1. Get a jump on next year’s lawn and gardens by having a soil test done through the UConn Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory. 2. If the pH of garden and flower beds needs to raised, wood ashes may be used. Wood ashes have a pH of 11.0 and also contain phosphorous, potassium, and calcium. […]
Gardens
The Basics of Composting
By Dawn Pettinelli – Extension Instructor Plant Science & Landscape Architecture Did you know that almost 25 percent of a typical household’s waste can be recycled right in the backyard? Recycling reduces the amount of solid waste being trucked and dumped into landfills, and the end product of this process, compost, is beneficial to the […]
Barnum School Garden
The Barnum School 4-H Garden Club in Bridgeport built a compost bin for their garden:
10 Tips for the August Gardener
1. Fertilize container plantings. 2. Pick summer squash and zucchini every day or two to keep the plants in production. 3. Pick up and destroy any fallen summer fruits/vegetables to reduce pests and disease for next year. 4. Continue to stake tomatoes and allow them to ripen on the plants for the best flavor. The […]
Should I eat that?
When what your garden produces is less than perfect: Should I eat that? By Diane Wright Hirsch, MPH, RD UConn Extension Educator, Food Safety It is common practice for the supermarket shopper and the farmers’ market customer to pick up every pepper and head of lettuce for closer inspection. When we buy produce, we do not […]
Squash Will Come…
Photo and Article By Carol Quish for UConn Extension Where are all my summer squash? Why do my plants have many blossoms and not squash? These are a few of the questions I hear about yellow and zucchini squashes when the squashes look like they should be setting fruit. Be patient, gardeners, squash will come. […]
Bringing Some Green to Our Big Cities
By Michael Dietz, UConn Extension When people think of Hartford and New Haven, “green” may not be the first thing that jumps to mind. However, recent efforts of the UConn Extension Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) program are helping to make these cities a little bit greener, both figuratively and literally. This past June, NEMO […]
Eat Seasonally: Enjoy Nature’s “Fast Food”
Originally Posted by Danbury News Times Heather Peracchio of UConn Extension is a registered dietitian who lives in Brookfield. But she’s happy to travel if there’s a chance to spread the word about healthy eating. This past Monday she gave two nutrition/cooking lessons, one in Bridgeport and one in Norwalk. Among her messages — the importance of eating seasonally. […]
10 Tips for the July Gardener
Inspect garden plants regularly for insect and disease problems. Sanitation practices, insecticidal soaps, and insect traps are alternatives to pesticides. Properly placed shade trees will reduce air conditioning costs. Try shade tolerant ground covers in areas where lack of sunlight limits grass growth. Excess nitrogen fertilizer stimulates succulent new turf growth, which is more susceptible […]
House Sparrows
By Carol Quish for UConn Extension Photo: Illinois Extension Recently we’ve received quite a few questions about house sparrows nesting in inappropriate places, such as under awnings or in the rafters of a porch. Our experts at the UConn Home and Garden Education Center offer the following advice. House sparrows are non-native birds to the U.S. […]
Where’s Your Garden’s Water From?
By Karen Filchak – Extension Educator – Residential Environmental & Water Quality Water for farms and gardens can come from several possible sources, including wells, municipal sources, ponds and rain barrels. Some water sources are more likely than others to be harboring harmful pathogens that might contaminate your garden goodies with salmonella and E. Coli […]
Plant Diseases & Sustainably Healthy Plants
By Joan Allen – Assistant Extension Educator – UConn Home & Garden Center Plant diseases can have a devastating effect on your garden or landscape, and on your wallet! You may have invested in new cultivars of a favorite plant, only to watch them wilt away. A large tree can add thousands of dollars in […]
Jam 101
By Diane Wright Hirsch, UConn Extension Educator, Food Safety Photo: Clemson Extension One of the best things about June in Connecticut is strawberry season. And we have been waiting a long time for strawberry season this year in Connecticut! Most farmers will tell you that the cold spring and delayed picking as much as 2-3 […]
Tick Testing at UConn
By Heather Haycock for UConn Extension Summer in Connecticut is the perfect time to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. There are beautiful trails to hike, parks to visit with your children or dogs, and there is the simple joy of lying in the lush, green grass. Of course, the warm weather also comes with the […]
Gardening Questions?
