Unknown: Well hello, and thanks for joining us for another episode of min American gardener.

I'm your host Tinisha Spain.

And joining me in the studio today is one of our panelists that you recognize from our older shows when we used to do the panels, which seems like forever ago.

Kay Carnes is joining us today.

So Okay, before we jump into the things that you brought in our discussion, tell the folks a little bit about you and where they can find you.

Well, they can find me in my garden out in Monticello.

And they can find me in Allerton Park, because I volunteer there as well.

They have an herb garden there, which I help them with.

And that's basically where you find me, that's where we find you and K, you're our herbs and heirloom panelists.

So anytime that we've got urban heirloom questions, K is the case the one so we've been talking about seed starting, we've been talking about plants, and even though it's chilly, and it's spreading, we're getting closer and closer to really having those cool crops.

It's about time for that.

So tell us what you brought today.

None.

Did you start these from seed?

Yes, I did.

Okay, what do you this is a broccoli, it's, it's not wanting to stand up very much in this pot, but it's an Italian variety called Calibrese.

And it'll get quite large.

And the main head will come out first.

And they can be anywhere from six to eight inches in diameter a while.

But what I like about it is once the main head is cut, it sends up a lot of side shoots, and they'll have smaller heads.

And it'll do that through the you know, the beginning until we cut them down in the fall.

Really, yeah, you'll get to enjoy harvest from these all season.

Yeah, they do get a little smaller, and as they get older, but still, it's enough, you know, if you've got four or five plants, that's enough sure meal.

So that's a really nice one.

And this is kale.

It's called a scarlet kale.

And it is I can't really see it quite as well now but when gets older, it has red in it red streaks, and I really like it a lot for you know cooking and eating.

And if they really get big I had one last year in the stock on it was probably several inches across.

So and these are cool weather crops so they really should be going in right now.

I got them started a little bit late this year.

So these are ready to go in and as soon as this current bitter cold it's right, we're just waiting 50s Would be great these plants but the 30s 30s and 20s at night, they don't care for very much.

So these will go in pretty soon.

Okay.

So when you start your seeds, and we've talked about this a little bit before on the show, you'd like to kind of amend the, the potting mix or the seed mix that you can get in the store and I know a lot of people like to put their own twist on it and kind of blend different things to get the best.

The best potting soil so so now give us your secret.

Okay, so let's see.

So first of all, this is the potting soil and I actually I grow so much stuff I get the compressed bales of powwow with your big time.

Wow, they last two or three years.

So they're they really are compressed so you have to get in and break them up.

That works.

So this is so this is just the this is just right out of the bag straight out of the bag, potting soil net, that's good to use.

I mean you can certainly use that.

It doesn't have you know, a lot of nutrients in it.

So what I do is I add this is some compost that I've had it's a little dry now.

And I think you make your own compost as well.

I do sometimes this is some of a batch that I got from the Urbana landscape recycling center.

They have really nice compost so you know, but I do have compost piles behind we have old corn crib on our property.

And behind that, I just, I mean I take my scraps and just dump them in a pile and don't do any I don't usually once in a while I'll turn it in but it actually makes really good compost The Magic just happens whether you turn it Yeah, it certainly does.

And then finally, the last thing I add to it is core.

That's shredded coconut.

And this is really great because it helps hold moisture.

And that comes in in bricks.

Yes, that are compressed and you just put them in a bucket with water and let them sit for a while and it'll soak up the water.

Potting soil alone is really hard to get wet.

Yes, if you used to.

So this the core really helps it hold the water in and they stay letter.

John was talking about using core mixing it with his blend as well because it's lighter, and he said the seedlings have an easier time sort of breaking through in the beginning.

Is that one of the dads that does help.

Okay.

Oh look, though the potting soil stays fairly light.

Okay.

But yeah, it does.

I love core, it just really helps a lot the moisture.

Now do you use equal portions of all three now I use primarily.

I'd say maybe two thirds, potting soil, okay.

And the rest kind of half and half compost and core, the compost kind of feeds it and the poor helps keep with the water.

