By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
Jul 30th, 2025
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1718 Views
“Food, glorious food. Corn, ‘maters, and okrey!” The correct lyric is “Food, glorious food. Hot sausage and mustard” from the musical Oliver! I made up my own lyrics many years ago, the summer of 1988 to be exact, when our community theatre group back home performed a summertime production ...
By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
Jul 1st, 2025
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356 Views
I don’t know why I haven’t written more about ferns. A lot of years ago, in what seems like a previous life, ferns were my focus of botanical research. My thesis for my master’s degree focused on two populations of a southwestern fern species in North Carolina, far out of the species range. In col...
By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
May 30th, 2025
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404 Views
I love debunking myths. For example, a core group of people still think Andy Griffith based his 1960s sitcom on the small town he grew up in. Not true. In fact, a producer named Sheldon Leonard came up with the show and had to pitch the idea to Griffith twice before he agreed to it. Mayberry [&he...
By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
Apr 30th, 2025
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433 Views
Now that spring gardens are off and running, it seems a good time to take a breather and go back to one of my favorite topics: heirloom southern apples. Last June, I told you about searching for the McMullen apple, what I consider to be North Louisiana’s lost apple. In the meantime, a few more...
By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
Mar 28th, 2025
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416 Views
VEGETABLESApril is the month to plant our favorites in the vegetable garden. Transplants of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants can all be set out early this month. And, if you wait until next month for peppers and eggplants, don’t worry. They love heat and we have a long season ahead of us. When se...
By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
Jan 30th, 2025
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445 Views
February is Black History Month. I’m all about paying tribute to the past even if that means recognizing the abomination of slavery turning out to have a profound impact on the foodways of the southern United States. That impact is felt to this day not only in our kitchens but also in our vegetable...
By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
Jan 3rd, 2025
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1984 Views
Happy 2025! With a new year comes new opportunities in the garden! While we’re between seasons, there’s also time to look back on 2024’s garden “experiments” and assess and build on what worked and leave behind what didn’t. One project that continues to work incredibly well is amending sandy clay s...
By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
Oct 31st, 2024
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541 Views
Photos by Kerry Heafner, Monica Boudreaux, and LSU AgCenter. Can you believe 2024 will be gone in just two months? It’s been a frenetic but fun year and if you’re like me, you can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store for our gardens and landscapes! FIREWOODY’all, take some precautions wh...
By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
Oct 1st, 2024
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504 Views
LawnsSome considerations need to be made for ArkLaMiss lawns as they go dormant for the winter. Frist, winterizing healthy lawns in our area generally isn’t necessary. However, if you must winterize your lawn, fertilizers with relatively low available nitrogen (N) and higher potassium (K) should be ...
By Nathan Coker
In In the Garden
Sep 2nd, 2024
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477 Views
Hello again, fellow Louisiana gardeners. We’re in late summer and Mother Nature sure is handing us a hot one! Certainly, we’re not in the shape we were in last year this time. No red flag warnings or statewide burn bans…yet…but by the time you read this, we really don’t know what will be happening...
