Flower gardeners aren’t the only ones that can appreciate a bit of color and ornamental accents in the garden. So while vegetable growers may not be able to smell the roses, there’s no shortage of blossoms and blooms to catch the eye and other senses in an edible garden.

Here’s a small sampling of the interesting, attractive and unusual flowers that you will find on display in the backyard vegetable plot:

Nasturtium flowers are edible of course and add a bite of peppery flavor in the kitchen and mounds of  colorful blooms in the garden. The leaves can also be eaten and there are some varieties with variegated foliage.

Tansy is a medicinal herb that serves double duty as a great veggie garden companion and a plant that can be useful in attracting beneficial insects and encouraging them to make themselves at home.

Black Eyed Peas have surprisingly beautiful flowers and this photo doesn’t nearly do the colors justice. You need to get an early start to catch this one because the shy blooms quickly fade and disappear as the sun rises.

Okra is one of my favorite vegetable flowers that makes for a pretty sight even before the blossom has fully opened. The tropical looking flowers quickly develop into tasty okra pods. Continue Reading About “Vegetable Gardens Have Flowers Too!” »

The latest issue of the Gardening Secrets Newsletter was sent out last week to all of the subscribers on my email list. If you didn’t receive your free copy you know what to do; just head on over and sign up for the newsletter while the August edition is still available.

Now Featured in the Organic Gardening Newsletter

The main focus this month is on growing sweet potatoes in the home garden. Rumors are put to rest about sweet potatoes being a difficult crop to grow. The newsletter also discusses the importance of keeping your seed stock disease free, and shares a new process that can clean-up sweet potato strains that have become infected.

The featured article also discloses that all sweet potatoes are not the same and that there’s a long list of heirloom varieties that you are not likely to have seen or tasted. Sources for quality sweet potato seed stock and tips for growing, curing, and storing the harvest are offered as well.

Gardening Tips, Tricks, and Reader Contributions

Gardening tips covered in the newsletter include an idea for extending the broccoli harvest and producing multiple heads from each plant with almost no additional effort on the gardener’s part. I also reveal time and labor saving techniques used to make irrigating the veggie garden a less involved affair. Continue Reading About “Gardening Secrets Newsletter August 2009″ »

It seems like many of you are pretty creative when it comes to designing unique supports for tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and other climbing vegetables and fruits. Last time P.J. shared his trellising blueprint with us and today John reveals how to construct a totally different style of plant support:

Hi Kenny!  You’ve been a big help to me in the past with my gardening stuff, so I just kind of wanted to show you what I got going on out there with my tomatoes.  You had mentioned the problems you had with cages and trellises… I did too so I started making my own trellises.

Creating an Attractive and Sturdy Tomato Support

They cost about 10 bucks each to make and take about 2-3 hours each, but they never bend or break, can be used for years and years, and I think they look beautiful.  These are not buried in the ground.

I used 4  pieces of 6 inch pipe  about 18 inches long… filled them with pea gravel about 6 inches, put in the trellis, leveled it, then filled it to the top with pea gravel (actually the top ½ inch is white marble for looks).  This way, the boards NEVER rot, I can remove it annually and redo stain and waterproof if necessary and the whole process of removal and re-installation takes about 10 minutes. Continue Reading About “Another Trellis Design for the Veggie Garden” »

After unveiling his impressive first vegetable garden recently, PJ received questions about the tall structures that towered over the plants and was kind enough to return and explain his veggie trellises and provide the details for constructing a similar one in your own backyard garden:

Those tall things are actually my trellises for cucumbers, beans and peas. They are made from 2” x 4” x 8’ cedar, ripped lengthwise (@ 1.50” x 1.50” square). Before I cut them I marked out in 7 inch increments starting from the top.

Constructing a Sturdy Trellis for the Vegetable Garden

AFTER I ran them through the table saw I picked my upright pieces and tapered the ends so I could drive them into the ground easier, then picked my top sections and drove in a 1” roofing nail at each 7” line, centered on the width, leaving about an 1/8” between the head of the nail and the wood to allow for the string.

