16 Tips for Successful Growing Tomatoes

While you are home-bound temporarily, enjoy your backyard and start growing seeds and seedlings, for example, tomatoes.

From the first seed sown to the last fruit stashed in the freezer, homegrown tomatoes are a labor of love. Whether it’s tomato-sowing time (as it is April 15ish in my Northeastern Zone 5B), or maybe already transplanting time in yours, it’s a good moment to review what goes into tomato-growing success.

Growing Tomatoes is Part Nature and Part Nurture
Start with a homegrown seedling or a locally raised one—not a big-box-store seedling that may have been shipped in from warmer zones, where more tomato diseases are endemic and overwinter.  Plants from far away can be vectors for disease.

Getting great flavor out of a tomato is part nature, part nurture—meaning the genetics of the seed you start with, and the way you grow it both factor into what is probably a 60-40 equation. Choosing a Florida-bred variety for your New Hampshire garden will never let you hit the sweet(est) spot.

Here’s why, and how to push for a perfect flavor score:

https://awaytogarden.com/16-things-i-know-about-growing-tomatoes/

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Hellebores: Flowering Winter Delight

On a recent visit to Vancouver Island, I admired the most beautiful Hellebores in gardens all over the island. What a sight in the middle of Winter! In Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal their blooms might not show up before the end of April or in early May. But no matter what their blooming time is: amazing colors and beautiful, early blooms will touch the hearts of plant lovers.

Here are some practical tips for growing Hellebores:
When you purchased a small plant, it may need time to grow up. Hellebores flower between two and three years after transplanting. Like with many other plants, they will take a while to settle in. And if you purchased a larger plant in flower, it is not uncommon to take a year off after being taken out of its container and planted into your soil.

They have a very large and far-reaching root system. It is not uncommon to purchase a hellebore plant that has roots that are wrapped all around the pot. This does not necessarily mean the plant was poorly grown, it just makes a lot of roots fairly rapidly once the plant reaches a certain age.

Loosening the root ball, or cutting the roots in a couple of places, helps the plant get out of its container shape and into the nice, rich soil you planted it in. A period of adjustment is required after planting, when we try to coax the plant's roots out of the soilless potting media they have been growing in while container-bound.

Hellebores will grow in a wide range of conditions. While most of us think of them as “shade plants,” they are shade-tolerant plants. Best is to grow Hellebores with other taller perennials or shrubs that provide some relief from the burning summer sun. They like well-drained soil, don't water them too much, Hellebores don't like soggy soil. In very heavy clay soil, before planting amend the area with organic matter, such as composted pine bark or other material. And if you do plan to divide, fall is the best time to do so.

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Vanishing Bumblebees Due to Extreme Weather

Bumblebees are vanishing because of extreme temperatures and habitat loss. Extreme temperatures, both cold and hot are driving a dramatic decline in bumblebees across North America and Europe, according to a new study. Yet another way climate change is putting ecosystems at risk.

Researchers looked at half a million records showing where bumblebees have been found since 1901, across 66 different species. They found that in places where bumblebees have lived in North America, you're about half as likely to see one today.
The decline is especially pronounced in Mexico, where bumblebees once lived in abundance. Big heat events can stress both the bees and the flowers they depend on.

"It's these extreme events throughout the year that's pushing bees beyond what they've ever had to handle before," says Peter Soroye, a graduate student at the University of Ottawa, Canada, and lead author on the study published in the journal Science. "And that seems to be driving a lot of the disappearances in bees."

Bumblebees also don't seem to be rapidly expanding into new habitats in search of cooler temperatures. Scientists believe that some plants and animals will move northward or to higher elevations as the climate warms.

Bumblebees are crucial pollinators for natural landscapes. Just don't confuse them with honeybees. Bumblebees are native to the U.S., evolving with the ecosystems that rely on them. Honeybees were brought over from Europe to pollinate many agricultural crops.

"Bumblebees are some of the best pollinators that we have." One bumblebee, the rusty patched bumblebee, is listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. In California, a legal battle has erupted between the state, agricultural groups and conservationists over protecting four bumblebees species under state law.

Still, scientists say there's a lot everyday people can do:
"If you have a garden, fill it full of native plants that the bees can go visit," Soroye says. He also recommends leaving fallen logs or leaf piles on the ground, in a corner of your garden. It can create shelter and shade during extreme heat events.

Read more:
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/06/803130948/bumblebees-are-disappearing-because-of-extreme-heat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee