News

Local options available at Hitching Lot Farmers Market

Shoppers in downtown Columbus have three opportunities each week to enjoy local produce and goods produced within 50 miles of the Hitching Lot Farmers Market. This farmers market, located at the corner of 2nd Street and 2nd Avenue North in Columbus, has operated since 1976. It is set up under the covered pavilion from May through October. Through September, the market is held Mondays from 4-6 p.m. and Thursdays and Saturdays from 7-10 a.m. In October, the market is open only on Saturdays from 7-10 a.m.

Supertunias are strong additions to landscapes

Some of my favorite summer flowering annuals are petunias. I like petunias because they tolerate our hot and humid Mississippi summer weather very well. There are great selections of petunias available in the garden centers, but I have to admit that I’m partial to Supertunias. These plants have never failed to be great performers in my home landscape.

Wheat acreage begins rebound as prices soar

Plant butterfly weed species to provide monarch habitat

Most gardens and landscapes are planned for either beauty or utility. We want pretty places to live in and look at, and we like to eat fresh fruit and produce that we have grown. But there are other reasons to prepare a garden or landscape. One of the most fun and rewarding reasons is to make room for butterflies and other pollinators.

Favorable weather produces good quality watermelons

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Watermelon production in Mississippi is off to a good start in the early days of harvest season. “Right now, everything looks really good,” said Heath Steede, Mississippi State University Extension agent in George County. “They’re pulling them pretty hot and heavy right now.”

MSU Extension hosts grazing system field day

Field day set for June 21 to showcase trial gardens

CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Miss. -- Gardeners can enjoy a half-day horticulture event at the Mississippi State University Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs June 21.

Mandevilla and Dipladenia: Although similar flowers, one is vine, other is shrub

If you like trumpet-shaped flowers, you may be familiar with both Mandevilla and Dipladenia, and you may even have them in your landscape. If you do, you probably realize they are very different, even if their blooms are a lot alike. Dipladenia and Mandevilla are both great choices for Mississippi landscapes.

State’s soybean crop looks strong early on

Mississippi’s anticipated soybean acreage -- 2.35 million acres -- is higher than in recent years, and it may grow even larger by the end of planting season. Trent Irby, soybean specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said Mississippi growers have already exceeded the 2.22 million planted in 2021. The anticipated soybean acreage this year will be the largest planted since 1988.