The first time I tasted corn smut was in a food hall in Mexico City while visiting some friends there. Before making our orders, my friends urged me to try huitlacoche (pronounced weet·luh·ko·chay), a delicacy in Mexico and a unique ingredient that I wouldn’t be able to find easily back home. As a lover of edible fungi, I eagerly dug in. To my delight, I enjoyed the earthy flavor and the delicate texture of huitlacoche and have been on the lookout for them in the U....

The name makes it sound worse than it actually is, but transplant shock is still something to watch out for whenever you are moving your plants from one container to another. After the move, it’s common for growth to slow down and your plants to wilt. Because we’re all starting seeds and transplanting throughout the year, let’s look at how we can avoid or at least mitigate transplant shock.​ Listen to this post on the Epic Gardening Podcast...

Whether your homegrown herbs are destined for tea, cocktails, pesto, or curry, this cultivar is totally worth having in the garden. Ocimum x citriodorum ‘Sweet Dani’ Basil is an herb garden staple. It’s easy to grow, and in exchange for minimal effort, you are rewarded with an abundant harvest of intensely flavorful leaves. Practically every herb garden has a Thai or sweet variety in it. But if you’re looking for something just a bit different, consider the marvelous ‘Sweet Dani’ basil....

Below are some of my favorite species and cultivars, and ones that you can often find at nurseries. There are lots more, though, so keep an eye out as you build your collection! I have a soft spot in my heart for the underdog, and scented geraniums (also called pelargoniums) are the underdog of the geranium world. For the most part, they aren’t as showy as their cousins, the zonal or garden geraniums....

USDA Zones— 4 or higher Difficulty— Easy Other Names— Valerianella locusta, corn salad, common cornsalad, lamb’s lettuce,, mâche, fetticus, feldsalat, nut lettuce, field salad, rapunzel, doucette, raiponce, Nüsslisalat, Nüssler What is Mache Mache is a biennial plant that has elongated or rounded rosette leaves. An undemanding plant, it doesn’t not request for a worked ground and does not require much maintenance. Moreover, it is treated like a weed. Growing Mache from Seeds The cultivation of corn salad can be done by direct sowing of seeds (broadcasting) in rows....

While the soil itself isn’t alive, we tend to forget that it contains living microorganisms that are an essential part of the tiny little ecosystem we are striving to create. Soil is a vitally important element in gardening, whether you’re growing plants in the ground, in a big container, or constrained in a tiny pot. But it’s particularly essential to get it right when growing bonsai. Because there is so little of it in the pot, there is hardly any room for error....

Thankfully, there’s no better weapon for fighting against disease than knowledge. By knowing what afflicts an infected Strelitzia and how to control or prevent it, you can save your birds of paradise from an early demise. Birds of paradise look really cool – there’s no denying it. With gorgeous tropical fronds and flowers that resemble folded origami birds, they truly possess a sense of majesty. Whenever I see one, I think to myself, “that’s sick!...

Read on to learn how to easily propagate hydrangeas from stem cuttings. Who doesn’t love a garden bursting with colorful hydrangea flowers? If you want to grow this classically beautiful shrub but don’t want to bother with expensive nursery starts, great news! Hydrangeas are very easy to root from cuttings. You can just find a friend or neighbor with a healthy shrub and you are ready to get started. When to Take Stem Cuttings Hydrangeas are deciduous perennial shrubs that grow and bloom throughout the spring and summer months....

Welcome to the kickoff of the Epic Gardening microgreens guide! I’m very excited to share with you exactly how to go through your very own microgreens grow at home. If you haven’t already checked out my introduction to microgreens, be sure to do that before you get started on this guide. In this first post, I’ll break down exactly what you need to get started growing microgreens in your home. They’re a fantastically delicious, quick, and easy project for a beginning urban gardener, so let’s get started!...

If you’re like me and are avoiding supermarkets right now, you’ll be happy to know one trick that I use to stay at home. I’m sure you’ve heard that you can regrow green onions from just a tiny nub-end before. But did you know that you can also turn half-rotten sprouted onions into brand new full-sized onion plants? I use green onions so often that I’m always running short. They don’t last in the refrigerator for long, their greens starting to wilt away within a matter of days....

