Venomous Critters and Gardeners

Coiled rattlesnake We as gardeners are more at risk for bites and stings from venomous critters than most folks. We move leaf litter that might hide a copperhead snake, reach in the shadows where a black widow spider might lurk and are around bees and wasps a lot....

Lady Beetles Eat Aphids

Ladybug larva One of the interesting things about practicing integrated pest management (IPM) is that you get to learn about the relationships between the insects that you consider pests and the insects that eat them.  The lady beetle, or ladybug, is one of the good...

Fertilizer and water quality

Fertilizer is safe when used properly.  If used improperly, however, it can have serious negative effects upon you, your plants, and the environment.  Some of these effects are quite unintentional.  I remember when they banned phosphorus in detergents because of algae...

What Fertilizer Do I Use?

It is time to fertilize lawns and gardens in North East Texas.  Hopefully, you had a soil test done in December or January.  These results will contain detailed recommendations for what fertilizer to use and how to apply it.  If you don’t have a recent soil...

Using Dormant Oil

Scale insects photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/treegrow/ When I was a teenager, my parents bought a peach orchard.  I heard my Dad talk about spraying the trees with dormant oil and thought that was really weird.  Who oils trees that are still alive? Scale...