Tag Archives: pruning

Gardener’s Checklist

August 2021

Garden Maintenance

  • Deadhead annuals and perennials regularly too encourage new blooms.
  • Consider adding some herbs to you perennial flower garden.

    Japanese Knotwwed in full bloom
    Invasive Japanese Knotweed

Webinar: Gardening with Herbs – Cornell Cooperative Extension Chemung County

Pest Watch

A silken fall webworm nest at the end of a branch full of caterpillars.
Fall Webworm Nest
  • Keep pests out of your home this fall!

Webinar: Keeping Pests Out of Your Home this Fall: From Stink Bugs to Mice – NYS IPM

  • Scout your lawn for grubs—before you treat!!

VIDEO: Using IPM to Assess Your Lawn for White Grubs – NYS IPM

  • Dump out any standing water from containers in your yard to prevent mosquito breeding.
A very holey head of cabbage a result of feeding by the imported cabbageworm
Imported cabbageworm damage on cabbage.

How to Manage Mosquitoes in the Landscape – New York State Integrated Pest Management

  • Scout often for pest in your vegetable garden.

What Kind of Insect is Destroying my Plants?– Gardening in Orange County New York Blog

Vegetable Gardening

  • Rejuvenate your soil by planting a fall cover crop such as barley or clover.
Light purple clover flower against a background of green leaves
Clover makes a great fall cover crop.

Webinar: Cover Crops for the Home Garden – Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County

  • Continue to remove weeds, as they compete with your garden plants for water, sunlight, and space.
Bottom of basil eaf covered with downy mildew spores
Basil Downy Mildew
  • Preserve your bounty.

Webinars: Food Preservation – Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County


Happy Gardening!

Black Swallowtail on Lupine ‘Tutti Fruitti’

Gardener’s Checklist

February 2021

Birds

  • Cedar waxwing bird eatting red beeries out of a treeRemember to check your bird feeders and keep them filled throughout the winter.

The Great Backyard Bird Count – Cornell Lab of Ornithology

  • As you think about the coming growing season, consider planting bird friendly plants in your garden

Recommended Plantings for Migratory Songbird Habitat Management – University of Rhode Island

Garden MaintenanceClose-up of snow on the needles of a spruce tree

  • Gently remove snow and ice from the branches of evergreen trees to prevent damage.

Winter Damage to Trees and Shrubs – Penn State Extension

  • Once the snow has melted, check your cold-hardy perennials for frost heaving.  Frost heaving is when your plants rise up out of the ground as a result of repeated freezing and thawing.  Carefully tamp your plants back into the ground a place soil around the base of the plant to cover any exposed roots.

Frost Heaving – Missouri Botanical Garden

  • Loppers cutting a branchThe best time to prune most trees and shrub species is will they are dormant. Remove suckers as well as dead and diseased limbs and prune for shape and airflow.
  • Wait to prune spring-flowering trees and shrubs until right after bloom.

Pruning Ornamental Trees and Shrubs – Purdue Extension

  • Learn how to properly prune your trees and shrubs.

Pruning Workshop – Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County

HouseplantsHouseplants

  • The sun’s angle is changing.  Move your houseplants to ensure the receive proper light.
  • Prune overgrowth and remove dead leaves.
  • Continue to monitor your plants for infestations and disease.

Houseplant Problems : Diagnostic Chart – University of Maryland Extension

  • Transplant root-bound plants into larger containers.

Vegetable Gardening

  • Tray of cabbage seedlings inWant to get a head start on your vegetable garden, but don’t have space inside, consider winter sowing.

Successful Winter Seed Sowing – Penn State Extension

  • If you are planning on growing onions or leeks from seed this year, it is time to start those seeds.

Vegetable Planing Guide – Cornell Cooperative Extension

  • Assortment of Vegetables and Flowers - tomatoes, pumpkins, greens and flowersWhether you are a beginner or an experienced vegetable gardener there is always more to learn.  Sign-up for a vegetable gardening class.

Vegetable Gardening Classes – Cornell Cooperative Extensions


We are off to a snowy start to February and if Punxsutawney Phil is to be believed we are in for another six more weeks of winter!
Groundhog standing up straight on its hind legs looking out over the grass