You won’t find these at the grocery store! These rare vegetables and fruits are hard to come by unless you grow them yourself. Out of the thousands of options of edibles out there, here are a handful of my favourites.
Radish pods
When it comes to the grocery store, produce isn’t selected for its flavour. Fruits and vegetables are chosen based on their size and ability to travel and store well. For instance, you know and recognize orange carrots. But if I grow them, I will grow the red heirloom varieties for their sweeter flavour.
Or tomatoes. The heirloom varieties ripened on the sun have THE best flavour, and those in the grocery store aren’t even close to competing.
Yes, these rare vegetables you can only grow don’t ship or store well. It’s why you won’t see them at the grocery store. But if you don’t grow them yourself, you may never get to taste their splendour.
There are an estimated quarter of a million plants we can use for agricultural purposes. So, of course, I’m only going to name a handful. Use this list of rare vegetables and fruits as a jumping-off point for your own edible garden.
Golden raspberries
The Need for Agricultural Diversity
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations estimates that we use only 3% of the quarter of a million plants available for agricultural use. Even further, ¾ of the world’s food supply relies on just 12 mega crops, including rice, wheat, and maize.
While our food system is highly productive, it’s extremely fragile. Take a look at bananas, for example. During the later half of the 19th century, the most popular variety of bananas was Gros Michel, known for its taste and resistance to bruising.
However, during the 1950s, a disease known as Panama Disease (banana wilt) swept through and destroyed commercial production of the banana. This forced producers to switch to a new disease-resistant variety, Cavendish. Which now accounts for approximately 47% of the global banana production and could be wiped out by another train of the banana wilt.
Another well-known example is the Great Famine in Ireland. One-third of Ireland’s population relied on potatoes for food, and potato blight infected most crops. An estimated 1 million people died as a direct result, either due to disease or hunger.
We become increasingly vulnerable by focusing on only a few highly productive crops. Climate change makes extreme droughts, flooding, varying temperatures, and disease outbreaks more common, and diversity is the best way to become resilient.
Nettle is actually a super green, but most consider it a weed.
Rare Vegetables and Fruits to Grow at Home
These unusual vegetables and plants are hard to come by, even at a garden centre in some cases. Oftentimes, you can get them from another gardener. Community gardens are great places to share plants!
Sunchokes
Also known as Jerusalem artichokes, these are edible tubers that can be cooked and eaten like a potato. Above ground, they sprout very tall, sunflower-like flowers. They can get up to 5-10 feet tall.
The tubers are very prolific, coming back year after year, even when you think you’ve harvested all of them. They’re very low maintenance.
They have a slightly nutty flavour and should only be eaten in controlled amounts due to causing gas and bloating.
Harvest sunchokes in the fall.
Radish Pods
While radishes may be a very popular vegetable, their seed pods are a lesser-known way of enjoying the vegetable. I came to know radish pods after volunteering at UBC to teach inner-city kids about gardening. Their gardens would be left alone in the summer, meaning the radishes would go unharvested and go to seed.
The radish pods have a slightly spicy taste and an appearance similar to edamame. You can eat them raw like a snap pea or include them in stir-fries, soups, or salads.
Rhubarb
Yes, you can technically get rhubarb at the grocery store. But most people don’t since it’s not the typical kind of plant you seek out. Instead, you usually have a plant in your backyard, or you’re gifted some rhubarb…and realize you’ve got to do something with it!
But I highly recommend we start making rhubarb more mainstream. It’s very prolific, it’s easy to grow, and it’s a perennial.
This article idea all began with Egyptian walking onions since you can’t really buy them. I inherited my own from a community garden. And once you have them, you’re set.
They get their name from the unusual way they grow. The flowers that bloom at the top of the flower turn into tiny bulbs known as aerial bulbils. As the plant gets heavier, they droop down until the tiny bulbs hit the ground. They plant themselves, slowly walking around the garden.
Ground Cherries
Ground cherries grow low to the ground, with plenty of dark green leaves and small yellow flowers that turn into golden, cherry-sized fruit.
Their taste is similar to tomatillos, with a hint of pineapple flavour. And unlike some other unusual vegetables on this list, they last in their paper husks for up to 3 months. They have built-in storage with their paper husks.
All plants, including ground cherries, in the Physalis genus have papery husks known as calyx.
Luffa Gourds
There’s a chance you’ve had a luffa gourd in your house and didn’t know it. These exotic vegetables are actually most commonly used as an organic shower loofah, but they’re also edible.
They grow on very vigorous vines. When young and tender, you can eat them, and they taste like summer squash. When left to mature on the vibe, they turn fibrous and can dry into these natural shower loofahs.
Tayberry
Tayberries are a cross between raspberries and blackberries. When perfectly ripe, they have a very sweet flavour, but you have to get the timing right, or they’re quite sour.
These berries will turn to mush and fall apart very soon after you pick them. They’re best eaten straight from the vine and won’t ripen anymore once picked.
But in the end, I personally think they’re tastier than both raspberries and blackberries!
These berries take longer to ripen and need to be a bit squishy so they’re not too sour.
Cucamelons
You might know these little green fruits as mouse melons or Mexican sour gherkins. These were a common fruit eaten by the Aztec people and have lost popularity over the years. But they look like little grape-sized watermelons!
Cucamelons taste almost like a citrusy cucumber. I like to pickle them or toss them into salads. Or popped straight from the vine and into my mouth.
Eat a cucamelon in its entirety, popping the skin, seed, and fruit in your mouth.
Honourable Mentions
As I’ve mentioned, I could add many rare vegetables and other edibles to the list. Here are a few unusual vegetables and plants that are worth mentioning:
Fuki is the (transliterated) Japanese name for the perennial plant butterbur. In Japan, fuki no to, the aromatic buds of butterbur, are a delicacy and a herald of spring, which is still weeks away when they emerge from the cold ground. Butterburs belong to the genus Petasites, and North America is home to a cold-hardy native species as well as introduced butterburs, which are valued as ornamentals in gardens. Their parasol-wide leaves are awe-inspiring, as they broaden in summer. The midribs of fuki leaves are also eaten in Japan, and were a traditional food for Native Americans. All edible parts of the plant are specially treated before consumption. Fuki comes with caveats.
Celebrate winter’s demise with a bite of fuki tempura or miso, and learn more about this plant-of-many-names.
Fuki, butterbur, sweet coltsfoot, Arctic coltsfoot, Arctic butterbur, pestilence wort. These common names are used close to interchangeably, depending on the person, place, species, and variety of Petasites. Japanese butterbur is Petasites japonicus, and its chartreuse-shaded buds break ground many weeks before the vernal equinox in the Northeast, where it is mildly invasive. Its buds appear when cornelian cherry, hellebores, fragrant honeysuckle, and witch hazel bloom. It is native to East Asia and is hardy from USDA zones 5-9. While Japanese butterbur is known as a good plant for problem places, this has led unintentionally to some environmental issues: Petasites in general can be aggressive colonizers and have a high tolerance for moist spots. Butterburs spread via creeping rhizomes, and their wide, leafy canopies create a super-shade where other plants cannot grow.
[galley_caption]Above: Artist Justice Wolf of Little Creek Ink, standing beneath mature fuki leaves.[/galley_caption]
The densely budded but diminutive flower buds of Japanese butterbur give way to leaves that are otherworldly in scale, like a botanical throwback to dinosaur times. A mature plant can stand over six feet tall, with foliage that instantly shrinks the human standing beneath the statuesque stems.
Above: Petasites hybridus has burgundy buds.
A burgundy-flowered butterbur, Petasites hybridus, is native to Europe and parts of Asia. It enjoys a common name (among many others) that inadvertently captures two sides of a botanical argument: Pestilence wort. You could read that as referring to an environmental threat, or to its extensive use as a folk medicine. (It has been studied in the treatment of migraines.) Of these two species, Japanese butterbur is considered more problematic in terms of habitat-alteration.
In British Columbia, forager Matt McAllister collects the buds of Petasites frigidus for market.
This native North American butterbur comprises four different varieties, occurring from northern California through the Pacific Northwest, Canada and Alaska, into the Arctic, and across the continent, to the Atlantic coast. It, too, likes wet growing conditions (stream banks, ditches, low ground), and has a long history of use as food by Native Americans nations (Moerman, 1998), who collected buds, leaf petioles (stalks), and young leaves.
Above: A Hudson Valley collection of early, mostly invasive, spring edibles, including Japanese butterbur.
Carol in Hendersonville, North Carolina, is sharing some beauties from her winter garden with us today:
The winter garden is dearly appreciated. Honeybees emerge for the snowdrops (Galanthusspp., Zone 3 – 8) and hellebores (Helleborushybrids, Zone 4 – 9).Cyclamen coum (Zone 5 – 9) is in flower. Cyclamen hederifolium (Zone 4 – 9) foliage makes an attractive ground cover for this time of year.
Collected flowers from different hybrid hellebores placed in a Limoges china dish, so that the “faces” are easy to see and enjoy.
Galanthus ‘Cowhouse Green’ as a delicate green hue to the outer petals (technically called tepals). This variety was found in the 1980s by Mark Brown in Buckinghamshire, England.
The foliage of Cyclamenhederifolium emerges in the fall and looks beautiful all winter before going dormant again in the spring. Every plant has slightly different patterns on the leaves.
‘Diggory’ is a snowdrop variety with beautiful showy petals that seem to almost puff up as the flowers open.
Leucojumvernum (Zone 4 – 8) looks similar to snowdrops, and bloom nearly as early, but have six broad petals tipped with green of the same size, rather than the three large outer petals and three small inner ones of the snowdrops.
‘Pagoda’ has bold green spots on the outer petals giving it a distinctive and unusual look.
‘Trumps’ is another variety with green markings, and is much loved because it is a very vigorous variety, rapidly clumping up and multiplying in the garden.
A flower of winter-bloomingCyclamencoum, mixed with some foliage of Cyclamenhederifolium, which blooms in the fall.
A “yellow” snowdrop – still mostly white, but with yellow-ish ovaries and markings on the petals, with a hellebore blooming behind.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Hey there, plant and health enthusiasts! Have you ever thought that the secret to managing your blood pressure might just be sitting in your kitchen? Yes, we’re talking about tomatoes!
PinPhoto Credit: SS @plantcaretoday
A recent study has brought to light some fascinating findings about these red wonders and their impact on blood pressure, especially for those at high cardiovascular risk. Let’s dive into what this study is all about and why it might be time to start seeing tomatoes in a whole new light.
The Heart of the Matter
The study, conducted by a team of researchers led by David Murcia-Lesmes and colleagues from Spain, aimed to uncover the relationship between tomato consumption and blood pressure among older adults at high cardiovascular risk.
With heart-related issues being a major concern worldwide, finding natural ways to manage them is more important than ever.
Tips On Tomato Growing
How Was It Done?
The research was part of the PREDIMED trial and involved over 7,000 participants, most of whom were already dealing with high blood pressure.
By using food frequency questionnaires, the team was able to categorize participants based on their tomato consumption levels: from those who rarely touched a tomato to those who consumed more than 110 grams per day (that’s about one large tomato or a couple of smaller ones).
What Did They Find?
The findings were quite promising! Participants who indulged in tomatoes regularly showed a noticeable decrease in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number in a blood pressure reading).
Specifically, those who ate more than 110 grams of tomatoes daily had a 36% lower risk of developing hypertension compared to those who consumed less. It seems that not only can tomatoes add a burst of flavor to your meals, but they might also keep your heart ticking more smoothly.
Why Tomatoes?
You might wonder what’s so special about tomatoes. Well, these juicy fruits are packed with lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, along with other heart-friendly nutrients. These components are thought to help relax blood vessels, reduce inflammation, and improve overall heart health.
PinPhoto Credit: AI @plantcaretoday
A Spoonful of Caution
While the study’s results are indeed exciting, it’s important to remember that they don’t suggest tomatoes are a cure-all for high blood pressure or cardiovascular diseases. A balanced diet, regular exercise, and following your healthcare provider’s advice are still your best bets for a healthy heart.
The Takeaway
So, next time you’re at the grocery store, you might want to throw a few extra tomatoes into your cart. Whether you enjoy them fresh in salads, cooked in sauces, or as part of a hearty stew, these versatile fruits could be a simple yet effective way to support your cardiovascular health.
Remember, it’s the small changes in our daily habits that can lead to significant health benefits over time. Let’s make those tomatoes count!
Isn’t it amazing how nature provides us with such powerful tools for our health? Keep loving those plants, and they’ll love you right back!
