I like the way they lay them out.

They're not just straight lines anymore.

Blueberries will take about 5 years for a bush to ripen before you can get a a viable fruit crop off of it.

But this is the cone flower and very popular with bees.

This is a weeping large siduous so it'll turn golden in the fall.

The variety that we have it it's inspiring.

Hello and welcome to our great gardening September fall harvest special.

I'm Sharon Young and as always we have garden experts with us to answer your questions tonight.

They are horiculturist and educator Bob Olen and garden professional Diane Sicila.

We want to hear from all you gardeners out there who have questions for our experts as we approach fall and beyond.

We have phone volunteers with the St.

Louis County Master Gardener standing by.

Call locally at 218788-2847 or email us at askpbsnorth.org.

We're taking questions throughout the show, so call or email us now.

First though, let's check out the weather of our early fall.

There we go.

That may be even later in fall because we're already beginning to see some of the decline in the green color.

But this is down at the Bayront and it's been absolutely magnificent.

Some of the colors.

Lots of wind this year though with I think it dried some things prematurely.

It could have just a little bit.

Yeah.

You know, the nice thing about uh that lake effect that we have is we really get to extend the season.

So, we're really not seeing too much color here yet, but we will be.

So, it's coloring up real nicely over the hill.

Look at this beautiful lush green grass that's still available there.

So, it's a it's magnificent.

It is.

It's time to be outside.

Yes.

Perfect hiking, running weather.

It really is just splendid with the sunshine, everything, and the cool wind.

Feels great.

Absolutely.

Just just stellar.

And folks from the region, you just got to take a walk on the lakewalk.

You got to take a walk through the rose garden this time of year.

It's It's really very very special.

No color here yet, but that that'll be coming soon, too.

Keep calling in your questions.

But before we get to those, Bob, what would you like to start us off with tonight?

Well, you know, we're going to take a little look at the weather and the some of the weather statistics.

So much of gardening really is determined by the weather.

It's in conversations, I think, just everywhere now.

And you know, it's always been variable for sure, but it does determine a lot of the outcomes whether you're going to have success with warm season crops, success with cool season crops.

uh it's it's going to you know have some effects certainly on uh pollination, fertilization and then what we saw this year is disease and insect pressure as well.

Hot dry years great for minimal fungal disease but also very difficult for insects.

A lot of the populations develop very very fast.

Here are some of the statistics that may be a little bit difficult because there's a lot of content difficult for viewers to to see.

But nonetheless, the thing that stands out that month of July, this is our meteorological summer when most of the growing really grows.

June, July, and August are the big three months.

And as people know, those four days I believe we had when the temperatures exceeded 90 degrees, wasn't it?

And uh the thing though that's remarkable, these are statistics from our good friends at the weather service in Duth right near the airport.

Uh day temperatures were not in duth were not excessive but it was those evening temperatures and that may have impacted some of the growth habits we're seeing as well because plants continue to grow and aspire both night and day.

When we take a look at some of the hibbing data now this is kind of interesting once again in the month of July which was warm for everybody.

Uh once again here they had day temperatures on average that were really uh much hotter than normal and then the evening temperatures as well.

So at least during that month uh it was really very very warm.

You know when we take a look at the all the statistics we were drier of course we're now getting a little bit of moisture so we're making up for some of that deficit.

But I think we learned just a little bit this growing season because you do want to get uh look at that whole season.

We don't know if it's going to be hot and dry early, if it's going to be moist during July.

We've seen that as well.

So, you have to be prepared, don't you think, Diane, for whatever comes, right?

And we tend to be dry initially, so a lot of good water, but not everybody had that ability to either water thoroughly as they needed to or sometimes because we were supposedly in a drought situation.

There was some water bands in some of the cities and locations that they could not be using their watering or sprinkling system whenever it was convenient for them.

Made it more difficult.

That's a very good point.

Water bands, but also watering's gotten very expensive in in municipalities.

So, people are going to have to learn how to manage that.

So, I think a couple of thoughts.

You want to prepare for weather extremes.

I think they're coming and we just have to be ready for them.

And uh you want to v plant a variety of crops.

These are just a few suggestions that you might consider.

uh succession plant.

You don't really know uh what the season's going to bring.

So, you want to plant over a period of time.

Um really big on on incorporating more organic content in the soil.

We're going to be composting and suggest that people do that.

That's going to help in a wet year.

Uh it's going to absorb some of the material uh extra moisture.

In a dry year, it's going to hold some moisture.

So, you want to get those organic levels up.

