Applications for the January 2016 Master Gardener Training Program are now being accepted at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Warren County.
The course includes weekly presentations by Cornell University faculty, Cooperative Extension staff, and local experts on a wide range of garden topics. A binder of important resources that supplement the course lectures is provided. » Continue Reading.
Leaves. Some folks love them, some folks hate them; I think it mostly depends on how much room you have for them. Folks who live in towns or cities with small yards and large, mature shade trees can feel overwhelmed with all the leaves. But the rest of us with a little more space really cannot complain as those leaves are a wonderful resource!
While I waited for the young trees I planted around our house to grow I used to gather those bags of leaves along the city curbs. Now my trees are finally large enough that I have plenty. » Continue Reading.
The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) and the Adirondack Garden Club are co-sponsoring a workshop for nursery growers, landscapers and gardeners to learn about New York State’s recently enacted invasive plant regulations and how businesses and landowners can adapt.
The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held Thursday, October 29th from 9:30 am to 3 pm at Fort Ticonderoga. Certified Nursery and Landscape Professionals will have the opportunity to obtain continuing education credits by attending. » Continue Reading.
Linus, the precocious, blanket-toting “Peanuts” character, waited faithfully for The Great Pumpkin all night on Halloween in spite of being disappointed every year. Perhaps his unwavering belief in the mythical pumpkin was spurred on by the fact that almost every year brings the world a bigger “great pumpkin” of the sort one can measure and – at least potentially – eat. » Continue Reading.
The boards that form my raised beds are rotting away and I’m glad. I’ve been wanting to rearrange the beds so having to replace the boards gives me the opportunity and motivation to finally get this done.
One of the most frequent questions we get about setting up raised beds is what kind of lumber to use. » Continue Reading.
Tree topping is a subject I can really get worked up about. It’s unprofessional, unsightly, outrageous, unethical, dangerous, and I even suspect it causes more frequent rainy weekends and bad-hair days. It’s unthinkable, horrible, bad, yucko, blecch! That should be pretty clear—any questions? Oh, exactly what is tree topping? Hang on. Mmmph—there, that’s better. Had to wipe the foam off my mouth.
Tree topping is the removal of limbs and or/ trunks to an arbitrary length, leaving stubs. Variably known as heading, hat-racking or tipping, it is denounced by the Tree Care Industry of America, The International Society of Arboriculture and other professional tree-care organizations. » Continue Reading.
Encountering a snake in the garden causes many people to shriek or even panic. Yet snakes and another often unloved creature, the American toad, are among the most effective forms of pest control.
If you tolerate these herpetological visitors – or better yet, encourage their presence – you’ll be less likely to share your garden with ravenous bugs, or bottles of pesticide. » Continue Reading.
North Country gardeners are a patient, hardy lot. Our growing season is short enough in a good year, and this year got off to a very slow start with endless rain and cold temperatures well into July.
While there are many cool season crops that do well up here, most home gardeners spend the summer waiting for the royalty of crops to ripen: tomatoes! » Continue Reading.
Being an arborist, I’m of course very mindful of complexion. Things like bruises and blemishes catch my eye, in addition to scabs, cuts, and even those out-of-place whiskers that appear out of nowhere. It sounds like a description of my aging skin, but I’m talking about blotches, warts and cuts that accumulate on tree leaves over the summer.
I suppose if we had to stand outside day and night all season, our skin would develop issues too. Those who work or play much outdoors need to be concerned about skin spots that suddenly show up. With tree leaves, that’s not the case – even the ugliest “skin” condition is generally no cause for concern. » Continue Reading.
The Warren and Essex County Soil and Water Conservation Districts are holding two workshops in Schroon Lake to educate about lake friendly living.
As stormwater moves across impervious surfaces such as roads, rooftops and asphalt parking area it can collect sediment, phosphorous, de-icing materials (sand and salt), petrochemicals, and other pollutants that may end up in a nearby lake or stream. There are ways to reduce storm water runoff and keep our water bodies healthy. One way is by collecting storm water in rain barrels and using it to water gardens and landscapes. » Continue Reading.
The Whallonsburg Grange will host a free Seed Saving Roundtable this Saturday, August 8, from 9:30 to 11 am.
Local beekeeper and gardener Tim McGarry will lead a roundtable for both experienced and beginning seed savers. Participants can learn how to save seeds from their favorite heirloom tomato and pepper plants this month, and how to prepare for more seed saving next season. The event will also be an opportunity to meet other people in the area who are saving and trading seeds. » Continue Reading.
Anyone growing tomatoes or potatoes needs to be on the lookout for signs of late blight. By mid-July this devastating disease had been found on potatoes in western New York and western Vermont.
This means Northern New York is basically surrounded by it and the cool, wet weather we had in June through mid-July created ideal conditions for this disease. Only tomatoes and potatoes are affected by this particular pathogen. » Continue Reading.
By definition, a weed is any plant growing where you don’t want it. To clarify, this holds true only in the garden beds or acreage under your cultivation. “Weeding” flowers in a park planter because they offend your sense of aesthetics is frowned upon.
To a plant, having “weed” embedded right in its name is probably akin to having a “Kick Me” sign on your back. Right out of the box there is bound to be a bit of prejudice against you, fair or unfair. Spotted knapweed, goutweed and Japanese knotweed are all pernicious invasive species, and deserve all the bad press they get. But occasionally an innocent bystander suffers from this name game. » Continue Reading.
When you think about it, trees in our landscape have it pretty rough. They don’t get to choose their neighborhood; good, bad or indifferent. Depending where they’re planted they may have to contend with “visits” from territorial dogs, “materials testing” by late-night fraternity mobs, entanglements with errant kites, and other issues. » Continue Reading.
Nothing provides a steady shot of color to your yard more than annual flowers. Once they begin to bloom they will keep producing flowers for the rest of the summer. Perennial flowers are beautiful but are usually only in bloom for a couple of weeks. For non-stop color and plenty of flowers for cutting, annual flowers are ideal.
After waiting for seedlings or young transplants to get established and begin to push out growth, the last thing gardeners are inclined to do is cut them back. But some judicious pinching right now will pay off with many more stems and flowers than if they had been left alone. » Continue Reading.
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