Finding Your Opportunity Cost

This is a guest post by Cooperative Extension Intern Preston Ellis. This is valuable information for farmers who are considering new enterprises.

Economic decisions can be some of the toughest decisions we face on a daily basis especially when managing a farm or business. Maintaining your budget and finding your opportunity cost is an easy way to help you make those decisions and maximize profit as well.

Budgets are very useful in regards to having a place to put down where and how you spend your money as well as where your money is coming from. It is important to have a budget because not only will it give you a representation of the current fiscal year you are in, but it will also allow you to budget out future cost and profits so that you can forecast future years.

What Tomato Variety Best Suites You?

This is a guest post by Cooperative Extension Intern Preston Ellis.

The tomato is an essential part of any home garden in the South. However, finding the variety that best suits your taste is another task in itself. Each variety offers something different, whether in taste or production, and leaves farmers and home gardeners in the everlasting search to find the best variety of tomato.

Getting Rid of White Clover

This is a guest post by Cooperative Extension Intern Preston Ellis. 

White clover is a weed that appears year after year as it continually grows and takes over lawns. The weed can be very difficult to get rid of, but with patience and care the task can be achieved.

While some people have decided to use white clover as a substitute to grass, most people do not enjoy the weed and see it as a nuisance. The low-lying weed can be very persistent and hard to get rid once it makes an appearance in a yard.

Raising Fruit Crops Successfully

All too often I get calls from folks who are having difficulty with fruit crops they've planted. All too often, the cause can be traced back to errors in variety selection, plant placement, spacing, soil preparation, etc. These are errors that can be easily avoided by following recommendations from NCSU horticultural experts. Fortunately, much of their recommendations are available through on-line publications. For convenience, I've linked them all here:

Bluebberies - http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/growing-blueberries-in-the-home-garden.pdf

Strawberries - http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/strawberries-in-the-home-garden.pdf

Blackberries - http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/blackberries-for-the-home-garden.pdf

Bunch grapes - http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/bunch-grapes-in-the-home-garden.pdf

Muscadine grapes - http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/muscadine-grapes-in-the-home-garden/

Tree fruit (apples, peaches, pears, etc.) - http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/producing-tree-fruit-for-home-use/

Disease & insect management for tree fruit - http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plantpath/extension/clinic/fact_sheets/index.php?do=disease&id=7

Training & pruning fruit trees - http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/training-and-pruning-fruit-trees-in-north-carolina.pdf

Feel free to contact me for more information on any of these subjects.

Garden Path Newsletter, June 2015

Below is a link to the latest edition of the Garden Path newsletter, published by the Vance/Warren Extension Master Gardener Volunteers. You will find lots of great information, including timely tips, plant of the month, tips for herb gardening, and the origin of many of our common weeds. Enjoy!

http://vance.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/JUNE-2015-TGP.pdf