
Birdwatching & Renovating Strawberries
Season 12 Episode 28 | 27m 17sVideo has Closed Captions
Mary Schmidt discusses bird watching, and Tom Mashour renovates strawberry plants.
This week on The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South, Mary Schmidt from Lichterman Nature Center discusses the growing hobby of bird watching. Also, Master Gardener Tom Mashour demonstrates how to renovate strawberry plants, including replanting existing plants in another bed.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
The Family Plot is a local public television program presented by WKNO
Support for WKNO programming is made possible by viewers like you. Thank you!

Birdwatching & Renovating Strawberries
Season 12 Episode 28 | 27m 17sVideo has Closed Captions
This week on The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South, Mary Schmidt from Lichterman Nature Center discusses the growing hobby of bird watching. Also, Master Gardener Tom Mashour demonstrates how to renovate strawberry plants, including replanting existing plants in another bed.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch The Family Plot
The Family Plot is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- Hi, thanks for joining us for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.
I'm Chris Cooper.
Birds are a colorful and sometimes secretive garden visitor.
Today, we're going to talk about how to attract and observe them.
Also strawberries like to run and make new plants.
Today we will be renovating our strawberries and moving some to another bed.
That's just ahead on The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.
- (female announcer) Production funding for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South is provided by the WKNO Production Fund, the WKNO Endowment Fund and by viewers like you.
Thank you.
[upbeat country music] - Welcome to The Family Plot.
I'm Chris Cooper.
Joining me today is Mary Schmidt.
Mary is the Backyard Wildlife Curator at Lichterman Nature Center and Tom Mashour will be joining me later.
Good to see you, Mary.
How are you doing?
- It's great to see you.
I am so happy to be here talking about one of my favorite things today.
- I know you are and you and I had a discussion about this just a few weeks back.
So I'm just glad that you're here.
So let's talk about birdwatching because you did tell me during that conversation, that bird watching is becoming wildly popular.
- It is.
Birdwatching is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the United States.
And you can bird anywhere.
- Cool.
- I think a lot of people experienced that over the last couple of years.
Birding from your own house, in your backyard, or areas in your neighborhood, or in your community.
So you can bird anywhere.
And it's a hobby that anybody can do.
- Nice.
- I always say really, the only thing you need is a little bit of patience and practice- [Chris chuckles] - All right.
- And then it's really...
It is a lifelong hobby that you can enjoy just about anywhere.
- Okay.
So tell us, how do people get started with birdwatching?
- People get started a lot of different ways.
One of the easiest ways that people can get started into birding and observing birds is putting up bird feeders in their own yard.
And the one thing I recommend to people putting up bird feeders is put up a quality bird feeder.
So you don't wanna put like a piece of plastic, one up there that the squirrels are gonna get into.
[Chris laughs] So get something that's gonna last for awhile.
- Okay.
- And the second thing I recommend is invest in a quality seed.
So sometimes when you buy the mixes at like a big box store, they have a lot of filler or waste seed that the birds aren't even eating.
They're kicking it out and that's how you get weeds coming up under your bird feeders.
- Exactly.
Exactly.
- So if you stick to something like a black oil sunflower seed or safflower, suet, those are not only going to prevent the weeds and get you more bang for your buck, but they're also gonna be attracting a bigger diversity of birds coming to those bird feeders.
- Okay.
- So setting up bird feeders is one easy way to start observing birds.
Exploring in your community.
Taking a walk around your neighborhood, visiting your local nature center.
- Yes.
- Or green space is- - Or parks.
- Yeah, parks are a great way to get out there and just look and listen and engage with nature.
- Nice.
Okay.
I can tell you like this so far.
[Mary Laughs] All right.
So what equipment is needed to start?
I know you covered some of those.
Are there any other pieces of equipment that we need?
- Yeah so, really you don't need anything, but if you really wanna take your birding to the next level, you wanna invest in just a few things.
- Okay.
- The first piece of equipment is gonna be a pair of binoculars.
And binoculars can be intimidating for people.
