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Home gardeners are itching to get outside and will soon be buying bedding plants – both annual flowers and vegetables - from local garden centers and greenhouses. Selecting strong, healthy plants, along with proper care and planting, will help insure a successful start to the gardening season. Select short stocky plants with dark green foliage.... Continue Reading →
A frosty winter day is a great time to stay indoors and enjoy a good book, a warm fire in the fireplace and a hot cup of cocoa. But for gardeners, winter is also time to dream and plan next summer’s gardens. Soon gardeners will be looking through mail-order catalogues, making up their 2023 plant and seed orders. But for Nebraska Extension Master Gardener volunteers, winter is also a time... Continue Reading →
Soon leaves will begin to turn red, yellow or brown and fall from our trees. Plant waste from flower beds, vegetable gardens and container plants will also accumulate. Why not take advantage of these great organic materials, instead of sweeping them into bags and hauling them off to the landfill? You can easily turn them... Continue Reading →
Transplants are the way to go with tomatoes, peppers and dozens of other vegetables, as well as many of the annual flowers common in Nebraska gardens. Transplants give long-season crops a head start before being put out in the garden and a chance to produce before fall frost. Annual flowers grown from transplants begin blooming... Continue Reading →
Winter greenhouse production is nothing new, but rising concerns about heating with fossil fuels and their impact on climate change, have some growers looking for new ways to grow winter crops with less damage to the environment. Let’s take a look at three techniques, both new and old, that can be used to make winter... Continue Reading →
This week let’s look at the National Garden Bureau’s three additional featured plants for the year - Gladiola, lilac and salad greens. Deluxe Gladiolus from Jung Seeds Year of Gladiola - Bulb0K, for all those experienced gardeners out there, no - gladiola isn’t a true bulb. It’s a corm, but it is included in this... Continue Reading →
It’s been a tough year; and for some much worse than others. Many of us looked to our landscapes for calm, focus, beauty, a place to work off nervous energy and a sense of normalcy. Like our landscapes, we strived toward resiliency. In trying to make the most of the worst, here’s a little... Continue Reading →
2022 Master Gardener Program Now Accepting Applications Winter is a time many people prefer to stay indoors, enjoy a good book, a crackling fire in the fireplace and a hot cup of cocoa, giving little thought to the outdoors or their landscape. But gardeners know winter is a time to dream and plan for next summer’s gardens. For Nebraska Extension Master Gardener (EMG) volunteers, winter is... Continue Reading →
Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, although not as popular as poinsettias, is common during the holidays. It combines ornamental beauty and the usefulness of a culinary herb in one attractive plant. It is often sold as small pine tree-shaped tabletop plants or in variously shaped topiary forms. It’s not surprising they are so popular, given their beauty and fragrance. Their... Continue Reading →
Nature restores. Taking a walk outdoors after too much time on our many screens—phones, computers, televisions—can go a long ways toward clearing our minds and changing our moods. Last spring when we first experienced the isolation and other constraints of covid, we were heading into spring and were able to get out more. We had... Continue Reading →
It’s fall. Some of us are tired of weeding, watering, managing. The growth we impatiently waited for in spring has by now gone rampant. As one gardener put it, “the autumn garden is a machete garden.” Even on the best of days, gardeners aren’t likely to brag. Have you ever had anyone say they’re... Continue Reading →
Most gardeners know food scraps contain nutrients that can be used to improve garden soils. The most common way of handling kitchen scraps is adding them to a traditional compost pile, but a less well-known composting method also works very well – pit or trench composting. This method is also called vertical composting and soil... Continue Reading →
Acreage Life - Nebraska 