And then, uh you may also want to adjust planting depth if you have a light soil.

I tend to plant very deep on the on the white so light soils, deeper than most people think I'm going to get the seed out, but it gets those roots down there and holds the moisture if things do stay dry.

So, there are definitely some things we can do.

Uh mulches on the top of the surface, of course, whether it's uh artificial or yeah, either way, we stay away from ground rubber compounds.

But when you talk about artificial, the clear poly and uh black poly's will hold moisture and and actually improve some of the heat content.

And then uh you really want to think a little bit about not just supplemental watering, but you want to think about moisture that's continually being delivered to the plant.

So trickle irrigation, drip irrigation, watering on a regular basis and and just monitoring the condition of your soil moisture content as well as what the plants look like and watering thoroughly.

So you make that connection on the deep rooted items, particularly your trees, your shrubs, your perennials.

So if they do get dry, they can pull from the subs soil moisture if they make a connection.

That's right.

Enough thorough watering.

So, like we always say, like drinking a straw, if you don't get that straw down into the bottom of your glass, you're not going to get the rest of the moisture out there in the roots.

Bring it up by capillary action.

Makes sense.

Thank you.

And you know, if if you're going to prioritize things, you want to be sure it's the annuals and the newly planted material that gets the water.

Your perennials, trees, and shrubs are going to do just fine.

But if you've got to prioritize things, even your bluegrass will go dormant and come back.

But annuals as well as newly planted material get the water.

Makes sense.

Thank you.

Uh let's get to some of your questions.

Sandy is asking and sent us a photo.

Help.

I had several of my tomatoes and peppers with these holes.

No critter on the inside when I cut them open.

What could be going on?

I I think maybe it's it looks like it's an insect issue.

You know, you can't really tell.

Sometimes you actually get dimpling and and hail effect if she had any of that where that becomes the tissue degaras.

Could be hornworm on the tomatoes which you won't see the actual insect.

They're pretty sneaky some of these for their size.

I'm surprised but like you say they're nocturnal so we don't see them during the day and they'll make big gouges like that.

That was a big hole.

Yeah.

Paul in Duth asks and talks about having an apple tree and a pear tree beside their driveway and they need to gain some clearance under the branches.

Obviously, they're unlikely to cut anything off while they're still bearing fruit.

But how long afterward should they wait?

Well, we always think of going into dormcy.

They should be not growing anymore.

You don't want to encourage fast late growth that's going to be temperamental or s susceptible to winter damage, winter injury or whatever.

So usually your hard dormance is your best, you know, very late fall, very early spring off the tree.

Yes.

All the leaves off.

It's a good sign.

Or very, very late winter, early spring.

Just just before if you have your choice, that's probably ideal.

Okay.

Jean and Esco is asking about her hydr hydrangeia that is lime.

Should she cut it back now and transplant now or cut back and wait until May or spring to transplant lime hydrangeia?

Limelight probably I would think that they're still blooming.

So I would wait for those blooms to be finished at least and then cut the blooms if you wish.

Okay.

You know, but transplanting we'd have to wait again till dormcy.

And would that be now or later?

Like how would they later in the fall again with that idea of being when the leaves have dropped?

So if they've stopped growing because if you were to do it now first of all they might be struggling if it stays warm and they need moisture or whatever and want to grow because we got a new soil.

We want to just do them when they are giving up already for the season.

Yep.

Or very early spring.

I think that's good advice.

Um hydrangeas are tricky because they bloom on both new and old woods.

So in terms of pruning and so forth, but as a rule of thumb I wouldn't be transplanting now.

We're getting just a little bit later.

I would wait until early early spring.

Okay.

So, no rush.

No rush.

No rush.

Uh Karen in Duth wants to know, "What do you do with clatus in the fall?

Do you cut it back?

If not, can you what can you do with it in the spring or can you do it?

Can you cut it back in the spring?"

You can.

You know, there's a lot of discussion about shall we cut things back now or in the fall.

I I'm just moving more and more to let letting uh these perennial material that's going to die back anyway, leaving it in the landscape.

It adds winter interest, but it also provides the home for some of our native bees.

And so, and they have also discovered a lot of things that are still drawing nutrients from those old stems and we used to cut a lot of things in the fall.

There is, and I wouldn't be able to answer which is which right now, but there are some clatus that do well with an early pruning and some you have to wait until they're done blooming to prune.

There'll be a different they call it pruning method one and two or whatever it is.

And one you can cut to the ground and it'll sprout right back up.

So you should watch out.

But most of our common ones are the ones that are okay for pruning.

