Grouping plants with similar water needs makes your job as a gardener easier. Zucchini grows well next to a fruit tree. Grouping plants with similar water needs makes your job as a gardener easier.Photo courtesy Kate [...]
Nematodes are microscopic, unsegmented worms. Some of them are beneficial and some carry disease. Photo courtesy William Wergin and Richard Sayre. Colorized by Stephen AusmusA juvenile root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) penetrates a tomato root. Once inside, [...]
"Urban meadows may not require watering, fertilizing, mowing, or edging, but you do need to be vigilant about invasive plants, unwanted weeds, such as foxtails, and diseases." Photo courtesy Kate RussellA meadow can look and feel [...]
Traditionally, acidic soil is treated with lime, to bring it closer to a neutral pH. By Kate Russell Kate Russell Plants grow in soil. Soil has a pH. Soil pH can make or break your [...]
More than 4,000 species of aphid exist worldwide, and 250 pester U.S. gardens Aphids have specialized mouths to suck the fluids from leaves and flowers that the plant uses to distribute nutrients.Photo courtesy Safer Brands [...]
It's easier to list the pests and diseases that do not affect members of the rose family. Flowers of the rose family are famous for being showy. If you look closely, you can see that the [...]
While daddy longlegs are predators in their own right, they get most of their nutrients from decomposing plant and animal matter and manure. A macro shot of a daddy longlegs on a leaf.Photo courtesy Wikipedia [...]
To be successful, bulbs must be planted at the correct time of year By Kate Russell Kate Russell The same conditions that make the South Bay one of the best places in the world for [...]
Overhead watering is a major contributor to fungal and bacterial diseases, such as anthracnose, bacterial spot, blight, anddowny mildews. By Kate Russell Kate Russell You’ve probably heard it a hundred times — overhead watering [...]
After the first spring rain, little brown lumps suddenly sprout bizarre, gooey orange arms that seem to appear overnight. Photo courtesy Kate RussellCedar apple rust has made its way to South Valley and can damage your [...]