs reddish to salmon-colored with black heads and two rows of black spots along both sides of the body. Adults and grubs chew on the leaves
Imported cabbageworms The adult imported cabbageworm is a white day-flying butterfly with one to four black spots on its wings and a wingspan of 1½ to 2 inches. The cabbageworm larvae are 1¼ inch velvety, light-green caterpillars with a fine yellow stripe down the back. Imported cabbageworm larvae chew ragged holes in the foliage of
