New Gardening Books
I regularly receive interesting-looking gardening books from publishers. I don’t have time to read them all or give an intelligent review but I know they would appeal to many gardeners. These are some of the books I’ve gotten recently. You can click the links below to check out what others...
Travel With Walter!
I have two garden trips coming up: Cuba in Oct. 2012 and Southern Italy in May, 2013. Both promise to be visually stunning, but most of all, fun! If you want to travel with a group of interesting people who love seeing new things and visiting the world, click these...
Lawn Fertilizing – Summary
The amount of fertilizer to apply to your lawn should be determined by a soil test (www.georgiasoiltest.com or by calling 1-800-ASKUGA-1. If you have not had your soil tested, or don’t have time to do the test, following are some rule-of-thumb recommendations for using lawn fertilizers found at garden centers....
Lawn Care Calendars and Factsheets
Knowing that a piece of paper in your hand is much more helpful than a computer screen in the house, I have compiled basic cultivation information and care calendars for each of the common lawn grasses. You can get and print the calendar for each lawn grass by clicking the...
Join Walter on Facebook
See that little blue Facebook icon over to the right? If you click on it you will be taken to the Facebook homepage. I’ve found Facebook to be a great way to send you quick garden tips during the week. I try to send one every day or so. If...
Kudzu Bug – Control Organically
Q: I just discovered a really bad infestation of kudzu bugs on the beans in our garden. I looked into using spinosad and unfortunately we cannot use it because of our honeybees. From what I have read, it is highly...
Pecan – Pollination
Q: A friend of mine in Savannah gave me several male and female pecan trees. Will they thrive here? How do I identify a male from a female tree? A: Pecans don’t have male and female trees. However, many pecan...
Diatomaceous Earth – For Insect Control
Q: I heard you talking on the radio about finding diatomaceous earth to use for bugs in gardens. I bought the stuff from a pool supply store, where it is cheap! A: Unfortunately, diatomaceous earth (D.E.) for pools is not...
Good Careers in Agriculture!
Q: Our 19-year-old son has expressed an interest in double majoring in history and agriculture. What are some examples of jobs/career paths that we can visualize, besides farming? A: The University of Georgia’s Faith Peppers says there are nearly twice...
Gypsum – Used to Prevent Blossom End Rot
Q: We grow tomatoes in a little raised bed and have always used garden lime in the past. I keep hearing about using gypsum (calcium sulfate) for calcium, but I worry that it will increase soil acidity. A: Gypsum is...
WSB Studio – What Does It Look Like?
Thousands of people listen to my garden show every Saturday morning. With each caller, I try to imagine where they are. In bed? Driving? Outdoors? Perhaps some of them are trying to imagine where I am and what it looks...
Rosinweed – Identification
Q: My brother and sister-in-law found several of these where they walk for exercise near Jesup, GA and wanted to transplant a couple. They thought it was some kind of fern and but they dug it up it had a...
Trip to Italy – 2013
I’m hosting a trip to southern Italy on May 12 – 24, 2013. Whenever I’ve mentioned to seasoned travelers a trip to Italy, they get a dreamy look in their eyes and insist “You MUST go to southern Italy in...
Tree Planted Too Deep – Examples
It’s heartbreaking to have an attractive young tree in your landscape begin to decline. When you examine the trunk, you may see bark at the base peeling off, splitting, or generally looking unhealthy. In my observation, these are symptoms of...
Cuba Trip – 2012
I don’t know why, but I have always had a fascination with this island and its culture. When Matthew Brumley, the owner of Earthbound Expeditions, mentioned that he was working on getting the license to take people to Cuba, I...
Bare Area – Covering With Fabric and Stone
Q: We want to cover the ground in our island with something that weeds won’t grow up into and through. We have considered gravel on top of landscape fabric. A friend did something similar with rubber mulch but the grass...
Sansivieria Cylindrica – Rhizome
Q: What the heck is this growing out of my sansevieria. I know it isn’t a bloom or a leaf, but I am very perplexed. A: It’s a rhizome: a thick root that grows away from the original clump. Eventually...
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. Websites The University of Georgia...
Diagnosing 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...
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...
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....
Lawn – Timing Pre-emergent Herbicide
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Ultrasonic – Pest Repelling Devices
It seems ingrained in the genes of mankind to invent ways accomplish a useful task while expending very little physical effort. The TV remote control is the epitome of this enterprise in my home but microwave ovens, automatic ice makers...
