GardenTIPS Newsletter - Vol 1 Issue 1

May 2002, Vol 1 Issue 1

Welcome to the first edition of the Garden TIPS Newsletter.
Listed below are tips and links to articles, or follow the headers to the main
GardenTIPS Web site for more information and links at: http://www.extension.purdue.edu/gardentips/

New Web site keeps Indiana gardens growing

Indiana residents hoping to cultivate their green thumb have a new online resource from the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.

Garden TIPS, an e-magazine for gardening information, can now be found on the Web at http://www.extension.purdue.edu/gardentips/. Six main sections on the home page include garden flowers, fruits and vegetables, lawn care, landscape plants, insects, pests and diseases, and indoor plants.

"One of the advantages of Garden TIPS is that it's one-stop shopping," says B. Rosie Lerner, Purdue Extension consumer horticulturist. "Garden TIPS makes it easier to tap into all of Purdue's garden-related resources."

The site brings together information from Purdue's departments of horticulture, agronomy, entomology, and botany and plant pathology into a single location. Additionally, it provides links to online Extension publications, a monthly garden calendar, county-based events and resources, children's activities and the Indiana Master Gardeners Web site. Visitors can search for information by subject matter and submit questions via e-mail.

Full Story, http://www.extension.purdue.edu/gardentips/

Gardeners: Resist Working Wet Soil

Many gardeners are getting that urge to get out the tiller and work up their garden soil. But with all of the recent rains that have washed over much of Indiana, many soils are just too wet to work.

It really is best for the long-term health of your garden to resist the urge to work the soil when it is still wet. Whether you use a tiller, plow or just a garden spade, wet soil will be badly compacted and the effects will last for many years to come.

Working wet soil tends to compress the soil particles so that they become more tightly packed, thus leaving less room for penetration of water and air. The compression forms large, tight clods (clumps) of soil that become hard as a rock upon drying and are difficult to break up. In addition to making it difficult for plants to grow, compacted soils also tend to drain more slowly, in turn delaying the ability to work the soil after the next rainfall.

Full Story, http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/wetsoil.html

Insects, Pests, and Diseases
Are you are ready to kill the grubs in your lawn? Wait! The damaging grubs don't hatch until late July or early August. It makes more sense to apply grub control in July so it doesn't dissapate before the grubs hatch. http://www.extension.purdue.edu/gardentips/insects/grubgoahead.html

Landscape Plants
Gardening in raised beds can be just the answer for would-be gardeners. However, recent controversy regarding chemical wood preservation treatments has left many gardeners wondering about the safety of treated lumber. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/lumber_update.html

GardenTIPS is a Purdue University Extension gardening Web site. This e-newsletter is sent out twice a month. Browse our garden tips, information, and links at: http://www.extension.purdue.edu/gardentips/.

If you are having trouble receiving this newsletter, please contact the list owner at: extension@purdue.edu

If you wish to unsubscribe or switch to the Text only version, go to the Garden TIPS Subscription page at: http://www.extension.purdue.edu/gardentips/subscribe.html.

Beginner's Guide to Vegetable Gardening CD

May Garden Calendar

Get kids involved in the Junior Master Gardener program.

Try games like "Flower Matching" in the Kids' Corner.

Visit the GardenTIPS
Web site for more
information and links.