Hank writes:
I write. I fish. I dig earth, raise plants, live for food and kill wild animals. I drink bourbon, Barolo or Budweiser with equal relish and wish I owned a farm. But most of all I think daily about new ways to cook and eat anything that walks, flies, swims, crawls, skitters, jumps –
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What’s the best way to prolong the life of my Christmas cactus?
When the buds of a Christmas cactus look as if they’re about to open, make sure you water the plant regularly and keep it cool.
From The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
What makes a Kirby cucumber burpless?
Kirby cucumbers, like other greenhouse cucumbers, are milder than garden grown slicing or pickling cucumbers. As a result, to some people they seem to be easier to digest, resulting in less burping. The greenhouse cucumbers now known as “Kirby-type” were developed to produce fruit parthenogenically, that is, without pollination of
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How can I prolong the life of my poinsettias this holiday season?
The best thing you can do is keep the plant evenly moist from the time you bring it into the house. Protect it from getting chilled and make sure it is not in the path of any household drafts. Keep it in full sunlight
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Is there something I can do in the garden this fall to control bugs that will eat my vegetables next season?
If you till your garden in the late fall, you will expose insects hiding there to harsh winter conditions and reduce their populations next year. Fall tilling may help kill corn borers, cucumber beetles, squash
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Why won’t my cucumber plants produce fruits?
You may just need to be patient. Cucumbers, like squash, pumpkins, watermelons, cantaloupes, and many other plants, produce male and female flowers separately on the same plant. They often begin producing male flowers several weeks before the females appear. The males make pollen and are necessary, but they do
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Why does my cherry tree bear wonderful fruit one year and nothing the next?
As a general rule, a fruit tree’s production depends on the overall health of the tree, its environment, its fruiting habit, the variety, the rootstock, adequate pollination, and good cultural practices. If just one of these conditions is off, the annual yield
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What is the difference between a male and a female eggplant, and is one preferred over the other? (answer).
From The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