I had a gallon hibbing that was every year she told me to come and cut it and I just go oh this thing was all up the wall and she'd said cut it down and she went down to five inches every year and it just of course it was well established and she'd have it up to that was very used to that too right okay um Elizabeth in Duth wants to know what is the significance of white mushrooms popping up around evergreen trees well that's more of your question mushroom mushs, white mushrooms or any color mushrooms, they're they're strict parasites, so they don't produce any of their own food.

So, they're getting all their energy from a decaying organic source in the soil.

And uh perhaps it could be under pine trees, all those needles that have dropped forever, that's woody material that's very slow to break down and that's what they're really feeding on.

Uh forget about all the controls.

People want to use some type of soil applied pesticide.

Stay away from that.

add a little additional nitrogen.

That'll facilitate the breakdown of the organic material, the woody product, and that'll ultimately eliminate the uh the mushrooms, but you want to make that application of a fertilizer, high nitrogen, and then water it in so it gets down into that root zone.

And if we say it's from decomposition, you're might have to do some raking to get rid of some that might help to a certain extent, not the full.

Yeah.

Robert in Superior would like suggestions on shrubs he can put out in the side of his house.

Oh, Superior, Wisconsin.

Got all kinds of choices.

I guess we would have to know more of the exposure, too.

Is it north, southeast, east, west, you know, sun, shade, and of course, I would look for zone appropriate.

Okay.

Shrubs, you know, if he's not sure, start out with those.

If he wants to get more adventuresome later, he might have to do mulching or whatever, he goes into a different zone.

True.

That's not harder.

Yeah.

And I'll say this because I know the soils, you've got a heavier soil, you've got clays.

Okay.

Be very patient.

Yes.

Because woodies, trees, and shrubs, uh, will take longer to get established, but clays hold on to a lot of nutrient.

If you're patient with them, eventually they'll grow extremely well for them.

And you should also, you know, look into height, ultimate height.

I've had people put some things in and they wish they hadn't covered up their picture windows by something that grew too tall, something like that.

Uh Richard in Duth wants to know how to get rid of quack grass.

Uh quackrass uh tough perennial of course.

And right now you can uh you can always dig and cover.

Those are two options if people don't want to use any kind of a chemical option.

But this time of year if you're willing to use glyphosate, which was the original active ingredient in Roundup, you have to be careful of name brands.

But uh because that name brand trademarked is going to be with different compounds.

But glyphosate's very effective this time of year that will take the the quack grass out along with anything else that's still green.

So it's non selective, but it does break down so there's a lot of carryover for a broadleaf killer because our grass itself is more narrow.

Is that what the difference would be?

Two and yeah, there are many broadleaf killers, whether it be dandelions or whatnot, but they're not going to take any of his squat grass out because they're they're very selective.

So, uh, glyphosate will take out both the broad leaves as well as the, uh, perennial grasses and it's really quite effective.

So, just follow the labels and use just general good good practices and, uh, you always want to be a little careful and safe with these kinds of materials.

Okay.

Thank you.

Next, we head over to Bayfront Festival Park for an annual tradition full of farmers and gardeners.

And we can see why.

Once again, the most recent Lake Superior Harvest Festival was packed with people, produce, and more.

We are farmerto-fr at a time.

I'm Julie Allen.

I'm the director of Harvestfest and the manager of the Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association.

In the Lake Superior region, we've been working for 32 years and more to build up our local food system.

They're great for bringing the farmers together.

A lot of people I wouldn't have even I don't think I would have had an opportunity to meet if it wasn't through them.

Like, this is only my second time.

Uh I cuz I know this this is a huge event and I've never felt like I had enough stuff until last year.

So, that was like our fifth year of farming.

I feel like I finally can both staff the Doula Farmers Market and and here we have more vendors than ever before.

You'll find the largest farmers market ever at Harvest Fest and the biggest, most beautiful Harvest Fest of the region of the year right here at Harvest Fest.

It's a feast for the eyes and the soul.

So, we are a member-driven organization, grassroots nonprofit.

We welcome members to uh support our work and be involved in our annual events.

This is my third year selling garlic with the Duth Community Garden Program, but our organization has been selling garlic here for over a decade.

So, the mission of the Duth Community Garden Program is to provide land, tools, and infrastructure for uh folks of the Duth community to grow with one another.

There's a lot of farms here that I don't see very often and it's nice, you know, I can get out kind of at the beginning and I take a break and walk around and just like connect with the other farmers and see get ideas, see some of the stuff that other people are doing.

