Gift Ideas for Green Giving

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Need the perfect present for a budding plant parent or avid gardener on your holiday gift list?  The National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture can help. Please feel free to share these ideas or entire article with your customers, readership, or the gardening public.

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‘Hardy’ mums? Here’s how to help them survive

Originally posted in the Dayton Daily News.

Have you noticed that “hardy” mums aren’t necessarily hardy and don’t come back in the spring? I have had many gardeners complain about planting mums in the fall only to have them die.

I have two answers for you. One, just consider them annuals and enjoy their fall color and plant them every year in late summer. The other answer takes a bit of work, but you are more likely to be successful.

Proper care of decorative mums leads to successful overwintering. CONTRIBUTED

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Spring is In Sight

Authors Carri Jagger, Published on February 10, 2020
Originally posted on the Buckeye Yard and Garden OnLine
It's time to start thinking about starting seeds for the vegetable garden

This has been a long, unpredictable, wet winter.  Thank goodness spring is in sight, Thursday March 19th will be the first day of spring.  With this being said, it’s time to start thinking about planning vegetable gardens.  If starting a new garden, soil testing the site where the garden will go is a good idea.  If it is an existing garden and the soil has never been tested, now would be a good time to think about testing it.  Your local OSU Extension office can help you with soil testing.

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What’s your GDD?

Amy Stone, Extension Educator- Originally posted on the Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine

Has anyone every asked you, “what’s your GDD?” While many of you may have responded “yes,” or may have even thought, “I ask others all the time“; I know there are some that probably yelled out their current GDD when simply reading the title of this alert. If you are still wondering what the heck is GDD – keep on reading, you won’t be disappointed and will hopefully click on the link below to find out your GDD to date.

 

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What to Plant in the Fall Season

The nights are cooler. The days are shorter. Vegetables in the garden are looking peaked, and summer flowers are turning brown.

 It’s prime time for some planting.

“A typical consumer looks at it as, ‘Oh, winter is coming, let’s give up gardening.’ That’s not necessarily so,” said Daniel Struve, an Ohio State horticulturalist emeritus. In fact, he recommends fall for planting many trees, shrubs, grass and flower bulbs and even fall flowers for some late color.

Sean Barnes, a horticulturist at Ohio State’s Chadwick Arboretum & Learning Gardens, agrees — noting that trees and shrubs benefit from a chance to get their roots established before the stress of a hot, dry summer.

They shared their tips for making the most of fall planting.

Are you planting trees and shrubs?

Warm fall soils promote root growth. “They really are active; you just can’t see it,” Struve said.

There are exceptions.

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