crops - Fine Gardening

  • Growing Hot Peppers
    How-To

    Tips for Growing Hot Peppers

    Peppers are native to the tropics, which explains why they thrive in warm weather. As tempting as it is to get a jump-start on the gardening season, do not plant…

  • Article

    Seed to Fork

    Today we’re visiting Meg Cowden’s garden. We live in the western Twin Cities of Minnesota and enjoy a short and intense growing season. We relish pushing the season to its…

  • lettuce growing
    Kitchen Gardening

    Have You Heard of Mini Head Lettuces?

    There’s a lot to love about mini head lettuces, which are tender young greens harvested when they are about 6 inches tall and wide. Gardeners and farmers appreciate that this…

  • ‘Orient Express’ eggplant
    How-To

    Fast-Growing Vegetable Varieties for Short-Season Regions

    Gardening in regions with cool, short summers like the Pacific Northwest and northern New England can create challenging conditions for heat-loving crops. For folks in the extreme South, heat can…

  • Jenny and Chris Jackson of Jenny Jack Sun Farm, Pine Mountain, Georgia
    How-To

    How Market Growers Make Gardening Their Business

    Market growers are horticultural heroes, delivering loads of fresh produce directly to local customers at farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA) sites, and roadside stands all season long. These hardworking folks…

  • Article

    What the Chef Grows

    Most people wouldn’t argue that I know my way around a kitchen. What many don’t know, though, is that I know my way around a garden, too. I learned how…

  • Celeriac
    How-To

    Buried Treasure: Lesser-Known Root Vegetables

    It’s easy to appreciate the fruits of our labor when they’re displayed so enticingly above­ground: chains of sun-warmed cherry tomatoes; clusters of tender snap beans in gold, green, or purple;…

  • How-To

    Rejuvenate Your Strawberry Patch

    There is nothing quite like a warm strawberry picked ripe from your own garden, but not everyone has success with strawberry plants every year. Sure, plunking a strawberry plant in…

  • Article

    Growing Asparagus

    As a perennial, asparagus requires more up-front investment than any other vege­table. But the long-term payoff is that once established, an asparagus bed can, with minimal maintenance, produce for 15…

  • How-To

    A Different Approach to Crop Rotation

    If you grew carrots, tomatoes, and beans this year, you’ll want to add a reminder to your to-do list next spring: Rotate. Crop rotation is a practice whereby gardeners plan…