Category: Crop Spot

It’s tomato season and tomatoes are everywhere! There are dozens of varieties of tomatoes, and they come in all shapes, sizes, and colors—even purple! Easy to grow and…

A member of the Umbelliferae family, fennel is a cooler season vegetable crop related to carrots, dill, parsley, and cilantro. It has a mild, sweet licorice (or anise)…

Blueberries are native to Michigan. Learn more about this berry delicious fruit and get some ideas on how to enjoy them.

Snap peas are a legume which means they are in the family of incredible plants that can “fix” nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into a usable form in…

Utterly lacking in morels? Don’t despair — it’s also ramp season. Also called wild leek, wild garlic or even spring onion, a ramp is the best of both…

Did you know that there are three main types of mushrooms? Saprophytic (the kind most commonly grown), parasitic, and mycorrhizal. Saprophytic mushrooms eat dead and decomposing matter, parasitic…

Behold the parsnip!  Parsnips, or Pastinaca sativa, are humble root vegetables closely related to carrots and parsley. These pale roots taste just as sweet as carrots with earthier…

Romanesco hits a sweet spot for me as a nutrition science geek. It is beautiful, nutritious and delicious, but best of all, the chartreuse buds spiral into Fibonacci…

If you’ve never heard of the pawpaw, you are not alone. This mysterious fruit is native to the Midwest, but defies commercial production and is rarely seen in…

Eggplant is most commonly celebrated as a staple of Mediterranean cuisine. However, did you know that it is thought to have been domesticated in Southeast Asia as early…