Gardening ideas & tips for the average gardener.
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From The Ground Up

Making jams, marmalades, preserves and conserves

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Jams, marmalades, preserves and conserves are fruit products preserved by sugar. These products differ in gel consistency, ingredients and how the fruit is prepared. They are easy to make at home. Jams are made from crushed or ground fruit...

Another invasive insect confirmed in Minnesota

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has confirmed that European chafer (Amphimallon majale) has been found for the first time in the state. This invasive insect is a severe pest of turfgrass. First found in the U.S. in New York...

Harvesting and storing home garden vegetables

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu One of the joys of summer is homegrown sweet corn, picked right outside your back door and plopped straight into a pot of boiling water or onto the grill. The advantage of having a home garden is that you can pick and savor your...

Planting vegetables in midsummer for fall harvest

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Quick facts Know the average first frost date in your area will help you calculate when to plant these late vegetables. Some vegetables will tolerate some frost and keep growing even when temperatures are in the low forties. Others cannot...

Count bumble bees in your backyard until August 2

The Backyard Bumble Bee Count is an iNatualist citizen science project that will help the organizations and agencies committed to conserving the endangered rusty patched bumble bee and all bumble bees. This count is open until August 2, 2020. Anyone with an iNaturalist account can take part in this...

Divide peonies and iris in August

Peonies and iris are long-lived favorite perennials for Minnesota. Peonies can easily outlive their gardeners and may not need to be divided or moved. Iris, especially bearded iris, benefit from regular division and flower better when they are regularly divided. August is a good time to divide...

Sunburn on raspberries, apples, and grapes

White, yellow or brown blotches on fruit raise alarm bells, but they may be sunburn rather than a disease or chemical injury. This article lay out clues to identifying fruit damage as sunburn or another issues. Hot weather, strong sunlight, and low humidity are a recipe for sunburn on fruit crops...

Powdery mildew and other mid-season cucurbit management

Midsummer is when we start to see all kinds of problems in cucurbit crops. This article provides a brief overview of potential problems and interventions that growers can address at this point in the season. Disease pressure While there are whole host of pathogens that affect cucurbits this time...

Face Shields Might be a More Comfortable Alternative to Face Masks for Some

Face shield Photo Credit: Dezeen.com The CDC, the WHO, the Minnesota Department of Health and all major public health organizations recommend that all Americans wear face coverings while in public to slow transmission of the COVID-19 illness. Face coverings work by blocking droplets that...

Growing tomatoes — A delicious challenge

“Tomatl”, “poison apple” and “love apple” are all early names for the beloved — and delicious — tomato (Solanum lypersicum). While eaten by the Aztecs in 700 A.D., the British grew this wrangling plant for ornamental purposes. The tomato was considered poisonous because the lead plates used by...