Vegetables

The one time of year that almost all gardeners look forward to is the arrival of the first new garden catalogs of the year. These usually start arriving right in December with the real flood of colorful catalogs showing up in our mailboxes after the beginning of the New Year.

How to Grow It

Several bundles of fresh carrots on display at a farmers market.

How to Grow It: Carrots

Carrot is a hardy, cool-season vegetable. Carrots are eaten both raw and cooked and they can be stored for winter use.

How to Grow It: Green Beans

Snap beans, also called “green beans” or “string beans” (although most modern varieties do not have strings) are harvested when the pods contain immature seeds, and the pods are still succulent.

A lush, green cluster of garden peas with several pods developed.

How to Grow It: Peas

The most common type of pea in American gardens is the shelling pea, also called the “garden pea” or “English pea.” Tender, sweet peas are removed from thin, tough pods before eating.

Testing Dial Pressure Canner Gauges

For accuracy before use, it is recommended that dial gauges get tested each year. Gauges that read high cause under-processing and may result in unsafe food.

Shiny green and bronze beetle on green dill plant.

What Are These Shiny Beetles in My Yard and Why Are They Eating Everything?

Japanese beetles are very bad news for anyone with a garden. They are polyphagous insect pests, which simply means they feed on many different host plants.

Two-stripped grasshopper resting on a leaf in a garden. Courtesy: Ryan Hodnett (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Grasshoppers: When to Manage Them in a Yard and Garden

Grasshopper populations are elevated in Central South Dakota. Some of the concerns regarding these large grasshopper populations is that they are feeding on trees, gardens and almost everything in between.