Grow More Videos – July 2024 As mentioned in the newsletter in April and May, I will spend some time introducing you to the wide-reaching range of topics that ACES has prepared to help us all become better gardeners. Over the next few months, we will break our topics into three categories: The topics for…
Ground Covers – June 2024 This month we will sidestep our ACES Grow More Videos and look at ground covers. There are many uses for ground covers: a steep slope in your yard, choke out weeds, shady areas where your normal grasses do not grow well, full sun and dry areas, edging, erosion control, and…
Grow More Videos – May 2024 As mentioned in the newsletter in April and May, I will spend some time introducing you to the wide-reaching range of topics that ACES has prepared to help us all become better gardeners. Over the next few months, we will break our topics into three categories: The topics for…
ACES Education Information For the next few months, I am going to change direction somewhat in this newsletter and introduce you to the wide-ranging variety of topics that are available to you through the ACES (Alabama Cooperative Extension System) educational system. In past issues we have addressed some of these topics, i.e. mulching (March 2024),…
So, you have planned your garden or flower beds and you have ordered your seeds. Now we need to decide how do we want to mulch our plants, what do we want to use, and why do we want to mulch. In general, we want to mulch to keep down weeds, maintain a constant amount…
Soil Testing Probably the first thing you want to do is to have your soil tested to ensure you have the correct nutrients. The major issue here in Baldwin County is to make sure the soil pH is correct. This means that you will probably have to add lime to your beds. To soil test,…
As mentioned in our short article in this month’s newsletter there are some issues with growing tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) in our area. If your main goal is to help the monarch butterfly – then do not grow tropical milkweed! There are some caveats to this statement which I will mention below. The first thing…
Truly one of the most fascinating and unique plants in the plant world. It is deadly to some insect species and on the other hand absolutely necessary to other species of insects. Born on the wind with their feathered seeds they can spread for large distances. With its hundreds of different variants being found all…
Identify Me The following list is a list of several identification apps for plants, shrubs, diseases, insects. You can search for a plant based on its leaf, flower, or the entire plant. Pricing varies from totally free to $20/month. This list is not inclusive. You can also go to the web on your favorite browser…
Fall GardensThis will be somewhat different from other articles in that a major part of this month’s article is from an ACES (Alabama Cooperative Extension System) article with comments from me. The ACES article may be found here (Basics of Fall Vegetable Gardening). It is this article that I will base my comments on. Be…