We've all been there, there at the garden center toward the end of the season when there are tons of unclaimed plants and the growing season is coming to a close. What happens to the poor unclaimed annual plants? Well, they go home with people for really, really cheap depending on where you do your...

After one more round of snow last week, it looks like the weather will probably hold for the gardening adventures to expand.  Take a look at what's taking shape at the Piatt County Extension Office.With very little investment, we have started constructing various demonstrations around the...

It is our hope that the Buckets, Bales & Bushels blog will become a resource for you to explore new ideas, become more familiar with the farms & farmers in your area, as well as broaden you knowledge about the foods available to you every day. Connect with others in your community as you...

Are you looking for a way to learn more about gardening, meet people with common interests, and give back to the community? Well, I have an idea for you – the Master Gardener program might be a great fit. Don't be intimidated by the title; people of all gardening abilities and interests are welcome...

Dawn and Ted Maddox raise fresh sweet corn on their farm near Warrensburg. It started out as a way for the family to sell the excess sweet corn from their garden, back in the early 1990’s. Each year since the business has grown and now, they raise about 80 acres of farm fresh sweet corn. The...

Here in Central Illinois and particularly in Piatt County, we see a lot of corn and soybeans growing and very few grazing animals. In fact the joke around here is if the plants in the field are tall and green – they’re corn plants, and if the plants are short and green – they’re soybean plants....

I really burst my husband's bubble last week when he proudly told me how he gave some of the 'Indigo Blue' tomatoes I've been growing away to someone we know. He said they were beautiful and "totally blue and ripe". When I told him that not a single one was even close to being ripe, and the blue...

It is time to put a cover on your garden, a cover crop that is. Cover crops are an amazing addition to any garden. Cover crops are truly amazing. They benefit the garden in many different ways: recycling nutrients, breaking up compaction, increasing the soil's water holding...

There is a new CSA in DeWitt County and its name is Triple M Farm. Greg and Mariah Anderson are the owners and have been in business since 2008. They started by raising fall mums and this year they have expanded to growing bedding plants, and fresh local produce. Greg grew up on a farm that grew...

I had pretty much given up growing lettuce or other salad greens in my garden because of our local rabbits' insatiable appetite for fresh salad greens. These determined creatures found a way to dig or chew their way past any barrier I set before them. I tried growing salad greens in pots. I could...

How About Visiting Your Local Pumpkin Patch!! We have a new pumpkin patch in our area - Sheffer Farms Pumpkin Patch. They are open Thursday through Sunday, this fall. The Patch has over 75 varieties of pumpkins, squash and gourds, a corn maze and activities including a pumpkin carving and...

Gardening in a straw bale.  That's right, a straw bale.  It is an immediate, relatively inexpensive, 100% compostable, raised bed.  I feel like I'm telling you about a magic gardening pill that will help you grow garden fresh produce in as little as 10 minutes a week.  (Call now...

This was the name of a 4-H Special Interest club that gave children the opportunity to visit several local farms to see: greenhouse (high tunnel) vegetables, dairy cows, beef cows, chickens and fruit orchards. All these farms were within a 20 minute drive of our office. Take a look at the pictures...

For the ninth year in a row, Macon County Master Gardeners, Green Thumb community gardeners and I have planted a selection of tomato cultivars for our annual Tomato Taste Panel. During this event, community members to join us in tasting 30-40 different heirloom and hybrid tomato cultivars. The goal...

This past week, I got to enjoy what I think is one of the best ways to experience the goodness of home garden - the Caprese Salad. In case you do not know what a Caprese Salad is, it is the wonderful combination of sliced ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, sliced fresh mozzarella cheese and olive oil....

Just the title of this blog post will have some people exclaiming "Yuck!" I absolutely love Brussels sprouts, but there are plenty of people out there who just as passionately hate them. I would argue that a lot of these haters have never eaten a properly prepared Brussels sprout. It makes a huge...

Benjamin Franklin proposed that the American wild turkey be the national bird. 46 million turkeys are eaten each Thanksgiving The wild turkey is native to northern Mexico and the eastern United States. The turkey was domesticated in Mexico and taken to Spain in the 1500's, where it was...

Our bucket gardens have attracted a lot of attention to the Piatt County Extension office. There were some doubters, even in our own office, who said we would never harvest anything fit to eat from them. Today we proved them wrong and served a delicious lunch of...

Check out our exciting new blog that connects you with the food, farmers, and community resources that are all around you!  Look for feature articles about local farms and farmers, try out some new seasonable recipes, and see "grow along" posts sharing what is happening in other gardens.Learn...

If I say squash, you might say butternut, acorn, spaghetti ; perhaps even delicata or carnival if you're an avid stuffer of squash. How about Sunshine, Thunder, Australian Butter, Jarrahdale to name a few? These lovely beauties not only look festive but taste good too. Fall is a great time to find...