Happy Spring! The warmer sun of March wakes up the trees and brings birds north. It also wakes up the bugs that live inside your house. Box elder bugs, lady bugs and cluster flies are three common ones. They're all a nuisance, but harmless. Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy has more on these mostly unwelcome visitors, and what to do, and not do, to deal with them. [full story]

Justin case you're watching the thermometer drop and getting antsy about pruning your trees and shrubs, there's no hurry. Especially with the weather this week (New England states broke the record for cold on Saturday, the AP reports), it's not a good idea for person or plants to get stressed about this spring chore. Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy says there's time. She advises sitting back and thinking through your pruning plan, and she's got some tips. Then wait for a nicer day to actually do the work. [full story]

Even in winter, it's likely there are local foods available near you. Shops, coops, and food "hubs" are providing access to more local produce in more places. Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy says it's a chicken-and-egg sort of thing. The more we buy, the more they'll grow, and vice versa.To prove it, local chefs will work with foods from 27 local farms, cheese makers, brewers and vintners in the annual Food from the Farm event Saturday in Plattsburgh. [full story]

Strawberries are a good fruit for a home gardener. They're inexpensive to buy from a catalog. And according to Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy, they're pretty easy to tend.You've got to decide which type to plant: June bearing or day neutral. The former produce all its crop in one big rush, and they don't bear fruit till the second year in the ground. Good for making pies and am, or anything needing a lot of berries at once. The latter bear fewer berries at once, but produce whenever the temperature is between 45 and 80. Insect pests can be a real bother to day-neutral varieties, getting worse as the season goes along. [full story]

Everybody's got a system for starting seeds indoors. One thing everyone has to sort out right is the lighting. Cooperative Extension horticulturist Amy Ivy unpacks questions about what bulbs to choose (should you upgrade to LEDs?) and how to set them up.Short version: she's sticking with conventional fluorescent shop lights, one warm, one cool. There are increasingly efficient ones. LEDs are most efficient, but switching can be costly.And she's got a cool way to set them up. See the links. [full story]

In the past few weeks, we've paged through those tantalizing gardening catalogs, talking about flowers and vegetables to start from seed indoors in the coming weeks. And we've touched on which varieties can be seeded right in the garden once it's time to plant. But there are other gardening staples that don't quite fit either conversation.So today, Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy talks how to get started with onions, leeks (order seedlings or sets) and shallots. And she shares her special enthusiasm for planting potatoes. So much fun for kids, and you can plant a hill right in a five gallon bucket! [full story]

Sharpen your pencil! That's the first thing Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy does when she gets ready to think about ordering vegetable seeds for the coming gardening season. A pencil, a piece of paper, and a good seed catalog, and she's ready to list, A to Z, all the vegetables she MIGHT want to have in the garden. It's a long list to start with. It gets more realistic before she places an order. This week she shares what's important to consider when making the final choices. [full story]

Snow or no snow, winter is a time of subtle, even monochromatic landscapes. And sometimes a person needs a little color. Gardeners have an advantage: all those seed catalogs coming in the mail, offer an explosion of flowers... just not right now. Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy is one who's taking advantage of the glossy possibilities, planning for her summer garden. [full story]

It isn't just the deep cold of winter, it's also the combination of temperature swings and dry wind that hurt shrubs and trees in winter. We can't do anything about the weather, but understanding the limits of "hardiness" and which species tolerate severe conditions best can help. Cooperative Extension'sAmy Ivy has some tips and suggestions. [full story]

Poinsettias and cyclamen are favorite holiday gifts. They're timed to bloom just right to brighten the indoor scene—for a while. Cooperative Extension horticulturist Amy Ivy says they really aren't meant to last forever, and it's OK to pitch them when they're played out. But that doesn't mean you can't keep them healthy and looking good for longer with a little TLC. [full story]