Lowering total landscape water use requires finding a balance between open areas that need no irrigation with areas that require irrigation.
Local Columns
Nitrogen causes stem growth as well as dark green leaf color. Adding only an iron fertilizer or chelate causes the new growth to become green but does not stimulate new growth that much.
Finding shooting stars and orchids in the no-frills Mojave Desert sounds like an impossible task, yet they’ll be blooming in April and May at Calico Basin.
New residents should plant older varieties that are known successes until they get the hang of growing vegetables in this climate.
When moving any kind of tree from one location to another, I recommend removing about one-quarter to one-third of the tree’s canopy to compensate for the loss of roots.
As soon as you plant your crepe myrtle, it will start straightening as it grows. The light will come at it from all different directions unlike in the nursery. When you plant it, plant it as straight as possible and let the plant figure it out with new growth.
A volunteer opportunity to plant shrubs and flowers around the Nevada Garden Clubs Center will be held March 4 starting at 7 a.m.
Cuttings from citrus trees should be cut slanted at the bottom and straight across at the top end. Cutting them slanted at the bottom end helps to not confuse the top from the bottom.
Rose are fertilized sometime toward the end of January when growth starts. They will need a second application of fertilizer just before it gets hot — about eight to 12 weeks later.
For those entertaining extra wintry indulgences and traveling 450 miles, Northern Nevada and its mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe promise pristine and playful times.
Desert spoon comes from the cooler Chihuahuan Desert’s higher elevations. Desert spoon doesn’t like heat over 110 degrees very much.
Pomegranate handles heat from a hot wall better than either apricot or peach. Anything you plant there should be heat tolerant.
If you are going to apply an iron fertilizer it should be in a chelated form. The best all-around chelate to use is a chelated iron fertilizer called EDDHA.
You’ve got to kill Bermuda grass when it’s alive, which starts growing in late spring, and seed the bare areas after all the grass in that area dies.
Starting off the new year with a Red Rock nature show has been my Jan. 1 choice most years for the past three decades.