Local Interest

Garden Update
Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County

As harvest from the vegetable garden draws to a close, it is time to plan and take steps to protect the soil for the winter months ahead. This ensures the soil is in good shape and ready for next year’s garden. After all, soil isn’t just dirt, but a rich and varied composition of minerals and plant nutrients, organic matter, beneficial microorganisms, and humic acid.  It is not only foundational, with spaces for roots to grow and anchor plants, but also serving up a nourishing “stew” for seed germination, plant growth and vegetable production.

Garden Update
Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County 

Confusion surrounds the healthiest way to stake newly-planted trees to stand up to fierce winds while fostering good root growth. The old method, seen much too often still, of snaking wire through a section of garden hose to wrap around trunks and branches is highly injurious to trees. This ill-advised technique digs into tree conductive tissues and, left in place too long, shuts down sugar transport from the leaves to the roots. Roots then become starved of sugars necessary for certain functions, like existing. 

Garden Update
Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County

Garden Update
Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County

Snails and slugs are noted for their voracious appetites, eating holes in the leaves of hosta (their preferred food) but also munching on roses, ferns, impatiens, begonias, and fruits, including strawberries and tomatoes. You may not see the actual snails and slugs themselves since they prefer to feed at night or on cloudy days, but if you see holes AND their silvery slime trails, these guys are making themselves at home. Typically, snails and slugs prefer to slime their way to the center of leaves where they will eat holes between leaf veins. Sometimes they eat their way inward from leaf edges.

Garden Update

Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County

Garden Update
Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County

As difficult as blights are to manage in tomatoes, viral diseases are far worse. This is because there are no effective products to stop their spread.  To make matters even more challenging, virus infection is most often the work of sap sucking insects, such as aphids, thrips, and leafhoppers, that vector diseases. Insecticides to stop these insects provide limited results, often after insect feeding has already enabled virus spread to plants.

Local Resources

Local Events

Follow Us on Facebook



Nebraska Extension in Dodge County

Local Events

Search Local & National Extension Resources

Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources News

Latest from ianrnews.unl.edu

Wheat shows good promise going into winter

November 29, 2023
The Panhandle of Nebraska experienced favorable planting conditions for its hard red winter wheat with good soil moisture.

Read more

Walbrecht opens 4-H livestock opportunities to youths with disabilities

November 15, 2023

“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.

Read more

IANR, Extension, Landscaping and Nebraska Forest Service Leaders and Educators Honored with Nebraska Statewide Arboretum Awards

November 13, 2023
The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum honored 11 individuals and organizations with awards at its annual reception on November 3 at First Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln.

Read more

Nebraska 4-H Volunteer Road Show: helping youth thrive through leader development

November 13, 2023
Outside the York County Fairgrounds 4-H Building stands a historical marker titled “Nebraska 4-H Clubs Began in York County.”

Read more