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Ag and Extension

Lighting for plants

As we are moving our gardening indoors, it may be necessary to provide some better or more lighting for some of our plants. Due to space, most of my house plants will be sitting near windows in the basement of my home and they seem to do just fine with some exceptions. The first is that the basement is probably little bit cooler than the plants appreciate and the second is that there are a couple of houseplants that need more light than what they will get from the windows. This brings up the idea of whether or not LED lighting will work for houseplants and what bulbs you would need to ...

Lilacs

Lilacs are often a staple of our groves and yards here in southwestern Minnesota. In the past year or two, the growing conditions have been difficult for these prized plants and they have been suffering through some different problems. There are several different varieties of lilac but the most common one that we have planted in our area is the common lilac, which its Latin name is Syringa vulgaris. If you happen to have a tree lilac, then you may have seen some trouble with these plants as well. These are often mature plants and you may have never seen a problem with them in the ...

Ag and Extension Briefs

UMN Extension releases operations contingency plans for livestock producers By Emily Krekelberg University of Minnesota Extension The University of Minnesota Extension Livestock Team has released a set of customizable forms that can be used to create an operations contingency plan for their farm. The contingency forms are meant to provide livestock owners a starting point to outline essential livestock care if they and/or their managers become sick with COVID-19 or another emergency occurs. In these situations, care would likely need to be administered by a non-household member. The ...

Cleaning up gardens

Old Man Winter is giving us a little taste of what is soon to come in our area. If you have not started to work on cleaning up in the garden, it may be wise to start planning for that to happen now. The wintery weather that will be upon us will soon have many of the tender plants needing to be dug up, potatoes to be dug up and also there will be lots and lots of leaves to rake up. The great thing about leaves from trees, as long as they are not diseased foliage, is to use them as mulch or to place them into your compost pile. The fragrance of decomposing leaves on the ground mixed with ...

Ag Briefs

Applications being accepted to be a Master Gardener Think globally, act locally. It’s a phrase that applies so well to the Lyon County Master Gardeners. Now more than ever before Master Gardener volunteers are connecting with people to share University research-based knowledge on priorities that are important to Minnesota residents: horticulture skills, plant biodiversity, pollinators, clean water, local food, climate change and nearby nature. Master Gardeners are improving the quality of life and the environment in Minnesota communities Through their broad and continuous public ...

Dividing plants

It is time to divide and conquer in the garden. We often think that springtime is the only time to divide plants. In reality, there are some plants that will do better for you if they are divided now. A good rule of thumb is if the plant is flowering in the spring or summer, now is the time to dig it up and divide it. If the plant flowers in the fall time, then spring time is the best time to dig it up and divide it. Plants that particularly do better being divided now are peony plants, iris plants, poppy plants, and many other flowering plants. You just need to take a pencil and paper ...