Ask the master gardener: Winter sowing and growing in small spaces
Tips for creating your own mini-greenhouses using milk jugs, potting soil, and setting it in the snow with this relatively new alternative to starting seeds under lights.
Written By:
Jackie Burkey and Jennifer Knutson | U of M Extension Master Gardeners | 12:00 am, Jan. 31, 2021 ×
By creating your own mini-greenhouses using milk jugs, potting soil, a little moisture and seeds, you can let nature decide when the seeds should sprout. Submitted photo
Dear Master Gardener: I keep hearing about winter sowing seeds. What is it and how do I do it?
Answer: Winter sowing is a relatively new alternative to starting seeds indoors under lights. By creating your own mini-greenhouses, you can let nature decide when the seeds should sprout. This works especially well for seeds that need to go through cold-stratification to break the seed coat.
Farm, Garden & Outdoors calendar published Jan. 30, 2021
Events and classes scheduled in the outdoors, gardening and farming. Submit your event at news@wctrib.com by noon on Tuesday. Written By: Donna Middleton | ×
Outdoors
Prairie Sportsman: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31, and repeats at 12:30 p.m. Monday and 7:30 p.m. following Saturday on Pioneer PBS. Join host Bret Amundson for “Diving Deep and Eating Insects.” Explore mine pit lakes, growing and eating insects and backyard pocket prairie kits.
Prairie Sportsman: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7, and repeats at 12:30 p.m. following Monday and 7:30 p.m. following Saturday on Pioneer PBS. Join host Bret Amundson for “Bluegills and Salty Waters.” Take a fishing trip in Otter Tail County to learn about the Quality Bluegill Initiative, road salt impacts on our waters and strange Minnesota native plants.
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University of Minnesota to host virtual gardening series Gardening from the Ground Up is four days of free content on starting your garden from scratch to tree maintenance and more. 3:07 pm, Jan. 29, 2021 ×
Laura Palombi selects plants to buy at Gordy s Gift & Garden Center in Duluth. Plant selection will be discussed during a Gardening from the Ground Up webinar series hosted by the University of Minnesota Extension. (Steve Kuchera / 2020 file / News Tribune)
Get your gardening caps on.
The University of Minnesota Extension is launching Gardening from the Ground Up four days of free content on starting your garden from scratch, plant selection, shrub and tree maintenance and more.
Farmers need to heed climate weirdness, agronomist says
Climate change, controversial in agricultural circles, deserves careful attention, a University of Minnesota extension agronomist said in a recent presentation 5:30 am, Jan. 27, 2021 ×
Some fields in rural Grand Forks County were completely covered in water on July 6, 2020, after extreme rainfall in the area the last days of June and early days of July. Katie Pinke / Forum News Service
Jochum Wiersma knows that climate change, which he also refers to as climate weirdness, is polarizing in agricultural circles. But he urges area agriculturalists to carefully consider how changing weather affects their businesses. I understand this a controversial topic and there s debates that are very heated on either side. And it s one of the reasons I called it climate weirdness. We have to understand that all those things that are projected are basically computer simulations, and with that there are some a