Food Gardening

Follow these links for more information on:

• First vegetable planting dates in spring
• Last vegetable planting dates in summer and fall
• Vegetable rotation

Cornell Resources

Cornell's home gardening website has links to excellent resources, including Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners, Vegetable MD Online, Vegetable Disease Factsheets, and to growing guides for more than 50 different vegetables. http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/index.html

Community garden locations

If you are interested in growing your own food but don't have space for a garden, then how about renting a plot in a community garden near you? Visit the following link for a list of community gardens in Tompkins County and contact information for each:
http://ccetompkins.org/garden/community-school-gar...

Seed Saving

This Cornell University Library Guide on "Seed Saving" compiled by Jeff Piestrak includes links to relevant Cornell University initiatives, Conservation & Biodiversity Groups, Grower Resources/Directories/Support, Industry/Trade Groups & Resources, Seed Libraries, Seed Sovereignty, Other Seed Saving Organizations/Networks/Events, and General Learning Materials on saving seeds.

Building Raised Beds for Vegetable Gardening

This article from the University of Maryland Extension discusses how to build as well as the advantages and disadvantages of creating raised beds.  

https://extension.umd.edu/resource/building-raised-beds-vegetable-gardening

Harvesting Garlic - Garlic Scapes

Its almost time to harvest garlic – but what are those crazy looking curley-Q’s on the garlic plants ? ? ? They are garlic scapes, the "flower stalks" of hardneck garlic plants. These stalks start to appear a month or so after the first leaves. They are usually cut off of the plant, since leaving them on only diverts the plants strength away from forming a plump bulb. Garlic scapes are both edible and delicious, as are the bulbils. Look in the links below for information on growing and harvesting garlic and using the garlic scapes in delicious recipes such as green garlic pesto, garlic scape dressing and white bean and garlic scape dip.

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene568b.html#growinginfo

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/4hplants/Vegetables/Garlic.html

http://gardening.about.com/od/herbsatoz/a/What-Are-Garlic-Scapes.htm

https://www.backyardboss.net/what-to-do-with-garlic-scapes/

Fruits

Blueberries:

• Home Garden Blueberries
• Organic Blueberry Production
• More Blueberry Production Information

Bramble Production, Management and Marketing

• Raspberries and Blackberries
• Currants and Gooseberries
• Elderberries
• More In-Depth Production Information

Grapes:

• Grape Production

Strawberry Production:

• Home Garden Production
• More In-Depth Production Information

Tree Fruit Production (Apple, Cherry, Pear, Peach, etc.)

Other Minor/Specialty Fruits

Identifying Apples

Grafting and Budding:

• Fruit Tree propagation
• Grafting Fruit Trees in the Home Orchard (PDF)
• Tree Fruit Toolkit

New York State Berry Growers Association

Northern Nut Growers Association

Lake Ontario Fruit Team

NYS IPM Fruit Factsheets

Tree fruit, grape, and berry crops benefit from implementing integrated pest management (IPM) —environmentally and economically sensible ways to protect crops from insects, plant diseases, weeds, and vertebrate pests.

New York Berry News

New York Berry News, a NACAA award-winning newsletter, provides a statewide perspective on the production of berry crops in New York. This monthly online publication brings you cutting edge research and extension information from Cornell faculty and extension staff, along with feature articles by guest authors from around the world.

Last updated October 28, 2025