What is Early Blight? Early blight is a fungal infection caused by the fungus Alternaria solani. While early blight is one of the most common diseases seen in tomatoes, it also affects eggplants, potatoes, and peppers. Early blight usually results from contamination with infected plants or infected plant debris, or from plants being too close together without enough air circulation. Alternaria Symptoms in Eggplant One of the earliest signs of eggplant early blight is the presence of brown spots on the leaves....

What are Eriophyid Mites? Eriophyids are one of the smallest of all plant-feeding mites at less than 1/100th of an inch in length. Since the mite is so incredibly small, it is very difficult to identify these translucent bugs. However, most identification is based on the host plant and the nature of the plant tissue damage. There are over 300 known eriophyids with only a few being known as a serious pest....

Why Warm the Soil in Winter? There are many reasons people use heating cables and other methods to warm soil in winter: • Extending the growing season later into the fall, earlier in spring, or year-round• Overwintering plants that are not fully hardy• Starting transplants or root cuttings• Hardening off transplants begun indoors Extending the growing season is the primary reason to warm soil. It allows you to get a longer harvest or to grow more delicate plants than you would be able to otherwise....

Belonging to Phylum marchantiophyta, for example, liverworts are a popular addition to water plantings. What are the characteristics of liverworts though? Let’s learn more. Liverwort Information Considered some of the most primitive of plants, liverworts consist of about 6,000 to 8,000 species. These non-vascular land plants lack stomata, specialized openings that regulate air flow in the plant. Upon further research, understanding facts about liverworts may be somewhat confusing due to the large list of names surrounding this simple plant....

Lacewing Life Cycle Lacewings mature in approximately 4 weeks. That takes them from egg to larvae, into the pupal stage, and finally into emergence as adults. Lacewing insect eggs hatch in 4 to 5 days, releasing tiny, alligator-like larvae. The larvae have large, fierce jaws, brownish coloring with red stripes and spots, and rough skin. They are often called aphid lions because they feed on aphids as well as leafhoppers, mites, mealybugs, thrips, and many other soft-bodied insects....

How to Create a Cutting Flower Garden The first step in planning a cutting garden is to find a sunny spot that has well-drained soil. If your soil has a high percentage of clay, it is best to amend it with some peat moss before planting. Although there are some cutting flowers that are happy in the shade, most enjoy full to part sun. If you want to get creative, you can even include some cutting flowers in your vegetable garden....

Basic Care of Forsythia While forsythia bushes are easy to care for, there are a few things you can do to help them perform their very best for you. First thing for forsythia shrub care is that forsythias enjoy full sun. Make sure your forsythia bush gets at least six hours of sunlight a day. While it can tolerate less than this, your forsythia’s ability to flower will be reduced if it does not get full sun....

How to Keep Birds Off Your Fruit Trees Fruit tree pest control is best done before the fruit ripens. Understanding how to keep birds off your trees is not so difficult. If you want to know how to keep birds off your fruit trees, you need to realize there are various forms of fruit tree pest control. You can trap the birds, you can use bird netting for fruit trees to keep them from getting at the ripening fruit, and you can use chemical repellants to keep the birds and other pests away from your fruit trees....

What Perennials Do Well in Full Sun? When determining what perennials do well in full sun, you first need to consider the conditions within your own garden. While daytime temperatures and rainfall play a role in plant health, you can gain a better understanding of your growing space by measuring how many hours of sunlight each garden bed receives. Though tolerant of different light conditions, most full sun perennial plants may appreciate some shade during the hottest parts of the afternoon....

What is a Rain Chain? You’ve no doubt seen rain chains but maybe thought they were wind chimes or garden art. Simply put, rain chains are attached to the eaves or gutters of a home. How do rain chains work? They are, as the name suggests, a chain of rings or other shapes strung together to channel rain from the top of the house down into a rain barrel or decorative basin....

