Ask a Master Gardener how to grow gourmet mushrooms at home

Sick of winter? Want to grow veggies again? Try mushrooms!

Rudbeckia hirta. Solanum lycopersicum. Acer saccharum. Have you ever seen these names on plant tags or seed packets and wondered where they came from? We can thank Carl Linnaeus for taxonomy, the study of categorizing and naming organisms, and binomial no … (read more)

By this time of the year, it may seem like winter will never end. Many of us are eager to start gardening knowing that spring is right around the corner. While we can’t make the calendar pages turn more quickly, we can get ready for the upcoming gardening … (read more)

Sprouts are a versatile, dramatic addition to foods that go far beyond the basic bean sprout. Sometimes seen as an addition to sandwiches, toppings on salads and garnishes on entrees, sprouts add crunch, flavor and vibrant color to a variety of dishes.

Amaryllis bulbs and blooms make popular and appreciated holiday gifts. Gifted in full bloom to brighten the winter months or lovingly tended to bloom after the new year, amaryllis add vibrant color and joy to the dreary season.

Communities around the world are cultivating seed libraries. A surge in new gardeners and struggling supply chains during the pandemic caused the rise of seed libraries.

Get a jump start on the growing season by adding a cold frame to your garden. A cold frame allows you to start some plants two to four weeks before the recommended planting time.

Cold frames allow for the early planting of spring vegetables such as lettuce, radishes, carrots and cabbage by protecting them from frost and cold temperatures at the beginning of the season.

Many home-grown fruits and vegetables require pollination to develop fruit and seeds. Approximately 75% of all food crops grown in the United States depend on bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators.

What could be better than fresh greens during the dreary winter months? What if you grew and harvested them yourself?

It’s the time of year when strangely-shaped, multi-colored, warty gourds begin to appear in gardens, markets, CSA boxes and on front porches.

One of the most versatile early spring vegetables to plant in Vermont is the pea. Sweet peas, snap peas, snow peas and shelling peas can all be easily grown in home gardens.

Nothing brightens a dreary winter afternoon like a crisp, colorful seed catalog arriving in the mailbox.

Now that it’s July, you may be noticing that your garden plants are starting to flower or even set fruit. Adding fertilizer by side-dressing heavy-feeding vegetables can give them the boost they need for optimal production. Heavy feeders are those that ha … (read more)