In our guide to growing lettuce, we cover how to cultivate crispy heads and tender greens in your garden. Almost all garden plants are susceptible to some type of disease, and lettuce is no exception. Some can be mildly inconvenient and easy to prevent, while others can destroy crops and infect soil, leading to chronic crop loss if you don’t have the land available to rotate. If you’re growing your own salad greens for healthy, homegrown salads, it’s a huge disappointment when you discover your plants are showing symptoms of disease....

This is a beneficial undertaking, because fluctuating temperatures typical of winter cause alternating cycles of freezing and thawing in the soil, which can damage plant tissue. The rose (Rosa spp.) is an ancient flower known for its velvety petals and menacing thorns. An inspiration to writers and a classic token of lovers’ affections, it is one of today’s most popular ornamental plants. There are heirloom and modern varieties with growth habits that include miniature, climbing, rambling, shrub, and tree forms....

Sugar snaps and snow peas don’t even need shelling; they can be added to the menu directly after harvesting with nothing but a rinse in between. Did you ever have the chance to shell freshly harvested peas as a kid? It’s so fun! Each one hides its contents like little prizes earned from all the nurturing you provided through the growing season. Well, if you didn’t have that experience in childhood, there’s still time to make up for that as an adult....

Gardeners in temperate areas either endure winter, or defy it. Those who endure it are sustained by color catalogs from seed, bulb, and plant nurseries; those who defy it resort to greenhouses or windowsills crowded with amaryllis, forced bulbs, and foliage plants. For those of us in hibernal denial, however, there’s another outlet: find plants that actually bloom in winter. Some of these misfits are well known: the Christmas rose (which rarely blooms at Christmas, and in any case is not a rose, but a hellebore, Helleborus niger) and the Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis) are planted to provide winter bloom....

I’m going to cover everything you need to know about growing bush beans in your veggie garden. Phaseolus vulgaris Bush beans are one of the best crops for the beginning gardener to grow. Starting them from seed is easy, they don’t require trellising, and they will give you an easy return on your investment. And there’s really nothing like watching bean sprouts emerge from the soil. While the smaller seeds of other garden plants may leave you guessing as to whether each tiny sprout is a weed or not, these seedlings leave no doubt – they are easy to recognize....

Most varieties are hardy to Zones 7 or 8, though some types can tolerate cooler weather. We’ll offer some specifics shortly. Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum The leek looks like a steroid-fueled green onion. It’s considerably fatter than a scallion, at one to three inches wide, and about twice as tall. But it totally wears the same outfit, albeit in a bigger size. It is in fact related to onions, offering a mild, sweet, onion-like flavor that is used to season any number of dishes – more on that later in this article....

Most varieties bloom throughout the summer and attract important pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, but they don’t appeal to deer. Jasminum spp. Jasmine is beloved for its climbing masses of delicate pinwheel flowers with an exquisite, sweetly floral fragrance that fills a room or garden. Highly ornamental vines and shrubs, they feature dainty flower clusters in shades of white, pink, and yellow, with the popular, summer-flowering poet’s jasmine being a familiar climber in many gardens....

Before you can take action, you’ll need to know what’s wrong with your crop. This article will run through the various diseases and pests you might find on your kale. Despite kale’s tendency to be healthy and vigorous, it can be vulnerable to both diseases and pests under certain conditions. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

Here’s what’s in store: Platycodon grandiflorus Balloon flower, Platycodon grandiflorus, is a native of the Russian Far East, China, Japan, and Korea that has become a garden sensation in the United States. A member of the Campanulaceae family that includes bellflower and lobelia, its common name derives from the puffy balloon-like buds that burst open into starry bell-like blossoms. In this article, you will learn how to grow and care for balloon flower in your landscape....

As indicated by the plant’s name, it is indigenous to China, Japan, and the Himalayas. Some call it Chinese witch hazel, for its membership in the Hamamelidaceae family. Loropetalum chinense Chinese fringe flower (Loropetalum chinense) has become a go-to shrub for southern gardeners in recent years, and for good reason. In addition to its attractive deep red leaves, this fast-growing plant puts on a breathtaking springtime display of fringy pink or white flowers....