[Chris laughs] - Yes.
- Because not only is it a new piece of equipment you have to learn how to use, but there's so many options out there.
So for birding, we recommend looking at a pair that's either an 8-by-42 or an 8-by-32.
So what are those numbers?
- Yeah, I was gonna say, so what do you mean?
- Yeah.
- Right.
- And you'll find those numbers on every pair of binocular.
- Okay.
- So the first number is the magnification.
- Okay.
- So when you're looking through your binoculars... For example, these are an eight.
When you're looking through your binoculars, what you see is magnified eight times.
- Okay.
- If you have a 10, it's magnified 10 times.
Okay?
So that's the first number.
- Okay, got it.
- For birding you don't wanna get too high because then the binoculars...
Your field of view or what you're seeing is pretty small.
So really for birding, you wanna stick somewhere between a 6 and a 10.
- Okay.
- You don't wanna get too high above that.
The second number has to do with the objective lens here and it is the distance of the objective lens.
Okay, so what does that mean?
- Yeah.
[both laughing] Help us.
- Yeah, so that is basically how much light is allowed into your binoculars.
So if you have a bigger diameter, it's gonna allow more light in, but it's also gonna make your binoculars really heavy.
So when you're looking at something, you'll get a little wobble or a shake in it.
So really for the second number, you wanna look at something between like a 30 and a 45.
- Okay.
- So those are kind of what those numbers mean.
Other than that, you wanna try and test out a couple of pairs and this is gonna impress you this big fancy word.
- I'm already impressed, yeah.
Just learning.
- One of the issues that people have with binoculars is their interpupillary distance.
[Chris laughs] So it's just a big fancy word for saying the distance in between your eyes.
So everybody's eyes are set a little bit closer or further apart.
- How about that?
- And so with binoculars, you wanna find one that's gonna meet your interpupillary distance.
And so that's basically how close they come to each other or how far apart.
So you really wanna test a few pairs if you can to find that right interpupillary distance.
- How about that?
Some birdwatching terms for today.
[both laughing] - Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you can use that word and totally impress your friends.
- I think I will.
[Chris laughs] How about that?
- So, binoculars is the first kind of piece of equipment- - Okay.
- That most people wanna start with.
The second one is gonna be a field guide.
- Yeah.
- And field guides...
There field guides for just about everything out there.
Plants, different animals- - Yeah.
- Stars.
And so a field guide is a book that's going to help identify things that you're seeing in the field or outside in nature.
- Okay.
- So you wanna invest in a field guide.
There are so many different field guides out there.
- [chuckles] I'm sure.
- And so I have a few recommendations.
- Okay.
- Okay?
So in field guides they either are gonna have drawings like this one, or they're gonna have photographs.
Okay?
So what I recommend is I prefer the drawings because a photograph is just a snapshot of one bird- - Okay.
- At one time of the year.
And birds change color throughout the year.
As they age they can vary in color.
So the drawings give you kind of an overview.
- Okay.
- The second thing you wanna look for in a field guide is what area does it cover?
- Okay.
- So there are field guides that are broken down by state.
And like we were talking about, birds don't see state lines.
- Right.
- So unless you're just really interested in that particular one, I would try to get either an eastern guide- - Okay.
- For eastern North America or a western guide for western North America.
Or if you tend to travel or just wanna see what other birds are out there, I recommend one that covers all of North America.
- Nice.
Okay.
- So field guides, binoculars.
And then the last thing is how are you gonna keep track of what birds you're seeing?
- Okay.
- For some people that's not important for other people it is.
So there are checklists and those are done usually by state, or if you visit a wildlife refuge or a nature center, sometimes they have field or checklists just for that site.
- Okay.
- And then also some counties and states will do what's called a seasonal occurrence.
And that's telling you what birds are in that area during what time of year.
- Nice.
Nice.
- And then we'll talk a little bit too about if you don't wanna take the paper form, there's definitely... Technology has grown so much- - Sure.
- And there are ways to do that on an app or on a desktop computer as well.
- Okay.