I then laid out my top pieces in the area I wanted to make my trellises and marked the spots for the uprights; my longest trellis is 15’ long so it needed a center post. I drove the uprights into the ground about 18 inches using a fence post driver that you use for setting chain link fence posts (available at any big box home supply store), leaving about 6-1/2 feet above ground. Continue Reading About “Vertical Supports for Trellising Vegetables” »

Craving a cross pollinated Spaghetti-Nugget-Dumpling Squash? How about a rare spotted Butternut-Scallop-Acorn delight? Or even a gigantic Hubbard-Cushaw-Pumpkin variety? And who could do without a lovely wart covered Crookneck-Turban-Gourded beauty?

Well here are a few reports of mysterious, unidentified, mutated, or simply cross pollinated squashes that have been making appearances in backyard gardens this summer. The first sighting was reported by Anita who gardens in Ontario, Canada, in the Kawartha Lakes area.

Mysterious Canadian Squash Seeking Identification

“This mystery squash turned up in my garden.  I planted sweet potato squash, spaghetti squash and patty pan’s.  I did not plan on this squash, picture attached.  This monster started to surpass the sweet potato squash in size, it then changed colour, as in it was looking like a sweet potato squash, which are still creamy coloured and they are much smaller.”

“Do you think this could be a cross between a spaghetti squash and a sweet potato squash?  Or could it be a zucchini?  I cooked it and it was really watery and had the stringy texture of a spaghetti squash, but sweet and nutty flavoured.  The skin was also very soft after baking it, not tough as you would expect for the size of this, which I consider large, for this time of year in Northern Ontario.” Continue Reading About “Mystery Squash; a Backyard Garden Favorite” »

Yesterday Bob Guillow from the Garden Manuals website shared a list of common sense disease preventive practices for the backyard vegetable garden. Today Bob returns to identify a few of the major diseases that you may encounter, and also offers suggestions to keep them under control…

There are both chemical and non-chemical controls for solving disease problems. It should be noted that fungicides should be used only as a last resort, when all other control tactics have been exhausted. Many of these products are highly toxic, rating a signal word of “danger” or “warning.”

Common Diseases that are Present in Backyard Gardens

The following are some of the most common diseases you’ll be faced with along with some information on the plants they attack and some remedies – both chemical and non-chemical:

Bacterial Wilt – A common disease of cucumbers, bacterial wilt also afflicts muskmelons, squash and pumpkins. Most troublesome east of the Rockies, it is prevalent during moist weather. Cucumber beetles feeding on foliage usually spread it. Symptoms include rapid wilting of plants and death of young seedlings.

Check for the disease by cutting a stem near the base and squeezing it; if present, bacteria will ooze out in a sticky mass. Try using floating covers to keep beetles off plants or spray with pyrethrin. Continue Reading About “Common Plant Diseases and Helpful Organic Controls” »

Blights, wilts, and viruses, are just a few of the terms that many backyard gardeners have received a rude and unwanted introduction to this growing season. Bob Guillow publishes the site at Garden Manuals and stops by today to share the following information about plant diseases and tips for reducing their impact in your vegetable garden:

Although diseases can appear despite your best efforts, if you’re familiar with their symptoms and the controls that can be used against them, you’ll have a better chance of stopping them before they can become a problem.

Sensible Cultural Practices to Keep Plant Diseases at Bay

While good gardening practices will fend off many diseases, you can’t always prevent a disease from attacking a prized plant. To help keep plant problems under control, try taking the following steps:

• Transplant Carefully – This minimizes root damage. When broken, roots are susceptible to certain soil born diseases.
• Keep Plants Healthy – Give them the water, light and fertilizer they need to flourish. Continue Reading About “Plant Disease Prevention in the Vegetable Garden” »

I grow lots of leafy green vegetables because they are so productive, nutritious, easy to cultivate, and just plain delicious. An assortment of greens also adds a range of color, new shapes, and interesting textures to the ornamental style edible garden.

Unfortunately some of the more popular leafy greens, such as lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and arugula can struggle, turn bitter, or resort to bolting and splitting as temperatures rise. This year I planted a number of uncommon greens that have continued to grow comfortably; even after the summer days turned humid, hot, and steamy!

Leafy Greens that are Perfect for the Dog Days of Summer:

Malva – Maybe you’re familiar with the wild and edible weed called malva or common mallow. It has small, dark green, round shaped leaves and purple to white flowers. This cultivated variety grows much taller and larger in the garden. Domesticated malva has lighter green leaves that are huge in comparison and more succulent than their wild cousins. Continue Reading About “Cool Greens that Stand up to Summer Heat” »