Gardening Tips

Fungus gnats on seedlings usually mean wet mix. Learn how to confirm gnats, test for larvae, fix watering and know when to use Bti or resow your seedlings.

Learn to spot beneficial garden insects like lady beetle larvae, lacewings and hover flies, and know when to wait, wash with water or finally treat.

Insect mesh for a vegetable garden: match the mesh size to the pest, cover at planting, seal the edges and take it off at bloom for crops that need bees.

Squirrels digging your vegetable garden? Confirm the digger by hole size and timing, lay wire over new beds, and remove the smells and feeders that draw them.

Caterpillars on kale? Tell cabbageworms, loopers and diamondback larvae apart at a glance, then learn when to pick, when to use Bt and how to cover kale.

Slugs eating seedlings? Confirm it with a night check and a board trap, take away their daytime cover, water in the morning and test one fix at a time.

Cut-and-come-again salad harvesting: cut leaves at 3 to 4 inches, leave 1 inch above the crown, and track regrowth to get 2 to 4 cuts before resowing.

The most productive vegetables for small gardens are crops you pick for months, like cherry tomatoes, pole beans and chard. Rank yours by meals per foot.

The best vegetables for partial shade by sun hours: greens in 3 to 4 hours, roots and peas in 4 to 6, plus spacing, timing and care for shaded beds.

How many vegetable plants for two people? Start with 8 to 12 in a 4 by 8 foot bed: quantities, spacing, frost timing and a weekly routine that fits.