Deicing salts can save your neck this winter, but they can spell disaster for landscape plants. Whether the salt is sprayed on the plants from passing traffic near the road or is shoveled onto plants near the sidewalk, the salt can cause damage. Salts can adversely affect plants in several ways. Salts deposited on the… Continue reading.

I have small evergreen trees planted in my yard. They are the small, slow growing type. They are around 8 years old. Every fall, yellow jackets start swarming around them and crawling in and out of the inside of the trees. They don’t seem to hurt the trees, but it looks as if the yellow… Continue reading.

My wife and I read your column every month in the Electric Consumer. Our problem is that we would like to plant a couple of deciduous trees for shade on the south side of our house. The problem is that we have a sewer line from the house to the collection box about 75 feet… Continue reading.

I have a small garden with nothing but tomato plants and cucumbers. I put pine bark mulch on it to control the weeds. I was wondering if I should till the pine in or rake it out? — RON WOOLARD, TERRE HAUTE, IND. Pine bark is relatively slow to decompose and may make tilling more… Continue reading.

We have several fire bushes whose leaves never turn that spectacular red in the fall.  They just remain green till they fall off.  We have fed them spring and fall, and yet there are several other fire bushes, treated the same, whose leaves do change color.  Any suggestions? — JOYCE LAKEY, TERRE HAUTE, IND. Fall color… Continue reading.