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Companion planting is a great way to maximize the efficiency of your garden. For almost every vegetable you grow, there is likely to be a beneficial companion plant that will help increase soil nutrients, chase away pests, or provide some other benefit. To get the most out of your hard work, we've provided the 10 most popular vegetables grown in the United States and their friends (and enemies) in the garden.

Companion Planting For These Top 10 Veggies:

1. Tomatoes

Basil and tomatoes were made to go together, not only in sauces but in the garden, too. This herb helps tomatoes produce greater yields and it repels both flies and mosquitoes. Marigolds are another good companion, repelling nematodes and other garden pests. Other friends to tomatoes include asparagus, carrots, celery, the onion family, lettuce, parsley, and spinach.
Keep tomatoes away from: Cabbage, beets, peas, fennel, dill, and rosemary. Corn and tomatoes both suffer from the corn earworm, and tomatoes and potatoes are affected by the same blight, so keep these plants separate to prevent the spread of pests or disease.

2. Peppers

Basil is a good friend to peppers, helping repel aphids, spider mites, mosquitoes, and flies. It's also thought that basil improves the pepper's flavor. Other good companions include onions, spinach, and tomatoes.
Keep peppers away from: Beans so the vines don't spread among the pepper plants.

3. Green Beans

Corn and beans grow well together because beans will grow up the cornstalks, which means you won't have to build them a trellis. Beans also fix nitrogen in the soil, which is good for the corn. Marigolds, nasturtiums, rosemary, and summer savory repel bean beetles, and summer savory improves growth rate and flavor. Other companions include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and other members of the cabbage family along with cucumbers, peas, potatoes, and radishes.
Keep green beans away from: Beets or anything from the onion family. Onions, in particular, impede the growth of bean plants.

4. Cucumbers

To repel aphids and beetles, plant marigolds and nasturtiums among your cucumbers. Beans, celery, corn, lettuce, dill, peas, and radishes are also good companion plants.
Keep cucumbers away from: Aromatic herbs such as sage which will stunt the growth of cucumbers.

5. Onions

Carrots should be planted near onions because onions will repel the carrot fly. Onions will also chase away the aphids, so plant them near aphid-prone (but onion-friendly) veggies. Other good friends of onions include beets, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, parsnips (which also suffer from carrot fly), tomatoes, and spices like marjoram, savory, and rosemary.
Keep onions away from: Asparagus, beans, and peas.

6. Lettuce

Plant mint among your lettuce to keep away the slugs that feed on lettuce leaves, or plant chives and garlic to repel aphids. Beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, corn, peas, radishes, and marigolds also work as good companion plants.
Keep lettuce away from: Parsley, because it tends to grow into a small yet bushy plant and can crowd your lettuce.

7. Zucchini/Summer Squash

Corn and squash make good garden friends since the cornstalks give squash vines a place to grow. Squash also does well planted alongside beans, peas, radishes, dill, and marigolds.
Keep summer squash away from: Potatoes, as both plants are prone to blight.

8. Carrots

Carrots are heat sensitive, which is why they go well with tomato plants that can provide them a bit of shade. Tomatoes are also known to produce solanine, which is a natural insecticide that targets pests affecting carrot plants. Tomatoes benefit from carrots, too. Carrots aerate the soil around the roots of the tomato plants, allowing more air and water to reach the roots. Leeks and carrots are also good companions since leeks repel carrot flies and carrots repel leek moths and onion flies. Rosemary, sage, and chive also help repel carrot flies.
Keep carrots away from: Coriander and dill, as they both produce compounds that can harm carrot plants, and parsnips suffer from the same diseases and pests as carrots, so keep them apart to minimize a potential infestation.

9. Radishes

Radishes can be planted among cucumbers to attract cucumber beetles away from the cukes. They also do well among carrots because they are harvested before the carrots and they loosen the soil as the carrots start to take off. Onions, beets, cabbage, kale, lettuce, spinach, and squash are also good friends for radishes.
Keep radish away from: Hyssop.

10. Sweet Corn

Corn loves veggies that fix nitrogen in the soil-like green beans. Cornstalks also make a great trellis for vining or trailing plants including beans, cucumbers, peas, pumpkins, and melons. Zucchini also does well planted among corn.
Keep corn away from: Tomatoes, as they and corn are attacked by corn earworms. Plant these two far apart to minimize the spread of these pests.

Follow these companion planting guidelines to boost yields, minimize pest or disease problems and make garden management easier.

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Companion Planting For Top 10 Veggies Grown in US - Farmers' Almanac

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Maximize your gardening efforts! For nearly every vegetable you can grow, there is likely to be a beneficial companion to help it along. Here's a list of the 10 most popular vegetables to grow along with their friends (and enemies). And a handy guide to companion planting!

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Seed-Starting FAQs - How to Start Seeds | Gardener's Supply

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Expert advice and answers to frequently asked questions about starting plants from seed.

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Most people love deer, but for gardeners, these cute creatures are just another pest attacking their plants. In fact, a more persistent garden pest than most, since hungry deer can easily jump over 8-foot tall deer fences and somehow get around most other deterrents as well!

