GRO Big Red

Flood Recovery Impacts Plants in the Landscape

The flooding and subsequent ponding has a profound effect on trees and shrubs in the landscape. The contaminants these waters carry negatively impact vegetable garden sites and orchards. Here are some flood resources to address residents’ concerns. Food safety in vegetable gardens and orchards after a flood*: https://grobigred.com/2019/03/22/gardenflood/amp/?__twitter_impression=true by Nebraska Extension Urban Ag Educator John…

Flooded Vegetable Garden Plots

Looking forward to the vegetable garden this spring, it’s easy to think that now that the flood waters have receded, our gardening season can carry on as usual. While many of the callers to Extension are aware of potential dangers of gardening on a flooded site, the exact way forward is a little unclear. Here…

Pruning Hydrangeas

I’ve been planning to write a blog this month on pruning hydrangeas. Why? We get lots of questions on doing so, as it’s a bit confusing, and they certainly look better and are healthier if they are pruned, and pruned correctly. This morning, lo and behold, a wonderful article on this subject came across my…

Be Mindful of Flooded Areas When Hunting Morels

As morel mushroom hunting season approaches, be mindful of food safety. It’s important to remember flood waters don’t carry just water. There is a host of unsavory things that are downright dangerous— ▪Human disease pathogens from raw sewage, ▪Pesticides carried from farm fields and lawns on soil particles and plant residue, ▪And rubber and petroleum…

What Kills Trees

Trees in native undisturbed sites live, on average, to be about 150 years old. Downtown trees have a life expectancy of 7-17 years; suburban trees 30-40 years; and rural trees 60-70 years. Why is there such a difference in life expectancy between trees in native sites than those in disturbed sites? Certainly there are acute…

Snap, Crackle, Pop

Though this phrase might conjure up images of a certain breakfast cereal, it should also communicate thoughts of a durable, widely adaptable flower for the landscape – the snapdragon. It might also bring back fond memories of gardening with your grandparents; snapdragons have been around forever and are popular across the generations. This worthy species…

What is Nebraska Extension ProHort Education?

ProHort, short for Professional Horticulture, is research-driven education for individuals in the tree, lawn, landscape maintenance, and garden center industries, as well as anyone who wants to hone her/his skills in the areas of botany, insects, soils, landscape design, plant disease, trees, wildlife damage management, turfgrass, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM). While people participating in…

A, F, St, V, N – Huh?

Hello Friends – It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to get something posted on our blog. Over the weekend I was wondering what I could possible write about and it hit me, I could blog about the apple of love AKA the tomato. Most of us are getting our favorite seed catalogs in the…

Bark Bummers

Bark Bummers This time of year is good and challenging for Midwesterners. The challenging? The weather. Nuff said. The good? It’s a great time to notice potential problems in trees and shrubs in the landscape. At this point in the season, there aren’t any leaves, fruit or flowers (except for a couple species) to…

Plan…Plan…Plant!

In carpentry, there is an old adage urging us to measure twice and cut once. The same can be said when it comes to plants. Planning is the least expensive of the plant selection process, simply requiring a little of our time to talk to experts and glean information from catalogs and web sources. I’ve…

Using a Lawn Service…after Snow Removal?

Here in the dead of winter, a valuable service to hire to maintain a residential property is a snow removal company. No more aching back, slipping and falling and shivering in the cold. Of course all of that comes at a price, so you have to determine if it’s worth it. As well, as their…