Just about the only thing uniting the diverse and extraordinary group of plants known as bromeliads is that they all hail from the same family, the Bromeliaceae.
Their diverse array of forms allow them to occupy an equally diverse number of habitats.
It also means they each need to be watered a little differently, depending on their physical characteristics and the substrate they are growing in.
Some types are terrestrial, and grow straight out of the ground, others are epiphytic, meaning they make their homes up in the branches of trees. Still others grow on shifting sand dunes, or plain old bare rock.
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This group of plants come from tropical South America by and large, though there are a few exceptions.
Their long, strap-shaped leaves are spirally arranged in one beautiful whorl, making a sort of tuft. The bracts surrounding their flowers are typically very brightly colored in hues of pink, red, yellow, and orange.
Many bromeliads lack extensive root systems and have evolved various mechanisms for collecting water via their leaves.
Numerous species can collect water in their leaf bases, which form a sort of pool or cup. Others, such as the air plants (Tillandsia spp.), absorb moisture straight out of the air.
Read on to find out how to appease these tropical novelties and keep them hydrated. Here’s what we’ll cover:
How Much Water Do Bromeliads Need?
When trying to figure out how much water any kind of plant requires to thrive, it’s handy to know where it comes from.
Whether you’re aiming to emulate a monsoon season, constant wet weather, or the searing heat of a desert, keeping a plant’s native habitat in mind will help you take care of it properly.
Having said that, there are hundreds of different types hailing from a variety of different habitats! Research which one you want to grow and learn about the climate it comes from.
Here we’ll break down the most common types of bromeliads according to how they store and absorb moisture.
Note that there is some overlap between these types, so this is a broad grouping based on their watering needs.
Air Plants
Air plants are fun little novelties you can find at any nursery with a good indoor tropical section.
Mostly grouped in the Tillandsia genus, these plants look like some kind of terrestrial octopus or squid.
Lacking extensive root systems, the species within this genus sport specialized cells on their leaves that rapidly absorb water and nutrients straight out of the air.
To make your air plant happy, water it less than you think you might need to.
It’s very good at extracting what it needs from the air and whatever water you give it. Keeping it in a well-ventilated spot next to a diffusely-lit, warm, bright window will make it happy.
To hydrate it properly, dunk it in a glass of water for a few seconds once or twice a week.
It’s best to use rainwater if you can, as tap water often contains high levels of minerals which can crystallize on the plant’s leaves and interfere with nutrient uptake.
If you don’t have a way to collect rainwater, bottled water works too.
Always allow air plants to fully dry out between waterings. Make sure each plant is tilted at an angle so liquid doesn’t pool in the plant’s rosette. This could cause rot.
If your Tillandsia lives in a warm, sunny locale, it may need more frequent watering. If it’s shadier and cooler, perhaps provide a little less.
After a few waterings you’ll start to be able to judge the plant’s weight and learn when to water based on its heft.
Epiphytes
The literal translation of the Greek derived word “epiphyte” is “upon a plant.” And that’s exactly what these types of bromeliads do: they grow, quite happily, on other plants.
The roots of these plants are stunted, wiry, and tough. They’re quite similar in form to those of the air plants but grow into and onto substrate that’s a little different.
Technically, some air plants can be classified as epiphytes too, but for the purpose of this guide, we will group these two types of plants separately, according to the general differences in their roots, leaves, and preferred growing substrate.
Some epiphytes live in accumulated debris in the crevices of tree trunks, while others stick on to bare branches.
The roots of these ingenious plants serve as anchors, gluing them onto their arboreal scaffolding, but they also serve as rain catchers.
Just as the air plant’s leaves contain specialized, absorbent cells designed to capture water, so do the aerial roots of epiphytic bromeliads.
Epiphytes can absorb some of the moisture in the air via their leaves too, so misting is great for these plants, particularly if the air in your home is on the dry side. If the humidity in your house is sufficient, however, they may not need it.
Finding the right amount of misting for your plant can be tricky as constantly wet leaves can invite fungal disease.
Focus first on watering the substrate and treat misting as an occasional add on. Try misting one to two times a week and if any discolored leaf spots, or white patches on the soil pop up, discontinue this practice.
If your specimen is planted in a pot, it’s likely in soil that drains very quickly and efficiently, like cactus soil, or potting mix combined with lots of bark pieces, sand, or gravel.
If you’re watering a container, do so only when the top two inches of the soil is dry, and apply generously until the excess comes out of the bottom of the pot.
Epiphytic bromeliads have reservoirs, or cups at the base of their leaves. Fill these up while watering – if possible, empty the reservoir first by carefully tipping the water out.
Watch for signs of underwatering such as wilting leaves, or crispy, browned leaf edges. If you see that happening, make sure you’re watering enough once the top of the soil dries out.
As a general rule, water until the substrate is moist throughout. See if your plant perks up with a little misting, too.
Healthy, turgid, vibrantly green leaves mean your plant is happy and adequately watered!
Some of the most frequently cultivated bromeliads belong in this group.
Species in the Aechema genus, for example, are popular bromeliads that grow in the ground in their native range of South and Central America.
Bromeliads that grow in the ground are also referred to as terrestrial bromeliads.
Like their epiphytic cousins, terrestrial bromeliads are good at catching water at the base of the rosette, where their leaves come together in a cup-shaped whorl.
Filling and refilling this cup is key to watering success for this group.
Ground bromeliads do best when grown in freely draining soils. Allow the top inch or two to dry out completely in between waterings, then thoroughly soak the soil until liquid runs out of the bottom of the pot.
In an average home environment, you might have to water once a week or so during spring and summer. In winter, while your bromeliad isn’t actively growing, you can reduce this to once every other week.
While watering, fill your plant’s rosette cup.
The saxicolous bromeliads, or bromeliads that grow on rock or sand, are often lumped into the same category.
Although they can be grown in a pot in freely draining substrate, they can also be grown on a piece of bark or rock.
These bromeliads can be watered the same way as the terrestrial bromeliads, although they will benefit from regular misting, too.
As always, do your research and identify what it is that you’re growing if you want to take care of it well!
Happy Bromeliads
Although these tropical novelties are a little different than your typical houseplants when it comes to watering, they’re not as high maintenance as you might think.
Remember to let them dry out between waterings and to not skimp on the hydration once its time.
These plants prefer warm, well-ventilated environments on the humid side, so depending on where your house falls on that spectrum, you may need to water a little more or a little less.
Keep observing, and watch your plants for signs of too little or not enough moisture, like crisp leaf margins.
Are you already growing bromeliads in your collection? What kind do you have? How frequently do you water?
Fill us in! Comments are always welcome. And if you have any questions, ask away. We are always happy to help.
We are big admirers of Molly Sedlacek, a self-described “second generation female landscape designer from the central coast of Oregon.” (You can find our coverage of her projects here, here, and here.) As the founder of ORCA, she wants to “help reconnect humans with nature through plants and materials in their rawest form. My work bridges the places I find most inspiring: the Pacific Northwest in Oregon and West Marin in California.”
For our inaugural Quick Takes column, we asked Molly about plants, pavers, and her personal preferences about just everything.
Above: Molly has a background in organic textiles, where she “found a love for using materials that the earth provides us to create spaces that bring us tranquility.”
Your first garden memory:
Under the large maple tree in my parent’s front garden in Florence, OR. I am laying in the grass looking up, moving my head to allow the leaves to shade the sun as the light filters through. There is a smell of grass below me and the sound of blue jays above me. I revisit that tree, and lay under it, every time I am home.
Book/show/movie/art that has influenced your work:
Dwellings, a book from the ’70s my father gave me. The conversations are around building with the materials in proximity to us, and creating space through resourcefulness.
A quote from the book: “The way in which you are and I am, the manner in which we humans are on the earth, is Bauen, dwelling. To be a human means to be on earth as a mortal. It means to dwell. The old word bauen which says that man is insofar as he dwells, this word bauen however also means at the same time to cherish and protect, to preserve and care for, specially to till the soil, to cultivate the vine. Such building only takes care—it tends the growth that ripens its fruit of its own accord.
Garden-related book you return to time and again:
Above: Japanese Gardens Today is no longer in print, but you can find used versions online. It was published in 1959.
Japanese Gardens for Today by David Engel—one of my favorite books that talks about the philosophies of Japanese gardens. Specifically, this book discusses the four human principles of design that ORCA uses in our work: economic unity, logical unity, aesthetic unity, and spiritual unity.
Instagram account that inspires you:
@for.the.wild It’s a podcast and Instagram account that is focused on land-based protection, co-liberation, and intersectional storytelling. They feature some really wonderful subjects, and I find myself awaiting their posts.
Plant that makes you swoon:
Eriogonum fasciculatum. California’s native buckwheat gives the garden year-round magic. My favorite time for this plant is in fall when it turns a rusty red color. We use it abundantly in our gardens—clients and pollinators love it.
Plant that makes you want to run the other way:
Dracaena trifasciata. I’ve always had a hard time with this plant as it is very structured. I’m a fan of movement and texture that evolves. The snake plant seems to be stuck in its way, without much flexibility.
Favorite go-to plant:
Above: A small packet of Desert Globemallow seeds is $3 at Native Seeds Search.
Sphaeralcea ambigua. Desert globemallow is such a carefree, colorful texture to add to any garden. It’s great for pollinators and its pale silvery blue leaf adds a bit of brightness. I like using it at the edges or bases of hedges to brighten the garden. There’s a large variety of mallows, too, so if the orangey color isn’t right for the space, chances are there’s another color that will work.
Most dreaded gardening chore:
Weeding nettle! Ouch.
Unpopular gardening opinion:
Let wood rot.
The one thing you wish gardeners would stop doing:
Above: No plastic here! ORCA prioritizes the use of natural, sustainable materials.
Hey there, green thumbs and plant lovers! Have you ever felt a sense of calm wash over you when you’re surrounded by lush greenery? Well, it turns out, there’s more to that feeling than just being a plant fanatic like us. A fascinating study has dug into the leafy details, and the results are as refreshing as a morning dew!
The Green Challenge
In a world where concrete often overshadows green spaces, our little ones are the ones missing out. The study tackled this by asking: Can real plants make a difference in helping kids concentrate better and feel happier?
Green Minds at Work
This green investigation was carried out by the brainy folks at Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. They were curious about the effects of real plants versus fake ones, pictures of plants, or no plants at all on kids’ brains and emotions.
PinYoung boy doing art with climbing Scindapsis | Photo Credit: AS @Елена Григорович
The Plant Experiment
Imagine this: 23 school kids, aged 11 to 13, sitting in a room with a plant on a desk. They weren’t just any plants, though. Some were real, some were fake, and some were just photos. The kids didn’t know which was which.
PinPhoto Credit: @PlantCareToday.com
They just chilled with each plant type while a machine called an EEG peeked into their brain waves.
PinYoung girl helping repot a Moth Orchid | Photo Credit: AS @annastills
Blooming Results
Here’s the juicy part: when the kids hung out with the real plants like the ZZ Plant, their brain waves chilled out, showing they were more focused and attentive. Plus, they felt more at ease and natural. It’s like the plants gave their brains a big, leafy hug!
PinPhoto Credit: AS @irina schmidt
Why This Matters to You
So, what does this mean for you? If you’ve got kids, bringing more real plants into their space could be a game-changer for their focus and happiness. Allow them touch and feel the leaves, stems and soil. Let them help water and clean the leaves. Let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want a home or classroom that feels like a mini-jungle of joy?
Let’s Grow Together
We’re all about sharing the love for plants here, and this study just gives us another reason to do so. What do you think about these findings?
Will you be turning your living space into a green haven for the sake of focus and good vibes? Let’s chat in the comments and spread the plant love!
Remember, it’s not just about having plants around; it’s about having the right kind of greenery – the kind that’s alive and thriving, just like we want our kids to be.
So go ahead, make that trip to the nursery, and let’s bring some life back into our concrete jungles!
The bathroom is one of the most important rooms in the home. It might not seem so at first glance; after all, it’s not like you sleep, cook, or entertain in this space. That being said, it’s hard to live in a property without a functioning, clean, and correctly designed bathroom.
Whether your bathroom is connected to your master bedroom in the form of an en suite, or a “main” bathroom your entire family uses, it’s important to keep it in good condition.
Regular bathroom maintenance doesn’t just keep this essential room looking good, it can also prevent costly repairs. Here are three simple things you can do to ensure your bathroom stays clean, functions effectively, and is a pleasant place to spend time in.