Maintaining a garden is no easy task in deer and elk territory, but some species of plants act as natural deer repellent s. The typical deer eats plants with broad, tender leaves, high in water content, carbohydrates, minerals, salts and protein, but deer resistant plants have characteristics the animals typically avoid.

While there's no guarantee they will deer-proof your garden, these plant types help with repelling deer:

Fuzzy Leaves - Deer don't like plants with fuzzy, wooly or hairy foliage, such as Lamb's Ear, yarrow, squashes and pumpkins. If you feel soft or bristly hairs while rubbing a plant's leaves between your fingers, deer will be unlikely to eat it.

Strong Aroma - Aromatic flowers and foliage confuse a deer's sense of smell, which can discourage them from feeding. Herbs like mint, rosemary, Russian sage and lavender are a good bet, as are peonies, boxwood, onion and garlic.

Bitter Taste - Deer tend to avoid yarrow and most ferns, as well as bulbous flowers such as poppies, daffodils and snowdrops. These contain bitter-tasting alkaloids that are toxic to deer, but also poisonous to other animals.

Thick Foliage - If a plant has thick, fibrous or leathery leaves, deer will generally avoid it unless they are starving. Peonies, pachysandra, irises and lavender are some lovely flowering plants with thick foliage that acts as a deer repellent .

Thorns/Spines - Deer avoid munching on plants with unusual textures, especially sharp thorns or spines on the stems or foliage. To deter deer, plant globe thistle, barberry and acanthus in your vegetable or flower garden.

Sharp Edges - Deer usually steer clear of grasses and sedges, which have sharp edges that cause irritation, and are also difficult to digest. Use ornamental grasses in lawns and gardens, or as borders around vegetable and flower beds.

Greyish Color - Plants with greyish or silvery foliage can also act as natural deer repellent s, since the unusual color turns them off. Lungwort, dusty miller, Russian sage and Lamb's Ears are good examples to consider.

Note: If you have pets or children, avoid plants such as oleander and monkshood. They're toxic to more than deer and rabbits!
Top 8 Plants for Making Your Garden Deer-Resistant
Here are the top 8 plants that will help keep deer out of your garden:

1. Bee Balm - This beautiful wildflower attracts bees and butterflies in gardens, while the scent helps to stop deer feeding.

2. Chives - The strong fragrance and flavor keep your veggie garden safe from deer, but chives look pretty in landscaping too.

3. Rosemary - The wonderful aroma makes this herb popular in kitchens, but it can keep even hungry deer away.

4. Russian Sage - With heavily scented foliage and flowers, this lovely herb deters deer from eating nearby plants.

5. Lamb's Ear - The wooly texture and greyish-green color of the leaves make this hardy perennial a natural deer repellent .

6. Oriental Poppy - The bright and cheerful blooms add color to your flower garden, but alkaloids in them keep deer at bay.

7. Yarrow - Available in various colors, this perennial wildflower has feathery foliage and a bitter taste that repels deer.

8. Lavender - The pretty purple or blue flowers and heady scent makes this herb popular in gardens, except with deer!

Remember, deer are persistent pests. In times of stress, they may eat even deer resistant plants, and what works one season may not work the next.

If you want to keep your flower or vegetable garden safe from deer damage, without constantly changing plants through the year, use Deer No No. Our natural deer deterrent is formulated with a citrus scent that deer dislike, but you will love.

Try Deer No No for all-season protection today!

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8 Deer Repellent Plants for Protecting Your Garden against Deer Damage

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Most people love deer, but for gardeners, these cute creatures are just another pest attacking their plants. In fact, a more persistent garden pest than most, since hungry deer can easily jump over 8-foot tall deer fences and somehow get around most other deterrents as well!Maintaining a garden

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Growing Potatoes in Towers - Small Space Potato Planters

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★ How to: Grow Carrots from Seed in Containers (A Complete Step by Step Guide)

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Maybe you've seen them - those highly organized raised beds divided into perfect squares, each featuring their own variety of plant. They sure are look beautiful, but is this method - known as square foot gardening - effective? Find out what exactly it entails so you can decide if square foot gardening is right for you.

What is square foot gardening?

Square foot gardening is a simple method of creating small, orderly, and highly productive kitchen gardens. It was invented by backyard gardener, retired engineer, and efficiency expert Mel Bartholomew as a better way to grow a vegetable garden, and it became a huge hit when he introduced the idea to the gardening public in 1981 in his book Square Foot Gardening.

The basic concept: Create a small garden bed (4 feet by 4 feet or 4 feet by 8 feet are common sizes) and divide it into a grid of 1-foot squares, which you manage individually. Seeds or seedlings of each kind of vegetable are planted in one or more squares, at a density based on plant size (e.g., you'd plant about 16 radish seeds per square, but only one tomato plant). Since there are no paths, there is no wasted space, and the soil in the bed stays loose because you never step on it.

Twenty-five years later Bartholomew updated his methods with a new book, All New Square Foot Gardening, which advocates creating a 6-inch-deep frame or raised bed and filling it with a mixture of vermiculite, peat moss, and compost to plant in instead of garden soil enriched with compost.

