The Official Newspaper for Foster County

Articles written by Emily How


Sorted by date  Results 1 - 5 of 5

  • Dakota Gardener: How did your garden grow?

    Emily How, NDSU Extension Agent, Ward County|Oct 28, 2024

    How did your garden season go? This summer I participated in three different NDSU Home Garden Variety Trials, and planted nine tomato plants, potatoes, beans, melons, cucumber, different squashes and much more. As I start to pull out plants and clean up my garden area, I cannot help but compare this season to the previous and how it helped prepare me for this year. Now it may seem early for planning next year's garden, but while the garden season is fresh in my memory, I jotted down some notes...

  • Dakota Gardener: Divide and conquer your garden

    Emily How, NDSU Extension Agent, Ward County|Sep 16, 2024

    "You'll never guess what I found behind the shed ... another peony," I shouted to my husband. This makes the tenth peony we have found in a random location around our backyard. Considering the peony is growing right next to my compost bin, I am not planning on keeping it there. Add that to the lilies I found along the fence line, the iris in the middle of the yard and the surprise tulips that popped up this spring in the front of the house, I have enough flowers to fill in some of the bare...

  • Dakota Gardener: Brighten the shade with a hosta

    Emily How, NDSU Extension Agent, Ward County|Jun 24, 2024

    "I need to plant a hosta under my tree, which variety is your favorite?" This innocent question to one of the NDSU Extension Master Gardeners in Ward County sent me down a rabbit hole learning about this beautiful shade-loving plant. Hostas are a member of the asparagus family and are native to Asia. With over 2,000 different cultivars, there are many different leaf and flower colors, and variegations. Common flower colors are white, lavender and purple. The bell-shaped flowers may be fragrant...

  • Dakota Gardener: Forcing an early harvest of rhubarb

    Emily How, NDSU Extension Agent, Ward County|May 13, 2024

    There is a song going viral right now on social media about a woman named Barbara who is famous for her rhubarb pie. The entire song is a German tongue twister and catchy. Rhubarb is also trending due to a trend of people “forcing” rhubarb, a growing technique that is used for an earlier and tastier rhubarb harvest. I guess rhubarb is a pretty popular plant worldwide. Growing rhubarb is a widespread practice in most North Dakota gardens. This plant can grow quite large and take over an ent...

  • Dakota Gardener: Signs of spring around us

    Emily How, NDSU Extension Agent, Ward County|Apr 1, 2024

    My 98-year-old great aunt always says that spring is here when the mesquite trees start to bud and the bluebonnets bloom. That works fine in Texas where mesquite trees and bluebonnets are common, but here in North Dakota, there are other signs that point to spring. To help this native Texan understand what the signs of spring are in North Dakota, I did an office poll. Birds returning and singing, trees starting to bud, the smell of the soil, bulbs emerging and crocus blooming were the common...