About the author: Richard Hentschel’s expertise extends across several subject areas with specialties in lawn care, fruit tree production, woody ornamentals, and home and community gardening. During his 45-year career in horticulture and agriculture, Hentschel became a well-known and respected...

Richard Hentschel, host of Green Side Up, discusses the history of our holiday tree and current good practices to keep the tree as fresh as possible once in the home. Fresh trees will have a good smell, needles, and stems will bend and won’t be losing a lot of needles.   Families can cut...

University of Illinois Extension Educator Richard Hentschel shares how to winterize the home orchard. Two primary concerns are preventing damage from: 1) cold weather damage and 2) rodents. Whether it is rabbits or field mice, using protective wraps and wire fencing are still the best way to...

GSU Host Richard Hentschel discusses the last of the gardening season. November gardening gives us a chance to finish up routine projects and to catch up on overdue gardening tasks. Late season vegetable gardening can mean harvesting the last of the root crops and healing them in at the edge...

University of Illinois Extension Educator Richard Hentschel discusses the merits of composting and why late summer and fall are good times to start. It is easy since all the ingredients are readily available this time of year – lawn clippings for the greens, fallen leaves for the browns, a bit...

Green Side Up Host Richard Hentschel discusses one of those gardening chores that catches us off guard, bringing in the houseplants that have been outside for the summer. With a little planning and inspection, that job can be a lot easier and timely. The main trigger is the weather forecast...

Families may tend to “let the garden go” once school starts or the fall sports season begins because we are too busy, yet the garden has lots of life left until we really get cold weather. All the root crops can stay right where they are until you need to use them. Learn more about your garden...

Richard Hentschel, host of Green Side Up, talks about garden vegetable yields this season and how they have been impacted by the weather pattern we have had in northern Illinois. Early cool weather has given us plenty of leafy greens and early snap beans. The hot dry weather has set back our...

Enjoying the yard and keeping it looking great are connected. Great weather this spring allowed many plants to grow well and bloom longer. Now that the season has settled down, keeping the yard looking good only takes a bit of work, if done routinely. So what can you do? Between the rains we...

In the garden, no one likes to see holes in foliage, or fruits and vegetables being eaten, yet some feeding is expected if you rely on beneficial insects to help manage pest problems. Predatory insects will not show up unless the population of damaging insects is high enough to support them...