Yard and Garden News

Food safety is important for everybody who grows produce. However, if you sell more than $25,000/year (in 2015 dollars), on average, over three years, then you should be aware of a new rule that may apply to you. (Backyard market gardeners and school gardeners—we've got info for you, too!)

It’s called the Produce Safety Rule, and it is one part of the new Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA.

Want to get into the Fall spirit? This year, visitors to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska can see more than 300 varieties of pumpkins, squash and ornamental gourds. It's a veritable vegetable gardener's paradise!

Many homeowners wonder if they should be collecting and removing tree leaves from their lawns prior to mowing, or if the tree leaves can be mulched (mown) into the lawn. Like many recommendations for lawn management decisions, this one can also be answered with the phrase, "it depends."

What should vegetable gardeners do in October to get the garden all ready for next spring? Annie Klodd recorded a Local Foods College webinar on putting your garden to bed for winter. You can watch the webinar recording at this link.

1) Clean up leftover plant matter   Remove diseased plant material. Either bury it away from the garden, burn it, or dispose of it. Do not leave diseased plant material in the garden if possible, because plant disease pathogens living on those plants can cause future disease problems next year.

If you must leave it in the garden, avoid planting that same type of vegetable in the garden for the next 3 years. For more information, read this article.

If the plants seem healthy (not showing any disease symptoms), they can either be tilled into the garden, chipped and spread on the garden surface, or composted. Large fruit still on the plant, like squash or watermelon that was never picked, can either be chopped finely and tilled into the soil, or removed.
2) …

While many perennials are past their prime by the end of September, landscape grasses are at their peak in the fall, with showy flowers and fall color. Warm season grasses, including miscanthus, big and little bluestem, switchgrass and prairie dropseed are in full flower and tallest height with the warm days of summer and fall. Enjoy the flowers and motion of grasses as they sway in the breeze!
Here's why you shouldn't cut them back! Grasses should not be cut back in the fall. Leave the flowering stems up to enjoy through the winter. Fall cutback may increase the chance of winter injury on grasses and is not recommended for Minnesota gardeners. Birds, bees and other wildlife appreciate the cover of grasses in the winter.
My grasses don't look healthy If you have a grass with few flowers, or shorter plants with dead sections, these are indications that the plant should be divided, a good project for next spring.
If you notice dead or yellow stem on some of your grasses, …

Whether you are harvesting from a backyard apple tree or visiting a local orchard, you are likely to find apples that are less than perfect at picking. Don't be dissuaded by appearances. Many of these apples are still quite edible as well as tasty.

There are several different fungal pathogens that infect apple fruit. Diagnosing apple disease problems now can help you make management decisions to reduce disease problems in the future and will help you decide which apples to eat and which to compost.

Is it apple scab? The most common disease of apples in Minnesota is apple scab. Fruit can become infected with the apple scab fungus throughout the growing season. Infections are rough corky spots on the surface of the fruit that are tan to black in color. Scab spots may be small and round or many spots may merge together to form large rough patches on the fruit.

The apple scab fungus does not rot the fruit but if infection occurs when the fruit is young and still growing, fruit may bec…