Local Harvest Gardening

Hi Trixi, you are asking about combating black spot when the conditions for blackspot are perfect! Cool moist weather makes this common rose problem even worse. You are doing the right thing with the baking soda. In addition, remove the fallen leaves, prune a bit to thin and open the plants and allo...

I don't have a lot of experience with broad beans but that plant looks great! I would suggest that the reason you didn't get fruit is more likely related to lack of pollination on the flowers. The activity around the roots is normal for nitrogen fixing legumes.

Freezing is a good way to store seed and it works well to preserve them longer. Long ago I worked at a local garden center and all of their seeds were kept in a freezer.

Hi Sheila, this is a difficult scenario. Horse tail is a beautiful plant but when it is in the wrong spot it can really cause a lot of trouble! I've often heard that they thrive in poor soils and that by enriching the soil they will be less of a problem but I am not convinced that there is a lot of ...

My experience with raspberries is that they very quickly colonize the ground beneath them by sending up suckers from the base. Most likely anything you try to grow around the base will be outcompeted by the raspberries. I would instead mulch heavily with wood chips.

Are you able to post a picture of the seedlings (including the healthy ones in the shot?

If you need a quick way to activate your potatoes and to develop roots and shoots in about a week, place them in your worm bin, I found this out by accident when I noticed potato peels from our kitchen waste had sprouted in the bin. Generally when I chit potatoes they form reluctant shoots without r...

I saw Dan’s sweet potatoes growing in his greenhouse last year and was super inspired! I did not realize you could grow them here. I would like to try going then as well. Jack I see the ones you tried to sprout from costco are not working therefore my question is can you successfully do this with a...

It really depends on the temperature. In our garden, they compress and break down over winter, but it usually is mid to late summer before they've disintegrated. Having said that, you can still garden the beds with the partially decomposed material present. Simply pull the leaves aside to sow or pla...

On the topic of soft sprouted potatoes for planting out, go for it, you will have good success with that. If you had any disease issues such as scab on those potatoes, the problem will emerge again this year. If you had nice potatoes last year, I would not worry about replanting. One tip for purchas...