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What is a Snake Gourd? As its name not so cunningly suggests, a snake gourd is a gourd available in two varieties in the United States. Ornamental snake gourds are long, hard-shelled gourds grown as a curio in the garden, while their counterparts are edible, wax-skinned gourds (Trichosanthes anguina or T. cucumerina) that taste much like a cucumber. Additional snake gourd info describes the interior of the striped, speckled fruit as being red, seeded, and slightly slimy....

Common Snapdragon Problems Although beautiful and intricate, snapdragons can be afflicted with a number of problems. From fungus to mildew, viruses to pest bugs, snapdragon problems can be plentiful. This is why it’s so important to know what to watch for, in case your plants were to take a turn. Early warning signs can help you diagnose an issue before it becomes a serious problem. These are just a few of the most common offenders when it comes to snapdragon pests and diseases: Viruses....

How to Tell Which Soil You Have by the Weeds Oftentimes, improving the soil can eliminate or deter various types of weeds from returning. Understanding weeds as indicators of soil conditions will help you improve your lawn. The battle with weeds will most likely never be won. Garden soil conditions and weeds go hand in hand, so why not take advantage of the clues given for soil types and use the weeds to identify potential problems....

Southwest Gardening in September September in the Southwest is a beautiful time of year. Temperatures during the day are no longer in the triple digits and the evenings are delightful and cooler. Most gardens are still in full swing, and it is a good time to plant cole crops such as broccoli, cabbage, and kale. Harvesting on many vegetables is in full swing and crops like persimmons and citrus are beginning to ripen....

Signs Squirrels are Eating Tomatoes A sign of squirrel damage is medium to large holes chewed in one side of a tomato. Sometimes, a squirrel may eat a whole tomato, but in a seemingly malicious behavior, they usually take bites out of multiple tomatoes, ruining all of them for you. Squirrels are active during the daytime, so if the damage appears overnight, another mammal is the likely culprit. You may also see small holes in your garden or in nearby containers, indicating that a squirrel has been digging there....

Staghorn Ferns and Cold In the wild, staghorn ferns are epiphytes, which grow on tree trunks, branches, or rocks in very warm, humid tropical forests. In warm enough climates, like southern Florida, staghorn fern spores, which are carried upon wind, have been known to naturalize, creating huge plants in the crotches of native trees like live oak. Although large trees or rocky outcrops host staghorn fern plants, the staghorn ferns do not cause any damage or harm to their hosts....

Zone 4 Seed Starting Indoors In zone 4, we can experience frost sometimes as late as May 31st and as early as October 1st. This short growing season can mean that some plants will need to be started from seed indoors several weeks before the last expected frost date in order to reach their full potential before autumn. When to start these seeds indoors depends on the plant. Below are different plants and their typical planting times indoors....

How to Store Kohlrabi Plants The leaves of young kohlrabi can be eaten much like spinach or mustard greens and should be eaten as soon as possible. If you aren’t going to eat them the day they were harvested, trim the leaves from the stem and then place them in a Ziploc baggie with a damp paper towel in the crisper of your refrigerator. Storing kohlrabi leaves in this manner will keep them fresh and edible for about a week....

Summer Set Tomato Info Tomato plants often abort flowers when temperatures are too high. To prevent this problem, selecting a breed that is resistant to heat is recommended. The Summer Set variety is both heat and humidity resistant. These are two of the harshest conditions in which to grow tomatoes, often resulting in flower loss and cracking on any tomatoes that do form. Here are some tips on how to grow Summer Set tomatoes and finally reap a bumper crop of fruit....

Teenage Garden Design If you’ve been wanting to get your teens in the garden, teenage garden design is a way to accomplish that end. Instead of forcing your teens out into the family garden, you create teen hangout gardens for them to enjoy. Teen hangout gardens are similar to the dens earlier generations made for their adolescents. Like dens, gardens for teenagers are separate from adult areas – built and furnished just for young people, and they are outside where most teenagers like to be....