So, now that you have a basic understanding of square foot gardening, let's move on to some of the benefits and the drawbacks.

The Pros of Square Foot Gardening

High yields: Intensive planting means you'll harvest a lot from a small space, so it's ideal for gardeners with limited room.

Fast set-up: Square foot gardening is a quick way to start a new garden (especially with the updated method using a raised bed filled with soilless mix), so it's great for first-timers. You can place your raised bed anywhere - even over grass or pavement - allowing you to build, fill, and start planting in a just few hours! Even if you work in your existing soil, you only need to prepare the planting areas, not the paths, so it takes a lot less time and effort.

Minimal regular maintenance: Since the garden is small and you have only a few specific tasks to do on any given day, you only need to invest a few minutes planting, maintaining, and harvesting at any one a time.

Less weeding: If you build a square foot garden filled with soilless mix, there will be few if any seeds in it (depending on the compost you use) and thus no weeds to pull for the first season. Weeds will, however, become more common over time as seeds blow or fall into the bed.

The Cons of Square Foot Gardening

High initial cost: The expense of building even a small raised bed and filling it with soilless mix adds up quickly. If you do have good soil to work with, stick with the original method and form in-ground garden beds for much less money.

Cramped beds: Small square foot garden beds aren't ideal for crops that take up a lot of room, such as vining winter squash, asparagus, or a big planting of sweet corn. A smart approach: Grow herbs and more compact veggies such as carrots and radishes in your square foot garden and relegate large plants or plantings to a traditional rowed vegetable garden.

Insufficient depth: The 6-inch-deep beds recommended in Bartholomew's updated book are too shallow for most plants, especially if their roots can't extend into the soil below. The solution: If you're gardening on top of pavement, make your frame at least 12 inches deep and fill it to the top with growing mix. If you're gardening on top of soil, use a layer of cardboard instead of weed-block fabric under the bed; the cardboard will slowly break down and allow veggie roots to extend into the soil below.

Lots of watering: The soil in raised beds tends to dry out faster and is harder to re-wet if it dries out, so you may find yourself watering every day in the heat of the summer to keep your plants growing well. To combat this, consider installing soaker hoses or some other type of drip irrigation system. Covering the surface of the soil with an organic mulch such as grass clippings or torn newspaper also conserves moisture.

More frequent maintenance : Because a square foot garden is planted so densely, weeds are a huge pain to remove once their roots get established. Your best bet: Remove when they're still tiny seedlings. This may require weeding a few times a week, but it beats wrestling with a full-grown monster. If you prefer hoeing a few times a season over hand weeding, stick with a more conventional vegetable garden design with long, wide-spaced rows.

The Bottom Line

Square foot gardening is a solid gardening method for any home gardener, especially beginners and people who are short on space. The drawbacks (while real) all have fairly simple solutions. Of course, it's all about your individual needs and preferences, but if it interests you, we say give it a whirl!

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The Pros and Cons of Square Foot Gardening

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Maybe you've seen them - those highly organized raised beds divided into perfect squares, each featuring their own variety of plant. They sure are look beautiful, but is this method - known as square foot gardening - effective? Find out what exactly it entails so you can decide if square foot gardening is right for you.

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Lamb's quarters is one of the most common weeds in gardens, backyards, and fallow fields, following human habitation closely. Like other opportunistic plants, it thrives on the disturbed ground humans inevitably create, but it has also been spread deliberately for millennia around the globe. With tender edible greens, packed with vital nutrients, AND edible seeds, it's no wonder humans have both foraged and cultivated this free-ranging food for hundreds of generations.

The nutritious seeds have been eaten for thousands of years in Eurasia, as evidenced by archaeological digs. 1 A native species of lamb's quarters ( Chenopodium berlandieri ) was one of the earliest agricultural crops grown in North America-archaeologists have discovered seeds dating back 3,500 years. This cultivated strain of lamb's quarters predated the cultivation of corn ( ) by 1,500 years in eastern North America!

Currently, this cosmopolitan weed is eaten in Japan, South Africa, Europe, India, and the Americas. Lamb's quarters also has a famous cousin: quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa ), a cultivated grain from South America that is closely related (same genus).

Lamb's quarters-also called wild spinach -is one of the most nutritious greens ever analyzed, outcompeting many common vegetables (including domestic spinach) in vitamin and mineral content. 2 However, it is also high in oxalates*, for which there are some precautions-these are outlined in detail at the end of this article.

Identifying Lamb's Quarters

Lamb's quarters has some distinctive traits that help with identification. It has alternate, triangle- to diamond-shaped leaves that are coarsely toothed or shallowly lobed. Many people liken the shape to the webbed foot of a goose. The leaves bear a whitish-gray powdery coating, which is especially evident on the emerging young leaves.

The coating is a natural part of the leaf, made of fine crystal-like concentrations of wax, which the plant presumably produces as a waterproof coating. This is fine to eat-there's no need to attempt removal. Hold a leaf under water and the waxy coating causes the water to bead up in a beautiful iridescent fashion. This coating may sometimes possess a coppery-fuchsia sheen and is sold as a cultivar called "magenta spreen" in some garden catalogues.

