UGA Vegetable Gardening Publications
With food prices high, folks have been thinking about growing some of their own food. Food gardening is not hard and it doesn’t have to take much room in your landscape. You can even do it in containers! These gardening publications are available on the Internet or ask for a...
Timing and Choosing Pre-emergent Weed Preventers, Spring and Fall
Pre-emergents (weed preventers) are applied to the landscape to prevent seeds from germinating. The key is the timing. Pre-emergent herbicides MUST be applied BEFORE summer weeds (crabgrass, etc) seed germinate. In general, to get good summer weed control in Atlanta you should apply a pre-emergent on March 1. For winter...
Walter’s Books Make Great Gifts!
Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, or Christmas coming up, a gardener in your life would surely appreciate a book that describes exactly how to be successful. Consider giving a signed copy of one of Walter’s books! Click here to go to book sales...
Fescue Planting – 1-2-3
September – October is the BEST time to plant a fescue lawn. I have tips on planting a new lawn or an existing lawn, whether with seed or sod. I also cover what kind of fescue is best. It is not as important as you think it is, but everyone’s...
Plants for Pollinators
Many landscape plants depend on bees and other insects to move pollen from flower to flower. The insects don’t realize they are pollinating the plants they visit – they’re just looking for nectar in the flowers. You can help the flowering plants in your neighborhood by planting a pollinator-friendly flower...
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Goats – Milk is Safe after They Consume Poison Ivy
Q: If goats eat poison ivy is the milk safe to drink? A: Goats enjoy poison ivy foliage very much. As with dogs and cats, if the goats brush against a vine you can get a rash after petting them....
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Okra – Holes in Leaves (Hibiscus Sawfly)
Q: I noticed my okra leaves beginning to show some holes. The leaves also have a lot of worms on them. What can I do for this? A: It’s hibiscus sawfly damage. Early on a humid morning you can find...
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Leyland Cypress – Corrugated Pipe at Base
Q: I just purchased an older home . The property line has a fair number of Leyland cypress and each one has a section of corrugated black pipe going vertically down into the ground at its base. What purpose do...
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Poplar – Black Ooze from Large Cut
Q: A tulip poplar sits right over our koi pond. It had a fork in the trunk about four feet above the ground. A year ago the smaller trunk of the two showed obvious signs of dying. A tree service...
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Loropetalum – Bacterial Stem Gall
Q: In the summer of 2013, I lost 28 loropetalums to bacterial gall, diagnosed by the Extension pathology lab. I replanted loropetalums there in the spring of 2016. That winter all the leaves dropped, but in the spring of 2017...
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Oak – Severe Root Damage
Q: I have a big red oak in my yard about twenty feet from our new pool. It was quite fancy and elegant until now. This year, it decided to produce lots of shoots from ten feet off the ground...
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Dogwood – Herbicide Damage
Q: Ever seen this? My young dogwood leaves were very delayed and deformed. Strange gnarled masses forming. No blooms. Our lawn service sprayed it in mid-March with horticultural oil for scale. Also treated the surrounding lawn in May with broadleaf...
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Arborvitae – Bagworms
Q: We have two large arborvitae’s at our home’s front entrance. Last night I was standing near one of them and heard a noise. When I looked at the bush, it was moving! Upon closer inspection my husband found the...
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Tomato – How to Know if It is Determinate or Indeterminate
Q: I planted a ‘Celebrity’ tomato. The label says it is a determinate type. But mine already has six vigorous stems and doesn’t look determinate to me. I thought I’d have more of a bushy type plant. A: I once...
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Liriope – Control of Weeds
Q: How do you control weeds that are growing in liriope? A: For a small area, hand weeding is your best option. There will be a few holes where you remove weeds but the liriope will quickly fill in. If...
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Dolomitic Lime Dated 2009 – Is It Still Useful?
Q: For tomatoes. I found a box of agricultural dolomitic lime in our dry basement dated 2009. It is still powdery, no clumps. Is it still useful? A: Lime deteriorates slowly, even when it gets wet. Since your lime is...