Clean the grout regularly
It’s important to clean the grout in your bathroom regularly. Mold can easily grow here, but if the grouting is dark, it can be hard to spot.
Making sure your tiles and grout are cleaned (and reapplied if necessary) will keep the space hygienic, while also preventing the spread of mold and damp where moisture hasn’t been wiped away. This is especially true in a wet room, where the flooring, skirting and walls may be entirely comprised of tiles.
Water pressure & boiler function
A boiler needs to be carefully maintained and inspected over time. That’s not necessarily because they’re prone to breaking down (newer models are especially reliable and can last for a decade or more), but because certain issues like water pressure may require consideration.
You can also opt for a more energy-efficient boiler if you want to reduce costs on central heating. With BuyaBoiler you can pay for and install a new boiler within a few days, allowing you to resolve any issues quickly and then hardly have to worry about it again.
3d rendering of water drops on chrome metal gutter next to the laying shower head
Unclog drains
Your shower and bath drains can clog surprisingly quickly. This can happen for a whole host of reasons, especially if the whole family uses the main bathroom.
Having drain cleaner and clog remover solutions can be helpful, and regular bleaching is important too. If you have a compressed drain plug that helps the water flow correctly, that may need a clean too.
If your drains are clogging and your own efforts to clear them aren’t working, consider calling a plumber to inspect your pipes. Sometimes a compressed clog can cause a leak, and it’s best to resolve that issue before it causes costly damage.
With these tips, you can keep your bathroom in great condition without a huge amount of effort. Over time you’ll come to know your specific bathroom well and pre-empt its common issues.
In today’s fast-paced world, the convenience of meal prep services is enticing. With options like Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and Freshly, the market offers a wealth of choices tailored to fit various dietary preferences and lifestyles. Each service promises to cut down on shopping time and reduce the stress of meal planning, but at what cost?
Meal prep services provide pre-portioned ingredients and step-by-step recipes delivered straight to your door. The appeal is undeniable: you can create delicious, home-cooked meals without the hassle of grocery shopping or the worry of food waste. Yet concerns about the price, packaging, and the need for ample storage space can be significant deciding factors.
Evaluating meal prep service benefits
To make an informed decision, consider your budget, schedule, and culinary goals. Services like these can offer calorie-controlled meals that support health and fitness objectives while providing the opportunity to cook with new ingredients and learn different cooking techniques.
The key is to weigh the convenience against the investment and decide if the benefits align with your lifestyle in terms of nutrition, convenience, and dietary needs.
Nutritional value and diversity
With a meal prep chef, you receive meals that are often crafted to provide a balance of macronutrients and micronutrients, which can aid in maintaining a well-rounded diet. Diversity in your meals not only keeps your diet interesting, but can also ensure you’re getting the range of nutrients needed for good health.
Convenience and time-saving
Meal prep services eliminate hours spent planning menus, shopping for groceries, and cooking, which can be a significant advantage for your busy schedule. You can enjoy healthy meals with the added benefit of not having to clean up a kitchen full of dishes, affording you more time to focus on other aspects of your life.
Customisation for dietary restrictions
A key aspect of meal prep services is their ability to tailor meals to specific dietary needs, such as a gluten-free, low-carb, or plant-based diet. This personalised approach ensures that you can stick to your dietary restrictions without the added stress of meal planning and preparation.
Finding the right service that suits your lifestyle can be as straightforward as visiting a meal prep website, making the entire process seamless and user-friendly.
Considering the cost
When evaluating whether meal prep services are for you, an important factor is understanding the financial implications of such services. This includes their pricing structures, how they stack up against traditional grocery shopping, and their potential long-term financial impact on your budget.
Pricing and subscription models
Meal prep services often offer a variety of pricing and subscription models to fit different needs and lifestyles. Typically, you’ll find that meals can range from around £4 to £9 per serving.
Some services provide flexibility with customisable plans, where you can choose the number of meals and portions you receive each week. It’s important to note that most meal kit subscriptions cover just a portion of your weekly meals, not all of them, which affects the cumulative cost.
Comparison to traditional grocery shopping
To determine if a meal prep service is cost-effective for you, compare it to your regular grocery expenses. Meal kits alleviate the need to purchase large quantities of individual ingredients, which could lead to savings if you often find yourself throwing away unused food.
Long-term financial impact
Investing in a meal prep service can influence your long-term budget in various ways.
On the one hand, regular use of these services can add up over time, especially if you subscribe to more premium options. On the other hand, if meal kits help you maintain a controlled calorie intake or reduce impulsive food purchases, you could potentially save money.
It’s critical to assess your eating habits and financial priorities when considering the financial impact of meal kits.
Hiring a private chef
When seeking to enhance your dining experiences at home or during a holiday, opting to hire a private chef might be a fantastic option. A private chef offers a unique service by preparing, cooking, and serving meals in the comfort of your own space. These chefs come equipped to transform your kitchen, utilising the tools you have available to bring restaurant-quality dishes to your table.
The advantages of hiring a private chef include:
Personalised attention: You get to enjoy a one-on-one interaction with a chef who introduces each dish.
No post-meal cleanup: Chefs handle everything from the preparation to the cleaning, leaving your kitchen spotless.
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Costs and budgeting
Starting from around £35 per guest, employing a private chef is comparable to dining out, yet it is tailored to your personal taste and atmosphere.
Process simplified
To find a private chef, simply select a menu that matches both your taste and budget. The booking process is simple, and you can usually make adjustments up to two weeks before your event.
Securing your chef
With just a deposit, you can book your date and reserve a professional to create a personalised dining experience for you and your guests. This option is perfect for those who want assurance without having to finalise the intricacies immediately.
With this service, you get not just a meal, but an engaging, intimate culinary event in your own home.
Conclusion
Deciding on meal prep services hinges on balancing your budget, time constraints, and dietary goals. If the convenience and variety provided align with the amount you’re willing to spend, these services can be a valuable addition to your routine. Time savings and stress reduction are significant benefits. However, consider the environmental impact of packaging and the need for storage space. The choice is personal and should reflect your unique lifestyle and nutritional needs.
Wonderfully decorative, calla lilies (Zantedeschia spp.) produce elegant, chalice-like flowers in a range of attractive, bright colors.
And if they’re not flowering, we have the easy fixes to restore callas to their blooming glory!
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Generally easy to grow and care for, which you can read about in our calla lily grow guide, getting Zantedeschia varieties to set bud and flower isn’t difficult.
For plants that are underperforming, the problems usually come down to a few basic issues like bulb depth, watering, and hours of sunlight.
Whether you grow your plants in beds or containers, a few simple adjustments are typically all that’s required to reset bud development for a dazzling floral display!
So when you’re ready to do some tweaking, we’ve got the easy fixes for calla lilies that won’t bloom.
Here’s a quick peek at what you’ll find ahead:
1. Bulb Depth
One of the most common reasons for non-blooming calla lilies stems from bulbs that are planted too deep.
A general rule of thumb for bulb planting is to set them in the soil at a depth that’s twice the bulb’s height.
As Zantedeschia bulbs mature, they typically grow more in girth than height, forming beefy clusters several inches wide but usually not more than a couple of inches tall.
For planting purposes, this equals a depth of two to four inches.
If your bulbs have been planted too deep or have settled to a depth greater than four inches, they may still produce plenty of foliage but can struggle to set flower buds.
When planting as a late summer annual, ensure the bulbs are set at a depth that’s only twice their height and no deeper than four inches.
In the case of perennial plantings, lift the bulbs in late summer after they’ve gone dormant and then replant to a more suitable depth as needed.
While calla lilies are generally easygoing about growing conditions, they do need healthy, loose, and well-draining soil to thrive and produce plenty of flowers.
If your plants are lacking vigor or developing fewer blooms, poor soil composition or inadequate drainage could be the problem.
Although species like Z. aethiopica can be grown as a bog or marsh plant, the majority of hybrids must have excellent drainage.
And while calla lilies like consistently moist soil, in wet or soggy soil issues like bulb decay or root rot can develop, which stresses plants and can inhibit bud set.
Dense or heavy soils can also restrict root development which can reduce nutrient uptake, stunt growth, and prevent blooming.
This means soil that’s become compacted or has a lot of clay in its makeup is a poor growing medium for Zantedeschia.
Check the soil for qualities like compaction, too much clay, excessive moisture retention, or standing water.
If any of these issues are present, loosen the soil to a depth of 18 inches and amend with the addition of compost or well-rotted manure to improve nutrients and tilth.
To improve drainage, mix in a shovelful or two of gritty matter using materials such as landscape sand, pea gravel, or stone chips to prevent soggy soil or standing water.
If improving the drainage in situ is difficult, another option is to plant bulbs in raised beds – the extra elevation helps to keep water flowing freely for healthy roots and bulbs.
3. Dormancy Period
An issue that occurs most often with container grown calla lilies, but one that can also impact those grown in ground, is not providing the bulbs with an adequate rest period.
All flowering plants have natural cycles that alternate between active growth and resting.
And although tropical bulbs don’t need chill time or cold weather to break dormancy, they do require a resting or ripening period in order for flowers to develop the next growing season.
For calla bulbs, a dormancy period of at least eight weeks in a cool, dry, and dark environment is needed – which is easy to achieve.
For container grown plants, as the growing season winds down in early fall, withhold water and allow the soil to completely dry out.
The foliage will die back and can be cut off at soil level after it’s turned brown and withered.
Once the foliage has been removed, place containers in a cool – but not cold – location such as a garage or cellar. The ideal temperature for dormancy is 40 to 55°F, and the bulbs mustn’t freeze.
Once outdoor temperatures stay above 55°F, move pots back outside to a warm location in bright light and resume watering.
In-ground plants enter dormancy at temperatures below 50°F and can be lifted once the foliage dies off in early fall.
Lift the bulbs from the soil, and store in a dark, dry environment at temperatures of 40 to 55°F.
Once warm temperatures return in spring, plant bulbs out and resume a regular watering and feeding regime for the growing season.
Zantedeschia varieties are fairly heavy feeders and require regular applications of a balanced fertilizer with equal amounts of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium or potash (K).
If desired, once the flower stems appear you can switch to a formula with slightly higher levels of potassium than nitrogen, such as those formulated for tomatoes.
Among other functions, potassium helps flowers and fruits to develop.
A balanced formula has identical percentages of N, P, and K, such as 5-5-5. One with higher levels of potassium will have a formula like 5-5-7 NPK.
Avoid using a formula that’s high in nitrogen, such as 5-3-3 NPK. You’ll have plenty of vibrant foliage but flowering may be reduced.
5. Forced Bulbs
Sometimes bulbs that have been previously forced as a seasonal indoor plant can be a bit tricky to encourage to rebloom, either as a houseplant or after transplanting outdoors.
This is typically due to a combination of factors, such as not having a proper dormancy period, insufficient sunlight, underwatering, and inadequate nutrients.
To get forced bulbs to bloom again, provide them with a full winter dormancy period as outlined above.
In spring, repot them or plant out into humus-rich soil, provide regular applications of water to keep the soil moderately moist, fertilize monthly, and place in a location that receives full sun.
6. Leave the Leaves Alone
Zantedeschia plants have attractive, upright foliage in the growing season, but after they flower and begin to prepare for dormancy, the leaves turn yellow, wither, and die off.
To ensure the bulbs receive plenty of energy from sunlight to form flowers the following year, keep the plants well-watered and continue fertilizing until autumn.
This keeps the foliage healthy and vibrant for the process of photosynthesis and converting sugars into energy.
Around mid-September, withhold water and fertilizers to force plants into dormancy. But don’t tidy up the yellowing foliage by removing it – instead, leave it in place until the leaves are dry, brown, and papery.
Once the foliage has died back completely, it can be cut back at soil level and the bulbs may be lifted for winter storage, or mulched to overwinter in place in mild winter climates.
7. Light and Water Needs
Although calla lilies can flower in light shade, they produce the most abundant flowers in a full sun location.
In areas with very hot summers, light shade from mid-afternoon onwards can be beneficial. But in temperate regions, they’ll put on the best floral display with full sun.
When planted in heavy shade, on the other hand, blooming is severely restricted.
If your plants aren’t getting enough light, transplant them to a location with full sun exposure, or where they’ll receive a minimum of six hours of sunlight per day.
Zantedeschia plants love moist soil, which makes them unsuitable for low-water or xeriscape settings.
In water-stingy settings, plants can suffer from stunted growth, wilting, and a significant reduction of flowers.