Lamb's quarters grows to 3-5 feet (1-1.5 m) and is a branching annual with a grooved stem which is often tinged with red, especially at the node, or leaf joint. The seeds are shiny and black and about a third the size of a lone quinoa seed.

The various species of Chenopodium can be hard to differentiate-use a local field guide to identify your local species. Several species of hairy or black nightshade ( Solanum nigrum, S. villosum, S. physalifolium, and S. sarrachoides )-common garden weeds-could ultimately be confused with wild spinach. These species of nightshade can be toxic in larger doses, so it's important to be able to differentiate them from wild spinach.

How to Grow Lamb's Quarters

If you don't already have wild spinach in your garden, you can harvest the ripe seeds from nearby plants in the fall, save them over the winter, and broadcast them in the spring. If you add horse or cow manure to your garden you will have a steady supply of these tasty wild greens for most of the spring and summer. Or you can buy the seeds of "magenta spreen" lamb's quarters, which are sold by seed companies as a specialty green.

The seeds can be directly sown in dense rows in spring, and the greens harvested repeatedly in a cut-and-come again fashion. Wild spinach transplants well, so you can always dig up neighboring plants to bring them into your garden. Let them go to seed and they'll rapidly spread themselves about. If you don't like that idea, consider giving the plants an area to grow that's out of the way but close enough to easily harvest.

How to Harvest Lamb's Quarters

The tender tips-the top few nodes-can easily be pinched by hand for a tasty harvest. When working with two hands, one person can rapidly gather a nice bundle of greens from a dense patch of lamb's quarters. The tips are mostly leaves with a little stem; later in the season they might contain flower buds.

The beauty of picking just the tips is that your harvest will need little processing in the kitchen other than a good rinse-there's no need to separate the stem from the leaves, as the immature stem is tender enough to eat.

The lower, older stem is another story: it's quite fibrous and inedible. You can, however, eat leaves lower down on the stem; they simply need to be stripped away from the woody stem. As you travel down the stem, the older leaves are chewier, so favor the uppermost leaves.

If you own the lamb's quarters mother lode, pick only the succulent tips. When you harvest in this fashion, the plant responds by branching out-and ultimately produces more tender growth.

Lamb's Quarters Culinary Uses & Preparations

The greens can be eaten raw, steamed, or sautéed or added to soups and stews. If you dislike the texture of raw spinach, or it gives you a funny feeling in your mouth, you probably won't enjoy raw lamb's quarters.

I enjoy the steamed greens in lasagna, omelets, quiche, and cold pasta salads. The sky's the limit with this pleasant green-you can substitute it in most any dish that calls for spinach or Swiss chard. To preserve any surplus bounty, you can blanch and freeze the greens, or freeze a batch of pesto or pâté.

Some years ago I thought to bring some of my favorite wild edibles to the farmers market where we were selling organically grown vegetables. I set out pretty baskets filled with tidy bundles of pigweed ( Amaranthus sp.), purslane ( Portulaca oleracea ) and lamb's quarters accompanied by little signs explaining the preparation and nutritional value of these tasty greens. I also thought a yummy sample of the greens would inspire people to move beyond any fears of eating an unknown vegetable, especially a "weed". As it turns out we did not develop a wild following or even a tiny demand for our weeds, but people went crazy for the sample - wild greens pâté. We ended up selling just as much pâté as fresh salsa and pesto. Wild greens pâté freezes well and works well wherever you would use pesto - tossed over veggies and pasta, as a base to a green or white pizza (no marinara) or as a dip for crackers, raw carrots and celery. Last week I made delicious green lasagna with wild greens pâté and added more steamed lambs quarters instead of the traditional spinach.

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Lamb's Quarters | Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine

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Lamb's quarters is one of the most common weeds in gardens, backyards, and fallow fields, following human habitation closely. Like other opportunistic plants, it thrives on the disturbed ground humans inevitably create, but it has also been spread deliberately for millennia around the globe.

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Cucumbers are tender annuals that grow best in temperatures ranging from 60° to 90°F (15°-32° C).

Where to Plant Cucumbers

Planting and Spacing

Sow cucumber seeds 1 inch deep.

Sow seeds at the base of the vertical support or on a mound at 6 to 8-inch intervals.

When seedlings are 3 to 4 inches tall, thin to the strongest plant spaced 12 to 18 inches apart for vining cucumbers on vertical supports and 24 to 36 inches apart for bush varieties.

Cut weak seedlings off at soil level with scissors to avoid disturbing the roots of remaining plants.

Set a trellis, tripod, or cage in place at planting time if you are growing vining varieties. A 12 to 18-inch diameter wire cage is ideal for growing vining cucumbers. You can make a cage from a 4 to 5-foot section of wire fencing or construction mesh.

To grow an early crop, you can start cucumbers indoors 2 to 3 weeks before the last frost in spring then transplant seedlings to the garden 2 to 3 weeks after the last frost.

