By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator
Kicking back to consider next year’s garden, let benefitting pollinators be one of your considerations. Of course pollination is important to us because we like to eat—one-third of our food supply exists because pollinators pollinate. Pollinators, specifically native bees, are real work horses of the pollination world—just 250 native bees do the work of thousands of honey bees.
By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator
As flowering plants give way to autumn, it’s the fruit that many produce that add interest to our landscapes. It’s hard to beat the berries produced by purple beautyberry, Callicarpa dichotoma. At a time of the year when fruits highlight the reds, yellows and golds of autumn, it’s nice to see the show-stopping lustrous purple-violet fruits of beautyberry. The fruits are small, just 1/8 of an inch across, but the numerous clusters along the stem make it a standout.
Beautyberry should not be confused with beautybush, which is an entirely different plant with a whole other set of flowering and fruiting characteristics.
By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator in Dodge County
If you’ve grown garlic before, you know that the cloves for planting are found readily in the spring. What many do not know is that fall planted garlic produces larger cloves than spring-planted ones. Using this opportunity to plant now means it’s not too late to reap the benefits of fall-planted garlic.
In selecting a site to grow garlic, choose one that gets 6 or more hours of direct uninterrupted sunlight daily and has a well-draining soil. In dense soils, garlic can rot, so amending the soil with compost first ensures a good crop. Garlic needs a nutrient-rich soil, so sandy soils will also benefit from the addition of compost.
Jennifer Hansen, Extension Educator, 4-H & Positive Youth Development
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
We have been taught since a young age to “be positive”, but, it is more than a useful thought. Positive thinking is an emotional and mental attitude that focuses on the bright side and expects positive results. A positive outlook is an incredibly powerful asset to have, as positive thoughts breeds positive results. Benefits of a positive attitude include success, happiness, health, and believing you can overcome any obstacle.
By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator
The brown marmorated stink bug is a nuisance as well as a destructive pest and, like its name implies, puts off a nasty odor when crushed. This nonnative invasive pest has been in Nebraska since 2012. The damage the BMSB causes is from its needle-like mouthpart that punctures, resulting in sunken bruised areas on fruits. It feeds on a wide range of crops, including soybeans, corn, apple, pear, peach, cherry, peppers, tomato, maple, redbud and serviceberry, to name a few.
The BMSB is characterized by bands of white on dark antennae and white inverted V-shapes along the edge of their body. The insect itself is shaped like a shield and is about ½ inch long.
By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator
In the midst of September, if weed management isn’t on your autumn to-do list, it definitely should be. Fall is the best time to be applying herbicides to perennial weeds. Why is this so? As plants ready for winter, sugars produced in leaves are transported to the roots for storage. With herbicide applications, the plant’s internal transport allows herbicides to move readily from leaves to roots, providing for excellent distribution and better control.
