Sustainable Gardening for School and Home Gardens: Citrus

Citrus trees are members of the Rutaceae family, also known as the Rue family, which includes mostly flowering woody trees and shrubs. Trees in this family produce citrus fruits, including popular crops for Louisiana, such as satsumas, oranges and kumquats (see Figure 1). Citrus trees cannot survive in areas that regularly freeze, so production is concentrated along the Gulf Coast, particularly in southern areas of Louisiana and Florida.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/susgard/1005/thumbnail.jp

Sustainable Gardening for School and Home Gardens: Cantaloupe and Watermelon

Cantaloupe and watermelon are members of the Cucurbitaceae family, also known as the gourd family. This family includes crops such as cucumbers, summer and winter squash, and gourds. Melon is a general term for a fruit produced by various members of this plant family and refers to netted and non-netted fruits, including the cantaloupe, muskmelon, honeydew and Asian melon. Cantaloupes are often referred to as muskmelons. Musk is a Persian word meaning “perfume,” which refers to the fruit’s musky, sweet fragrance. Most Americans use the word cantaloupe rather than muskmelon to describe this fruit.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/susgard/1006/thumbnail.jp

Sustainable Gardening for School and Home Gardens: Eggplant

The eggplant is a member of the Solanaceae family, also known as the Nightshade family, which includes crops such as the Irish potato, tomato, tomatillo and pepper. The eggplant is thought to have originated in Asia (mainly parts of India and Burma/Myanmar), and the first record of this vegetable was from a 5th century Chinese book. The original eggplant was a wild plant with orange, pea-sized, spiny fruit — very different than the present-day eggplant!https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/susgard/1003/thumbnail.jp

Sustainable Gardening for School and Home Gardens: Squash, Summer and Winter

Summer and winter squash are members of the Cucurbitaceae family, also known as the gourd family, which includes crops such as cucumber, cantaloupe, watermelon and gourd. The species Cucurbita pepo includes most summer squashes (scallop, yellow crookneck, yellow straightneck and zucchini), winter squashes (acorn, delicata and spaghetti), and field and pie pumpkins and gourds. This is the most diverse species in the Cucurbitaceae family in terms of fruit appearance, size and flesh color.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/susgard/1013/thumbnail.jp

Sustainable Gardening for School and Home Gardens: Strawberries

Strawberries are part of the Rosaceae family, also known as the rose family, which includes the ornamental rose, along with apples, almonds, blackberries, cherries, pears and raspberries. Members of this plant family include woody shrubs or trees, although strawberry plants are more herbaceous with a low-growing habit. Strawberry’s scientific name, Fragaria x ananassa, includes an ‘x’ to indicate its hybrid nature, in this case, of two different species.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/susgard/1012/thumbnail.jp

Sustainable Gardening for School and Home Gardens: Broccoli and Cauliflower

Broccoli and cauliflower are herbaceous plants (meaning they have nonwoody stems) and are widely adapted throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world. They are closely related members of the Brassicaceae family, also known as the cabbage family, which includes other cool-season cole crops like cabbages, Brussels sprouts, kale, kohlrabi, collards and radishes. Cole crops can tolerate frost, are generally hardy and mature in cool weather. The name broccoli came from the Italian word “brocco,” meaning “shoot,” which refers to sprouting broccoli. The name cauliflower is believed to have been derived from the Italian word “cavolfiore,” meaning “cabbage flower.”https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/susgard/1008/thumbnail.jp

Sustainable Gardening for School and Home Gardens: Snap Beans, Bush and Pole

Snap beans are legumes and members of the Fabaceae family, also known as the Pea family, which includes other warm-season beans, peas, lentils and peanuts, along with many other plants, shrubs and trees. This crop is thought to have originated in the Latin American countries of southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. Snap beans thrive in these sandy clay soils and have been grown in Mexico for over 7,000 years. However, there is evidence that snap beans may have been cultivated much earlier in Peru, as seeds were found with a mummified woman buried with pre-Incan artifacts.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/susgard/1014/thumbnail.jp

Sustainable Gardening for School and Home Gardens: Blueberries

Blueberries are a member of the Ericaceae family, also known as the Heath family, which also includes cranberries and huckleberries along with thousands of other flowering plants like rhododendron, azaleas and heather. Characteristics of this plant family often include tolerance to acidic soils and flowers that produce a berry. The blueberry shrub is a deciduous shrub and one of the few fruit crops native to North America, existing in the wild for thousands of years. Blueberries were commonly harvested, dried and stored by Native Americans, and the entire plant was said to be used for medicinal purposes. European colonists learned how to grow and care for blueberry plants from the Native Americans, but domesticated blueberries have only been grown since the early 1900s.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/susgard/1010/thumbnail.jp