‘American Gold Rush’ Photo: Intrinsic Perennial Gardens

Inside this issue:

• Perennial plant of the Year
• Connie’s Corner
• Give back hours recap
• Upcoming MG events
• February updates
• MGV efforts at Wagnalls
• This years’ All America flower winners
• Cooker Lunch & Learns scheduled
• Angiosperm & Gymnosperm
• A Tomato Tale
• Planting at the right soil temperatures
• Spring cleaning pesticides and fertilizers
• Plant damage in March
• Gardening with Less Water by David A
• The rose garden at the Palace of Gold
• See what’s happening in and around the garden

Find it all linked here (PDF)

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

January is a common month where gardeners with cabin fever start itching to garden and thumbing through seed and nursery catalogs. Once you start browsing all the options on the market of things to grow from vegetables to fruits to flowers, it is astonishing how many different varieties of plants there are to choose from. Even just narrowing it down to your favorite green bean variety can take up an afternoon!

A common type of fruit crop that often comes up in my interactions with landowners is apples. Sometimes the landowner already has apple trees growing and needs help with management and sometimes they are starting fresh and wondering what to plant. The latter is easier for me to provide advice. Today I will share some of that advice with you.

It is important to note that like many parts of Ohio, Noble County soils tend to be heavy and don’t provide ideal drainage for fruit trees, but that doesn’t mean you can’t grow them successfully!  You will want to Continue reading Apple Tree Selection Assistance →

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

Have any pests hitched a ride into your home on a holiday plant?

Over the Christmas holiday we’ve been taking special care of our houseplants. Well, specifically one really big houseplant. Well actually, it’s more of a gigantic floral arrangement. The plant I’m referring to is our live Christmas tree. While it is a live plant, it is gradually dying, like flowers wilting in a vase. But we’ve been doing our best to keep it well watered to keep it vibrant through the New Year. Afterwards it will be recycled as a birdfeeder, and we will hang birdseed ornaments and garland with fruit and popcorn to provide a snack for songbirds and enhance bird watching from our front window.

While sweeping spruce needles up off the floor recently, I noticed some webbing on the lower bows of the tree- a telltale sign of spider mites. These mites are common, and my house is the perfect environment for them. They thrive in warm, dry locations that have plants. They were likely on the tree when we got it and they became more active when we brought it inside the warm house. I began to get concerned for Continue reading Houseplants Care During the Holidays →

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

The task of leaf gathering and disposal is underway. Leaf litter may seem like a nuisance, but the litter is a valuable resource that I hope you will consider recycling.

Leaves contain valuable nutrients for soil health. Healthy soils provide plants and animals with healthy habitats. Keep the nutrients held within fallen leaves in use by reincorporating them into your landscape in the form of compost or mulch.

It is important to take care of the leaves that fall on your property. Leaf litter can smother your lawn by reducing light infiltration, which can create patchy lawn growth in the spring. Leaves should also be Continue reading What to do with Autumn Leaves →

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

Stinkbugs are entering homes now in search of a place to overwinter until Spring.

It’s stink bug season again!

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is causing frustration for home owners and farmers across America. These shielded, flying, stout, and brown insects are thought to have invaded the US from Asia in the mid-90s. Since the first one was positively identified in 2001 by Penn State they have spread across the country and now pose threats worth $21 billion to specialty food crops annually. They cause damage to many food crops including fruits, vegetables, and grains.

There are many different kinds of less common stink bugs in our region that including beneficial, predatory stink bugs. Stink bugs do not create structural damage to homes, nor are they a problem if consumed by pets, and they do not bite. However, they are a severe annoyance and threat to Continue reading Stink Bugs are Back →

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

Now that September is here, many people are shopping for fall mums to add to their seasonal décor. While many folks consider chrysanthemums annual plants that you buy and then throw away before winter, they are actually hardy perennial flowers that can be kept over in the garden for a period of about three years before it is recommended to rotate to another plant to reduce the pressures of insects and disease. If you are up for a little extra work to keep your chrysanthemums thriving in the garden, you may be pleasantly surprised to see them come back next growing season.