So you don't need tons of it.

Okay, so two thirds potting soil, write this down.

This is the recipe, two thirds, potting soil loosely, maybe a third of the compost and then a third of the core if you don't use core or all three components.

Are there two components of this that would work are there, you know, if you and I'd say the core and the potted soil, okay.

And the compost in the potting soil would work because the compost would hold moisture a little better than potting soil.

But all three is kind of the the ticket.

Yeah, because you're feeding it with a compost and then you're watering it, you know, keeping moisture with the core.

Gotcha, gotcha.

Okay.

Awesome.

And that mix those together.

And that's how you come up with your, your medium for your seedlings.

Awesome.

Okay, we had a question come in about compost.

Since you mentioned that earlier.

Two questions.

Actually.

This is from Susan Bisnar Ivern.

Us.

Her first question is, she says I dig plants and spring that I want to give away.

It wants to know if it's okay to use pure compost as the planting medium wants to know if it's too rich, or if it would be acceptable.

So we were kind of joking about this before the show.

But what are your thoughts on on using compost as your medium?

Well, you could you know, it's not like fertilizer where it can burn the plants.

It's more natural.

But it's in a lot.

It's kind of expensive.

Not expensive, but precious.

Like you know, it's a little overkill for one thing.

Yeah, you know, you don't need that much.

Yes, and you're wasting really good compost.

So I would mix something else potting soil or something else unless you've just got an abundance and you're not gonna it's certainly not going to help hurt the plant.

Good to know.

Good to know but maybe not.

Maybe you just don't need it.

All.

Right, and the second part of your question is, can I add used paper products and in the parentheses she's got napkins, thin paper plates, paper towels to the compost.

She had heard rumblings that using the white like with this paper plate or paper towels has bleach in it and was concerned there so what is your take on adding paper scraps to your compost?

Well I wouldn't worry about the paper plates wouldn't dissolve as well on paper towels if they weren't didn't have any ink on them if they were just plain white and like toilet just white toilet paper and Kleenex would probably be okay what's something that's kind of this isn't hard but it's almost like it's coated it well a lot of them are they most paper plates are cold.

So I would worry about that and it would take for years.

Yeah.

Decomposed any other things around the house that you can think of that have been helpful.

What do you throw in your pile you mentioned your your garden scraps but anything from the scraps describe anything that doesn't have oil in it.

You know, leftover vegetables leftover fruit, fruit peeling and appeals.

Yeah, well, I don't usually use banana peel really?

If they again, they would probably take a long time to break down Gotcha.

But certainly like potato peelings, anything like that, I, I have a little container on by my sink where all that stuff goes.

And then I've got a big bucket on the back porch.

So I empty that and periodic coffee grounds.

coffee grounds are great.

Yes.

And there is a recipe to composting as well.

And I'm not quite familiar with that.

I know, you've got to have a good mix of your browns.

And there's, there's mad there's this thing in there about the recipe.

I just I'm not quite familiar.

Yeah, I don't follow recipe.

And it's working.

If you live in, I live out in the country.

And we have acreage and we're surrounded by crop fields.

So I can pretty much do that in town.

It might be a little, you know, wouldn't be such a, it might be a problem.

Sure, sure.

You'd have to be careful.

But it's, you know, do you have a small area, it's going to be fine.

But you can put a lot of things in it.

Interesting.

We'll have to find some materials from the extension and post about composting and recipes and kind of maybe some tips to get folks started.

So what do you Okay, thank you so much for stopping by the studio that went really fast.

And hopefully we'll we'll be able to check back in with you a little bit later as things are growing and we'll see how your garden is.

Maybe next time I'll have tomatoes.

And that's the one you K is a huge tomato grower.

So yes, well we look at mine just I just got them in the flats and they germinated.

I don't know what it was about this year.

But everything germinated really quickly.

Thanks.

I just luckily.

Kale came up in two days.

Wow.

And the broccoli and three and tomatoes, which usually take a couple of weeks came up in four or five days.

They're eager.

I don't know.

