When gardening under lights indoors, make sure you know how tall your chosen tomato variety will grow. If you grow vining tomatoes, also called indeterminate tomatoes be prepared for a tomato forest. They can grow 20 feet tall!

You must train indeterminate vining types of tomatoes onto support cables or trellises that will support their ongoing growth and increased size. Indeterminate vining tomatoes can continue producing new fruit as they grow.

Gardening Under Lights Book

If you are intensively gardening under lights, and are using grow tents or a greenhouse, dual arc lamps can be a good plant lighting choice. Dual arc grow lamps are hybrid HID lamps that blend the benefits of the cooler MH (metal halide) light spectrum with that of the warmer HPS (high-pressure sodium) lamps.

For example, a 1000-watt dual arc lamp combines a 600-watt MH and a 400-watt HPS lamp within the same bulb.

Gardening Under Lights Book

Ladybug larvae are ferocious predators of pests such as aphids and whiteflies. When you're gardening under lights indoors, you will have certain pest problems from time to time.

Somehow ladybugs always manage to find their way indoors when my citrus plants have whiteflies or aphids. If you find this valuable larvae on your plants, don't spray them! Let them do the pest control work for you.

Gardening Under Lights Book

Double-ended (DE) bulbs and fixtures are the next-generation evolution of HPS (high-pressure sodium) lamps. If you are gardening under lights intensively in your home, especially if you're using grow tents, DE HPS lamps can be a good plant lighting choice. DE HPS lamps were originally designed to be compatible with traditional DE MH fixtures. A DE HPS lamp connects to a fixture on both ends, similar to fluorescent tubes.

Double-ended (DE) HPS lamps can also have a longer life span than single-ended (SE) lamps. Manufacturers claim that DE lamps produce 10 percent more PAR than SE HPS lamps, and that they also provide more UV and IR light.

Gardening Under Lights Book

Struggling to keep your indoor houseplants alive? Sansevieria, also known as snake plant or mother in law's tongue, are great for low light conditions.

If you plan to grow your succulent collection tucked away in an office, a grow closet, or another out-of-the-way space, you might choose an LED with a more limited spectrum (pink-colored light).

New BOOK! Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers

Have you heard? I have a new book coming out! If you're a Goodreads user, you're in luck because I'm running a book giveaway where 5 winners will receive a signed first edition of "Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers" from me! The giveaway will run today through the book's release date of June 6th, 2018, and you can click the link below to enter!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Gardening Under Lights

by Leslie F. Halleck

Giveaway ends June 06, 2018.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

If you want to learn how to grow just about anything indoors, any time of the year, I've written this book just for you. I hope you enjoy learning to take your indoor gardening skills to a new level!

Hey everyone, check out a sneek peek of my upcoming book "Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers", releasing June 6th, 2018!

It’s no secret that roses are some of my favorite landscape plants—especially those in apricot shades. So, imagine my delight when two of the new David Austin introductions for 2018 are peachy-apricot goodness!

Now, I know that rose rosette disease is a big concern in certain areas - especially here in Texas. The best thing you can do is keep an eye out for infected plants and remove them from the landscape immediately. That means bag them and trash them. No compost. The best way to stop the spread of the disease right now is to be proactive. That said, I’m still planting roses in areas that are not affected.

Along with 116 other David Austin varieties, we will now see ‘Roald Dahl’, ‘Imogen’ and “Bathsheba’ on the market for online and mail order bare-root shipping January through mid-May of 2018.

‘Roald Dahl’ is a spectacular peach shade that is suited to a wide range of growing conditions, including hot and humid or dry locations. It is known for its heavy blooming all spring and fall, with a brief break in the summer. The flower has a wonderful scent so commonly found in the garden rose varieties. According to technical director of David Austin Roses, Michael Marriott, “’Roald Dahl’ blooms its heart out from late spring till well into autumn, with just the slightest pause to catch its breath in mid-summer during peak heat.” The flowers are 3” across and filled with the signature full head of petals. The rose is named in honor of the author of James and the Giant Peach, on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

If you prefer a soft, lemon yellow flower, another new introduction ‘Imogen’ may be the one for you. ‘Imogen’ also exhibits the desirable button-eye. The very floriferous shrub starts blooming in late spring and continues with repeat blooms until frost. It is mildly scented, and the shrub will grow 3-4 foot in locations with cold winters; possibly larger in locations with warm winters.

This rose takes its name from a character in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.

Another new introduction that I will have to have is ‘Bathsheba’. This beautiful, myrrh scented, apricot flower is not only large (with 170 petals), but also a vigorous climber. It reaches 10’ in height and blooms from early summer to frost. ‘Bathsheba’ is the first new apricot-colored climber to be introduced in 20 years.

This selection is named for a Thomas Hardy heroine in Far from the Madding Crowd. What a beauty.

For further information on all English Rose varieties available to North American gardeners, see www.davidaustinroses.com.