#growing-fruit-tips DON’TS 1. Don’t water from above. Doing so encourages water born pathogens and spreads disease. 2. Don’t Overcrowd. Tomato seedlings need plenty of room to grow and will be stunted if they are over crowded. The same is true for mature plants. The size of a mature tomato plant is about 3 feet in diameter, so don’t plant young plants a foot apart. 3. Don’t forget tomato cages. While a tall stake will work okay, tomato plants can get very large and will benefit from having a tomato cage around them to keep sprawling stems off the ground. 4. Don’t wait too long to stake. I place my stakes in at the time that I plant the seedlings. I won’t damage the roots if I do this and the stems will be ready to tie up as the plant grows. 5. Don’t forget that critters like tomatoes too! If you have followed my blog, you will know of my exploits with the squirrels. Nothing is worse than seeing a dozen half ripe tomatoes on the ground with a bite out of each one. See my tips for dealing with squirrels. Hint…they don’t like cayenne pepper! 6. Don’t over-fertilize. Doing so will often result in bushy tomato plants with few flowers and flowers are what makes tomatoes later. 7. Don’t go for seedlings with flowers. You may think this will give you a head start on the growing season but the opposite is the case. Go for strong root systems and healthy looking stems. The flowers will come soon enough. (The same goes for flowering plants – why buy those already in flower? Enjoy them in your garden, not at the garden center!) 8. Don’t plant too early. Tomatoes are best if the soil temperature is consistently above 50º F outside. And make sure to measure the temp down a ways into the soil. 6 inches doesn’t sound like a lot, but think of where the roots are! 9. Don’t be impatient. The sweetest tomatoes are those that grow on the vine as long as possible. Don’t be in a hurry to take them off too early. If any fall off the vine, see my tips for ripening green tomatoes. 10. Don’t panic at the end of the season. If you have plants left and a frost is threatening at season end, pull up the whole plant, tomatoes and all and hang upside down in a garage or basement. The fruit will continue to ripen. 11. Don’t store tomatoes in the fridge. Doing so will spoil the taste and take away much of the sweetness that you are looking for. See this tip for sweet tomatoes. Sun-ripened tomatoes deliver the taste of summer in every bite all summer long. Plant just a few healthy plants and you will ensure the production of buckets of this delicious fruit.

#growing-fruit-tips DOS 1.Do provide plenty of sunlight. Tomato plants need sunlight and lots of it. They need about 10 hours of direct sunlight a day during the summer (and 10-14 hours of bright diffused light a day as seedlings.) 2.Do start with healthy soil. A well amended soil is a must. I like to add a scoop of compost to every hole that I dig for any plant, and tomatoes are no exception. Soil that is full of rich compost is the secret weapon to any tomato grower and organic material is the best. There is just on chemical substitute for well good, old fashioned compost. 3.Do plant seedlings deeply. Tomato plants do best with a healthy root system. I like to choose a tall plant and pull of some of the lower leaves and plant it deeply into the hole. Roots will form along the planted stem and this will make for a very healthy plant.<img src="1000062739_24273_1482734228.jpg"> 4.Do know your soil type. Tomatoes like soil that will hold water but not make them too soggy. The wrong soil type an cause all sorts of problems from flower drop, blossom end rot and split fruit. 5.Do remove lower leaves. These are the first leaves to grow on your plant and they are the easiest ones to develop fungus and other problems. As they plant grows, they also get the least amount of light ans circulation so they are more vulnerable to disease. Removing them also keeps them out of reach of the water. 6.Do Water Deeply from the roots. Tomato plants love water and they like a deep watering. A soaker hose works best for tomato plants. (affiliate link) Also see my tutorial for a soda bottle drip feeder here. 7.Do stake your plants. Indeterminate tomato plants can grow to 10 feet or more and definitely need some staking. Even determinate plants will get to 3 feet. If you don’t stake, the weight of fruit may break your stems.<img src="1000062740_24273_1482734228.jpg"> 8.Do Mulch. While we are on the topic of watering, be sure to add mulch. Bring it to a few inches from the stem, right over a soaker hose. This conserves the water and helps to prevent soil born pathogens from getting on to the leaves. 9.Do pinch suckers. Small suckers will grow at each leaf axil. This can weaken the plant and won’t bear fruit. Pinch these out to encourage great plant growth.<img src="1000062741_24273_1482734229.jpg"> 10.Do rotate your crop. If you plant your tomatoes in the same spot each year, you encourage soil borne pests and diseases to take hold. Move the area where you plant to another spot in your garden every three years or so. 11.Do choose a spot with good air circulation. Making sure there is plenty of air around the plants keeps the risk of many diseases at bay. 12.Do watch out for caterpillars. Horn worm caterpillars can devastate a tomato crop. Be on the look out and remove if you find them. 13.Do plant again. If you live in a sunny growing zone, be sure to practice succession planting. Add another crop a few weeks after you plant the first one to ensure luscious tomatoes all summer long.

