Skills & How Tos

Californians and Floridians are blessed with fragrant citrus trees in their backyards that bloom all spring and seem to be in season all year. For the rest of the country, where climates aren’t conducive to growing citrus outdoors through all four seasons, you have to get a little crafty if you want homegrown Key limes for your cervezas. The trick is to grow citrus in a container that you can keep outside from spring to fall, but move inside before the first freeze arrives.

When you have a small garden, it can seem like your plants all compete for premium space come springtime. How do you decide what to plant and what to pass on? Do you grow staples you’ll use all year long in the kitchen, or unusual varieties you can’t find in the market? With intercropping, you can take advantage of the limited space you have — while growing all the vegetables you want — by analyzing the needs of your vegetables and timing your plantings strategically.

Have you ever planted squash in your vegetable garden and wondered why the flowers with what appear to be baby squash on the ends suddenly wilt? The short answer is: They were never pollinated by bees. The long answer is: Squash are monoecious plants (containing both male and female parts) and rely on bees and other pollinators to fertilize their flowers. Female flowers bear the ovaries (essentially immature squash) and need the pollen from male flowers to produce fruit.