Recent content by Branching Out

Interesting question. The foliage of micro-dwarf tomatoes is dense and often contacts the soil, which would certainly invite disease. And it's not like you can just trim off all of those lower leaves, as they are sometimes the only leaves on the plant. Perhaps improvements could be had by...

I've been trying to start a couple of kinds of lettuce seed every two weeks, in an effort to have at least some fresh lettuce all summer long. The latest batch is Little Gem Romaine and Balls Afire, which is a small compact crisphead. Basil has been finicky for us this year, so there's a tray...

Orange Dream is a new micro-tomato for me this year. I started 22 seeds on March 12th, with the thought of sharing a bunch of seedlings with friends. Germination was good, however one by one many of them succumbed, kind of like a tomato version of Survivor. In the end only nine plants made it...

Cool-- welcome to the forum! 🌿

We have a really pretty hydrangea in full sun, and on hot days the blossoms curl up in protest. I have taken to covering the plant with a sheet during the worst of the heat, to shade it and to conserve moisture. It looks kind of funny, but it's better than having shrivelled up blossoms. We...

Trying to balance garden fatigue with a desire to have lots of crops to harvest by late August. Yesterday I spent six hours pruning our Londense Privet hedge, partly to give it a nice clean shape and partly because I wanting the clippings to mulch my tomato plants. It was a big job, and at...

Yesterday I mulched a large bean and pepper bed with straw, filled some extremely large containers to plant three Mountain Magic tomatoes, spent time crushing dry brassica pods and winnowing seed. The brassica seed is from about ten different cultivars and is likely all crossed up, so it will...

Hello Rod, :frow -- And welcome to the forum from British Columbia! That's a LOT of snow in the January photo. You certainly garden with extremes in Nevada. I look forward to watching your gardening journey through the page of The Easy Garden.

Thanks for asking digitS'! I have run into a little snag, in that I am not able to discern any noticeable difference that would lead me to believe I have a successful cross of red and green Romaine. All of the lettuce plants look very similar so far, suggesting that either all of them are...

Sounds like you're working hard and having fun at the same time Heirloomgal-- fantastic. 😍

Many seed companies advertise heat tolerant lettuce varieties. Renees Garden offers quite a few; perhaps there is a UK company with similar offerings? From my past experience Jester is very good for summer growing, and a tiny butterhead called Tom Thumb has been exceptionally heat-tolerant in...

I have tried part shade, and full shade, with poor results. It may be just too hot and dry for them. I'm going to try to water them daily if I can to see if that helps. Every year I try something new though, and maybe one of these days we'll figure out the secret for growing lettuce in...

That's a LOT of cilantro! Lol. One of my garden paths is solid cilantro from dropped seed as well. It's flowering right now, and it's very pretty. I donated a bunch of cilantro seed to the local seed library last fall. Recently the librarian advised me that when she went to package up the...

The first nasturtiums are in bloom now, which is always a welcome sight. Recently I decided to try my hand at propagating them by cuttings, as I need an easy heat-tolerant plant to fill a large garden bed once I remove a bunch of ranunculas that are finishing. My nasturtiums self-sowed from...

I'm growing Artist Gherkins again this year, since they were so very productive for us last summer. This morning I ate a couple of small ones, and then I found this big one on the ground. It kind of became my breakfast. Later we went out to a brew pub for lunch, and a guy at the next table...