Panhandle Watermelon Festival Big Melon Contest – Entries Accepted June 19 & 20
by Mark Mauldin Calling all watermelon producers; commercial growers to gardeners. It’s almost time to enter your finest melons in the Big Melon Contest at the Panhandle Watermelon Festival. The festival and the contest have been summer-time staples in the Central...
Creating Beautiful Summer Containers
For those of us that don’t have the best landscape conditions or the time, money, or inclination to invest into a vibrant yard display of annual flowers, growing our flowers in containers is a great option! Growing in containers has several advantages over growing...
The Season of the Loud Bugs
You may recognize the arrival of summer because of the intense buzzing sound coming from the trees. It can last all day long, with changes in the pitch and pattern of the screaming. Cicadas are large (3/4” – 2 ½”) winged insects with stocky bodies and bulging eyes....
The Physical Properties of Soil
Understanding soil composition is crucial for successful gardening. Soil is the slow interaction of parent material with regional climates, topography, and soil biota over millennia. The breakdown of parent materials results in layers of material called horizons. A...
The Hidden World of Unconventional Pollinators
Pollinators contribute to the reproduction of over 87 percent of the world’s flowering plants and are crucial for agriculture, with 75 percent of the different types of crops we grow for food relying on pollinators to some extent to achieve their yields. Perhaps most...
Scouting – Early Detection Saves Your Harvest
As you eagerly await the bountiful harvest from your spring and summer garden, remember that pests are also eyeing your crops. Scouting for pests is essential to maintain plant health and ensure a plentiful harvest. The Importance of Scouting Scouting involves the...
False Hope for Cold Damaged Citrus Trees
The widespread multiple night hard freeze that occurred in North Florida near the end of December 2022 resulted in numerous citrus trees becoming severely damaged. The above ground portion of many of these trees died as a result of the extreme cold. I talked with...
Why Are My Tomatoes Dying?
The value of tomatoes produced in Florida in 2022 was $323,000,000 according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Survey and sometimes I feel like I’ll spend that much trying to get one perfect tomato in my garden. Nothing beats the taste of a fresh homegrown...
Green Industries Best Management Certification, aka the “Fertilizer License”
In most Florida waterways, stormwater runoff is the primary source of pollution. If you think about what gets washed down the drain during a typical rainstorm, it may include anything from trash and construction dirt to oils, gasoline, and chemicals from surrounding...
Native Florida Flowers for Native Pollinators
Florida’s diverse ecosystem is home to a variety of native plants that provide resources for local pollinators. Native flowers are not only a beautiful addition to any garden but also play a crucial role in maintaining the health of our environment. Planting native...