For an ample display of blooms, keep the soil moderately moist but not wet – overly wet soil can cause its own set of problems, like bulb and root rot.
In full flower, the gorgeous colors and elegant shapes of calla lilies are bloomin’ beautiful!
If yours aren’t flowering fully, try our fixes to improve their performance.
Remember to plant them in rich, humusy soil in a well-draining location with plenty of water and full sun. Don’t plant the bulbs too deep, and check that your fertilizer isn’t nitrogen heavy.
Also, leave the foliage in place until mid-fall to collect plenty of energy and be sure to rest the bulbs with a dormancy period of at least two months.
With just an adjustment or two, flowering prowess is easily restored!
If you have any questions about non-blooming callas, drop us a line in the comments section below.
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EARLY ON IN making my garden decades ago, I bought a nursery pot of bluestar, or Amsonia, at a native plant sale, and planted it in a border here. It has never asked anything of me, never had any pests or diseases, and just keeps delivering sky-blue spring flowers and vivid gold fall color, year in and year out, and looking pretty handsome in between.
My very unofficial results with my Amsonia would not surprise today’s guest, Sam Hoadley of Mt. Cuba Native Plant Center in Delaware, whose trial garden team there just completed a 10-year evaluation of a range of bluestars.
Twenty different Amsonia were studied over a just-completed trial at the renowned native plant garden and research facility, where Sam is manager of horticultural research. He joined me to report on the findings, and talk about how we can incorporate bluestars into our gardens.
Read along as you listen to the March 4, 2024 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
amsonias with sam hoadley
Margaret Roach: Hi, Sam. Longer days, longer days. Waiting for spring, waiting for spring.
Sam Hoadley: Yes. Absolutely, yes.
Margaret: Oh, my. So like what I said in the introduction, I don’t think I’ve had a perennial with me as long as this Amsonia—it’s a tabernaemontana—that literally just performs. It has never said a thing, has never said, “Margaret, I need this,” or, “Margaret, I need that.” It just performs [laughter].
Sam: Yep. Yeah, they’re wonderful plants. They don’t ask for much and they just give so much year after year, and arguably get better and better. We saw that for a decade in the trial garden, and I’m sure that they would continue to go on for another decade if we were to let them stay in that space. But unfortunately we need to bring in the next trial.
Margaret: Right, right.
Sam: But it was overwhelmingly a high-performing trial. Very few plants had any issues throughout the duration. And in most of our trials, we’re kind of promoting the best of the best, maybe a smaller selection of maybe the top 10 or top dozen or so. With the Amsonia we trialed 20 and all 20 we’re pretty good. And it’s more about how you use them, rather than making a decision on rating. Maybe you’re making a decision on what foliage texture you want, how big of a plant you have space for, those kinds of considerations.
Margaret: Yeah. One fun Amsonia fact that people may not know is they’re related to milkweed, huh?
Sam: They are, yeah. They’re in the Apocynaceae family, so they’re related to the milkweeds. They’re also related to Vinca. And when you look at the flowers and you look at your vinca groundcover flowers, they are remarkably similar, especially with plants like Amsonia ‘Blue Ice,’ those similarities become very apparent.
But yeah, they’re closely related. One of the good cues that you can look for is that milky, kind of latex-y sap, that is quite poisonous and actually is a good deterrent for mammalian herbivory in particular.
Margaret: That means that Bambi and his friends are not as interested in Amsonia probably as in some of the other perennials in your border, yeah?
Sam: Yes, absolutely. Deer resistance is a spectrum, and deer are sometimes hungrier in some places than others, but deer will generally leave Amsonia alone. I have some experience in my home landscape with Amsonia in a highly trafficked deer area, and only on one occasion had they ever been sampled, and it was a very small sample, and then never again. So they are really, really great deer-resistant plants, if that’s a major pressure and concern for you.
Margaret: Yeah, that latex sap of that family, of the dogbane family, doesn’t taste good, I don’t think [laughter].
Sam: Yes, I would imagine not.
Margaret: Nasty.
Sam: I haven’t tried myself, but…
Margaret: No, no, no, no.
Sam: That’s right.
Margaret: Don’t, don’t, don’t.
Sam: That’s right.
Margaret: So this is a genus, Amsonia, the bluestars, that is mostly based in North America and the United States-ish.
Sam: That’s correct, yep.
Margaret: Yeah. So I looked at range maps for all the Amsonia species in the United States. And it’s interesting because though there are quite a number, there’s none in the Pacific Northwest for instance, I think.
Sam: Right.
Margaret: And there’s one, tomentosa I think, in Southern California and some of the Desert Southwest.
Sam: Right. Yes.
Margaret: But generally speaking, they’re Southeast, South and then some in the Central Midwest-ish. I don’t know. You can explain, but who did you look at and where do those come from? Where are they native? Because “native” doesn’t mean native to everywhere in the United States.
Sam: Right, exactly. The definition of “native,” at least what we’re looking at in the trial garden and at Mt. Cuba Center as native, is Eastern temperate forest region, which you can sometimes simplify as kind of the Eastern half of the United States. We primarily focused on those species; that encompasses some of the Midwest. There is a concentration of Amsonia diversity in Midwestern states, Gulf Coast states, and Southeastern U.S. A little bit eking into the mid-Atlantic, arguably a little bit into Southern Delaware, which we focused on those plants primarily.
There is also another kind of hotspot of Amsonia diversity in the desert Southwest that goes into Northern Mexico as well.
And there are two non-native Amsonia species, and by non-native I mean non-native to North America. One of them is Amsonia orientalis, which is actually native to parts of Europe, in Turkey and Greece. And then there is Amsonia elliptica, which is native to Japan.
And we actually did include for the first time ever in our evaluations an example of a non-native plant, non-native to North America. We included Amsonia orientalis in our evaluation, because of some anecdotal similarities that we have seen between that plant and a plant that’s commonly sold in the trade today, sometimes listed as a native species, as Amsonia ‘Blue Ice.’
Margaret: Yes.
Sam: Yeah. So that was a very interesting thing that we saw after growing those two plants side by side; they’re virtually identical.
Margaret: It looks like ‘Blue Ice’ is in fact derived from parentage that is not a native U.S. plant, yeah?
Sam: Yes. We consider it to be a horticulturally superior form of Amsonia orientalis. So a not-native plant; still a nice garden plant. Pretty much all the Amsonia are good garden plants, but it’s not one that we would want to be promoting because our focus is on Eastern North America and North American native plants. But still available, but again, not one that we are going to be promoting at the end of our evaluation.
Margaret: Right, right. But it’s good that you looked because you had noted this possibility, in that you were able to really over that decade really see it in action and know what were the similarities and deduce a lot more.
Sam: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Margaret: I read, in terms of range of the different species… And as I said, I have tabernaemontana[above], which when I began gardening I think was the only one that was around. And even that was at native-plant sales more than it was in garden centers, because I’m not a youth [laughter], but it wasn’t a popular plant yet.
And I think I read recently on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center website that even though technically its range maybe extend to somewhere in Virginia-ish up the Southeastern United States, it’s seen in some colonies, naturalized colonies, as far north as Massachusetts. So I wonder if with climate change we’re going to see tabernaemontana become a “wildflower” even up into New England. Do you know what I mean?
Sam: Yeah, very possibly. I mean, even in Mt. Cuba Center we were potentially a little bit outside of its … even tabernaemontana‘s range, which has the largest range of any of the species we’re going to be talking about, or we did talk about in this evaluation. It’s still proved to be a great garden plant. Growing up in New England, Amsonia were planted widely. They’re just extremely adaptable, extremely hardy plants, well outside of even their natural ranges.
Margaret: Yeah. What surprised me was when I saw in the report, and you had done a webinar presentation earlier in February that I had watched as well about when the report was ready with the results and so forth, is that there are different sizes. You see, I think of it as almost … Amsonia, to me, is synonymous almost like sort of a shrubby-feeling structure of a plant.
Sam: Absolutely, yeah.
Margaret: But you had ones in the trial that were quite different, almost groundcover-ish, yes?
Sam: Yes. There were a few plants that would absolutely qualify in the groundcover category. ‘Blue Ice’ is actually one of those plants that is rhizomatous, which was one of the first clues that we’re looking at something different here. This isn’t very similar to Amsonia tabernaemontana. It tends to be very clump-forming, and just continually emerge from that same kind of woody crown that they develop year after year. Amsonia ‘Blue Ice’ has a tendency to spread slowly and eventually does cover ground.
But we had one very unusual plant in this trial. It’s a variety of Amsonia ciliata called tenuifolia and a cultivar named ‘Georgia Pancake.’ [Laughter.] And this was a plant that was originally collect … I love the name. It is the perfect name.
Margaret: ‘Georgia Pancake’ [above]. I’ll have a short stack of those, please.
Sam: Yes, exactly. It’s the best name, very descriptive. It is a nearly prostrate-growing plant. It does spread slowly by rhizomes. It was originally collected in Georgia, so it’s ‘Georgia Pancake,’ and it does create this incredible groundcover of this very fine, feathery foliage.
It’s so interesting and so unique, and that’s maybe on the extreme end of things as far as size and stature. Other Amsonia ciliata tenuifolia are just these perfect … They almost look like miniaturizedAmsonia hubrichtii. They have that same very fine foliage, beautiful early blue flowers, but they don’t get much bigger than a couple of feet tall and wide. So if you don’t have a lot of space, or even if you have a small rock garden or even a single container, you could grow this plant in your home garden. There’s great options, even if you’re just looking at this overall size of this plant. And again, this is after 10 years of looking at these plants, there are great options for almost any landscape.
Margaret: You just mentioned hubrichtii. And so I think that’s the one that, in more recent years, has come on as a hot plant, so to speak. And I don’t remember exactly where it’s from. I think I have it written down in my notes here somewhere that I looked it up, but I don’t remember. But it definitely has that … The fine texture of the foliage is just so incredibly beautiful.
Sam: It’s wonderful, and it’s such an incredible plant to garden with. The foliage is so fine that it can contrast beautifully just in texture with a number of other plants. It’s a great companion. And jokingly around the office here, we talk about Amsonia flowers a lot, they’re beautiful. The common name, bluestar, refers to the flowers. Of course you want to grow them for that.
But the majority of the year in your home garden you’re going to be looking at the foliage of these plants, which are equally beautiful. They have various textures, really wide-leafed plants, very fine-foliage plants, like thread-like foliage plants like Amsonia hubrichtii. And they just have this incredible movement in the landscape, if there’s a light breeze.
Amsonia hubrichtii[below] can even continue its ornamental season into fall. They can develop really beautiful fall color, especially when you grow them in a lot of sun, kind of ranging from golds to yellows. It can be really, really an attractive season just in and of itself with that fall color.
Margaret: Well, that’s to me, one of the really outstanding things about, and even the one that I have, is it does get yellowish in the fall. I mean, the hubrichtii even more so. But it’s just, again, it has this sort of structural quality, almost mounded, shrubby-ish.
Sam: Yes, exactly.
Margaret: And it’s like a filler. It serves a role as like a filler, a beautiful textural filler, even when it’s not showing off at one end or the other of the season. So it’s one of those truly, I think (and you say in the report), it’s really a three-season plant. It really does, except when it’s—because these are herbaceous perennials—except when it’s dormant, it really does look great the whole time.
Now they do take some time to get started, is that correct? They’re pretty easy to grow from seed, but they’re slow?
Sam: Yeah, they just take a little time. I think that the biggest challenge with Amsonia is just patience. Just understanding what these plants are going to develop into after a few years in the garden. From seed, it might take three to four years to get your first flowers, but every year that plant’s going to get bigger and it’s going to get more impressive. And it’s going to continue to contribute and pay its rent in the garden space. Every year it’s going to get better.
It just takes a little bit of time. I think of Baptisia in a very similar way. We know there’s going to be a little bit of patients required from us, the gardener, upfront, but we are going to be repaid tenfold into the future as those plants mature and get more established in the landscape.
Margaret: Now, this genus, apparently members of it hybridize with one another pretty freely. It’s a sexy plant [laughter].
Sam: Yes.
Margaret: Yeah. So what’s going on out there and how did you deal with that in a 10-year trial? Do you know what I mean? Were there seedlings being made of-
Sam: Absolutely. Yes.
Margaret: Yeah, so tell us about that, because that’s interesting too.
