Posts Tagged ‘A greener view’
A Greener View: A Melted-Out Lawn
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer, A Greener View Q: All of a sudden, half my lawn grass died. It is mostly on the sunny side, with some in the shade. This doesn’t look like the grass has simply gone dormant with the usual hot, dry summer weather. When I pull up on the grass,…
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: 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…
Read MoreA Greener View: Trees for wet-then-dry soil – Jeff Rugg
By Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Q: There is a surface storm drain in the back corner of our property. Water comes from several neighbors’ yards, so this area near the drain gets flooded and the soil is soggy. Later in summer, the same area will be dried out and cracked. A willow tree planted at…
Read MoreA Greener View: Top fruit, veggies to grow on a trellis – Jeff Rugg
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Q: We moved into a home that has a vegetable garden. There are a ton of wires, trellises and whatnot that look like the previous owner grew everything vertically. What can be grown on trellises? A: This sounds like one of those clickbait headlines. “The Top Ten Vegetables to Grow…
Read MoreA Greener View: Waterlogged Barrel Planters – Jeff Rugg
by Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Q: I bought a half-barrel to use as a planter. It does not have drainage holes. Besides the regular watering I do for the plants, we have had more rain than usual. Now the barrel is at least half full of water. The plants are starting to drown. I don’t…
Read MoreA Greener View: Using straw to prevent weeds – Jeff Rugg
By Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Q: I added straw to my vegetable garden as a mulch and now there are hundreds of weeds coming up. Does the shade and watering help the weeds seeds grow? I thought the straw was supposed to prevent weeds and keep the soil damp. A: I wonder if you added…
Read MoreA Greener View: Blue Hydrangea magic – Jeff Rugg
By Jeff Rugg, contributing writer Question: I received a pretty blue flowering hydrangea for Mother’s Day. I already have white-flowering hydrangeas that I would like to turn blue. I was told I could put nails in the soil around the roots to turn them blue. Is that true, and if so, what kind of nails…
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