These woody, perennial shrubs aren’t the same thing as quince fruit trees. Both belong to the rose family, Rosaceae, but fruiting quince trees are the sole members of the Cydonia genus. Flowering quince, on the other hand, refers to species in the Chaenomeles genus. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Suitable for cultivation in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 9, these attractive plants are one of spring’s earliest harbingers....

I consider it the perfect starter vegetable for the newbie who wants a great return with minimal effort, and the ideal upgrade for a veteran green thumb looking to fill the freezer with tasty produce. When this veggie garden overachiever is an attractive butter yellow color, as is the case with golden zucchini, that’s just one more benefit (or as we say in the South, “one more jewel in the crown”)....

While it comes from regions that sport some pretty inhospitable environments, heathers have learned to adapt to all kinds of areas. With flowers that range from white to neon pink, it can add color to the dreariest winter garden, or offer up nearly maintenance-free interest during the hottest summer months. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

They can also be used medicinally, or even to make a sourdough starter! The trees that produce them thrive across the Northern Hemisphere, and if you live somewhere with extreme temperature variations between heat and cold, and long periods of dry weather, they probably grow happily in your neck of the woods. If so, you’ve probably noticed them around. Maybe you’ve even wondered how to harvest the berries. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

Many of these pathogens affect the leaves of the plants and ruin the ability to eat or sell the greens. Others damage the turnip or rutabaga roots. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Bacterial Diseases A number of bacterial infections can infect turnips and rutabagas. Starting out with clean seed can help to limit these infections....

Maybe it’s all in my head, but I swear it tastes even better when I’ve grown it myself. The only problem is that it seems like certain types of fungi, bacteria, and other pathogens can’t get enough of cole crops, either. From ailments that simply make the leaves a little ugly to problems that can completely wipe out your plants, there are quite a few broccoli diseases to worry about....

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Large yellow flowers produce pear-shaped gourds in summer that are harvested in early fall. These are excellent for storing, with a shelf life of two to six months in the right conditions. These warm-weather plants need a long season of heat and toasty temperatures to fully develop the beautiful beige gourds, so starting plants indoors is a good idea in cool or northern climates....

Also known as woodbine and five-fingered ivy, this species is common in the eastern United States and Mexico. The leaves change to a variety of colors in the fall, and wild birds are attracted to the berries. Note however that the deep blue, berry-like fruits contain oxalate crystals that are highly poisonous to people and pets. Also, the sap may irritate broken skin and cause it to blister, so this plant should be handled carefully....

They’re perennials, hardy in USDA Zones 3 to 9, and spread readily. They’d also rank tops on a roster of edibles you could feature on the menu daily. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Even when they’re not in season, frozen or dried chives can figure as an ingredient in soups or stews....

It thrives in shady areas of the garden where the soil is slightly acidic, organically rich, moist, and well-draining. The feathery, plume-like flowers add rich color to the late summer garden in vibrant shades of pink, red, purple, and white. The flowers add vertical interest as well, rising above basal mounds of deeply serrated, fern-like foliage at heights that range from about six inches to over three feet, depending on the variety....

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. We all spent most of the day wandering around her ambitious landscape, goggle-eyed in admiration. I thought choosing the flowers for her bouquet might have been the gardener’s equivalent of asking a parent which of their children they love the most. But Lynda didn’t hesitate, choosing a massive bunch of cream, pink, and burgundy dahlias (Dahlia spp....

But they clearly didn’t care about a young woman’s request to keep the forest as intact as possible, and razed almost the entire lot. It filled me with grief, followed by a desire to plant trees – lots of them. We planted eleven that summer. Of those, three were apples. Just smelling the sweet blooms filled me with indescribable joy, and I hoped hard that the flowers would receive the pollination they needed to produce apples....

But in full bloom, plants can lean or become top-heavy and may require staking to stay upright – particularly those cultivars with full, double blooms! We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Adding a rod or pole for support gives them strength and stability, but you don’t want to use anything too big or bulky that can detract from the beautiful flowers....

Even for those who do use chemicals, adding organic matter back into the soil as broken-down, nutrient-rejuvenated new soil has undeniable benefits – ones you just can’t argue with! For a quick intro: compost is a natural fertilizer made up of broken down organic materials. When fully decomposed, these provide readily available nutrients for your plants. The art of composting transforms food scraps, mulch, clippings, leaves, wood ashes, and many other things into a dark, rich soil that you can add to your plants for extra food – or which you use to amend your outdoor beds....

Most plants need around 1 inch of water every week. While this sounds simple enough, it’s hard to know what 1 inch of water looks like. And without a rain gauge, you really have no way of knowing. A rain gauge allows you to keep track of precipitation and irrigation output, so as not to overwater – which is not only wasteful, but could encourage disease and cause harm to plants....

The larvae live in the soil, feed on the fibrous roots, and then tunnel into the roots and stems. These insects can totally destroy a crop. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Identification, Biology, and Distribution Cabbage maggots are usually found in the northern zones of the US, since cole crops are cool-season vegetables....

Not sure what I’m talking about? They were the female backup singers for Ziggy Stardust back in the early ‘70s. Well… weren’t they? Ahem. Moonage daydreams aside, we’re actually talking about a different sort of spider altogether here – the offsets or plant babies that grow from spider plants, no Ziggy involved (unless of course you choose David Bowie as background music, in which case, I applaud your decision). Treat them as backup singers if you like, but these babes come from your spider plant, and can be propagated into new houseplants....

But what is peat moss? And is its use in the garden necessary? Staring in the 1950s, sphagnum peat moss became widely used as a principle ingredient in the potting soils sold in the United States. It has been used for hundreds of years in the UK and Europe as an amendment. Peat moss’s principle benefits are its water retention property, improvement in soil texture, and its ability to help keep nutrients from leaching out of the surrounding earth....

Flowering Gardenia jasminoides is a looker, with vibrant green foliage and creamy white or yellow blooms. It’s striking when displayed as part of the decor in a sunroom or cramped apartment, and the flowers are elegant floating in a bowl of water as a centerpiece. And the fragrance! Those blooms waft a sweet scent that conjures up summer nights and tropical breezes, even when there’s snow on the ground outside....

But are you sure you know which seeds can go directly into your garden soil, and which will do better if you start them indoors? When preparing to plant your veggie seeds, there are some general guidelines to follow – since some do better being sown directly into your garden while others need the more protected conditions that sowing indoors provides. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....