Have a question about your garden or landscape? Want to know which insect is chewing your shrubs, or what the spots on your tomatoes are? Interested in native plantings or attracting wildlife? Or do you want to start a garden, but don’t know where to start? Your local UConn Extension Master Gardener volunteers are available to help. […]
Watch Out for Basil Downy Mildew
Photo and article: Joan Allen, UConn Extension Basil downy mildew, a damaging disease of sweet basil plants, has been confirmed on plants at big box store garden centers (non-locally grown plants) in the Northeast. The major symptom is yellowing of the leaves, often between the veins. Dark, sooty-looking spores of the fungus-like pathogen (Peronospora belbahrii) are […]
Time to Pick the Strawberries (Finally!)
By Diane Wright Hirsch, UConn Extension Educator, Food Safety Photo: North Carolina Extension One of the best things about June in Connecticut is strawberry season. And we have been waiting a long time for strawberry season this year in Connecticut! Most farmers will tell you that the cold spring has delayed picking as much as […]
Controlling Ticks
By Carol Quish for UConn Extension The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends creating a tick-safe zone. Ticks feed on blood of animals including humans. Tactics to reduce the attractiveness of animals traveling into your yard will keep the number of ticks dropping off of them reduced. Do not feed the birds […]
GMOs a Hot Topic for UConn Extension Master Gardeners
By Leslie Alexander Certified UConn Extension Master Gardeners and Advanced Master Gardeners are encouraged to maintain active certification. In addition to completing required office and community outreach hours Master Gardeners in Connecticut are required to attend one Hot Topics class each year. These classes are designed to provide Master Gardeners with updated and new horticultural […]
Seeds Sprouting Inside a Tomato
By Carol Quish for UConn Extension Have you ever cut into a tomato and found white squiggly looking things inside? These are not worms or aliens that made their way to the center, but rather seeds of the fruit that have begun germinating. It is called Vivipary, Latin for Live Birth. It is the […]
Sustainable Landscapes
Dr. Carl Salsedo, UConn Extension Educator for Sustainable and Environmental Horticulture has been encouraging Connecticut residents to practice sustainable landscapes for years. Salsedo encourages everyone to practice sustainable landscaping as Connecticut residents look towards spring and warmer weather. “I’ve been gardening sustainably at home in Burlington since before it was trendy,” Salsedo notes. “I use native […]
Lily Leaf Beetles – Help with our Research!
Your Help is Needed For Our Research Project! Researchers at UConn are conducting a lily leaf beetle biological control project during the summer of 2014. If you grow lilies in Connecticut, have a minimum of 12 plants in the lily family (Oriental lilies, Asiatic lilies, Turk’s Cap lilies, or Fritillaria) in your garden, and have […]
May is for Mowing and More!
May is for Mowing, Dividing Mints & Marsh Marigolds! Photo and Aritcle: Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Extension Time to Start Up the Lawn Mower! We New Englanders have had a long, cold winter through early spring. The plentiful moisture and chilly temperatures these past few weeks have stimulated growth of our cool season turf grasses […]
10 Tips for the May Gardener
1. Thin or compacted turf will benefit from core aeration and overseeding. 2. Mow your lawn any time the grass is 1 ½ times the normal height, For example, if you mow at a 3-inch height, don’t let the grass get longer than 4 to 5-inches. 3. Remove spent blooms on tulips, daffodils and other spring flowering bulbs. […]
Sustainable Pest Control in Home Gardens
By Joan Allen – Assistant Extension Educator, UConn Home & Garden Center Insects and pests are a fact of life in the home vegetable garden, but sustainable practices can keep them at tolerable levels. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the use of a combination of tools to manage pests while minimizing the use of chemicals. […]
Annual Benefits
By Dawn Pettinelli for UConn Extension While there are many spectacular perennials that come back year after year, I really love annuals for that splash of long-lasting color they impart to the landscape. Fiery salvias, soft celosias, autumnal hued sunflowers and brilliant white cosmos are just a sampling of the huge selections of annuals […]
Soil Testing
By Dawn Pettinelli – Extension Instructor Plant Science & Landscape Architecture Saves Money & The Environment! A soil test is an inexpensive and valuable tool to help determine what will grow best in your soil, and what it might need to boost its fertility. It’s a smart decision to test the soil every three to […]
Create a Worm Farm
Photo and article by Carol Quish for UConn Extension The basics of keeping a worm farm are easy. Explaining why you would want to have one is a little harder to justify to people, particularly family members. Having been a worm farmer for over twenty years, my family finally just accepts and then ignores the fact […]
10 Tips for the April Gardener
1. Choose planting areas based on exposure to sun, shade, wind and distance from water source. 2. Purchase onion sets for planting and set 1 inch deep and 4 to 5 inches apart when soil can be worked. 3. Get the jump on weeds in garden beds by pulling out any that overwinter and applying […]
Is It Time for a Rain Garden?