We'll take that as a sign.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

And if you've got questions you'd like our panelists to answer, please send us an email to your garden@gmail.com or you can look us up on Facebook, just search for Mid American gardener and send us a message there.

And now we are joined by Sarah Vogel in the studio.

This is your Is this your first time coming in person?

This is wow.

Welcome.

Thank you so much for having me.

So first, introduce yourself a little bit and tell us about you your background and kind of where we can find you outside in the garden.

All over in the garden.

My I'm Sarah Vogel, I'm the horticultural Horticulture Educator for Illinois Extension I covered with Macon in Pike counties.

My background is in both forestry and horticulture.

And so you can find me most of the time my head in the clouds are looking up in the trees.

And oftentimes my hands in the soil, there we go.

That's, that sounds pretty perfect.

So you didn't join us virtually, during our shows during the pandemic.

So it's really nice to meet you in person.

And thank you joined in studio.

So spring is sprung even though it sort of doesn't feel like it.

If you've got things in your yard that are kind of peeking up above the the soil, you're not alone.

And so one of the biggest things that we love here are hostas.

And so Sarah is going to walk us through just how to take care of them if you're going to split them, transplant them other places.

She's got some great photos from this year and last year, and she's going to just walk us through how to take care of them and show them a little extra love as we're moving.

So I will let you take it away here and tell us what we're seeing and give us some tips.

Sure.

So as you mentioned, a hosta is a very common, very commonly used perennial.

One of the most commonly known I guess facts you that that gardeners know about Hostas is that they kind of appreciate a little bit of shade.

There are some Hostas that will do well in full sun.

But as you can see from this first picture, they'll take full sun, but if they aren't also receiving adequate water, you might see some symptoms of sunscald.

So that's, you know, if you're starting to see these brown edges and things, you might make sure they're getting adequate water if we aren't getting enough rainfall.

The reason I wanted oh, by the way, this is a cultivated variety of pasta called Emperess.

Whoo.

That we'll get about.

It's a very largely pasta and it's a large size, mature size hosta so it's mature size, about three and a half feet tall.

Oh, wow.

And every bit of probably five feet across three and a half feet.

I don't know I've seen a hostel that and so yeah, it's huge.

It's huge.

It's really an impressive size leaf and plant and then the flower stalks once they bloom I'm I'm five three and I'm II with them.

So pretty large plant for a hosta but it's a beautiful plant.

It's done really well in the site.

I have it even though it's not the best soil they do like A little bit better soil.

But as you can see from the picture with a hue camera, it's starting to become large enough.

It's starting to encroach upon some of my other perennials.

Hostos don't have to be divided.

If you want to let your Hostas grow into an herbaceous hedge for the growing season, certainly you can do that.

Oftentimes gardeners prefer to keep them nice and neat in one shape plant.

So That's often why we divide them.

Now, let me ask you about the this son did you say son sculpt?

sunscald?

Sounds gold?

Is there anything else that could sort of mimic that?

Probably there are some other things that could mimic that.

But just knowing if you're watering enough and yeah, paying attention to the moisture level, right?

It's something you know, sometimes we get out there and we think, Oh, this must be sunscald.

And it could be something else.

So I just didn't know if there were any wasted determine if it needed a second look, maybe that is sunscald is going to be one of your first things.

You could address those environmental stressors, those abiotic factors, by making sure again, the adequate water that it has the shade that it needs, good soil, maybe you mulch with a little bit of compost and use that incorporated into the soil.

So yeah, there may be other things that mimic it.

But that's one of the first things that aren't there.

Yep, we could address.

Okay, absolutely.

So you were talking about a little bit of overcrowding here.

Yeah, yeah, I really want to keep that purple Pukhraj where it is, and so I'm going to keep this Empress whoo hosta contained, and it's where it's supposed to be in my garden anyway.

So when we want to when we consider dividing our hostas, we wait until late March, early April, when we start to see these eyes, the growing points, little little tips coming out of the ground, or as my kids call them, the hosta horns hosta horn is kind of what they look like.