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Are Mahonia Berries Edible By Human?
Q: In late April I saw ten birds attack my mahonia shrub. I watched bird after bird swallow those beautiful blue berries down their throats like a snake does his dinner. Are mahonia berries edible by humans? A: I’m not...
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Diagnosing (Identifying) Holes in the Yard
Sometimes many heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem. Wade Hutcheson, my Extension colleague in Spalding county, gets plenty of calls from the citizens of his area asking his help in identifying various holes in...
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Weeds – Identification with Pictures
Weed control in the landscape is a tough business. You have to know a lot about the weed in question just to get started! As in most situations, a picture is worth a thousand words. Go through the sites below,...
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Brown Patch – Diagnosing
You have brown patches of dead grass in your lawn. Is it the common lawn disease ‘brown patch’ or is it something else? The answer is important: if it is brown patch you probably need to spray with a fungicide....
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Bermuda – Weed Control
BASIC INFORMATION: Weed Identification Pictures General Turf and Weed Info Lawn Care Calendars THREE METHODS There are three primary methods of controlling weeds. Any one method, when used alone, will not usually control all of your weeds. To consistently control...
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Timing Spring Pre-emergent Herbicide Application on Lawn
One of the sourest phrases that can be directed at a child or adult is “I told you so!” Whether you touch a hot match, leave tools out in the rain, or lift cinder blocks all afternoon, someone is usually...
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St. Augustine Grass Seed – Where to Buy
Q: Please tell me where I can buy St. Augustine grass seeds. Our lawn has some now and we like it a lot, but we’re having trouble finding seeds. A: You can’t buy St. Augustinegrass seed. The plant is very...
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Bermuda Grass – Disease – Brown Patch
Brown patch is most prevalent on bermudagrass which has been heavily fertilized when night temperatures are above 68 degrees and day temperature are above 80 degrees. Dead patches of grass may start small but can grow and join together to...
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Lawn – Growing in Shade
OK. I admit it. I have given up. I came to the conclusion that grass just would not grow in the corner of my lawn near the ornamental cherry trees. The shade there is so dense that my grass, no...
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Lawn – Leveling
A new home in my neighborhood had bermudagrass sod planted in March. By May, one area was a perfect checkerboard of straight lines, composed of weedy plants, surrounding the individual squares of sod. Evidently the sod installers were in such...
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Crapemyrtle – Pruning
One of the most confounding arguments I face is whether and how to prune crapemyrtles. They are mercilessly “murdered” by unaware landscapers and homeowners each winter… yet they still bloom in summer. Some people even believe a crapemyrtle won’t bloom...
Goats – Milk is Safe after They Consume Poison Ivy
Q: If goats eat poison ivy is the milk safe to drink? A: Goats enjoy poison ivy foliage very much. As with dogs and cats, if the goats brush against a vine you can get a rash after petting them....
Okra – Holes in Leaves (Hibiscus Sawfly)
Q: I noticed my okra leaves beginning to show some holes. The leaves also have a lot of worms on them. What can I do for this? A: It’s hibiscus sawfly damage. Early on a humid morning you can find...
Leyland Cypress – Corrugated Pipe at Base
Q: I just purchased an older home . The property line has a fair number of Leyland cypress and each one has a section of corrugated black pipe going vertically down into the ground at its base. What purpose do...
Poplar – Black Ooze from Large Cut
Q: A tulip poplar sits right over our koi pond. It had a fork in the trunk about four feet above the ground. A year ago the smaller trunk of the two showed obvious signs of dying. A tree service...
Loropetalum – Bacterial Stem Gall
Q: In the summer of 2013, I lost 28 loropetalums to bacterial gall, diagnosed by the Extension pathology lab. I replanted loropetalums there in the spring of 2016. That winter all the leaves dropped, but in the spring of 2017...