So let's talk about some of those apps.
- Okay.
Sure.
So one of my favorites to use...
When I started birding, I was taking these checklists out with me all the time, but now I record everything on an app called eBird.
So just the letter e and the word Bird.
- Okay.
- And that's an app through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
The leading premiere research scientists in ornithology and it's free to use.
And you can record what you're seeing.
It records what time you start, the distance you travel.
And then of course the birds that you're seeing when you mark them off on your list.
What's great about that is not only that you can record what you're seeing, but say, I'm gonna travel to Pennsylvania.
- Okay.
- And I wanna see what birds were seen last week before I get there.
And I can go up and I can look.
And there's eBird checklists from all across the country and all across the world.
So if you're traveling, you can see what birds are in the area during that time too.
- That is pretty nice.
Okay, okay.
- Yeah, it's a really cool one.
The other one I recommend for people getting started birding is there is an app that's called Merlin.
And it's gonna help you identify the birds.
And so it goes through kind of a process, which is a process that we teach on how to identify birds.
This app does it for you.
- Okay.
- And it will give you kind of a list of what the possible birds that you're seeing are.
The other really cool thing that just came out in that app is you can take a little recording of sound.
- How about that?
- I know.
And it helps to identify what bird sounds you're hearing as well.
So, it's amazing.
These things weren't out when I started birding, but they've just taken birding to the next level.
- That is next level.
- Yeah, it's like now we're all one.
- How about that?
- Like world community.
All putting in our checklists and seeing what birds are out there.
- I could see why it's popular now.
- Yeah.
- That's pretty good.
All right.
So you were talking about the binoculars earlier.
So what about the scope?
- Oh, right.
So, when you get into birding and you kind of wanna take it to the next level and you wanna...
Especially with things that are kind of far off like ducks, that could be far across a lake or a pond.
A spotting scope is going to help you see those birds.
- A spotting scope.
- Spotting scope.
- Okay, I gotcha.
- Yeah, so when we talked about the binoculars, we talked about keeping it between like a 6 and a 10, and that's partly because of the weight.
- Okay.
- Well, sometimes birds are way further away.
So with a spotting scope, you're not gonna be walking through the field, trying to hold it up to your eye.
You need a tripod, but it will do a magnification.
This one is anywhere from 20 to 60.
So you're gonna get a much larger magnification.
- Okay.
- But it's not as mobile.
So- - Right.
- It has its limitations as well.
And then the cost is getting up there a little bit more too.
So- - Okay.
- It's one of those things like when you decide that birding is gonna be a lifelong hobby, this is something that you can start to invest in.
- Would be a good investment.
Good deal.
Okay.
Now let's talk about local organizations.
- Yeah.
So here in Memphis, we have a great local organization called the Memphis Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society.
And across the country, there are local bird chapters.
- Okay, okay.
- Sometimes they're associated with ornithological societies.
Sometimes they're associated with the Audubon Society, but there are bird groups all across the country.
And all people have to do is kind of look up where their birding organization meets.
Usually they have monthly meetings talking about different topics.
And one of the best things they do is they lead field trips to some of the hot birding spots in that area.
And you can connect with some of your neighbors and some folks in your community that also enjoy birds.
- How about that?
- Yeah.
- Mary we thank you so much for that good information about birdwatching.
Yeah, we can tell you really into it.
- Yeah, it's one of my favorite things.
So I was more than happy to come on and talk about it.
- Well we thank you much.
Appreciate it.
- Thank so much.
[upbeat country music] - What we're looking at here is powdery mildew on these beautiful zinnias.
We had early spring rains during the cool part of the season, followed by a summer that was hot and humid.
Anytime you have those conditions, you're gonna have this.
Powdery mildew.
Especially if your plants are crowded like this, 'cause they're not getting good airspace.
A couple of things you could do.
One, resistant varieties will always help.
Two, you can use a fungicide.
I would go with a copper-based fungicide.
And the third thing you need to do, if these leaves happened to fall off, practice good sanitation.
