Over the Garden Fence 2017

Colder weather, frozen soil, fallen and windblown leaves, and later any accumulated snow, all will force rabbits to take shelter and begin to look for food anywhere they can. Once the ground is frozen, rabbits will have fewer places to take shelter or hide. Foraging for food will mean staying a lot...

Welcome to another year of gardening! You would think January would be a time for gardeners and homeowners to sit back a bit, yet questions keep rolling in to Master Gardeners and Extension Educators. Let's check out a few of them: Q: With bitter cold weather, is there anything I...

We store our summer bulbs because they are not winter hardy compared to our spring bulbs, which generally are planted in the late summer and fall months so they will bloom for us the following spring. these are also different from those late summer to fall bulbs that also are hardy. Summer bulbs...

Once the fall school term approaches, many home gardeners give up on the vegetable garden as other activities and projects seem to need more attention. Vegetable gardens can provide fresh produce well into October and maybe even early November depending, on what is grown. As the growing season...

Vegetable crops are mostly doing what they should be doing right now, given our sporadic plantings working around the weather. U of I Extension Master Gardeners have mainly been getting tree, shrub, evergreen and flower questions, and are not hearing about problems in the vegetable garden. Leafy...

Warmer temperatures this past week have brought out a variety of insects that would have otherwise stayed hidden. Visits to our Extension offices, photos sent by email, and phone calls have been constant. At the top of the list are stink bugs, also known as squash bugs if you are a gardener. There...

Do you have crabgrass where you always do? Do you have crabgrass where you have never seen it before? You are not alone this year. You can chalk this up to our weather patterns this season, as you likely have foliage fungal disease and mushrooms in the lawn too. Crabgrass is a warm season annual...

Horticulture Educator Rhonda Ferree recently wrote an article on our over-the-top spring rains and the waterlogged soils that resulted. Her comments apply statewide and I wanted to share some of that article this week. "It's no secret that much of Illinois has received excessive spring rains,...

This is that warning shot over the bow of the ship or in this case the holiday bow. Homemakers are in full swing, baking our favorite cookies and other holiday treats we enjoy so much. With all that baking, comes the potential for pantry pests to show up. Leftover baking goods are usually the...

We certainly have had some unique weather this summer, but we still have more than two months of growing weather. While the lawns – and our water bills – have benefited from the rains, so have the weeds. Annual grassy and broadleaved weeds have shown up in both thin and thick lawns this summer....

That perennial question of "How soon can I plant my garden?" likely has been around since the first garden was planted. Part of the answer stems from knowing what kind of vegetables you are going to sow from seed or put in the garden as transplants. There are things you may need to know before you...

Taking care of a fresh holiday tree once it is up and decorated really means making sure there is plenty of water in the reservoir. However, it also means paying attention to when it needs to come down. If you made a family event out of tree hunting at any one our local Christmas Tree Farms, your...