As an OSU student who's a first time gardener and moves every summer, I have decided to use grow bags for my vegetable garden. Since I am planning to use a few 5 gallon bags and a couple of 10 gal bags (for potatoes), what are my options when it comes to soil. If I were to make my own, should I pick peat moss or coco coir? And what about vermiculite vs perlite? I was planning to do a 1/1/1 mix with two of the mentioned amendments and compost. Is there a potting mix I could buy locally that would be affordable and save me the trouble? I'm currently starting cukes, squash, and a few varieties of tomatoes and peppers.

I live in South Lyon Michigan and would like to know what the best perennial grass is for our area . I don't have a sprinkler system. My front lawn gets stressed in the summer because although I have nice soil underneath is sand. Wondering what, short of getting a sprinkler system, I can do to keep my grass green.

Looking to over seed an existing lawn, can you help? The front lawn faces due south. No shade. Looking for a lawn seed (or seed mix) with lower water needs that holds color for a long time Backyard faces due north. It has some shade, a large dog burns it with urine and compacts it with wear patterns. Looking for a seed or mix that can handle the dog. These do not need to be over seeded with the same mix as I’d rather have an appropriate grass for each than the same grass. I’m willing to insert some plugs so they might spread and take over, but I really would rather not kill and replace my existing lawn. Thanks Ben

I have read about using coffee grounds and urine in the garden and yards. Are there any red flags about using this material. Is there any way to figure out how much to use. Dave

I have a few of these coming up in my yard and I don't recognize what they are. The one looks like a very invasive (at least to me it's been hard to control) fuzzy leafed little daisy plant. But I don't think what I've attached here is that -- it doesn't have much fuzz on the leaves and unlike the others, it's not located at the edges of the grass. The others I just don't know and would like to know if I should begin pulling or encouraging. Thank you!

Hello, I'm interested in changing our sloped front lawn over to no-mow fescue, but I have some questions about that: - Will the City of Minneapolis ticket me for not mowing my lawn? - Will the long fescue grasses start migrating over into my neighbor's lawn? - What is the best variety of no mow fescue to plant on a west facing mostly sunny slope to get the look of a flowing meadow grass? - Since we currently have a turf lawn, can we seed the fescue right into that or would we need to start fresh and get rid of the sod that's there? - Is it best to plant in the spring or fall? Thanks so much for your help! Looking forward to not mowing on a slope anymore :) -Mallory

I have a lot of very tall grasses that I'm having to remove from our lawn as I try to turn it into all clover. But there might be a place for some of the grasses. I just wish I knew what they were, how they grow and propagate. Could you identify these for me? The one image is obviously not a grass but wanted to ask about this one too. I see them here and there and wondered if they're useful, native or invasive?

These are shooting up all over my yard and I'm tempted to encourage more trees since so many very large, older trees have been removed in our neighborhood. But these seem like they might be Ash or Elm trees that may develop a problem?? Could you identify them and let me know if they should be encouraged or not?

Hello, I'm needing to eradicate an infestation of malta starthistle. We live in the village of Briarcliff on slightly less than 2 acres. There are now 2, roughly 50 sq ft areas that have been completely taken over. Do you have recommendations for getting rid of it? I've been told solarizing the areas and putting down corn gluten underneath the black plastic could possibly kill it off. I've also been told to spray with vinegar - both of these would, of course, kill everything else. I've read there are also a type of weevil that can be introduced that can kill it off. Do you agree with any of these approaches or perhaps have others?

We redid a plant bed with soil from a supplier, and the beans sprouted and looked fine temporarily, and then after a couple of weeks turned yellow. The "compost" that we purchased smelled very much of pine wood, so it may be that the compost was very acid, and now the nutrients are not available. Is there a way to fix this? Can I add lime, slow release nutrients or soil amendments? I don't want to redo the bed and kill the poor beans.