Oak – Severe Root Damage
Q: I have a big red oak in my yard about twenty feet from our new pool. It was quite fancy and elegant until now. This year, it decided to produce lots of shoots from ten feet off the ground...
Dogwood – Herbicide Damage
Q: Ever seen this? My young dogwood leaves were very delayed and deformed. Strange gnarled masses forming. No blooms. Our lawn service sprayed it in mid-March with horticultural oil for scale. Also treated the surrounding lawn in May with broadleaf...
Arborvitae – Bagworms
Q: We have two large arborvitae’s at our home’s front entrance. Last night I was standing near one of them and heard a noise. When I looked at the bush, it was moving! Upon closer inspection my husband found the...
Tomato – How to Know if It is Determinate or Indeterminate
Q: I planted a ‘Celebrity’ tomato. The label says it is a determinate type. But mine already has six vigorous stems and doesn’t look determinate to me. I thought I’d have more of a bushy type plant. A: I once...
Liriope – Control of Weeds
Q: How do you control weeds that are growing in liriope? A: For a small area, hand weeding is your best option. There will be a few holes where you remove weeds but the liriope will quickly fill in. If...
Dolomitic Lime Dated 2009 – Is It Still Useful?
Q: For tomatoes. I found a box of agricultural dolomitic lime in our dry basement dated 2009. It is still powdery, no clumps. Is it still useful? A: Lime deteriorates slowly, even when it gets wet. Since your lime is...
Are Mahonia Berries Edible By Human?
Q: In late April I saw ten birds attack my mahonia shrub. I watched bird after bird swallow those beautiful blue berries down their throats like a snake does his dinner. Are mahonia berries edible by humans? A: I’m not...
Diagnosing (Identifying) Holes in the Yard
Sometimes many heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem. Wade Hutcheson, my Extension colleague in Spalding county, gets plenty of calls from the citizens of his area asking his help in identifying various holes in...
Weeds – Identification with Pictures
Weed control in the landscape is a tough business. You have to know a lot about the weed in question just to get started! As in most situations, a picture is worth a thousand words. Go through the sites below,...
Brown Patch – Diagnosing
You have brown patches of dead grass in your lawn. Is it the common lawn disease ‘brown patch’ or is it something else? The answer is important: if it is brown patch you probably need to spray with a fungicide....
Bermuda – Weed Control
BASIC INFORMATION: Weed Identification Pictures General Turf and Weed Info Lawn Care Calendars THREE METHODS There are three primary methods of controlling weeds. Any one method, when used alone, will not usually control all of your weeds. To consistently control...
Timing Spring Pre-emergent Herbicide Application on Lawn
One of the sourest phrases that can be directed at a child or adult is “I told you so!” Whether you touch a hot match, leave tools out in the rain, or lift cinder blocks all afternoon, someone is usually...
St. Augustine Grass Seed – Where to Buy
Q: Please tell me where I can buy St. Augustine grass seeds. Our lawn has some now and we like it a lot, but we’re having trouble finding seeds. A: You can’t buy St. Augustinegrass seed. The plant is very...
Bermuda Grass – Disease – Brown Patch
Brown patch is most prevalent on bermudagrass which has been heavily fertilized when night temperatures are above 68 degrees and day temperature are above 80 degrees. Dead patches of grass may start small but can grow and join together to...
Lawn – Growing in Shade
OK. I admit it. I have given up. I came to the conclusion that grass just would not grow in the corner of my lawn near the ornamental cherry trees. The shade there is so dense that my grass, no...
Lawn – Leveling
A new home in my neighborhood had bermudagrass sod planted in March. By May, one area was a perfect checkerboard of straight lines, composed of weedy plants, surrounding the individual squares of sod. Evidently the sod installers were in such...
Crapemyrtle – Pruning
One of the most confounding arguments I face is whether and how to prune crapemyrtles. They are mercilessly “murdered” by unaware landscapers and homeowners each winter… yet they still bloom in summer. Some people even believe a crapemyrtle won’t bloom...
