Hello, and thanks for joining us for another episode of Mid American gardener.

I'm your host Tinisha, Spain and joining me in the studio today are two of our panelists who are here to answer all of your questions about all things gardening.

So, before we get started, let's have them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit more about where you can find them.

Okay, we'll start with you.

Okay.

I'm Kay Carnes.

I'm a Champaign County Master Gardener.

And I volunteer at Allerton park a lot and do my own garden.

Lots of herbs and vegetables at Kay's house.

All right, Miss Martie.

Hi, I'm Martie Alanya.

And I try to keep retiring from landscaping, but they keep dragging me back in.

Also, my yard looks horrible.

So it's not just you out there in TV land.

And I'm really looking forward to a vegetable garden this year.

That's, you know, yielding something, because last year was pitiful.

And it gave me heart because a lot of people said, Oh, my garden was pitiful last year.

And last year, it was terrible.

But people say they had a banner year last year.

But Steiner, he'll tell you, he doesn't know.

And you know what I'm taking a page from the Marty Melania gardening book this year, I bought a few bales of straw, and I am packing that baby down.

Because last year one of the things that got me was weeds.

By the time you go to a kid's baseball game or take an overnight trip, it's a jungle when you go home it is and so let's talk a little bit about that later.

Because I'm trying that this year and fingers crossed that i epsilon not in there was my magic day, you know, looking for a beat.

So any you gonna miss piggy?

Yes, yes.

Okay, so okay, you brought in some veggies.

Yes, that's that time.

So what you bring in?

Well, this is a red kale.

And it's not turning red yet.

gets older, you see more, it's more of a maroon color in it.

And kale.

I like kale, and sound a little tough.

The leaves are a little tough, but they are really good for stir fries, and the stones as well.

And I learned something this year I hadn't known before I last year, I when I cleaned up the garden, I left I had these two kale plants, and they you know, they were this big around the stems.

And they had dried out and there are no leaves on him and I left him in the garden.

And this year I went out to clean them out.

And lo and behold, there's new growth coming up from the bottom on both.

Oh, that was a surprise for me three.

So what I'm gonna do with all these, I'm not entirely sure.

But do you think it was that mild winter that probably partially Yeah, I left some cameras in the ground.

So maybe they never actually, I did that one year with brussel sprouts.

They were just they were just ravaged by cabbage looper and I did everything I could rest.

The garden was great.

And I'm like, Oh, you're so sad.

And so in the fall, it froze a little bit.

He's laying in pretty good.

I brought in some bales of straw.

And I just laid them where I was strategically going to separate them into flakes later the next year.

I move that bill to next spring.

And there's this stem down but not out.

All these cute little brussel sprouts grown on Scratch as a daisy.

I took the veil off.

I'm like, You gotta be kidding me.

They were fantastic.

They were so good.

They were sweet.

And they have a trace of bitterness that makes you go oh my god.

Yes, they just needed to be black.

That's fine.

That's my that's my forte.

So wow, they were so good.

So have you tasted the ones that grew yet?

No, I haven't I'm going to soon because they're probably going to be really good.

Oh my god.

Thanks.

Yeah, so this falls under the cool season things that we can be putting out now.

Yes, yes, it is.

And kale is actually very healthy.

It's got a lot of vitamins and it adds fiber to your diet and no it's it's really a good plant grow and then this is Oh, yeah.

Bar Chart chart.

Right lights chart.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you know what she's trying to say?

This little one in center and I don't know if she can see that is is kind of pink and chard comes.

The stems will be different colors yellow, and pink.

And much like the kale.

I use the stems for stir, I chop them up and use them for stir fry.

And I also like the kale, they have a lot of vitamins and minerals that are really good for you some people, I think probably wouldn't be crazy about the flavor, but it's it's fairly, it's gotten really trendy.

All of a sudden you see a lot of kale chips, kale products, I remember when it was garnish, and now we eat it.

