Short seasonal notes from Verna on what to plant, what is coming next, and how to care for the garden you are actually growing.
Carrots, beets and kale are built to live two years. Leave them in the ground over winter and they'll flower in spring. Why it happens, and what to do when it starts early.
Some plants get through winter outside on their own. Some need mulch and shelter. And some are worth a pot and a bright window. Here's how to tell which is which.
A hardiness zone tells you how cold your winters get, which is what you need to know before you buy a fruit tree or a perennial. What it's good for, and what it can't tell you about when to plant.
Some plants are worth pulling out this fall, roots and all. Others are worth leaving right where they are. What to clear, what to leave, and how to cover the bare soil.
Some fruit trees need a set amount of winter cold before they'll bloom. What chill hours are, what happens when a tree comes up short, and how to pick one that suits your winters.
Fall is the big planting in a hot climate, but lettuce seed won't come up in hot soil. How to tell your window has opened, and which greens last longest into spring.
The first cold night rarely ends a garden. What's worth covering, what's better left alone, and why several plants are improved by the cold.
September isn't the end of the growing season in most gardens. What still has time to go in, and why fall sowings run slower than the seed packet says.
The forecast comes from a station miles away, over open ground. Your garden has walls, slope and shade. How to read the microclimates you already have.
If you garden somewhere hot, summer is the season you get through. Here is how the hot-climate year really runs, and what to plant as the heat lets go.
The seed packet gives you an estimate. The plant gives you a signal. How to tell when each vegetable is actually ready to pick.
Onions wait for the day to reach a certain length before they start a bulb. Which onion suits you comes down to where you garden.
August is not the end of the growing season, it is the start of the fall one. What to plant now, and how to tell what still has time where you garden.
A first frost date is a midpoint, not a deadline, and frost can land a couple of weeks either side. A calmer way to think about fall timing.
Midsummer is when a fall garden gets set up. What to sow now, and how to know what still has time where you garden.
July is peak season for the heat lovers, and there is still time to add to them. What to start now, and what to hold.
A fall garden begins in summer heat. The seeds to start in July, plus tips for getting them up in hot, dry soil.
Why summer sowings stall, and the simple fixes that get them up: steady moisture, a little more depth, and shade until they sprout.
The simple habit that keeps fresh salad coming all season instead of arriving all at once.
Plant it in fall, harvest it next summer. What to know before you plant, from seed garlic to hardneck versus softneck.