Sam: Yeah, so in cultivation and even in the wild, Amsonia have proven to be very promiscuous in cultivation. They can cross-pollinate, they can hybridize readily, and you can end up with garden-origin seedlings that have traits that kind of are contributed from two parents. Sometimes the two parents can be obvious, sometimes it’s a little less so.
But sometimes when you’re looking at these hybrids, they can defy categorization. Especially when you’re trying to identify a plant, it can really complicate things. And sometimes in cultivation, if you’re ordering or buying plants and Amsonia from a source where those seeds might be collected in a place where more than one species is present, especially in a cultivated place, you have the potential for hybridization to occur.
In the trial garden, we would just try to stay ahead of seedlings. We would weed things out to try to keep the original collection essentially as it was when we planted it in 2013. That was relatively straightforward to us. But I do think about the potential of some of those plants for a plant breeder or someone who’s introducing interesting new genetics to the horticultural market. A lot of those seedlings, if they were grown out in a field, there could be some really huge potential for the next best thing out there, if you’re looking at it from that perspective.
But yeah, it can be an interesting thing from a plant breeder perspective, there’s a lot of opportunity for new Amsonia or, “improved” Amsonia, if you’re trying to get a more compact plant or you’re breeding in color to the stems or something like that. There’s a lot of potential there. But from a botanical standpoint, it can be confusing [laughter]. So we did try to talk a little bit about some of those features that are good ID features for trying to tease apart some of these closely related plants, but even those can hybridize and can cause it to become a little bit muddied in terms of what you’re looking at. [Below, A. hubrichtii.]
Margaret: I said in the beginning that it really doesn’t ask much, and you say that, “…and they don’t ask much of us as gardeners.” And you say that in the report, of course. That they’re kind of low maintenance.
What about aftercare? It’s fall or early winter or late winter if you leave everything standing, what was the protocol that you tried on them? And what do you recommend, having worked with them for 10 years: cutbacks, don’t cut back, whatever. I know they have these hollow stems. Can we take advantage of that? What’s the story?
Sam: Absolutely. Essentially the only time of year that we did anything to these plants was late winter, early spring. Generally we would try to shoot for some time in March. We would cut these plants back, but we always tried to leave a little bit of stem to it. I know Rebecca McMackin has kind of coined the term “garden stubble,” which I really love that, where you leave a little bit of those stems up, 12 to 18 inches, which can serve as habitat, especially for cavity-nesting bees. Because the Amsonia stems have this kind of spongy pith-filled core, bees can hollow into that and nest into it into the next growing season.
And so we tried to do that and we actually did see a lot of those stems being colonized in the later years of the trial, which was very exciting. And it’s just another way for Amsonia to contribute to the overall ecological value of your garden. It’s a great way to double-dip with those plants, as far as providing habitat, and again, ecological value. But that’s all you have to do to these plants, cut them back once a year and just enjoy them for the rest.
Margaret: And maybe not cut them all back all the way to the ground, so you’re leaving some of these, so to speak, open, partially clipped but hollow stems-
Sam: Exactly.
Margaret: … for subsequent use in the years to come.
Sam: Exactly.
Margaret: Yeah. I did some homework, and also in the report you mentioned it, there’s really not a lot of information—and I’m sure it’s out there here and there, but it’s not consolidated, like there is about certain species of plants—about wildlife, other wildlife interactions. You just were describing one where stem-nesting bees could utilize them.
But there’s not a lot of like, “Oh, it’s the host plant for these 47 things and its pollen is utilized by this many …” It seems like it’s not as well-known. And maybe that’s just because … I don’t know why. But you guys observe for interactions as well with pollinators and other creatures, you do some of those observations as well in your trials?
Sam: Yes, especially some of our newer trials, we’re looking at them from those two perspectives, both the beauty and value, which ties back to Mt. Cuba’s mission. We want to inspire people by both. So ornamental quality is being the beauty, giving those plants ratings on their foliage, flowers, all those things. But then the value side of the coin there is most of the time we’re looking at wildlife interaction, and most of the time we’re looking at pollinator interaction between the various species and cultivars were growing in the trial garden.
At the time when the Amsonia were planted at 2013, most of the focus was put onto the beauty side of the plants. But at the end of the trial we wanted to look at pollinator interaction, try to understand if there was any underlying trends, if there were species that were really visiting these plants more so than others. So we did do some pollinator observations in the spring, during the bloom period of 2023.
And over all we saw relatively low numbers of insects on all of the Amsonia. Some of them performed well or performed better than others. But interestingly, the two lowest-performing plants, so the plants that attracted the least number of insects, were ‘Blue Ice’ and Amsonia orientalis. We saw a single insect on both of those plants on only one day out of the multiple weeks of observations that we conducted on all of the Amsonia.
Margaret: And those are the non-U.S. ones?
Sam: Exactly. These are the non-native plants, not offering a lot of pollinator value, at least for what we observed in the trial garden. But we did see an interesting diversity of insects. We saw bumblebees, a host of other native bees, long-tongued flies. We saw a snowberry clearwing moth, which I always refer to as a hummingbird moth. I actually saw-
Margaret: They’re hilarious [laughter]. Yeah.
Sam: They’re lovely. They’re some of the most charismatic pollinators out there. I always get excited when I see them. We even saw monarchs visiting some of these bluestars in bloom.
But one of the really cool things we did observe in this trial was not a pollinator interaction, we actually saw the caterpillars of the snowberry clearwing feeding on Amsonia plants themselves. Amsonia are host plants for a few species of butterflies and moths, but it was really fabulous to see these plants, in cultivation, outside of their locally native range, supporting wildlife as a host plant. That’s very cool. And then seeing the adult moth later in that season, feeding on those flowers, it was very, very cool.
Margaret: If you build it, they will come. Yeah.
Sam: Exactly.
Margaret: Yeah. No. Now, was your trial in full sun? Was it in sun and shade? Were there any other factors that might have affected who visited? Because a lot of times where certain insects choose to feed is also affected by the location, the conditions.
Sam: Absolutely, yes. Location can be a major factor in this. The Amsonia trial was borderline full sun. It was probably right on the edge of what we would define as full sun, six or more hours of sun a day. And because of that, we may have seen less insects, but we also saw not the best display of fall color. On other parts of the garden where the Amsonia were situated in full sun, just anecdotally, we saw a lot more pollinator activity and we also saw better fall color. So probably the best bang for your buck when you are gardening with Amsonia: They can take a little shade, but more sun is better. Probably not just for the ornamental features of that plant, but also for pollinators.
Another thing we were kind of curious about is, were we missing something in this pollinator-watch study? Because we were doing all our observations in the day, was there something happening at night that we weren’t seeing? That was-
Margaret: Like with Phlox paniculata, for instance, where a lot of-
Sam: Exactly.
Margaret: Yeah, you’ll see a lot of nighttime pollinators. Yeah. Huh.
Sam: So that’s a possibility. I think another possibility is that during that time of year, that core season of the Amsonia bloom in mid-May, there are a lot of choices for pollinators around Mt. Cuba Center. I think in some cases, when you have such an abundance of choices, there might be some that are more valuable to pollinators than others, especially when you have such a saturated situation like you do in the naturalistic gardens of Mt. Cuba Center, which are right next door to the trial garden.
So I do wonder if the Amsonia were situated in area where they didn’t have that richness of choices, would we have seen more activity? But still saw some interactions, especially that host interaction was really, really exciting, and something we wrote about in the research report as well.
Margaret: I just wanted to ask, I don’t know if they’re used on the grounds outside the trial gardens or if you’ve ever seen them in the wild growing with anything. Do you have any inspirations on what you imagine them looking good with or what they grow with naturally? Any ideas? Because I’m wanting to add some more, and I’m just curious.
Sam: Yeah, I mean, it kind of depends on the plant, but just at home, I try to add an Amsonia in almost any new garden planting that I have. They’re such a great complement. I think that the flowers themselves … Blue is an unusual color to see in a garden, especially that light sky blue, and it goes with just about anything. I love having it with spring Phlox, for example, that purple goes so well with that blue. Things like wood poppy, that yellow as well. It’s just such a lovely spectrum of colors. Having the Amsonia, especially that later-season foliage and fall color can look really amazing with native grasses.
And then some of these plants that are really small and compact, growing them in a rock garden or growing them in a container with other really small detailed plants can be really, really fun. Speaking with some of the gardeners, playing with texture, having plants with similar texture that bloom at different times and do different things, like planting Amsonia ciliata tenuifolia[below] with things like Liatris microcephala, two similar in appearance plants as far as foliage texture is concerned, but they do very different things. And it’s just kind of a really cool play on how that plant looks, just in foliage.
Margaret: Same but different.
Sam: Exactly.
Margaret: Same but different. Yeah, cool. Well, Sam, I’m always looking forward to your next … What’s next? I’m ready. I know, I’m teasing, because you get a break.
Sam: [Laughter.] Sure, sure.
Margaret:[Laughter.] What’s next? What are you studying now?
Sam: Yeah, we are doing a lot in the trial garden right now. We have a current evaluation on oakleaf hydrangeas. We’ve just started an evaluation on ferns and on milkweeds, on tiarella. A small trial on Physostegia, and we just planted a trial on Pycnanthemum, or the mountain mints, which I am so excited about.
Margaret: Oh, that’s wonderful. They’re great plants, yeah.
Sam: They’re wonderful plants. They’re great garden plants and pollinators love them. And just the diversity of insects we see just anecdotally at home and in the naturalistic gardens here, I can’t wait to see and really document that in the trial garden going forward. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Margaret: Well, thank you for making time today, and I hope I’ll talk to you again soon. It’s been great, Sam, as always.
Sam: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Margaret.
(All photos from Mt. Cuba Center, used with permission.)
more from mt. cuba center
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MY WEEKLY public-radio show, rated a “top-5 garden podcast” by “The Guardian” newspaper in the UK, began its 14th year in March 2023. It’s produced at Robin Hood Radio, the smallest NPR station in the nation. Listen locally in the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA)-Litchfield Hills (CT) Mondays at 8:30 AM Eastern, rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. Or play the March 4, 2024 show using the player near the top of this transcript. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes/Apple Podcasts or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
There are some plants that make you acutely aware of the presence of diseases in the world. They seem to attract any and every pathogen wandering around out there.
If roses popped into your mind while reading that sentence, we are on the same wavelength. I love them, but a season without a single disease is a miracle!
On the other end of the spectrum, there are some plants that might make you forget that disease is even a thing.
For example: arugula. That beloved peppery green in the cole crop family seems to be ignored by fungi, bacteria, and oomycetes.
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But in reality? It’s not, though. Pathogens can attack arugula, and when they do, things can go from good to bad really quickly.
One day, everything’s coming up, er… roses? And the next, the leaves of your greens are collapsing in a yellow or brown heap.
Take heart. On the bright side, if you catch problems early on, most are pretty easy to address, and you can still see a happy, healthy harvest.
Here’s the list of diseases that we’re going to go over:
Now that you know the suspects to watch for, you need to understand the symptoms of these ailments and what to do about them.
Let’s start with the sole bacterial disease on this list:
1. Bacterial Leaf Spot
Pseudomonas cannabina pv. alisalensis (formerly P. syringae pv. alisalensis) andXanthomonas axonopodis are both types of bacteria that can cause a disease known as bacterial leaf spot.
As you may have guessed, the symptoms include spots on the leaves. These look like small, angular, water-soaked spots at first, either with or without yellow haloes.
These spots eventually merge, and the entire leaf turns yellow or brown and dies as the disease progresses. Symptoms might develop on the growing arugula plant or they might show up later after harvest.
The bacteria can live on the seeds or on plant debris and it’s spread by water. And not just rushing rivers of the stuff – droplets in the air in a humid area, rain, or a little splashing while watering can transmit the disease.
The best strategy here is to try to avoid leaf spot in the first place. Purchase seeds that are guaranteed to be disease-free, or treat any seeds that you purchase in hot water.
Place the seeds in water that is about 120°F and keep it there for 15 to 20 minutes to kill any pathogens.
Try to reduce the risk of spread via water in your garden by watering at the soil level and not on the leaves. Keep arugula plants well-spaced to increase air circulation.
You can also place some straw or leaf mulch around the plants to reduce splashing.
Remember to remove all plant debris after the growing season is over.
If you notice signs of this disease despite your efforts, early treatment with copper can provide some control.
Copper is one of those things that I always keep in my garden shed because it can address so many issues.
If you don’t already have some on hand, visit Arbico Organics to bring home a 32-ounce ready-to-use, 16-ounce concentrate, or 16- or 32-ounce hose-end ready-to-spray bottle.