We are hosting our our annual fundraiser called Farmers Take the Stage, but we have not done it since before the pandemic.

Um, so we're bringing it back.

It's a you can be an SFA member to perform your talent.

So, it's like a talent show.

It's very fun.

This year is happening at November 5th at Busouso's concert cafe.

Very important to support buying local and supporting our local crops.

I love being here, seeing people coming in, hearing that it's their favorite event at Bayfront.

They look forward to it every year because they get to connect with their local farmers, their local artists and crafters, their local energy company, their local organizations who are working to make our our duth our region a better place to live.

Every day PBS North brings the Northland stories that matter to you.

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Time for another round of questions.

Melanie from Duth asks, "This ring of fungi, mushrooms, appears every year in the exact same spot in our front yard.

Why?

And how can we get rid of it?"

That one's pretty easy.

I I really think that's fairy ring which is appropriately named at some point I'm guessing that there was a tree there that was cut to the ground level and it takes a long time for that again to deteriorate.

So these mushroom are just feeding on that again that organic material.

So you know it's not doing any harm of course but if you once again the same advice gave the other person if you want to accelerate this process try to find that wood that's down there in the soil often times you'll find a stump.

We see this on new construction sites where they'll typically bury the, you know, the the timbers that are cut off in the end pieces.

Takes a while for those fungi to break that down.

So, try to accelerate the process with some nitrogen fertilizer.

You can actually drill it into that core and pour some of that down there, but don't use any type of pesticide or look for anything like that.

Yeah, good advice.

Julie in Big Falls asks, "How long can you wait to harvest cabbage?

I want it to get bigger than it is now."

Don't you grab it?

Well, we leave it as long as we can.

Also, the only times you have trouble is if we have a real early variety, you like stone head or something and we get a big rain, then you're going to get some splitting.

So, you do have to know your variety.

I think like your leap varieties are not as susceptible to that.

So, you can just let them grow and grow.

I have a seavoy right now that's just enormous.

I'm really tempted, but I know it's still doing fine.

It doesn't split very easily, so we like that.

So, that's one of my late cabbages that I use.

Danish ball head will stay or the golden acre or whatever.

But again, the earlier mid-season might split more quickly.

So then those you should not wait too long because it makes a mess when they do split.

You get the insects in there and it wants to spoil.

Yeah.

So much is really variety specific as well as growing season.

But if she wants a big head, green boy.

Oh, green.

That's the variety.

And then what a name.

Yeah.

Isn't that something?

And they they are basketball size.

So she may say next year she may ask us, have you got suggestions for a smaller variety, great, but it's a lot of this is really varietal specific as well as the growing season.

In the cool temperatures now, I think we're safe that they're not going to split as easily anymore.

Sure.

Yeah, but they're not going to get a lot larger either at this point.

That's true.

Yeah, it's time to harvest.

It's okay.

Yeah.

Uh Nancy wants to remind people to watch for buckthornne this fall.

The last tree shrub to hold its leaves, pull it and cut it down.

Do you have any thoughts on buckthornne?

Oh yeah.

The friend that we the friend that we don't want to visit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's like so many of these invasives.

It was introduced because of the fact that it has a competitive advantage.

It keeps its leaves laid.

So it was used as a hedging material actually fairly attractive because of that was introduced for that reason.

And there are a couple varieties and u just cutting they're going to respout very aggressively.

So, you really have to use some some type some type of herbicide some type of herbicide to go along with it to like paint it on like to really kill it.

There are some materials out there that uh you can paint on the stumps after you cut it.

Read those labels very carefully because some of the active ingredients uh uh I I I think there's some risk with them.

So, uh be a little careful that way.

But I think some kind of an herbicide treatment and glyphosate can be used on the new sprouting just on the new sprouting.

But uh there are number of products like Garline that can actually be used uh on the stumps themselves.

But uh there are some uh ways that you can pull that root up.

There are pulling systems but ultimately people kind of have to reach for some kind of an herbicide for control.

Sure.

But you have to keep at it is what we learn.

Yeah.

Be aggressive at all.

If you're pulling, you're going to have to really be aggressive.

And the birds of course continue to spread all the berries and so forth.

So it it is it's become a real issue lots of different places.

Sherry in Duth uh discusses the raspberry patch in the edible community garden on Park Point is infected by blight due to foliage dropping off low on the canes.

They believe this is spur blight.

All infected canes have been removed at the soil level, but we wonder if further treatment of the soil is recommended.

Will fungal spores remain dormant there to infect future crops?

