According to archaeologists, gardeners have been piling mulches on top of their soil for at least 2,000 years now. Why? Well, mulch insulates the garden against the results of temperature extremes. In ...

Let’s talk tomatoes. Who doesn’t associate a backyard-garden with tasty ‘maters, or if you must get technical, lycopersicon esculentum. Those perky six-pack plants at the stores come in two basic type ...

Southern Denton County hugs the edges of USDA hardiness zones 7b and 8a. Some winters, like this past one, we don’t get much cold.  We did get a spring planting vegetable crapshoot because of a late t ...

What do you know about plant stems? They have three major internal tissues: (1) the nursery cells in root or shoot tips that divide into; (2) tubes to transport water and dissolved minerals UP to leav ...

The North Texas vegetable gardening starting gun has gone off. Local gardeners plant lettuces, spinach, radishes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and potatoes.  These plants LOVE full ...

Ever wonder where those live Christmas trees for sale come from? If they’re Texas born and bred, they’re probably Virginia Pines that grew-up in the tasty acid soils of east Texas, let’s say from the ...

At room temperature, water is a colorless, tasteless, odorless substance composed of hydrogen and oxygen gases, joined and cooled to a liquid state. H2O molecules dissolve many other things into goo o ...

The Cross Timbers Artist Guild member list describes Alton Bowman of Flower Mound as a “Furniture Artist.”  If ever there was an understatement, that title is it. He specializes in production of furni ...

Wildflowers do gorgeous things to empty spaces and vases; and, if you want to give them a try, mid-September through mid-November is planting time in north central Texas. Contrary to popular rumor, th ...

Remember high school graduation when you swore you would never revisit chemistry topics like pH? Then you grew up and fell in love with showy azaleas. Your azaleas and bodacious Texas blueberries got ...

By Noelle M. Hood, Resident Green Thumb As far as I am concerned, it is too hot to do anything outside right now. So, sit in the air conditioning with an icy soda and think forward to mid-February. Ar ...

The fruits and vegetables you planted last spring, six months ago, are probably looking ragged by now.  Many may have stopped producing. Those you water and keep alive all summer will get a second win ...

It might interest you to know the biblical prophet Isaiah compared his wayward countrymen to gardeners who had abandoned their cucumber vines. Ever had a bitter ‘cuke? That’s what happens without regu ...

Everything about Lantana’s Erin Spence says: “Made in the DFW Metroplex.” The outgoing 31-year-old local realtor was born at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. She grew up in Cedar Hill. Her bachelor’s degree ...

Curly Locks, Curly Locks, wilt thou be mine? Ye shan’t wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine, But sit by the fire, and sew a fine seam, And feast upon strawberries, sugar, and cream. European Romeos ...

Here’s a word for gardeners: herbaceous. It means plants with green stems and, delightfully often, lush flowers. Think lantanas, red yuccas, purple coneflowers, irises, white ginger, black-eyed Susans ...

“In 1862, the U.S. Congress established land-grant colleges and universities by passing the Morrill Act, which required all states joining the Union to donate land for agriculture and industrial educa ...

President George Bush, Sr., made it clear to America that he, unlike the ancient Romans, refused to eat broccoli (brassica oleracea italic), even if its bud-stalks came slathered in Ranch Dressing. Fo ...

By Valentine’s Day, north Texas soil is warm enough to support a nice crop of cauliflower (brassica oleracea botrytis) varieties and its broccoli relatives (brassica oleracea italica). Don’t dally aro ...

Plant seeds snooze under Mother Nature’s designer jackets called seedcoats. Some of these little garments, on beans for example, are so thin that when moistened they tease like wet T-shirts.  A spinac ...