I got an e-mail from one of my readers a few years ago. This gardener near Mohican State Park endured a terrible summer, because of the damage done to her zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes. From what I can see on the pictures I agree with the reader. This is a picture of whitefly problems on […]
Eric Larson
Posted inLife and Culture
A Stroll Through the Garden: Ferns and shade gardening
It seems that the end of the season is coming up, and we are writing this column during theAshland County Fair. My ferns are some of the last plants that turn brown. My friend asked,“Are there native Ohio Ferns that I could plant in my shade garden.” Shade gardening is a real challenge on a […]
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A Stroll Through the Garden: New solutions to the perennial problem of groundhogs
Last week, I got a question from a reader about a couple of groundhogs that reside in his garage and include his garden items in their diet without paying for their meals or leaving any tip. These rodents, called groundhogs, have a scientific name, Marmota monax. Groundhogs can tear up any garage floor. So, what […]
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A Stroll Through the Garden: Part 2 — Fighting voles & moles
Last week, I wrote a column on moles and recommended how to help you manage moles in your gardens. Moles and voles are not even in the same family. Voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, or meadow voles, are voracious vegetarians and may eat up to 100% of their body weight daily: carrots, beets, seeds, berries, bark on […]
Posted inLife and Culture
A Stroll Through the Garden: Part 1 — Fighting moles & voles
A few weeks ago while at the pool, I made a new acquaintance who asked me about moles. He said, “How do you get rid of moles?” I recalled some initial ideas about castor beans and a trap that works. Here are my insights as I reviewed my previous columns and current research on this […]
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A Stroll Through the Garden: Cover crops offer new solutions to old problems
A friend from church asked me, “Is there any cover crop to plant in the spring?” Traditionally, most home gardeners only plant cover crops in the fall. Spring plantings of cover crops will help improve the yields of selected vegetables. Lettuce and corn require a lot of nitrogen during their growing seasons. Fertilizer applied to […]
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A Stroll Through the Garden: Companion planting
One of the questions I have had over the years is, “Why would you want to mix two different plants in the same row?” When I started gardening back in Overton, I would plant each packet of seeds according to the plan I had laid out, emptying each seed packet as I went along. That […]
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A Stroll Through the Garden: Time to put shovels in the ground
If you can take notes on a topic, you won’t have to decide on a new workable plan tomorrow. When I make the same mistake over and over, I feel foolish. If we can keep a journal for the year and record experiences, it can be a start for planning the garden next year. Records […]
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A Stroll Through the Garden: Winter Aconite, Davey Crockett & the Bar
ASHLAND — Last week, after being inside hibernating for too long, I was starting to look forward to some sunshine. On Inauguration Day, I saw some sunshine out the window, and it gave me some hope that the sun still existed, but it was cold. While on the radio program the week before, the radio […]
Posted inLife and Culture
A Stroll Through the Garden: Getting Amaryllis to rebloom is tricky
Earlier this month at church, a reader and a friend asked me if I could tell them how to get her Amaryllis to re-bloom. I have always loved Amaryllis, and one time, I bought a beautiful Amaryllis with white-and-red-mixed bloom. My parents had this massive bulb in my home when I was a kid, and […]