You Think You Need Citrus for Vitamin C? Guess Again!
You have to hand it to the Florida Citrus Growers. Back 50 years or more they marketed oranges, and orange juice heavily, promoting them as a source of vitamin C. At a time…
Discover Our World
Get all the latest insight into the world of plants, from experts.
How Much of our Food is Wild? – Almost None
Most people are aware that almost all the meat we eat comes from domesticated animals, which is part of the reason ‘wild’ salmon and game like deer is seen as so special. When…
The Pawpaw Tree, America’s Tropical Fruit
A walk through the fruit section at the grocery store is a cornucopia of colors, shapes and flavors. But no matter the season, or how large the range is, there is one fruit…
Pest & Disease Control on Grape Vines in Home Gardens
Few things are as satisfying as harvesting your own vegetables and fruits. Vegetable growing is generally easy, but many gardeners want to ‘upgrade’ to fruits. While some, like strawberries, are pretty easy, things…
Keeping Shrubs & Trees in Planters Alive Through the Winter
Many gardeners think no further than annual flowers when they think about planting containers. Others see it as a great way to grow shrubs and trees, especially if you have a courtyard garden,…
Mutiny on the Bounty Might Never have Happened – the Astounding Story of Breadfruit
The stories of how so many of our garden and food plants were found, and arrived, might sound like dry, boring history – but it isn’t. the incredible tales of explorers bent on…
How To Grow an Avocado Tree (that gives you avocados)
In a previous blog post we looked at the principle of growing your own avocados. Of course for that you need an avocado tree, but, as we explain in that post, NOT ONE…
Grow Your Own Avocados – (but not from a stone)
Once upon a time, avocados were an exotic, rare fruit, perhaps appearing in that Tex-Mex staple, guacamole, as a dip with beer, but otherwise hardly seen at all. How things have changed. Today…
Sweet or Sour? What are the different kinds of cherries?
Growing fruit in your own garden is always a thrill, but it does take some effort – more than just picking up a tree at random and planting it. On our site we…
The Peach Comes to America
Nothing says ‘summer’ like a ripe peach, but where did this delicious fruit come from, and how has it come to be so ‘American’, when it’s roots can be traced back to ancient…
The Fabulous Tale of Figs
Figs are the oldest fruit, certainly being eaten many thousands of years ago all around the Mediterranean and in the Middle East. Fresh figs are today the goal of home gardeners, who want…
Meet the Belles of the Bowl – a New Range of Ornamental Strawberries to Enjoy
Growing edible plants in your flower garden is a hot trend right now, and everyone is planting everything from zucchini to potatoes in their beds. We have been doing this for years with…
Growing Peaches on Walls – Espalier Fruit Trees
Who doesn’t love peaches? Melt-in-the-mouth, buttery, sweet and fragrant – nothing beats that bite into a ripe peach, and no ripe peach tastes like one you grew yourself and just picked, still warm…
How to Grow Blueberries in Pots
Everyone loves blueberries – they are America’s #2 berry (after strawberries) – and we just love them in muffins and pancakes, in pies and smoothies, scattered over cereal or just popped straight into…
Bushel & Berry® – a Fantastic New Way for Everyone to Grow Berries
Nothing beats a bowl of berries – fresh, juicy, tangy and sweet – delicious! If you are a berry lover, nothing truly beats the taste of berries fresh from the bush, perhaps still…
Chilling Hours – What They Are and Why They Matter
Gardening, love of good food, and a desire to protect our own and our family’s health have all come together in the biggest gardening trend of the moment – growing food at home….
Aronia – Meet a New Healthy Berry That’s Easy to Grow at Home
If you are out front of the latest health trends you may have heard already about the Aronia, or Chokeberry. These small black berries are being widely promoted for their powerful antioxidant content,…
Grow Your Own Nuts
When we think of ‘home grown’, it is usually vegetables, or fruit, that most people think of. Yet there is a valuable food – nuts – that is often overlooked. Yet nut growing…
Pick the Right Persimmon
Persimmon fruits have become hot items in the produce department in the last few years. these exotic-looking bright orange fruits, which look a little like a beefsteak tomato, are available in late fall…
Nuts About Pecans? – Then Grow Your Own
These days it seems everyone is talking about – and eating – nuts. The peanut – not a nut at all, but a type of bean – is of course central to American…
Growing Grapes at Home
So you want to grow some grape vines? Perhaps you are interested in making wine, or perhaps you want to enjoy top-quality grapes for the table, picked right from your garden. Perhaps you…
Growing Peaches in Your Garden
Peaches are such luscious fruits, and so delicious to eat, that it seems hard to believe they are also among the easiest of fruit trees to grow, and ideal for smaller gardens, since…
Grow Muscadine Grapes – the Best Grapes You Will Ever Taste
If you live outside the South, the chances are your grape-eating experience is limited to the green, seedless grapes sold in supermarkets. If that is so, then you have been missing out on…
Pick Figs from Your Own Garden
Figs hold a special place among the many kinds of fruits we eat. They have a unique quality that goes well with savory foods, especially ham and soft cheeses, or added to salads….
