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Vegetable

All Vegetable Content

Variety of fresh vegetables in blue plastic totes on a table at a farmers market.

Food Safety for Farmers Markets

Food safety bulletins for farmers markets and other direct marketing vendors

a garden with several different areas and types of plants growing

Garden Food Safety

Every so often we hear about people getting sick from eating raw produce that got contaminated somewhere on its path from the field to the consumer. Commercial growers are taking great care to keep your food safe, and there are new national rules to guide them. Following are some tips for home gardeners to help keep their fruits and vegetables safe.

freshly harvested leafy greens

Best Practices When Harvesting Leafy Greens for Market and Home

The harvesting of leafy greens to maintain quality and safety focuses on the key risk factors from the time harvest begins to selling at market. The food safety risk factors involve temperature, time, water, worker hygienic practices, and food contact surfaces.

A large orange butterfly with white spots feeding on a pale pink flower in a green grassy area.

Planting for Specialist Butterflies

Monarchs are not the only specialist pollinators in South Dakota. Many other butterflies also require a specific plant or family of plants to lay eggs on. Learn about some important host plants to help specialist butterflies in your yard!

Adult red earthworm, cabbage looper, and brown-belted bumble bee.

The Seen and Unseen World of Invertebrates and Vegetables: The good, the bad, and the cute

The seen and unseen worlds of invertebrates in our gardens offer an opportunity to understand how each organism plays a crucial role in the balance of our environment, whether they are good, bad, or even cute.

Wheel burrow full of fall yard and garden waste.

Fall Vegetable Garden Cleanup

Fall cleanup can help with the success of your garden next year, as diseased plants left over the winter can provide fungal or bacterial spores waiting to infect next year's plants. Learn some tips for getting started!

Bacterial soft rot on tomato fruit.

Bacterial Soft Rot

Bacterial soft rot is a common disease that can occur in a variety of fruits and vegetables. Learn how to identify and manage it before it impacts your harvest.

Pepper plant with frost injury.

Fall Frost Tolerance of Common Vegetables

Vegetables vary widely in how much cold they can tolerate as they reach maturity. Learn which ones can tolerate light and heavy frosts and which ones can't.

Pumpkins and winter squash on display at a farmer's market.

Harvesting and Storing Pumpkins and Winter Squash

The gardening season will soon come to an end, but we can still enjoy pumpkins and winter squash well into the winter months if we take some extra care during the harvest and storage process.

Couple harvesting cabbage in a large garden.

Perfect produce? Understanding the standards behind cabbage quality and condition from a production perspective

Learn about the U.S. Department of Agriculture cabbage grading requirements, as they are key to understanding why produce is graded to certain standards before it ends up on grocery store shelves.