After thoroughly weeding the area, we plan to apply a layer of wood chips around the soreros hoses.

Any thoughts on that?

I have some thoughts when she says because there are a number of fungal diseases that do attack raspberries.

Uh spurblite is one of them.

First, they're not soilborn, so she doesn't need to be concerned there, but some of the viral infections are soilborn, so you have to be concerned there.

So, you do need to identify it.

Got to do a little better job.

look for those canes particularly early in the season you'll see a bluish color on the canes and that's more typical a diagnostic visual diagnostic of spurb light but when she says I think it's spurlight we we want to get a little closer to that but uh all you can do I think is uh prune them out and uh make sure that you got good air drainage and you can use mulch on the on the soil there's nothing wrong with that but keep it away from the canes but it's not it's not going to be related to controlling spur blight Okay, so this question is applicable for an apple tree and peony.

When is the best time to prune and how short and do you need to prune?

Well, and the peony because they're a perennial, not a shrub, they will die completely to the ground.

So other than maybe clean up, if I is on like rock or whatever, so we don't want those dead leaves there.

So I'll clean it up.

But most gardeners just leave it unless aesthetically they want an attractive look and you know, front of there.

But they'll typically take care of themselves.

That's right.

The dirty little secret is you don't have to prune either if you choose not to.

Yeah.

Now, apples, we do prune consistently.

And I always follow the commercial people because they're paying to prune those.

And we're pruning an apple and we're going to wait till they're completely dormant.

We're going to prune for structural strength and for fruit quality where we get good good light light penetration.

So, they're good reasons to prune apple.

Nothing.

You don't have, like you mentioned, Danny, Diane, you don't have to do anything with the peas really.

Uh, wait until all the leaves are off or very early next spring on the apples.

Okay.

All right.

Um, Julie asks, "The leaves on my tomato plants curled up early this year and the fruit was disappointing.

Any thoughts on that?"

Oh, well, yeah, we we go right back to a disease issue potentially if there was moisture available, you know.

So all all of these things have little different symptoms and and uh so if they're watering because it was dry are they watering late in the evening because fungal diseases many of which need six hours of constant moisture to thrive.

So that's a no no.

Try to get water early days so that it's dried off is one thing.

Uh opening them up not you know maybe some to the point of people actually prune off the lower leaves so that they do have good air movement underneath things like that will help.

Very definitely.

Well, thank you.

Now, time for a little inspiration.

Last summer, we joined along for the annual western garden tour.

Among our stops was a home in Proctor, and this one wasn't hard to find.

The landscape popped thanks to the love and care of the home owners who have had to create a who've had a lot of imagination to create their beautiful surroundings.

So, when we we bought the property, there was a condemned home on this property.

Um, and we were fortunate enough to tear that down and start fresh.

My name is Brett Scott and this is my home in Proctor, Minnesota.

We actually built our gardens before our house came.

It was craned in onto the foundation.

Um, so we we were fortunate to do some of the gardening the summer before the house actually arrived.

We had all the rocks hauled in and we've done all the rock work by ourselves.

My mom, she loved gardening.

She passed about 5 years ago.

And it's kind of something that I like to do to keep her her legacy alive.

She loved gardening in the summer.

And Justin, my partner, he grew up gardening.

He loves to garden as well.

And he he's the scientific one.

He knows the plant names and everything.

We do a lot of perennials because they're lower maintenance and they come back every year.

We like to have hardcaping is what we call it.

So there's something to look at every season out of the year.

We have a very long winter as we all know.

Um but it's nice to be able to see the the grasses.

They kind of turn brown and the birds eat them in the winter and it's kind of nice.

But then we like to mix in with annuals and we've done a lot of um seeds sewing in of seeds every spring too.

So you see um the ntoriums, we have a cutting flower garden.

We keep all of our concrete urns and stuff like that out in the winter as well and change it up for the seasons.

We walk around the house probably 25 times a day just looking at all of the gardens.

But this season, we've had so much rain and it's been humid and hot, which is great cuz everything just kind of explodes and and the colors are more vibrant and it it's beautiful.

But every year is different.

We had a really harsh winter um and we lost quite a few of our perennials.

It's kind of lowmaintenanced, believe it or not.

Um everything's packed in.

We like a very full garden.

Um so we don't have a lot of weeds and we we do a lot of mulching as well.

There's days I don't want to go to work.

I just want to just stay in my yard and and look at the gardens.

And it's very peaceful and tranquil.

And I think the world needs more of that right now.

What a lovely garden.

And Brett tells us that his this summer he and his partner Justin added to their garden.