Growing Cucumbers in Containers

Many dwarf or mini-cucumber varieties will grow in a pot as small as 6 inches wide and deep, larger is better. Check the description of the cucumber and its space requirements. 'Potluck' is a small growing variety. Larger cucumbers for containers include 'Patio Pik' and 'Bush Whopper.' Use a 12- to 18-inch trellis, stake, or other support to increase the yield of container-grown cucumbers.

Watering Cucumbers

Keep the soil evenly moist with regular watering. Do not let the soil dry out. Cucumbers are about 95 percent water and require regular water for fast, even growth.

Set a soaker hose or drip irrigation at the base of plants. Give cucumbers at least 1 inch of water each week during the summer.

Always water at the base of plants. Moisture on cucumber leaves can result in fungal diseases such as powdery and downy mildew.

Leaves may wilt in the afternoon in hot weather; that is because plants are taking up water faster than roots can supply.

If plants are wilted in the morning, the soil is too try and needs immediate water.

Mulch around plants to slow soil moisture evaporation and to avoid soil compaction caused by heavy watering.

Too little water or inconsistent watering can cause cucumbers to become oddly shaped or bitter tasting.

An easy way to measure soil moisture is to stick your index finger in the soil; if your finger comes away dry, it's time to water.

Feeding Cucumbers

More tips: Cucumber Growing.

Caring for Cucumbers

Mulch around cucumber plants with straw or chopped leaves. Mulch will help conserve soil moisture, keep vines and fruits clean. Slugs and snails find if difficult to move across straw or pine straw mulch.

Companion Plants

Grow cucumbers with beans, corn, peas, pumpkins, and squash. Do not grow cucumbers with potatoes and herbs.

Flowering and Fruit Formation

Cucumbers have separate male and female flowers. The first flowers to appear are male flowers that will not produce fruit.

Female flowers appear a week or so after male flowers. A female flower will have a cucumber-shaped swelling at the stem end of the flower; this is the unpollinated fruit.

Female flowers are pollinated when bees or other insects carry pollen from the male flower to the female flower. Some male flowers may die and drop before female flowers appear. Be patient or sow seeds every couple of weeks so that there are male and female flowers in the garden at the same time.

To attract bees to flowers, spritz plants with dilute sugar water.

If plants are in a greenhouse or hoop house where pollinating insects cannot come or if pollination is slow or does not occur, use a soft-bristled brush to hand pollinate flowers; dust the inside of a male flower then carefully dust the inside of a female flower. A female flower will have an immature fruit on its stem, a male won't.

Gynoecious, hybrid cucumbers require pollinator plants; monoecious plants with female flowers.

Cucumber fruits hanging from a trellis or vertical support will grow straight under the force of gravity.

Cucumbers growing on the ground should be set on a tile or piece of wood so that the fruit does not have direct contact with the soil; this will allow cucumbers to mature with less exposure to disease and insects.

Cool-weather, rain, and insecticides can delay or harm pollination.

Cucumber Pests

Cucumber Diseases

Cucumber plants are susceptible to scab, mosaic, and mildew.

Keep the garden clean of debris and weeds that can harbor pests and disease.

Remove diseased plants immediately; put them in a paper bag and throw them in the trash to avoid the spread of disease.

Plant disease-resistant varieties. Look for the following coding to indicate disease resistance: leaf spot (LS), anthracnose (A), bacterial wilt (BW), mosaic (M), scab (S), and downy mildew (DM).

Bacterial wilt is spread by cucumber beetles; plants suddenly wilt and die just as they begin to produce. Control beetles as soon as they appear.

Powdery mildew and downy mildew, fungal diseases, will cause cucumber leaves to turn grayish-white late in the season. Slow the spread of fungal diseases by spraying plants with horticultural oil or neem oil.

To help prevent fungal diseases, plant resistant varieties, and space plants further apart to increase air circulation.

More on cucumber problems: Cucumber Growing Problems: Troubleshooting.

Harvesting Cucumbers

Cucumbers will be ready for harvest 55 to 65 days from sowing.

Harvest cucumbers as soon as they reach mature size; cucumbers left on the vine past maturity will suppress the production of new flowers and fruit.

Check and harvest cucumbers daily to stay ahead of the harvest.

Slicing cucumbers are best picked when they are 6 to 8 inches long.

Clips cucumbers off of plants with a garden clipper, scissors, or knife. Pulling cucumbers off plants can damage plants.

A fruit that turns yellow at the blossom end opposite the stem is overripe and will be seedy.

Pickling cucumbers-sweet or dill-are best picked when 1 to 6 inches long. Pick pickling cucumbers every two days.

Regular dills are best picked when 3 to 4 inches long.

Burpless cucumbers should be picked at about 10 inches long.

Hothouse-grown English or Armenian cucumbers are best picked when 12 to 15 inches long.

Cucumbers left on the vine too long will have tough skins and will lose flavor.

More harvest tips: How to Harvest and Store Cucumbers.

Storing and Preserving Cucumbers

Pickling and slicing cucumbers will keep in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days.

Hothouse cucumbers will keep in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days. Be sure the temperature is not too low or cucumbers will freeze and turn soft.