Start spraying your plant every other week from the moment you see symptoms until two weeks before harvest.
2. Black Rot
Black rot is a relatively new addition to the list of arugula diseases in North America.
It wasn’t even found in California, where much of the US-grown arugula available for sale comes from, until 2016. But it has since started spreading rapidly.
While black rot isn’t as common as something like downy mildew, it’s not unheard of in the home garden.
This ailment has fairly distinctive symptoms, primarily a V-shaped, yellow-orange lesion that forms on the outer edge of the leaf. It can also cause black lesions. As the disease progresses, the leaves will dry up and collapse.
Caused by the fungus Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, it can overwinter on plant debris and lives on weeds. It also travels in water, so you need to do your best to keep things under control.
That means reducing humidity by spacing plants appropriately and watering at the soil level.
It also helps to place an organic mulch like straw or leaf litter around your crop to prevent water splashing. Never water overhead and never work with your plants when they are wet.
Rotate your crops regularly. Don’t plant arugula in the same place more than once every five years.
It’s best to pull any infected arugula plants because common controls aren’t effective.
3. Downy Mildew
Downy mildew is a common disease, and it’s one of the most commercially destructive for arugula growers.
It actually happens on all kinds of plants, from roses to zucchini. We used to call it a fungal infection but it’s actually caused by one of two types of water mold, also known as oomycetes, named Hyaloperonospora parasitica (formerly Peronospora parasitica) or H. erucae.
When the arugula is infected, irregular brown spots will develop on both the top and underside of the leaves. If you lift up the leaves and look underneath, you’ll see grayish or white mildew as well. As the disease progresses, the leaves start to turn yellow and collapse.
Those who live in areas that freeze for a good portion of the winter are lucky because the pathogens are killed during the winter and this provides some control.
In warmer areas, you need to take more care to avoid and eliminate the oomycetes.
They thrive in temperatures between 41 and 77°F, with something right in the middle being preferred.
The oomycetes can live on tons of different weeds like spurge and mustard, so keep them out of your garden. They may infect all types of brassicas.
Similar to bacterial leaf spot, this disease spreads through water, so using good gardening practices like appropriate spacing and watering at the soil level is vital.
The pathogens also travel on the wind and on plant material, including seeds. Clean up plant debris from the garden and buy certified disease-free seeds, or treat the seeds in hot water as described above.
Treatment with copper fungicide works well. Start treating the second you see symptoms and keep at it every three weeks until symptoms subside or you’re ready to harvest.
4. Powdery Mildew
Powdery mildew isn’t common on arugula, but it’s not unheard of. It’s caused by the fungus Erysiphe polygoni.
Infection results in discoloration and a powdery fungal coating on the upper and lower leaf surfaces. Over time, the leaves turn yellow and collapse.
The fungus that causes the disease lives on plant material, whether alive or dead.
Powdery mildew is annoying but generally not deadly. You can simply pluck off any symptomatic leaves or treat your arugula with one of the many options available for controlling powdery mildew, including milk!
Twisted, distorted leaves, stunted growth, and small patches of white pustules point to white rust, caused by the fungus Albugo candida.
As these pustules mature, they burst open, splattering the plant and nearby plants with powdery spores.
These spores can be carried on wind or on water, and lots of different plants can act as hosts. The fungi particularly love other brassicas, including weeds in the Brassicaceae family.
After a leaf is infected, it will eventually turn brown and dry up.
The pathogen needs humid, cool, wet conditions between 60 and 77°F to thrive and it can overwinter in the form of those dormant spores.
To avoid white rust infection, rotate your crops, keep weeds out of the garden, and buy disease-free seeds.
These pathogens can live in the soil for up to a decade, so only plant brassicas like arugula in the same area once every 10 years, if you’ve had a rust problem in the past.
Grab something like CEASE at Arbico Organics. It comes in gallon or two-and-a-half-gallon containers. Follow the manufacturer’s directions closely.
Arm Yourself Against Arugula Disease
I don’t know about you, but I do lots of things to avoid disease. I work out, try to eat healthy, wash my hands after being out in public. Don’t you want to promote the health of your garden too?
You can do the same for your arugula plants by always watering at the soil level, spacing plants at least six inches apart, and sanitizing your garden tools between uses. From there, it’s largely a matter of luck.
If your luck runs out and your plants get sick nonetheless, hopefully you feel armed and ready to deal with the problem after reading this guide.
If you’re still struggling or you can’t determine what you’re dealing with, feel free to hit us up in the comments section below, and we’ll see if we can help.
Would you like to increase space in your home? Whether you live in a cosy apartment or a spacious house, the challenge remains the same: how to make the most of the space available.
If you don’t have the budget or scope for a full-on extension, there are still plenty of things you can do to make the space you have work as hard as possible for you and your family.
In this article, we’ll explore seven great ways to increase space in your home that are not only cost-effective, but also deliver on functionality and aesthetics.
1. Conservatory upgrade
Adding a conservatory to your home is a really popular way to create an additional room and blur the boundary between outdoors and indoors. Having said that, maintaining a comfortable temperature in it all year round can be a challenge.
If your home has a conservatory that you’re not really getting the best out of, there are upgrade projects that can transform the amount of use it gets.
One such project is conservatory roof insulation. This will solve the problem of ‘too cold in winter, too hot in summer’, and is way cheaper than replacing the whole conservatory. You should be able to save on energy bills too.
If your issue with your conservatory is about looks, consider making the switch to a tiled conservatory roof. This can really blend the structure in with the rest of your home, while also providing a smart, weather-resistant finish and improved energy efficiency.
2. Garage conversion
If your garage is currently a home for unwanted clutter, there’s lots of potential to turn it into a more useful space. Garages are well-suited to a conversion into a guest room, home office, or playroom.
A garage conversion doesn’t usually require costly renovations. Depending on the current structure, you may just need to add insulation and electrics, reduce the size of the door, and add windows. Do check that you don’t need planning permission before starting any work though.
As well as increasing space in your home, converting your garage can increase the value of your property by as much as 20%.
3. Loft conversion
Similar to converting your garage, a loft conversion can add a big chunk of extra space to your home and boost property value.
Depending on the shape and size of your loft, you can create an extra bedroom, study or living space and take the pressure off other areas of your home. This renovation is at the more costly end of the spectrum when it comes to maxing out on interior space, but if you’ve got the budget it can deliver really great results.
As with a garage conversion, make sure you understand the situation with regards to planning permission before firming up your loft design.
4. Multifunctional furniture
Is your furniture working hard enough when it comes to space saving?
Multifunctional furniture that serves more than one purpose is a great way to free up space throughout your home. Good options include:
Benches and footstools with hidden storage under the seat.
Open shelving units with seat pads on top.
Hideaway desks with pull-out shelves.
Sofas with in-built side tables, pull-out beds, or counters at the rear.
Beds with built-in drawers, or ottoman beds with storage underneath.
Pull-out trundle beds for kids sleepovers.
5. Reclaim dead space
Are there any areas in your home where you could make use of dead space? A simple DIY job or a low-cost joinery project could make all the difference to these unloved spots.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Convert under stairs or hallway space into bespoke storage.
Add a small desk to an otherwise empty landing.
Turn bedroom eaves into built-in cupboards.
Add shelving around chimney breast alcoves.
6. Clever storage
We’ve already touched on storage in the point above, but there are lots of other ways to increase space in your home with storage solutions.
Clutter is the enemy of space-savvy homes, so getting it under control with storage is a low-cost option that’s well worth the effort.
Here are some examples of easy ways to make storage your secret weapon in a busy home:
Use storage crates under beds for items you don’t need often, such as seasonal clothing and Christmas decorations.
Use vertical space to keep floors clear. Wall hooks, shelving and wall-mounted cupboards are all great options.
Introduce handled storage baskets and crates to make it quicker and easier to clear toys and small items away.
Invest in some vacuum storage bags so you can fit more into the same amount of space.
Choose furniture with built-in storage.
7. Patio upgrade
Don’t ignore your property’s outdoor areas when looking at ways to increase space in your home. Your garden and patio is a valuable asset when it comes to family time, entertaining, or simply relaxing. Turning it into a more useable space could be a very worthwhile investment.
A simple patio upgrade might involve adding in some lighting and a fire pit to make evening use easier, buying a parasol or a sail shade to make hot days more comfortable, or introducing container plants to make the area more inviting. With just a few tweaks, you can make a big difference to the amount of time you can comfortably spend enjoying your outdoor space.
As you can see, there are lots of easy ways to increase space in your home without breaking the bank. By making existing features work harder, getting organised with storage, and finding clever products that perform multiple functions, you can give your home a new lease of life and make it a more practical and comfortable place to live.
We should be able to take both cash and credit cards this time. Also, we need pots, and we’ll take any trade-ins we can use from one-gallon size up for $0.50 store credit per pot. Recycle your pots – get free plants.
There are also other nurseries worth seeing along with ours – it’s a good place to find excellent plants.
Add this to the long list of small details that, if given some thought, can yield big curb appeal: rain gutters. Chances are you haven’t spent much time Googling cool eavestroughs and downspouts, but perhaps you should. We recently spotted on Instagram super-chic rain gutters—modern, angular, clean-lined, in COR-TEN steel—and decided to do a little digging into the architecture firm behind the design.
Turns out, those unique rain gutters aren’t a one-off for Jespersen Nødtvedt. The Danish-Norwegian studio always makes sure to pay special attention to the design and placement of these exterior drainage features. When we reached out to founders Emil Jespersen and Marte Nødtvedt Skjæggestad to find out why, their response was simple: “We like gutters a lot. There’s just something magical about working with water and you can articulate certain places in the architecture with a special gesture at the entrance.”
Here are three of their projects with stylish rain gutters:
Above: This is the image on Instagram that first captured our attention.
Above: The COR-TEN steel gutter was designed for a garden shed.
Above: From the project description: “The corten steel details are welded together with standard flat and U-shaped profiles, with the resulting kinks and overhangs leading the water out over the wood and into the gutter, and finally down the cylindrical downpipe.”
Back in June, friend of the GPOD Cherry Ong attended the Vancouver Hardy Plant Study Weekend and was kind enough to share photos of some of the gardens that she toured. Today she’s taking us along to visit Gwen and Paul’s gorgeous garden and nursery.
Blue poppies (Meconopsisbetonicifolia, Zones 5–7) are only growable in climates with very cool, mild summers—like Vancouver, where they thrive.
There are countless forms and colors of annual poppies (Papaversomniferum, annual), but these brightly colored ones are just marvelous. And of course the seedheads that come next are beautiful as well.
This shady path is proof you don’t need a big area, sun, or even many flowers to make a beautiful garden. A wonderful tapestry of foliage, with a bold, white-variegated hosta (Hosta hybrid, Zones 3–8) catches the eye.
Some peonies are grown more for their seedpods than their flowers. This is one of the woodland peonies (probably Paeoniajaponica, Zones 5–8), which grows well in shade and has lovely white flowers in the spring followed by these dramatic seedpods that split open to show their bright crimson inside.
Foxtail lilies (Eremurus hybrids, Zones 5–8) produce these incredible spires of flowers in early summer. They’re not hard to grow, but they tend to rot in heavy, wet soils, so give them good drainage to keep them happy.
I love this creative fencing, which visually divides the garden while still letting you see through to the plants on the other side. It looks to be made from old window frames and other found/upcycled materials.
California poppies (Eschscholziacalifornica, annual) usually come in a bright shade of orange, but these softer, more pastel tones are wonderful also.
A rock garden slopes up to a spot to sit and take in the view.
I love how the rich vegetation fills in around this pond, making it look like such a natural and seamless part of the landscape.
I think these spikes of intensely colored flowers are the blooms of a Dactylorhiza orchid.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Looking for the best way to label garden plants in your garden? Throughout the years, I’ve used many different garden markers and plant labels.
My favorite way to label garden plants is easy to see, lasts all season (even in the Arizona summer sun), and can be reused season after season.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
Garden labels should be easy to see
I use these plastic labels from Amazon with a sharpie when starting seeds. They are simple to use and work well for labeling small seedlings.
However, the labels are difficult to find amid the dirt when the plants go out into the garden. The writing on these plastic labels often fades by the end of the season.
Instead of using them in the garden, I reuse these labels for starting the next round of seedlings by wiping off the writing with a Magic Eraser.
When I’m ready to transplant my seedlings or plant my seeds in the garden, I love using these metal plant labels (also from Amazon). When it’s time to plant, I label the seeds or seedlings and plant them along with the transplants.
