Beetles Invasion - How to Stop Japanese Beetles

The Beetle Invasion

Japanese Beetles are a common problem for many gardeners June through Labor Day. While you are hoping to enjoy your beautiful bounty of summer flowers, vegetables, grass and fruit trees so are the beetles. Japanese Beetles are brilliantly colored, oval, and less than half an inch long. Wing colors are coppery with fine lines that run the length of its wing cases, and the body is a beautiful metallic green. Adults feed on flowers and leaf tissue during the day. Read more

10 Myths About Lawn Care

Myth #1: Watering lawns every day is critical (especially in the sweltering heat of summer) to keep them looking green.

Water is critical for the health of your grass. Without enough water, grass can’t get the nutrients it needs for reproduction and growth. In fact most grasses do best with deep watering (1 to 1.5 inches including rainfall) once a week rather than a light watering everyday. Buy a rain gauge or mark an old soup can to make it easier to tell how much water your lawn needs every week. Read more

Preventing and Controlling Crabgrass

Crabgrass (Digitaria spp) is one of the most common weeds in American lawns. It is a warm-season annual weed which means it reproduces by seed and is killed off in the fall by frost. Crabgrass is not shade tolerant, and grows best in full, hot sun. Read more

Getting Rid of Dandelions

You probably enjoyed them as a child but dandelions can be a pesky weed in anyone’s prized lawn. The dandelion is a perennial, herbaceous plant with long, lance-shaped leaves. The leaves are 3″ to 12″ long, and 1/2″ to 2-1/2″ wide, with the familiar 1-2” bright yellow flower. The flower head can change into a white, globular seed head overnight. Each seed has a tiny parachute, to spread far and wide in the wind. There are few thing to keep in mind when trying to rid your lawns of dandelions. Read more

Growing Tomatoes

No homegrown vegetable tastes more delicious or is grown by more gardeners in the US than the tomato. Although technically a fruit, Lycopersicon spp, is an essential part of the summer vegetable garden. Read more