RAYMOND, Miss. -- Home gardeners and professional landscapers can tour display gardens and attend educational seminars during an upcoming horticultural show.

The Fall Flower & Garden Fest is set for Oct. 11 and 12 at the Mississippi State University Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs. The fest runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. Admission and parking are free. The station is located at 2024 Experiment Station Road.

You’ve spent all summer planting and maintaining your garden or mowing your lawn and are ready for a break. But before you put your landscape to bed for a long winter’s nap, consider applying lime.

How is it already September? I know I’m not the only one in disbelief that fall is right around the corner! Now’s a good time to prep your garden for the upcoming cooler temps.

If you planted fall tomatoes, soon you’ll need to install a support system to keep the branches and fruit off the ground. There are three different systems for supporting tomatoes: staking, trellising, and caging.

If you love home-grown tomatoes, you can enjoy them into fall. Get your plants into the ground from July to early August, depending on where you live in the state, and you can harvest into October or November.

When you visit your community farmers market, you know you're purchasing local produce in its peak season. Fruits and vegetables have more flavor and are typically less expensive when they’re in season. So, when you go to the farmers market, how do you make the most out of in-season produce? (Photo by Michaela Parker)

No matter how you slice it, gardening is a risky business.

We have no control over the weather, waves of pestilence, the threat of plant diseases. It’s a wonder we don’t all just chuck our gardening tools and say, “See you at the farmers market.”

If edibles are on your list for the landscape or garden this year, check out the list of Mississippi Medallion winners. They are proven performers when it comes to our Mississippi climate.

Our horticulture experts help select several plants, including fruits and vegetables, each year that make the cut. 

I love riding around town looking at everyone’s front yard landscapes. I know how much work goes into making it look top-notch! A lot has been done, but there’s plenty more to do in your yard and garden.

Do you want surefire performance in your landscape and vegetable garden, but don’t know what to look for when you go to the garden center?

I spent a lot of time working in my yard during April. I planted several pots, pruned my shrubs, and put down a fresh layer of mulch. It would be easy to sit back and admire my hard work, but with the warmer weather coming in, there’s still so much to do! 

It’s officially spring! The temperatures are finally starting to warm up after a cold and wet winter. Gardening is the perfect excuse to spend some much-needed time outside. Grab your gardening tools—there’s a lot to be done! (Photo by Michaela Parker)

Now is the time to fertilize some landscape plants, but there are several different kinds of fertilizers available. MSU Extension horticulture specialist Gary Bachman helps you understand what’s in fertilizer and the different types available.

Many folks have been waiting for this moment - the day it's warm enough and past the main threat of frost to become tomato planting time.

Choosing a potting mix may seem simple, but not all mixes are created alike. When buying potting mix for containers, you want to look for mixes with ingredients that will help your plants thrive. (Photo by CanStockPhoto)

Gardening can feel like a very expensive activity sometimes, but starting seeds for spring planting doesn’t have to be. (Photo by Jonathan Parrish/Cindy Callahan)

Daffodils are starting to bloom, and that means one thing – spring is right around the corner! If you have the itch to start getting your garden ready, here are a few things you can do during the month of February. (Photo by Michaela Parker)

If there’s one vegetable that could be considered the ultimate home-grown vegetable in Mississippi, it has to be collards.

Collards were chosen as a 2019 Mississippi Medallion winner because they are considered absolutely necessary for true Southern cuisine. As a bonus, they’re really easy for home gardeners to grow.

For people who love gardening, the long, dark, cold winter months can be torture. Gardening catalogs are fine, but their allure can only last so long before we want to get our hands back in the soil! (Photo by Jonathan Parrish/Cindy Callahan)

If you want to spice up your Christmas décor this year, add some ornamental peppers to your indoor and outdoor displays. (Photo by Jonathan Parrish/Cindy Callahan)