Search results for: jeff rugg
A Greener View: Early Pumpkins – Jeff Rugg
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Q: We started seeing pumpkins for sale at the end of August. That is two months too early as far as I am concerned. I want to buy a couple so I can use them for pies and pumpkin bread at Thanksgiving. How long can these early pumpkins be stored?…
Read MoreA Greener View: Personal Weather Station – Jeff Rugg
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Q: I am thinking about getting my husband a home weather station because he is a big gardener and is always concerned about the wind and rain. Any suggestions? Are they accurate? A: I have used a home weather station for many years and have given them away as Christmas…
Read MoreA Greener View: Fixing a dirty pond – Jeff Rugg
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Question: We share the shoreline of a half-acre pond that is about three feet deep at the maximum. It is filled with gooey algae. The shoreline has some cattails and a few other weeds. There are a few fish, but they seem to die whenever we add algaecides. It is…
Read MoreA Greener View: Fall Gardening – Jeff Rugg
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Normally, August weather is hot and dry all across the country. In spite of that, it is still a good month to do many gardening and landscaping tasks. Many vegetable crops produce more and have higher-quality fruit in cool weather, when the plant is not stressed. During the first half…
Read MoreA Greener View: Glyphosate, one of the most commonly used chemicals – Jeff Rugg
By Jeff Rugg, contributing writer I recently wrote an article about two property owners sharing a fence line who needed to have their common weeds dealt with. The first thing I told them to do was to pull or cut the weeds down and then pull them. Next, I explained that the EPA regulates pesticide…
Read MoreA Greener View: Herbicides – Jeff Rugg
By Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Q: My neighbor and I share a fence line. Many weeds and small trees are growing between the two fences. My neighbor doesn’t like “chemicals” and wants to use a homemade concoction that to me is just a bunch of chemicals. I bought a weedkiller that says it works in…
Read MoreA Greener View: DIY compost saves money – Jeff Rugg
By Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Instead of spending money to have your yard waste picked up and hauled off to a composting facility and then turning around and buying organic matter for the garden and flower beds, why not just do it yourself? Compost has many sources and many uses. It is mostly decayed organic…
Read MoreA Greener View: Poisonous plants pose special risk to children, pets – Jeff Rugg
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer, A Greener View I would like to describe an incident in hopes that it will protect some children. A young lady and her two boys came in the door carrying a branch. This is a common occurrence because bringing in a branch is the best way for us to identify…
Read MoreA Greener View: Herb Gardening – Jeff Rugg
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Question: I have never tried planting herbs in my garden, so I don’t know what to do or how to get the seasonings from them. Is an herb garden too complicated for an ordinary gardener like me? Answer: You may have heard of herb gardens or kitchen gardens, or even…
Read MoreA Greener View: Vegetable Garden Questions – Jeff Rugg
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Q: We planted a new vegetable garden with a lot of different vegetable seeds. We killed the existing lawn grass by scraping the plants off, and we did some digging to loosen the soil. We covered the garden with 2 to 4 inches of bark mulch from the city to…
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