Your home outside the city limits.
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 →
Wildlife damage on woody landscape plants is very common, particularly in winter when cold weather and declining food resources make our landscape plants look pretty tasty! Common culprits include rabbits, voles and deer. Today, we’re going to focus on preventing deer damage, but for more information on minimizing the impact of rabbits and voles,... Continue Reading →
During landscape clean up at season’s end, it’s a good time to assess your plantings’ performance and make plans for next season. If problems occurred, how did they present? Were scattered, unrelated plants affected? Or were all plants in one section of the landscape showing symptoms? How problems present can give a clue as to... Continue Reading →
This summer has been hot, hot, hot! Lincoln had 54, 90+ F days from May through August 31st. In unwatered portions of the landscape many are seeing cracked soil - a good indication conditions are dry. One of the most common questions right now at the Nebraska Extension office, is tree and shrub leaf problems... Continue Reading →
High temperatures and dry conditions have resulted in many lawns turning brown in the last few weeks, but all plants suffer during hot, dry conditions not just lawns. So far, we’ve had 24 days of 90+ degree heat this summer from June 1st to July 24th. Lancaster County had a rain deficit of 0.75 inches... Continue Reading →
Nebraskans have seen their share of severe weather in recent weeks and as a result many landscape plants have been damaged by high winds and hail. The shifting of a tree's root plate due to root damage by high winds can be seen as a new hump or bulge in the soil on the windward... Continue Reading →
Fruit trees in the home orchard often set abundant crops if spring pollination conditions are good and most home gardeners do not thin fruit trees enough or at all. Only 10% of peach flowers are needed for full crop set and peaches are particularly prone to branch breakage under heavy crop load. Very heavy fruit loads... Continue Reading →
When the soil around your home or getaway cabin is less than ideal, you can fight it by planting trees and shrubs that aren't well adapted to the site or select plants that do well in the conditions your landscape provides. Although many locations in Nebraska have clay soil, sandy soil is also very common... Continue Reading →
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, with trees and shrubs as well as with other things. One person may see a maturing blackhaw viburnum as a beautiful multi-season plant, while their neighbor is annoyed with its poky branching and pungent flowers. We don’t all like or dislike the same things, and certainly... Continue Reading →
What’s the difference between a new gardener and an experienced one? The experienced gardener has killed way more plants - or so the saying goes! Even armed with a substantial amount of knowledge, gardening is still a highly trial-and-error venture. Sometimes that’s on purpose, as gardeners try new plants in their gardens. Sometimes it’s... Continue Reading →
If you haven’t pruned the trees in your landscape yet, now is a good time to get it done. Today, let’s look at the differences between pruning fruit trees and shade trees. Our end goals and pruning strategies are very different between these two tree types. Apple trees in an orchard demonstrating standard central... Continue Reading →
Last week we looked at winter drought and watering. But many gardeners also have questions about spring pruning. Specifically, is the time to prune affected by warm winter conditions? Here are a few pruning -related questions I have received lately. Will early pruning cause fruit tree leaf and flower buds to develop earlier and... Continue Reading →
Acreage Life - Nebraska 