With a tart and floral flavor, yuzu fruits provide a uniquely refreshing taste to sauces and marinades. Join plant expert Briana Yablonski as she explains how to grow this cold-hardy citrus at home. While you’re probably familiar with lemons, oranges, and limes, you can grow many other citrus plants at home. Take yuzu, for instance. These cold-hardy plants can tolerate temperatures that would cause many other types of citrus to perish, making them a good year-round addition to many outdoor gardens. With the proper care, yuzu plants will eventually produce round yellow or orange fruits that resemble bumpy mandarin oranges. Despite their appearance, the sour yuzu fruits aren’t great for fresh eating. However, the tart juice and refreshing zest have a unique flavor that makes an excellent addition to marinades, cocktails, and salad dressings. If you want to try growing yuzu at home, you’re in luck! As long as you provide the proper environment and practice a bit of patience, you can enjoy fresh yuzu fruits within a few years. What Is Yuzu? Yuzu is similar to many other types of citrus plants, with a few unique characteristics. If you think you’d like to add a yuzu to your collection, here’s what you can expect. Characteristics While all yuzu plants grow as evergreen perennials, the rootstock determines their final height. Plants on mature rootstocks can grow up to 20 feet tall, while those with dwarfing rootstocks cap out at about five feet tall. All types of yuzu produce deep green leaves with elongated petioles (leaf stems). These petioles appear to resemble small leaves, so the combination of leaf and petiole looks like two conjoined leaves. Yuzu plants take multiple years to reach maturity, so they won’t produce flowers during their first year of growth. When the plants are old enough, they’ll send out small, white flowers in the late winter or spring. These flowers closely resemble other types of citrus blooms, with five white petals and yellow stamens. After successful pollination, small green fruits appear in the center of the flowers. Eventually, the petals drop, and the fruits grow until they’re about three inches in diameter. Fully grown fruits begin to change color to deep yellow or light orange and are ready for harvest during the winter. Native Area Yuzu originated somewhere in Central China near Tibet, where it continues to grow today. The tree isn’t a distinct species but rather an F1 hybrid of two other citrus trees: the mandarin orange and the pithy Ichang papeda. Although yuzu plants first appeared in China, humans brought this citrus to Japan sometime near the end of the first millennium. Since then, they’ve been grown throughout the country. Planting While adding any plant to my home is exciting, bringing home a citrus plant like yuzu makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning. If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to let the enthusiasm of a new citrus tree prevent you from adequately preparing for its arrival. So stop, take a breath, and keep these tips in mind.

Edible berries, lush leaves, and arching stems make evergreen huckleberries one of the most decorative native shrubs available on the West Coast. They’re favorites of local birds, mammals, bugs, and gardeners! Grow one today and your neighbors will ask, “What’s that gorgeous plant in your yard?” Close relatives of blueberries, lingonberries, and cranberries, huckleberries are forest-dwelling shrubs that produce bushels of edible fruit. They love shady sites underneath tree canopies. You’ll notice them thriving in western forests beneath Douglas fir trees, coast redwoods, hemlocks, pines, and firs. Unlike blueberry plants, this native shrub has specific requirements that limit its range. Extreme frost, low humidity, and sunny exposures may cause issues for the growing shrub. Grant it what it needs so it rewards you with healthy evergreen growth throughout the warm seasons. Whether you’re planting an edible garden or one for pollinators, huckleberries work well in many landscape styles. Use them in borders, mass plantings, or tree wells beneath large specimens. I planted mine next to lingonberry, blueberry, and raspberry shrubs; they all happily grow together! What Is It? Evergreen huckleberry is a member of the Vaccinium genus alongside other fruiting shrubs. There are deciduous huckleberries also native to the U.S., though they thrive in colder regions throughout the country. The evergreen type originates where temperatures are mild year-round with few winter frosts. Native Area Growing wild from California through northern British Columbia, the shrub has a wide range of habitats it prefers. You’ll see it happily growing in mixed coniferous forests in Oregon, redwood forests in California, and at high elevations where temperatures are cool and moisture is abundant. A good way to find this shrub in the wild is to look for other plants that grow alongside it. Native species like salal, Pacific rhododendron, and Western sword fern are abundant in the same environments as this huckleberry. They all prefer cool, moist winters, dry summers, and partial shade or full sun. Characteristics This shrub differs in appearance depending on the environmental conditions. Sites with full sun and dry summers will lead to short, squat, and bushy specimens. Shadier sites beneath trees and at woodland’s edges form a more graceful stature; they grow arching stems that reach up and over. All plants display reddish new growth in late winter and early spring. The triangular leaves turn bright green over time, creating a lovely contrast with red-green shifting foliage. Flowers appear shortly after new growth resumes. They’re white and urn-shaped like the blossoms from related plants in the Ericaceae family like blueberries, lingonberries, and manzanitas. In shady sites, an evergreen huckleberry may reach up to eight feet tall! It’ll stay short and squat in sunny, dry sites, remaining under five feet tall. The sunlight influences its overall appearance. Planting This blueberry relative thrives in a wide range of environments, from dry California forests to wet ones in the Pacific Northwest. Unlike most native shrubs, growing this one from seeds is an easy task! The seeds don’t require cold stratification, and they readily germinate shortly after the berries fall off the plant.

