Latest Posts

How Should I Water My Plants?

Two weeks ago, my topic for this column was that we need to be watering our plants due to the dry fall weather. Two things have happened since that article. First – It rained. We finally received a nice steady fall rain event. However, the precipitation totals varied throughout West-Central...
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Getting a Handle on Pruning

Eeek!! It's October already. Where did September go? Wait where is 2017 going? Sometimes life seems to move so fast and we get wrapped up in the daily grind and we blink and the gardening season is coming to an end. There is still work to do in the garden – typical fall clean up, but there are...
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Dealing with Fall Drought in the Home Landscape

"The cracks in my yard have cracks," I recently heard a colleague remark. In Central Illinois, spring and fall typically bring reliable rainfall. Dependable fall and spring precipitation is why we say these are the best times of year to plant trees in our region. Fall of 2017 is off to a dry start...
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Fall Garden Mums in the Garden

Everywhere I go I see huge displays of fall garden mums for sale. Beautiful colors and a reminder of cooler days to come. Mums are a great addition to containers and the landscape to add color when our summer flowers are faded or finished. With a little extra planning those mums you buy now can be...
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Home Hydroponics

The other week I received a call asking about small scale hydroponics. This is something that I had never really looked into before so of course it inspired me to learn more. One of the things I love about my job is that I am constantly learning about new things so I dived right into researching...
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Hardcore Houseplants

I always joke that I'm the kind of gardener that will try any plant and if it can survive my level of care then it must be pretty durable. It goes to the old adage of do as I say not as I do, but from my houseplant escapades it's given me pretty good insight into which houseplants are more...
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Soils Tests, Site Considerations, and Changing Gardens

One of the suggestions we usually tell gardeners is to have a soil test done especially on new garden sites. It's better to see where your pH and soil fertility levels stand prior to applying anything and leads to determining better soil management practices. Before applying fertilizers what are...
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Why Do We Grow Garden Tomatoes?

The tomato. A native to Central America and bred over centuries to become a staple summer crop. Gardener's across the United States compete openly and sometimes covertly to be the first with ripe tomatoes. Ribbons and trophies are handed out in nearly every community for the best-tasting tomato....
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Favorite Illinois Natives

I was super excited the other day when I looked over while sitting on my back porch and noticed that my Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum) was in bloom. The common name comes from how the leaves are attached to the square stem in such a fashion that they form a "cup". It's a native plant to...
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hand sewing grass seeds

Don’t seed a cool season lawn in the summer

Picture this: It's the middle of summer, and you've noticed your lawn is in bad shape. You go to the garden center and see shelves full of grass seed. The store is carrying seed, so that must mean it's okay to sow your new lawn at this time, right? You purchase a bag or two, but what type...
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