And so we look for those, I use some leaf mulch and some other things to kind of cover up some of my perennial beds.

So I pulled it back to see if they were coming out recently.

And sure enough, they were.

So that's what our picture is of the horns just emerging from the ground.

And the the the diameter of those eyes coming out of the ground was probably about 14 inches around.

So when I took my shovel to make, to start digging them out to divide them, I went a little bit beyond that, to make sure we have adequate, you know, in case there's a few horns, the eyes that have emerged yet, we want to give adequate room.

So you'll, we would take your spade and dig entirely around where the eyes are emerging.

And then remove that whole clump as one whole thing, even though you're only going to transplant, maybe half or a third or how quarter it however, you're going to divide it up, you want to take the whole clump out, okay.

And then once you do that, you can if it's a smaller plant, often you can divide by your hand, you know, just using your hands.

This has been there some for some time.

And so you can some people use a sharp knife to cut it.

I'm a barbarian.

I'm just a simple caveman.

So I just use my spade a knife sharp spade will be useful in this case, and just slice right through it.

Probably I could get maybe three or four divisions out of this, I'm going to only divided into two because I want to keep a good size to the ones I have.

And then once you get those apart, you want to try when you're dividing it to keep as much of the route attached to those to those clumps as possible.

Another question I wanted to ask I, I have seen people not dig the entire root ball and just kind of take their spade and hack off in the ground the piece that they want to move.

Why why recommend against that?

So it's not a recommended practice, but it's probably going to work just fine.

The reason I take off it was you know, something you shouldn't do if it was a gardening?

No, no, we we kind of want to give whatever we're putting back in there, whatever we're going to leave in that in that spot, enough space to grow enough room for those establish roots to establish enough room for that plant to really become well established again.

So if you're just hacking off part of it, yeah, that's probably going to work but the recommended practices to remove the entire clump, and noted noted noted.

Okay, go ahead.

I'm sorry, what were you not at all?

No.

So you can see by that last photo that we have really big fleshy roots that are attached to the hostas, and so yeah, using my my barbaric method with a shovel, I'll probably, you know, damage a couple of the horns, a couple of the roots, but all in all, once I get those apart and they're planted and receive adequate water, they're going to do just fine.

But you can see by that, again, that last photo, they're really large roots and they have rhizomes that come off of them.

So that's what it helps them to spread in your garden.

So these pictures Our recent I mean, this is this is a project you're tackling now ish.

That's right.

That's right.

So the obviously the pictures of the the fully emerged nicely grown houses, those first couple of photos came from years past.

But yeah, this is a project that I have just recently tackled.

And we'll be moving them planting that second clump.

Probably today, it's just gonna ask if you know that it's chilly, and you know, but it's okay to move them now.

Yeah, they're coming up right now.

And it's, you know, march in Illinois, you know, as well as I can be a roller coaster of temperature and moisture and emotions sometimes.

Spring is for renewal.

Right?

Yeah.

But, so I think the important thing is when we do move that clump is that we keep in mind the mature size of what that plant is going to be.

So I knew that I, I crowded these this time.

So when I take the new clump and put it in a separate location, I'm going to make sure it has adequate room to grow.

And I'm going to water it adequately, adequately to so those roots have a good chance of of establishing, I was just going to ask about the routine of actually putting it in the ground.

I love when when gardeners and especially professionals share tips of things like watering the hole and using compost.

So can you walk us through some of your best practices that you literally apply at home when you transplant?

Or you know, I don't know if I'm always the best.

I don't always practice what I preach, because I like to experiment.

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, so you know, whether it's a hosta, an herbaceous perennial like a hosta, or a woody perennial, or even your annuals, you want to really allow the plant enough room to grow, you keep the mature size of something in in mind when you're choosing it.

So that means not planting your maple tree right up next to the house or underneath the power line or things like that.

That's one of the biggest tips that we can give anybody is keeping the right plant in the right sight having those things in mind.

And then after care.

That is really one of the most, you know, proper planting and proper aftercare.

So watering.

