By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County
It may seem like perennials demand lots of our attention, but they are really quite forgiving, with many plants living despite, not because of, our gardening efforts. For their hardiness and beauty, we can ensure they stick around by adhering to a few guidelines.
Digging and Dividing
By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension in Dodge County
The compound that imparts the bitter taste in cucumbers is cucurbitacin. Wild cucumbers have a large amount of cucurbitacin, which discourages feeding by wild animals and insects. Today’s hybrids have been bred to have lower amounts of cucurbitacin in the fruit and what cucurbitacin is in the plant is concentrated in the roots, leaves, and stems. In instances where the bitter compound is in cucumbers, it is more prevalent in the stem end than the blossom end. This has to do with coloration, since the compound tends to be in the darker green areas of the skin. This is also why cucumbers are sometimes peeled—to rid the cukes of the bitter taste. Misshapen fruit will also have more cucurbitacin than normal-shaped ones.
By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County
The appearance of dead foliage clusters scattered throughout the canopy of oak trees is very noticeable right now. Some of these twig-and-foliage shoots, called “flags”, are breaking away, littering the ground below. This is symptomatic of the oak twig girdler, Oncideres cingulata. Oaks are the most common trees to be afflicted with the oak twig girdler, but other hardwood trees can be affected too.
By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator
The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center has some startling news for September 12 through the 15th—a cold front moving through the central Great Plains region will bring falling temperatures, with a moderate risk of these temperatures being below freezing. How far temperatures fall is dependent on just how cold the cold front is and how much water is in the air (the dew point.) Dry air fluctuates more readily from hot to cold temperatures than moist air does. This follows through with soils too, with cold temperatures extending deeper into drought stressed soils than wet ones.
By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County
Once gardeners and gardens have survived the heat of summer, cooler weather offers an opportunity to complete some simple tasks to ensure perennial plants emerge in good health next spring.
Cutting Back
“Youth getting agricultural experience and the skills that 4-H teaches them — there’s no limit on how valuable that is.” —Allison Walbrecht, sophomore animal science major and founder of the Unified Showing 4-H Club.
