Fall - The Organic Forecast

September 20, 2020

A Guide To Growing Garlic

Garlic – what is it good for? Absolutely everything! It enhances so many yummy recipes, it’s the focus of fun festivals, and it scares away those pesky vampires. For those living along the Wasatch Front, the season for planting garlic is rapidly coming to an end and the ground will freeze before we know it.…

October 22, 2017

Fall Time Fruit Tree Care

Fall is a great time to get outside and enjoy the colors – and check your fruit trees for evidence of certain diseases. Once again, the Utah Pests Team has come to the rescue and prepared a list of important fall time fruit tree chores. Fall Orchard Chores

October 1, 2017

Advice On Fall Garden Clean Up

For many gardeners finding motivation to put the garden to rest for winter can be challenging. After prepping, planting, weeding, harvesting, etc. tearing out the garden can seem like the most daunting chore but it is one of the most important! The clean-up, removal, and sanitation of diseased plants in the garden is the first…

October 27, 2019

Don’t Get Spooked Over Spiders! – Redux

Some things are erringly predictable; as the nighttime temperatures dip; spiders start showing-up inside the house and in protected areas around the garden. Although spooky to some, it is important to remember that spiders are great generalist predators of common garden insect pests and are therefore considered beneficial in the garden. It is important to…

October 8, 2017

A New Season for Master Gardeners

Well it’s official, the 2017 Master Gardener volunteer season has come to an end! With a deadline of October 1st for all volunteer service hours to be completed, we wisely used the final hours to tear out plants and remove trellises at Wheeler Historic Farm. The Meals Plus garden has been put to bed (get…

September 24, 2017

Fall Bulb & Native Plant Sale

Fall is the perfect time to plant spring flowering bulbs – including edible bulbs like garlic! It’s also a fantastic time to add flowering perennials, ornamental grasses, woody shrubs and native plants to your landscape. The cooler temperatures are less stressful for the transplant and there is still enough time before the soil freezes for…

September 17, 2017

Fun Fall Festivities at Wheeler Farm

Pumpkin Days September 29th – October 31st Fall is filled with crisp, cool mornings, changing leaves and a shift in work tasks for the farmer. Harvest season slows and we begin to think about winding down for winter. What better way to experience fall than to get outside and enjoy it before winter sets in?…

September 11, 2016

Saying Goodbye to Summer.

As days get shorter, temperatures dip and football games grace television we are reminded that the dog days of summer are behind us and we must prepare our gardens for winter. Fall is a busy time for gardeners. Days are filled with chores that (hopefully) prepare us for an easy spring. It is a great…

September 27, 2015

Fall Garden Checklist- Top 10

Fall is the time of year when it is natural for any gardener to be a little tired of pulling bindweed plants. I hear you, enough with the weeding, farmers’ tan, snails, giant zucchini fruit, grasshoppers and split tomatoes! But wait, before you take a temporary break from your garden, make sure you complete the…

September 25, 2016

Raised Bed Gardening

Utah is always plugging the slogan “Life Elevated” so why not elevate your garden too! Raised bed gardening is a great option for Utah growers, especially those in areas with poor soil. Raised beds modify the soil and improve the growing environment thereby allowing earlier planting and increasing production. There are many things to consider…

October 2, 2016

Find Time for Fall Turn Down

Garden plants are taking cues – shorter days and cooler temperatures mean fall is approaching. Sometimes it is hard to convince yourself to work in the garden after a long hot summer of pulling weeds, but fall garden care is important for a healthy spring garden. Get motivated and take advantage of cool fall days…

September 18, 2014

Tip of the Week: 5 tips on Growing Garlic in the Garden

NOW is the time to start thinking about planting garlic in your garden. Garlic is a hardy perennial that prefers full sun and fertile, well drained soils with plenty of organic matter & it’s tasty!

November 13, 2016

Leave it, just leave it!

[Sing to the beat of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”]…. You’ve got some leaves just lying on your lawn. It’s so much work to rake them all up – uh! Set down the rake and fire up the mower, just leave it, just leave it – uh! Love raking or loath yard work, leaves are…

October 30, 2016

Got Vampires? Plant Garlic.

Halloween can be a pretty spooky time of the year, but one sure way of keeping the vampires at bay is to plant garlic. Seriously, garlic has a place in every garden and should be planted in the garden, well, around Halloween! Here are a few tips for planting garlic in the garden: Plant garlic…

October 23, 2016

Fall Spider Activity – Friend or Foe?

Spiders are commonly described as spooky, scary, creepy-crawly and/or frightening. This description, paired with the fact that their encounters with humans increase in the fall, make them a perfect topic to blog about as Halloween nears! During the fall, many spiders are approaching the end of their life and begin searching for mates, laying eggs and seeking shelter. These…

September 6, 2015

Timely Tip: Plant Disease Focus — Powdery Mildew

I have been seeing a lot of, and been receiving lots of calls about, a common disease of multiple garden plants including squash, cucumber, pumpkin and melon. Perhaps you have noticed recent decline of some of these garden plants and seen a white powdery substance on leaves? If so, you were probably looking at powdery…

November 8, 2020

So you want to be a Master Gardener?

It’s the time of year again when the harvest is in full swing, kids are back to school and the Extension office is flooded with phone calls from those eagerly inquiring about the upcoming Master Gardener program. Throughout the year we keep an interest list with names and emails of those who would like to…

November 18, 2014

Tip of the Week: Adding Organic Matter to Soil

Fall is an excellent time to incorporate organic matter into your garden soil and can often come in the form of fallen leaves, which seem to be never ending this time of year. If leaves are not easily available to you, you may want to consider coffee grounds, wood chips/sawdust, your last grass clippings and/or…

October 16, 2014

Solving Spooky Compost Mysteries

Don’t let those frightening smells, creepy pests and other compost mysteries keep you from being a successful composting queen or king! Fall is the perfect time to start a compost pile (or add to what you already have). The chart below, which comes from “A Guide to Common Organic Gardening Questions” offers up USU Extension’s…

September 29, 2014

Winter Cover Crops

Have you considered growing a winter cover crop? If so, now is the time to pull those dwindling warm season annuals out of your beds and start seeding. Cover crops can be very beneficial to an organic grower in a variety of ways: they provide year-round habitat for beneficial insects, added nutrients back to the…