Tree Kale Can Live for 20 Years

Robert Steele, who maintains a thriving vegetable garden in West Covina, always has something new to teach, especially in the area of pest control, a trade in which he worked professionally for many ...

How to Grow Pumpkins

I’m hoping you can help me with my pumpkin problem.  For the past few years, I have planted pumpkin seeds, mainly for my granddaughters to watch the growing process.  I always get beautiful flo...

The History of Corn and How to Grow It

It’s already August, but you can still plant corn, and you can thank the efforts of New England Indian tribes for this late summer option for your vegetable garden. Having received their first corn t...

Health Benefits of Chickpeas

There is something mystical about gardening, an activity whose highest expression depends on turning death into life. If you really want to be good to your plants, if you want them to grow in a maxim...

Tomato Pollination

Q: I have a beautiful tomato plant growing in a container on my patio. It faces west and gets plenty of sun. I feed it according to the instructions on the fertilizer box, and while the plant itself ...

90 Year Old Grows Abundant Tomato Crops

“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away.” These words of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the famous author, came to mind durin...

Zucchini is Easy

A recent e-mail served as a reminder that zucchini squash is one of the easiest plants to grow. Many of the fruits and vegetables we harvest in our back yards are smaller than the versions we see of ...

Bountiful Tomatoes Year After Year

Thirty years ago, Arlene Gantman planted tomatoes in several sections of her Van Nuys back yard. Her initial attempts enjoyed a bountiful harvest that first year. Every year since, she has planted to...

How to Grow More Vegetables

“How to Grow More Vegetables” (Ten Speed Press, $30) is a set of directives that, if followed to the letter, could radically change your life. “How to Grow More Vegetables” by John Jeavons has been t...

Garlic, Potatoes, & Other Crops

If you have a plot of land with hard, gritty soil and want to grow vegetables and flowers, you can achieve your objectives without much trouble or expense. All you need is a horse or two, a few packe...