Tool attention


Wed. Oct. 21, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Tool attention

One of the last tasks of the gardening season is tool attention. You’ve been abusing your trowels, shovels, pruners and hoes all season, leaving them scattered about your yard and gardens to let mother nature do what she will to them.

Maybe you haven’t cleaned them off properly or sharpened your pruners.  Regardless of who’s been naughty or nice to their tools, it’s soon time to clean them up and get them ready for storage.

  • Consider
 … [Continue reading]

Sustainable landscape ideas


Tue. Oct. 20, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Sustainable landscape ideas

My Yard and Garden news from the University of Minnesota came with a really interesting article I wanted to share with you. Julie Weisenhorn with the Horticulture Department has had 30 years of gardening in her yard and has developed considerations for a sustainable landscape design.

Now is the time to really look at your landscape. Weisenhorn suggests grabbing a clipboard and heading outside to take notes of what you want and need to  … [Continue reading]

Update on Lilac blight


Mon. Oct. 19, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite show: Update on Lilac blight

Earlier this season I talked about lilac blight. So many of my listeners had issues, including me! The University of Minnesota received a bunch of calls of those brown, yellowed leaves and dying branches on mature plants.

The Horticulture department determined that the culprit is a fungus (Pseudocercospora) that causes leaf blight, something I had mentioned on my Facebook page.

The fungus, which lives in soil and plant debris, was found in most samples. Normally  … [Continue reading]

Email grab bag day


Fri. Oct. 16, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Email grab bag day

We’ve had some lovely days and the plant sales are REALLY tempting. If you’ve gone plant sale shopping recently and now don’t have time to plant, don’t panic.  Find a spot in your landscape and plant those perennials still in their pots. Sink them into the ground up to the pot level, keep watered till the ground freezes and mulch. 

Then come spring, after you’ve decided where you want to plant them, dig them  … [Continue reading]

Winter and your containers


Thu. Oct. 15, 2020

Click below to listen to my  2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Winter and your containers

We all know it’s coming, the s-word! While I could be talking about stew and sweatshirts, there are some who have seen snow! That means we still have some things to do to prepare for Winter. It may seem early but I want to put this one out there. One of those items is cleaning out the annuals in our pots.

I do leave out my large pots to plant for the Christmas season.  … [Continue reading]

Battle over Buckthorn continues


Wed. Oct. 14, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Battle over Buckthorn continues

 As we creep toward Halloween in the year 2020! a plant that sends shivers down the spine of most folks is Buckthorn.  The bane of the botanical minded, buckthorn takes over forests and parks and invades our landscapes.  Common, or European, buckthorn, and glossy buckthorn are the two non-native, invasive buckthorn species found in Minnesota, Wisconsin and throughout the U.S.

It was brought here from Europe in the mid 1800’s and planted as  … [Continue reading]

Emerald Ash Borer – still here and on the move


Tue. Oct. 13, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Emerald Ash Borer – still here and on the move

The Emerald Ash Borer remains on the move and confirmed cases have now been established in Carver and Sibley counties in Minnesota, making them the 24th and 25th counties with confirmed EAB in the State. MDA staff were able to find live EAB larvae in infested trees on both sides of the county border and collected samples for federal identification. That means they are now under quarantine.  … [Continue reading]

The Winged Burning Bush is a weed!


Mon. Oct. 12, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: The Winged Burning Bush is a weed

Today, I’m going to tell you the story of the winged wahoo! Also know as Burning Bush, I didn’t know it was called that either until I started research after getting an email from the Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture. They have deemed the Winged Burning Bush, October Weed of the Month for 2020!

Wait, what, no winged wahoo!!  Minnesota added it to their Noxious Weed List as a “Specially Regulated  … [Continue reading]

Planting before the ground freezes


Fri. Oct. 9, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Planting before the ground freezes

You can still plant healthy shrubs and trees into November! The ground in our zone 3 and 4 climates doesn’t “generally” freeze until late in November and December. That means you can get those great deals at your local nursery and get them in the ground. Now’s a good time to also see what areas of your yard “need” something!

When shopping, don’t be afraid to take the plants out of their container,  … [Continue reading]

Peony division


Thu. Oct. 8, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Peony division

This is a perennial question, when should I divide my peonies….  Wait for the tops to be killed by frost, cut the stems to near ground level then, using a spading fork, dig out the rhizomes.

Make sure you dig a hole wider than the plant to avoid damaging the root system.  Take out the entire clump with as much of the root system as possible, cut it into smaller pieces, leaving at least 3 to  … [Continue reading]