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

Recommended trees and plants for the Driftless Area in Minnesota

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Map of woodlands of Minnesota, courtesy of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Today we're sharing our recommended trees and plants for the Rochester Plateau and Blufflands (region 9 on the map), also commonly referred to as the...

Final weekly vegetable update 9/13/23

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu With some areas in Northern Minnesota experiencing frost last night, it seems only natural to wrap up our updates for the year. We'll continue to post articles about educational events and relevant topics, but this will be the final...

Time to bring houseplants back inside

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu As fall temperatures begin to cool, it is time to consider bringing in the houseplants you kept outside this summer. Many houseplants thrive outdoors during Minnesota’s summers but do not perform well or may even die if exposed to...

Saving, storing and treating vegetable seeds

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu When saving tomato seeds, look for unblemished fruits from healthy, disease-free plants. The gardening season is coming to a close. If you are saving seeds, now is the time to start collecting them. Choosing which seeds to save Some...

New training program will fill vital gap in reforestation efforts

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Extension educator, Jeff Jackson, is learning how to forecast next year’s acorn crop. To reduce the impacts of climate change, we need to take action to lower the amount of carbon dioxide that we emit and remove as much CO2 from the...

Cover crops improve soil health, even on a small scale

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Live roots maintain soil structure and provide a diversity of benefits. Have you ever felt like you want to invest in soil health, but it’s hard to know how to apply soil health concepts on a small scale? Cover crops are an important...

Weekly vegetable update 9/7/23

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Following one final heatwave that brought a flush of ripe tomatoes, there’s a distinct fall feeling in the air. We know you’re all still as busy as ever, but fall tends to bring a feeling that the home stretch is near, and field work...

Weekly vegetable update 8/31/23

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Our food systems team has been on the road this week touring farms across north central Minnesota to make new connections. In general, crops are ahead of schedule this year. We had our first sweet tango apples (about two weeks early near...

Late summer garden checklist

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu The State Fair is going on. Nights are actually getting cooler even after the heat waves we’ve experienced. Our gardens are producing, but we can tell the plants are changing. Still, there's lots of gardening yet to do! Harvest your...

September lawn care checklist

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Lawn with summer annual grassy weeds and perennial broadleaves that encroached into thin turf With autumn approaching, we will begin seeing cooler daytime and evening temperatures, along with (hopefully) more predictable rainfall...