Cat deterrents

My cat is regularly using my neighbors yard (under her picnic table) as a litter box. What can she do to determine him? Are there plants or scents that cats don’t like. Thank you.…

Growing Bell Peppers – Insect infestation

Hi, I have an allotment garden and last season had success growing pepper plants and getting them to flower and fruit but a black bug seemed to burrow into my plants and destroy much of the fruit. Other gardeners at…

Damage from rabbits

rabbits have chewed away some bark on many branches of a dogwood clump as well as tree. they didn’t go all the way around but got fairly deep in a few places. Will pruning paint help these trees or is…

Veronicastrum dieback

For years we had beautiful veronicastrum (alba) that was a main feature in our garden. In subsequent years the plant would grow vigorously in the spring and early summer and then one by one the leaves would start to wither…

Purple sand cherry tree

I live in Mississauga and have a fifteen-year-0ld sand cherry tree in my front yard. In the spring and summer of this year, it started to ooze a clear liquid along the entire length of its branches that solidified into…

Suspicious lawn dry patches

Hi there, Back in April, we installed new sod in our front yard. A few weeks ago, the area where the new sod was installed started getting dry patches. The area where the old grass stayed does not have these…

Garlic Stem and Bulb Nematode

Hello, I am hoping to sort out whether or not my crop has been infected with the aforementioned nematode. My plot is in the west end of Toronto(zone 6a), in a community garden. I have been growing garlic there for…

White flies invading house plants

Can you recommend an address of a reputable company who can identify some indoor pests? They are moths, and I wonder if they’re the LDD moths, which have been increasing recently.…

Annual devastation by spider mites

Hello, master gardener. Spider mites are my nemesis. I engage in a, mostly losing, battle with them every year over the the plants I try to grow in planters on my east-by-south-east-facing Riverdale balcony. They devastate my aristolochia and impatiens,…

Scarlet Runner Beans being eaten on the vine

Climate: Hot and sunny through Summer (a little bit north of Toronto). Beans usually thrive. Soil is amended triple mix. Two beans are in pots, others are in a raised bed which is at least 40ft away from the pots.…