Wood chip mulch is again available at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension orchard located 100 yards east of Horse Drive and North Decatur Boulevard.
Local Columns
The Sonoran Desert is tough on plants, yet the saguaro is a master of survival. It is one of many plants protected by the Native Plant Protection Act.
The temperature of compost when it’s cooling is only about 105 degrees. The center of the pile might be hotter, but it’s not hot enough to damage plants.
A sense of adventure and plenty of hiking sensibility are what’s needed for Late Night Trailhead, where manageable and meandering trails sprawl into the Las Vegas outback.
Phone apps are good for predicting a possible freeze, but nothing replaces verification that an actual freeze happened. Maximum/minimum thermometers are a good bench check against your phone app or the National Weather Service predictions.
Established in 1939, the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge encompasses more than 665,000 acres and protects more than 400 desert bighorn sheep and other wildlife.
It is best to think of plants along a continuum (mesic vs. xeric) regarding whether they grow best in dry or wet soil or the type of mulch covering the surface of a landscape soil. So, instead, we group plants into these two categories for convenience.
Zion National Park is one of our favorite landscapes any time of year, but in winter its stark mountains, stripped of summer foliage, will be all the more breathtaking.
Plants are not expecting normal low temperatures early or late in the winter season and are not prepared for them. Having a recording maximum/minimum thermometer and having the weather app prepares you for anticipating winter freezes.
Be careful when buying a soil moisture sensor. Sometimes they don’t always work.
A major key when converting to lower water use is to use as few plants of a larger size as possible. The fewer plants you use and still accomplish your goals, the better.
Grapevine Canyon is one of the finest petroglyph sites in Southern Nevada. It is also one of the easiest to visit on a day trip.
Some composts are rich and full of nutrients. Other times they are not so rich, and the addition of a fertilizer might be needed.
The Blythe Intaglios are so large that they were not noticeable to non-Indigenous people until 1932. That year, pilot George Palmer spotted them while flying from Las Vegas to Blythe, California.
There is some discussion in academic circles whether crops grown in vertical farms aimed at feeding the world should be the higher-value horticultural crops or staple crops like multiple crops of wheat but with 70- to 80-day turnovers.