Mums can be planted essentially anytime from the beginning of spring to six weeks before frost as long as soil conditions offer enough moisture and fertility for good growth. Chrysanthemums can be started from seed, cuttings, or purchased in pots and transplanted. However, potted mums that are already flowering will likely not survive through Continue reading Caring for Chrysanthemums →

Tis apple season!

Find the Master Gardener, Fall 2022 Newsletter, “Through the Vine” posted here in PDF format. Articles include:

• Ohio apple varieties
• A message from our MG Coordinator, Connie Smith
• Did you Know? Determinate & Indeterminate
• Competing at the Fair
• Tomato tasting
• Diagnostic clinic
• Wagnalls’ Gourd tunnel
• Seasonal Harvesting pumpkins, A fall recipe
• Fall Gardening for Old Folks
• Featured Book; Tomato Love by Joy Howard
• Lawn care tips
• Tree burls
• Garden Gnomes
• Harvesting herbs
• The Red Buckeye tree
• See what’s happening in and around the garden

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

The season for seed saving is here!

Gardeners mid-harvest of fruits and vegetables are often curious about how to save seeds from beloved plants for next year’s garden or to share with friends. In order to be a successful seed saver, there are some basic facts you need to know.

First, let’s address why seed saving is an adventitious hobby.

Strategically saving seeds allows growers to select and save plants from their home gardens that have specific traits that they value (ex: tasty flavors, appealing texture, color, size, etc). Seed saving also plays a role in preserving historically significant plant varieties through the passing of seeds from one generation to the next. Keeping novel or heirloom varieties of seed circulating helps add diversity to the populations of plants grown in our communities. It can also help gardeners save money. What may be most appealing for some growers is that seed saving can Continue reading Seed Saving Sense →

We had a great day sprucing up the Ag Center!

Find the Master Gardener, Summer 2022 Newsletter, “Through the Vine” posted here in PDF format. Articles include:

• Forest Bathing
• Connie’s Corner
• Help needed in June
• Successful DIG
• Petunias planted at Ag center
• Teaching at 4-H camp
• Wagnalls’ new gourd tunnel
• Helping Hands in the Garden
• New LNE project
• Plants for Pollinators project
• This and That
• Ruth Stout method of planting potatoes
• Stopping bagworms
• Importance of wetlands
• Vinegar as a herbicide
• Gardening with allergies
• Featured Book, Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies by Sara Lewis
• Garden Musings
• Summer Gardening for Old Folks
• Special Events
• Step-by-step painting class
• Food preservation classes
• Dawes trolley tour (correction; call Wagnall’s with your reservation at 614-837-4765)
• In/Around the Garden

– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension

You can pick the flowers, but please destroy the honeysuckle plant!

Honeysuckle is a commonly found plant that often draws attention of passersby with its pleasantly fragrant blossoms from April to July. The sweet nectar inside its tubular flowers is edible by many animals and even people. There are over 180 known honeysuckle species in the northern hemisphere. It’s beauty and fragrance lead to the introduction of many non-native honeysuckle species to North America in the 1800s primarily for ornamental use. Despite the sweetness it adds to the air, the impacts it has on our environment are certainly not sweet.

Unfortunately, four of these introduced species are extremely aggressive in our landscapes and have created an imbalance in natural systems due to their ability to outcompete native plants for resources. The types of honeysuckles which are damaging to these spaces are Japanese honeysuckle, which is a vining type, and three bush type honeysuckles- amur, morrow’s, and tartarian. Some species form dense thickets of shrubs and some spread with vast creeping vines that can strangle neighboring plants. These honeysuckle species are commonly found in pastures, woodlands, reclaimed sites, and waste spaces.

Because of their invasive status in Ohio, it is every landowners’ legal responsibility to control their spread. Although they can be used as Continue reading Less Than Sweet Honeysuckles →