Mowing Makes It Worse – for Oct. 8, 2009

Mowing ditches may be doing more than just making the roads look pretty, reducing the odds of wildlife jumping out in front of cars, and preventing snow buildup in winter. It may be speeding up the spread of leafy spurge and other troublesome weeds. A study published in Invasive Plant Science and Management, the journal

Haskap Plantings Double In 2009

Getting to know Blue Honeysuckle FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Are all edible Blue Honeysuckle plants Haskap? No. Only selected cultivars released by the University of Saskatchewan are Haskap because the Japanese evaluators considered them to be of high enough quality for the Japanese market. There are many other varieties of Blue Honeysuckle on the market, but


Bugs Free For The Picking

“If you’ve ever seen fleas on a dog, how they jump and go crazy – that’s how these things move” – Nancy Gray, Iaps Co-Ordinator For Eastern Saskatchewan The best things in life are free, they say. That includes leafy spurge beetles. A bug net, a paper bag, a cooler and some ice packs are

Gardening With Hydrangeas

Easy to grow and care for, they’re not troubled by pests or diseases and their blooms dry well. If I had to choose my favourite flowering shrub, hydrangeas would top the list. Their finest features are their attractive, fragrant, long-blooming flowers that come into bloom in midsummer and continue to do so for weeks. Easy


Has ethanol’s boost to corn prices run its course?

Recent news stories have been flush with reports about developments in cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels production. Maybe these reports help provide an understanding of why Informa Economics recently forecast corn prices below $3 with wheat prices below $4 and soybeans under $7. Let’s look at the biofuels news first and then see what implications

Asparagus ferns — not just outdoor plants

The common asparagus fern grows from fleshy rhizomes which will often be visible on the soil surface. There are hundreds of varieties of ferns and luckily for us gardeners many of them are easy to grow in an ordinary indoor environment. One group of ferns that are dependable and beautiful houseplants are the ferns in


USDA supports new biofuels

Developers can apply for $320 million in loan guarantees to build plants that produce new-generation biofuels, the U. S. Agriculture Department said Nov. 19, with an eye to bringing the fuels to market. The loan guarantee program, created by the new U. S. farm law, is intended to speed commercial production of advanced biofuels. Corn

Corn ethanol falls out of favour

Corn-based ethanol is yesterday’s news for venture capitalists who, these days, are betting on everything from wood chips and algae to turkey guts and trash as potential sources of next-generation biofuels. Corn ethanol caught the imagination of U. S. policy-makers as a way to fix multiple problems: rising oil prices, dependence on foreign oil and