The Tolland County 4-H Program, which is part of UConn Extension hosted three fun and educational adventures close to home that focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Junk Drawer Robotics allowed youth to become an engineer with things from around the house! We constructed: tooth brush eco-bots, marshmallow launching trebuchets, and a mechanical arm. Youth […]
Financial Literacy and the Financial Facts of Life
It’s back to school season and across Connecticut, families are getting young people ready for school so that they can learn what they need to know to become productive, responsible and successful adults. In their late teens and twenties, young people face many important decisions – among them may be signing a lease on an […]
Rineicha Otero – UConn Extension Fellow in Colombia
Saturday 8/17/2013 I finally arrived in beautiful Colombia! After much-anticipation, the visit has come and the expectation of reconnecting to the different cultures around the world has increased even more. As soon as the airplane touched the ground in Bogota the crowed cheered with excitement to be back in their homeland. I remembered the times […]
Double Duty – A Vegetable Garden That Looks as Good as it Tastes!
I will admit, planting zinnias (or any flowers for that matter) in between corn plants is not something I had considered until admiring the attractive combination in the vegetable garden at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, home of the Worcester County Horticultural Society. Last Thursday the MNLA Summer Field Day was held at this 132 acre […]
Ten Tips for the August Gardener
It’s a beautiful weekend – UConn Extension offers these ten tips for all of you working in your gardens: 1. Pick summer squash and zucchini every day or two to keep the plants producing. 2. Keep an eye out for insect, slug and snail damage throughout the garden. 3. Colorful plastic golf tees can be […]
Teens Master the Art (and fun!) of Mapping at UConn’s NRC Academy
The Natural Resource Conservation Academy (NRCA) is an innovative program in conservation and land use planning for a select group of Connecticut high school students. The Academy starts with a week-long field course at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Throughout the week, students interact with UConn faculty and learn about mapping and geospatial information, water, forestry, […]
Windham County 4-H Summer Science Mini-Camps
By Marc Cournoyer UConn Extension’s Windham County 4-H program continues to provide young people with an opportunity to explore the world of STEM education through hands-on minicamp programs taking place at various locations throughout Windham County. In 2013 we are focusing on three distinct programs; Junk Drawer Robotics, STEM Gardens and video production with special […]
Ten Tips for the July Gardener
Ten Tips for the July Gardener Inspect garden plants regularly for insect and disease problems. Sanitation practices, insecticidal soaps, and insect traps are alternatives to pesticides. Properly placed shade trees will reduce air conditioning costs. Try shade tolerant ground covers in areas where lack of sunlight limits grass growth. Yellow leaves of cucurbits and tomatoes […]
Gardening Quick Tip: Japanese Beetles
Mary Concklin, UConn Extension Educator for Fruit Production and IPM offers this quick tip on dealing with Japanese Beetles: Using the Japanese beetle traps will actually attract the beetles to your planting. Instead, if you have the traps, place them at least 100 feet from the planting to try to draw them away from the […]
Liming Soils
by Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center An incredible number of chemical, biochemical and biological reactions occur in our soils. Through these reactions, nutrients, whether already present in the soil or added by fertilizers, are changed into forms that can be taken up by plant roots. The pH of the soil affects all […]
Rain Got You In A Depression? Put It In One!
With historic amounts of rain falling on our state this month, it is easy to get a little down. It puts a damper on beach days, picnics, and hikes. Not to make things worse, but did you also know that as all that rain runs off roofs, parking lots, driveways, and roads and into storm drains […]
Mulch Molds – What is Growing on my Mulch?
