Minnesota

A Minnesota guide to garden timing

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Amaranth, lettuce and garlic are early cool-season crops. The spring weather we’ve been experiencing lately has confused wildlife, plants, and gardeners alike. Before you rush to plant seeds or seedlings, it helps to pause and plan. In...

Almost time to plant potatoes in Minnesota

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu If you’ve lived through more than one Minnesota spring, you’ve learned not to trust the calendar, no matter what tradition says. A lot of gardeners rely on the adage: Good Friday is potato-planting day, if the weather allows. Some years...

A warm-weather jump on seed starting

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu With this week’s unusually warm weather and an above-average forecast ahead, it’s no surprise gardeners are eager to kick off spring. One of the easiest and most rewarding ways to jump-start gardening is to start seeds indoors. It’s simple...

Minnesota seed libraries grow more than gardens

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Old-fashioned library card catalogs are being repurposed in libraries across Minnesota. The drawers are the right size for packets full of flower, vegetable, herb and native plant seeds. Minnesota gardens may be frozen right now, but...

Boosting the safety of Minnesota’s cottage food marketplace

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Autumn Stoll guides a cottage foods safety trainee on pH testing. Cottage foods are an important part of Minnesota agriculture. With more than 10,000 registered cottage food producers in the state, this micro-producer industry is...

Forestry for Minnesota birds

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Saw-whet owl. Photo: Ryan Pennesi A groundbreaking study documenting the widespread decline of bird populations across almost all species and habitats in North America revealed that since 1970, 2.9 billion birds — approximately 29% of...

Fall’s hidden architects: funnel weavers in Minnesota gardens

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Funnel weaver spider (Agelenopsis). Photo: David Cappaert, Bugwood.org As autumn settles over Minnesota, gardeners may encounter a silvery shimmer across their lawns and shrubs in the early morning light. On closer inspection, they find...

Climate-resilient landscape trees for Minnesota

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu American persimmon adds fall color and grows edible fruit. With recent storms damaging trees across the state, you may be wondering what to plant as replacements. Brandon Miller, Tiffany Enzenbacher and Laura Irish-Hanson,...

Native plants support wildlife and sustainability in Minnesota gardens

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Echinacea may reseed and produce young plants that usually wait to bloom till their second year. Native plants have naturally evolved in a specific region over thousands of years. They are well-adapted to the local climate and soil...

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...