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
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 […]
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 […]
4-H Education Center at Auerfarm
The 124-acre 4-H Education Center at Auerfarm is located in the northwest section of Bloomfield, Connecticut. Hartford entrepreneur and retailer Beatrice Auerbach deeded the farm to the CT 4-H Development Fund in 1976. Founded in the early years of the twentieth century, Auerfarm had been honored many times as a model site that included 60 […]