“The apple tree has been cherished by humans for untold millennia and we have carried this tree with us to every corner of the globe. As a result there are approximately 7,500 different named cultivars of this beloved fruit tree. An ancient hybrid, the domestic apple originated by natural cross-pollination between Malus sieversii, M. sylvestris, and other wild apple species in Asia Minor. With genes
Read more →“Varieties of the red raspberry, Rubus idaeus, have berries that range in color from red to orange or yellow. The black raspberry is a different species, Rubus occidentalis, with deep black berries and a distinctive flavor profile. Purple raspberries are hybrids between the red and the black.” Excerpted from “What’s Wrong With My Fruit Garden?” by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth. Timber Press, December, 2013.
Read more →“When fully ripe a gentle tug will pull the blackberry fruit from the plant. If it doesn’t come away from the plant easily it isn’t ripe yet. Ripe fruit is rather soft and will stain your fingers purple.” Excerpted from “What’s Wrong With My Fruit Garden?” by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth. Timber Press, December, 2013. Click here to pre-order your copy of the book.
Read more →It’s August and everybody’s vegetable gardens crank out delicious organic food. Yum-oh! But sometimes gardeners find holes in the middle of the leaves of their vegetable crops. Large holes. Many of them. Who’s the culprit? Caterpillars? Grasshoppers? Beetles? Or maybe snails! Snails and slugs both glide through your garden on a ribbon of slime, the shiny, sparkly stuff the snail in the photo above is
Read more →True bugs. Forewings cover half of the abdomen (aka backs) of true bugs. They are in the order Hemiptera, which means half wing. Many other insects are often called bugs, the lady bug for example, which is actually a beetle (a lady beetle). But the only actual bugs are insects in the order Hemiptera. All of the true bugs have piercing-sucking mouthparts like hypodermic needles.
Read more →Most of these “bugs” have mouthparts like a hypodermic needle. They stick their needle-like mouth parts into the veins of plants and suck out the nutrient rich sap. As their populations build they can seriously impact the energy budget of your vegetable plants and limit your crops. Also, just like a mosquito sucking the blood from your arm to give you malaria, these insects can
Read more →On a tour of secret gardens in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kathryn and I peek behind adobe walls for tantalizing glimpses of hidden treasures. Organized by the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens, the tour provides access to several small urban gardens not normally visible to passersby. A beautifully sophisticated yet rustic fence made of reddish twigs defines the boundary between the garden and the natural environment
Read more →Our book “What’s Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?)” has just been reviewed by Dominique Browning at the New York Times, May 27, 2010. And it’s a really good review too. Her topic for the reviews is “Gardening Books.” She reviews several good gardening books and our book is among them. Here’s what she has to say: “Many gardeners find it
Read more →Garden Art means different things to different people. In the vegetable garden it can take the form of a screen to mask the compost bin, or a painting on the side of the tool shed. Some of us – and by us I mean gardeners – take care to lay out our herb gardens to create patterns that please the eye. Then we add decorative
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