Because these leaves will still contain these fungal spores.
And if you water, or Mother Nature waters for you, those spores will splash up and they'll get on other leaves as well.
So again, a good copper-based fungicide, resistant varieties, practice good sanitation.
[upbeat country music] All right, Mr Tom.
We're out in The Family Plot garden.
- Yes, sir.
- We're about to renovate strawberries.
- Yes we are.
- So what do we need to do first?
- Well, first thing it's already been done, is mark off the area that we wanna till.
- Okay.
- And then kill the grass.
- All right.
- Well, decided on 5-foot by 10-foot, piece of property.
Now the ground underneath it, it's just this had not been tilled, is probably organically deficient.
[Chris laughs] So we've got some organic matter here we're gonna put on top of it.
- Okay.
- And then we're gonna put some fertilizer on top of that, preferably like 6-12-12, low nitrogen, high phosphorus, high potassium.
Because we don't want a lot of new growth when the frost comes because the young tender leaves can't handle it.
But the older leaves can.
And we're gonna just till all in together at one time.
- All right.
So you ready to get started?
- I be ready.
- All right.
- First thing I'm gonna do is pull these up and I'll get them out of the way.
- Okay.
- The grass killer did it's job so we know where to till.
Okay.
And let's put some humus in there.
- So you're just kind of dumping it out?
- Yep.
- Now we're gonna take a rake and just kind of spread it out evenly.
Okay next.
And the last thing we're gonna do before we till, is put down fertilizer.
Recommended is a low nitrogen, high phosphorus, high potassium 'cause we don't want a lot of new fresh growth on those strawberries when frost is coming.
Now it's time to start the beast.
- All right.
[tiller revving] - Being the no till generation, the two times you really do need to till is when you're putting in a new garden and also if you're putting in lime- - Right.
- To sweeten the soil.
I'm raking up the grass that we dug up and it's not gonna to waste.
We're gonna set it aside so when a hard frost or freeze comes, we can use that to cover the plants up to protect them.
Next thing we're gonna do is put down the barrier.
- Okay.
- Which we're using the cheap shower curtain liners.
- Cheap, worth $1?
- Yeah.
- Shower curtain.
- Can't tell you where I got them from.
[Chris laughs] That's one of those closely kept secrets.
It even comes with magnets.
- All right.
- Can just lay it down?
- Okay.
- The plastic cover, which was in it's former life, a shower curtain liner- [Chris laughs] Will be used for a couple of good reasons.
One, as a weed block.
Two, retain soil moisture.
Three and most important, keep the strawberries clean so the bugs don't eat the bottom and only leaving the top parts for you.
[Chris laughs] And I'm using these little anchors that you get for ground claws.
They're relatively inexpensive.
But if you're cheap like I am, you can take those metal coat hangers and straighten them out.
- Right.
- You're gonna get four of these off of one of those.
- Okay.
- So if you wanna do the corners.
- So you're putting corners?
- They'll go right through...
Both tongs through the plastic.
Yeah, just like that.
- I'm trying to get it at the end here.
- All the way down.
- There you go.
- And then we'll do the same thing over here.
Yeah.
And I'm gonna put one right smack in the middle.
And now we're gonna put the other one down.
- Okay.
- Just plant them on the ends, middle.
One in the middle.
Since it's six feet long, six feet wide, you might say about three feet apart.
Now we're ready to cut some slits and start moving strawberries to their new home.
I like about eight inches slits.
And the reason for that is better chance of catching rainwater.
And secondly, it's easier to water it.
I talked to the professional commercial grower.
He recommends 14 to 15 inches apart for little bit better air circulation.
- All right.
- But you gotta keep in mind, he's got a big field.
- Right.
- We're limited to 5-foot by 10-foot area so I'm gonna stick with the 12 inches apart right now.
- Okay.
- Well, as you notice, we got the plastic down anchored and we got slits cut in it.
Now it's time to start moving the babies.
- All right.
- And I'm gonna start over in this far corner and work my way towards the center.