That includes two new veggie beds consisting of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers and a pumpkin they've named Audrey.

Okay, Bob, what else do you have for us tonight?

Well, first I got to congratulate them because they've done a beautiful job on that home.

And did you say walk around that landscape 25 25 times?

He's getting plenty of exercise as well.

Yeah.

Uh but naming every pumpkin.

I might have a little trouble with that.

Um, we're going to have a little bit of fun now.

I believe uh we're going to take a little look at uh what you might think about doing right now with your garden.

Um, and I got to remember to do this myself because you think you're going to remember the changes you're going to make for next year, but really take a few notes, put them on a calendar or something.

This worked well.

That didn't work well.

I should come in earlier with this.

I'd like to try this new variety.

Uh, I could do a little better job one way or another.

And that's very helpful and kind of fun when you're, you know, ordering seeds for next year.

I do think you want to look ahead.

This is a great time, and we've had questions about eliminating um, you know, some of the mushrooms and and quack grass and other things.

This is the ideal time really to think ahead and get rid of some of these perennial pests and perennial weeds that you want to eliminate.

I mentioned it right there, eliminate all perennial weeds.

Quack can be certainly a weed.

Uh, soil test right now, whatever lab you're going to use, they're not that busy this time of year.

you get your results back and not only that, you get them back in time where you can amend your soil.

So, as you know, Diane, if if your pH is bad, you got to add either sulfur or you're going to come in with a carbonate of some type, limestone.

And takes time for that uh that particular soil to come into equilibrium.

So, make application in the fall, you're all set to go next spring.

Retest and re retest if you need to to make sure you made the proper adjustments.

And then if you want to open up new growing areas, you know, we get this question in rhubarb.

It stopped growing.

It's been great for 25 years.

Well, trees grow and we get more sunlight and maybe it's time to move that patch.

You want to open up that area right now so you're ready to go next spring.

And then um think about composting.

Uh we're real big on composting.

I've got this habit of I don't let anybody throw out potato peelings.

I'll take them off their hands and incorporate that.

uh big three components, nitrogen, water, and then structure.

So those things, three things you have to think about a little bit.

By structure, I mean you're going to build a pile so that you've got some woody material in there so the air can incorporate.

So you get the oxygen, you get the water, you need a nitrogen source as well.

The human reference would be like fiber.

Sure.

Yeah.

Something like that.

But people worry about turning.

I'd never turn a pile except to bring the outside in because I build them in a manner where that air gets incorporated.

um lawns and landscape.

Go to work on the lawn and fertilize.

It's one of the few things you're going to fertilize in the fall.

You mentioned we're not going to fertilize a lot of our perennials.

Uh we'll wait till next spring, but the lawn loves it this time of year.

And if you're going to do something, don't deatch, plug, airify.

Uh you want to control your perennial weeds and particularly right now.

If you are planting or you planted a recent tree within the last 5 years, protect them from the deer and from the vos and other critters.

Think about that.

uh you're going to be planting your spring flowering bulbs and garlic, but you're going to wait a little bit longer because we don't want them to get off to too great of a start, too early of a start.

So, we use about October 15th as kind of a guideline in this area where we want to get them in the ground and we may want to mulch them in a little bit if we're going to have an open winter.

And then I think the big thing is take a step back and really celebrate this season, this great thing called gardening because it was a variable season.

It got hot and dry in some places.

Our last video indicated they had too much water.

Wasn't most of the problems that we had.

I know you didn't have those.

We had dry conditions, but let's celebrate what did work and what was successful.

We're going to take a little look at some of the new introductions.

I think we're going to have some fun here right on the set because I'm quite excited about uh some of the newer introductions.

An all-American winner.

Uh this is um what we call a cocktail tomato.

And you can see these right here.

I've got some on the set.

And I want to thank we got one of our our viewers that grew some of these out for us.

I tried as well, but uh we had a seed failure in my particular case, our doing more than anything.

But this is one called Babing.

And uh it is a cocktail tomato.

It's about golf uh golf ball size or so.

What what's unique about this is this is this does incorporate uh Cornell's got a a breeding program where they're really incorporating in the genetics resistance, natural resistance to our big three folure diseases, early blight, late blight, and septoriia.

And it's been crossed.

We got a Minnesota connection where there's actually a breeder down in Prior Lake that's trying to bring in some of the flavor from older varieties.

So, I'm going to let the two other people on our set tonight just give these a try.

First time we've done this.

So taste test.

I would like you to tell me what you think of that tomato.

Okay.

