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Help available for all your garden questions!

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Do you wonder why your tomato plants have so many yellow leaves or how to deal with those pesky bugs eating your roses? If so, University of Illinois Extension is here to help answer all your gardening questions. For almost 30 years...
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Grow vegetables in containers

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Vegetables are most commonly grown in traditional gardens in rows. Large gardens can seem overwhelming, especially during the heat of summer or after a vacation. If you don't have space for that or just want to try something...
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Twisty Curvy Plants

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Twisty curvy and weeping plants are fun to look at, but hard to use in the landscape. They are so unique and special that they must have a special spot to really work. Most should be used as a planned focal point, since they...
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Gardening with Kids

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Gardening is for everyone, but is especially important for children. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of gardening with kids. It encourages personal growth, environmental stewardship, hands-on learning, improved nutrition,...
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Time to plant potatoes

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Potato ranks with wheat and rice as one of the most important staple crop sin the human diet around the world. Certainly potatoes are an important part of our diets as we eat French fries, potato chips, mashed potatoes, augratin...
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Tips for new vegetable gardeners

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator According to the Garden Media Group, our younger generation (15-49 year olds) is just learning to garden and is hungry for information. They are most interested in growing edibles (herbs, fruits, and vegetables), gardening with their...
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Tomato Terminology

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Tomatoes are the most popular home garden vegetable grown in America. We answer many questions each summer about tomatoes. There are literally hundreds of varieties of tomatoes available, making it difficult to choose which one to...
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Plan your vegetable garden around your family

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator Growing your own food is easy and fun. This year I will write more spotlights on backyard food production in this column. To get us started, here are excerpts from an article written by my colleague Richard Hentschel. Richard writes...
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ILRiverHort now on Instagram!

Instagram is an social media network where friends can share photos and videos. I'll use it to share photos and videos of plants in an educational way. Join me and learn how to garden grow your own food create a backyard paradise manage pests in the garden and much more!...
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Choose treatment properly for moles

Moles become active each spring, with tunnels appearing as raised areas of soil in lawns and garden beds. "Questions about mole control are probably the most common question I've received in my 27 years with University of Illinois Extension," says Rhonda Ferree, Extension Educator in Horticulture...
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