And what I'm going to do is dig it and you'll find that strawberry roots are not very deep.
As you can see- - Yeah, not at all.
- Very shallow.
And we got a daughter on it.
So we're gonna go move...
Dig that up.
And there's another daughter.
[Chris chuckles] Now originally planted in here was 10 strawberry plants.
And we've got, I say well over 50.
Now let's see how many plants we got off that one.
Well, there is four.
One, two, three, four plants.
Five plants off that one.
We've got two plants here.
I'm just gonna separate them.
And there's three on that one.
- There's three.
- I'd say make it'd pretty good investment for only 10 plants.
Where else are you gonna get free plants like this that are easily separated and replanted?
And it's time we go ahead and put these in the garden.
- All right.
- I want to separate them right at the source.
And there is one- - That's one plant.
- Mother plant.
Again, you see the roots are shallow.
- Yeah.
- So, obviously we don't really need to plant it very deep, but we do need to plant it as soon as possible to keep the roots from drying out.
And then close up the slit around it.
And after we get done doing this, we most surely want to water it.
And it'll get climatized to it's new home.
[Chris chuckles] We actually got a couple of plants right here.
So I just separated tho...
Try and keep as much of the soil.
Well, this one here doesn't look prime.
So I'm gonna set that one aside.
- What do you think about that one?
- That one looks good.
And we'll plug this one into the ground.
Strawberries like it just like human does.
If it's comfortable for you, it's comfortable for the plants.
[Chris laughs] If it's hot to you, it's hot to them.
- We appreciate the demonstration Mr. Tom.
- Okay.
- Now we'll just finish this on up.
- Okay.
- All right.
Thank you much.
[gentle country music] - Let's take a look at these cracked cherry tomatoes that we have here in the garden.
As you can see the cracks here.
Okay?
This one here.
And it's usually because too much moisture.
The outer skin is starting to crack hence the cracks that you see here.
Some people actually call it cat facing or scarring.
But again, it's because of moisture, which is why it's a good idea to mulch your tomato plants so you can regulate soil moisture.
The thing about these tomatoes is this, they're actually still edible.
So I would actually pick these off the vine and still eat them.
Again, they're cracked.
This a physiological disorder.
Nothing to be majorly concerned about.
Go ahead and pick them off the vine, eat them.
They're good.
[gentle country music] All right, Mary here is our Q and A segment.
You ready?
- I'm ready.
- These are great questions.
All right, here's our first viewer email.
"Will woodpecker holes harm my ash tree?"
And this is Mar PZ on YouTube.
So what do you think?
Will they harm the tree?
- Well, we get this question a lot and the short answer is no.
If you're seeing significant damage from woodpeckers, it typically means there's an underlying issue.
- Okay.
- Like you have some sort of insect problem with that tree.
That tree is rotting from the inside.
So woodpeckers are attracted to it for a certain reason.
If you're getting extensive damage, it usually means underlying issues.
Regular visits by woodpeckers, some holes not gonna cause any issues.
- It's not gonna be a problem, you have a healthy tree.
- That's exactly it.
- That's the key.
Healthy tree.
- Yes.
- Of course you know this, woodpeckers are looking for what?
Sap and insects that get entrapped in the sap.
- Exactly.
Yep.
- So for the most part, if the tree is healthy, it's gonna be fine.
- Yeah, Woodpeckers...
Trees are adapted to woodpeckers too.
So- - Interesting.
- Yeah.
So unless there's an issue with the tree, it's not gonna really have too much effect.
Just a few woodpecker holes.
- Just a few woodpecker holes, Mar PZ.
We appreciate that question.
Here's our next viewer email.
"I have begun planting for pollinators.
"Year after year more bees and butterflies "and hummingbirds show up.
"However, I have had an increas in creepy crawly things too.
"Skinks and even a snake.
"Pollinators are welcome, "creepy crawlies, eh, not so much.
"What can we do to keep the pollinators, but deter the other creatures?"
This is Sheree from Southaven, Mississippi.
All right, Sheree.
