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

Reducing tillage in your garden

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Tillage provides many useful services in the garden but can contribute negatively to soil health. Intensive tillage disrupts microbial communities and breaks up the soil structure. Over time, this leads to compaction, reduced water holding...

Five native grasses for great fall color

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu This has been a wonderful year for fall color in trees, shrubs and grasses. Here’s a look at five grasses that are good selections for putting on a show in your garden in the fall. Little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium The red...

Timely Tip

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Timely tip: If the early snow left you with plants standing in your gardening, it’s a good thing! These plants will provide seeds for overwintering birds and stems for stem nesting bees, and improve your winter view thanks to the plants’...

Snow and Cold Weather Complicate Fall Mulching for Strawberries

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Photo: Three inches of snow covers the ground west of the Twin Cities, October 20, 2020. Annie Klodd Between cold temperatures and snowfall this week, it can be confusing to decide when to lay down mulch for strawberries. Straw...

Will apples survive a freeze?

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Haralson apples ripen late in the season. It's mid October and gardeners are covering plants and pots with sheets at night to protect them when frost is predicted. Plants can be “nipped” by frost when fat in cells on the outside edges...

Burning bush added to Minnesota's noxious weed list

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Euonymus hedge starting to turn red in the fall Winged Euonymus or burning bush (Euonymus alatus) has been a popular landscape shrub since it arrived in North America in the mid-1800s. A member of the bittersweet family (Celastraceae), ...

The 5 considerations of sustainable landscape design

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu A rain barrel surrounded by plants can make your landscape both environmentally sound and visually pleasing. Our home property has served as my outdoor laboratory for landscape projects, constructing features and growing all sorts of...

How can I identify the apples in my backyard?

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Bulmers Norman, a European apple variety This time of year, UMN Extension receives a steady stream of questions about how to identify unknown apple trees. In most of these instances, the person calling has recently purchased or...

Collecting and storing seed

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Flowers, seeds and seed heads from Tithonia, anise hyssop and boneset (L-R). Fall is a good time for collecting seed in Minnesota from plants that are summer bloomers. Seed can be collected from a variety of different plants, even some...

Fall invasive species management in on-farm woody areas

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Most farmers are still busy harvesting, cleaning fields, and preparing for next year. However, as your workload begins to slow down, consider taking some time to monitor for invasive species on your farm. While this article is about...