Building a Dry Garden Bed
Ask Master Gardener Volunteer Michele Hackmeyer In a previous blog, I described plants to consider using in a dry garden bed. Now I will describe what it takes to create the bed. Doing something… Read More
Tag: Panhandle Outdoors
Miniature Plants with Sizeable Character
Water meal, the world’s smallest flowering plant. Photo by Vic Ramey, University of Florida/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants. Used with permission. Some of the world’s smallest flowering plants grow in aquatic environments. And… Read More
Florida Cover Crops Hold Common Ground
One of the great barriers to progress in most policy discussions is an “Us” vs. “Them” battle based on historic generalizations and unawareness of change and current practices of the two “sides”. The bad news… Read More
Barred Owls- and other features of the “pretty woods”
I grew up in the Georgia Piedmont outside Athens, a land of bright red sticky clay, rocks and cold weather. In addition to the ubiquitous Georgia pines, hardwoods including white oaks, hickory and beech grow… Read More
NISAW 2016 – Tropical Soda Apple
Florida ranchers know Tropical Soda Apple (TSA) as the “Plant from Hell”. It was first noticed in south Florida, but its seeds survive in the digestive tract of animals and it spread north through the… Read More
Florida’s First Capital and First High Rise? – Jefferson County’s Letchworth-Love Mounds Archeological State Park
It’s a calm clear weekday in January. There’s a single buzzard soaring above, two squirrels scurrying in the trees and a pileated woodpecker calling in the distance. It’s hard to imagine this site was the… Read More
Dodder: Vampire Plant or Nature’s Own Genetic Modification Organism?
Vampires of all types and genetic modifications are hot topics these days, and a common, but uncommon looking and acting Florida weed may have combined the two subjects. Dodder, a native invasive, parasitic plant, reproduces… Read More
It’s not just the honeybees!
Honey bees are quite the buzz these days. Reports of population declines and the importance of their role in pollination have caught the country’s attention. The Northwest District IFAS Beekeepers’ classes have grown by leaps… Read More
Earthworms aren’t the only beneficial composters!
I started a little vermiculture bin year before last with one cup of red wigglers from the local bait shop. I carefully sorted my garbage so there was no grease or animal protein in the… Read More
“Digital Devices Transform Couch Potatoes into Air Potato Destroyers – Use Your Phone to Help Manage Florida Invaders”
Digital devices have proliferated like kudzu in July, and new user applications for these devices are as common as armadillos. Untold hours and dollars are being spent by couch potatoes to defend artificial worlds from… Read More