Philodendrons are adaptive to indirect or filtered sunlight, which makes them a perfect houseplant. The only care required is occasional watering and wiping the leaves with damp clothes to keep off the dust. Learn everything about growing philodendron indoors here 6 Easy to Grow Philodendrons 1. Heartleaf Philodendron Botanical name: Philodendron hederaceum One of the most low-maintenance plants, its heart-shaped leaves, looks great with anywhere–indoors or outdoors. The best part is, there are many beautiful varieties available....

The vibrant colors of Aeonium Kiwi make it an instant show stopper. This succulent has leaves variegated with deep shades of yellow and green. When placed in the sun, its tips are crowned with brilliant red. The spoon-shaped leaves grow uniformly into beautiful rosettes. Table of Contents The origin of Kiwi Aeonium is a mystery. The most common belief is that it’s a hybrid of Aeonium haworthii, which is from the Canary Islands....

Table of Contents When thinking of hydroponic nutrients, it’s easy to imagine that the only way to feed your plants is to provide their roots with a nutrient solution that is carefully calibrated and monitored. While this is the default best option as a plant’s root system is the most efficient part of the plant at nutrient uptake, it isn’t the only way. If your plants are stressed, or their roots are damaged or diseased, it may be time to look into foliar feeding, or providing nutrients to a plant through the foliage or vegetation of the plant instead of the root system...

Growing cat grass indoors will keep your cats from going outside to look for grass to satisfy their craving. The grass grown outside may have been treated with pesticides that can be toxic to your feline friend. What is Cat Grass Cat grass is something cats love to gnaw on; it’s healthy too. Usually, grown from a mix of seeds of wheat, oat, barley or rye. Growing cat grass indoors is also possible....

This fig can be grown in warmer climates, too, and it does well in USDA Hardiness Zones 5-11. In general, fig trees, Ficus carica, are well-known for their preference for mild climates. But northern gardeners won’t be denied a supply of fresh backyard fruit if they grow a ‘Hardy Chicago’ variety, which can withstand fairly cold temperatures if properly cared for. Also known as ‘Bensonhurst Purple,’ this variety produces purple-brown figs that ripen in late summer....

There’s utility in propagating Japanese maples this way, in terms of high yields and low costs. “Good things come in small packages,” as the saying goes. It’s totally true! Golf scores, pro horse jockeys, the egos of politicians… they all benefit from being small. The same is true in the botanical world, as the most gorgeous of specimens can sprout from small seeds. The Japanese maple is one such plant. Acer palmatum seeds, when properly cultivated, can transform into stunning, fully-grown trees in time....

Let’s take a look at some of those benefits and discover how you can save broccoli seeds at home. It’s no secret that broccoli, Brassica oleracea var. italica, is one of the most common home garden plants in cultivation. But did you know that the part of the broccoli plant that we typically consume is actually comprised of thousands of tiny, unopened blooms? Allowing the broccoli plant to mature rather than harvesting the head means there’s time for those blooms to open and potentially be pollinated, resulting in the production of seed....

Sooner or later, one of your plants is going to have a problem that you just can’t figure out how to solve. When you inevitably run into this, you can do one of two things: Use the Almighty Google to figure out what’s going wrong Ask someone who knows what they’re doing (a pro)​ When I run into problems like this, I always opt for #2. Go with someone who’s done it before and can explain exactly what’s going on with your plant....

Difficultly— Easy Styles— Informal Upright, Formal Upright, Slanting, Semi-cascade, Broom Requirements to Make a Guava Bonsai Location The guava is a tropical plant and therefore, it should be placed outdoors on a location that is sunny. If you live in a temperate region keep your guava bonsai indoors in winter. Must Read: How to Grow Lemon Tree in a Pot Soil Use good quality bonsai soil mix composed of one-fourth part each of Akadama, Demolin Clay, Pumice, and Humus....

Out of all the problems that plants can experience, fungal diseases are by far the most pervasive and damaging. Many of the world’s most notorious famines can trace their origins back to fungi and fungal-like organisms. The Irish potato famine, for example, was caused by a fungal-like organism, Phytophthora infestans, which can infect a whole field of crops overnight. In the United States, the wheat stem rust fungus, Puccinia graminis tritici, has caused millions of bushels of wheat crops to be unusable....