Garden

All Garden Content

A bee pollinating a flower.

Pollinators Party

In this lesson, participants will learn how plants reproduce and how to identify pollinators that help plants.

A group of children examining the parts of a wildflower in a meadow.

Plant Part Powers!

Following this lesson, participants will be able to identify basic plant parts and use more complex plant part vocabulary.

Teacher pouring a small amount of seed into a student's hand to construct a tiny greenhouse.

Plant the Seed

In this Grow Getters lesson, students will learn to identify the parts of a seed and the growth and development of a seed to a plant.

A group of children observing a bed of garden soil with a teacher.

Stupendous Soils

In this Grow Getters lesson, you will answer the questions: “What is soil?” and “How can you make garden soil?”

Gray tear drop shaped bugs feeding on a yellow squash.

Squash Bugs Are Active and Ready to Kill Your Plants

Squash bugs are a headache for gardeners almost every year in South Dakota. As their name implies, squash bugs feed on squash along with many other cucurbits. Injury caused by extensive feeding appears as wilting and may result in the death of infested plants.

Brown and green insect with clear wings that are folded over its body like a tent.

What’s Buzzing in the Trees?

Each summer we hear a droning buzz that comes from the trees. Many residents of South Dakota attribute this noise to locusts. But that isn’t what is making the buzzing sound! The insects responsible for the buzz are actually called cicadas

Bright yellow insects present on the stem of a milkweed plant.

Are Aphids on Milkweed Really a Bad Thing?

This year, we’ve noticed large populations of aphids on swamp milkweed plants and we’ve identified them as the oleander aphid (Aphis nerii), which is sometimes referred to as the milkweed aphid.

A large wasp on a pink flower.

Giant Wasps Are Invading My Yard! No, They Still Aren’t Murder Hornets.

Every year we receive multiple reports of giant wasps that seem to invade yards and gardens. These wasps aren’t the same as the so-called "murder hornets," but are actually cicada killer wasps.

Two-stripped grasshopper resting on a leaf in a garden. Courtesy: Ryan Hodnett (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Grasshoppers: When to Manage Them in a Yard and Garden

Grasshopper populations are elevated in Central South Dakota. Some of the concerns regarding these large grasshopper populations is that they are feeding on trees, gardens and almost everything in between.

Shiny green and bronze beetle on green dill plant.

What Are These Shiny Beetles in My Yard and Why Are They Eating Everything?

Japanese beetles are very bad news for anyone with a garden. They are polyphagous insect pests, which simply means they feed on many different host plants.