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...
Fir Trees – Wire embedded in trunks
Q: My neighbor’s backyard has a steep hill which was planted with fir trees. The builder used wire supports on the trees. He decided to remove the supports, but they are embedded in the trunks. He’s thinking of using a...
Juniper – Phomopsis tip blight
Q: I’m in a panic because my junipers are dying. The tips of the branches turn brown. This quickly turns into a very dead branch and so on and so on. I don’t see any noticeable insects. A: Phomopsis tip...
Bermudagrass – Homemade fertilizer
Q: Are there any homemade fertilizers for bermudagrass that are just as good as the stuff you buy in garden stores? A: Do not be mis-led by television hucksters claiming that beer or household ammonia make good lawn fertilizer. Grass...
Daisy Beetle – Control
Q: You talked about tiny flower-eating beetles on your radio show and I kind of half-heard your response while driving. When I got home I found the little guys in my brown-eyed Susans and coneflowers. They are really chewing the...
Impatiens – Re-seeding
Q: I have a neighbor with a garden full of impatiens, in varying colors, that re-bloom every year. They disappear in winter then come back in summer. He says that they re-seed themselves. I would appreciate any knowledge that you...
Bermudagrass – Too much lime
Q: I think I made a big mistake with my new bermudagrass sod lawn. Someone told me I needed to put down lime to reduce acid in my Georgia red clay. No one told me I should have the lawn...
‘Lavender Wave’ petunia – growing
Q: I twice planted some ‘Lavender Wave’ petunias for a friend of mine. They are not thriving. The petunias there last year grew wonderfully. Could it be that there is not enough drainage? A: Although I’ve seen spectacular displays of...
Flower bed – conditioning soil
Q: I have an existing flower bed that was tilled with soil amendments at the beginning but maybe not enough. Will top dressing the entire area with soil conditioner this fall help areas that are lacking in amendments? The bed...
Tiger Lily – propagating by seed
Q: Can you tell me if I can use the seeds that nestle next to each leaf on very old tiger lilies? These are precious to me and I would love to find another way to propagate rather than digging...
Sod – Laying too late
Q: I have a friend who purchased ten pallets of fescue sod. She put down one pallet the same day. The other nine pallets were not installed until two days later. The first pallet put down looks great. Only twenty...
Corn – preventing cross-pollination
Q: I am a organic gardener and would like to know if you plant pop corn next to the regular corn will it cross-pollinate and ruin my corn crop? A: Unlike other vegetables, the taste of corn is affected by...
Bermudagrass – Going to seed
Q: I have been told that you should and that you should not let bermudagrass go to seed. Which is correct and why? A: I see no problem with letting bermudagrass go to seed, other than an observation that you...
Tomato – spraying with detergent
Q: My mother had an incredible vegetable garden, with huge tomato plants. However, she had whiteflies all over her plants. My sister-in-law told her of a remedy she had seen on a public television gardening show. She advised to spray...
Lacecap Hydrangea – Identifying
Q: I have what I thought was a hydrangea but I don’t get the big flowers that others do. It starts off with a cluster of little buds but then only the outer fringe blossoms turn into real petals. The...
Zoysiagrass – Reversing solarization
Q: Last weekend we took the solar blanket off our pool and laid it in our yard to dry. When we came back an hour later we found that the grass underneath had been burned. Now there is a big...
Gardenia – Wax Scale
Q: I have a gardenia bush and have noticed some strange looking growths. They are whitish, waxy-feeling deposits on the branches. They seem to be just on the surface of the branch. What should, or can, I do about them?...
Pears – Canning
Q: Could you tell me the best way to put our pears up? This is the first year our tree has produced and we want to enjoy the fruit all through the winter. We prefer pear preserves but any help...
Iris – Propagating with seed
Q: I have several beds of small purple iris. All the stalks have seed pods. They have dried up and there are several seeds in each one. I have about all the iris plants I can handle, but would like...
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...
