Tag: Vegetable Gardening

by Ken Lain, the mountain garden Commercially grown tomatoes are transported while green. Companies spray them with artificial ethylene gas that forces tasteless fruits to turn red before selling them at our local grocery stores. That’s why fresh tomatoes off…

By Ken Lain, the mountain gardener Eggs are naturals for a gardener’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and the resultant empty eggshells are very good for the garden! Instead of throwing away all those shells, make good use of them as…

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener The days grow short as we move into the last of the 2018 gardening season. This is the time when gardeners like to relax, sip some tea while warming our feet by the fire,…

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener The mountains of Arizona have three main growing seasons.  So, as the nights of Autumn become cooler we change our local vegetable gardens from fruiting tomatoes and squash to kale, broccoli, chives, and lettuce. …

By Ken Lain, the mountain gardener One of the classifications you often see on a tomato plant or packet of tomato seed is ‘Determinate’ or ‘Indeterminate’. In a nutshell, these terms describe whether the actual plant grows like a bush…

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener I’m a salsa gardener, and proud of it! The bulk of my gardens are dedicated to tomatoes, tomatillos, cilantro, onions, chives, and peppers. The most exciting, tastiest, most versatile of new plants for a…

by Lisa Watters-Lain,  Arizona’s garden gal When walking down the fertilizer aisle at Watters Garden Center or any home improvement store you can’t help notice the dizzying the array of plant food. You’ll see bags and bottles, powders and granules,…

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener There are plants that work well together and plants that should be kept apart. Matching the two groups into a garden plan is often difficult, especially in small spaces. Companion Planting tomatoes are relatively…

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener Although gardening has so many upsides, it does have one really irritating double-barreled downside: pests and diseases that attack our beautiful plants and delicious homegrown vegetables.  These attacks rarely are fatal, but monitoring a…

By Ken Lain, the mountain gardener             We don’t know about you, but we’re more than a little ready to put this winter behind us and get outside to our garden! About this time of…