And Diane, you as well.

It's delicious.

It is.

It's perfect.

Isn't that good?

Yes.

So I think and I'm trying to follow this whole progression because there will be more introductions out there.

This is a cocktail.

There's one called Iron Lady that's a slicer that's going to be a little bit larger, but incorporating both the disease resistance as well as the flavor and the taste of some of our heirlooms.

That's what we want.

I think that combination is going to be really vital.

So, we'll be looking at new materials later.

And the other thing I wanted to point out, I become kind of a fan of of kale.

It's gorgeous.

You can see a photo here.

That's one we're going to talk about.

You're going to get to taste test that one tonight.

That one's called Ruby Boore.

Uh this is our typical curly leaf kale.

And the next side, this is our red Russian.

There's so many different kales.

They are so easy for us to grow.

This is dinosaur kale or lancelottada kale.

And once again, coming back to this was an all-American winner.

This is one called Ruby Boore.

And what we're going to take a look at at the set tonight, I want to show you because I grew all of these side by side.

They're really pretty.

Aren't they nice?

Aren't they beautiful?

I think they would work really nicely in baskets or containers as well in your beds for your contrast in the fall.

Absolutely.

Not going to freeze right away.

Absolutely.

They're they're frost resistant.

They're well they're excellent for the north end.

I had someone that challenged me when I talked about ruby bore, which is the one that I have in my right hand here.

They said I've been growing it for years.

I said I don't think so.

It's a new introduction.

They said well I've got it.

So I planted red bore.

Now it's interesting in the left hand.

This is red bore.

These are quite different varieties for two reasons.

First, this is much larger.

It doesn't have the extreme uh maroon color.

It is green earlier in the season and then it colors up in the fall.

The new one, Ruby Boore, has a very deep color.

It's smaller in stature, so it's going to work in containers.

And they've worked very hard trying to trying to make them just a little bit more palatable.

One of the rubs on kale was it it's a little bit coarse.

Yes.

So once again, I'm I'm so pleased that I've got live taste testers.

So I'm going to let you taste a little bit of Ruby Boore.

Thank you.

And Diane as well, and you can give me your opinion.

Is that something you would put in a salad?

Absolutely.

Stir fry with a little sausage or something.

You know, we've tast we've kind of had to rub in some of the older varieties to kind of break down the texture a little bit, but I really really good.

Yeah, I think this is something that I was very pleased with the way it came out in our trials and uh I think something that the seed is going to be quite readily available next year.

So, Ruby Gore, I think we're going to get some new interest in kale.

Lettuce was so tough this year because it was hot, so it was hard to grow.

This stands up so beautifully.

So you can use this as a substitute for lettuce and you've got the extended growing season from the early spring into the very late fall.

Does this start out green?

Also, this one does not not start out as green.

It starts out uh red and then it gets to this deep burgundy.

So, it's very beautiful.

Well, thank you.

Tell us what's coming up here, Bob.

Oh, yeah.

We're going to have some fun.

We talk about color.

We have a we have a garden wrap.

So, we're going to take a look at some of the real specifics of the season when we have a little more time.

And we've got a a specialy chef that's going to work with us on the potato crop.

A great crop for us in the north end.

Lots of different varieties.

Going to present some material and organic controls for the Colorado potato beetle.

This one's going to be a lot of fun.

Our chef is going to with the help of our master gardeners is going to prepare 10 different uh dishes that the public's going to get to try.

You're going to get a recipe book.

You're going to get a resource book.

a lot of it.

It's all been written just for this event.

October 1st.

Look at the website St.

Louis County Extension Home and Garden Programs or lawn and garden programs and register.

You'll pay at the door, but just register.

It's going to be a full evening 5 to 8 and a lot of fun.

Thank you.

Now, while we want to enjoy fall while we can, we know how short the season can seem.

With that in mind, we want to share some tips on winter sewing.

Earlier this year, we attended a workshop at Hartley Nature Center, hosted by the Arrowhead chapter of the nonprofit group Wild Ones.

University of Minnesota Extension Educator Amy Johnson shared some of the steps you can take when the snow flies and the temperature drops.

It's native seed winter sewing.

And so I have brought in and several of us other Wild Ones members have brought in our seeds that we've collected from our own yards.

They're all native seeds and that's what people are going to be winter sewing today and they're putting them into milk jugs and then they're going to take those jugs home and put them out in the snow for the rest of the winter.

And in the spring and summer they will have native plants to add to their yards.

Most of the ones that are here have already been grilled for your convenience.

The first year they sleep.