Wrap refrigerated cucumbers in plastic or store them in a zipper bag to keep them crisp.

Pickled cucumbers will keep for up to 1 year.

Monoecios and Gynoecious Cucumbers: The Difference

Most cucumbers are monoecious, meaning plants produce both female and male flowers. Female flowers are commonly pollinated by insects after visiting male flowers.

Hybrid cucumber varieties are gynoecious. Gynoecious cucumbers produce only female flowers. These plants must be set near a monoecious plant for pollination or must be pollinated by hand. Gynoecious cultivars include 'Conquest,' 'Early Pride,' and 'Bush Baby.'

Types of Cucumbers

There are many types and varieties of cucumbers. Here are the differences:

Bush cucumbers can grow 24 to 36 inches tall and wide forming a compact plant. Bush cucumbers are well-suited for container growing or small gardens. Plant bush varieties every two weeks for a continuous harvest.

Vine cucumbers can grow to 6 feet high or more and 2 to 3 feet wide. Vining cultivars require more space but produce more fruit. Grow vining cucumbers on a fence, trellis, or tripods when possible to keep fruit off the ground.

Pickling cucumbers have thin, pale green skin, bear fruit early, and concentrate fruiting in a 10-day period. Pickle cucumbers a few hours after harvesting for crisp pickles.

Slicing cucumbers, for fresh eating, commonly are green-skinned and set fruit for 4 to 6 weeks. Slicing cucumbers include "burpless' cultivars which are mild-flavored and easy to digest.

European, English, or greenhouse cucumbers are seedless cultivars developed for greenhouse growing.

Lemon cucumbers are yellow oval-to-round heirloom cucumbers. Lemon cucumbers are ideal for a single serving. Harvest lemon cucumbers just as they turn yellow; do not wait too long or they will be seedy.

Asian cucumbers are thin, heavily ribbed cultivars; the fruit grows from 12- to 24-inches long.

Gherkin is a term used for any pickling cucumber; however, a true gherkin is not a cucumber but the fruit of a different species, Cucumis anguria.

Cornichons is the generic French term for any small cucumber.

Cucumber Yield

Grow 2 to 3 cucumber plants per household member for fresh eating.

Grow 3 to 4 plants per quart for pickling.

Cucumber Varieties to Grow

Cucumbers are divided into the slicing cucumbers for fresh eating and pickling cucumbers. There are dozens of varieties to choose from. In the list below "gyn" denotes gynoecious which produce only female flowers and must be grown near a monoecios plant; others are monoecios, they produce both male and female flowers.

Slicing:Ashley (66 days); Comet II (gyn-60 days); Dasher II (55 days); General Lee (gyn-55 days); Jazzer (48 days); Marketmore (76 days); Poinsett (65 days); Revenue (gyn-48 days); Slice King (49 days); Spacemaster (60 days); Speedway (gyn-56 days); Supersett (53 days); Sweet Slice (62 days); Tasty Green (55 days); Ultra-Slice Early (56 days).

Pickling:Baby Bush (51 days); Calypso (gyn-56 days); Conquest (gyn-50 days); Cross Country (51 days); Edmondson (70 days); Green Spear (gyn-55 days); Pik Rite (gyn-63 days); Salty (53 days); Spear It (gyn-52 days); Sumter (56 days).

Burpless: Comet II (gyn-60 days); Green Knight (60 days); Jazzer (48 days); Perfection (60 days); Sweet Slice (62 days); Tasty Green (55 days).

Greenhouse:Aidas (gyn-65 days); Carmen (gyn-65 days); English Telegraph (65 days).

Container varieties: Patio Pic (50 days); Potluck (50 days); Spacemaster (60 days); Bush Whopper.

Others: Lemon (64 days); Long White (65 days); White Wonder (60 days).

More on cucumbers to grow: Cucumber Varieties: Best Bets and Easy-to-Grow.

About Cucumbers

Cucumber is a weak-stemmed tender annual that grows. Some varieties grow like a bush, others are vining.

Leaves are somewhat heart-shaped with rough margins; leaves and stems are covered with prickly short hairs.

Flowers are yellow.

Fruits are commonly pale or dark green but some varieties are yellow or white; fruit ranges in size from 3 inches (7 cm) to more than 24 inches (61 cm) long.

Botanical name: Cucumis sativus

Origin: Asia

More tips: How to Grow Cucumbers That Are Not Bitter Tasting.

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How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Cucumbers

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Cucumbers are tender annuals that grow best in temperatures ranging from 60° to 90°F (15°-32° C). Sow cucumber seeds 1 inch deep. Sow seeds at the base of the vertical support or on a mound at 6 to 8-inch intervals.

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12 Fastest Growing Vegetables You Can Grow NOW! - Survival Garden -Self Sufficient Sunday #2

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50 days - seed to harvest

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50 days - seed to harvest

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20 days - seed to harvest (also good as microgreens)

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★ How to: Plant Square Foot Gardening (A Complete Step by Step Guide)

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Lamb's quarters is one of the most common weeds in gardens, backyards, and fallow fields, following human habitation closely. Like other opportunistic plants, it thrives on the disturbed ground humans inevitably create, but it has also been spread deliberately for millennia around the globe. With tender edible greens, packed with vital nutrients, AND edible seeds, it's no wonder humans have both foraged and cultivated this free-ranging food for hundreds of generations.

