winter

New deep winter greenhouse design available for download

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Extension's Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships' deep winter greenhouse team has released a new farm scale deep winter greenhouse design, available for free download. The intention with this design was to create a greenhouse that...

Caring for winter pruning tools

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Dormant pruning of various fruit crops is often done after the coldest parts of winter have passed, and before bud break begins, allowing enough time to finish the total acreage. However, from now until the time you start pruning, it can...

Should you water your lawn before winter?

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu This past September we experienced record-setting warm and dry weather across the state, and for most of Minnesota, this trend has continued well into October. Autumn is normally when our lawns are recovering from the drier and warmer...

Transitioning your high tunnel for fall and winter

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu During our 100 farms project, we learned that a lot of Minnesota high tunnels go unused throughout the fall and winter. Research with high tunnel farmers shows that those who use the "shoulder seasons" are the most profitable, and keeping...

Warmer winter presents benefits and challenges to soils

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu A community garden ready for spring planting Coming out of a record-setting warm winter season, those involved with gardens and lawns should consider how our soils and soil fertility have been impacted by this past winter’s unusual...

Minnesota's winter was a little wimpy, how did insects do?

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Japanese beetles spend the winter as large grubs a few inches under the soil. After a burst of late snow, spring is finally here. April is predicted to be warm after a winter ofrecord warmth and minimal snow. This will affect this year’...

Boundary-pushing bees

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu A common eastern bumble bee queen in Winona on March 3, 2024. Photo: Danielle Hudson It is easy to see that this has been an unusually warm winter in Minnesota. Skis and sleds barely had a chance to get dusted off. People started...

Weeds get spring fever too

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Models suggest that significant cold has passed, things are starting to green up and soil is warming. While this warm winter causing growers stress about what diseases and insects will do this spring, this early spring can provide rare...

What does a wimpy winter mean for insects?

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu The National Weather Service's Seasonal Temperature outlook for March, April, and May suggests our dud of a winter has wrapped. Many people are wondering how this will impact insects, and as always, it depends! Here are some things to...

Winter damage on evergreen trees and shrubs

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Without a doubt, it has been a weird and wacky winter from a gardener’s standpoint. We went into winter in drought conditions in much of the state and the minor snow precipitation never really made a difference. So here we are on the brink...