How to Grow Berry Bushes – What Ones Should I Grow?
Fresh fruit is one of the great pleasures of life, and home-grown is always superior in just about every way. But growing fruits like peaches, pears, and even apples is not easy, and…
Pollinate Your Citrus Trees for a Bumper Crop
Growing oranges, lemons, limes or other citrus fruits in pots is a popular activity. Planting them in a container means you can grow your own citrus, no matter where you live. They spend…
Useful Tips for Pruning Fruit Trees
As winter moves hesitantly into spring, and the worst weather has passed in your area, its time to turn your thoughts to preparing the garden for another season. If you are lucky enough…
5 Trees That Make the Perfect Gift
Gift-giving is a big part of the holiday season. Besides family and friends, it is common to give gifts to pets too – a bone for the dog, a catnip mouse for the…
Tips on Overwintering Patio Trees
One of the pleasures of gardening is growing plants from outside your hardiness zone. There are many trees and bushes that will grow happily for most of the year, but in winter your…
Grow the Ideal Lemon, Wherever You Live
If you can only grow one citrus tree, the lemon is the ideal choice. It takes a lot of oranges to make a pint of juice, and not everyone loves grapefruit, which anyway…
Navel or Valencia – Which Orange for Me?
Everyone loves oranges, for that summer in the mouth feeling you get popping a juicy segment, or drinking a glass of freshly-squeezed juice. When it comes from your own tree, then nothing beats…
Growing Citrus Trees in Pots
Citrus fruits are among the healthiest and most popular fruits around. Besides being great to eat, naturally or juiced, they have all sorts of uses in the kitchen, from salads and desserts to…
Welcome Back to the American Chestnut
We hear a lot today about the loss of species, and mass extinctions. Yet less than a hundred years ago there was a mass extinction on a huge scale right here in North…
Apple Tree Diseases
Apples are one of the best fruit-tree choices for gardeners in cooler areas. The give a good yield of the most versatile and the most popular fruit there is, and they thrive in…
How and When To Prune Fruit Trees
Growing your own fruit is incredibly satisfying, and it’s a lot easier than you might think, but you will need to do some basic tree care to ensure a rich and regular crop….
Pecan Tree Leaves
There are a few reasons why people turn to the internet to ask a question about pecan tree leaves, from descriptions of the leaves to find out what those funny lumps or marks…
Indoor Lemon Tree
Growing your own lemons is easy if you live in California or Florida, but for most Americans the climate means it isn’t an option. Or does it? In fact if you know what…
Avocado Tree Care
Avocados are a great source of nutrients, including vitamins B, C, E and K, and are loaded with healthy monounsaturated fats. An avocado-rich diet can lower cholesterol levels and might have other health…
Do Peanuts Grow On Trees
Looking at how popular peanuts are as a snack, you probably wouldn’t think that up until the 1930s most of the US crop was used as animal feed. The USDA had been trying…
How Do Pistachios Grow
Pistachios are one of the most popular nuts, but they can be expensive. Their distinctive taste and naturally split shell gives them an exotic appearance and that adds to their premium image, but…
Peach Tree Care
Having your own peach tree at home is an appealing thought. It’s a relatively fast-growing tree that usually starts producing fruit in its third year, so you can see results quite quickly –…
How To Grow Pumpkins
There is a wide variety of fruits and vegetables you can grow with little effort in most places. Whatever the conditions of your soil, or the weather it is subjected to, there is…
Grafting Fruit Trees
For most non-experts, grafting is one of the strangest things gardeners do. After all if you want a new apple tree the easiest thing to do is just plant a seed and grow…
Growing Apple Trees
Despite all the more exotic fruits around today, apples remain the top favorite with almost everyone. Their balance of sweet and sharp flavor, combined with great portability is the reason why. There is…