Thin seedlings early

Crowded carrots, beets, and lettuce never size up. Once seedlings have their first true leaves, snip the extras at the soil line with scissors, leaving the spacing on the packet. Pulling them disturbs the roots of the ones you keep.

When: Spring · For: Carrot, Beet, Lettuce, Radish, Turnip, Parsnip

Tie stems loosely, in a figure eight

Loop soft twine or a cloth strip around the stake, cross it over, then loop it around the stem. The stem has room to thicken, and it can't rub against the stake.

When: Growing season

Pinch suckers on staked tomatoes

On vining tomatoes tied to a single stake, snap off the shoots that grow where a leaf meets the main stem while they're small. Caged and bush tomatoes can keep theirs: more stems mean more fruit.

When: Growing season · For: Tomato, Cherry tomato

Take off tomato leaves that touch the soil

Rain splashes blight spores from the soil onto the lowest leaves. Once plants are 2 to 3 feet tall, remove the leaves on the bottom foot of the stem, and mulch underneath.

When: Growing season · For: Tomato, Cherry tomato

About early blight →

Feed hungry crops halfway through the season

Corn, tomatoes, squash, and cabbage use up nitrogen fast. When tomatoes set their first fruit, or corn is knee-high, scratch a little compost or balanced fertilizer into the soil beside the plants and water it in.

When: Growing season · For: Sweet corn, Tomato, Cherry tomato, Zucchini / Summer squash, Winter squash, Pumpkin, Cabbage, Broccoli

All leaves and no fruit? Go easy on fertilizer

Tomatoes, peppers, beans, and squash fed too much nitrogen grow big and leafy but set little fruit. Skip lawn fertilizer and other high-nitrogen feeds, and use a balanced one sparingly.

When: Growing season · For: Tomato, Cherry tomato, Pepper, Hot pepper, Green beans (bush), Pole beans, Zucchini / Summer squash, Winter squash

Hand-pollinate squash if the fruit shrivels

Baby squash that turn yellow and rot weren't pollinated. In the morning, pick a male flower (on a plain stem, with no tiny squash behind it), peel back its petals, and dab its center into a female flower.

When: Growing season · For: Zucchini / Summer squash, Winter squash, Pumpkin

Hill up potatoes as they grow

When the plants are 6 to 8 inches tall, pull soil or straw up around the stems, leaving the top few leaves showing. Do it again two or three weeks later. New potatoes form along the buried stems, safe from the light.

When: Spring, Growing season · For: Potato

Grow potatoes in bags →

Snip off faded flowers

Zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, and other annual flowers keep blooming longer if you cut off the old flowers before they set seed.

When: Growing season · For: Zinnia, Cosmos, Marigold, Calendula, Snapdragon