As you’d expect from such large roots, these can take twice as long as table beets to mature. They also differ from their relatives in that they contain fewer vitamins and minerals, and have a texture that is quite a bit tougher. Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris var. altissima These days, it’s pretty common to stumble upon a home garden where nutritious red (and orange, purple, pink, golden, or striped) table beets are growing, but sugar beets are still mostly the domain of commercial and livestock growers....

Stunning and distinctive, the Rex Begonia is a semi-tropical perennial plant that grows in tropical and semitropical climates. With a jaw-dropping plumage, this plant is also known as painted leaf begonia due to its unique coloration! Let’s have a look at the top tips on the best Rex Begonia Care! Here are the most awesome types of rex begonia you can grow Rex Begonia Care Native to tropical regions, Rex Begonias thrive in bright indirect sunlight, and this allows their colors such as purples, pinks, greens, and silvers to be as vibrant as they can get....

Whether your style is neon-lights-bright or understated splashes of pastel, there are plants available in all shapes and sizes to brighten up your winter. Winter can always use some brightening up. Especially if, like me, you spend much of the season indoors, relaxing and catching up on your gardening reading. A cheery houseplant (or three) might be just the companion you need for your winter rejuvenation. And many houseplants will last for years if you provide them with the proper care....

But here’s what happened to my rhubarb: the broccoli grew so enormously tall that it blocked every ounce of light. To compensate, the rhubarb leaves grew as large as elephant ears and the stalks got long and floppy. Here’s one of the most important lessons I learned this summer: Broccoli and rhubarb are not good companion plants, if you squish them close together. I had read somewhere that they were great companions, so I stuck a rhubarb seedling in between two of my broccoli plants....

Determining the best coffee grinder was no easy task. We spent days comparing the results from top burr grinders from Smeg, Fellow, Breville, IZpresso, and other top brands to bring you our ultimate ranking. Millie tested these coffee grinders side-by-side in our test kitchen, but she also used them for a period of time before our official testing day to familiarize herself with each machine and its setup, and consider ease of use....

We’ll cover all the details about this shrub or small tree – including cultivars to choose for container growing so they can grace your garden with flowers that add a lingering aroma and stunning beauty, no matter where you live. Plumeria spp. If you’re curious about what kind of effort it takes to grow plumeria, you’ve come to the right place. Who wouldn’t want this gorgeous specimen in their landscape? Also called frangipani, it’s worth the effort to bring its bright, stunning blooms and interesting structure home, but you may be thrilled to learn that the work required is minimal....

And that’s where learning how to propagate them comes into play. Flowering bulbs make a wonderful addition to the garden, filling it with color and fragrance from early spring all the way through to mid-autumn. They take up very little space, work equally well in beds, borders, or containers, and are among the best plants for naturalizing in meadows and woodlands. And by choosing a selection that flowers at different times, you’ll always have something coming into bloom as the previous performers fade away....

All morning glory varieties benefit from the same basic growing conditions. Here’s a brief primer: Morning glories are the radish of the flowering vine family, easy to grow and fast, to boot. Most of the types of common morning glory, or Ipomoea purpurea, that you’re going to find grow as annuals, unless you’re in USDA Hardiness Zone 10 or 11. However, they are happy (and eager) to self-seed for a repeat performance next year....

In this article, we offer nine tips for successfully cultivating inkberry holly in your landscape. Ilex glabra Inkberry holly, Ilex glabra, aka gallberry, is an evergreen shrub that grows in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 11. Species plants achieve a mature stature of five to eight feet tall and wide. There are also compact cultivated varieties from which to choose. Native to the eastern shores of North America, I. glabra thrives in full sun with fertile soil....

From 500-watt security lights to a dozen or so strategically placed tea lights on the decking, lighting your garden can be an illuminating business. So why bother to brighten your garden at night? Well, it’s a cliché but true all the same – many of us now see the garden as an extra room, an extra living space that we want to use and enjoy. So it stands to reason that we want to spend as much time in it as possible – even when the moon’s out....