Pat Greenwell
The calendar says spring, but the weather hasn’t been agreeing with it. We are having cool nights and not normal warm days, along with not enough rain for this time of year. Hopefully these will get better in the coming days. Fighting Codling Moths in your apple trees is easy by making Codling Moth traps.…
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Hort Report: Think about pruning bushes, shrubs within 30 days after they finish blooming, flowering
Hoping everyone had a Great Mother’s Day with their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Enjoy the time you have together. Congratulations to all the seniors. Succeed in all your dreams. As your spring shrubs and bushes finish flowering this spring, think about pruning them within a month of them finishing blooming and flowering for this year. …
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Now is the time to be cleaning your flowerbeds, getting them ready for planting in 2025. Killing weeds and keeping them out of your garden and flowerbeds is important, to growing vegetables and flowers. Now is a great time to be doing this. A weed is considered anything that grows where you don’t want it…
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Happy Easter to everyone from Laura, Hillary, Sandra and myself. Pray all of you remembered what Easter is about and enjoyed the day. Now is a great time to be thinking about sowing grass seed on your yard. The first thing to do is to give your yard a good raking. This will allow you to…
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The upcoming days are going to be seasonal with warm days and cool nights. There is still time to prune on your fruit trees, grapes and brambles. When pruning cherry and peach trees, use the open vase/open face method of pruning. The branches and limbs grow out and away from the center of the tree.…
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Now is the best time of year to prune all types of fruit trees, grapes and brambles while they are still in their dormant stage. As the weather warms up and the sap starts to run, you shouldn’t be pruning as this will hurt the production of fruit. Once you begin to see buds start…
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Many of you are starting to see vegetable seeds in stores and in catalogs you get in the mail or online. In the late 1960s through the late 1980s, the South Shelby FFA would sell Vitality Garden & Flower Seed door to door as a fundraiser to help pay for the annual FFA spring banquet.…
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The past few days have really been great for outdoor work. The next few weeks look like the days will be warm, but the nights will be at or below the freezing mark. I have had several people ask if they should be cleaning off their flowerbeds. I have noticed several different types of perennials…
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The first few days of 2025 have been snowy, but we need snow to get into the ground and seal it to help protect the roots of various plants, trees, bushes and shrubs from the cold temperatures. Christmas has passed, but you can keep your poinsettia looking fresh for several more weeks and keep it…
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Hoping and praying everyone had a blessed Christmas and remembered the reason for the Christmas season. Happy New Year, too. Let’s review what you can do with your Christmas tree. I still like to have a live Christmas tree to use on the front porch. Here are things you can do with them and any…
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone and your families from Laura, Hillary, Sandra and myself. The birth of Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. Saturday, Dec. 21 was the first day of winter and the winter solstice. That means that we will begin to have more minutes of daylight each day…
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From Laura, Hillary, Sandra and I, we pray and hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and remembered to thank God for all your blessings. Spring for me will start Jan. 7. That will be the first South Shelby Adult Vo-Ag horticulture class for 2025. It will start at 5:30 pm in the South Shelby…
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The weather is more normal for this time of year. We are finally getting rain that will seal the cracks in the ground, helping the roots on plants, shrubs, bushes, trees and grass survive the coming winter. Nov. 11-20 is Indian Summer, and the weather is supporting it. Hopefully we keep these temperatures for several…
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Many of you have had a frost or freeze in the past few weeks, but it didn’t do much damage. All of your root-type vegetables, even some above-ground vegetables, survived. To keep them growing, water them so the roots aren’t exposed to the cold air. Draw on paper your garden plan where all your vegetables…
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The cooler temperatures are here to stay, and we’re not getting much rain as we get into the middle of October. But with watering, I still am getting vegetables from our garden and the community garden at the Father Buhman Center. The fall garden in raised beds will be ready in a few days. As…
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The fall weather is here, and we are dealing with it in many ways. Hopefully, you got much-needed rain. With the cooler temperatures, you know it is fall. I have noticed that people, when they mow, are mowing dirt, weeds and not much else. I have talked about mowing based on the height of the…
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The first day of fall was Sept. 22. The daylight hours are getting shorter. You have less time to work in your garden, flowerbeds and yard after 5 p.m. I enjoy this time of year and always find things to do every day. The weather has been hot and dry for the past several weeks.…
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The weather has been dry the past few days. Many of you should be watering your vegetables to make sure they get plenty of water this time of year. When watering, water early in the morning or early in the evening for about one hour before sunset. Watering at these times of day will allow…
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The dog days of summer are over. The weather has been great to be doing all types of garden work and harvesting all types of vegetables. I was asked when to harvest cantaloupe the other day. Look at the stem on the cantaloupe where it is attached to the vine. Put pressure on it. If…
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Thanks for all your prayers during the past few days. Laura and I appreciate them. Please keep them coming as I recover from my recent medical issues. I’m doing better and hope to return to my normal self in a few days. The weather has been great for this time of year for you to be…
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Many of you should be getting plenty of produce from your gardens now. Some of you should be getting fruit from your berries. We are even getting apples now. With the increasing humidity and temperatures, you need to be watering before 8 a.m. and after 6:30 p.m. to keep vegetables producing. The weather has been…
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Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. Many of you should be getting a lot of produce from your gardens. Cool-season vegetables have been harvested, and warm-season vegetables are producing. Think about what vegetables and where you will be planting them in your fall garden. You can start planting fall garden vegetables in late…
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The Summer Solstice — the first day of summer — was June 20. The daylight hours we have each day will decrease until the Winter Solstice on the first day of winter on Dec. 21. The weather we have been having the past few days reminds me of 2023. The hot dry wind and lack…
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Happy Father’s Day to all the special fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers and great-great-grandfathers. Let them know how much you appreciate them and how special they are to you. The weather has been great for all your gardening and yard work. The one thing we see is not having enough rain for all the plants in gardens…
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The noise from all the cicadas has been very loud the past few days. They showed up earlier this year and have been busy making noise since. Males make noise to attract females. They mate and the females go and lay their eggs in tree bark and branches. Six to 10 weeks later, the eggs…
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