Eric Larson, correspondent

A few weeks ago, a friend from church asked me, “What is this brown patch in my friend’s yard?” I said, “That sounds like the same question I had two weeks ago.”  As we discovered last week, there are many reasons for having a brown yard. Mechanical reasons are addressed by changing our methods. Patiently […]

Last week I talked to a beachgoer in Vermillion who had a brown lawn. We may have been starting into a drought. With the rains we have had leads my conclusion into another direction. Question is whether your lawn is still brown or not? Years ago when I would work on lawn fertilizer estimates I […]

I was sitting at a beach in Vermillion, Ohio last Sunday. The heat was substantial. I saw 97 degrees on the thermometer in my car. As I was sitting in my chair on the beach, I struck up a conversation with another beachgoer.  While I was enjoying the sun this beachgoer asked me, “Why are […]

One of my favorite spring flowers for perennials is the peony. Peonies are a long-lived perennial that you should be able to enjoy for decades. A few years after Sharon and I got married; my parents gave me a collection of four different peony varieties. A friend and reader of mine asked me why her […]

A few years ago, I received an email from one of my readers about her Rhubarb or Rheumrhabarbarum. It seems that the stalks on her rhubarb were as thin and weak as they haveever been. Her rhubarb normally does well and has not let her down. You really should have big thick stalks to make […]

On my way home from teaching a wild edible class this week, I noticed an unusual plantin full bloom. I have been a fan of this plant since I lived in Florida. Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus or Opuntia humifusa is in bloom right now. The bright yellow bloom is a flower that will light up […]

A reader from Mohicanville contacted me around June 15 a few years ago to ask aboutthe deformed branches on her sour cherry tree. My reader’s tree had elongated, rough black swellings or knots that developed on the woody portions of the tree. This type of knot is found mostly on small branches and twigs. In […]

I recently received an email asking how you might be able to rejuvenate a dogwood tree starting in the Spring. If you have a tree in your yard that appears to be struggling, inmost cases, it’s common sense to fertilize it.  There may be other issues that could have a serious impact on the tree's […]

Last week, I got an email from a reader. My reader was pleading, ‘HELP!’ Squash bug or Anasa tritis had invaded her garden. She had planted pumpkins, acorn, spaghetti, and butternut squash. There was no hint of mercy in these squash bugs because she said, “There were millions overtaking everything.” Let’s take a military stance […]

Almost 20 years ago, I helped teach a class to my Pathfinders, a Christian group likethe Boy Scouts, on wild edibles. You know, there are several different approaches to weeds. You could pull the weeds by hand by digging the plants to the root level. You could spray any number of compounds over the weeds […]