![A man with glasses and gray hair wearing a suit with a red tie.](/sites/extension.umn.edu/files/styles/crop_featured_image_crop/public/Nathan%20Diedrich.jpg?h=1e690f68&itok=hGjIHKcN)
4-H allowed alumnus Nathaniel (Nathan) Diedrich the opportunity to discover his “spark”— which, in his case, was aerospace engineering.
![Hands burying pumpkin vines in dirt.](/sites/extension.umn.edu/files/styles/crop_featured_image_crop/public/burying_pumpkin_vines.jpg?h=4e31bf86&itok=kah-Jt7U)
Some much needed rain brings a break from the heat and the pumpkins are getting much larger.
![Ladybeetle larva on a plant](/sites/extension.umn.edu/files/styles/crop_featured_image_crop/public/ladybeetle-larvae%20Photo%20Andrea%20Bonifazi%20via%20Wikimedia%20Commons.jpg?h=a3eeb11e&itok=e2KMa1pl)
The garden season is in full swing, which means insect season is also upon us. Extension educators across Minnesota answer questions about what this means for you and your plants.
![A black grasshopper on a clover flower.](/sites/extension.umn.edu/files/styles/crop_featured_image_crop/public/goth-grasshopper_0.jpg?h=4d64881f&itok=TUUAz1Fz)
When thinking about if it is worth it to do something about grasshoppers, think about how much feeding you are seeing and where you are seeing the feeding.
Dead flies are everywhere this year. What is going on?
With about 75% of Minnesota in a moderate drought, lawn care and water conservation are on gardeners’ minds.
![Two small trees with pink blossoms in green grass.](/sites/extension.umn.edu/files/styles/crop_featured_image_crop/public/newport-cherry-trees_1.jpg?h=9b1b4f64&itok=r4jliZ1C)
A reader asks: I have two newly-planted trees (cherry and plum). How should I water them? How much and how often?
![Forest in summer.](/sites/extension.umn.edu/files/styles/crop_featured_image_crop/public/Northern%20hardwood%20forest%20stand.png?h=6f9f2036&itok=IBId3-hQ)
While private forestland in Minnesota is diverse in terms of the forest, the demographics of woodland stewards are not. A new Extension report is a first step toward building woodland steward resources that are more culturally relevant.
![A grapevine with misshapen leaves as a result of herbicide drift.](/sites/extension.umn.edu/files/styles/crop_featured_image_crop/public/drift_grape.jpg?h=37d44556&itok=LFpOi-hf)
Herbicide from neighboring yards may drift onto your garden plants, making leaves grow in strange shapes, curl inward, and grow smaller than normal.
![Ground covered with black landscape fabric and two leafy green plants growing in the middle and red and white water hoses lying between them, and plants growing along a fence.](/sites/extension.umn.edu/files/styles/crop_featured_image_crop/public/Two%20pumpkins%20remaining%20in%20trial.jpg?h=b94f552a&itok=vNvFljCl)
The team chooses two pumpkins that will be grown for the MN State Fair.
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