What is growing on my mulch? This is a common question UConn Extension is asked at the UConn Home and Garden Education Center and in our county Master Gardener offices. People are perplexed when they find a yellow foamy mass that looks like the neighbor’s dog vomited in their flower garden. Or when their nice […]
Be on the Lookout for Giant Hogweed, an Invasive Plant in Connecticut
UConn and the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CIPWG) are asking state residents to be on the lookout for Giant Hogweed, which typically blooms during July. Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is an invasive, non-native plant from Eurasia that was first identified in Connecticut in 2001. This Federal Noxious weed has now been confirmed in 25 towns in […]
Barnum School 4-H Garden
Since 1968, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) has been funded by he United States Department of Agriculture and is an integral part of the UConn Extension. Currently, it is one of the federal government’s longest running educational outreach programs targeted to low-income families. Specially trained EFNEP Nutrition Assistants, who know their communities well, work with program […]
Tick Testing for Lyme Disease and Other Pathogens
UConn Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (CVMDL) Ticks can transmit Lyme disease and other diseases to humans and animals. UConn Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (CVMDL) can test ticks for the infectious agents causing Lyme and other diseases using PCR technology Results of tick testing assists health care providers in offering the most appropriate treatment […]
Survival 101: The Science of Survival
On June 1st, The Middlesex county 4-H Advisory Committee presented Survival 101 – The Science of Survival. This high energy and action packed workshop day included 10 different survival workshops focusing on the science and technology behind survival skills. The workshops included: Shelter Engineering, Fire Building, Survival Communication, Wild Game and Fishing, Wilderness and Survival […]
Making A Worm Bin
Making A Worm Bin (Vermicomposting – Indoor Composting with Worms) By Dawn Pettinelli, Associate Extension Educator, PSLA. (Written 2014, updated 2025) Looking for a low-tech way to recycle kitchen scraps while at the same time creating a great soil amendment, right in your own home? If so, vermicomposting, or in layman’s terms, composting with worms […]
Dealing in Imagery
By Emily Wilson, UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research and CT ECO My extra desk has seen a steady stream of boxes – little and big ones, brown and black ones, even an iPad box (no iPad included). One had old maps crumpled up to protect its contents. Some have been dropped off […]
Ten Tips for the June Gardener
Lightly cultivate soil after a heavy rain to avoid compaction. A layer of mulch reduces the soil crusting and compaction caused by raindrops. Check container plants daily during hot weather, they will need water often. Check for small holes that signal flea beetle damage on tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. There is still time to sow […]
Using GPS for Monitoring and Mapping Land Trust Holdings
By Cary Chadwick (updated 9/2025) On May 3, CLEAR’s Geospatial Training Program (GTP) and the Connecticut Land Conservation Council held its second session of a training course called “Using GPS for Monitoring and Mapping Land Trust Holdings.” The one-day course is designed to teach participants how to use a handheld GPS receiver to map property […]
Latin American Development
By Joe Bonelli, Associate Extension Educator In-Residence UConn Extension hosted Ginna Rodriguez, a visiting Fellow from Columbia at the request of UConn Global Training and Development Institute (GTDI). Ginna is from the Universidad Javeriana and Universidad ICESI in Columbia and was at UConn participating in the Economic Empowerment Program at the GTDI. UConn Extension was […]
Sugar Maple – Value, Strengths, Threats and Resilience
By Tom Worthley, Assistant Extension Professor, UConn Extension Hardly an autumn season goes by without numerous writers in magazines, newspapers and websites extolling the virtues of sugar maples for their foliar brilliance and colorful contributions to the Connecticut countryside. Shortly thereafter the late winter and spring can be relied upon to summon forth additional textual homage […]
Soil Testing at UConn
The University of Connecticut Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory has been serving the farmers, greenhouse growers and residents of Connecticut for over 80 years. Our Goals The Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory has three major objectives. First is to provide an inexpensive means for both agricultural producers and home owners to test their soil fertility and receive […]
Effects of Fungicide Timing and Tillage on Resistant Pumpkins
By Jude Boucher, UConn Extension Educator, Commercial Vegetable Crops Introduction (Current Fungicide Program) Before I can talk about this experiment, I need to remind you of how and why we use specific fungicides on pumpkins. I’ve talked about fungicide sprays on pumpkins before and mentioned how there are four annual diseases that we can protect […]
They’re Back: 17-Year Cicadas To Swarm East Coast
Right on schedule, millions of 17-year cicadas will emerge from underground and bring their distinctive mating song to the East Coast. Colossal numbers of cicadas, unhurriedly growing underground since 1996, are about to emerge along much of the East Coast to begin passionately singing and mating as their remarkable life cycle restarts.This year heralds the […]
Are You Ready For Late Blight?
