Swiss chard, a pile of leafy greens with red stems

Growing Guide: Swiss Chard

Swiss chard is a green with a unique taste. Plants can be lightly harvested in the first year for food, and then set to overwinter and produce seeds the following year.

A bowl of shelled small green beans next to a bowl of green bean pods

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Soybeans

In the US, soybeans are grown as a commodity crop and primarily used for oil and animal feed. However, soybeans are also an excellent crop for home gardeners, who can enjoy them in Asian inspired cuisines or more simply as steamed edamame.

A row of green stalks with large green leaves and small yellow and brown flowers on their tops

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Sorghum

Sorghum is grown for beer-making, syrup production, and for their edible grains. Some varieties of sorghum, such as broom corn, are used for crafts.

A close-up pile of long vegetables with red-pink skins

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Shallots

This smaller cousin of the common onion belongs to the Allium cepa species, subspecies aggregatum. Shallots lend sweetness to dishes that ask for onions and they are just as easy to grow as their large-bulbing relatives.

Two pink beans in a split open green pod, on top of a pile of black and red speckled beans

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Runner Beans

These plants are often grown as ornamentals, owing to their large and often bright red flowers, as well as for their edible seeds.

Four radish white halves with a pink center on top of a pile of white whole radishes with green stems

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Radish

Radishes are quick and easy to grow, and are a tasty addition to salads and roasted vegetable plates. Some radish varieties mature in one season, while others are over-wintered and produce seed in the second season.

A pile of wide red peppers with short green stems on top of green leaves

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Peppers

Both sweet and hot peppers originate from one wild species native to Central and South America. Of today’s five domesticated pepper species, gardeners usually encounter two: Capsicum annuum and Capsicum chinense.

A green pea pod attached to a green stem, in front of green stems and leaves

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Peas

It is easy to see why this early-season crop is a popular garden plant. Peas require little care beyond a trellis and pest protection, yet they produce prolific amounts of snappy pods throughout the spring and summer.

Three cut-open white and brown onions and one cut-open red onion on a wood surface

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Onions

Onions, like other members of the Allium family, are biennials, producing seeds in their second year of growth. The bulb (or common) onion has brown, yellow, or red skin and is round, elongated, or flattened.

A white bowl with green, star-shaped vegetable slices with white seeds in their centers, in front of green ridged vegetables, on top of a rock surface

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Okra

The towering stalks of the okra plant provide height, texture, and color to the home garden. Both beautiful and productive, okra can be harvested for several weeks throughout the summer.

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