Several WCMG members gathered for the first work day of 2013 and enjoyed some early blooms while they worked. Thanks to Linda Robertson and all those who pitched in to help. Click the image below for additional photos.
Butterfly Garden at Cedars of Lebanon – April 2013
The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You’re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
a cloud come over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you’re two months back in the middle of March.
– Robert Frost
Tomatoes are some of the most popular fruits to grow at home, and they’re my personal favorite as well. Depending on where you live, you might have a long enough growing season to get back-to-back plantings going, and it’s not always fun to start from seed. Or you might want to give away some plants to friends and neighbors. You might even have a friend who grows amazing tomatoes and you want one of those for yourself.
Whatever the case, it’s extremely easy to grow new tomato plants from cuttings. If you’re not familiar, it is exactly what it sounds like—a piece of an existing plant that you cut off. No roots, no nothing. Just a piece of a plant and some dirt.
For the first part of this tutorial, I’m using a two-week-old baby tomato plant as the example. Toward the end, I do the same thing, but with a cutting from an adult plant in order to “clone” it. The process is exactly the same for both, though you may have to be gentler with the young plants versus mature cuttings. [ … continue reading ]
Note: Thanks to Jason Ellis for sharing this article with use.
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What’s the secret to raising healthy, carefree vegetables and flowers? Great soil. How can you tell if your soil has what plants need? A soil test. When you send a soil sample to a lab, you get a detailed analysis of soil nutrients and you find out about deficiencies. That’s valuable information. Now you can also assess your soil for even more critical qualities, using a system developed by a team of farmers and soil scientists in Oregon. The methods are quite simple and the only supplies you need are a few items commonly found around the house.
The system, called Willamette Valley Soil Quality Guide, was designed with farmers in mind. But it can be used by gardeners in most zones across the country, says Richard Dick, Ph.D., codeveloper of the system and a professor of soil science at Oregon State University. [ … continue reading ]
Source: http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/10-easy-soil-tests
Those of you who made the March meeting of WCMG saw firsthand some of Richard Connors handiwork with a camera. His subject for that presentation was hummingbirds, but as he mentioned during his address, his latest obsession is dragonflies. Well here are some links to photos of dragonflies, birds, butterflies and other insects. In addition, his lens captures pretty much anything and everything, winged or not.
http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto/tennessee_odonata
http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto/birds
http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto/butterflies
http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto/insects
http://www.pbase.com/rconnorsnaturephoto/root
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UT Extension
TSU Extension
Tennessee Master Gardener
Wilson County Master Gardener Association 
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