My son Wilson researched and wrote this up. Thought it was interesting. Mike "If life gives you cabbage, make sauerkraut." - Dale Carnegie German for 'sour cabbage', the art of making sauerkraut was probably first practiced in the Far East thousands of years ago. The builders of...
This morning I was working with a group of kids and helping them learn how to garden. We planted tomatoes, peppers, acorn squash, and sunflower seeds. When I was showing them how to plant, one of the things I told them was "the greatest thing about gardening is that you can get dirty and no one can...
We've certainly caught up with moisture for the year during this past month. I'm sure most would like to see some sunshine and warm weather. I'm not sure we've had the combination of these two for many days this spring. But the grass in the lawn is certainly enjoying the weather. For most crops,...
The other week I presented a program as part of a statewide webinar series called Busting Garden Myths. It's a fun program that looks at some common garden myths that prevail from various books, old wives tales, stories told over the years, the internet, etc. As an Extension Educator, the...
The 2015 edition of our Eat Fresh, Eat Local food guide is now available. Use this guide to find farms in the area that sell directly to consumers. You'll find listings for fruit/vegetable, meat/eggs, honey/syrup, organic and specialty items. In addition we list every Farmers Market in the...
The days are finally longer and the weather is warming up. Gardens are in bloom and some of our spring blooming bulbs are finishing their displays. I always receive questions about what you should or shouldn't do after your spring blooming bulbs are done blooming – what can you do to help make sure...
I'm not sure if the gnats that were bothering me this weekend were Buffalo Gnats or not, but now is the time of year when we can normally expect them. I started noticing them on Saturday and Sunday, but thankfully the winds were strong enough that they didn't bother me much. But this morning, when...
Purchasing and consuming locally grown products has been rapidly increasing in popularity recently. From fruit and vegetables to meat and eggs, more people are consuming more locally grown products today than anytime during the past several decades. They're doing it for several reasons; one of the...
It never seems to fail – once people know you're a horticulturist and you teach about plants, people always want to know what your favorite plants are. Often my reply is do I have to pick just one? There are so many amazing plants out there and depending on your garden or landscape some may work...
I've had a number of calls recently from pond owners who want to begin control of algae in ponds. It seems that the algae is rising to the surface of the pond much earlier than normal this year. Each fall, as the strength of the sun diminishes, algae reduces the amount of photosynthesis taking...