I mean, I'm not mad about it, but I just remember seeing it like dress up a salad, you know, back in the day never dies.

It can be a little chewy.

If you get too old, it can get anywhere you don't want to get to where it's yellow at all, but I'll take the leaves and Shifen on them.

I mean slightly tiny ribbons, you know, with a big knife and sprinkle them in like tortellini soup or something like that.

They settled down pretty good.

They're not you know, not to strangle eating that way.

And chard also, a lot of people grow that as a substitute for spinach, the flavor is very similar.

But spinach will bolt as soon as it gets warm at all, it'll go to seed, and then even if you cut him off this, this leaves are bitter.

And I'm not a famous Spanish bow mine chart.

I don't mind okay, I like spinach raw, but it's not just saying.

So you can get a little bit more of a grown go on and on.

Gotcha.

You can cut them like you like you would kill or lettuce.

You can cut those off.

You know, take the whole stem, cut it you know two inches from the ground.

Use what you want.

Compost the rest and then yeah, just cut and come again.

Come again.

Yep.

And it won't bolt.

Good to know.

And when you said the flavor is similar, I don't think I've eaten chard before you know, aced it.

It's just just pinch a piece off of there.

It's I don't find it like wait a minute.

I don't find it a strong cherry go.

There's kale.

That should be tender.

And now this I've had what about the card?

I don't know if I've had chard.

I don't know that's a Gantt chart.

It's kind of not big enough.

Yeah.

Just snip the end off of them.

Just a little little.

Oh, the big one.

You can't be there.

The prize.

Mm hmm.

Yeah, it's real mild.

It is.

Yeah.

It is very, very spinach like alright, well, let me add that to the list.

There you go.

You're welcome.

Plush.

They're pretty good.

All this.

The stems are so gorgeous color.

Now we'll be fighting with the rabbits and the deer.

Probably.

Yeah, they like it too.

Yeah.

Did you grow this?

Yes.

You start saying yeah, it's easy to start from seed, but they also sell it as a spring vegetable in garden centers.

And you can see even when they're small like that, like Kay was saying that the stem on this was just got a little pinkish hue there.

And they also it's a variety called Bright lights, bright lights charred and the stems will come up red, and pink and orange and yellow, and paler yellow and stronger yellow.

They're beautiful.

And they're so ornamental reuse.

Enjoy it multiple ways.

Yes, it's a back that's a plant in our bed.

Mm hmm.

Yeah, I did grow ornamental kale last fall on the porch and it was so pretty all those colors coming out of the crown they're amazing.

Wow, this is lovely to look at.

So now I'm interested to see what how chart performs.

K brought in a sample and it has a question for one of our panelists.

So I have this knee nasty grass that is all over our in patches in our yard.

And I see it everywhere.

There's an old pioneer cemetery across from us and it's in there and it's in the only place yards I haven't seen it is people that have them sprayed all the time.

Yeah.

But it's really obnoxious and it's good as it grows in clumps or does it sign at all or it's kind of irregular clumps, irregular clumps, and they can be big.

Miss landscaper.

What is she?

What is she battling?

And what is there anything we can do about it?

I mean, we've got so much of it.

I don't know.

I'm pretty sure this is the common name is nimble will and I can't remember what the the Roman slash Latin Name is for it.

Oh, it's so long I can't even pronounce it looks like Bolin.

berghia Muhlenbergia.

Shibori.

Okay.

Mulan berghia is a is a nice ornamental grass in a larger version, but this is not a nice ornamental.

Yes.

And nobody likes this because it's a bit grass, I believe.

So it's got multiple little stems and stuff and then it kind of creeps so sort of lays flat.

And then the old stems will croak over like this.

And they look terrible.

They look like your your lawns dying, when actually it's just this stuff.

If I'm not mistaken, that's what you have.

And you're not going to get rid of it without pulling the grass boys.

Yeah, we got to be bowling.

So you could spot treat it with, you know, an herbicide of some kind?

