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 Tips for Growing Vegetable Plants  Although shade can be a challenge, it doesn't stop you from growing your own fruits and vegetables. In this video, you'll learn some tricks to maximize the light your garden gets for shade-growing fruit and vegetable plants. Tips for Growing Vegetable Plants in the Shade Unless your climate is very hot, you should use sunny parts of the garden to start the seeds, then transplant them if they are large enough to handle the shade. Use indoor grow lights to encourage pre-sown seedlings. Paint walls and fences white, or use mirrors and other reflective surfaces such as shiny metal or foil to reflect available light in shady areas of the garden. Shady areas are often cooler and wetter, so use cold frames or row covers to warm the soil earlier and then extend the growing season. Use beer traps and delay mulching until the weather warms to deter slugs. Space plants are widespread to help increase light penetration. Examples of vegetabl...

Grow Milkweed Growing Tips Every school child learns about milkweed because this plant is an essential food for monarch butterfly caterpillars. There are actually several species of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), all of which are native to North America. They make beautiful, low-maintenance additions to most gardens and landscapes, where they attract a variety of pollinators with their flowers. Milk juice for defense Milkweed plants have developed two attractive defense mechanisms to deter predators. The main source of defense gives the plant its common name - milky white latex. The sticky sap and all parts of the plant contain large amounts of a compound toxic to all vertebrates. Monarch butterfly larvae have the ability to store this deadly compound in their bodies and are also toxic to vertebrates. This is what gives monarchs their characteristic foul taste, which repels predators. A second defense of these plants is the sticky nature of the sap. Milkweed plants keep their ...