It’s not too late to continue to enjoy your garden and to add new plantings. You can grow a variety of produce in Kentucky gardens in the coming weeks and have several fresh items available well into the fall.

Cooler nights later in the year can increase the sugar content of many crops and thus increase their quality. Cooler nights also slow growth, so your crops can take longer to mature than in the summer. Keep this slower pace in mind when you check seeds for days to maturity. Continue reading →

Without doubt, tomatoes are home gardeners favorite vegetable to grow. After preparing your soil, selecting the best variety and planting, comes providing support.

There are many ways to grow tomatoes, but in a small garden, upright supports are often used to save space. This method provides other benefits as well as saving space. When
tomatoes are grown off the ground, they will not be damaged by ground rots and will be out of reach of some insects. They will be easier to harvest and easier to treat for insect or diseases and will produce fruits that are cleaner and larger. Continue reading →

When you measure your gardening experience in decades rather than years, you’ve adopted new techniques and eliminated some old ones. Over the seasons, one of the traditions I’ve changed is the long single rows of vegetables with wide spaces between rows. Due to easier maintenance and increased yield, I’ve changed to more intensive gardening. Intensive gardening reduces wasted space to a minimum; however, it isn’t just for people who lack land resources. An intensive vegetable garden concentrates work efforts to create an ideal plant environment, giving higher yields with less labor. This idea isn’t new as “Square Foot Gardening” has advocated these ideals for decades. Don’t get the idea there isn’t still work involved, as weeding by hand or with hand tools is still required, although due to closer plant spacing fewer weeds should be present. Mulching with an organic material between plants is an integral part of the intensive system. Continue reading →

It has been a hard year in the garden. The heat and drought left our plants looking pitiful for most of the summer. If you feel like the time has come to put the garden to bed for the season, why not plant a cover crop? Cover crops can add organic matter to the soil, reduce soil erosion, weed suppression, and help to maintain the integrity of the soil. Continue reading →

With springtime finally here, we turn our attention to the vegetable garden. Getting your transplants up and growing will give you some delicious homegrown produce in the months to come. Continue reading →

With warmer weather often comes ‘Spring Fever’. Home gardeners hit hard with this condition might often be tempted to rush to do their spring tilling when the ground is wet. Don’t make this mistake as you can potentially damage the structure of your garden soil for years to come. Continue reading →

Each year new people get into vegetable gardening. Success or failure of home vegetable production can depend on many things, but some major reasons for failure are negligence, not following the proper instructions and not keeping up with current vegetable developments. Continue reading →

Some homeowner’s fall gardens are in full swing now. However, a majority of home gardeners seem to prefer skipping the fall garden ritual as they are ready to forget about dealing with plant disease and insects in the vegetative garden until next spring. Even so, this time of year is actually the perfect time to start controlling next year’s disease and insects. A little work in the fall can prevent a lot of trouble next spring. Continue reading →

Fall is a beautiful time in Kentucky gardens, but it can also be a messy time. Tree leaves turn from green to vibrant fall colors and then drop, creating big piles. Then there are the leaf and spent shoots from our flower beds. The way we address our yard waste can have a significant impact on our gardens and on the environment. Gardeners commonly rake up and bag leaves to haul away to yard waste dumps. Continue reading →