By Jude Boucher, UConn Extension Educator, Commercial Vegetable Crops Recap of 2012 Outbreak in Connecticut During the week of June 20, 2012, a Prospect, CT homeowner brought late blight (LB) infected tomato plants to the CT Ag Experiment Station diagnostic center. The homeowner had purchased the plants from a local supermarket, but when contacted, the […]
A Watershed Moment
By Michael Dietz (updated 9/2025) Many of us have heard about watershed protection efforts. Perhaps you live in a drinking water supply watershed. Poor Willy Wonka was wrongly accused of poisoning the watershed of his brown river (it turned out to be chocolate). But what is a watershed, really? In physical terms, a watershed is […]
State Sees High Level of Beach Erosion After Powerful Storms
Channel 3 Eyewitness News interviewing local residents and UConn’s Joel Stocker (updated 9/2025) The Connecticut shoreline is eroding at rates not seen in our lifetime, and the devastation was sped up by powerful storms like Irene and Sandy. In some spots, five years of erosion was accomplished in just three months, and for the first […]
When It Comes To Climate Change – Money Talks
By Bruce Hyde (updated 9/2025) It is generally accepted by climate scientists that New England will experience a trend of increasing intensity and frequency of storms resulting in an increase in flooding and coastal erosion. Recent storms have raised our collective awareness of the damage, both fiscal and physical, that these storms can cause. Consider […]
Daffodil Labyrinth
Located at the Tolland County Agricultural Center is the Daffodil Labyrinth, a spring labyrinth made from flowers. When the yellow daffodils of spring appear in late March so does the labyrinth. As the daffodils fade in April violet grape hyacinths appear to hold the pattern into May. As summer arrives the labyrinth is mowed and […]
10 Tips for the May Gardener
UConn Extension’s Home and Garden Center offers you more tips to grow on: Ten Tips for the May Gardener: 1. If you want to get a head start on the season, plant container gardens and be ready to bring them indoors on cold nights. 2. When transplanting annuals and vegetables, be gentle with the root […]
Not Too Late To Start Tomato Seeds!
by Dawn Pettinelli As much as I try to accomplish tasks in a timely manner, life just seems to get in the way and things occasionally get done later rather than sooner. So it is this year with starting my tomato seeds. Here it is April 16th and I have just planted the seeds in […]
Proper Planting of Strawberries
Mary Concklin, Extension Educator – Fruit Production & IPM Proper planting of strawberries should include making sure the root system is not curled or ‘J’ planted. A study conducted in California showed an 18.5% reduction in fresh fruit yield with ‘J’ planted strawberries versus those planted correctly. If the root system is too long, you […]
Invasive Pest Month
April is Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month when USDA/APHIS highlights how invasive species affect the economy, the environment and human health. Visit Hungry Pests, available in English and Spanish, to learn more. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today proclaimed April as “Invasive Plant Pest and […]
When to Turn Under Spring Cover Crops?
by Eero Ruuttila, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist – Scaling Up Program, UConn Extension – Tolland County I heard the peepers last night for the first time this year. There have already been a couple of sunny, almost warm, spring-like weeks in my neighborhood. Recently the overwintered rye has switched its dull reddish-green color scheme to bright green. […]
UConn Study of Food Insecurity in Connecticut is New Tool to Combat Hunger
By: Sheila Foran & David Bauman for UConn Today 4/10/13 Connecticut residents generally have dependable access to food, but the picture is not all rosy. A recent U.S. Household Food Security study showed that about one in seven households in the state reported not having enough money to buy food they needed in 2011. And […]
4-H Work Readiness Program
Tolland County Extension partnered with EastConn on a 4-H Work Readiness program for three weeks in the summer of 2012. Two groups with fifteen students each met five days per week. The focus of the program was on garden and grounds maintenance. Students also learned to fill out applications, interview for a job, and create […]
Growing Nutrient-Dense Vegetables
Published by the University of Massachusetts Center for Agriculture Research and Extension Working to Curb Malnutrition From the Ground Up Empty calories. Depleted soil. Overproduction. By now, most Americans have heard reports that even as we’re eating more, we’re taking in fewer nutrients. Today’s ubiquitous fast foods and processed meals play a large part in […]
Salt of the Earth
Post updated 9/2025 UConn Extension’s Center for Land Use Education And Research (CLEAR) provides information, education and assistance to Connecticut’s land use decision makers, community organizations and citizens on how to better protect natural resources while accommodating economic growth. One of CLEAR’s focus areas is WATER. Learn more about CLEAR’s water resources. There are several […]
What the Heck Is Land Use Academy?
As a local land use commissioner you are faced with making decisions about how your community will grow, reviewing and approving applications for a variety of projects and balancing growth with natural resource protection. Sometimes court decisions change the rules, you receive conflicting advice, the information you have to work with is incomplete or you […]