The first question that may come up in your mind is– Will banana tree in a pot can bear fruits? And the answer is yes. It is possible, a banana tree bears fruits in pot prolifically. It may take up to 3 to 5 years to fruit if grown from seeds.<img src="1000060283_24273_1482125694.jpg">Growing Banana Trees in Pots--varieties First of all, choose dwarf varieties of banana trees. They can grow anywhere between 2 to 4 meters and are suitable to grow in containers. Dwarf Red Dwarf Cavendish Dwarf Brazilian Dwarf Jamaican Rajapuri Williams Hybrid Gran Nain Dwarf ‘Lady Finger’ Requirements for Growing Banana Trees in Pots Sun Banana trees grow in tropical and subtropical parts of the world and therefore they love full sun, heat and humidity. If you’re growing banana tree you should keep it in a spot that receives the sun most of the day but preferably sheltered from the wind. Soil Growing Banana tree requires well-draining soil, sandy soil that is rich in organic matters and compost. Buy a good quality potting mix for your banana tree. If you are making it at home make sure to mix sand, perlite, and compost or manure. Banana needs slightly acidic to neutral soil to produce those potassium rich nutritious bananas. The soil pH should be around 6 – 7. If your soil is alkaline mix sulfur to decrease the pH. Watering Banana loves moisture. Water it regularly and deeply but care not to overwater. In summer, water it every day. It may need water even two times a day in hot weather or when it is root bound. Soil for growing banana plants should be kept uniformly moist. Reduce watering in winter. Banana Plant in Pot Care , Pests and diseases Humidity Banana plant prefers humidity levels above 50%. To increase humidity level around the plant, mist the plant and place it on a layer of pebbles in a tray filled with water. Overwintering Banana Tree Banana plants stop growing when the temperature drops below 50 ° Fahrenheit. Before the onset of winter, do heavy mulching and prune the leaves. Put it in a warm, bright room till the spring. Fertilizer Banana is a fast growing plant and it requires heavy feeding to grow at its full strength. Fertilize young plant when it establishes well with nitrogen-rich fertilizer to help it grow faster. Once your banana tree in pot becomes mature enough to produce fruit, fertilize it with 15:5:30 fertilizer regularly. Pests and diseases Bananas are quite resistant to diseases, still when you see the leaves turning brown and drying at the edges it means you’re overwatering and if the leaves turn yellow, banana plant is having a lack of nutrients. Some pests that might attack banana plant are banana aphids, banana weevil, and coconut scale. These pests can easily be repelled using organic pesticides.

Calathea Plants, native to tropical South and Central America, Africa, and the West Indies, are grown primarily for their beautiful, brightly colored, upright, oval leaves. There are over 300 different types of Calathea Plants, many being man-made hybrids created by tissue cultures. The various Calathea varieties have leaves with a purple undersides and various vibrant colorful patterns on the top side. Indoors, a Calathea is a table plant or short bush that rarely gets bigger than 24” tall and 24”-26” wide. A Calathea Plant, with its exotic foliage, is difficult to care for, but like many other fussy plants, well worth the effort.<img src="1000055465_24273_1481263898.jpg">LIGHT A Calathea Plant likes bright indirect light; so placing it in front of an east, west, or north window is ideal. Too much direct sun burns the leaves of a Calathea Plant and causes the beautiful leaf colors to fade. WATER Calathea Plants are very sensitive to the water you use. Hard water, soft water, fluoridated water, or water of poor quality causes the leaves of a Calathea Plant to turn brown from leaf burn. The best way to water a Calathea Plant is to use distilled water, rain water, or allow your tap water to sit out over night before using it. Keep the soil of a Calathea Plant moist but never soggy. Allow the top 2-3” to dry out before watering. Never let a Calathea Plant sit in water. FERTILIZER Feed a Calathea Plant monthly in the spring, summer, and fall with a basic houseplant food at ½ the recommended strength. Don't fertilize a Calathea Plant if it is not growing. TEMPERATURE Calathea Plants like temperatures between 65-80 degrees, and do not like cold drafts or temperatures below 55-60 degrees. Hot temperatures cause the leaves of a Calathea Plant to curl. HUMIDITY High humidity is a must for a Calathea Plant. A Calathea Plant gets brown leaf edges when the air is too dry. Humidity can be increased by placing your Calathea Plant on a tray of wet pebbles (be sure the pot is on the pebbles and not in the water), setting a humidifier close by, or by grouping plants together to create a greenhouse effect.FLOWERINGThe leaves of a Calathea Plant are more beautiful than many of the flowers on other indoor plants. With over 300 types of Calathea Plants, some varieties, such as Calathea Crocata, White Ice, and Brazilian have lovely flowers as well as spectacular leaves.<img src="1000055466_24273_1481263898.jpg">PESTS spider mites, scale, Mealy Bugs and Aphids are houseplant pests that can be a problem for Calathea Plants. DISEASES The high humidity that a Calathea Plant needs, encourages bacterial and fungal diseases which usually manifest themselves as leaf lesions.SOILUse a good light porous indoor potting soil that retains water but still drains quickly for Calathea Plants. African Violet soil works well for Calatheas. POT SIZE A Calathea Plant rarely need repotting. PRUNING Cut off brown or crispy Calathea leaves as soon as they appear. PROPAGATION Calatheas Plants are propagated by plant division but it is a little difficult. POISONOUS PLANT INFO Calatheas are non- Poisonous Houseplants.<img src="1000055467_24273_1481263899.jpg">