Or grass.

Something specifically for grass, but um, yeah, how does something like this?

How do these these invasive I don't even know if that's the right word.

But how does that get into your yard birds animals dropping by?

I think we our yard.

I have this forever in your yard.

Right?

It just now.

We're just this year, we've really noticed that a lot.

But our yard is really old or the house is old and the ARV is old.

Gotcha.

You know, we have new houses and yards across the road from us and they, but even some of them, I'm seeing the ones that don't get sprayed.

Well as little as these are as low growing as they are, they still obviously are going to put on seed.

And then if there's any seed left in this in the spring, birds always look for dead material to make their nests with.

So some of it might go and it's it's a little bit shade tolerant.

It likes sun, but it will grow in shade.

And like I said, it goes it's a creeper.

It's a bent grass, so it grows very low.

And it kind of it kind of goes this way.

Yeah.

So here's all your perennial rye looking good.

And then the it just bends it over and puts down a node and pretty soon I don't show down and yeah, yikes.

Yeah, that's not the news you wanted, I'm sure.

Well, I figured.

There's a there's a variety of Muhlenbergia called Pink muhly grass.

It's m UHLY.

And it's a it's a beautiful ornamental.

It's just barely Hardy here.

But if you have a microclimate that's really really sunny.

This just grows up like a like a little ornamental grass.

And it's like, Oh, that's nice.

And then it puts on these beautiful influences of flamingo pink seed heads, and they're just they're just in the same family.

Yeah.

Well, according to Google, you know, what do they know?

Okay, we've got a question.

Let's see Karen from Springfield wants to know she put Morning Glory and last year Don't roll your eyes.

Because some people have strong feelings on the show about Morning Glory.

I I like them.

I think they're just simple and pretty, but I know that they get on peoples nerves.

Oh, she grew some and last year the vines were abundant.

But she never got any of the flowers, those lovely blue flowers.

So and it's in full sun.

So do you guys have any idea why or any tips?

Because I'm sure they'll recede.

There'll be back.

So any any Have you seen that before?

Or do you have any advice?

I don't have Morning Glory.

So I'm not familiar.

I'm sure we used to grow morning glories on the dog pen.

My dad had hunting dogs and in order there was a big oak tree there but in order to provide them even more shade, we plant morning glories every Oh, I don't know five or six years and then they would just drop seeds.

That's all you had back but they always bloomed I would suggest that she do some high phosphorus fertilizer.

Now morning glorious grow in the richest and poorest of soils.

They don't mind poor soil at all.

But to encourage the bloom there's some phosphorus so and they may have been fertilizing them thinking then they'll bloom better but if you don't use the right kind of fertilizer if you use something as high nitrogen you'll get boatloads of growth.

Yeah, leafy stemmy growth but phosphorus is what makes your phosphorus flowers now I remember that the Master Gardener well phosphorus is like a glow.

And to me Yeah, phosphorus, phosphorus flowers you're about to get super scientific.

Well I just think it kind of those are the you know Yes.

You know what I mean?

I do with it.

Nitrogen nitrogen feeds the first thing you see the stem and phosphorus is for the second thing you see the blooms and you The potassium, potassium, that'd be it.

It feeds the roots, the last thing you think about, see, that's another way to remember it.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Okay.

Let's see Karen another Karen wants to know, she grows onions every year.

And she said she, they never get very large in her garden.

And so this year is the year of the large onion for her.

What tips do you have to make her onions and the larger, she wants bigger onions this year?

Well, I would space I don't know how close she spaces them, but she might try spacing them a little further apart and loosen the soil really well.

And I don't know where she gets her bulbs to the, you know, onion sets.

I usually try to pick out the bigger storms.

And they that should help.

So look for the healthy setups, the bigger healthier sets and then give them a little bit more room.

Yeah.

And you could throw in some compost to keep that soil loose.

Don't let the soil get packed down.

Okay.

