Next Friday, Feb. 2, is Groundhog Day. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If it doesn’t see its shadow, then there will be an early spring. Do we have groundhogs, also known as …
It’s time to start planning the garden for next spring. Your mailbox is full of seed catalogs, and your local nursery is displaying racks and racks of seeds. But the seed packets and catalogs have terms you’ve never heard of before. What do these terms actually mean? The first important …
It is that time of year – time to pick out a Christmas tree. Our choices basically fall into three categories: live tree, cut tree or artificial tree. Live trees are for sale at most nurseries and garden centers. They can be expensive, but can also be a wonderful addition …
By Melody Hefner, Urban IPM and Pesticide Safety Program Coordinator As much as I like to garden, by fall I’m grateful for the freezing nights and the reduced garden chores. During a session of garden clean-up, I remembered that it was time to start thinking about a fall preeemergence herbicide …
Tomatoes, melons and summer squash are ripening. It is a great time of year for gardeners, reaping the rewards of our labors. Were you bothered by insect pests this year? Was your garden as productive as you hoped? As you harvest crops in your garden, start thinking about next year. …
Have you noticed a 2- to 4-foot tall gray-green plant covered in whitish hairs with bright yellow flowers and wicked ¾-inch spines at the base of the flower? This is yellow starthistle, a state-listed noxious weed. This state legal designation requires landowners to control and prevent the weed’s spread. Whoever …
It is time to start scouting for insect pests in the vegetable garden. Here’s some information on a few common vegetable garden pests you should control now, before a serious infestation damages your garden. Squash bugs attack plants in the cucurbit family: melons, squash, pumpkins and cucumbers. They damage plants …
Spring time in the Truckee Meadows: tomatoes are planted, iris is blooming, and weeds are growing. Our wet winter is paying off in weed dividends. Many of the weeds sprouting and growing right now are annuals. They are best controlled early on in their life, before they bloom and set …
Our wet winter has set us up for some spring weeding chores. Many of our nuisance weeds are annuals. Annual weeds complete their life in one growing season: sprout, grow, flower, produce seed and die. Winter annuals sprout in the fall, lie dormant through the winter and then start growing …
Spring is here and many people have garden fever. But, it is far too early to plant tender crops like tomatoes, peppers, basil or melons. Garden cleanup, especially if you didn’t have a chance to do it last fall, may be the place to put all your garden energy. It …
