We now know how to care for evergreens in the winter to prevent needle kill. What about trees that lose their leaves? If there are winter thaws during January and February, this can cause frost cracks going down the trunk…
Frost Cracks
Category: Gardening & Landscape
Heirloom Rose
When looking for roses in next year’s garden, try an heirloom rose. These are older roses (many shrub roses) which the hybrid teas replaced in the last 30 years for their long blooming time. However, many of the older roses…
Fall Tilling
Fall tilling in the garden and annual flowerbed is the best time. When you are ready to plant in April with the early spring crops the soil is ready with reduced weed interference. In the fall the soil is dryer…
Carrot Weevil
Who is eating these tunnels in my carrots? They all called the carrot weevil. The adult in a tiny brown bug with a snout laying eggs on the crown of the carrot. The little white worms burrow down on the…
Porcelain Berry
So .. Porcelain Berry vine has that beautiful blue I can count on every autumn rather small but outstanding in the BLUE department coming in clusters of blue, reddish, and purple colors. Leaves can come in variegated white also. The…
Vipipary
This is called “vivipary”. The seeds on the strawberry plant are sprouting using the strawberry fruit as a source of food and water. If you are patient, you can separate the little sprouts and plant them in a soil media…
Aster Plants
This time of the year when many of the spring-blooming plants are long done and the summer-blooming ones are fading out. You want a little more color to take you to frost and beyond, try fall-blooming aster plants. These plants…
Prepare my Lawn for Winter
How do I prepare my lawn for winter? Keep watering if it dries out. This will allow the grass to go dormant healthy. Now, this is the time to control your perennial weeds. In the fall the weeds are growing,…
Garden Fountain
Missing the sound of running water from a stream in your backyard. Don’t have enough room for a little stream, try a garden fountain. You can buy a kit or make your own. All you need is a basin to…
Fall Webworms
What is that big bunches of webs in my trees? It is fall webworms hatching from eggs and spinning a protection web over the colony. While unsightly, they do not cause much harm this time of the year as the…
Flies in the House
Flies and more flies in the house, I am getting sick of it! They say find the source and remove it, the source is the farm! So I need to kill them in the house. The best method I have…
Picnic Beetles
Have you ever found little black beetles with yellow spots on your overripe garden fruit? These little buggers are called picnic beetles and are instantly attracted to your ripening sweet corn, berries, cracking melons, and tomatoes. They burrow into the…
Melons and Tomatoes seem to Crack
Why do melons and tomatoes seem to crack when the fruit gets ripe? The cause is inconsistent soil water and heat. Do not let the soil dry completely then water. The surge of water in the fruit will expand causing…
Datura Flowers
Datura flowers open up at night-blooming on rounded plants up to 3 feet tall. Newer varieties come in a variety of flower and leaf foliage. Other names of the non-cultivated variety are Angel Trumpet, devil trumpet, and jimsonweed (which is…
Four o’clock the Flower
Want to grow a flower that has about every color of the rainbow in its bloom? Try four o’clocks, a shrubby like annuals which bloom in mid-summer till frost. Four o’clocks get their name from the time of day that…