Get Ready for the 2025 Panhandle Watermelon Festival Big Melon Contest!
By Mark Mauldin and Julie McConnell Planting season is just around the corner and as you plan your summer garden, consider including watermelons to enter into the Big Melon Contest at the Panhandle Watermelon Festival! The watermelon festival and the Big Melon Contest...
Video: Pruning Tips for Removing a Branch
Pruning is often needed on a tree or shrub to help maintain a healthy and safe plant. Learn how to remove a branch on a tree or shrub with UF IFAS Extension Escambia County. https://youtu.be/9trBQFZYzhQ?si=6o9aFnXjsKpyY1nw
Home Vegetable Gardening 101 Seminar
There are common reasons for failure with vegetable gardens in North Florida. One of those reasons is planting at the wrong time of year. We can grow vegetables year-round here in North Florida but it’s important to plant and grow the right vegetable during the right...
Supporting Backyard Birds After a Winter Storm
Last month, we experienced historic snowfall throughout the Panhandle. During these magical snow days, I noticed that I had to refill my bird feeder faster than expected. Even as snow fell, birds flocked to the feeder all day long. In winter, birds rely more on bird...
Residential Composting
When we turn the page into a new year, the motto is often “out with the old, in with the new.” But what if we actually kept the old and transformed it into something really useful? That’s exactly what happens with composting. Instead of raking up leaves, bagging them,...
Palms Can Suffer in the Cold
While palms may survive, or even thrive, for years in climates cooler than those to which they are native, eventually they may experience temperatures cold enough to cause injury. The January 21st snow and wind chill is likely to take a toll on many of the palms in...
Annual Planting Guide
Planting annuals is a great way to add color and texture to the landscape. Annuals can provide an added visual component to the garden regardless of if they're planted in the ground or in containers, or even better—both. An annual plant completes its life cycle...
Crown Shyness in Trees
I spent a lot of time in my childhood lying in our backyard hammock, reading. Inevitably, I’d take a break and stare up at the tree canopy above me. We had sweetgum trees in that corner of our yard, and I’d watch squirrels chasing each other through the branches. One...
Video: Easy Steps for Pruning Crape Myrtles
Crape myrtle trees are often aggressively pruned each winter regardless of the location. Learn three steps from the University of Florida IFAS Escambia Extension to selectively prune your crape myrtles to maintain an attractive tree form in your landscape....
Where Do Insects Go in the Winter?
During the summer months, we can’t seem to get away from insects. Whether it’s a fly circling your food, those pesky aphids in your garden, or a mosquito out for blood, they make their presence known. But when winter rolls around and temperatures drop, they seem to...