Jen McGuinness who blogs at Frau Zinnie wrote an excellent blog post about the rain garden presentation Dr. Mike Dietz of UConn Extension presented at the Master Gardener Symposium in March. In Jen’s words: MANCHESTER, Conn. – With April showers imminent, you’ll soon be reminded of how much stormwater leaves your property. Water rushing through […]
Community Gardens
By Jiff Martin – Extension Educator Sustainable Food Systems All this talk about checking out the latest seed catalogues, de-wintering the garden and predicting the date of the last frost can be frustrating for the land-poor gardener wanna-be. If you are an apartment dweller, a condo resident or simply garden-plot deprived, you may not be […]
Bluebirds
By Julia Cencebaugh Kloth for UConn Extension Beautiful and beneficial the population of the Eastern bluebirds declined in numbers from the late 1800s through the 1980s. One significant contributing factor to this decline was the lack of suitable nesting cavities. Competition for nesting cavities from introduced European starlings and house sparrows, the loss of open field […]
10 Tips for the March Gardener
1. Make plans to attend the UConn Garden Conference on March 21, 2014. Go to www.2014garden.uconn.edu for more information. 2. Carefully remove winter mulches from planting beds as snow melts and temperatures warm. 3. Add limestone, fertilizer or organic materials as recommended and incorporate into planting beds. 4. As ground becomes workable, de-thatch the lawn if you find an […]
Eat Like A Bird
As a life-long New Englander I find that one of the most enjoyable parts of the winter season is watching birds at the feeder. We all know the importance of providing easily available food sources for the many avian species that remain in the area during the cold winter months but there are also species […]
Eat locally grown, even in winter….
By Diane Wright Hirsch, MPH, RD UConn Extension Educator, Food Safety Photo: Tomatoes at Bishop’s Orchards in Guilford. Credit: Jude Boucher, UConn Extension After a food-filled holiday season (including, I must confess, raspberries, grown somewhere in South America, in a fruit salad…), it is time that many of us resolve to eat healthier and, perhaps, to attempt […]
10 Tips for the February Gardener
1. Visit our booth at the 2014 CT Flower and Garden Show, Feb 20-23 in Hartford. Bring ½ cup of soil for a free pH test and your garden questions for free advice. 2. When buying houseplants in winter, be sure to wrap them well for the trip home and, if possible warm up the […]
“Shape” Up On Your Winter Woodland Walk
Lori Ann Trovato, a UConn College of Agriculture and Natural Resources student posted these great ideas for enjoying your next winter woodland walk. An unseasonably warm winter day has boosted your energy level and a woodland walk is in the course of events for the day. Surely a hike is great for shaping up, but […]
Squirrel Issues
Until recently, Etienne Benson, an assistant professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of History and Sociology of Science, consciously chose to investigate a creature that may be considered less exotic, and is certainly smaller for his latest publication. “I wanted to write about something a bit closer to home, about things we see and […]
Bird Feeder Care While You’re Away
Many people enjoy feeding the variety of birds we have in New England and watching them fly around the yard, or sing a song. But what do you do with your bird feeder if you’re planning to be out of town? Keeping bird feeders filled is important. Birds depend on the feeder as a food […]
Ten Tips for the January Gardener
1. Protect your young fruit trees from hungry mice, who can chew the bark off at the soil line, weakening and possibly killing the trees Keep mulch several inches from trunks to keep the mice from hiding under it. Also, consider putting wire-screen mouse guards around the trunks of the trees. 2. Bring pruning tools […]