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Pests & Diseases

How to Get Rid of Wireworms in Potatoes

If you find small, dry, round holes in your tubers, look more closely, and you may discover wireworms in potatoes. Wireworms can cause significant damage in a garden, but they especially seem drawn to potatoes, carrots, and corn.  How can you tell that you have wireworms? And what should you do if you find them? […]

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Pests & Diseases

How Does Lettuce Get E. coli and How to Prevent it in a Home Garden

I love lettuce. It’s so easy to grow, it’s ready to harvest pretty quickly, and the multitude of varieties have so many different qualities. Who can deny the appeal of crunchy, slightly sweet lettuce on a sandwich? I also admit there’s something that bugs me: How does lettuce get E. coli?

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Pests & Diseases

10 Common Garden Bugs That Are Actually Good for Your Plants

You can’t talk about gardening without talking about bugs. There are a lot of bugs that will destroy a garden if you let them. Aphids, whiteflies, cabbage worms – I could list plenty. What we don’t talk about very much, however, are some of the common garden bugs that are beneficial to our plants.

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Pests & Diseases

About Spotted Lanternfly in the Garden

The Spotted Lanternfly looks like a moth to many, but is actually a leafhopper. In its adult form, it’s quite beautiful, which is part of the reason an invasive species can be so confusing. How can something so beautiful be a pest? There have been many conversations about how this insect may affect industries like […]

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Pests & Diseases

How to Prevent Indoor Garden Pests During the Winter

My most eventful experience with indoor garden pests happened a few winters ago. One of my neighbors handed over a gorgeous basil plant that had spent the summer outside in the sunshine. She didn’t have room for it in her home, so I was the lucky recipient.  Thinking how awesome it would be to have […]

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Pests & Diseases

The Best Organic DIY Insecticide for Indoor and Hydroponic Food Gardens

I love my indoor garden for several reasons, but mostly because I don’t love outdoor garden pests. Well, maybe except for those cute rabbits that I always plant a little extra for in my outdoor garden. I also don’t love using harsh chemicals on my vegetables. It’s beyond me how they can kill insects yet be perfectly benign otherwise. Granted, I’m not a chemist, and maybe I’ve watched a few too many episodes of X-Files, but I prefer the DIY insecticide approach. 

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Pests & Diseases

10 Pest Repelling Plants That Keep Bugs Away Naturally

My first garden was a success…almost. I remember watching the tomato leaves develop little buds that soon turned into tiny little green tomato babies. My zucchini was just starting to blossom. And the cucumbers! There were so many cucumbers! What I didn’t have in my garden, however, was a variety of pest repelling plants. And because I found out too late that I needed some of those plants, my garden soon turned into a very disappointing learning experience.

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Pests & Diseases

13 Deadly Vegetable Garden Pests

I’m just going to say it: There is a lot that can go wrong with a garden. Somehow, we humans have cultivated vegetables for about 10,000 years. But a few of the wrong vegetable garden pests, and all your tilling, sowing, weeding, mulching, and watering turns into a waste almost while you watch.

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Pests & Diseases

How to Prevent Squash Bugs from Overwintering

First you notice yellow or brown spots on the leaves of your squash and zucchini plants. Then the plant begins to wilt. Your established plants begin to lose runners. Younger plants die. It must be the arch nemesis of cucurbits: the squash bug.  When it comes to these garden pests, your best bet is to […]

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Pests & Diseases

5 Reasons to Try Soil Solarization This Year (and 3 Reasons Not To)

Ta-da! That’s what my daughter says when she presents a magic trick. Pull a coin from behind my ear, and you’ll soon hear “ta-da!” A rabbit pulled from a hat is accompanied by expansive gestures and, of course, a hearty “ta-da!” So what’s that got to do with soil solarization? Well, it’s kind of like […]

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