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 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 >>
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 >>
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, you can grow these two crops side by side, and they make easy bed partners. You can plant eggplant and peppers together because both are heat-loving nightshades that want the same full sun, warm soil, steady water and rich, well-drained ground, as long as you space them 18 to 24 inches apart and watch … Read more >>
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 >>
Lotus leaves are covered in tiny hairs and a waxy coating, and that surface reacts badly to oils and soaps. The safest way to protect lotus from pests and wildlife is to rinse insects off with plain water, pick off the bigger pests by hand, and block animals with physical barriers like rocks, wire, and … Read more >>
Lotus does best when it gets its own sunny pot and its neighbors stay out of that pot. The best companion plants for lotus are compact water lilies, potted marginals like pickerelweed and blue flag iris, and a few well-controlled oxygenators, all kept in separate containers so nothing steals the 6+ hours of direct sun … Read more >>