Mesclun is a mixture of assorted small, baby salad leaves also known as a mesclun mix. You can purchase mesclun bagged in cellophane at your grocer. Yet freshly harvested from a few square feet in your patio, garden, or front stoop, mesclun is an easy tender treat, said a University of Illinois...
If Johnny Appleseed were planting apples in 2014, he would be planting dwarf or semi-dwarf trees grafted onto disease-resistant rootstocks instead of apple seeds from a leather satchel. Grafting is like plant surgery for horticulturists, connecting the growing tissues of one plant to another....
May bring us our fifth gardening trend for 2014: Bee-neficials: It's all about the bees this year. News on bee and other pollinator populations is everywhere this spring. Obviously, pollinators are an essential requirement for many of our favorite food crops. Pollination is a process that takes...
European pine sawfly larvae are present throughout the state feeding on Scotch, mugo, and other two and three needle pines. The larvae grow to about one inch long with dark and lighter green stripes. They have large black heads. Sawfly larvae can be distinguished from caterpillars by having six or...
Strawberries are the first fruits of the season, and fresh-picked strawberries from the garden taste better than any berry bought from a store. Plant strawberry plants this spring for ample production and summer fun for your kids next spring. Strawberries can be greatly rewarding and only require...
Crayfish become a nuisance in turfgrass when they burrow in high moisture soil, creating chimneys at the burrow openings. These chimneys, made of balls of clay soil that bake in the sun, become very hard. Hitting them with a mower dulls the blades and may even kill the mower's engine. The crayfish...
Pansies brighten up spring garden URBANA, Ill. - Pansies are making a comeback in the garden world, said a University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator. "According to the Garden Media Group, pansy and violet sales were up 6.4 percent in 2011," said Rhonda Ferree. "Since then, pansies...
Nobody in our lab is aware of any study that has looked at the possible toxicity of swimming pool water to bees. However, bees certainly seem to like drinking from pools. It could just be that a pool is an easy water source to find, but we also know that bees generally like a tiny amount of salt in...
Divide and conquer: Preparing spring plants URBANA, Ill. - Spring is here and we are starting to get the gardening itch, said a University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator. "Warm days tease us and blooming crocus encourages us," said Martha Smith. "But we know Mother Nature is still in...
Take a new look at dandelions URBANA, Ill. - Earth Day falls every year on April 22. Rhonda Ferree, a University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator, recommends using the day to reflect about our world around us. "You might even try to look at a small piece of our world from a completely...
