No matter what your profession, the imminent, and at times sudden, arrival of fall brings lots of changes and a fair number of challenges, both physical and mental. September is a pretty busy time for most field-based horticulture crop producers. This is when...

Most vegetables are harvested when they are fresh, young, and tender, with thin skins, cells full of moisture, and a correspondingly (and understandably) short shelf life. As a result, they must be harvested right before market, handled minimally, and then sold as...

Many of the strategies required to manage various in-season pests (insects and diseases) are preventative in nature. These are best applied prior to the development of any disease or insect pest population, either during the off-season or at the end of the growing...

Throughout the growing season, from the point of planting through to harvest and dormancy, fruits, vegetables, and other horticulture crops have high and specific water requirements. Generally, most vegetables benefit from the application of an inch (2.5cm) of water...

Throughout the time that plants are growing and active, you often see things that make you wonder what is going on with the plants. Sometimes, plants look a bit like they have a runny nose, or a drippy eye. If you are like me, you might take a second look to set...

This week, I was reminded that nature is awesome and that, in many cases, sometimes you just cannot beat letting nature do its thing. As I was out for a morning walk, I noticed a strange green shape, with some whitish protrusions. It was moving very slowly across the...

The word renovation can mean different things to different people. Since this is a horticultural blog, we will look at it from the perspective of fruit crops. What does renovation mean? The origins of the word renovate are derived from the Latin renovatus, a past form...

For many market gardeners, after a period of preparation, they have entered (or are just entering) into the thick of the processes for dealing with their customers in a COVID-19 environment, whether at the farm, in the market, or otherwise. For the greenhouse...

Note: This is not an article to frame a debate for or against herbicide use, but rather highlight some commonly occurring issues that often show up around now. Second Note: There are lots of smart(er than me) folks out there with useful things to say about this topic....