If it's something that does need pruning, making sure you're doing those procedures to do you feed or do any type of amendments when you transfer or you do splitting, just to give them a good starter, do you just plant water and let her go?

I don't usually amend when planting I do often use compost as a mulch.

Mulch is a organic mulches are really great for several reasons, you're going to suppress weeds, you're going to get a little bit more moisture retention, you're going to be adding organic matter back into the soil.

So mulching with something like compost or shredded leaves is a good practice.

And with after care, yeah, watering is really important.

I think that timing is probably one of the biggest inhibitors to a healthy plant, when we do things at the wrong time.

Or the you know, not exactly the right time, and the plant doesn't like that.

So just finding out what those proper practices are.

Okay, and we've got just a couple minutes left, and I like to ask everyone, what are you going to be growing at your house this year in the garden?

Any special plants?

Any new varieties?

You're trying?

What's on the what's on the list?

Um, you know, this year, I am taking a bit of a break from the vegetable garden, are you Yeah, I'm going because we know we're going to be away a lot this summer gotcha, is stress of being away worrying about the garden, I have been back to the weed festival that is going on.

And so we're I'm going to take a break on that I'll probably do a few different cover crops to you know, put a little bit of nutrients back into the soil to improve the tilt of the soil.

So I'll probably move away from that and just concentrate on my containers and my perennial beds and so on.

I planted a lot of woody species, some trees and shrubs in the last couple years.

So making sure they have that aftercare.

Because once you put it in the ground, it's not done.

You've got to take care of it after that just the beginning.

That's right.

That's right.

So and we have a lot of deer in my neighborhood, too.

So making sure that any damage they've any havoc that they have wreaked is cleaned up.

I like that.

So you're not exempt.

You're not exactly taking the year off.

I mean, from vegetable gardening, but doing the cover crops and just kind of monitoring the health of those beds in that area.

That's still kind of some work right in itself.

So yes, yeah.

Well, thank you so much for coming to the studio and talking to us about hostas, and I love the fact that you said, paying attention to the future of the plant the mature size, especially like with the hostas that you have, that's huge.

Yeah.

And so you had to think ahead, okay, this guy is gonna spread and gonna get, you know, would you say three and a half feet tall?

So yeah, yeah, I'm five feet wide, and it doesn't look like that when you buy it and a little quart or gallon.

So keeping that mature size in mind is important.

Excellent.

All right, Sarah, thank you so much for stopping by the studio.

And thank you so much for watching.

And as always, if you have any questions, or anything you'd like to see our panelists talk about, you can send Just an email to your garden@gmail.com.

You can also find us on Facebook, just search for Mid American gardener.

And you can send us a question there as well.

And you may remember last string, we went to Ellis house, it was just about this time last year, and she taught us how to make maple syrup using the sugar maples that she had on her property.

Well, I've got some sugar maples at my house as well.

So we decided to give it a shot.

And so we ordered some taps, and tapped a few of the trees added our place.

So I put together a quick video to show you how that went.

One weekend.

So here you see my husband, we've already drilled the hole in and he is putting the taps in the tree and it immediately started to run which was great because we knew we had done it properly.

In just a few hours.

You'll see here in the next one that we had already collected a I mean, that's a good 1/3 maybe almost a half gallon there of SAP.

As time went on throughout the day just kept collecting more and more and more the trees were running really good.

This one was from the next morning, I emptied it about five in the evening.

And that was the next morning when I went out.

So that tree ran really well all day.

Ella had the two roaster pans, I just have one because we're gonna this is our experimental year.

So dumping those in a roaster pan, just letting that water cook off of there.

There you can see I'm emptying another one and that one was totally, totally full.

And now we wait.

So when that finishes up and we get that nice caramel color and the consistency that we're looking for, I'll know it's ready, and I'll have to bring in a sample.

show you guys how it all turned out.

So wish us luck.

Thank you so much for watching and sticking with us throughout each iteration of the show.

If you've got a question for us, send it in to your garden@gmail.com you can also look for us on Facebook, just search for Mid American gardener and send us a message there