The holidays are just around the corner, and shoppers are beginning to search for those perfect gifts. If home gardeners are on the list, consider these ideas from University of Georgia Cooperative Extension experts.

Before buying a pre-cut Christmas tree, put it through a few freshness tests, says University of Georgia Extension Agent Adam Speir. Christmas trees can be kept healthy and green through the holidays by following these tips.

The holiday shopping season starts earlier every year. Competition from online businesses is forcing brick-and-mortar retailers to open earlier and earlier. Long before Thanksgiving dinner has been reduced to leftovers, shoppers will be looking for bargains. With a little forethought, even procrastinators can benefit from these shopping tips.

Gift cards make great gifts, but it’s important to make sure gift givers understand the disclosures that come with the card. Otherwise, they could end up giving retailers the unintended gift of free cash.

After devoting years to building an energy-efficient house of the future for the University of Georgia, Craig Kvien has a better understanding of conserving and saving energy. These tips, based on his work, could help Georgia residents save money during the upcoming holiday season.

One of the best ways to celebrate the holidays is to gather around the table to enjoy a delicious, home-cooked meal. Follow these simple recommendations to have a turkey feast that will be remembered for years to come, for all the right reasons.

While the holidays are often viewed as a time of inevitable weight gain, it’s possible to enjoy some of the same foods while still maintaining a healthy diet.

For children, there’s hardly a downside to the holidays; toys, treats and time away from school are enough to bring on dreams of sugarplums. For adults, the holidays can conjure a string of mental to-do lists and tension that make those sugarplums feel more like a sugar crash.

The current highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 outbreak in the United States is a concern for the commercial poultry industry, not the general population, says a University of Georgia poultry expert. Humans won’t be infected with avian influenza by eating chicken or other poultry products. Nearly all previous cases of human infections with other avian influenza viruses involved close, direct contact with infected poultry, but little to no direct transmission from person to person. While the HPAI H5 virus has caused some severe devastation for the U.S. commercial poultry industry, there have been no reports of infections in humans, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers the risk to people from this virus to be low.