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Ag and Extension

Peony plants

Peony plants are a wonderful addition to the garden. There are some residents who don’t like how ants seem to be attracted to them but generally speaking, it will depend on the year when you may see a lot of ants on these beautiful plants. I am fortunate that I have several peony plants in my perennial gardens. They are so easy to take care of and there are so many colors to choose from. There are some peony cultivars that can live up to 100+ years. I have one plant that has been on our farm for 50 years — a beautiful deep pink. I have also been given a very, bright yellow peony. ...

Important steps in gardening

Gardening can be tricky as it is but we can help out our odds by raising plants that work well with our growing conditions. We first have to consider what growing zone we are in (Zone 4 or 4b for our area) and go from there. There are some folks who have microclimates in their backyards and can sometimes grow Zone 5 plants. These are the lucky gardening folks in our area. We sometimes can raise plants in a certain area until the growing conditions change, like the soil stays super saturated with water, then we end up losing those plants. It is also important to match plants to what ...

Cover crop options for prevent plant acres & drowned-out areas

Excessive precipitation and persistently wet conditions have prevented the planting of corn and soybean in some fields and led to ponding and drown-out areas in others. On acres where “prevent plant” is claimed for insurance, the USDA-Risk Management Agency (RMA) requires protection from erosion and control of noxious weeds. Planting a cover crop to these areas can help control weeds and prevent erosion, while enhancing soil structure and preventing “fallow syndrome.” Fallow syndrome, which can hurt crop yield the following year, can occur when there is not enough living root ...

Ash anthracnose

If you have had ash trees dropping their leaves like rain drops in your yard, do not panic. It is more than likely caused by anthracnose. Anthracnose is a fungus that causes some problems in all sorts of trees. In our area, it seems to bother ash trees the most. It can cause some of the same symptoms in other types of trees too which are: maples, ash, birch, black walnut, butternut, buckeye, elm, hornbeam, and oak. If you pick up the fallen leaves you will see brown, sunken edges of the leaves. You will also see leaf drop where the leaves fall from the trees (don’t worry! Most trees ...

Working at the Yellow Medicine SWCD

My name is Landon Abraham. I am one of the two Yellow Medicine Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) Conservation technician apprentices working with the office this year. I grew up on a farm in Yellow Medicine County near St. Leo. I graduated high school in May 2018 from Minneota High School. I currently attend South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota, and will be starting my sophomore year this fall. I am currently majoring in agronomy with a minor in ag business. After my undergrad, I hope to go on and get a master’s degree in plant science. Eventually, I hope ...

Remedies for the garden

We are still waiting for Mother Nature to get her affairs in order. The cool weather this spring has sent some of our plants into a tailspin including iris and some tulips. I have fielded many questions on why iris plants are not blooming this year. This is because about the time that they set their blooms, we were having some pretty cold, rough weather. This damaged the bloom buds so this is why your iris may not have given you pretty flowers this spring. The same goes for tulips. I have a couple of gardens that the tulips flowered while in other gardens, they did not. It is best to ...