It’s easy to grow fresh, nutritious and tasty vegetables in your own yard, community garden plot, or even in containers on a deck or patio. The University of Wisconsin – Madison Division of Extension offers home vegetable gardeners a tremendous number of resources to learn how to grow vegetables, as well as how to prevent and control diseases and insects. Browsing our publications and fact sheets will help you be successful in achieving a bountiful harvest.
This free publication describes the importance of bees in pollinating major food crops, how to attract and support native pollinators, and how to construct, place, and maintain nests.
Making your own compost is an easy, practical, and satisfying way to make use of yard waste and table scraps. With this publication, designed for the home gardener, you’ll be composting like a pro in no time!
If you’re unable to find the information you need, please submit your gardening question here:
Various trellising, staking and caging techniques can be used with vine-type fruits and vegetables to enhance yield, minimize disease, and ease harvesting. Find techniques for your garden here.
Onion thrips are an important annual pest of onion, and can attack other garden crops as well, including leeks and garlic. Learn about these pests in this factsheet.
Onion maggots are a common and often serious pest of plants in the onion family, including onions, leeks, shallots, garlic and chives. Learn about these pests, the damage they cause, and control here.
Before siting and starting a community garden, learn about types and sources of potential contaminants, the basics of soil testing, and how to limit exposure to contaminants in this publication.
Potato leafhopper can be a serious annual pest of a wide range of plants, including apple, beans, dahlia, eggplant, potato, rhubarb, strawberry and many bedding plants. Learn more about this pest in this factsheet.
Whiteflies are not true flies, but belong in the same order as scales, aphids and mealybuts. Several species can infest greenhouses. Learn how to identify and manage this pest in this factsheet.
Authors: David Lowenstein and Russell Groves, UW-Madison Entomology Last Revised: 05/22/2020 X-number: XHT1045 Wireworms are the larvae of several species of click beetles (Family Elateridae). These beetles flip into the air with an audible click when turned on their backs. Wireworms feed primarily on grasses (including grass crops such as corn) but have a broad host range that […]
Karen Delahaut, formerly UW-Madison Fresh Market Vegetable Program Revised: 1/12/2005 Item number: XHT1137 The common asparagus beetle (Criocercis asparagi) and spotted asparagus beetle (Crioceris duodecimpunctata) are annual pests of asparagus in Wisconsin. The common asparagus beetle is the more prevalent of the two species and the only one that causes economic damage to asparagus in […]
Authors: David Lowenstein and Russell Groves, UW-Madison Entomology Last Revised: 05/22/2019 X-number: XHT1030 The cabbage maggot (Delia radicum) is an early season pest of cruciferous/cole crops (e.g., cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kohlrabi, rutabaga, turnip, and radish), as well as cruciferous weeds (e.g., wild mustard, water cress, wild radish). Cabbage maggot damages plants by feeding […]
Karen Delahaut, formerly UW-Madison Fresh Market Vegetable Program Revised: 5/28/2004 Item number: XHT1032 The imported cabbageworm (Pieris rapae) is a lepidopteran insect and the most important cole crop pest in Wisconsin. All cole crops, including cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and rutabaga, are susceptible to attack by this insect. Appearance: Imported cabbageworm adults are the […]
Karen Delahaut, UW-Madison Fresh Market Vegetable Program Revised: 5/28/2004 Item number: XHT1031 The diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) is a lepidopteran insect and an important pest of cole crops in Wisconsin. All cole crops, including cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and rutabaga, are susceptible to attack by this insect. Appearance: The diamondback moth is a small, […]
Author: Russell Groves, UW-Madison Entomology Last Revised: 05/01/2020 X-number: XHT1107 Tomato hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) and tobacco hornworms (M. sexta) are large, blue-green caterpillars (larvae) with a spine (horn) on the posterior (rear) end. These insects do not typically cause significant damage in commercial vegetable fields. However, large numbers of larvae can occasionally occur in home gardens, leading to […]
