Prevent and treat tomato diseases to ensure your harvest of America’s favorite homegrown vegetable. Tomatoes are the most popular edible plant grown in backyard gardens. Homegrown tomatoes more tasty than store-bought tomatoes. Plus, tomato plants are quite productive and easy to grow. But you must prevent and treat tomato diseases to ensure a healthy harvest of homegrown tomatoes. That’s why the editors of Home, Garden and Homestead have put together this story about how to prevent and treat the five most common tomato diseases. Follow the tips below to grow the best crop of tasty tomatoes ever! Also, check for Tomato Disease Control Products on Amazon. Home Garden and Homestead receives a small commission on sales generated by the links in our stories. Prevent and Treat Tomato Diseases: Early Blight Early blight is a fungal disease that can affect tomatoes, causing leaf spots, stem lesions, and fruit rot. It's characterized by concentric rings on lower leaves, creating … [Read more...] about Prevent and Treat Tomato Diseases
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How to Grow Tomatoes in Containers
It’s easier than ever to grow tomatoes in containers. Here’s how. Tomatoes are the queens of the backyard vegetable garden, and growing vegetables is more popular than ever. But not everyone has a backyard with lots of space for an impressive garden plot. Fortunately, most flowers and many vegetables can be grown in containers. This makes growing vegetables such as tomatoes, squash, peppers, salad greens, and all types of flowers possible on decks, balconies, and other small spaces. Thanks to new types of growing containers and new dwarf varieties of popular plants, virtually anyone can successfully grow a fabulous garden. Quick Tips on Container Gardening There are a few important things to know about how to grow tomatoes in containers (or any kind of plant). Even before you select the pots or containers for your plants, pick the best location for your container garden. Tomato plants (and most vegetable plants) like at least 6 hours of full sun a day. So, pick a … [Read more...] about How to Grow Tomatoes in Containers
Best new vegetable seeds and plants for your garden
The best new vegetable seeds are the key to a bountiful summer harvest. Dozens of new varieties of vegetable garden seeds and starter plants are introduced every year. But how do you decide which ones deserve a place in your garden? As anticipation of a new gardening season gives way to planting season, it's time to see what new vegetable seeds are available. Then it's time to decide what you actually want to plant in your garden. This spring, seed companies have introduced an impressive selection of the new vegetable seeds. Some of these new vegetable varieties put a new spin on garden favorites. Others bring back heirloom selections that have a long history of outstanding garden production. Sometimes the best new vegetable seeds and plants offer bigger harvests and better hardiness. Sometimes the appeal is a different color, or a new variety designed especially for small gardens or container growing. The best new vegetable seeds presented here are sure to be among this … [Read more...] about Best new vegetable seeds and plants for your garden
Water Bath Canning for Beginners
Water bath canning for beginners is growing in popularity. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people have discovered (or rediscovered) backyard gardening. The result is more gardeners growing more fruits and vegetables. With a bounty of new homegrown produce, these new gardeners now want to know how to preserve their harvests. Preserving fresh fruits and vegetables is commonly known as “canning.” Most people do their canning in glass jars, such as the canning jars from companies such as Ball and Mason. The most familiar type of canning is what is known as a water bath canning. Water bath canning for beginners starts with cooking the fruits or vegetables according to USDA directions. The put the cooked produce in canning jars and process it in a water bath. It sounds a bit complicated, but it really isn’t at all. When I was growing up, the produce from the garden was harvested. Then my mother and grandmother spent days cutting up the fruits and vegetables. Next, the … [Read more...] about Water Bath Canning for Beginners
How to Harvest and Store Seeds
One of the easiest ways for gardeners to save money is to harvest and store seeds from their gardens. It’s easy. It’s fun. And harvesting and storing seeds is a tradition that goes back for many centuries. Fall and early winter is when you harvest and store seeds. For many gardeners, it’s the final activity of the garden season. Harvesting and storing seeds is a bittersweet way to say goodbye to one gardening season and look forward to the next one. You’ll be in good company when you start planting your stored seeds at the dawning of a new spring! How to Properly Harvest Seeds Harvesting your seeds is easy. You can get it done in these three steps: 1. Let the Plants Go to Seed Simply let a plant’s flowers go to seed. Think of a flower as a seed factory—because that’s exactly what it is. Leave the spent flowers on the plant so it can set seeds. Then, let the seeds dry on the plants. Don’t pluck them off before they are completely dry. And resist the temptation to … [Read more...] about How to Harvest and Store Seeds
