… Garden To-Do List Harvest vegetables Test your soil Start a compost pile Think spring bulbs Plant a tree … with its shorter days and cooler nighttime temperatures, it may be the busiest of months for many gardeners. Vegetable gardeners have their hands full—literally and … amend it properly to provide the nutrients it needs. Collect soil samples on a dry day. It’s best to test turf soil and garden soil separately. Refrain from adding synthetic fertilizers or …
Type: Plant Info
… Q. When is the best time to harvest sweet corn and how do I do it? A. Sweet corn ears should be picked during the milk … and corn kernels that are full at the tips. As harvest time nears, check the corn frequently to ensure you do not miss the milk stage. When the ears are ready, snap them off by hand with a …
Type: Plant Info
… Garden To-Do List Warm-season planting Keep tabs on watering Remove and prevent weeds Insect damage … judiciously Water wisely Avoid fertilizing Seed bare spots Crabgrass controls Bonus Sign up for a garden walk Summer arrives this month, and with it, the longest days of the year. As … approximately 1 inch of water per week to keep grass green and actively growing. It is best to water early in the day, which allows grass to dry out and lessens the possibility of turf …
Type: Plant Info
… large black and yellow flying insects that look like wasps flying around our yard. They seem to be entering areas with piles of dirt along our walkway. What are they and how do we get rid of them? A.The large wasps you’re seeing are called cicada killer wasps ( Sphecius … the lake because of the sandy soil conditions. Females build burrows underground, displacing 6 to 8 inches of soil. Burrow entrances may be 1 to 1 ½ inches in diameter. Each female creates her …
Type: Plant Info
… Season after season, our horticulturists come up with amazing plant combos for the beds, borders, and containers in their gardens. And season after season, we see visitors pulling out smartphones and cameras to photograph and document those gorgeous combinations. In this month's Smart Gardener , we bring … of sun on the smallest balcony of the smallest apartment, distill the idea of a trio all the way down to a single plant. Rosa 'Savalife' is better known as RAINBOW'S END ™ for a good reason: …
Type: Plant Info
… How to add Pantone’s ‘Peach Fuzz’ to your plantings Think about a sweet, fuzzy summer peach, a hue between pink and orange—that’s “Peach Fuzz,” Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2024. As curator of plant collections at the Chicago Botanic Garden, I immediately began …
Type: Blog
… I am sure that most of you know what I am referring to when I say “leap year.” “Lep Year”—“lep” being short for Lepidoptera (from the Latin “scaly … their prey by homing in on the scent of their droppings. Interested in finding out more? Visit the Moth Photographers Group at mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu or BugGuide at … plant leaves, I generally leave them alone until they have had their fill and work their way down into the soil where they pupate to spend the winter. (I find that they rarely put much …
Type: Blog
… are helping experts, like Chicago Botanic Garden scientist Louise Egerton-Warburton, Ph.D. , get a better look at fungi than ever before, and discover vital information. “One of the problems … science is that you can’t see into it so you really depend on a lot of techniques and methods to work out what’s happening,” explained Dr. Egerton-Warburton, associate conservation scientist … carbon sequestration. Soil’s capacity to store carbon is a reason for hope and a potential way to mitigate climate change. According to Egerton-Warburton, soil is known to hold three times …
Type: Blog
… ( Tulipa ), and many perennials, annuals, and vegetables. Timing & Life Cycle Deer browse for food year-round. They more feed heavily in the fall as they prepare for winter and as females … soft and growing. Bucks shed their antlers every winter. Damage can occur from ground level up to 6 feet. Treatment & Solutions Choose plants that deer do not prefer. Generally, deer avoid … protection but need to be reapplied after a substantial amount of rain or watering. It is best to rotate different repellents so that deer do not become accustomed to any one product. For …
Type: Plant Info
… While few of us who garden in the Midwest look forward to cold weather, we do welcome the autumn palette, especially when it announces itself gradually, … prom dresses in the garden, there are some fall-blooming plants we will always find room for, even though they sport colors more akin to April than October. Their springlike colors … and dark autumn. A thorough reading of the Plant Evaluation Notes will help you select the best plant for your needs — and isn’t that what we gardeners all want? Greek anemone ‘Blue …
Type: Plant Info
