In Kentucky, we often struggle with quality lawns for many reasons. Cool season grasses do not perform well with a hot summer and warm season grasses are not as pleasing during the cooler months when they are dormant. Good overall maintenance practices play a critical part in our success. Aerifying and dethatching could be important to your specific lawn needs. Continue reading
Early Start On Spring Gardening
You don’t need to wait for warm weather to start your vegetable garden. Did you know there are several types of vegetables you can start as early as March? Radishes, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, onions and many more vegetables are all quite frost tolerant, and you can seed or transplant them in the garden from mid-March to early April. Continue reading
Time for 5 Eastern Tent Caterpillar Egg Hatch
After spending about 9 months as eggs in masses on twigs of wild cherry and related trees, the first few tiny eastern tent caterpillars (ETC) of the season should soon be leaving their eggs. The onset of the single generation that occurs each year varies with the character of the season. Hatch was noted as early as March 14, 2012 during an unseasonably warm spring and as late as April 2, 2014 during one that was slow to develop. Continue reading
Hellebores
A plant that flowers in winter has a head start in making it onto any plants lover’s list. This perennial is one that can grow in Kentucky gardens from the knobs and bluegrass to Ohio River, making it a plant for all regions, over a wide range of climates. Despite its common name, Lenten Rose is not a garden rose at all. Continue reading
Serviceberries Are Great for Small Landscapes
Serviceberries, Amelanchier spp., are an ideal sized tree for most landscapes. Sometimes considered large shrubs, serviceberry trees are usually grown in clumps with many upright branches, although they can be trained to a single trunk. They reach sizes of 25 feet tall by 15 to 20 feet wide. Amelanchier is one of those trees whereby the common name can sometimes make it difficult to identify. In addition to serviceberry, these trees are also known by Saskatoon, shadblossom, shadbush, shadwood, Juneberry, mountain blueberry, or sarvis-tree. Being a native tree to woodland borders and hillsides in eastern North America, settlers who encounter and admired Amelanchier contributed to the multiple common names it now carries. One name, serviceberry, originated because branches were collected in mid-winter and forced into bloom for church services. Continue reading
Spring Lawncare Tips
Beginning this month, there is always a renewed interest in our lawns. Spring is the time to prepare your lawn for the rest of the year, and here are a few good management practices that will help you keep a healthy lawn throughout the season. Continue reading
Economical Cold Storage for Market Growers
Fruit and vegetable growers who sell through farmer’s markets, farm stands and community supported agriculture know that work associated with being a successful market grower does not end with the active growing season. The colder months are an ideal time to launch projects to improve efficiency, product quality and economic return for the season ahead. One viable project that can accomplish all three of these goals is the construction of a cold storage room. Continue reading
Mechanical Damage to Trees
We talk a lot about insects and diseases that can wreak havoc to our landscape trees, but many times people are a tree’s worst enemy – especially people wielding lawn mowers and weed trimmers. And while a slight bump from a mower’s frame or a quick zip of trimmer line around a tree trunk may seem insignificant, it can create an injury that leads to disease or death. Continue reading
Pruning Practices For Trees & Shrubs
Savvy gardeners use February and early March to examine limbs and branches of woody plants. This is the time of year to make pruning cuts to improve the scaffolding of the canopy of a tree or shrub. In the February to March timeline, before the buds begin to break, is the best time of the year to prune deciduous trees and shrubs. Limbs in poor shape, crossing over, rubbing and such issues are best removed now, in February to mid-March. Proper pruning practices should be followed. Continue reading
Planning an Onion Crop
Although we’re in the midst of winter, it is never too soon to think about next growing season. This is particularly true if you want to grow onions.
Onions are a good crop for Kentucky farmers. Typically in late winter it takes eight to ten weeks to produce a reasonably sized transplant. If you want to plant in late March or the beginning of April, you should have seeded your transplants in late January. If you have not already seeded, it’s not too late for an onion crop this year. You can purchase transplants. Continue reading
Kentucky Hort News 
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