2017 Southwest Yard & Garden Archives
January
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January 7, 20171 – Old Christmas trees can be put to use in the garden after the holidays rather than being burned or sent to clutter the landfill.
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January 14, 20171 - Pocket gophers can be problems in New Mexico, but control is possible, and there are natural predators who help us.
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January 21, 20171 – Container gardens can provides some benefits to New Mexico gardeners, but they can also create new gardening challenges.
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January 28, 20171 – Providing standardized irrigation instructions on plant labels can be challenging.
February
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February 4, 20171 – Transplanting established fruit trees can be sometimes be successful if done properly.
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February 11, 20171 – Mustard weeds are problems in New Mexico, but there are things you can do to manage the problems.
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February 18, 20171 - Oxalis plants may look like clover, but they are a different plant that can become problems in landscapes and gardens.
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February 25, 20171 – Pecan weevil quarantines in New Mexico are limited to the areas where the weevils were found, but New Mexico gardeners should be watching for the weevil in their pecans.
March
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March 4, 20171 – Weevils that attack only puncture vine (goathead) plants are one tool to use with others in managing puncture vines in some New Mexico gardens.
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March 11, 20171 – The pitch produced by a pine tree when it is injured is its own natural pruning sealer.
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March 18, 20171 – Hardware cloth under raised garden beds can help protect gardens from gophers.
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March 25, 20171 – Trees grown in containers can be done almost any season in New Mexico, but if the trees have been in the container too long there may be problems.
April
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April 1, 20171 – Piñon needle scale infestations can often be managed by removing their egg masses from the base of the tree to prevent reinfestation.
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April 8, 20171 – Mulberry trees which have been pollarded, or pseudo-pollarded, may grow if pollarding ceases, but they may also become hazardous trees.
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April 15, 20171 – Sprouts from cut trees can be managed with herbicides or by manually removing the sprouts as soon as they appear.
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April 22, 20171 – Unproductive field soil can be amended with compost and used in raised bed gardens.
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April 29, 20171 – Pomegranates may be grown in parts of New Mexico, but some winter protection may be needed.
May
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May 6, 20171 – Desiccation of newly planted landscape plants may be caused by many factors.
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May 13, 20171 – In-line drip irrigation is appropriate for some gardening situations providing efficient irrigation for your plants.
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May 20, 20171 - Grape pruning is important for good production of fruit.
2 - There are several sources of information to determine the cause of seasonal pollen allergies.
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May 27, 20171 – African rue is a difficult to manage weed invading New Mexico.
June
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June 3, 20171 – In some parts of New Mexico flowering plums, apricots, and some other fruits do not consistently produce fruit.
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June 10, 20171 – It is indeed feasible to save pits (seeds) from a dying apricot tree to start a new tree.
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June 17, 20171 – Container grown trees may be planted in the summer and will get some help from the monsoon rains, but don’t trust the monsoon for adequate irrigation.
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June 24, 20171 - Annual rejuvenation pruning may be used to reduce and maintain the size of Spanish broom shrubs.
July
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July 1, 20171 – Desert willows often start life as shrubs and become multi-trunked small trees or large shrubs, so breakage is not a major problem for them.
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July 8, 20171 – Agave plants produce babies (offsets) as their replacements when they die.
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July 15, 20171 – Summer lawn problems can be due to several stresses.
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July 22, 20171 – Soil tests can help you prepare your soil to increase the chances of successful future gardens.
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July 29, 20171 – Cockroaches in the garden may become pests indoors.
August
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August 5, 20171 – Blueberries are extremely difficult to grow in New Mexico and not recommended, but some gardeners love a challenge.
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August 12, 20171 – Excess water may cause damage to lawns in New Mexico, but there are other problems to consider as well.
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August 19, 20171 – Cottonwood (Poplar) trees drop leaves due to mid-summer heat stress, but not all do so equally for various reasons.
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August 26, 20171 – Lightning damage to trees may be obvious or subtle, fatal or non-fatal.
September
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Blame It On the Rain - Sep. 2Identification and Control of Powdery Mildew
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Get Your Goat(heads) - Sep. 16Control Puncturevine Before It Controls You
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Easiest (Nearly) Un-Killable Edibles for New Mexico - Sep. 30Experts Share Their Top Picks
October
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Knowing How Much to Water: #itscomplicated - Oct. 7Answer Part 1
November
December
Marisa Y. Thompson, PhD, is the Extension Horticulture Specialist, in the Department of Extension Plant Sciences at the New Mexico State University Los Lunas Agricultural Science Center, email: desertblooms@nmsu.edu, office: 505-865-7340, ext. 113.
Links:
For more gardening information, visit the NMSU Extension Horticulture page at Desert Blooms and the NMSU Horticulture Publications page.
Send gardening questions to Southwest Yard and Garden - Attn: Dr. Marisa Thompson at desertblooms@nmsu.edu, or at the Desert Blooms Facebook page.
Please copy your County Extension Agent and indicate your county of residence when you submit your question!