Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
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1500 questions
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What are these brown, cap-shaped mushrooms on my birch tree?

I live in Massachusetts and have several birch trees in my yard. One of them has brown, cap-shaped mushrooms growing in groups up and down the trunk. As you can see, the tree has a big crack in the bark. What are these mushrooms, and are they…
Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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What can cause the leaves of a rose bush to turn black and fall off?

I bought a small rose bush on Mother's Day this year and planted it in my flower garden. The area probably has too much shade for a full sun plant, but I don't think that is the issue here. Shortly after planting, its leaves began to develop black…
wax eagle
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How do I evaluate the condition of a used lawn mower?

I'm looking at buying a gas-powered lawn mower from a friend, but I'm concerned because the mower was purchased new almost 13 years ago. How can I evaluate its condition and know if it will last me several years without any major overhauls? Of…
JavadocMD
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How can I deal with broken glass spread out in my yard?

I recently purchased a house on a 0.25 acre (0.1 hectare, ~11,000 sqft) lot that in the past was known as "the party house." This name became more clear to me today while raking leaves I found large quantities of broken shards of glass throughout…
shufler
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9 answers

Do any plants add nutrients back into the soil as they grow?

It seems reasonable that there ought to be at least a few symbiotic plant varieties that benefit from improving soil condition for other plants. If not that, are there plants that essentially improve soil conditions if not by improving land…
Enigma
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Why are my pumpkins dying? Is it the heat?

I'm getting plenty of flowers, and about half of them produce a tiny little pumpkin. However, after only a couple of days, the pumpkins begin to turn black and shrivel up. It is 104-degrees during the day with medium humidity. I have been providing…
Brian Webster
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8 answers

Is spent cat litter an appropriate source of nitrogen for compost?

Is spent cat litter an appropriate source of nitrogen for compost? The cat litter used is made of recycled paper pellets so is rich in carbon. It doesn't contain the cat faeces because that is fished out once or twice daily with a net to make the…
Lisa
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What are some good herbs to grow (pair) with tomatoes?

I have 3 tomato plants in pots right now. One of them is in a large pot and I recently planted some basil in the pot, partly for some extra basil, and partly because I have heard that basil and tomatoes go together nicely (I think I heard it…
wax eagle
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How do I identify and eradicate the pest that is destroying the plants in my flowerbox?

We transplanted an assortment of pretty flowers for our windowsill some weeks ago (albeit rather crudely) and they were growing bright and healthy. Over the last week, however they've been plagued! I live in Scotland and suspect the pest is the…
waj
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What is this large leafed plant?

I like the way it looks and might want to get one but I need to know what it is. The location is Minnesota.
Mike Wills
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Is July too late to replant tomatoes in North Georgia, USA?

I started my garden this year with 8 tomato plants. Between disease, over watering and a misadventure with a plastic softball I have lost about half of them. My wife wants enough tomatoes to can some salsa and probably some spaghetti sauce and I…
wax eagle
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What kinds of gloves are best for handling thorny rose bushes?

I have a couple of rose bushes in my new house and the thorns in the bush (there are a lot of them!) go right through my current gardening gloves, and they hurt. what kind of gloves are available that will prevent rose bushes from stabbing my hands?
Moe
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What can I use to quickly and inexpensively create metal plant labels?

Has anyone had experience with creating their own permanent metal plant labels/tags? My grandfather has an old Graphotype machine that he uses to label his metal plant tags, but they're rather expensive and his is very manual in operation. I'm…
Tim Clymer
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Will my lupines grow back next year if I cut them to the ground?

Our lupines (also called lupin in the UK) were done flowering for the year and were harboring an aphid infestation, so I mowed them. Are the "stumps" likely to regrow next year or do the plants rely on gathering a lot of energy through the foliage…
bstpierre
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Venus flytrap/Dionaea muscipula doesn't grow traps anymore

I've had this Venus Flytrap since about 6 months. It was in bloom when I got it (for some reason shops like to sell flowering plants). I read that flowers take a lot of energy from the plant, and since my Flytrap started deteriorating soon, I did…
GolezTrol
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