Kenosha County

Question: I’m trying gardening for the first time. I’ve bought seeds and plan to purchase some flowers, and tomato and pepper plants at the garden center. Do you have any hints on planting my seeds and plants?

Effective May 20th, 2013, the Kenosha County UW-Extension Office has a change in its address: Kenosha County UW-Extension 19600 75th Street, Suite 2 Bristol, WI  53104 Thank you.

Question: The blue spruce trees in my yard look like they are dying. Part of the needles and some entire branches are brown. The trees are about 20 years old and seemed to be doing okay before last summer. I noticed many other evergreens seem to be dying too. Is this because of the drought last year? Is there anything I can do? D.E., L.W. and others

Question: I sprouted some cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes inside. They appeared to be doing fine. I started putting the tomatoes outside a few days ago. Yesterday I put the cucumbers and peppers out for the first time. Apparently I left them out too long. Some of the leaves on the cucumbers turned white. They look terrible. Is this from cold (It was in the 60s) or too much sun or what? The peppers and tomatoes seem fine.

Question: Last spring hundreds of small green caterpillars ate my columbines. The plants looked fine one day and the next the leaves were almost completely gone. I looked up the problem and think it was the larva of columbine sawfly. Is there anything I can do to keep my columbine from being eaten this year? D.K.

As we are in mid 4-H year, projects for the fair may be on the minds of many youth and adults. These projects are really “goals,” which help guide the path you chose to follow this year. A common saying is: “To get started, you must have a destination.” Getting to a destination takes commitment on all of our parts.

Question: I have an asparagus patch that as the season goes on the more weeds I get and the weeds get out of control. How can I minimize weed pulling, as I’m not crazy about using herbicides, to control the weeds? Any help you can give me would be appreciated. A.F.

Wisconsin had nearly 645,000 single-person households as of the 2010 Census. That’s a significant number of people who may regularly cook and eat meals on their own.

If you’re cooking for yourself, you may not want to spend much time preparing a meal, says Susan Nitzke, UW-Extension specialist and Professor Emerita in nutritional sciences at the UW-Madison. “But by following a few basic tips, you don’t need to sacrifice good nutrition for speed and convenience when you’re making a meal for yourself.”

Research shows that family members’ health and well-being is affected by the environment in the home. That’s why taking a family approach to healthy eating and physical activity can be beneficial, says Gayle Coleman, nutrition education program specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Extension.

Question:  Is it too late to put crabgrass preventer on my lawn? Normally I apply it in early April but it has been so cold and wet that I don’t know when I should put it on.  C.R. Answer: Crabgrass is an annual grass that comes up from seed in late spring and summer. The [...]