Q: There is a surface storm drain in the back corner of our property. Water comes from several neighbors’ yards, so this area near the drain gets flooded and the soil is soggy. Later in summer, the same area will be dried out and cracked. A willow tree planted at the edge of the area…
Proper Hydration: The When, Where, and How
In an ideal world, every garden would receive a consistent one to two inches of rainfall per week. This can happen for a few weeks or even months, but rarely does a summer go by without a dry spell. Plants need water to transport nutrients from their roots throughout the plant, and to perform photosynthesis,…
Dormant Mail Order Plants and Bulbs
Q: When I ordered some grapevines and raspberry plants back in January, it sure seemed like having them arrive in April would be a good idea. The catalog and websites I ordered from predicted this would be a good time to plant the bare-root plants. The plants arrived on time, but the temperatures predicted for…
Fertilizer 101: Giving Your Plants a Proper Diet
We all know the importance of a balanced diet with proper vitamins and minerals to maintain our health, but plants need a proper diet too. There’s a lot more to fertilizer than grabbing a bag of 10-10-10. In fact, in many situations 10-10-10 would absolutely be the wrong one to use (for example, once fruits…
Gardening on a Shoestring Budget
If anyone can spend way too much money on a “frugal” project, it’s me. Wanting to become a suburban gardener, with dreams of baskets overflowing with homegrown tomatoes, squash, and blackberries, I launched into the world of square-foot gardening. Within days, I spent several hundred dollars on special soils, organic compost, raised gardening beds, and…
Azalea Care
Q: What do you need to do to prepare a flower bed to plant azaleas? A: What kind of azaleas and where are you located? Azaleas are members of the rhododendron family. There are over 900 species and hundreds more natural and man-made varieties. Some are native to swamps and some to dry woodlands. Others…
Gardens Are Growing Due to Uncertain Times
It became trendy again in 2020, with more than 20 million people doing it for the first time. STORY AT-A-GLANCE It’s estimated that more than 20 million Americans planted a vegetable garden for the first time during the pandemic. Gardening has taken on a sense of novelty as many view it as a hobby or…
Tree Problems
Q: The elm tree in our front yard has a disgusting, brown, slimy mess running down the trunk. As it dries it is leaving a white streak on the bark. What can we do to stop this? A: Your tree has a bacterial infection called slime flux or wet wood. Many tree species can get…
Useful Tips That Make Gardening More Enjoyable
I’m anything but a master of the soil, but I sure love to putter in my vegetable and flower gardens. And this year, with food prices continuing to soar, I am more motivated than ever to grow as much of our food as humanly possible. Over the years, I’ve discovered quite a few handy tips…
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Question: I discovered rows of holes on the trunk of one of my new pine trees, and the holes are oozing sap. I have never seen anything like this, and I don’t want the tree to die above all these holes. I thought maybe house caulk would stop the sap, and the tree might heal…
US News
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