Small-Scale Gardening
When planting a traditional garden with conventional rows, approximately 100 square feet per crop per individual are necessary to provide fresh food for a season. An additional 100 square feet per...
Category: In the Garden
SC Fruit and Vegetable Field Report – August 8, 2022
Coastal Region Zack Snipes reports, “For the most part, it has been hot and dry in the Lowcountry. Things are relatively quiet. I have seen and heard reports of high whitefly numbers in various...
Weed of the Month – Prostrate Spurge
Prostrate spurge (Chameasyce maculatais) a low-growing, mat-forming, annual summer weed. It grows from a taproot that can grow to a depth of 18 inches and can spread as much as three feet across. It...
What Is It? Wednesday – Mantidfly
This may look a lot like a paper wasp, but it is actually a mantidfly. If you look carefully, you’ll notice the front pair of legs is different from the two back pairs. The front legs look like...
Give Your Bearded Irises Some Space – Divide Them
Let’s talk about division. Not the division you learned in math class. The kind that involves separating or splitting herbaceous perennials to make more plants. Perennials, such as bearded...
You Can Help the Monarch Butterflies
In July 2022, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) drew attention to North America’s migrating monarchs by adding them to their ICUN Red List of Threatened Species. In the...
Pineapple Lilies
Pineapple lilies (Eucomis species) are one of my favorite summer flowering bulbs. These attractive perennial bulbs originate from South Africa, and the long, strap-like green or burgundy foliage...
SC Fruit and Vegetable Field Report- August 1, 2022
Midlands Region Justin Ballew reports, “It has gotten dry again in the Midlands. Scattered areas received some good rain over the weekend, but others missed it and remain badly in need. Over the...
This Month in Your Garden- August 2022
Coastal Region – Christopher Burtt This is the warmest part of the Summer. Watch for disease and insect issues and pay attention to water. Just because it is hot, do be careful not to...
What Is That Fuzzy Red and Black Ant?
Did you just see a fuzzy red and black ant scurrying across your yard, driveway, or pine straw? Then you just saw a velvet ant – they’re closely related to ants but are actually wasps. There are...
Saving Seeds from Dahlias
Did you know dahlias can be grown from seed? Many gardeners are only familiar with growing dahlias from tubers. Still, growing dahlias from seed is how new varieties are first created. Then they are...
K.I.S.S. Shrubs – The Lazy Gardener’s Shrubs
While native grasses and forbs are my favorite lazy gardener plants, native shrubs rank as must-haves for an easy and attractive landscape. All native or introduced shrubs are generally carefree...