Garden Guru: For holiday gifting, think local and homemade foods
Now that we are in the season of giving, what do you give the person who has everything? Or how about someone you know little about? Or the host or hostess who has invited you to a celebration? I'm a...
View ArticleWV Farm 2 Fork: Farm to Christmas Table
By By Allen Arnold WV Farm 2 Fork Team At our house, as I expect at yours, all of the Thanksgiving leftovers, after having re-emerged for numerous meals in various disguises, have either been eaten,...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Keep a few things in mind when you pick out your Christmas Tree
'Tis the season to deck the halls and trim the tree.Tree sellers are popping up in local markets and parking lots, and many folks are picking out the perfect Christmas tree. Last year 26 million real...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Extension Service calendars offer knowledge, recipes for new year
Amid the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, and my work preparing my year-end review reports, something very special happens in my office. At some point in December, case upon case is delivered...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Give the Gift of Gardening
The clock is ticking down the days, hours, and minutes to the celebration of Christmas. Hanukkah has come and gone. Kwanzaa will make an appearance, as well as the Solstice, Yule, and Saturnalia. And...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Balancing technology and environment in the garden
By By John Porter For The Gazette-Mail As we say farewell to 2015 and greet 2016 with open arms, let's take a moment to look at what is happening in the garden world. Every year, a company called the...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Dealing with the changing weather
Temperamental and unpredictable - two good words to describe the weather this winter thanks to El Niño.While the term El Niño (meaning The Child) may have come about as reference to this weather...
View ArticleWV Farm 2 Fork Team: A winter food fest and cook-off
By By Allen Arnold WV Farm 2 Fork Team Charleston's Marriott Town Center will be the site for a Farm2Fork weekend Feb. 5 and 6 with the West Virginia Winter Food Festival and Cast Iron Cook-Off. A...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Houseplants improve health and well being
Just about everyone can remember his or her grandmother having a windowsill full of plants - African violets in the kitchen window, common houseplants crowded together in front of a south-facing...
View ArticleFarm2Fork: A new kitchen for fresh produce and more
By By Shelly Keeney WV Farm2Fork Team As market manager of a year-round indoor farmers market, it amazes me to see how many farmers are now venturing out from the norm to provide customers with new...
View ArticleGarden Guru: The new trend in environmentally friendly gardening
For centuries, many gardeners and farmers have worked under the theory that nature is something to be tamed or controlled. Humans have bent the natural world to our will. We select which plants we...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Gardening for man's best friend
We love our pets. Surveys indicate that around 65 percent of American households have pets. In 2015, Americans spent an estimated $61 billion on their pets. By category, it is second only to Christmas...
View ArticleGarden Guru: The dawning of the digital age of gardening
I look at my phone. The screen says "Need Watered" in an angry red text. No, my phone isn't demanding a drink of water (which would not mix well with its electrical components), nor is it some online...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Getting ready for springtime planting
By By John Porter For the Gazette-Mail So we made it through "Snowpocalypse" and have continued our pattern of wild and wacky weather swings. Who knows when spring will actually arrive, but I know I'm...
View ArticleGarden Guru: What to know for National Invasive Species Week
There seems to be a day, a week or a month to celebrate everything, from pie to ice cream, and from friends to presidents. Now more visible than ever thanks to social media, different groups use these...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Why sing the blues when you can plant them?
Blueberries are popular. Next time you are at the grocery store, look in the cart of someone who is a millennial (in their 20s or early 30s); more often than not, there will be blueberries in there....
View ArticleRead labels to know what you're planting
By By WVU Extension Service, Kanawha County As winter moves along, and spring gardening materials begin to fill shelves, you may have seen seed packets marked non-GMO. That distinction might sound...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Take a leap, plant something new
The garden catalogs are filling mailboxes, seed racks at the garden center are festooned with bright, colorful packets and many gardeners are planning and dreaming of the garden year ahead. These are...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Keep your finger on the pulse
The year 2016 has been designated as the international year of the pulse by the UN General Assembly. Just what on earth are pulses? You probably eat them often without knowing what they are called....
View ArticleGarden Guru: Prepare to spring forward in the garden
This weekend we celebrated that time-honored tradition that most of us hate: changing the clock. For me the change usually takes a few days to get used to - I'm particularly sensitive to light levels...
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