Easy-to-Grow Snap Beans
Easy-to-Grow Snap Beans

The most colorful and tasty snap beans you will ever eat are the ones you grow yourself. You seldom find purple or yellow beans in a grocery store or farmstand, and the commercial green varieties just can’t compare to the fresh-from-the-garden pods harvested at their…

Spring-Flowering Trees
Spring-Flowering Trees

After the last three years of climate torture, I’ve concluded that spring is my favorite season of the year. It’s the fresh start we all need. Redbuds, dogwoods, deciduous magnolias, hawthorns, peaches and plums, snowbells and silverbells, and so many other plants celebrate the arrival…

The 10 Commandments of Tomato Success
The 10 Commandments of Tomato Success

Tomatoes are the queen of the vegetable garden. Each year, gardeners strive for a bountiful harvest of beautiful, tasty fruit (yes, tomatoes are fruit). Through my own gardening experiences and observing the mistakes of others, I’ve come up with a set of key factors in…

Jacksonville Tomato Fest
Jacksonville Tomato Fest

For decades, America’s favorite garden vegetable has been celebrated in Cherokee County. Jacksonville, Texas, was touted as the “Tomato Capitol of the World” during the height of railroad-shipping days from about 1914 to the 1950s, and many local families worked picking, packing and loading tomatoes.…