Over the Fence

A Note to Readers: This summer, we are excited to announce we will be joining our two horticulture blogs – "Over the Fence" and "Down the Garden Path" into one convenient place – and it's right here! The upcoming "Over the Garden Fence" blog will still feature timely topics and helpful hints from expert Richard Hentschel. If you haven't already, you can sign up for email...

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So many things, only so much space to get them down. I think the weather has been both good and bad, depending on your perspective right now. Lawns usually begin to slow down a bit, as the natural spring flush begins to pass, but as long as the rains continue, grass will continue to grow at an above average rate. The good part is I have not seen a bad looking lawn, park, cul-de-sac or parkway y...

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Now that the vegetable gardens have been planted for a few weeks, questions to the Master Gardener help desks have switched over from "How do I?" to "What's going on with my vegetable plants?" Here are a few commonly asked questions: Q: My spinach and lettuces are sending up flower stalks before I really got to harvest as much as last year. What is the deal? A: Spinach and lettu...

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By this time of the year, there has already been a lot of landscape mulch applied for the summer. Landscape mulch can provide more benefit than just how nice a freshly applied layer looks. When applied around young trees, we know that it reduces the competition from grass and makes it easier for the tree to establish in the new location. The tree gets more water and has no competition f...

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Mosquitos are adjusting to our ever-changing weather patterns just like our plants in the home landscape this season. May into June would be our traditional time mosquitos start show up for the summer. This season, April had the rain and not May, so mosquitos can be behind a bit. Mosquitoes favor warmer temperatures and the right kind of water – permanent, floodwater or stagnant, depend...

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Right now, there is plenty of soil moisture with all the recent rains. Even when the top of the soil seems dry, dig down just a little bit, and the moisture is there. Established plants are doing well as is the lawn. Gardeners will still be watering in any new transplants, trees, shrubs or evergreens; not because the soil is dry, but rather to settle the soil around the plants so roots do not d...

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Here we are, nearing the end of May. Maybe the beds in the backyard look OK, or maybe not? We love our lawns, yet grass can move into our landscape beds in a stealth-like manner while we are waiting for better weather for weeding and edging. Putting a strong clean line on the landscape beds really makes a difference in how they look. It brings out the strong curves that make the bed flo...

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