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...
Ground bee
One of the benefits of experience is knowing when something isn’t a big deal and, conversely, when something happens that could be worrisome. When I saw small mounds of clay, with hovering bees nearby, in my lawn this afternoon I...
Flea – General Control
Great fleas have little fleas Upon their backs to bite ‘em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, And so ad infinitum, And the great fleas themselves, in turn, Have greater fleas to go on, While these again have greater still,...
Scale
Scale insects range from pinhead size to a quarter-inch in diameter. In general, they are easy to scrape from a twig or leaf. Many exude a reddish liquid when squeezed. Scale often release a sweet liquid (honeydew) that attracts ants...
Southern Pine Beetle
When I was a boy, one of my favorite pastimes was to stack up several soup cans, walk a few paces away, then throw rocks at the tower of cans until they tumbled down. I was convinced that if I...
Fire Ant – Control
Fire ants can be a real problem in home lawns. While they do not directly affect the grass, they can cause damage to mowers and other maintenance equipment. They also sting people and pets, making the lawn an uninhabitable area....
Carpenter Bee – Identification
S. M. e-mailed to ask what is the difference between a carpenter bee and a bumble bee. Since I am not a trained entomologist, I called Dr. Paul Guillebeau to find out. “Just look at their rear end,” he advised....
Ticks
The sight of a mosquito on your skin is annoying but not alarming. A quick slap and the bloodsucker is bound for parts unknown. You return to your gardening or sunbathing. But the sight of a tick on your body...
Screech Owl Box
Owls are excellent predators in a small landscape. They capture voles, mice and small snakes. It’s easy to build a box for a screech owl family. Make it 8″ by 10″ by 15″ tall with a 3″ hole. Hang 15...
Yellow Jacket – Control With Glass Bowl
Yellow jackets can be a real pest in late summer and fall. They swarm out of the nest at the slightest provocation, looking to punish whomever disturbed them. Want to know what works to kill a nest? We do too!...
Lawn Insects – Soap Flush
Lawn insects can be hard to find, especially when young. One way to detect them is to use a soap flush. Mix 4 tablespoons of dish detergent in a 2 gallon bucket. Pour the mixture over a six square foot...
Unseen Biting Bugs
When you have an itch, you scratch it…and you look for a likely cause. Perhaps it’s poison ivy, maybe it’s an ant bite or maybe it’s one of those unexplainable “it just itches” kind of things. On the other hand,...
Hornet – Control
It is startling to pass by a shrub or small tree in the yard and suddenly notice a gray, football-shaped hornet nest hanging down. Hornets have received such bad press in cartoons and folklore that you might instinctively cover your...
Azalea Lacebug – Control
You may have seen the damage lace bugs do to azaleas without knowing who did the dirty deed. Lace bugs suck the juice out of individual leaf cells. Since they hide underneath azalea leaves, you’ll never notice the bugs but...
Butterfly Puddle – Building
Butterflies love the nectar from flowering plants but they also need minerals and salts for their diet. One of the easiest way to give them what they need is to build a butterfly puddle. Purchase a shallow plastic or clay...
Whitefly
Whenever we have a cold winter gardeners wishfully hope that the cold will diminish the insects they’ll face the next year. While severe cold, below 0 degrees F., might affect overwintering insects, most Georgia winters have no impact on them....
Wildlife – Attracting with Good Habitat
Last week I listed food plants that attract wildlife to a landscape. Persimmon, apple, plum and blueberry plants were high on my roster but I also described oak, dogwood, serviceberry, beautyberry, cherry laurel, red buckeye, mulberry and honey locust. I...
Wildlife – Attracting with Fruit Trees
Rick Hindman recently sent me an e-mail requesting information on attracting wildlife. It gave me a great opportunity to brush up on the food needs of wild animals. In Rick’s words, “I live in Carroll county, and I want to...
Christmas Tree Insects
You get the Christmas tree home, take it inside, string the decorations….and suddenly discover critters among the needles and on the floor. This article by entomologist Jim Howell tell you what to look out for: Watch Out for Buggy...
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...