About Butternut Harvesting Butternuts, or white walnuts, are tolerant of a variety of poor soils but do require well-draining soil. The nuts resemble walnuts and are encased in a sticky husk inside a knobbed shell. Butternuts are richer, creamier, and sweeter than walnuts but are rarely cultivated. They are also susceptible to fungal infections. The incidence for fungal infection combined with the fact that the tree is difficult to propagate are the greatest impediments to commercial cultivation....

More About Tomatoes The tomato isn’t only the most popular crop grown in the home garden but is arguably the most versatile culinary used whether stewed, roasted, pureed, fresh, dried, or even smoked. Tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and C, low in calories, and a source of lycopene (the “red” in tomatoes), which has been tapped as a cancer fighting agent. Typically, the space requirements for tomatoes are minimal, with the fruit being easy to grow and adaptable to many climates....

Yellow Shoulder Disorder Yellow or green tomato shoulders are the result of high heat. The shoulder of a tomato is that soft rounded area at the top that borders the stem scar. When it fails to color, the tomato isn’t as visually appealing and lacks flavor and vitamins in that area. This is not a failure to ripen but an interior problem with the tissues. Yellow shoulder in tomatoes can also be caused by seeds susceptible to the disease, low levels of potassium in soil, and alkaline pH levels....

Trailing Rosemary Plant Info Trailing, or creeping, rosemary is a cultivar of the herbaceous shrubs of Mediterranean origin. The evergreen perennial is useful trained over fences, rockeries, and raised beds. It is an attractive groundcover over time with its fine, leathery foliage and sweet flowers. Rosemary groundcover provides scented foliage which helps minimize weeds and is an excellent foil for other dry landscape plants. Rosemary is an excellent xeriscape plant with high drought tolerance once established....

You must know first when to move a passionflower vine and finally how to transplant a passion vine to ensure the plant’s continued health. Soil type, lighting, and vine protection are the final considerations. A step-by-step analysis of how to transplant a passion vine will have you on the road to success and see a future filled with juicy fruit. Can You Transplant Passion Vines? There are around 400 species of Passiflora, most of which are tropical to sub-tropical....

Powdery Mildew on Rosemary Perhaps you’ve noticed a white powder on your rosemary plants in your kitchen. If so, you aren’t alone. The white powder is actually powdery mildew on rosemary, a common plant ailment. It is caused by many different fungi that are closely related. This is one of the most common problems with growing rosemary plants, and all indoor plants actually. Each indoor plant has a white powdery mildew that is specific to that particular plant....

What is a Transplant Spade? A transplant spade looks a lot like a modified shovel. It has a long handle that makes it easy to use from a standing position. Instead of being wide and tapered for moving soil, however, the blade is slender, long, and the same width all the way down. And rather than coming to a point, the bottom of the blade often has a gentler curve to it....

Pruning Photinia Shrubs Unfortunately, cutting back photinia shrubs also encourages the spread of a devastating fungus, commonly known as photinia leaf spot, that favors the tender new leaves of the shrub. So let’s begin by saying that if you live in an area plagued by this leaf spot, pruning photinia, particularly those grown close together, is not a good idea. If you feel you must, then when to prune red tip photinia becomes crucial....

Strawberries are a signature of summer, featuring prominently in fruit salads and fresh desserts. You may find the berries while out on a hike, tiny little red fruits, much smaller than the supermarket variety. These are wild strawberries and have a powerful, sweet flavor which belies their small size. Many even think these are preferable to store bought. But are wild strawberries safe to eat? Wild edible strawberries are safe provided they have not been in contact with chemicals or other contaminants....

Ideas for a Recycled Water Feature This is a great DIY project for anyone who likes to tinker with materials and put them together to make something new. Sure, you can buy a fountain from the nursery or garden store, but how much rewarding would it be to make your own creative version. Here are some ideas for old materials you can turn into DIY water features: Stack galvanized steel buckets and tubs, barrels, watering cans, or old flower pots you don’t need any more to make a cascading fountain....