Early Garden

On the surface black plastic mulch and underground soaker hose irrigation seem to be the perfect pair when dealing with the demands of pepper plants. But peppers are highly demanding in both temperature and water requirements and our two garden aides can create as many problems as they solve.

Kozy Coats are a good season extender for plants like tomatoes, but just how durable are they?

One of my favorite yearly traditions is the arrival of the garden seed mail order catalogs in winter. After enjoying looking at the pictures for a few weeks it becomes time to get down to business and start selecting seeds for the growing season. But how do you choose? Here’s some tips.

The leaves are turning yellow, then brown, then drying and falling off. Is it a disease? Is it the weather? Is it my watering habits? Is it the variety? Is it in my soil? I’ve got an early garden tip for next spring that may finally help solve your tomato problems.

I couldn’t live without soaker hose irrigation under black plastic mulch for crops like peppers and melons. I even use soaker hoses on open ground for my tomatoes and flowers because they make watering so easy. Having used these for nearly as long as I’ve been gardening I’ve gathered together some tips to make your experience with soaker hoses a little nicer.

For the most part we use season extenders to help get our garden out early while it is still somewhat cold outside, but there is another legitimate use - plant protection. That is, protecting plants that you just can’t stand to lose to conditions like cold, wind or hail.

Last year I started my own tomato transplant indoors under fluorescent lights but for the first time they were long, leggy, weak and suffered transplant shock. This year I adjusted the light intensity, watering frequency, temperature and simulated the wind in a perfect mix to get tomato transplants that were already hardy before going outside.

How can you make the best situation in a year where you get a late start to your otherwise early garden? Walking through the greenhouse the other day I had a great idea.

Here’s some tips on how to maximize the effectiveness of your black plastic or IRT solar mulch to help you get through a cool night in your garden.

How to keep your precious garden from freezing when an unforecast frost hits in spring or late summer.