I was just talking to a friend of mine yesterday.

And she's we were looking at a garden plot.

And she was dreading having to tiller and leaves into this garden spot.

And it's a low spot in her yard.

So great for water, but my garden is the same way.

So it's the last place to dry out.

It's hard to do.

So she's got Maple Leafs and I said, those are really soft.

Just treat them like mulch.

Let us pull them, pull them back.

You know, if you're going to put a tomato plant in, rake it back to about, I don't know, a foot or so.

Take a chunk out of there with your shovel.

Loosen the root ball.

Loosen the soil in the hole.

You're gonna bury some of the tomato stem anyway.

But that soil back and pull the leaves up Brown and give it a squirt.

You're good.

You know?

And she's like, You don't have to tell us no, I'm like, Have you been to the forest?

You don't have to tell us.

I know.

We create a lot of extra work.

Do it the lazy way.

Yeah, I used leaves.

Deer as between the piles in my bed.

Yeah.

And on the beds.

i i mulch my garlic with leaves last year.

Oh yeah.

And you leave them home or do you crush them?

Just leave them home.

Okay.

A lot of leaves.

Leave you have like oak like white oak leaves or any kind of okay, but white oak especially with swamp white oak all over our yard.

And they're they're stalwart.

So my dad built himself a chipper out of an old lawnmower.

Then he got a hopper from somewhere, I don't know.

And we shred those, because they really, you know, they'll last over over the winter.

So we chipped him up, and then they'd come out.

I don't know, the biggest pieces were probably size of a dime.

And we use that and even then, yeah, pathways wherever you put it.

It's gonna snow.

There's no weed.

That's tough enough to grow.

Silver Maples so they're easier to show they crumble on I said, these are so soft.

I mean, they're already turning almost gray after the winter, so just use what you got.

Yeah, but she said she had a hard time growing radishes.

And I said well, why don't you try putting them in a in a container because it's pretty low here.

And you're gonna eat a lot of water.

But get a big old pot, use some use some sand and use some compost.

I happen to own a really reliable so you know if you get some well rotted compost and put some sand in it even and plant your root crops in there or plant if you want potatoes or carrots putting them in a raised bed because onions because like he was saying root crops, they they're just not going to get big.

If they're too wet.

They get scabby.

And if they're if it's the soil so hard they just they just simply cannot do hard for bear.

So make it easy on Okay, that's a lot of great advice.

Speaking of pots and grill wants to know for folks living in condos or apartments, who still would like to garden what are some plants and let's do vegetables and maybe some they mentioned pollinators specifically but what are some easy things to grow in pots on a balcony?

What do you think?

Well, NATO's green AF it's the there's a lot of tomatoes that are actually dwarfed tomatoes.

Wow.

They only get about two.

Okay, feet high and they I grew up a couple of years ago and they really did well stage Compact, fairly common.

Yeah, they're just little but boy, they have a bunch of tomatoes.

All right, so that's an option.

That's one anything else you can, depending on the size you the space you have.

But yeah, those and also if you look on the packet of seeds or on the label for the tomatoes, it'll say determinate or indeterminate.

indeterminate tomatoes are the ones that given a trellis will climb to the gutters.

determinate tomatoes are smaller, determinate tomatoes are used a lot in commercial growing because they put on a big flush and they ripen all at once.

And then they can pick them all and process them.

But they'll they will bloom more and they'll produce more fruit in the later in the season.

But they're just a little bit smaller and more manageable.

I mean, you're probably gonna need a tomato cage, but they'll stay within the confines of that pretty reliably and also Gosh, any kind of lettuce Yeah, well let us greens carrots.

Kale if you're on a balcony, you never have to worry about a rabbit eat knees.

Totally do order your orange here that you'll get to enjoy your life the three of us sitting in a chair.

Well, you know, and if I don't know how big your space is, like I said, but if you can get some big pots, they don't even have to be that deep.

