Yard & Garden

A basic soil sample is good to have to know the basics about a soil, such as pH, organic matter content, and more. This can lead to good soil management practices which are the foundation of plant health. The University of Nebraska no longer provides soil sampling for a fee. Instead, we provide information on private labs soil samples can be sent to.

There are several commercial labs across Nebraska which can do soil and water testing. Visit Nebraska Soil & Water Testing Labs for more information. 

Tree leaves, grass clippings, plant stems, spent flowers, fruit and vegetable scraps, straw, hay, sawdust, choped or shredded tree and shrub prunings, coffee grounds and eggshells.  Branches and twigs larger than one-quarter inch in diameter should be put through a shredder or chipper before composting. If you have access to manure, it can be used, too.

Do not add meat scraps, bones, grease or dairy products to the compost pile because they will cause odors and attract rodents. Do not use weeds that have gone to seed or diseased plants. Home composting is unlikely to attain a heat level high enough to kill all seeds or disease organisms.

Garden Compost

6 Common Composting Questions

Uses of Compost in a Landscape

If your lawn is thin, overseeding may be needed. Provide good seed-soil contact through aerification. If seeding can’t be done before May 15^th, then wait until fall to overseed.

Careful selection of a preemergent herbicide is necessary for your seeding to be successful. Mesotrione and siduron (Tupersan) are the only preemergent chemicals that can be used on lawns while seeding. Both kill germinating crabgrass and foxtail, but will not kill germinating Kentucky bluegrass or tall fescue seeds.

Mesotrione is the active ingredient in Scott’s Turf Builder Triple Action Built for Seeding and is one of the most common homeowner products in stores for new seedings. If any other preemergent was used – including prodiamine, benefin, balan, dithiopyr – germinating grass seeds will be killed along with weed seeds.

Eastern Nebraska

• Spring: April 25-May 15
• Fall: August 15 - September 15

Western Nebraska

• Spring: April 25-May 15
• Fall: August 15 - September 5

Cool Season Lawn Calendar - Eastern Nebraska

Cool Season Lawn Calendar - Western Nebraska

Establishing Lawns From Seed.

Fruit cracking is a common problem in home vegetable gardens. As fruits near maturity, heavy moisture - like a rainstorm - following dry periods may cause the fruit to crack. Cracking can occur either vertically, up and down the tomato shoulders, or horizontally around the tomato. Tomato skin has reduced flexibility as they near maturity. Sudden moisture causes plants to take up water quickly and results in skin cracking.

There are significant differences between tomato cultivars and their susceptibility to cracking, so gardeners can choose cultivars with greater resistance if their current selections are very susceptible. Jetstar, Mountain Fresh and Mountain Spring are all tomato cultivars with good crack resistance. 

Mulching plants to help maintain uniform soil moisture may reduce cracking. Or harvest near-mature tomatoes before any forecast rain and let them finish ripening indoors. Infrequent watering, dehydrated plant takes up water quickly and causes ripe fruit to split.

To decide when to plant your fall crops, get out your calendar and start counting backward from your normal first frost date. Check out the National Weather Service Nebraska map for the first frost, first freeze and first hard freeze in your area. 

Add together the days to harvest listed on the seed packet and the number of days you'll need to harvest a crop.  If the crop is sensitive to cold, add in 10-14 days as a cushion to avoid damage from an early frost. 

The growth rate of cold sensitive plants slows as temperatures get cool and all plants respond to the shorter fall day length by slowing their growth.  Add in another 10-14 days to account for this “fall factor”. 

The total number of days, counted backward from the first frost date should give you a pretty good estimate of when to seed your fall crops.  Of course, plants that are hardy or semi-hardy; like cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage; will flourish in the cool autumn days and even survive light frosts so timing doesn't have to be so exact as with very frost sensitive plants, like lettuce or snap beans. 

But while snap beans are not frost tolerant, many bush varieties mature so quickly – within 55 to 60 days from planting - they can be planted even into July and still have time to produce a crop before frost. 

What to Plant? 
Certain cultivars are better suited for a fall garden that others. Below are good cultivars and planting dates for eastern Nebraska. Many other great cultivars can also be used; look for those with shorter days from seeding to harvest, along with good disease resistance and heat tolerance. 

June 1

• Broccoli - Packman, Premium Crop
• Brussels sprouts - Jade Cross, Long Island Improved
• Cabbage - Discovery, Dynamo, Red Acre, Savoy Ace, Savoy Express

July 1-15

• Cucumber – Marketmore, Straight Eight
• Kale - Red Russian, Vates, Winterbor
• Summer Squash – Ambassador Zucchini, Yellow Crookneck

July 15 – August 5

• Carrot – Danvers, Nantes Half Long, Chantenay
• Snap beans – Contender, Top Crop, Tendergreen
• Spinach - Bloomsdale Longstanding, Melody, Melody Tyee, Olympia

July 20 – August 15 

• Lettuce - Buttercrunch, Summer Bibb, Black Seeded Sampson, Red Salad Bowl, Salad Bowl, Oakleaf or Green Ice
• Radish – Champion, Sparkler, Comet, Cherry Bell
• Turnip – Tokyo Cross, Early Purple Top, Purple Top Globe

August 1 - 10

• Beets – Ruby Queen, Detroit Dark Red
• Mustard – Florida Broadleaf, Southern Giant, Tendergreen
• Swiss Chard – Ruby Red (also know as Rhubarb Chard), Bright Lights

Fall Vegetable Garden

Selected Vegetable Cultivars for Nebraska

Harvest herb stems for drying from stems that are in the bud stage, but have not yet flowered. This is the stage at which leaves contain the highest amount of aromatic, essential oils. If your plants are blooming, cut the blooming stems back about six inches, then let new growth develop. Harvest the new growth when it is at least six inches long. Remove any dead or damaged leaves.

If the leaves and stems are not clean, brush off any loose dirt with a soft pastry brush. Washing is necessary only if the herbs are very gritty, but be sure to pat off any excess water with a paper towel before beginning the drying process.

Stop harvesting stems from perennial herbs, like thyme and sage, by mid-September. This allows them to continue growing and store enough energy for overwintering.

More details on methods for drying herbs: Harvesting & Drying Herbs.