Home & Garden category, Page 11

Question: I grew kohlrabi in my garden this year. Most of them split. What causes them to split and are they still safe to eat? Answer: For those not familiar with this delicious and crunchy vegetable, let me sing the praises of the kohlrabi before I dive into what likely...

Kathy Fajt told her husband Gene something needed to be done about their lawn. For more than six years, Gene had struggled with the grass at their Unity, Westmoreland County home near Latrobe. He would add lime, figuring that was a good thing, but it wasn’t helping. That’s when I...

Winter squash varieties are a staple in many gardens, thanks to their prolific fruiting, their ease of growth, and the long shelf life of the fruits. Whether you grow acorn, butternut, delicata, Turk’s cap or any one of the other dozens of types of winter squash, the most important part...

Yellowjackets play a supportive role in gardening but can be dangerous around families and pets. People sensitive to bee venom should be especially careful from August through October, when yellowjacket numbers peak. They attack when threatened, and are known to crash cookouts too. “Yellowjackets, hornets and paper wasps are all...

A gardener wearing a wide-brimmed hat has just mulched an intricately designed outdoor bed and is gently sweeping excess mulch off the interconnected walkways in short, soft strokes. When visiting a public garden, it’s always the attention to detail that converts the landscape from interesting and fun to spectacular. The...

Question: I’ve pulled out the spring crops I had in my garden, such as the peas, lettuce and spinach. I now have lots of room to grow some new things, but I’m not sure what to plant. There’s not enough time to add more tomatoes and peppers. What do you...

Summer garden maintenance typically involves a lot of watering. But this season, we’ve had more than our share of rainfall. Since watering chores are off our plates, at least for now, gardeners would be wise to spend their time focusing on a handful of other important summer gardening chores. Deadhead:...

Everybody Gardens editor Doug Oster gets asked a lot of questions. A lot. And he doesn’t mind offering gardening advice. But rather than just limiting those answers to the person who asked, we thought it might be a good idea to share that wealth of knowledge with everybody. (The questions...

Question: Something is eating the leaves of many of my flowers, including my zinnias, hostas, dahlias and petunias. I don’t see any Japanese beetles or other bugs on them, but there are holes in the leaves or the leaves are eaten in from the sides. Do you know what might...

Damian and Gloria Ondo are dwarfed by the huge banana trees in their beautiful garden as they walk through with their dogs Simba and Caesar. Even though the original tree Damian started with was from Florida, all the subsequent trees it’s produced are hardy in his landscape in Monroeville, about...

Dahlias are a beautiful addition to summer gardens. Grown from tuberous roots planted in the spring, dahlia blooms come in a near endless array of colors and forms. From spiky-petaled cactus-types to round and tight pom-pom dahlias, this tender plant brings some serious bloom power to the garden. Planting dahlias...

David Freed spent most of his adult life in the restaurant business, but when he sold the 8th Street Grill, his Los Angeles coffee shop, in 2007, he discovered there were plenty of other things to do with his time. Such as unlocking the secrets to growing tons of tasty...

As Mick Jagger performed a powerful version of “Angie” last week on stage in Canada, the beautiful, melodic piano lines weaving through the song were deftly being played by The Rolling Stones’ musical director and keyboard player Chuck Leavell. He’s been with the band 37 years and has also played...

Question: Help! We have some little slug-like creature eating one of our shrubs. I don’t know the name of the shrub, but it gets white flowers in the spring and then clusters of red berries in the fall. We’ve always called it a cranberry bush, but I don’t think it’s...

I often hear from gardeners who are worried when they discover a few aphids on their favorite rose. While aphids can be troublesome garden pests, especially when their population numbers more than about 12 aphids per square inch, more often than not, aphids aren’t anything to worry about. In fact,...

What started with an employee’s dream now marks PPG’s Monroeville Business and Technology Center’s annual participation in the North American Butterfly Association Butterfly Count. Registration for the 10 a.m.-noon July 13 event will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the 440 College Park Drive facility. The all-age event is open to...

Tribune-Review garden columnists Doug Oster and Jessica Walliser have again received recognition for their work from a national gardening communications organization. The pair received a Silver Award for co-hosting “The Organic Gardeners” radio show in the 2019 GardenComm Media Awards, presented by Garden Communicators International. Editor of Everybody Gardens, Oster...

Question: I have a fairly steep bank in my backyard that is very difficult to mow. It is partly sunny. What would be a good ground cover to plant that would look nice and solve my problem? Thanks so much! Answer: The slopes of Western Pennsylvania certainly cause issues for...

Addison Uskuraitis, 11, is painstakingly pulling weeds around a raised bed filled with dinosaur kale. When asked if she would enjoy eating the kale, even served with bacon, she recoiled and responded with a hearty “No!” It’s the tomatoes growing in another part of the bed of this Vandergrift community...

The Moon Township Garden Tour is planned for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. July 6, featuring six gardens throughout the township. Two of the gardens have water features with koi fish. Cost for the tour is $10 in advance and $15 day of the tour. Pre-purchase is available at eventbrite.com. From 9...

A little over a year ago, master gardeners from the Penn State Extension in Hempfield planted a garden to test the truth of plants traditionally labeled as “deer-resistant.” At this year’s Penn State master gardeners open house July 13, attendees will be able to see for themselves. “There’s been a...

Cover crops are a useful (and inexpensive!) way for vegetable gardeners to manage weeds, improve the soil, and help control erosion. Not intended for harvest, cover crops are planted either before or after the harvest of a vegetable crop, or in fallow gardens. Many gardeners think cover crops only have...

All-green gardens are becoming popular again as the centerpieces of monochromatic landscaping. The designs are appealing and restive, driven as they are by massed ferns, moss, leaves, bark, berries, rock and foliage combinations. They serve some practical purposes, too. “Cool, mossy and damp, small space woodland gardens bring a welcome...

Question: We have two peach trees in our backyard and we have two different issues going on that keep us from seeing any ripe fruit. Can you advise us on what’s going on and how to handle it? First, there are holes in the growing peaches. When you crack one...

Rick Darke sees beauty where others don’t. He’s a renowned garden personality, author, photographer, designer and, maybe most importantly, something called a landscape ethicist. He’s spent much of his career obsessed with converting industrial sites into amazing public landscapes. It was more than a decade ago when he was flying...