A delicious or beautiful summer garden of vegetables and/or flowers, starts with planning and picking out seeds and plants now. Whether you shop for seeds or plants from a catalog, online, or garden center, it can be an overwhelming task deciding what to plant. Here are a few tips to keep seed or plant orders manageable and not let your eyes and imagination get bigger than the time and space you have to plant.
It’s not necessary to plant everything from seed. Planting from seed allows some personal options, the possibility of having an abundance of something, or finding something a bit unusual that you’d like to try. Annual plants are usually available from garden centers at reasonable prices foregoing the cost of seed, starting soil, containers, lights, and water that is needed to start seedlings on your own. Many of the seed retailers also offer plant offerings so if only one or two plants are desired, it might be more economical to purchase the plant than the seed.
Plant what you will eat and/or preserve in the vegetable garden. While the home garden is a great opportunity to broaden the vegetable and fruit palate, planting vegetables and herbs that are not favorites is not in your best interest. Be sure to consider space considerations; some plants like pumpkins and squash require a lot of space. And remember, it doesn’t take too many plants of anything to fill your needs.
Try something new. Each year, save space to experiment with a new edible or flowering plant or a different variety of something familiar just to broaden experience, knowledge and palate, if edible.
Include some pollinators. Adding a few beneficial flowers to the vegetable garden will boost your edible yields and may also provide some natural pest control. Zinnias are easy to grow, add lots of color, and are a favorite of bees and hummingbirds. The choices in zinnia varieties seems to be every expanding, too.
Care for unused seeds. Seed packets may contain more seeds that needed. Most seeds can be stored for one or two years and still produce great results in your garden. The key is to store them properly. Seed Savers Exchange offers some great tips for storing seeds. Another alternative is to share them with friends.
If you would like to receive some seed catalogs or are looking for something specific (organic, heirloom, etc.), here is an online source to help get you started with your spring planting:
10 Seed Catalogs Every Gardener Needs
Enjoy the season! It will soon be time to start those seeds under lights.
Reviewed and updated 6/2024, mg.
Pumpkins of all sizes and varieties are appearing at the market and other venues. There’s a lot of variety in pumpkins and it pays to consider what you’ll be using your pumpkin for–cooking, carving, or decorating–when you go shopping for one. When choosing a carving or decorating pumpkin, you’re looking for a nice shape and a pumpkin that will last several days. The choice for a cooking or baking pumpkin is all about taste and texture.
You can carve or decorate with any type of pumpkin, squash, or gourd. However, larger pumpkins used for carving or decorating are generally known as field pumpkins and besides being larger in size, also have a watery, stringy flesh. A good carving pumpkin should be firm, healthy, feel heavy when picked up, and sound slightly hollow when tapped gently. Ideally, the shell should be hard enough to protect it, but still allow a knife through. Pumpkins with outer shells that feel as hard as a piece of wood are very difficult and dangerous to slice or carve. The heavier the pumpkin, the thicker the walls. Thick walls may block the light source and carving details may be lost. If the pumpkin you choose has thicker walls than desired, one can shave the walls from the inside. Test to see if the pumpkin has a good base to sit on so that it won’t roll over. Avoid carrying the pumpkin by its stem. The stem is not a handle and if it breaks, you may loose part of your design or create a wound that invites rot.
Fall is the perfect time to collect and plant milkweed. The first step is to acquire seed. Most milkweed species grow particularly well in undisturbed areas, so start by checking out roadsides, pastures, creek and river banks, railroad track beds, bike paths, highway medians, agricultural field margins, vacant land, cultivated gardens, and parks. In September the seed pods begin to turn brown, split, and open. The seed pod looks like a spiny, bumpy fruit. 
They begin light green in color and gradually over the summer turn yellow-green and eventually sage green to sage grey-brown. As they get to this later stage, they will start to split. 
This is the stage that you want for harvesting seeds. When the pod is opened, the seeds inside should be dark brown. If they’re green or light brown, they’re not mature yet and won’t sprout when planted. 
If you don’t see the split or aren’t sure about the color, you can gently push on the pod; if it splits easily and the seeds are brown, it is ready; if it won’t pop open easily, leave it for another time.
The fluff enables the wind to scatter and disperse the seed over a wide area. Whether the seed is saved to share or use later or planted this fall, the fluff should be removed and it is best to do this before the pod fully opens and explodes. When the seeds are all compact inside the pod, it is easy to do by carefully removing the spine holding the fluff and running your fingers down it; as you do, the seeds fall out easily. Check out the 
In all cases, please be advised to wear gloves or wash hands frequently when working with milkweed or pods. Milkweed sap (looks like milk) can be an eye irritant, so take appropriate precautions to avoid this kind of discomfort.
Common PURSLANE (Portulaca oleracea) is a weed in the purslane family (Portulacaceae) that many curse; it comes uninvited, spreads fast, and keeps on giving. Purslane grows nearly everywhere in the world and is known as a weed or an edible plant. Some cultures embrace purslane as a delicious and exceptionally nutritious treat!
