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

Putting your garden to bed

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu As the growing season comes to an end, it is helpful to clean your garden before putting it to bed for the winter. A good fall cleanup provides multiple benefits for gardeners – it reduces weed populations and disease, minimizes plant...

Gathering seeds, restoring prairie

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Minnesota Master Naturalist volunteers help rebuild native plant communities A field of wild lupines (Lupinus perennis), a native Minnesota plant not to be confused with the large-leafed lupine native to western North America that has...

Beginning Farmer Equipment and Infrastructure Grant program

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu If you are seeking funds to help purchase equipment and infrastructure for your farm, the MDA has a new grant program to help with these costs. The Beginning Farmer Equipment and Infrastructure Grant program from the Minnesota Department...

Last fruit update - Sept. 11, 2024

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu This fruit update contains information about… Postharvest fruit handling Apples Bitter pit management: Thinking ahead for the next growing season. Grapes Berry bruising from late-season heavy wind, rain, and small-hail. 2024 Fruit...

Last Weekly Vegetable Update - September 11, 2024

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Looking ahead the next two weeks, we are looking at warm (daytime highs in the 80s) and dry (good for harvest!) weather. We are maybe five weeks away from the first frost in the metro area, but we are wrapping up our updates now as we are...

This has been a bad year for apple scab

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu When apple scab affects apple leaves, they develop leaf spots and eventually can start to turn yellow and drop off the tree. Apple and scab are two words most people would never associate with each other, but apple scab is one of the...

Spots, specks, and scabs: Squash and Pumpkin Fruit Damage

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Pumpkins and winter squash are getting closer to harvest across the state. While many fruit look great, all the moisture considered, every farm has a few that look a little off. Read on for common causes of sad pumpkins in Minnesota. ...

Fruit update - Sept. 4, 2024

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu This fruit update contains information about… 2024 Fruit and Veg News reader survey: We want to hear from you! Apples Black rot (Diplodia seriata, syn Botryosphaeria obtusa). Late–season apple scab (Venturia inaequalis) fruit infections...

Reblooming plants reflect the growing season

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Lilacs blooming out of season are referred to as being "remontant." Photo: Allan Paul Eilen Lilacs usually bloom in spring, but many people are seeing them bloom again now. Why? Like so much in Minnesota, the weather has a lot to do...

Lesser known trees and shrubs for Minnesota

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Brandon Miller Everyone can appreciate the flowers and fruit of a crabapple tree or the year-long beauty of a juniper. But Brandon Miller, a University of Minnesota Extension specialist in horticulture science, is engaging applied plant...