Erin Hostetler
Edible Gardening Expert
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Co-authored Articles (53)
How to
Plant Date Seeds
If you live in a sunny climate, sprouting and planting a date seed can be a fun project. The seeds from dates can grow into date palm trees that you’ll be able to enjoy in your home, porch, or garden. Simply collect an...
How to
Grow Saffron
Saffron is a unique and delicious spice that creates the signature flavor in many dishes, like Spanish paella and bouillabaisse. Saffron is produced by the crocus flower, which is easy to cultivate in hardiness zones 6-9...
How to
Prune a Pear Tree
Pruning your pear tree every year helps to promote its growth and ability to bear fruit in addition to protecting it from infections. You will want to prune in the winter and get rid of your tree’s oldest branches. Thi...
When and How to Harvest Olives
A guide to picking olives when they’re ripe, ready, and delicious If you have an olive tree, you’re probably dreaming of the day your olives are ripe and ready to harvest. But if you’re not sure when that is, or h...
How to
Harvest Pine Nuts
Pine nuts make a healthy, delicious treat, especially if you harvest them yourself. While harvesting pine nuts takes time and effort, it's easier once you know the right technique. By picking and drying the pine cones an...
How to Easily Grow Chillies at Home from Seeds
Your guide to sprouting and planting chilli seeds in a pot or garden Whether they’re sweet, spicy, or scorching hot, chillies add a flavorful addition to all kinds of dishes. If you want your own supply of chillies rig...
How to
Prune a Lime Tree
Pruning a lime tree has many benefits, such as improving air flow, strengthening limbs, and reducing risk of disease. It's also a simple and straightforward task that you can do yourself. The right time to prune a lime t...
How to
Prune Strawberries
Pruning your strawberry plants regularly is important to create conditions that encourage sunlight absorption and minimize wasted energy. By following basic pruning practices and learning how to trim your plants, they wi...
How to
Grow Banana Trees in Containers
If you love bananas, you'll be ecstatic to learn that you can grow banana trees yourself. While many people in subtropical climates tend to grow these trees outside in their yard, banana trees can actually thrive in a po...
How to Use Your iPhone Camera to Identify Plants & Flowers
Look up the name of plants with just a photo Have you ever encountered a cool or interesting plant and weren't sure how to figure out what it is? If you have an iPhone, you're in luck—you can easily identify plants fro...
How to
Grow Cardamom
Cardamom is one of the most expensive and unique spices in the world. If you live in a very warm, humid climate (or in US Department of Agriculture zones 10 to 12), you can grow your own cardamom plant. Plant a few carda...
How to
Care for Indoor Plants
If you’ve ever had an indoor plant that’s quickly withered and wilted, you might believe that you don’t have a green thumb or you’re not cut out for growing plants. Well, we’re here to tell you that’s not the...
How to
Grow White Button Mushrooms
Growing white button mushrooms is a great project for a beginning gardener because their spores grow quickly and easily. Since they can be grown indoors, you can plant them at any time of the year. To grow button mushroo...
How to
Sprout Mung Beans
Mung bean sprouts are a common ingredient in Asian stir frys and provide a crisp, healthy addition to any meal. In the supermarket, you'll often find them labeled more generally as “bean sprouts.” There’s no need t...
How to
Prune Thyme
When growing thyme, you need to regularly prune it throughout the years in order to promote a good shape of the herb and encourage continual growth. Thyme that has become overgrown due to a lack of pruning will be very w...
How to
Harvest Pineapple
Yum! Is there anything quite as sweet and juicy as a fresh, ripe pineapple? If you've grown one yourself or you simply want to try harvesting one in a field, it's a fairly simple process. Keep in mind, usually only 1 pin...
How to
Harvest Ginger
Ginger is a plant known for its spicy, rich flavor. Planting ginger is actually a pretty straightforward process, but you have a few options when it comes to harvesting. Most people grow ginger for the rhizomes (or roots...
A Grower's Guide to Hydroponic Tomatoes
Everything you need to know to grow delicious tomatoes indoors Hydroponic tomatoes are grown in a nutrient solution with water rather than soil. Growing tomatoes hydroponically allows the grower to raise them in a contro...
How to Grow and Harvest Passion Fruit
Expert tips for planting, nurturing, and enjoying thriving passion fruit vines Passion fruit, or ''Passiflora'', is best known for its sweet, juicy seeds. But the plant also produces some spectacular flowers that provide...
How to
Dry Lavender
Delicate, fragrant lavender is easy to dry and preserve so that it may be used in scented sachets or as part of a dried flower arrangement. To dry lavender, it's important to harvest the flowers at the right moment, when...
