This is the time of year when it has started to frost and many gardeners have moved tender plants indoors to overwinter them. Be it inside a greenhouse or your sunny south window, this is also the time of year that spider mites love to sneak up and overtake the unsuspecting indoor gardener. If you…
Category: Gardening
Pesticides Are Out. Biological Pest Control Is In.
On several occasions in the past, we have mentioned that pests can sometimes be effectively controlled biologically. Not surprisingly, Mother Nature has a system of checks and balances for insects just as she does for the larger ecosystem. Thus, it would be in our best interests to learn how to work with nature to control…
How To Recognize Sulfur Deficiency In Plants
Do you have plants that look yellow despite fertilizing them? Do you have legumes that look nitrogen deficient? Does your vegetable garden or pasture just seem to fail to thrive? If so, your plants might have a sulfur deficiency. Today we are going to take a closer look at sulfur deficiency in plants, discuss how…
The Best Passiflora For Pollinators
Many people are interested in planting wildlife friendly gardens. Often, one of the main things that people focus on is planting pollinator friendly plants. These pollinator plants are wonderful sources of food not only for honey bees, but also for a myriad of native bees that provide us with valuable pollination services. So, for those…
Everything You Need To Know About The Insect Scale
Recently we received a question from someone about what to do about a severe scale infestation on some magnolias in their yard. We thought that it might be helpful to share that information with you. There are a variety of different scale species and scale affects a variety of ornamental plants such as hollies, boxwoods,…
How To Help Plants Blackened By Sooty Mold
Help! Its unsightly. It looks like a horrible disease that is suddenly covering multiple plants in my garden. Its even starting to show up on my patio furniture. You have just described sooty mold. Thankfully it is a non-harmful condition that will resolve it self when the root cause is eliminated. So what is sooty…
The Best Heat Tolerant Greens For Summer Salads
The weather is getting hot, so we thought it might be a good time to highlight some of our favorite heat tolerant greens for those summer salads. As you might know, most typical salad greens are cool weather, short day crops. They do not perform well in intense heat, and the long days make them…
How To Build A T-Trellis
If you are interested in growing kiwi, grapes, or another large vine, you will need a sturdy trellis. When growing a fruiting crop you need a trellis strong enough to hold not only the weight of the vine, but also the weight of the fruit. Having a properly constructed, sturdy trellis is the key harvesting…
Those Little Green Bugs Covering Your Plant Are Aphids
Aphids. If you have been gardening for any amount of time you have probably seen them. Fortunately, while unsightly, they are not as much of a concern to the health of your plants as many other pests. In most cases, they will not actually cause any damage to the health of your plants. Because of…
How Do I Know If My Passion Flower Produces Fruit?
We get asked a lot of questions about passion fruit. What variety to grow for fruit? Does this hybrid fruit? Can I grow fruit in my climate? Will these two plants pollinate each other to produce fruit? Can I make my own hybrids? And the list goes on. So today, we thought we would take…
