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Gardening
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3 Invasive Tree Pests to Watch
It is devastating when a tree loses the battle with an insect pest, leaving a hole in the landscape that can't be refilled quickly. Sadly, many trees fall prey to invasive insects-here are three destructive ones to watch.
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Blast Off With Bright Color!
Peer at an individual flower from the inflorescence of Starship Scarlet lobelia, and you might be reminded of a hummingbird hovering in flight.
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VEGETABLES to Plant Now for a FALL HARVEST
Extend the growing season with a second planting of fast-growing and cool-season crops!
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DESIGN DILEMMAS
WE'VE ALL BEEN THERE: Struck by the unexpected beauty of a plant at the garden center, in a flurry of inspiration, we grab other beautiful companions, purchase them all, and head home full of grand plants and visions but no real plan. Sometimes it works out, and many times it doesn't because designing a garden takes attention to nuts and bolts: the hows, wheres and with-whats. What dilemmas do you face? Flip through the following pages of inspiring photos and get practical solutions to your garden woes. Improve your garden's layout, add function, color it with your personality, and find that perfect fix that boosts your garden from good to better to best. Let's get started!
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Fabulous Summer Flowers
There here are two ways to keep the color going in your garden through the summer..
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Small Flock Poultry
Predator Protection
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Beyond Firewood
I knew the silver maple tree in my backyard was in pretty rotten shape, but hearing the decades-old tree fall was still a shock
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Sheep & Goats
There are obvious benefits to raising sheep and goats. Meat is likely the first that comes to mind
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BEST BEEF & PERFECT PORK
THESE BREEDS THRIVE ON SMALL-SCALE HOBBY FARMS
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Insectary Strips
In addition to offering food sources to honeybees and native pollinators, insectary strips can provide your homestead with noninsect-derived benefits
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Zero-Turn Mowers
If you're coming from lawn and garden tractors, you might not immediately recognize a zero-turn mower as a member of the mowing family
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Homegrown Fungi
Tony Shields has been fascinated with mushrooms for as long as he can remember
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When it RAINS...
Today's weather can be bust or boom, and bioswales and rain gardens help control the overflow during boom times.
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Charge Tools with Solar
Ongoing improvements to batteries O have helped increasing numbers of gardeners to cut the cord- and the need for gasoline - for their string trimmers, edgers, lawn mowers and other gadgets.
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THE GREAT CATTLE DEBATE
Grain-fed versus grass-fed - is one better than the other?
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The Queen of Topiary
Linda Vater talks us through the transition from self-taught hobby gardening to becoming a national gardening guru.
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LAMBS, AMERICAN STYLE
The Katahdin is a native sheep breed that requires only little maintenance and is easy to care for.
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Grass-Fed Meat
The fastest way to increase the carbon content of a degraded soil is to establish a perennial grassland and graze it with ruminant animals in a proper manner
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OPEN THE HATCH
PURCHASING YOUR SPRING CHICKS FROM A HATCHERY IS MORE THAN JUST CLICK AND WAIT
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Holey Cow!
Bovines have an amazing ability to turn relatively undigestable grass, hay and other roughage into nutrients and energy
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POWER YOUR SOIL WITH Probiotics
HEALTHIER SOIL MAKES FOR HEALTHIER PLANTS AND PEOPLE
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A Perfect PORKER
The woolly, low-maintenance Mangalitsa pig provides succulent meat for a small farm.
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GOAT HOOF TRIM
Sooner or later, you'll need to trim your goats' hooves.
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Equipment Fires
About three years ago, the day before the predicted first frost of the season, Bledsoe County farmer and retired agriculture teacher Bobby Loyd was baling late-fall hay with plans to wrap it for silage.
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Is Metal Ever Trash?
Our neighbor told my wife and me how she stopped her fourth-grader as she was pulling a bottle cap out of their kitchen trash can, saying, “Honey, put that back.
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Downright Squirrelly
WE ALL WANT our gardens to attract wildlife. In theory. But when it comes down to it we’re rather specific about which are welcome and how we expect them to behave (same as with family and friends). Meanwhile, wildlife has its own agenda and, apparently, little regard for ours. It’s perfectly natural that sometimes the peace unravels.
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LANDSCAPE ART
In the Brandywine Valley, a comprehensive approach to preservation
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WINNING PLANTS
PHS Gold Medal Plants
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PART OF THE FAMILY: Ericaceae
DISCOVER NORTH AMERICA'S UNEXPECTED MEMBERS OF THE HEATH FAMILY
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FOUND IN TRANSLATION
A mid-century American landscape interprets eighth-century Chinese garden design to lasting effect