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...
Shrub – Transplanting 1-2-3
Most shrubs and trees should be transplanted when the demand for water is least, in late fall or winter. Since many roots will inevitably be lost, they need many weeks to regenerate themselves before the hot, dry blasts of summer arrive. If you are contemplating moving a plant that would...
Shrub – Pruning Calendar
The Home & Garden section of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution published a very nice pruning calendar several years ago. When viewed on a sheet of newsprint, it was gorgeous. When reduced to fit onto a sheet of typing paper it was impossible to read. I imagine you didn’t keep...
South Africa Adventure – 2014
As many of you know, I led a group of gardeners and spouses to South Africa in 2010. The memories of that vibrant, beautiful, surprising country still linger in my brain! We had such a good time I’ve decided to lead another group trip there in January, 2014. Want to...
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 link under the book cover images to...
Citrus Trees – In McDonough
Q: I have four orange trees in McDonough. The three trees by the driveway are about 18′. I have pruned the other one to about 12′. A: Wow! Due to the egg-shape of the fruit and the plants’ cold-hardiness, I...
Mulberry Weed – Control
Q: There is a pre-emergent called Dimension 2EW that specifically lists mulberry weed as a target. Do you know if this product can be used in a perennial garden setting as well as on zoysia grass? A: Dimension 2EW is...
Okra – Pruning
Q: I have always wanted to plant some okra. I once visited a vegetable farm where the farmer was pruning his okra. It looked as it was setting the pods closer together with this practice and was much easier to...
Bradford Pear – Is Topping OK?
Q: I have two mature Bradford pear trees on my property and they have always been very large. Each tree has several limbs growing from the base and the tree height is above the street light in our neighborhood. I’m...
Daffodil ‘Telamonius Plenus’ – Identification
Q: We moved some “buttercups,” as my mother-in-law used to call them, from the family farm in Tennessee to our home in Kennesaw. We have never seen one like this! We’d love to know what it might be. A: Jaydee...
Garden Success with Sweet Repeat Raspberry
I love getting garden success stories! Ernie F. Has a good one: I would like to share with you the success I’ve had in only one season with the Sweet Repeat raspberry, a new introduction from N.C.. I live in...
Bloodworms – In Pond
Q: I have a small pond. The pump stopped running and when I checked, the filter was completely full of disgusting leeches. They look similar to earthworms with flattened “heads”. When I opened up the filter, several “grabbed” my fingers...
Weeping Cherry – No Longer Weeping
Q: We were given a weeping cherry tree and it isn’t very droopy. When we received it, the branches all bent down toward the ground in a very nice shape. However, it got some disease, and I had to prune...
Florist Gardenia – Planting Outdoors
Q: My husband’s grandmother passed away and we were given a gardenia. Can I plant the gardenia in winter? A: Most florists’ gardenias are selections of the common southern gardenia, Gardenia jasminoides. In all likelihood, yours was grown in a...
Green Globs (Algae, Nostoc) – In Lawn
Q: I have green Jello-like stuff growing in my yard. It started a few years back as a small patch about the size of your hand in shaded area that has now grown and spread 20 yards in all directions....
Weed Preventer (Pre-emergent) – Organic
Q: Are there organic weed preventers you would suggest rather than dumping chemicals on ground? A: I’d love to find a non-chemical weed preventer but there simply doesn’t seem to be an effective one for our part of the world.....
Georgia Cities and Their Flower Festivals
Many Georgia communities are proud of the flowers that easily grow in their area. As a result, they celebrate their “city flowers” at festivals throughout the year. Here is a list I recently compiled. If you know of another, please...
Slugs and Snails – Deterred With Copper
Q: How can I manage the slugs that come to the cat and dog food bowls on my brick patio? A: I suppose a long term solution would be to stop leaving pet food outdoors. But if you want a...
Wild Hemp (Marijuana) – How to Control It
People often ask me if I get questions about growing marijuana. While I have answered questions about growing opium poppy, ephedra and Salvia divinorum, marijuana gardeners have not yet availed themselves of my supposed knowledge. Recently, though, I did find...
How DeKalb County Compost is Made
DeKalb County is one of the few counties that collects yard waste, composts it, and returns it to citizens for their use. I recently toured the composting facility to see how it...
DeKalb County Compost – Safe?
Q: I frequently visit the free DeKalb county compost/mulch pile on Memorial Drive. After spreading two truck loads on my dormant vegetable garden, I‘m worried that the compost might have high levels of herbicides or pesticides. A: I took a...
Boxwood – Diseased Foliage
Q: We have a troubled boxwood and a noticeably unmatched pair. These boxwoods have been in the ground for five years. The yellowing started over a year ago and continues to get worse. Do you have any suggestions? These bushes...
Arborvitae – Black Foliage
Q: I have nine arborvitae that have been in the ground three years. About a month ago I noticed blackening of the leaves out near the tips on several branches. The affected branches are just above ground level and isolated...
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 Preen has terrific weed...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
