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Thinning Plum Trees If you want to promote ample fruit set each year, thinning plum trees is imperative. There are three reasons for plum fruit thinning. The tree will bear larger, sweeter, and juicier plums if there are fewer on the tree maturing. Secondly, the enormous weight of too many ripening plums often causes the branches to crack, opening them up to silver leaf disease. Lastly, sometimes plum trees only fruit biennially instead of every year....

Tomato Bug and Insect Pests There are many pests of tomato plants – these are some of the most common. Aphids Common tomato pests, and pests of just about everything else (at least in my garden), are aphids. Aphids populate new stems and the undersides of leaves leaving sticky honeydew in their wake. They suck the nutrient-rich sap from the plant. The honeydew attracts other pesky insects. A strong stream of water can wash them off but it might damage the tomato....

How to Root Tomato Cuttings If you admire a neighbor’s lush tomato plant, starting tomato plants from cuttings is an excellent way to clone their plant and, hopefully, get the same vigorous result; just be polite and ask first before you snip from their prized plant. Rooting tomato cuttings is cost-saving as well. You can purchase a couple of plants and then root additional ones from the cuttings. The advantage of starting tomato cuttings in this manner is that it can take seedlings, from seed, six to eight weeks before they are of transplant size....

Even those of us that have been enjoying this pastime for years found ourselves on the front lines of the COVID gardening boom. An avid gardener myself, I learned a thing or two while gardening during a pandemic, trying my hand at growing something new too. You’re never too old (or young) to start a garden. As we finally approach the end of this taxing year and the quarantine gardens so many of us took part in, what gardening questions were asked most?...

Growing Coleus Under the Sea Plants Coleus is just one of a number of plants in the garden I love to grow. Not only are they easy to care for, but they are simply breathtaking foliage plants with so many color variations and forms that you just can’t go wrong in whichever you choose. Then there’s the Under the Sea™ coleus plants. Under the Sea coleus plants (Solestomeon scutellarioides) hail from Canada, where they were bred by students at Saskatchewan University....

What are Microclimates in Vegetable Gardens Microclimates are areas within your garden that vary in the amounts of sunlight, wind, and precipitation they receive. Microclimates in vegetables gardens can affect how plants grow and the amount of produce they yield. Learn to identify these areas, then select the correct microclimates for vegetables you wish to grow. Understanding the Veggie Microclimate Many features influence how much sunlight, precipitation, and wind reach the garden as well as how rainwater evaporates or drains from the soil....

What are Bamboo Shoots? Bamboo is in the grass family of plants and grows fairly easily and rapidly in a variety of zones. The canes are a traditional source of food, fiber, building material, and medicinal use. What are bamboo shoots? They are simply the newly sprouted canes that form just under the soil and have a firm, crisp texture. Bamboo grows from rhizomes, which are underground stems carrying the genetic material necessary for growth and featuring growth nodes which are sprouting points on the stem....

However, as honeybee populations increased in North America and they became recognized as an important agricultural tool, they were forced to compete for resources with 4,000 native bee species, such as mining bees. As human populations increased and advanced, all bee species began to struggle for habitat and food sources, not just in North America but worldwide. Keep reading for some additional mining bee info and learn more about these important ground dwelling bees....

What is Olive Oil? Olive oil is a liquid fat pressed from the fruit of olive trees, which are native to the Mediterranean. After the olives are picked and washed, they are crushed. Long ago, the olives were painstakingly crushed between two stones, but today, they are crushed automatically between steel blades. Once crushed, the resulting paste is macerated or stirred to release the precious oil. They are then spun in a centrifuge to separate the oil and water....

About Mulch for Strawberries Strawberry plants are mulched once or twice a year for two very important reasons. In climates with cold winters, mulch is heaped over strawberry plants in late fall or early winter to protect the plant’s root and crown from the cold and extreme temperature fluctuations. Chopped up straw is normally used to mulch strawberries. This mulch is then removed in early spring. After the plants have leafed out in spring, many farmers and gardeners choose to add another thin layer of fresh straw mulch under and around the plants....