The nutritious seeds have been eaten for thousands of years in Eurasia, as evidenced by archaeological digs. 1 A native species of lamb's quarters ( Chenopodium berlandieri ) was one of the earliest agricultural crops grown in North America-archaeologists have discovered seeds dating back 3,500 years. This cultivated strain of lamb's quarters predated the cultivation of corn ( ) by 1,500 years in eastern North America!

Currently, this cosmopolitan weed is eaten in Japan, South Africa, Europe, India, and the Americas. Lamb's quarters also has a famous cousin: quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa ), a cultivated grain from South America that is closely related (same genus).

Lamb's quarters-also called wild spinach -is one of the most nutritious greens ever analyzed, outcompeting many common vegetables (including domestic spinach) in vitamin and mineral content. 2 However, it is also high in oxalates*, for which there are some precautions-these are outlined in detail at the end of this article.

Identifying Lamb's Quarters

Lamb's quarters has some distinctive traits that help with identification. It has alternate, triangle- to diamond-shaped leaves that are coarsely toothed or shallowly lobed. Many people liken the shape to the webbed foot of a goose. The leaves bear a whitish-gray powdery coating, which is especially evident on the emerging young leaves.

The coating is a natural part of the leaf, made of fine crystal-like concentrations of wax, which the plant presumably produces as a waterproof coating. This is fine to eat-there's no need to attempt removal. Hold a leaf under water and the waxy coating causes the water to bead up in a beautiful iridescent fashion. This coating may sometimes possess a coppery-fuchsia sheen and is sold as a cultivar called "magenta spreen" in some garden catalogues.

Lamb's quarters grows to 3-5 feet (1-1.5 m) and is a branching annual with a grooved stem which is often tinged with red, especially at the node, or leaf joint. The seeds are shiny and black and about a third the size of a lone quinoa seed.

The various species of Chenopodium can be hard to differentiate-use a local field guide to identify your local species. Several species of hairy or black nightshade ( Solanum nigrum, S. villosum, S. physalifolium, and S. sarrachoides )-common garden weeds-could ultimately be confused with wild spinach. These species of nightshade can be toxic in larger doses, so it's important to be able to differentiate them from wild spinach.

How to Grow Lamb's Quarters

If you don't already have wild spinach in your garden, you can harvest the ripe seeds from nearby plants in the fall, save them over the winter, and broadcast them in the spring. If you add horse or cow manure to your garden you will have a steady supply of these tasty wild greens for most of the spring and summer. Or you can buy the seeds of "magenta spreen" lamb's quarters, which are sold by seed companies as a specialty green.

The seeds can be directly sown in dense rows in spring, and the greens harvested repeatedly in a cut-and-come again fashion. Wild spinach transplants well, so you can always dig up neighboring plants to bring them into your garden. Let them go to seed and they'll rapidly spread themselves about. If you don't like that idea, consider giving the plants an area to grow that's out of the way but close enough to easily harvest.

How to Harvest Lamb's Quarters

The tender tips-the top few nodes-can easily be pinched by hand for a tasty harvest. When working with two hands, one person can rapidly gather a nice bundle of greens from a dense patch of lamb's quarters. The tips are mostly leaves with a little stem; later in the season they might contain flower buds.

The beauty of picking just the tips is that your harvest will need little processing in the kitchen other than a good rinse-there's no need to separate the stem from the leaves, as the immature stem is tender enough to eat.

The lower, older stem is another story: it's quite fibrous and inedible. You can, however, eat leaves lower down on the stem; they simply need to be stripped away from the woody stem. As you travel down the stem, the older leaves are chewier, so favor the uppermost leaves.

If you own the lamb's quarters mother lode, pick only the succulent tips. When you harvest in this fashion, the plant responds by branching out-and ultimately produces more tender growth.

Lamb's Quarters Culinary Uses & Preparations

The greens can be eaten raw, steamed, or sautéed or added to soups and stews. If you dislike the texture of raw spinach, or it gives you a funny feeling in your mouth, you probably won't enjoy raw lamb's quarters.

I enjoy the steamed greens in lasagna, omelets, quiche, and cold pasta salads. The sky's the limit with this pleasant green-you can substitute it in most any dish that calls for spinach or Swiss chard. To preserve any surplus bounty, you can blanch and freeze the greens, or freeze a batch of pesto or pâté.

Some years ago I thought to bring some of my favorite wild edibles to the farmers market where we were selling organically grown vegetables. I set out pretty baskets filled with tidy bundles of pigweed ( Amaranthus sp.), purslane ( Portulaca oleracea ) and lamb's quarters accompanied by little signs explaining the preparation and nutritional value of these tasty greens. I also thought a yummy sample of the greens would inspire people to move beyond any fears of eating an unknown vegetable, especially a "weed". As it turns out we did not develop a wild following or even a tiny demand for our weeds, but people went crazy for the sample - wild greens pâté. We ended up selling just as much pâté as fresh salsa and pesto. Wild greens pâté freezes well and works well wherever you would use pesto - tossed over veggies and pasta, as a base to a green or white pizza (no marinara) or as a dip for crackers, raw carrots and celery. Last week I made delicious green lasagna with wild greens pâté and added more steamed lambs quarters instead of the traditional spinach.

