Category: Agriculture

Baby it’s cold outside!

by David Austin

September 27, 2022

Florida has been through a period of warm winters. When I say warm I mean Central Florida has not seen many hard freezes in the last 11 years. It's during these warm periods that homeowners forget those tortuous cold nights on their tropical ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Crops, Disaster Preparation, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Teaching,
Tags: Agriculture, Classes, Gardening, Highlands County, Highlands Horticulture Digest, Hometown Gardener, Master Gardener Volunteers, UF/IFAS Extension

Tips from the help desk…paper wasps

by David Austin

August 24, 2022

Tips from the Help Desk... Paper Wasps by David Austin Residential Horticulture Agent and Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator Friend or Foe? Many Gardeners might believe them to be the enemy. They wait on their paper nest creations ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Gardening, Highlands County, Highlands Horticulture Digest, Hometown Gardener, Pollination, Tips From The Help Desk, UF/IFAS Extension

Don’t Worry, Bee Happy

by David Austin

August 10, 2022

The European honey bee The European honey bee has been in the United States for a long time. Brought here in the early 1600s by, you guessed it, Europeans. The Honey bee may as well be considered native since they've been here as long ... READ MORE

Category: Agribusiness, Agriculture, Crops, Fruits & Vegetables, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension,
Tags: Agriculture, Bees, Classes, Gardening, Highlands County, Highlands Horticulture Digest, Hometown Gardener, Honey, Insects, Master Gardener Volunteers, Pollination, Pollinator Plants, UF/IFAS Extension

Time to prep for your fall Florida garden

by David Austin

July 14, 2022

Time to garden! With food prices climbing toward the sky it may be time to consider pulling that brown thumb out of your pocket and adding a little green paint to it. Growing a garden can be a humbling experience, especially in Florida, but ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Crops, Fruits & Vegetables, Health & Nutrition, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Classes, Featured, Gardening, Highlands County, Highlands Horticulture Digest, Hometown Gardener, Master Gardener Volunteers, Tomatoes, Vegetables

Tips from the Help Desk… Lovebugs, what’s there to love? June 2022

by David Austin

July 14, 2022

by David Austin, the Hometown Gardener ... READ MORE

Category: Horticulture, Pests & Disease,
Tags: Highlands County, Highlands Horticulture Digest, Hometown Gardener, Insects, Master Gardener Volunteers, UF/IFAS Extension

Some call it black gold

by David Austin

June 21, 2022

Black gold you create I'm not speaking of the black gold that came bubbling up when Jed Clampett found oil while shooting at food. To make this black gold doesn't take millions of years under the pressure of the earth. You can make this in ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension,
Tags: Agriculture, Classes, Gardening, Highlands County, Highlands Horticulture Digest, Hometown Gardener, Master Gardener Volunteers, UF/IFAS Extension, Vegetables

Tips from the Help Desk…Mothballs, Do’s and Dont’s! May 2022

by David Austin

May 31, 2022

by David Austin ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Home Management, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Gardening, Highlands County, Highlands Horticulture Digest, Pesticides, UF/IFAS Extension

Why not make it a tea garden?

by David Austin

May 27, 2022

Southerners and sweet tea When I was a child, we drank sweet tea. I didn't really know where it came from, but it was sweet and that suited me just fine. Later, I discovered tea was from the leaf of a plant. I had heard about tea leaves, and ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Health & Nutrition, Horticulture,
Tags: Agriculture, Highlands County, Highlands Horticulture Digest, Hometown Gardener, Master Gardener Volunteers, UF/IFAS Extension

Incredible Edible Landscaping

by David Austin

May 19, 2022

Food for the taking Have you ever eaten a pine tree? Many parts are edible. Those supposedly were the famous words of world-renowned food forager, Euell Gibbons, on a grape-nuts commercial in the ’70s. Not many of us would be interested in ... READ MORE