Author: John Porter

John Porter is the urban agriculture extension educator for the Omaha metro area and statewide program leader for the Horticulture, Landscape, and Environmental Systems team at Nebraska Extension. He specializes in urban agriculture and horticulture, especially in the areas of vegetable and fruit production for home gardens, urban farms, and edible landscaping.
Gazette-Mail, urban ag, vegetable gardening

Raised Bed Rebuttal

The most recent article from this writer basically cast raised beds as evil and ecologically horrific while glorifying the practice of tilling up soil for a garden.  As the growing mountain of evidence shows, tilling and soil disruption has a big negative environmental impact and can reduce production.  To point out all the flaws I found with the article, I put pen to paper….er, fingertips to keyboard to list all the issues I had with the article for the Garden Professors blog.   Continue reading Raised Bed Rebuttal

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Genetic Engineering, plant science, technology, vegetable gardening

Translating the Language of Seed Packets: Hybrid, Heirloom, non-GMO, and more

One of the big takeaways is that the non-gmo label on garden seeds is basically meaningless since there are no genetically engineered seeds available to home gardeners and most home vegetable crops don’t have a GMO counterpart.  Continue reading Translating the Language of Seed Packets: Hybrid, Heirloom, non-GMO, and more

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GROBigRed, pest

National Moth Week: Not all that flutters is friendly

Last week was National Moth Week.  Here’s my blog post from the GROBigRed Blog last week about some of the moths you don’t want in your garden – vegetable pests!   So this week is National Moth Week.  Much of the info you’ll see online is about how to attract nice moths to your garden, how some moths are pollinators, and other interesting moth facts. … Continue reading National Moth Week: Not all that flutters is friendly

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GROBigRed, pest

Controlling Japanese Beetles in Fruits and Vegetables

These destructive pests can decimate a landscape, but they can also do some serious damage to vegetables and fruits.  Adult beetles will feed on just about anything if they are hungry enough, but they definitely have their favorites.  Most commonly, they feed on fruits such as apple, crabapple, grapes, peach, cherry, blackberries, and raspberries and vegetables such as asparagus, corn (foliage and silks), beans, okra, and rhubarb.   Continue reading Controlling Japanese Beetles in Fruits and Vegetables

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fruit, vegetable gardening

Storm Damage in Fruit and Vegetable Gardens

Storm damage to fruits and vegetables can take various forms.  From broken limbs in fruit trees to hail damage on fruits and vegetables or flooding raising food safety concerns, severe weather can have significant effects for the health and productivity of the garden.  Some damage will require maintenance, while other warrants a wait-and-see approach.  Here’s a list of some common types of damage to fruits and vegetables and what you should do (or shouldn’t do) about it. Continue reading Storm Damage in Fruit and Vegetable Gardens

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food, fruit, GROBigRed, vegetable gardening

Pollinators and the food we eat

I wrote and published this post for the GROBigRed blog on 6/21/17.  Check out that blog for great gardening information from all of my Nebraska Extension colleagues in Omaha. Pollinators and the food we eat – GRO Big Red It has been well-established and well-discussed that pollinators are responsible for the production (and reproduction) of about 35 percent of the crops that we grow for … Continue reading Pollinators and the food we eat

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plant science, vegetable gardening

Sometimes Late Bloomers are Best

My latest contribution to the GROBigRed blog… GRO Big Red Flowers are wonderful. They fill our lives with color, help provide us with food and ensure plants can reproduce. Gardeners, whether they grow ornamentals or vegetables, try to encourage flowers on their plants. However, flowers are not always a positive in the life of a plant. There are times when a gardener, especially one who … Continue reading Sometimes Late Bloomers are Best

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