Green Side Up

With temperatures dropping, the outdoor fire pit and indoor fireplaces are coming back in use. Whether you cut, split and dry your own firewood or buy it for the winter, good management will reward you with more heat and less smoke. Host Richard Hentschel provides firewood tips for the season.

Confused about spring and summer flowering bulbs? Host Richard Hentschel takes away some of the mystery on why we call them what we do and why we plant them when we do. It is all about winter hardiness. In addition, he explains why not everything we call a bulb is a bulb.

ILLINOIS Extension Educator Richard Hentschel talks about a very common foliage disease that can be seen on a wide variety of landscape plants and in the vegetable garden. Powdery Mildew is aptly named for the spores that create a distinct white appearance to plant leaves. Typical at the end of the growing season, it can be found on a number of plants, such as phlox, lilac, squash and cucumbers. Learn if you should treat this disease in this Green Side Up podcast.

Host Richard Hentschel promotes using the family vegetable garden well into the fall, even though the start of school often seems to signal the end of the season to many home gardeners. There is still time to grow, harvest and enjoy fresh vegetables for several more weeks.

Illinois Extension Educator Richard Hentschel continues to discuss the now critical need to water valuable landscape ornamental and shade trees. Trees are the last of the plants to show wilting foliage as a symptom of a droughty condition. By the time that happens, watering is extremely important to survival. There are a variety of ways to water -- using a sprinkler, watering bags or an open-ended gardening hose in the drip line for established trees.

Host Richard Hentschel discusses watering in early August. Wilting is an obvious sign that plants need water and is easy to see on flowers, vegetables and in the lawn. Less obvious is what is going on with trees, shrubs, and evergreens. Proper watering and watering intervals during dry periods throughout the year will help ensure healthy plants.

Illinois Extension Educator Richard Hentschel discusses the best strategies for keeping hanging pots and container gardens looking great for the rest of the summer. The best approach is never letting the plants wilt. Learn how watering times and monitoring water loss will ensure flowering plants continue to bloom and container vegetables produce the best they can.

Richard Hentschel, host of Green Side Up, talks about the early summer weather pattern and what it means for lawns, garden beds and trees. He outlines the good parts of it and a few challenges now and those coming up a bit later in the season. Lots of plants have benefited from the rains with extra growth and the food reserves created.

Host Richard Hentschel discusses some early season vegetable concerns. Those early cool season vegetables may be going to seed by now and any leaves on our leafy greens can now be bitter tasting. Radishes also may go to seed and suffer the same fate. Richard talks about common tomato leaf diseases and blossom end rot and what you can do about it.

Richard Hentschel, Host of Green Side Up, talks about the many good, and not-so-good, effects of all the rain in the home landscape. Lawns continue to grow, mushrooms showing up in the lawn, some surprising insect activity and a quick reminder on mosquitos and ticks.