I mean 18 inches, two feet is plenty plenty of depth for your soil.

Why it is is a little more important in my opinion.

And then you can do bush beans and be like green beans.

You can do those in a big pot if if you put four or five green bean plants in a in a pot that big.

You're just gonna start throwing them away after a while.

But I mean corn is probably out of the question.

Zucchini on a balcony you can grow peek probably do one and a pot.

Otherwise Oh, yeah.

TV or put up or put a tomato cage upside down?

Yeah, that's a good idea.

So the the big leaves go out like that and then the you can still train this time limit where it gets narrower.

All your neighbors will be knocking on your door asking for fresh produce.

Oh no.

If he goes on their door that come from speaking of critters, Judith says, again, the squirrels ate all my tulips, any tricks to protect them?

Can I put them in a container?

What is the best way to keep them safe?

So something is loving her tulips?

Squirrels, squirrels, rabbits eat them to rabbits.

Okay, well, maybe she's just missing the rabbits.

But that's not true.

There's repellents I think you can buy but I don't know how effective they are.

And spray them but you could put them in bigger pots.

And set them out that way.

Yeah.

What about you?

Do you have any tulip tricks that you can say on television that are nice, too.

I grew up eating wild game.

Alright, so yes.

You could also do a slingshot.

Do you have a cat get a cat?

Yeah, you can.

chicken wire.

Yeah, it's, it's not the prettiest thing I was gonna say it's aesthetically Yeah, not too scary.

But if you get you know, you get a big, big piece, get it pretty tall.

And then get alien.

I know the tulips are only gonna get like this or maybe like that.

But get the tall that comes in different widths.

So you can get you know, two feet wide, three, forget four feet wide, bend it over in the middle, you know, make a circle and then bend it together.

Do it with twine or something that'll keep all the really make for it.

And at that point, we've got about two minutes left and I wanted to ask just stuff to say I know what somebody's gonna have to make the show an hour I say we make a petition for it.

But these are things that we have in a greenhouse.

Are they technically already hardened off?

Or do you have to harden off coming out of a greenhouse or you have to harden off because they're protected in the greenhouse and so they you know, I would harden them off.

Okay, yeah, I'm glad I asked because I I did not know that I wasn't sure I knew what kept them warm.

I knew it kept him protected and out of the wind and elements but I wasn't for sure if that dip that they feel in the nighttime equates to being actually outside the wind is the main thing I think when it kind of gets that's why I just posted on my Facebook page not too long ago.

How the collection has begun.

I do two liter soda bottles and gallon milk jugs.

And I cut the bottom out completely and the top out.

Pretty much if you leave the handle Long Chuck it's just easier chunk.

Yep.

You know, but but those around you got this little mini greenhouse, plenty of light gets in.

It holds some heat, but that's not it.

Really why I'm doing it, you cut the top off so that he can get out really you don't want to cook them in there but went varmints.

You know, by the time they get to be this tall, things don't eat them quite as heartily they're ready to stand in.

Yeah, and it's like tomatoes or something like that peppers.

You're gonna grow mine on a cattle panel, but you're gonna get bitten there'll be big enough to it's there so easy.

Galvanized and ever run form however you want all my binding.

Yes.

Hold me to last year I had cucumbers, cucumbers.

Yeah, why bend over?

I tried to look into cattle panels now.

I actually had some get we're going to Rural King when we leave here.

Okay, somehow I've managed to get some round.

I took cut.

Oh, yeah.

And, yeah, interesting.

There's nothing better than hog panels.

They're a little shorter.

or shorter.

Cattle panels should taller, but you can cut them with a cable cutter.

And you can make them you can make any narrower or wider as you want.

There's the thrilling.

We got to end it there.

Ladies, we're out of time.

Don't go next time when we get to your next time.

Thank you so much for watching.

Thank you so much for coming.

And if you have any questions, just send them into us at your garden@gmail.com or search for us on Facebook.

And we will see you next time.

Good night.