From salads and sauces to your favorite entrée, fresh garlic and garlic powder add a unique spark to any dish and should be a mainstay for every kitchen. Celebrate it on April 19, National Garlic Day! Planting and Growing Garlic – The Farmer’s Almanac recommends using seed garlic from a local suppli...

Just as baseball season is starting to heat up, we take time on April 17 to pay our respects to a different kind of bat. Bat Appreciation Day represents an opportunity to learn more about the important role bats play in ecology and biodiversity. In 1982, a group of concerned scientists founded Bat C...

When planning this year’s vegetable garden, consider companion planting with flowers and herbs. It’s a rewarding way to attract pollinators, manage pests and promote biodiversity in your garden. The practice will improve your soil’s health and the quality of your harvest. As an added benefit, you mi...

You may have heard of jumping worms, sometimes referred to as “snake worms.” Worm castings that resemble coffee grounds on the soil’s surface are likely the first thing you’ll notice. Jumping worms pose a threat to home gardens, agriculture and woodland areas. Their presence disrupts the soil struct...

It’s finally spring. Daffodils have emerged, their buds anxious to open. Soon tulips, perhaps the most anticipated flowers of spring, will grace front yards and town squares. Tulips are so plentiful that sometimes we take their presence for granted. They’re common flowers, but how much do you really...

Consumers might not think it, but eggs are an expensive commodity. As of August 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the average price of a dozen Grade A, large eggs was $3.12. That price has risen due to issues with highly pathogenic avian influenza over the past year as well. Eggs ar...

We all know the benefits of compost at this point. It improves soil health, structure, drainage and water holding capacity. It reduces the need for fertilizers and pesticides in your lawns and gardens. Bigger picture, it reduces odors, methane and polluted water at landfills. What’s not to love? If ...

Many gardeners find ways to invite beneficial insects into their spaces by planting native pollinator plants, mulching and avoiding pesticide use. Another way to support a healthy beneficial insect community is a bug hotel. Bug hotels provide a variety of nesting options for insects that we want to ...

It might be a bit early in our neck of the woods to be celebrating this, but April 5 is National Dandelion Day. Regarded by many as either bright harbingers of spring or annoying pests, dandelions are found just about everywhere. Dandelions, however, aren’t indigenous to North America. They were bro...