Facts About Plants You Probably Didn’t Know

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A garden is a glorious place full of mystery and knowledge with so much to learn. Check out these fun facts about plants you probably didn’t know. And learn more for gardening for beginners here.

Did you know if you harvest the cabbage from the middle of the plant instead of cutting the whole stem or pulling it, you may get more cabbages? Four or five more plants will come from the center where you cut it. More food for less time and money.

Facts about plants

Or did you know if you cut the bottom leaves off Brussel sprouts and leave only the top five, your plant will grow taller and put on bigger sprouts because they will have more room to grow? Fun facts about plants for more food production.

Fun weird plant fact. Guess what? Luffa sponges are a gourd that grows on a vine and NOT something from the ocean? They are also edible when young. 

Did you know leaving your bolted plants (when the plant stops producing food and puts its energy into making a flower to reproduce. Produce usually turns bitter and isn’t pleasant to eat) to flower provides early food for bees and other pollinators?

And did you know there are more microorganisms in one teaspoon of soil than all the people on earth? Did you know that chlorine in the water supply kills them and so does tilling and pesticide use?

Need a free month by month garden planting guide, click on the highlighted text. 

Guess what? Dirt is not dirt?

Did you know you are actually growing soil for garden success?

Green beans, if left to mature will turn into drying beans? All beans can be eaten as green beans when immature, the seeds are eaten when mature, and if left to dry, can be stored for long periods of time as dry beans?

And did you know leaving your spent plants standing in the garden during winter prevents erosion and gives places for insects to hibernate such as solitary bees that are wonderful pollinators for the garden and a very important part of our ecosystem?

Did you know a gorgeous moth transforms from a tomato hornworm? 

Fun facts about gardening

Have you heard of Egyptian walking onions? Did you know walking onions are perennials? Did you know there are many great perennials for the garden to save you time and money when growing food? Asparagus, lovage, good king Henry, and artichokes are a few of them.

Did you know you can soak your seeds in tea and it softens the casings? Did you know chamomile is anti-fungal and soaking your seeds in chamomile tea will prevent dampening off?

And did you know swallowtail butterflies love fennel, dill, parsley, and carrot tops? 

Did you know if you grow veggies, you are less likely to waste them? That’s a money saving garden wow. 

Did you know if you grow basil next to your tomatoes, it makes the tomatoes have better flavor?

How about that the greens from cole or cruciferous crops are edible too? Broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi leaves are delicious sauteed, in soups, or even raw.

Did you know garlic scapes (the flower heads) taste amazing?

Interesting facts about plants

Did you know ladybugs and their larvae are voracious eaters of garden pests? So are lacewings, spiders, birds, snakes, and many other insects and animals. Praying mantises and several other garden bugs eat beneficial insects AND pests in the garden.

Did you know tomato cages, the three-legged kind they sell for tomatoes are useless? You need something taller and much, much more sturdy. 

Did you know the flowers of bolted cole crops like broccoli and Brussel sprouts and edible and totally sweet and delicious? Talk about your garden wows! Wow!

What about this. Did you know if you snip the flowers off your strawberries, they will grow more strawberry plants instead of berries?

Did you know monarch populations are dropping at an alarming rate, they only eat milkweed as caterpillars, and they need your help? Click here to learn how to be a butterfly hero.

Did you know kids are 80% more likely to eat something they have grown and even more likely if they help prepare it in the kitchen?

Click here to see more about gardening with kids. 

What kind of garden WOWS have you learned?