Local Interest

Autumn Leaf Colors

By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator

 

This season’s autumn colors have been exceptional. Shortened day lengths, sunny and warm days, cool nights, and adequate soil moisture provide the perfect conditions to showcase autumn’s greens, golds, reds, oranges and coppers in our trees and shrubs.  Fall leaf color is a dynamic process, influenced by the decline and production of pigments within leaves.  It isn’t unusual for leaf colors to fluctuate throughout fall or to have a myriad of colors at the same time on one tree.

Green

Saving Seeds

By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator

 

Long before the advent of seed catalogs, gardeners saved seed from their prettiest, tastiest and most promising flowers and vegetables of the gardening season, discarding the seeds from the blah, the unattractive and the poor producers.  In essence, gardeners have helped mold the shape of gardening selections, making them some of the earliest purveyors of genetic modification.

Today, the farm-to-table movement has generated new interest in the time-honored practice of seed saving. Before starting seed saving, there are two concepts that are worth knowing and understanding.

The Thurston County 4-H Achievement Night was held October 18th, 2019. The great work of all the youth, volunteers, friend of 4-H, and Hall of Fame were recognized. We thank you all for the support and hard work you do for the Thurston 4-H program. Congrats!!

Clover Kids

Juniors

Intermediates

Seniors

2 Year 4-H'ers

This year in the after-school program the kids are learning about Financial Literacy and how saving money is very important.

If there is one money concept to teach children, it would be "saving is not optional." Financial literacy requires an understanding of cash flow management; the concept of borrowing, including credit card use; how to manage risk; the basic principles of investing to meet near and longer-term goals. At the core of all of these critical concepts for financial literacy is "savings." Current income seldom provides enough resourves to meet emergencies or goals requiring bigger dollar amounts. if a child learns to save, they will understand how to keep income and expenses in balance, manage credit, and overall will build wealth and not debt.

By Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator

 

When cleaning up the fall garden, it’s hard to know what should be cleared away and what should stay.  Gurus of tidiness opt for removing everything now in order to start with a clean slate in the spring.  But is there such a thing as too much tidiness?  It turns out that, yes indeed, that can be true. 

 

Plant stems act as a catch-all, collecting leaves, twigs and other bits of organic debris around the crown of perennial plants. This mulch layer protects the crown and root system from weather extremes, making them more winter-hardy.

 

By Nebraska Extension Horticulture Educator Kathleen Cue

 

The most important thing to understand about Japanese beetles is their feeding doesn’t kill trees, shrubs and flowers.  Granted, it isn’t fun to see the lacy leaves they’ve created, but pesticide management options require thought and planning before you set out for revenge.

 

Systemic insecticides, for instance those containing the active ingredient imidacloprid, are taken in by plant tissues.  Systemics may have a label for application to trees and shrubs but before these are used, the applicator should make sure the plant is past its flowering stage in order to protect pollinators. Also, a systemic product can never be used on linden trees. 

 

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