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Lamb's Quarters | Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine

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Lamb's quarters is one of the most common weeds in gardens, backyards, and fallow fields, following human habitation closely. Like other opportunistic plants, it thrives on the disturbed ground humans inevitably create, but it has also been spread deliberately for millennia around the globe.

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This is long but there is a nice picture at the end with twine!

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CHEAP and EASY Deer Fencing that actually WORKS! - vomitingchicken.com

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Updated for you in April 2016, and again in June 2016 because I'm a meddling control-freak about my posts, and I think somethings I use the word "lovely" too often. Have a lovely day, folks. Lovely white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus) roam about our place in alarmingly high numbers. Wait.

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DIY Bamboo Tepee Vertical Garden

One of the most useful structures in my garden are bamboo tepees. They are the perfect vertical garden solution for growing more in less space. Here's my simple system for making a 3 or 4 legged tepee from bamboo stakes in about a minute for around a $1!

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One of the most useful structures in my garden are bamboo tepees. They are the perfect vertical garden solution for growing more in less space. Here's my simple system for making a 3 or 4 legged tepee from bamboo stakes in about a minute for around a $1!

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Though deer are heart-warming to look at in their natural environment, these creatures can do some serious damage or destroy shrubs, trees and other plants growing in our landscape and gardens. What was once love for them can turn to its opposite.

The average deer eats about 5 pounds of greenery each day, and they'll eat just about any plant if hungry enough, which often happens during summer drought and winter when there is less to forage on in their natural habit: the woods.

Animal repellents that work to ward off deer with unusual smells and tastes they aren't familiar with or don't like can be highly effective. That said, sometimes deer will become accustomed to the smell or taste of a specific repellent so you might find out that there's a need to switch repellents frequently to keep them away. With that in mind, here's some recipes you can use that have proven to be effective for repelling deer.

Homemade Deer Repellent Recipes

Scroll down for rabbit repellent

You can make these non-toxic recipes easily at home. They will deter the deer, however, as with most repellents may need to be re-applied after a heavy rain.

Mix one whole egg with a quarter cup of water and mix well. Pour the mixture into a pump bottle and spray it on your plants. This deterrent will withstand light rains because the egg sticks to the leaves.

Mix one tablespoon of liquid dish detergent with one ounce of hot sauce in about one quart of water and spray directly on plants which deer have been nibbling.

For larger volume applications, mix the following ingredients in a 1 gallon container such as a milk jug:

1 tablespoons cooking oil

1 tablespoons liquid detergent

Pour the mixture into a pump bottle and spray it on your plants.

Zest Soap: A bar of Zest soap in a knee-high nylon stocking hung on a branch or bush keeps deer from eating your plant.

Hair Samples: Ask your local hair salon or barber shop to save the cut hair they sweep off the floor every evening. Spread these hair clippings around plants deer eat.

Country Leaks: If you live out in the middle of nowhere, where "country leaks" will go unnoticed, stop using the toilet and simply urinate all around the plants that deer like to eat. Sounds crazy, but it works! Note: Watch out for mosquitos:-)

Plants: Bog Salvia (Salvia uliginosa) and Lantana plants do a great job repelling deer. These plants have a particular smell that deer hate!

Store-Bought Deer Repellent

Nontoxic natural deer repellents are commercially available. The most effective deer repellent I've used is one made by Messina called Deer Stopper .

Homemade Rabbit Repellent Recipe

Regarding a good rabbit repellent/deterrent. There are many repellent products on the market but very rarely do I see real good reviews on them. So I use a very simple homemade recipe that has proven to be quite effective, at least in my landscape and gardens.

Here's a list of what you'll need to make it:

An empty 1 gallon container, such as a milk jug

1 teaspoon crushed red peppers, preferably a hot one like Cayenne

To make this rabbit repellent, first fill a one gallon container, such as a milk jug, with water. Crush 5 garlic cloves and add then to the water. Add a teaspoon of crushed red peppers and 1 tablespoon of dish soap.

Shake the container very well and then place in outdoors in the direct sun for two days. This is to allow the ingredients to permeate the water.

To use, shake the container well and then pour or spray the solution on the plants you want to protect from rabbits.

Note: To use in a sprayer you will need to strain the solution through a cloth to remove garlic and pepper pieces that can clog your sprayer tip.

Respray once a week and after rainfall until the rabbits change their pattern and find other plants that they want to munch on. Hopefully weeds or other non-desirable plants!

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How To Make Homemade Deer & Rabbit Repellents

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Though deer are heart-warming to look at in their natural environment, these creatures can do some serious damage or destroy shrubs, trees and other plants growing in our landscape and gardens. What was once love for them can turn to its opposite.