Home & Garden
By MELINDA MYERS
May 2, 2021
Add a burst of color to the start of the garden season with spring flowering shrubs. Small or large, these beauties add color, support pollinators, and help attract birds to the landscape. Make room in mixed borders and gardens for these spring bloomers. Use varieties with slightly different ...
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ — The snow from the February storms have melted, the weather is getting warmer and spring is finally here! The grass is greening up and just about time to start cutting our lawns. The Middlesex County Improvement Authority’s Recycling Division has launched its annual ...
OXFORD, NJ — In celebration of Arbor Day and Earth Week, the Division is giving away native tree saplings to residents interested in supporting local flora and fauna in their yards. Pick up your saplings at the Route 46 parking lot at the Pequest Trout Hatchery and Natural Resource Education ...
MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The Maplewood Spring Rake Out Program began last week: it presents residents of Maplewood Township the opportunity to dispose of any unwanted branches, leaves, and other raked items from their lawns. Materials to be picked up are limited to branches, leaves, and garden rakings.
Sweeten your meals by growing your own sugar substitute in gardens or containers. Stevia is nature’s own sweetener that can be snacked upon fresh or added to soups, sauces, or beverages. Wait for warm nights and the danger of frost to pass before planting stevia outdoors. It is a perennial in ...
Bright yellow daffodils, colorful tulips and fragrant hyacinths brighten our spring gardens. Give them the care they need to extend their spring display and keep them coming back for years. Hybrid tulips and hyacinths are short-lived stars of the spring garden. They bloom profusely the first ...
As winter gives way to spring take a walk around the yard. Check the lawn for damage and provide a bit of early season care to help it recover from winter. Use a leaf rake to lightly lift and separate the matted grass blades. This helps speed drying, increase airflow, and reduce the risk of pink ...
Break out the tools and garden your way to a healthier mind, body and spirit. Gardeners have always know it, but now research proves that gardening is a great form of exercise. You’ll work out all your major muscle groups when raking, digging and planting for an hour. Include gardening as a ...
FAIR LAWN, NJ - The Borough Council heard from landscape artist Roy Diblik, designer of Manhattan's High Line, as they considered possibly streetscaping various spots in the borough. Resident Pam Coles brought the idea to the Council and set up the presentation on February 2. Diblik, who ...
In 2020, the Maplewood Health Department included a notice to renew or apply for a new license for pets in the fall township tax statement. Each year, residents are required to license their dog and cat by January 31st in Maplewood. It is a part of “Responsible Pet Ownership.” Here are three ...
Don’t let a lack of brightly lit windows stop you from gardening indoors. Include some low maintenance, low light houseplants and maintenance strategies to boost your success. Low maintenance gardening starts with proper plant selection. Match the plant to the growing conditions and your ...
WEST ORANGE, NJ — After the area was blanketed by well over a foot of snow on Monday, Essex County's resident groundhog delivered some potential good news for winter weary residents. Essex Ed, the groundhog at Turtle Back Zoo, made his annual weather predication on Tuesday, Feb. 2, which is ...
MILLTOWN, NJ — It's a very quiet Groundhog Day in the borough with a thick blanket of snow covering Milltown and much of the Garden State on Feb. 2. Middlesex County's favorite groundhog, Milltown Mel, is in quarantine but he sent a message out through his social media pages telling his faithful it ...
Add fresh flavor to your meals year-round with microgreens. These easy-to-grow greens need minimal space and no special equipment for a flavorful and nutritious harvest in little more than a week. Use microgreens on salads, soups, pizzas, omelets, in stir fries or as a snack. These tiny ...
It starts with one plant on a sunny windowsill then morphs into an impenetrable jungle. You may feel you need a machete to reach each individual plant to water and tend. Clear the way to improved growing conditions and convenient care while showcasing every plant with style. Group plants with ...
A sticky substance on plant leaves, plant stands, and the floor are often the first clue alerting gardeners to a problem. If a closer look reveals bumps on the upper and lower surface of leaves and stems, it means scale insects have moved in to dine on your houseplants. Severe infestations can ...
Dress up your holiday meals with a centerpiece crafted from greens, colorful stems and seed heads collected from your garden. Or purchase fresh materials you need from your favorite garden center or florist. Most gardeners spend some time gathering a few blossoms and creating a bouquet or ...
TRENTON, NJ — The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management issued a statement Wednesday afternoon advising residents to be prepared ahead of the storm. Rain and high winds, with gusts up to 65 m.p.h in some areas, are expected Thursday Dec. 24 into Friday Dec. 25., 2020. The statement ...
GLEN ROCK, NJ — Is your perfectly-carved pumpkin being ravaged by local wildlife? If you don’t remember this being a problem in the past, there’s a lot of speculation as to why squirrels are foraging for food more than usual. Some suspect fewer acorns have left squirrels hungry, while another ...
NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ — In the spirit of kicking off the fall season, Mayor Al Morgan approves the Pilley pumpkin as the community's BIGGEST pumpkin ever! New Providence resident Doug Pilley, along with his brother John and son Knevin, grew a “giant pumpkin” in their backyard, estimated to be ...
The Division's Office of Fish and Wildlife Health and Forensics is asking those who are out in the fields and woods of New Jersey at this time of year to be alert for deer that may be affected by Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) and to report any suspected cases to the Division. Hemorrhagic ...
MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The Township of Maplewood and the Maplewood Historic Preservation Commission held a virtual meeting to discuss the potential nomination of the Maplewood Village Historic District to the New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places. A presentation by Margaret Hickey of ...
NEW VERNON, NJ — Aside from music concerts and your favorite restaurants, there are other reasons to escape the confines of your home during a pandemic, while still respecting social distancing standards. Community members are invited to attend the house tour of Tyvan Hill Mansion, located at 579 ...
NEW JERSEY — With all the extra time at home lately, lots of New Jerseyans are trading travel plans for house projects, starting gardens, and finding ways to make our yards a little more cozy, colorful, and self-sufficient. The right kind of landscaping — including utilizing native plants and ...
WESTFIELD, NJ — It was hanging out in front of 16 Prospect Wine Bar & Bistro, and it wasn’t there to order a martini. The spotted lanternfly that restaurant owner Tim Boyle spotted on his window and squashed was one of an invasive and destructive species that the New Jersey Department of ...
Nature’s Menu® Super Premium Dog Food with a Blend of Real Chicken & Quail is being voluntarily recalled due to possible contamination, announced Sunshine Mills, Inc. The recall is due to the possible contamination with Salmonella, they announced. The contamination was noted after a sample ...
NEW JERSEY — Please kill this bug. That’s the message from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, which sent out instructions for how members of the public can help slow the spread of the spotted lanternfly, an exotic invasive insect. While the spotted lanternfly is no threat to humans or ...
Pollinators are responsible for about 75% of the food we eat. The European honeybee is the most well known but our native bees are also critically important. We can help our native bees and gardens by reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides and providing shelter as well as food and ...
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Village Trustee Steve Schnall moderated an online town hall Tuesday for South Orange first responders to address issues of home safety in the community. “Smoke detectors: cheap insurance that will save your life,” said Chief Daniel Sullivan of the South Orange Fire Department.
MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Kristy Ranieri didn’t open the small envelope with the Chinese return address at first because she thought it looked strange. It turns out she had good instincts. “My husband saw it, and he opened it and saw the seeds inside,” said Ranieri. It was then the Maplewood resident ...