John Cretti - Horticulturist
Protect Tree Trunks
Careless mowing and trimming practices can damage your valuable trees. Getting too close to the trunk with a lawn mower or weed whacker can nick off pieces of bark and create wounds. Additionally, weed trimmers with their nylon string can scar and cause injury to the lower trunk. You can prevent this unnecessary scaring by placing guards around the trunk.
...John Cretti’s Gardening with an ALTITUDE
The Benefits of Mulch
Hot summer weather has its good and bad side in my garden. Heat is needed for the production of the tomato crop and abundance of zucchini. Hot weather woes bring on the spider mites and the cool season vegetables start to wane. It’s a time to cope and think water conservation and maintaining uniform moisture availability to the vegetable and flower garden.
John Cretti’s Gardening with an ALTITUDE
Weeds, Weeds, and More Weeds
Most of us view weeds as the nemesis of the yard and garden, invading our perfect lawn. So we try in vain to seek out the easiest or so-called miracle ways to eradicate them from the landscape with a slew of chemicals. Applying herbicides is certainly one option for getting rid of weeds, but most herbicides can also harm the very landscape plants we want to keep.
An Ounce of Prevention
A better way to keep weeds at bay is to prevent them in the first place. For example...
May 16, 2020
John Cretti’s Gardening with an ALTITUDE
Fertilize Daffodils and Tulips
After your daffodils and tulips have finished flowering, deadhead the spent blooms. Leave the foliage intact and scatter a slow-release flower fertilizer around the root zone. Water in...
May 2, 2020
John Cretti’s Gardening with an ALTITUDE timely reminders
Get Ready for Planting
Planting time for vegetables and herbs is near as soil temperatures begin to warm up. As soon as the soil can be worked, sow seeds of beets, turnips, carrots, leaf lettuce, spinach, onions, peas, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, and endive. If you've started transplants of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and onions, make plans to set them outdoors. Use floating row covers to warm the soil and help the plants get off to a strong and healthy start.
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April 2020
Gearing Up for Spring Lawn Care
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If You Want ‘Renewable Energy,’ Get Ready to Dig
Building one wind turbine requires 900 tons of steel, 2,500 tons of concrete and 45 tons of plastic.
By
Mark P. Mills
Aug. 5, 2019 6:48 pm ET
Democrats dream of powering society entirely with wind and solar farms combined with massive batteries. Realizing this dream would require the biggest expansion in mining the world has seen and would produce huge quantities of waste.
“Renewable energy” is a...
This was sent to me by a loyal listener. It is quite detailed, but explodes many radon myths.
THINGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME
1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
3. My father taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
4. My father taught me...
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