Before we get to the consistent cold of winter, now would be good time to deal with potential future damage to our landscape plants. This is one of those yard activities that will benefit the landscape next spring with more robust growth and less plant damage, and it is one I feel is important to...

Gardeners can easily find a lot to do out in the home landscape during November. As long as you can dig in the ground you can plant spring flowering bulbs. Retailers have been offering bulbs at some pretty good prices right now. The stores would rather sell the bulbs at a discount than have to deal...

In the middle of January not a lot is going on outside in the home landscape. The Holiday tree may have been put up for bird shelter and the feeding stations kept full of bird seed and suet, cobs of corn for the squirrels and maybe a salt lick for other kinds of wildlife. Perennial beds covered in...

Lawns are speeding up, gardens are slowing down, and Insects are still here October 12, 2015 We are having prime time weather right now for the family lawn. Our lawns known for being nearly completely cool season grasses continue to grow vigorously. Nearly because one of our pesky warm season...

Successive plantings in the vegetable garden can still be done when home gardeners pick the right vegetables. Late summer into early fall is a great time to make additional plantings of those vegetables that we consume as the whole plant. Mustard greens, a variety of the Leaf lettuces, beets...

Gardeners have been waiting to see their flower beds, the lawn, the landscape beds and dirt of the vegetable garden for some time now and it has happened or nearly so. After the excitement has faded and another look out in the yard can reveal lots of early spring cleanup. Lawns can look pretty...

Gardeners know about spring and summer bulbs and that we plant spring bulbs in the fall and summer bulbs in the spring. Have you ever considered taking some of those and turning them into "winter bulbs" by forcing them into boom during the winter months when the weather is dark and grey? While this...

Homeowners have likely heard of core aeration as a way to relieve soil compaction in the lawn. While that is certainly true, coring has several more benefits for the grass plant, soil profile and microbial activity in the ground and thatch management. When the soil beneath the lawn is compacted,...

This summer has been exceptional for magnolia scale. Master Gardeners at the help desks have constantly been addressing this situation with homeowners for the last 5+ weeks. A typical life cycle of a scale is an overwintering female producing eggs under here protective scale covering. The eggs will...

Early spring flowering shrubs and ornamental trees produce their flower buds by late summer of the previous year. We can begin to enjoy spring bloom as early as mid to late February. Start by selecting branches loaded with flower buds. You can identify the flower buds as they are larger and more...

Winter weather can certainly take its toll on our ornamental plants, flower bud killing temperatures, heaving our plants out of the soil, maybe even killing our plants down to the ground to start over and the needle desiccation of our evergreens. Another unwelcome surprise many gardeners are...

Summer vacation is just about over for our houseplants that we set out last spring and now the decision needs to be made of what comes back in the home for the winter. We generally consider any plant that cannot survive being outside a houseplant since many of them have a tropical background or are...

Holiday tree recycling is another way we get to help the environment. Sharing this information annually is a great reminder of how easy you can contribute. Just about now, you can see holiday trees sitting in the front or side yard, waiting for the assigned pick up date to be collected and mulched...

Rain is always a good thing most of the time for our landscape and gardens. Right now all the rain has brought us all the weeds we can ever imagine in every bed we have. Ignore those weeds and let them flower and set seeds and the landscape begins to look like a jungle of green really quickly. For...

All our recent rain and cooler night and daytime temperatures have given homeowners a surprise in the yard in the form of a variety of mushrooms growing in unexpected places. Nationally, there are about 10,000 known species of mushrooms. Mushrooms are the "fruiting" structure of the fungus below...

Last weeks' column briefly mentioned starting seeds for the flower or vegetable garden and that you need to start by reviewing the seed packet instructions. That is just the start of course of what will be a several week adventure. This week I'll answer some few frequently asked questions....

January begins the annual flight of vegetable, flower and fruit tree catalogs to your mailbox. Depending on your level of gardening, the catalogs arrive frequently and in mass. It used to be you would get either a vegetable catalog or a fruit catalog or flower catalog. Many catalogs now contain...

Our recent strong winds got our attention as damage to our deciduous and evergreen trees became a real issue. If we were lucky those downed limbs and trees missed our homes and cars. Trees that were already compromised were the first to be damaged. Trees with narrow crotch angles, poor root systems...

Home vegetable and fruit gardening have become much more than an outdoor activity that is "trending", but a very strong "movement" these days. Planning for a home orchard will take a bit more planning than we typically do for the annual vegetable garden. Fruit trees are more of a long term...

Plants have had quite a time dealing with the very cold weather and blustery winter winds. The lucky ones are currently under the snow and well protected. Soil temperatures remain constant and while covered by the snow, temperatures around the stems, twigs, foliage or buds are protected from the...