Themes for Gardening with Toddlers Garden themes for toddlers should center around their five senses. Choose textured plants that they can feel and sensitive plants that snap shut when touched. Fragrant herbs appeal to a child’s sense of taste and smell. Honeysuckle is very fragrant, and if you catch the flowers at just the right time, you can squeeze a drop of sweet nectar onto the child’s tongue. There is no end to the variety of bright-colored flowers that are a delight to look at, and toddlers enjoy them even more if they can pick a few to enjoy indoors....

Our sponsorship selection team aims for diversity and purpose as we choose who will receive the funds. Over the years we’ve selected a wide variety of applicants – from a soothing garden for Alzheimer’s patients, to inner-city food desert gardens, as well as educators establishing student gardens in their local schools. Meet Some of Our Past Recipients In March of 2022, as the media sponsor for the Great Grow Along virtual garden festival, Gardening Know How gathered four past recipients for a panel discussion on everything from how the projects began to the biggest roadblocks faced in the process....

Can I Garden While Doing Chemo? For most people being treated with chemotherapy, gardening can be a healthy activity. Gardening can provide needed relaxation and gentle exercise. However, you should take certain precautions in the garden, and you should check with your doctor before beginning. The main concern related to gardening and cancer is the risk of infection. Typical chemotherapy drugs weaken the immune system, leaving you at greater risk of infection from cuts and scratches or from contact with the soil....

Caring for Goumi Berries Goumi berry shrubs (Elaeagnus multiflora) are very durable. The plants can survive temperatures as low as -4 F. (-20 C.). Although the aboveground plant may die back at colder temperatures, the roots can survive as low as -22 F. (-30 C.) and will regrow again in the spring. The shrubs can tolerate any kind of soil, from sand to clay and acidic to alkaline. They will grow in nutritionally poor soil and polluted air and will do well in full sun or partial shade....

Mites on Grapevines Grapevine bud mites are tiny, about 1/10th of a millimeter long, to be exact. Their size, coupled with their clear to white coloring, makes them impossible to see with the naked eye. You can spot them with a microscope, but the more common and much easier method is to wait for telltale signs of damage. The presence of grapevine bud mites can result in buds that are blackened, covered in white fuzz, and/or have a bubbly, rippled appearance to the surface....

French composer Achille-Claude Debussy is often quoted as saying “Music is the space between the notes,” suggesting that the silence in a song is as important as the sound. Without a break in sound, or color in a scene, the results clash and collide. One way to add breaks in garden color is by using “muted” colors in the garden, such as plants with silver or gray color. Plants with silver or gray color serve as buffers between areas of intense color or changes in theme....

What are Green Burials? The modern funeral industry is a billion dollar business. However, this has certainly not always been the case. Burial practices as we know them today first began to take shape during the Civil War. As soldiers were killed in battle, the need for preservation of the bodies was required in order to be shipped home for burial. Over time, the preservation of the body before burial became common societal practice....

Causes of Green Hydrangea Blooms There is a cause of green hydrangea blooms. It’s Mother Nature herself with a little help from the French gardeners who hybridized the original hydrangeas from China. You see, those colorful flowers aren’t petals at all. They’re sepals, the part of the flower that protects the flower bud. Why do hydrangeas bloom green? Because that’s the natural color of the sepals. As the sepals age, the pink, blue, or white pigments are overpowered by the green, so colored hydrangea blossoms often fade to green over time....

Container Gardening under Trees Digging into the soil to put plants under a tree can be problematic. For instance, the roots are difficult or impossible to dig around. Unless you cut the roots in certain places, their locations will dictate your arrangement. An easier solution, and one that will give you more control, is to use containers. Container flowers under a tree can be arranged however you like. You can even move them out to the sun as needed....

Juniper Trees Few trees are more versatile in the backyard than the juniper (Juniperus spp.). There are some 70 species in the genus Juniperus, all aromatic conifers. Junipers have juvenile leaves in the shape of needles and scale-like mature leaves; they also bear small seed cones called berries. Here are where the similarities end though. There are tall and short junipers, thin and spreading junipers, and even juniper groundcover. Their foliage is far from uniform, with specimens displaying needles in varying shades of green, blue, and yellow....