The cooler days and cool nights of October are appreciated by most residents of panhandle Florida. Much of the local commercial vegetable production is wrapping up in north Florida and is moving to warmer counties in the extreme southern part of the state. The soon-to-arrive holiday season has refocused the attention of many, with Christmas…Read more
Autumn is the season of bright colors in the landscape. Even the insects, mostly butterflies, contribute to the technicolor scenery. Insects other than butterflies complement the polychromatic hues too. The oblong-winged katydid, Amblycorypha oblongifolia as it is known to entomologists, is a prime example. This grasshopper-like insect is a member of the subfamily Phaneropterinae, which…Read more
Being called a birdbrain is not usually considered a complement. Its synonyms, featherbrain or airhead, are not any better. This mild pejorative dates back to the 1600’s, according to some lexicologists, and is the result of the general population perceiving all avian species as not very intelligent. Domestic birds stayed pinned up and provided eggs…Read more
Gardening during the summer of 2024 has been “interesting”, to say the least, in panhandle Florida. The temperatures have been higher than recent averages and several storms have been quite violent. The environment’s tantrums limited the choice of crops to the stalwarts able to handle the 90-degree temperatures, high humidity and the intermittent rains, some…Read more
As the days become marginally shorter, it is safe to say the leaf raking season is on the horizon. The weeks leading up to the cooling weather can be productively spent on a variety of tasks or idled away thumbing through the library of last spring’s gardening catalogs which are by now pretty shopworn. While…Read more
The opening of 2024’s tenth month has cooler weather on the horizon, finally. While the lawn mowing schedule slowed during September with the shortening days, the unusually warm weather kept turf growing at a rapid pace. The impending seasonal change dictates several behavioral adjustments when it comes to the proper care and maintenance of yard…Read more
Autumn has finally arrived, at least on the calendar. Weather forecasts still predict some days in the low 90’s, but at least the humidity has moderated a bit. While some residents of panhandle Florida consider working in the home landscape a chore, many view it as a means of enhancing their personal environment. One of…Read more
Simple, easy and low maintenance are not normally terms applied to growing vegetables in panhandle Florida, or anywhere else. To every rule, however, there are a few exceptions, and gardening is no different.Gardeners in the coming cool season have many advantages to go along with the challenges. Insects are few to non-existent, there are far…Read more
September is a month of curious contradictions and juxtapositions, at least for gardeners in panhandle Florida. Depending on the individual characteristics of the environmental factors of the year, events and occurrences can, and often do, cancel each other. Still, much can be accomplished during this transitional period from summer to autumn. The summer of 2024…Read more
As described in Monday’s release, there are four walls plus the branch collar that the tree uses to block the spread of decay. Below are the descriptions of these walls as listed in the order of weakest to strongest response: Wall 1 limits the vertical spread of decay up the tree. It is the weakest…Read more
