Garden Guru: Teaching kids about the birds, butterflies and bees
By By John Porter For the Sunday Gazette-Mail This spring I've been teaching kids the importance of pollinators at various educational events. It has been interesting to see how these youngsters take...
View ArticleSpiders among most effective predators of plant pests
By By Dean Fosdick The Associated Press Although many people have a built-in aversion to them, spiders rank as one of the gardener's best tools for biological pest control. They also are one of the...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Extend harvests by replanting now
By By John Porter For the Sunday Gazette-Mail Now that summer has officially arrived after the summer solstice, it is time to once again look forward to your garden's future and plan for a bountiful...
View ArticleMore than edibles, artichokes can also be ornamentals
By By Dean Fosdick The Associated Press Globe artichokes have much to contribute to home gardens, from providing thin layers of leathery leaves for delectable dining to serving as flowery backdrops in...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Avoid contaminated plants after flooding
By By John Porter For the Sunday Gazette-Mail Many of us watched in horror as flood waters ravaged communities around West Virginia over the last week or so. The flooding has been devastating with...
View ArticleDogwoods' beauty continues into summer
By By Lee Reich The Associated Press The last of the "hounds of spring" is in its glory. Dogwood. The flamboyant show began back in late winter when cornelian cherry (Cornus mas), a kind of dogwood,...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Grow summer brambles for the Appalachian sweet tooth
By By John Porter For the Sunday Gazette-Mail High summer means many favorite fruits are ripening. Peaches are probably one of my favorites, and local trees from the Eastern Panhandle and bins at the...
View ArticleFresh food fans get five-course meal straight from the farm at Gritt's
By Carlee Lammers BUFFALO — Chef Stephen Owens just couldn’t help himself. Guests at the Gritt’s Farm July 9 farm-to-table dinner were expecting a four-course meal, but he wanted to cook more. So five...
View ArticleCutting mosquito numbers in the garden helps control disease
By By DEAN FOSDICK The Associated Press Mid-summer is shirt-sleeve weather, an enjoyable time of year to be out and about with family and friends. But it also is the heart of mosquito season, so...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Regrowth after floods isn't easy
By By John Porter For the Sunday Gazette-Mail A farmer new to Clendenin watched as the fence posts placed around her future strawberry field just one day earlier washed away one by one in the raging...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Defenses against summer diseases
By By John Porter For the Sunday Gazette-Mail The long, sultry days of summer roll on, bringing the heat, humidity and occasional storm. The vegetable garden is churning along, relishing the heat and...
View ArticleMoss can be a versatile and beautiful addition to any garden
By By LINDA LOMBARDI The Associated Press J. Paul Moore, who owned a garden center in Tennessee for over 30 years, can't count the number of times people asked him how to kill moss. He and other...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Visiting gardener P. Allen Smith in Arkansas
By By John Porter For the Sunday Gazette-Mail As I stepped down off the perfectly air-conditioned tour bus, the oppressive heat and humidity slapped me squarely in the face. After taking a moment to...
View ArticleA stately weed: Tree-of-heaven isn't so heavenly
By By LEE REICH The Associated Press Is it thumbs up or thumbs down for tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), now standing out among the general greenery for the mops of yellowish or orangeish seeds...
View ArticleFarm 2 Fork Team: Dried beans go beyond cold-weather foods
By By Allan Hathaway WV Farm 2 Fork Team Summer is a great time for dried beans. At The Purple Onion, we find that we sell dried beans all year. While some of us think of protein-packed legumes as...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Saving seeds and creating hybrids
Last weekend, despite not having quite recovered from my before-dawn flight from Arkansas the day before, I traveled to the little town of Cowen to teach a fresh crop of Master Gardeners about botany....
View ArticlePhoto: A butterfly stops by
A swallowtail butterfly sits on a butterfly bush in Chloe, located in Clay County on Thursday.
View ArticlePhoto of the Week: Up close with tiny little blooms
Welcome to the world of Astrantia's, where every blossom is a collection of tiny florets. PJ Kirchner of Charleston had to get really, really close to these tiny flowers for this shot. She said every...
View ArticleGarden Guru: Add a taste of Asia to the garden
By By John Porter For the Sunday Gazette-Mail Do your taste buds yearn for flavors beyond that of the usual vegetable garden suspects? Looking for something tasty and easy to grow in the cool season...
View ArticleOne Month at a Time: Learning to preserve an excessive harvest
By Bill Lynch Editor's note: Reporter Bill Lynch started 2016 on a bold mission: to immerse himself in a different facet of life for a full month - every month - for all of 2016, and write about it...
View Article