These plant markers are easy to spot in the garden even when the plant gets large. I often have visitors in my garden, and an easy-to-see plant marker is as helpful for them as it is for me.
The best way to label garden plants should last all season
Keeping accurate records each season is an important part of gardening. Gardeners often learn as much (or more) from failures as from successes. If labels are lost or indecipherable, it’s difficult to document what went well (or not so well) at the end of the season.
The best way to label garden plants should be reusable
I love using these aluminum labels that are easy to emboss with a ballpoint pen for trees and long-lived plants in the garden.
However, many of my garden plants are annuals. The plants change each season. After the current plant is removed, a different plant will be in that spot. Chances are you will plant a different variety of tomatoes or peppers next time and need a different label for the new type of plant.
Ideally, you should use your plant markers again next season.
I love that at the end of each season, I can paint over the labels with black paint and use them again.
Many of these tags have been used for several years.
If this post about the best way to label garden plants was helpful, please share it:
There are the veggies that pretty much every gardener keeps around and then there are the species that are reserved for the advanced growers.
Asparagus is often considered one of the latter, but it doesn’t need to be that way. Those delectable spears aren’t really as difficult to grow as many people seem to think.
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I think part of what people trip over is the fact that asparagus plants are perennials and it’s the stem that we eat, not the fruits that the plant produces.
Some growers aren’t sure what to do with the ferns or how to put the seeds in the ground.
But put those fears aside. You’ve got this! This guide will help.
In order to attain the status of asparagus-growing pro, here’s what we’ll go over in this guide:
Cultivation and History
Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) has a controversial past.
While perusing accounts of its history, you will find some debate over its true origins. But I’m sure the conflict is unintentional and I’m still fascinated about where this discrepancy may have cropped up.
Perhaps it comes from the fact that there are around 300 species within the Asparagusgenus, native to locations spanning the globe.
Some claim this cut-and-come-again veggie has ancestors hailing from boggy, lowland moors. Some sources go so far as to say it’s a native of Scotland and the British Isles!
In truth, this fernlike distant relative of onions and garlic (once sharing the same family, Amaryllidaceae) is widely presumed to be local to the Mediterranean coastal regions of Europe and Asia, as well as the Himalayan region.
Today, it is found wild in Europe, northwest Africa, and Asia. It has also been introduced to the wild in North and South America and Australia.
According to most historical accounts, a wild ancestor of asparagus was foraged and enjoyed by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.
Beginning around that time, it was bred from a feral plant into the widespread, globally popular cultivated culinary victual that it is today.
With more wild asparagus being found in countries like Italy and Greece than any other, it is likely that these stalk-producing crowns are Mediterranean in origin.
During the Roman conquest and in later years, growing and eating the delicious, tender spears gained popularity and the plants spread to the rest of the world. In many cultures, it didn’t just catch on as a food, but was also revered as a medicine.
The name of the plant comes from the Greek asparasso, which means “to rip,” a reference to the spines on some plants.
Eventually, the word “asparagus” was transformed into a new folk term for the vegetable in English: “sparrow-grass,” a popular sobriquet still.
This vegetable was not always grown for food. In fact, some might argue that it has a longer history as a medicine than it does as a delicious delicacy!
The shape of the spears inspired its use in sexual healthcare, especially for men in improving fertility and performance while reducing impotence.
A close relative to the common edible asparagus, shatavari (A. racemosus), has applications for female health, too.
It is used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat many female reproductive imbalances, including PMS, irregular periods, menopause symptoms, and more.
Interestingly, today there are studies supporting a lot of these classical uses.
Recent research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry by Matsuda Sanae and Aoyagi Yasuo, researchers at Kagawa Nutrition University, pointed out notable kidney effects in line with traditional use.
Plus, asparagus spears are high in fiber, iron, calcium, manganese, vitamins A and C, B vitamins including folate, and especially vitamin K – making it a healthy veggie no matter how you prepare it!
Asparagus Propagation
When growing asparagus, the most popular method for starting your patch is by planting crowns.
Otherwise, you can propagate asparagus from seed, though the method is more difficult, slower, and can yield more female plants than male – which may cut into how many spears you produce. That’s why crowns are preferable, though seed sowing is more affordable.
Before you plant using either method, test your soil to see if it is deficient in any nutrients and amend accordingly.
The soil needs to have a pH around 6.5 to 7.0. Asparagus cannot grow in very acidic soil.
It’s best to do this work in the fall before spring planting, but the spring works as well if you aren’t able to amend in advance.
From Crowns
Crowns are typically year-old, single root systems that can be transplanted to start a new patch. You can order crowns online or find them at local nurseries.
Plant the crowns in the spring, after the last predicted frost date and when the soil can be worked.
This will give them enough time to build strength and become established throughout the warm season.
Crowns should be spaced one foot apart.
If digging a trench for a row for five crowns, for example, you may want to prepare a bed with a 10-foot row. In a circular-shaped patch, make it ample enough to keep your plantings evenly spaced.
Regardless of whether you amended your soil to correct for any pH issues or deficiencies, add compost or your chosen fertilizer to the prepared bed, and work it in.
Then, dig shallow, wide holes for each crown to sit in if you aren’t trenching.
When planting the crowns, lay the root mass lengthwise with each plant facing the same direction into the hole, and take care that the actual “crown” – the knotty mass where all the roots join together – is planted facing upwards.
This is where the asparagus spears will emerge from, pushing their way up through the ground.
Cover the crowns with a thick layer of well-rotted compost mixed with earth. The crown should lie somewhere between six inches and a foot below the surface of the soil.
The most necessary step for nearly all gardening projects comes next: watering!
Give them a good, deep watering immediately after planting. If the soil settles a bit, add more compost and soil mix.
After watering, it’s a wise choice to mulch over your patch or row with a thick layer of organic matter – straw works best here.
This adds a little extra nutrition and moisture retention, protection through cold weather, and helps to reduce weeds for less competition – and bigger spears!
From Seed
If you’d like to go the seed route, soak them for a few hours before you plant them in mid-winter. January or early February is best.
Fill a deep seed tray with a seed-starting medium. Moisten the medium and plant the seeds a half-inch deep.
The seeds should be kept warm, so place the tray on a heating mat, unless you keep the area consistently above 70°F.
It can take up to eight weeks for the seeds to germinate. In the meantime, keep the soil moist under grow lights or in a sunny southern window. Thin the seedlings to about six inches apart once they’ve reached a few inches tall.
After they’ve germinated, it takes the seedlings about 12 weeks to reach the point where they can be moved outside.
At that point, transplant them as you would crowns, as described above.
How to Grow Asparagus
Asparagus plants need a spot in full sun with deep, well-draining soil.
If you keep your asparagus in a bed with other veggies or herbs, be sure to put it on the north end so it doesn’t shade everything else when it’s full-grown.
Remember that this plant can live for up to 20 years.
With an annual vegetable, you can plant it for the conditions of the current growing season without having to worry about what might happen in the following years, but that’s not the case with asparagus.
Note any trees or shrubs that might grow taller in the next few years around where you’re planting.
After transplanting your crowns, your first season will consist of watching them grow as the months go by. If a crown establishes itself successfully, you will notice your very first small asparagus spears emerging in the spring or early summer.
They will most likely be very tiny – only pencil-thin in circumference, or thinner – and you should not pick them at all, at least for the first year.
Instead, it is best to let them grow tall, spreading out their feathery, fernlike foliage to become fully established and grow strong.
Some prevailing gardening guides say that modern cultivars prefer swampy conditions, demanding constant moisture. More credible sources, however, coupled with our own experiences growing asparagus, find this to be completely untrue.
Growing asparagus in wet regions like the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Pacific Northwest can be quite a hassle.
While the spears do emerge in spring in response to rainfall, excess water and clammy cold is a real bane to asparagus. Its reanimation in spring requires a well-drained site, warmth, and average – not heavy – rainfall to get it going.
Water sparingly throughout the first season as needed, especially during dry periods and in hot, arid regions. Once the top inch or two of soil dries out, it’s time to add moisture.
Again – for the first year, don’t harvest anything. Just let your plant be.
Besides leaving the aboveground parts of the plant to grow, an easy task, what else can you do to help your patch along?
If you experience a surprise late frost, cover the emerging spears with frost cloth or propped-up cardboard. Other than that, it’s a matter of feeding, trellising, and weeding.
Fertilizing
Many veggies don’t need to be fertilized regularly because we grow them for one season and then pull them out of the ground. But asparagus is a perennial that will be around for years, so you need to replenish the soil.
Sprinkle a mild, balanced pellet or liquid fertilizer near the plants but not touching them. Water the pellets in, if that’s what you use, but don’t dig them in as this will disturb the roots.
Avoid using high-phosphorus food because it can build up in the soil and damage the plant over time.
Trellising
As the fronds grow to tower over your patch, with some attaining heights over six feet, you can stake or trellis them if you like – though plants that have fallen over are not doing any damage to their health. In fact, falling over is how the female plants spread their seeds.
A simple way to do this: drive stakes in the ground around the perimeter, and run string around plants so they don’t topple to the ground.
Weeding
Weeding is one of the most important jobs when growing asparagus, particularly for young plants. Weeds steal nutrients, compete for light, and may harbor diseases and pests.
Hand-pull weeds to avoid disturbing the asparagus roots and avoid weeding in the spring when the shoots are just emerging, if at all possible.
The best times to weed are right before the spears emerge, and just prior to the ferns emerging.
A thick layer of mulch placed in between the plants can help to suppress weeds, so you don’t have to be as diligent. Straw is ideal for this.
As the plants mature, they can tolerate more vigorous weeding, since the roots can grow up to 15 feet deep.
Blanching
Have you ever seen or eaten beautiful white asparagus spears? These aren’t some kind of special cultivar. You can make any spear white if you want, through blanching.
Blanching restricts sunlight exposure to the stalk of any variety, thus whitening it – a method used with certain other delicious crops as well, like Belgian endive, cauliflower, and celery.
There are a few ways to do this:
The commercial method is conducted through the use of special arched row covers placed over beds, which shield the plants from light in order to whiten them.
Another way is with a thick, two- to three-foot layer of loose straw mulch, placed over the beds before the spears emerge.
This blocks a good portion of the sunlight while allowing the spears to still grow and rise into the material where they can then be harvested after removing the mulch.
Growing Tips
Plant in full sun with a soil pH of 6.5 to 7.0.
Water when the top one to two inches of soil dry out.
Weed regularly to prevent disease and encourage strong stalks.
Pruning and Maintenance
In the fall, it’s absolutely critical to cut back the fronds, or the leaves of the plant, at the right time.
The ferns are the factory that manufactures all the energy that the roots need to survive the winter and make new stems the following year. If you cut them off too soon, you deprive the plant of much-needed nutrients.
Wait until the first frost after the foliage has died back, turning yellow and brown. Then, you can cut them off at the soil level.
This should be done for the first two years. After that, you can remove the fern when you’re ready to harvest.
Adding extra mulch over the beds when all the spears are gone never hurts. A thick layer adds a bit more organic matter, nourishment, and moisture retention, and helps to keep weeds down.
In some cases, you may have to clear small holes for your spears to poke through when the start of picking season returns.
Early emerging spears might be damaged by late frosts. If you have an early emerging variety and late spring frosts in the forecast, you might need to head out and cover your plants in frost cloth or a lightweight blanket.
Asparagus Cultivars to Select
Asparagus crowns may have one of two different sexes, and the male’s ability to pollinate the females can greatly detract from their productivity in producing spears for food.
All-male cultivars are generally preferred since they don’t produce flowers and berries, so they don’t divert that energy away from producing new stalks.
If your asparagus fronds produce bright red berries at the end of the season, you know you have an heirloom variety with female plants, and yields may be somewhat lower.
If you’re looking for a large yield, it’s recommended to start with an all-male hybrid.
These almost always have the word “Jersey” in the name, as these cultivars were developed at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
All-male hybrids are likely to produce up to three times more than heirloom varieties on average.
You’ll find green as well as purple varieties. But again – you won’t find white asparagus on this list since it’s made white in the garden through the process of blanching.
Jersey Knight
‘Jersey Knight’ has been a favorite for years, and it’s sadly about to become harder to find.
Along with ‘Jersey Giant’ and ‘Jersey Supreme,’ this is one of the primarily male New Jersey hybrids.