Why Won’t My Nectarine Tree Fruit? The most obvious starting point is looking at the age of the tree. Most stone fruit trees don’t bear fruit until year two or three and, in fact, it’s a good idea to remove the fruit if they do to allow the tree to put all its energy into forming solid bearing branches for future crops. Since your tree is five years of age, this probably isn’t why the nectarine tree isn’t fruiting....

About Zone 8 Strawberries Strawberries can be grown as perennials in USDA zones 5-8 or as cool-season annuals in zones 9-10. Zone 8 stretches from parts of Florida and Georgia to areas of Texas and California and into the Pacific Northwest where annual temperatures rarely dip below 10 degrees F. (-12 C.). This means that growing strawberries in zone 8 allows for a longer growing season than in other regions. To the zone 8 gardener, this means larger crops with bigger, juicy berries....

About Sanchezia Plants Sanchezia (Sanchezia speciosa) is an evergreen perennial in the higher zones, though it may die back in zone 9 and return in spring. It is a semi-woody shrub with large, foot-long glossy leaves divided by thick colored veins. Flowers are bright red with orange bases and are carried on stems in long spikes. Technically, the flowers are modified leaves or bracts and have no reproductive organs. Sanchezia is native to Peru and Ecuador....

What is Ruellia? Ruellia flowers are 2 inch (5 cm.) long, funnel-shaped blooms growing on a perennial shrub. Originally native to Mexico, it is now found in the southwest United States, naturalized in many areas. Ruellia flowers from midspring through the first frosts of fall with purple or blue blooms (on occasion red or pink) on purple stems. The widely adaptable Ruellia brittoniana, also known as Mexican petunia, Mexican barrio, Mexican bluebell, and most commonly wild petunia, has an equally spreading habitat of about 3 feet (91 cm....

Fortunately, there are several suitable alternatives to peat moss. Read on to learn more about peat moss substitutes. Why Do We Need Peat Moss Alternatives? Peat moss is harvested from ancient bogs, and most peat used in the U.S. comes from Canada. Peat takes many centuries to develop, and it’s being removed much faster than it ever can be replaced. Peat serves many functions in its natural environment. It purifies water, prevents flooding, and absorbs carbon dioxide, but once harvested, peat contributes to the release of harmful carbon dioxide into the environment....

Anthuriums are often grown on a piece of lava rock or bark because they are epiphytic and produce long aerial roots to attach to surfaces. They are relatively disease- and pest-free but are fussy about humidity and moisture. A droopy anthurium could have water issues, lighting problems, or a rare case of blight. Find out the answers to why an anthurium with drooping leaves is doing poorly and save your tropical prized plant....

About Zebra Plants I’ve never been a big fan of Latin. Those long, difficult to pronounce binomials always trip up my tongue. I write them for gardeners who have an interest in such things and, yes, I admit I’ve spouted them off a few times to people who think gardeners are all overgrown children who like to play in the dirt, but the truth is, I prefer the more fanciful common names – until I run into something like zebra plants....

How to Grow Beehive Ginger This ginger variety can grow to over 6 feet (2 m.) in height with one foot long (31 cm.) leaves. Their bracts, or modified leaves which form a “flower,” are in the unique shape of a beehive and available in a number of colors from chocolate to golden and pink to red. These bracts arise from the ground rather than from amongst the foliage. The true flowers are insignificant white blooms located between the bracts....

Types of Blueberry Plants There are five major varieties of blueberry grown in the United States: lowbush, northern highbush, southern highbush, rabbiteye, and half-high. Of these, northern highbush blueberry varieties are the most common types of blueberries cultivated throughout the world. Highbush blueberry varieties are more disease resistant than other blueberry varieties. The highbush cultivars are self-fertile; however, cross-pollination by another cultivar ensures the production of larger berries. Choose another blueberry of the same type to ensure the highest yield and size....

What is a Boojum Tree? Boojum trees (Fouquieria columnaris) are native to the Baja California peninsula and parts of the Sonoran desert. The plants are part of rocky hillsides and alluvial plains where water is rare and temperatures may be extreme. What is a boojum tree? The “tree” is actually a striking succulent with an upright form and imposing columnar height. Southern gardeners in arid regions can grow a boojum tree outdoors, while the rest of us will have to content ourselves with greenhouse and interior specimens that will not reach the heights those wild plants can achieve....