Growing full-sized watermelons can seem daunting for home gardeners. They take up a lot of space and produce a massive fruit. If that’s not your style, try the “icebox” variety ‘Sugar Baby,’ packed with the same nutrients, juiciness, and flavor as their giant counterparts. Join organic farmer Jenna Rich as she discusses how to plant, grow, and care for it. I hadn’t grown watermelons until this season, and ‘Sugar Baby’ happened to be the one I ended up with. A neighbor had saved seeds from a previous year and asked me to start some for her in my greenhouse. I was happy to oblige and even happier when she offered me any extras as she only wanted four plants. Once summer was in full gear, I transplanted two seedlings into their own fabric grow bag and set them alongside my Birdies metal raised beds. Before long, their vines intertwined with my tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. It was a beautiful jungle of all my favorite summer crops, and the melons performed well in their bags. After noting signs of full maturity, I harvested the first of several, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint. I recommend this delicious heirloom variety if you have space for a mini watermelon. Let’s learn how to plant, grow, care for, and enjoy ‘Sugar Baby’ watermelons. What Are ‘Sugar Baby’ Watermelons? This variety is an easy-to-grow, juicy, compact watermelon, an excellent option for individuals or young families. While mostly water, this heirloom also contains antioxidants, potassium, Vitamin C, carotenoids, and lycopene. It’s prolific, and our community loves it for its high yields, delicious flavor, consistency, and overall good health. ‘Sugar Baby’’s high sugar content gives it its standout sweetness. Appearance This adorable melon is small, round, deep green externally, with gorgeous dark red internal flesh. There may be some faint lighter green striping on the outside. The seeds are roundish and medium brown, and the rind is minimal. Each fruit weighs eight to ten pounds and is seven to ten inches in diameter, and each plant produces two to five melons. Native Area ‘Sugar Baby’ watermelons are native to Africa and was introduced to the United States in the 1950s. It quickly gained popularity for its size, flavor, and heirloom status. How to Grow These are sensitive to transplant, but with extra care, they’ll succeed without issues. ‘Sugar Baby’ watermelons are known for being low-maintenance. Sunlight Place plants where they’ll receive eight to ten hours of direct sunlight daily. Sunlight promotes ample flower production and stimulates pollination, and full sun will ensure their flesh is super sweet. Water Watermelons are named as such because they contain high water levels and require a lot of water to produce their massive, sweet, and juicy fruits. Water them one to two inches weekly if they have not received that much rainfall. Water at the base to ensure it reaches the roots. The soil should be consistently moist but not soggy. Soil Watermelons thrive in rich, loamy soil high in organic matter, which should remain moist throughout the growing season. The pH is ideally between 6.0 and 6.8, but they will tolerate anywhere between 5.0 and 7.0. A soil test before planting will help determine if you need to acidify your soil. Mulch Short-season growers in northern regions may add heavy straw mulching or silage tarps (black side up) around their melons and pathways to warm the soil temperatures. Mulching adds the bonus of suppressing weeds and fertility to the soil as it breaks down. Climate and Temperature Watermelons prefer air temperatures between 70 and 85°F (21 and 29°C). Cooler temperatures may stunt their growth and cause mushiness, and they will not tolerate a frost. Cover new transplants with a row cover to protect them from spring temperatures. Cool spring soil temperatures are not great for watermelon production. If the spring is unseasonably cool, start indoor seeds later to avoid rootbound seedlings. Fertilizing ‘Sugar Baby’ watermelons are heavy feeders, requiring high amounts of nutrients, water, and composted organic matter. A weekly fish emulsion foliar feed helps them thrive. You may side-dress with compost halfway through the season. Give a nitrogen boost before flowering occurs, when tendrils appear and vines lengthen. Switch to fertilizers that are heavier in potassium when you remove the insect netting, and flowering begins. Harvesting Around 75 to 80 days after transplant, begin monitoring for shriveled curly-Qs near the melon as it’s one of the tell-tale signs that it’s ready for harvest. At this time, the fruit is receiving no additional nutrients from the plant. There may also be a light green or yellow spot on the exterior where it sits on the soil surface and is tough to the touch. Gently tug on the fruit. If it releases itself without much effort, this confirms your suspicion, but if it fights back, leave it for another day or two. Pruning When thinned to the proper spacing, no pruning is necessary. However, when the season is nearing its end and cooler nights have arrived, some growers snip the growing tip so the plant can focus its energy on ripening the fruit on the vine. Propagation ‘Sugar Baby’ watermelons can be directly sown or started indoors three to four weeks before the last frost.