About this time of year gardeners are wondering why some of the flower beds are looking good and others never seemed to really take off and fill in. Garden soils can make such a difference in how quickly flowers will cover the bed. With all the rain we had earlier, poor drainage is often at the "...

Here we are at the end of May and maybe the beds in the backyard look ok or maybe not. We love our lawns, yet grass can move into our landscape beds in a stealth like manner, while we are waiting for better weather for bed weeding and edging. Putting a strong clean line on the landscape beds...

Many homeowners know about the Emerald Ash Borer and the vast amount of destruction to our ash tree population and likely the millions of dollars being spent to treat, remove dead trees and the replacement trees. Now we have another invasive pest, the "Jumping Worm". Jumping worms are native to...

This column has covered growing degree days, chilling hours, planting based on our average frost free date and growing season extender methods. One more to add to the list when it comes to insect infestations on our favorite plants is something called phenology. What a plant looks like and very...

Lawns are really greening up nicely over the last couple of weeks courtesy of Mother Nature. Lawns will naturally green up in the spring anyway, yet the rains and warmer temperatures really help too. Questions to the Extension offices and the Master Gardener Help Desks have been all about lawns and...

Extension offices have gotten quite a few calls about bagworms feeding on evergreens and deciduous plants too. By now they have gotten big enough to be easily seen, yet have been with us since eggs have hatched about mid-June or so. As just hatched larva, they have a unique way of leaving home to...

Wonder why sometimes the vegetables in the garden don't grow or produce as well as they should have? Besides the usual influences of our general weather conditions like too much or too little soil moisture, another factor is something called growing degree days. This is based on heat units...

Every season brings new surprises to homeowners. Spring is no exception to this. Finding out the 300 spring bulbs you planted last fall are actually white, not the yellow the plant label said they were. Less enjoyable surprises would be finding out the young trees you planted to replace the Ash...

Questions coming in over the phone, via email and with residents visiting the Master Gardener Help Desks is really an easy way to see any developing trends in the home landscape. Some weeks' it is all about insects, other weeks' plant diseases. Here are few from the past few days. Can I...

Just what do fruit tree experts mean when they say "you need train your fruit tree?" Home orchardists need to train their trees for structure to encourage fruit production and have a productive, high yielding home orchard. Proper training also gives you a tree that can hold the fruit load without...

This week's column is all about some unwanted indoor insects, but not your usual Box Elder bugs and spiders that made their way indoors this past fall. Homemakers are in full swing baking our favorite cookies and other holiday treats. With that baking comes the potential for all those pesky pantry...

August brings some unique questions to the Master Gardener help desk. Here are some that have been fun to answer: I planted my garden sweet corn next to field corn and now my sweet corn isn't so sweet, what is happening? Unlike other vegetables that get cross pollinated and...

Feeding birds is an annual discussion with homeowners who enjoy having birds in the yard over the winter. Let's start with the bird seed fact everyone should hear or read: All bird seed mixes are not created equal. Selecting bird seed means buying seed to attract your favorite birds and...

To control or not to control, that is the question. There are two grubs that historically have caused us to ponder the control question, our native masked chafer (white grub) and our not so native Japanese Beetle. The masked chafer will lay eggs in the latter half of July in the norther parts if...

Checklists can be useful garden tools to be sure projects and tasks get done in a timely fashion. Going down a checklist to lessen disease is just another part of planning what you are going to grow this season. My suggested list below covers eight points and is a great place to start. Not all will...

Nearly all our spring blooming plants have finished now and are in the process of putting their energy into storage if a bulb. Next year's flowers depend on the plants ability to continue to produce food reserves until they naturally die down. The very early spring bulbs have already disappeared...

Last year gardeners were caught off guard with outbreaks of scale insects on their trees and shrubs. University of Illinois Master Gardeners received many calls of Magnolia foliage turning black and sticky residue on lawn furniture, yard ornaments and if you stood there for even a minute, all over...

Shopping for the gardener in the family this holiday season? There are more gardening tools out there than you can imagine. There are tools for the vegetable garden, flower beds, trees, shrubs and evergreens. And, there are tools for every job in the yard. When choosing a gift, consider giving a...

The weather is sure messing with our plans for early work in the yard. There is at least a couple of projects that not only can be done, but should be done as soon as possible and at the right stage of growth. Perhaps the more critical project is that of our earliest sprays in the home orchard....

There are some good stories out there why fall color happens with credits to the changing temperatures, and a hot summer and wet fall and the best one "Jack Frost". While there clearly is some truth to changing temperatures and adequate moisture, Mr. Frost has little to do with the fall colors we...