Blog - The Organic Forecast

June 18, 2017

This the Season for Pests!

Warm weather brings about bounty in our vegetable gardens and fruit trees which in turn attracts garden pests – lots and lots of garden pests! Successful pest control relies on early detection and proper control methods if necessary. Check out the latest tree fruit and vegetable pest advisories for pests currently on the ‘most wanted’…

June 11, 2017

Top 3 Fun Summer Activities for Gardeners

It’s official, summer is upon us! Here at the Salt Lake County Extension office we recognize the summer season not only from hot temperatures and the last day of school, but by the increased visitors and everyday hustle and bustle that fills our office. We have been busy maintaining gardens, keeping up with pest alerts…

June 4, 2017

The Pests Have Descended Upon Us!

Check out the latest Utah pest advisory for pest management tips for tree fruit. Peach Twig Borer, Backyard Orchard Irrigation Topics covered in this advisory: Woolly apple aphid Peach twig borer Western cherry fruit fly Backyard Orchard Irrigation

May 28, 2017

Showing Gratitude to Salt Lake County Seniors

We are gearing up our garden to grow fresh produce again for Salt Lake County seniors who visit our pop-up farmer’s markets at senior centers this summer. Salt Lake County Master Gardeners are hard at working prepping, planning, and planting our Meals Plus Harvest Garden located at Wheeler Historic Farm. Many thanks to Mountain Valley…

May 21, 2017

Average Last Frost Means Just That – Average!

Okay, so let’s step back for a second and consider what happened this past week – 2 inches of snow on the ground after Mother’s Day? Yep it happened and although atypical for most recent years, snow in May is a real possibility for the Wasatch Front. Hopefully you held off planting your warm season…

May 14, 2017

USU Extension – Hot Topics

Utah State University Extension programming is in full boom! Below you will find information on upcoming events with cutting-edge topics. Biochar According to the USDA ARS website, biochar is “black carbon produced from biomass sources (wood chips, plant residues, manure or other agricultural waste products) for the purpose of transforming the biomass carbon into a more stable form…

May 7, 2017

The Big Day Has Arrived!

You’ve had it marked on the calendar for months, maybe even a whole year. You’ve spent hours planning the details. You’ve estimated the budget, mapped how to get to the venue and charted exactly where everything is to be placed. Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for– time to buy those plants! Spring weddings might…

Flowers with blog entry title- gardening

April 30, 2017

Calling All Gardening Enthusiasts!

If you have ever wanted to be informed, up-to-date, and covered on the latest and greatest gardening info, then this post is for you! Check out the latest pest advisories from the Utah Pests Team and this announcement on an upcoming high tunnel field day in Logan – here at USU Extension, we have you…

April 23, 2017

Make your Own Black Gold at Home – 5 tips for starting a backyard compost pile.

Backyard composting can be an extremely gratifying experience for gardeners – beginning or advanced. Backyard composting provides a means for recycling kitchen and yard waste with an end benefit of a dark brown, humus-rich soil amendment for your garden. Here are 5 tips for successful composting at home! Get going in the spring. Rapid breakdown…

April 16, 2017

Talk About Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!

We all know that fresh fruits and vegetables tend to hold a higher price tag then processed food, but can you imagine paying almost $4,400 for one strawberry? Luxury fruits, like strawberries the size of tennis balls or grapes the size of ping pong balls, are making a statement in Japan and CNN’s Georgia McCafferty…

April 9, 2017

The Ultimate (Utah) Gardening Guide

Modern technology makes it so easy to Google a gardening question and quickly receive an abundance of answers from online websites or social media, but have you ever stopped to see where that information is coming from? While we love to hear how gardener’s are growing successfully across the nation, or even around the world,…

April 2, 2017

Winter Webinar Series

In order to help commercial vegetable producers better manage pests in their operations, Utah State University Extension developed four “IPM Winter Webinars”. We thought these would be useful and interesting for hobby gardeners and dedicated followers of the ‘Organic Forecast’ as well, so we have decided to share! We announced the first webinar in this series,…

March 26, 2017

Bees are on the Brain

Spring has sprung and bees are back! Some gardeners get giddy viewing their first crocus or daffodil of the year – me, I get giddy when I see my first native bee and I’ve seen many thus far this year – yahoooo! I wanted to make sure to share these awesome videos from the Integrated Crop…

March 19, 2017

Fruit Tree Fanfare

Fruit trees are on brain of many gardeners this time of year so it is opportune to announce upcoming classes and important resources. USU Extension Fruit Tree Grafting Classes – learn how to preserve your grandmother’s favorite apple tree! Come learn the basics of fruit tree grafting in these hands-on workshops! Critical Temperatures for Frost…

March 12, 2017

DYI Pruning Your Fruit Trees, Grapes and Raspberries

Nothing is more gratifying than learning how to do something yourself. I find many gardeners are a little apprehensive to take pruners to their fruit trees and small fruits but this is a skill you can learn to do on your own and USU Extension is here to help you! Check out these great 3…

March 5, 2017

Who says you can’t teach old bees new tricks?

For those of you that love the weird, wacky, wonderful world of new wisdom, this story is for you! As many of you know, I love bees, especially bumblebees, so I couldn’t resist sharing this story. Turns out bumblebees with their tiny brains are trainable – now I love these bee-utiful animals even more! Enjoy.…

Joseph M. DiTomaso, University of California - Davis, Bugwood.org

February 26, 2017

Whoa, Wait, Winter Annual, What’s that?

With the snow disappearing, I have two words for you – Winter Annuals! Argh weed control, it seems we never escape it beyond a few winter months when the ground is covered in snow. It turns out there are two common categories of annual weeds (weeds that live for one growing season and must re-seed…

February 19, 2017

Food For Thought!

This blog addresses a lot of gardening topics, but often overlooked is the topic of why we garden, PRODUCE! Yummy, fresh and nutritious food that we can share with our friends and family. Growing our own food allows us to know exactly what went into the meal we find on our plates and now more than ever,…

Starting seeds in doors can relieve cabin fever

February 12, 2017

Cabin Fever Reliever

Here in Utah we’ve recently experienced a small bout of warm weather inspiring many to get outside, breathe some fresh air and look for signs of spring. Unfortunately it’s still only February and if you believe the theory of the groundhog, we have a few more weeks of winter before we can seriously consider getting…

February 5, 2017

Fruit, Frost, February – 3 words that belong together.

I’m not sure if you have noticed recently, but it is still cold outside which is good news for you, me and fruit growers alike! Cold temperatures prevent fruit buds from breaking dormancy abnormally early in the spring which may decrease the chance of frost damage to blossoms in coming months. Cold weather also contributes…