The best strawberries you’ll ever taste will come from a garden. As the first fruits to ripen in spring, strawberries are nutritious assets to any garden. The sturdy little plants prosper when planted in properly prepared beds or rows, or you can put them to work as edible edgings or let them sprawl over the top of a wall. Strawberries are happy to grow in strawberry jars and hanging baskets, too.<img src="1000053917_24273_1480928506.jpg">Life Cycle Success with strawberries asks that you understand their life cycle. Like most hardy perennials, strawberries die back in winter and start growing vigorously as the soil warms in spring. After bearing fruit (as early as February in Florida, or June farther north), many types of strawberries produce numerous runners with baby plants at the tips. Those runners often root themselves nearby yet remain attached to the mother plant. These types of strawberries produce more fruit if you clip off most of the runners, allowing each plant to produce no more than 3 daughter plants each summer. (Some varieties, such as Loran, produce few to no runners.) Exhausted from producing fruit and offspring, strawberries typically take a second rest period during summer’s second half. When kept weeded and lightly watered, most parent plants – and their offspring – perk up and grow again for a while in the fall. Even though it may look like little is going on with strawberries in September, the plants are busy during the fall months developing the latent buds that will grow into next spring’s flowers. From zone 6 northward, strawberries are best planted in spring so they will be well-rooted by the following winter. Containers can be replanted in late summer and moved to a cool, protected place such as an unheated garage during the coldest months. From zone 7 southward, strawberries can be planted in fall. (In Florida and other warm, humid coastal areas, many are grown as cool weather annuals.) Once a planting is established, simply lift your healthiest plants each September, and replant them in a freshly renovated site. Growing strawberries doesn’t have to entail so much work, though. In all areas, strawberries can be allowed to grow into a vibrant green ground cover that requires little maintenance. The plants won’t bear as heavily as more intensively managed plants, but they will still produce delicious berries, year after year.<img src="1000053918_24273_1480928506.jpg">Soil, Planting, and Care Strawberries need at least 8 hours of full sun each day, and they prefer slightly acidic soil with a pH between 5.5 and 6.8. If soils in your area are naturally alkaline, it is best to grow strawberries in half-barrels or other large containers filled with potting soil. Strawberries may also sulk in heavy clay, which should be generously amended with composted leaves, fully rotted sawdust, or another bulky type of organic matter before planting strawberries. After mixing in 4 inches or more of compost, rake clay soil into raised mounds to further improve drainage. If your soil is sandy, simply cultivate to remove weeds, and mix in a 1-inch layer of rich compost or rotted manure. Many varieties of strawberries eagerly produce offspring, so it is best to space them 18 inches apart. There are a few varieties, though (such as Loran), that produce few if any runners; these can be spaced 6 inches apart. (Check the tag for exact details on spacing.) Be sure to set the plants so that their roots are well covered with soil but the central growing bud, or crown, is exposed to light and fresh air. This is very important: If you bury the crown, the plant could easily rot. Water them well. Any type of mulch – from black plastic to pine straw to shredded leaves – will keep the soil moist and the plants clean. Fertilize with Bonnie Herb, Vegetable & Flower Plant Food for excellent results. Look for your plants to begin blooming in early spring, and the flowers must be visited by bees and other pollinating insects before they can set fruit. In warm, sunny weather, berries ripen about 30 days after blossoms are fertilized.<img src="1000053919_24273_1480928507.jpg">Troubleshooting Slugs often chew holes in strawberries just as they begin to ripen. Organic mulches such as straw encourage slugs, so where slugs are a problem, a plastic mulch helps. In summer, several fungal diseases cause dark spots to form on leaves. Clipping or mowing strawberry foliage and raking it away in summer can interrupt the life cycles of some strawberry pests and diseases. By far the worst pests of strawberries are birds. To keep robins, brown thrashers, and other fruit-eaters from stealing your berries, cover the plants with lightweight bird netting when the berries begin to ripen. Sometimes your fruit may be small because of heat and drought. Once you start watering and the weather improves, the new fruit should be of normal size. Harvest and Storage Homegrown strawberries are sweeter and more tender than store-bought strawberries.Pick strawberries in the morning, when the fruits are cool, and immediately put them in the refrigerator. Wait until just before you eat or cook them to rinse the berries thoroughly with cool water. Extra strawberries can be frozen, dried, or made into jam or preserves.