So it just so happens we have Mary here from Lichterman Nature Center.
She's gonna tell us a little bit about these creepy crawly creatures.
All right?
- Yeah.
And first I wanted to say Sheree, you're doing a great job attracting pollinators.
Pollinators need our help.
She sent a great picture.
- Oh, beautiful picture.
- Yeah, black swallowtails, which is the caterpillar.
It's gonna turn into this really nice big butterfly.
So you're doing a great job.
- Doing good.
- Well, what she's doing is something that we encourage.
Is so she's creating a habitat.
Everything in nature is interconnected.
And so by providing this habitat for the pollinators, she's also creating an environment or a habitat for these other creatures too.
And so I would say, just enjoy it.
[Chris laughs] You can enjoy it from a distance, but she's doing a great job.
If you're starting to see skinks and snakes show up in your yard because you're attracting pollinators, you're doing the right thing.
You're doing a great job.
You're creating this food web and you're creating this habitat for a lot of our native animals and insects.
And so keep up the good work.
[Chris laughs] And maybe just enjoy it from a distance when you see those creepy crawlies.
But you're doing great.
She's doing a great job.
- Sheree, I'm gonna leave it there.
You doing a great job.
[Chris laughs] - She is.
It's great.
- I know you'd like this.
- Yeah, I did.
- Doing a great job, Sheree.
Thank you for the picture.
Beautiful picture.
- It is a great picture.
Thank you for that.
And thank you for the question.
We appreciate that.
All right.
Here's our next viewer email.
"These have been on my porch and ceiling fans "for several weeks.
"It looks like tiny clusters of eggs, "but I'm not really sure what it is.
"I wipe them off and then they're back the next day.
"What is it?
And how do I get rid of it?"
And this is Mary.
All right.
So, we're in the season of fall army worms.
- And they are everywhere.
- They are everywhere.
So, the egg masses that you're seeing now that are fall army worms.
They have the tiny light colored bodies with the black heads.
Okay?
The moth will actually lay eggs or the egg masses on light colored surfaces.
So gutters, mailboxes, lawn furniture.
I've seen them on sidewalks and pretty much everywhere else.
- Yeah.
- And they can be numerous.
So here's what you have to do.
I would get out the power washer, put a little soap in it, clean them up that way.
- Yeah, as soon as you see those egg masses too, or even when you start to see the caterpillars that are emerging... We were talking earlier, they love eating Bermuda grass.
- They love Bermuda grass.
- And so if you let them get much larger, you're gonna start to see some brown spots in your yard.
- So take care of them while they're on your structures.
- Yes.
- So if they move to your Bermuda lawn there's a couple of chemicals that you could use.
I like the, of course safer chemicals.
So Bt, bacillus thuringiensis.
Of course is a natural occurring bacteria.
That you can use, but you have to catch those fall armyworms in the first instar.
Once they get beyond that first instar, then you're gonna have to use products like bifenthrin.
Okay?
Spinosad is something that you can use that's also safe.
So I would go with Bt, Dipel.
First instar, please.
Then if you can't catch them, spinosad and then bifenthrin.
And that should do it for you.
- Yeah, try to catch them early if you can.
- Catching them early is gonna be the key.
All right.
So thank you, Mary.
- Thank you.
- I appreciate that.
This was fun.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, had a great time.
- Thanks for joining us.
Remember we love to hear from you.
Send us an email or letter.
The email address is familyplot@wkno.org.
And the mailing address is Family Plot, 7151 Cherry Farms Road Cordova, Tennessee 38016.
Or you can go online to familyplotgarden.com.
That's all we have time for today.
Thanks for joining us.
If you want to learn more about bird watching or renovating strawberries, head on over to familyplotgarden.com.
We have tons of information to help your garden.
Be sure to join us next week for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.
Be safe.
[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]
- Home and How To
Hit the road in a classic car for a tour through Great Britain with two antiques experts.
Support for PBS provided by:
The Family Plot is a local public television program presented by WKNO
Support for WKNO programming is made possible by viewers like you. Thank you!