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Yes, but only where summers are long and hot. You can plant eggplant seeds directly in the ground if your soil stays at 75°F or warmer and you have about four to five frost-free months ahead; most US gardeners get a better harvest by starting seeds indoors or buying transplants. That’s because eggplant is the … Read more >>
To harvest lemongrass without hurting the plant, wait until outer stalks are about half an inch thick and the clump is at least a foot tall, then twist or cut those stalks off at soil level and take no more than a third of the clump at once. The center of the clump is where … Read more >>
To grow eggplant from seeds in pots, start the seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your transplant date, keep them at 75 to 85°F until they sprout, and move one seedling into a 5-gallon or larger pot once nights stay above 55°F. Give that pot full sun, rich potting mix, and steady water, and … Read more >>
Yes, eggplant is a nightshade. Eggplant (Solanum melongena) belongs to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, the same plant family as tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes. That makes it a close cousin of many crops already in your garden. The label sounds scary, but it’s a family name. For gardeners, it shapes how you rotate beds and watch … Read more >>
The best ZZ plant companion plants are snake plant and haworthia, because they’re among the few common houseplants that also like to dry out completely between waterings. Pothos, Chinese evergreen, cast iron plant, dracaena, hoya, and peperomia also look great beside a ZZ, as long as each one sits in its own pot with its … Read more >>
Pothos is the plant I’d pick first if you want a room to look full fast. Golden pothos is the best fast-growing indoor plant for most homes because it handles average indoor light and can trail a foot or more a month in spring and summer when it gets bright, indirect light. Close behind it … Read more >>
For most homes, the best indoor plants that like direct sunlight are desert and dry-climate plants. Aloe, jade, echeveria, ponytail palm, bird of paradise, tropical hibiscus, rosemary and Meyer lemon all grow best when sun lands right on their leaves for several hours a day. If you have an unobstructed south- or west-facing window, I’d … Read more >>
The tiny black bugs on indoor plants are most often fungus gnats, followed by thrips, black aphids, and black scale. Fungus gnats hover over damp soil. Thrips, aphids, and scale stay on leaves and stems, where they suck plant juices and leave marks you can see. Where you spot the bugs tells you most of … Read more >>
Pothos, snake plant, and ZZ plant are the easy indoor plants for beginners I’d start with, because all three handle missed waterings and average indoor light better than most houseplants. If you want something that trails, get a pothos. If you forget to water for weeks at a time, get a snake plant or ZZ … Read more >>
A potted plant on your windowsill does very little to keep mosquitoes away. The oils that bother mosquitoes stay locked inside the leaves until you crush or rub them, and even then the effect reaches only a few inches and fades within minutes. If you want a real defense, I recommend tight window screens, emptying … Read more >>
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