It’s a high-yielding hybrid bed by researchers at Rutgers University in the 1980s using ‘Martha Washington’ and ‘Jersey Giant.’
The producer of the Jersey asparagus, Walker Brothers, stopped propagating crowns in late 2021 with no known plans to sell their breeding lines to another producer.
But you can still find a few retailers that carry this flavorful, easy-going, adaptable plant for the time being. Nab a ‘Jersey Knight’ crown at Nature Hills Nursery while you still can!
Mary Washington
For a while there, Mrs. ‘Mary Washington’ was the standard-bearer for home and commercial growers.
Originally released in 1919, it has fallen out of favor in exchange for more productive hybrids, of which it’s often the parent.
Cultivated by Dr. J. B. Norton of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be rust-resistant and to grow uniform spears, and lots of them, the thick stalks are tightly packed, giving you more bang for your square-foot garden buck.
With the Jerseys out of commission, experts are recommending ‘Millennium.’
It’s every bit as adaptable, rust-resistant, and high-yielding as the Jersey hybrids. Actually, it’s far more productive, it just takes a few years to reach full productivity.
Fortunately, these plants also have a longer lifespan, so you can enjoy the nutty spears for almost two decades.
‘Millennium’ is another primarily male hybrid. Growers see an even higher percentage of male plants than with the Jerseys, and this variety can tolerate colder temperatures.
Sold? Me too, this is one of the best producers in my garden. Visit Burpee for packages of 25 bare roots and prepare to drown in deliciousness.
Sweet Purple
With its pretty purple hue and sweet, nutty stalks, ‘Sweet Purple’ is a delight for the senses.
The spears on this open-pollinated cultivar are larger than average and aren’t as stringy, either.
It was bred to appeal to gourmands, and it succeeds, with its crisp snap when fresh and its rich flavor when cooked.
Don’t cook it too long though, or the violet to blue-purple spears will take on a less attractive gray hue.
Nature Hills carries this pretty option if you’re looking to add some color to the garden and the table.
UC-72
An unimpressive name for an impressive veggie from the University of California.
But those asparagus-loving gardeners living in warmer regions should commit it to memory, because it’s a marvelous option.
‘UC-72’ is both drought and heat-tolerant, and resistant to rust and fusarium wilt.
Developed at UC Davis with ‘Mary Washington’ as a parent – which is why it’s sometimes called ‘Mary’s Granddaughter,’ – it has extremely large spears and will produce them continuously for two decades.
‘UC-157’ is a stellar hybrid that was developed by Professors Frank Takatori and Frank Souther from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Riverside in 1978.
Extremely high-yielding and resistant to fungal diseases like rust, it’ll probably come as no shock that this is one of the most popular types out there.
I recommend it to beginners all the time because it’s adaptable and tough while giving you a ton of tender stalks. But it’s also popular with experienced and professional growers for the same reasons.
Whether they’re ferning or not, insects and pests can be an issue that can reduce production. Let’s chat about those creepy crawlies, first.
Insects
Insects provide a double-whammy of evil. They not only feed on the plants, causing all kinds of problems including leaving them vulnerable to disease, they spread pathogens as well.
There are a few that love to devour asparagus.
Asparagus Beetles
Common asparagus beetles (Crioceris asparagi) and spotted asparagus beetles (C. duodecimpunctata) are orange or orange-red and black insects.
The common variety is mostly black with white splotches and an orange border on their backs, and the larvae of these are gray with a black head.
Spotted types are primarily orange with black spots and the larvae are orange.
Don’t confuse them with ladybugs, aka lady beetles, which are more rounded and dome-shaped.
The adults lay eggs on the spears, and when they hatch, the larvae crawl to the ferns and start feeding.
After getting their fill over a few weeks, they plop onto the soil and dig in to pupate into adults. Then, sing it with me, the cirrrrcle of life continues.
Common ones are usually out of the garden by June, and spotted by July.
When they feed, the larvae devour the ferns, depriving the plant of nutrients and resulting in stunted growth. The stalks turn brown and the tip bends, creating a hook-like shape. Their feeding also leaves the plants exposed to disease.
If you see beetles, pick them off right away and drown them in soapy water. Ladybugs, parasitic wasps (Tetrastichus asparagi), and green lacewings are natural predators, so invite them to hang out in your garden space.
Beneficial nematodes are also an effective treatment that may be used to eradicate these pests.
Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Hb) nematodes parasitize the beetles and then release Photorhabdus luminescens bacteria.
Toxins released by the bacteria kill the insect pests. This is an excellent, chemical-free solution.
You can find NemaSeek™ Hb beneficial nematodes available in a variety of package sizes from Arbico Organics.
Select the option that is the best fit for your square footage, and follow package instructions for best results.
Asparagus Miners
The asparagus miner (Ophiomyia simplex) is a small black fly that damages the stems in particular as it feeds, giving them red, unappetizing markings.
These flies are tiny, about a tenth of an inch long, and they lay teeny-tiny eggs at the base of stalks. But you probably won’t notice them, so don’t wait to see those for confirmation of an infestation.
The larvae feed on the stalks, causing the markings, and they can also girdle the stems. They may spread crown and root rot.
These pests have two generations per year in most areas of the US, one in late spring and another in late summer.
Preventing large populations from building begins with early removal of the foliage in winter. Sprays aren’t highly effective, so focus on prevention and exclusion using netting.
Japanese Beetles
Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) are kind of pretty. With their iridescent-green or coppery-brown coloring, these scarab-like beetles might look fun, but they destroy above-ground foliage.
These can be kept away from your crops with organic sprays, pheromone traps, or the introduction of natural predators.
I don’t make the rules. If I did, I promise, I would make pathogens a lot less attracted to asparagus. But until I’m in charge, we’ll have to deal with the many pathogens that can infect this vegetable.
Here are the most common diseases you may encounter:
Crown and Root Rot
Fusarium and Phytophthora are two pathogens (a fungus and an oomycete, respectively) that may afflict roots, crowns, and lower stems of asparagus.
Rot creates unattractive, damaging patches of red on stalks, yellows above-ground foliage, and reduces yields.
As this happens to stressed plants, preventive measures are the only key to avoiding the problem: ensure adequate watering, reduce pest pressure, and avoid crown damage. When you replace crowns, avoid placing the new ones in the same area.
Some sources state that freshly planted crowns must be left alone for at least the first few years for the patch to become fully established. But if you ask me, you have a little bit of wiggle room.
You may want to do this, just to be safe. But after the first year, I say you can get away with harvesting just a few stalks from your young crowns.
From this point forward, from the time when you first notice the spears rising from your planted crowns, plan to observe them closely. This isn’t a plant that’s ready for harvest all at once.
The asparagus harvest season lasts from spring until the summer solstice at the latest.
Since individual spears will emerge at different times, you will have to assess each one for readiness by checking a few important details:
Length
This can be determined based on preference and the qualities of your selected cultivar, but the optimum length of most asparagus spears is nine inches.
At this height or taller, the tips or buds will begin to open don’t wait too long or they’ll pass their peak; any shorter, and your harvest will yield less product.
Thickness
More so than length, size in terms of diameter at picking time can be a matter of preference as well.
You can harvest asparagus spears of any thickness or circumference, large or small, and enjoy them immediately or briefly store them for eating. Thinner spears tend to be more tender.
Tip Appearance
The purple, green, or blanched pointed tips are the most delectable part of the stalk; as it rises up, this bud unfolds to reveal giant, feathery ferns of towering inedible foliage.
Pick stalks while the bud is still closed, or just barely clustered with small, whitish-yellow side-shoots – and before those too begin to branch off.
The more the tip opens, the less tender and tasty the stalks will be.
Color
Spears should always be green with purple buds, or purple with white buds if you’re growing a purple variety. Blanched, they should be completely white.
If any spears look discolored or bruised, yellow or red, or even appear slightly translucent at the tip, this could be the result of early-season frost damage, and these will be inedible.
Texture
If you particularly fear frost damage, feel the stalks before you pick them.
If stalks feel limp and pliable rather than supple and crisp, they have likely succumbed to frost damage and are no longer edible.
The best time to pick asparagus is during the morning.
On warmer days, you’ll see stalks getting taller and taller by the hour – so you’ll want to get them while they’re the optimum length, with bud tips still closed!
When you’re sure it’s time to harvest, take one hand and move your fingers down to the very base of the stalk, right to where it rises above the soil. Using your thumb and forefinger, pinch the stalk at its base and bend it until it cleanly snaps away.
If you don’t want to get your fingers dirty, you may use a knife to cut the stalks, right above the soil line.
Once you’ve picked all the stalks that are ready from your bed, you’ll want to store them correctly if you don’t plan to use them immediately. We’ll provide some pointers in the next section.
Don’t keep them at room temperature or in the sun for too long afterward, or they’ll wilt and go limp!
The next day, and throughout the rest of the season, keep an eye on your bed every morning for more harvestable stalks.
You’ll want to keep up a daily picking routine so the tasty stalks don’t have a chance to open up to unfurl the plant’s tall fronds.
That’s something you’ll only want to allow to happen towards the end of the season, when there’s nothing left worth harvesting.
With the arrival of the first truly hot weather in the 90s or above in your region, usually coinciding with the beginning of summer though this may be later in far northern climes, you will likely start to notice that the stalks rising from your crowns are thinner, spindlier, and less appetizing-looking, though this is not always the case.
When this happens, or if you’re growing young crowns that need more time to mature, leave them be and allow them to grow into tall fronds.
This allows the whole plant to build its stores of energy and readies it for a great harvest the next spring!
Maybe you want to push to get the most harvest out of your patch, but remember this tidbit of wisdom: the earlier you let your plants go to frond and flower, the healthier, more robust your asparagus will be next year!
If your patch is successful and productive you could be pulling in a pretty decent amount of delicious spears every day, week after week!
It’s important to store your asparagus correctly to avoid letting all that hard work go to waste.
Store spears bundled together, with all tips pointing the same way and cut ends pointing in the other direction. This helps to avoid unintentional damage to the tips during handling and in storage.
Putting them in a plastic or paper bag in the fridge works well, though picking up and moving the bag can wear away or damage tips.
You can also store them in a small food-grade wax box, which can be moved, opened, and shut without affecting the stalks. Drape a plastic bag over the stalks within the box to retain moisture.
Leaving stalks in the fridge uncovered will allow them to dehydrate quickly, impacting flavor and texture, with limp, mushy, and floppy results.
To ensure maximum storage life, sprinkle a bit of water on the picked or sliced ends – but not the tips – as soon as they go into the fridge, to help rehydrate them.
My favorite way to store asparagus is in the same way you might store cut flowers. Place string or a rubber band around the stems to bundle them and hold them upright.
Place the cut ends in water so they’re submerged about an inch deep in a shallow dish.
Storing the bundled asparagus upright means the spears are less likely to be damaged, and they’ll remain well hydrated until you’re ready to use them.
Stored correctly, asparagus spears can stay in great condition for up to about two weeks.
Recipes and Cooking Ideas
The most common way to prepare this garden delicacy is by sauteing those delicious tips, maybe with that classic bit of butter and lemon juice.
Roasting them for a little while in the oven is another popular choice. But did you know you can also blanch, boil, or steam them as well, for a more delicate eating experience?
White blanched asparagus is particularly suited to blanching or steaming, since it tends to have a more delicate flavor profile than the typical green or purple spears.
White asparagus spears tend to be stringier, and you may elect to peel some of the more fibrous outer layer from thicker stalks before cooking.
If you’re growing purple asparagus, this type may be so tender and sweet that you can add it raw straight to salads! Give it a rinse and a quick chop, and you’re ready to go.
Asparagus beetle, asparagus miner, Japanese beetle; Crown and root rot, purple spot, rust
Species:
Officinalis
The Taste of Spring
Have you grown enough annual veggies, and think you’re ready to tackle asparagus next? After reading this comprehensive guide, I’d bet you are!
If you want to tend to, eat, and enjoy a healthy perennial food source that will come back again and again for years, asparagus is the one to try – and if you do it right, it will become a beautiful, delicious, and semi-permanent addition to your garden or yard.
Ordering crowns and planting them is pretty easy.
With only a few important management tips to follow, the most you really have to do is harvest the spears regularly when the time comes – and once harvest season is over, just sit back and watch their statuesque fronds billow and grow, collecting energy for more spears next year.
Of course, watch out for the few bugs and diseases that can plague your patch.
Are you ready to plant asparagus? What are your personal experiences with growing, tending, and eating this delicious produce? Please feel free to comment below!
