When to Plant Endive and Escarole

Honey bee Honey bees are important pollinators of vegetables, fruits, flowers and other plants. The honeybee is a beneficial insect. Attract honey bees to your garden by planting flowers high in nectar and pollen including asters, cosmos, calendula, snapdragons, zinnias, foxglove, sunflowers, mints, lavenders, borage, rosemary, Echinacea, and sages. Also provide a water source in

Harvest broccoli when the heads are green and firm and before the florets have begun to open. Broccoli heads are clusters of flowers. The florets are ready for harvest 10 to 13 weeks after sowing and plants produce buds for 6 to 8 weeks. When to Harvest Broccoli Time broccoli planting so harvest happens in

The secret to getting a good strawberry harvest in hot summer climates—where daytime temperatures are consistently greater than 85°F–is to have strawberries ready for picking in mid-winter, not in late spring or early summer as in cooler summer regions. Early spring is the traditional time to set out strawberries but where summers are hot, a

A soil test will tell you if the soil in your garden is rich or poor in minerals and nutrients/ Plants depend upon soil nutrients and moisture for growth. If the soil in your garden lacks nutrients, plants will grow poorly or die. The relative acidity or alkalinity affects how soil nutrients become available to

Cloche is a cover to protect plants from bad weather–made of glass or plastic. Cloches and hot caps can be used to protect individual plants or a few plants at a time. A cloche or hot cap used at the beginning or end of the growing season when there are big swings in the daytime

The plum standard is the Santa Rosa plum: that is the rich-tart purplish-crimson skinned plum with amber flesh that shades to dark red near the skin. The Casselman plum is an improved, late season Santa Rosa plum hybrid with a bright red skin and plenty of flavor. The Casselman is one of the so-called Japanese