As the gardening season hits its stride, green-fingered enthusiasts are starting to reap the rewards of their labour with an abundance of salad crops and veggies. Yet, there's nothing quite as ...

Unlike garden beds with spring flowers or vegetable patches, fruit trees should not be given slow-release fertilizers or compost before winter. Unless soil test results suggest otherwise, fertilizing ...

The almost-daily rain we had this spring really put a damper on fruit tree spraying. Pesticides work best if they are applied at least 24 hours before a rain. When a rain happens before the next spray ...

New apple tree growers recently asked me if they needed to spray their apple trees. They were told they had to apply a fruit tree spray at least three times. The general answer to this question is if ...

Here is some advice from growers Arnold Olson of Bettendorf and Art Jackson of rural Orion, Ill., and Duane Gissel, the horticulturist at Iowa State University/Scott County Extension. -- Get the book ...

If insecticide sprays are applied too late, the pests enter and eat inside the fruit where they are protected from sprays. If applied too early, the spray will dissipate and be ineffective when the ...