| URBANA, Ill. — Even though winter has many weeks to go, many home gardeners are already thinking about spring and University of Illinois Extension has a website offering a wealth of home horticulture possibilities.
“Through our ‘Hort Corner’ site, users have access to 62 different websites covering all aspects of home gardening,” said Jane Scherer, U of I Extension urban programs specialist. “These sites can help you do everything from selecting plants to caring for them.”
Hort Corner is located on Extension’s Urban Programs Resource Network at: www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/hort/
Among the sites on Hort Corner is Selecting Trees for Your Home.
“It contains helpful information for homeowners thinking about adding trees or replacing trees,” said Scherer. “Users can compare trees by size, sunlight exposure, by disease tolerance, and by use. There are also pictures of the various trees so users can have an idea of what the particular tree might look like on their property.”
For the homeowner concerned about his or her lawn, the Lawn Talk site has many answers.
“It contains 30 fact sheets on lawn care prepared by Bruce Spangenberg, a former U of I Extension horticulture educator,” said Scherer.
Plant diseases and insect problems can cause headaches for the home gardener. Relief might be found at a series of sites dealing with those topics - Focus on Plant Problems, the Bug Review, Common Problems for Vegetable Crops, and Major Turf Insects and Diseases.
And if you are interested in long-term plants, Gardening with Perennials can be of assistance.
“These are just some of the sites available in Hort Corner,” said Scherer. “As with many things in life, good preparation is the key to success. Home gardeners can get that preparation at home in the winter by clicking a ‘mouse’.”
This farm news was published in the March 1, 2006 issue of Farm World. |