The second year they creek, the third year they leave.

So then they really get growing.

Jan, May you can winter.

So May through July you can grow them and plant them into the garden or into the pot or whatever and then enjoy them the rest of the time.

Mid-March is probably okay yet.

Some some seeds take longer to germinate.

Um but others will do fine.

But then if you're talking about later into April then and May, then you're going to probably be doing you could do the same thing in jugs, but you're not going to put them outside in the snow.

You would put them keep them inside as you would with little little pots.

Um and and that would be your uh summer flowers, uh your annuals, and your vegetables.

So, here are our materials.

Clean water or milk jugs or plastic pot or container with a covered dough.

The thing about those is you want to have one that gives you at least 3 to 4 in of depth.

Electric drill with a quarter in bit.

Duct tape works best cuz it helps to seal top to bottom.

Good quality potting soil and a watering can or sprayer.

Garden markers that are UV resistant.

And then your seeds of choice.

Wash the ducks.

Discard the caps.

Drill quarterinch holes six to eight on the bottom and around the edges.

Mark four inches from the bottom, three to four inches of soil shut with duct tape, and then circle tight.

I love how winter sewing is something that can keep you gardening all year round.

Now, let's get back to some of your viewer questions.

Tony and Elely is wondering if you would have any idea about what happened to the Roma tomatoes we grow in two hoop houses.

We've been growing the same openpollinated variety for over 20 years and this is the first time the leaves turned a brownish blackish color and sort of dried up.

The blossoms started falling off too and we first noticed this around the end of July.

There were 40 tomato plants between the two hoop houses and all were affected except one plant.

Other vegetables, herbs, peppers, basil, and parsley grown in the hoop houses were not affected.

Although there was a lot of blossom drop on the peppers during the hot spell in July, but they recovered and did well.

All plants were watered by hand every other day and every day during the hot spell.

Other varieties of tomatoes grown outside of the hoop houses did really well with no leaves looking like the Romas in the hoop houses.

The Roma tomatoes were not diseased and we have processed several hundred pounds of 100 pounds, but the harvest is down compared to previous years and the plants were not as large either.

Attached are two photos of the same plant.

One taken on August 20th and the other on September 8th.

You will notice on the September 8th photo that the new growth is green and does not seem to be affected.

Now all the plants have new green growth.

Now any thoughts?

We got thoughts always on that one.

It's kind of intriguing.

One thing I'll comment if you're growing he's growing in an unheated greenhouse called the high towel.

You can deplete nutrients there.

So he wants to make sure he so he soil tests and make sure that uh that's that issue is taken care of.

But number one July we you saw those weather statistics got intensely warm.

High tunnel can get to 110 degrees easily and I think that was the issue.

What do you think?

That's we were thinking really heat stress.

Heat stress.

The fact that it's coming back now seems to lean its way to that.

It was heat versus some like she said disease or whatever.

And the the other thing is you notice we had those evening temperatures.

So nothing ever really cooled down.

So that plantically in the high tunnel.

Yeah.

Particular.

So we were really under stress 24 hours a day during that very hot July period.

And her water schedule may have been not enough a normal year.

Maybe that was every other day was fine.

And maybe this year she should have they could have or would may have needed more watering.

And blossoms.

Anytime you get above 85°, you can abort that flower.

So, I I really think that that impact yields, but it sounds as if they did pretty well anyway.

Sure.

Yeah.

And it'll be curious to see what happens next year.

Yeah.

I I don't think I would be too concerned.

I I really think that that's environmental rather than, as you point out, I didn't see disease symptoms.

I too was wondering if they were in the same soil initially.

I thought same soil 20 years we could build up a de disease intolerance but that wasn't the case by the fact that they revived themselves in September.

Sure wants to check nutrient but also and ventilation during the day as well as during the night.

A lot of time people will close that up but it got so warm at night.

Sure.

That I would have left the uh the doors of your high tunnel open.

Brenda in Cloquet is curious about a plant that grew this year.

It looks like a sunflower with the seeds but without the petals.

The plant is seven feet tall, soft stem and leaves.

Oh, does And we don't have No, we don't have a photo.

Soft stem.

I was thinking maybe like the helopsis, which is like a sunflower but go get big, but it wouldn't be the same.

No, I don't think so.

That a photo would really help in that situation, but u sunflowers I'll say did extremely well and um it it could have been some variation there.

We we see a little bit of that in terms of variability.

Um, has she been saving her same seed that we've got some genetic changes can happen?

Follow maybe encourage that that viewer to follow up with another question or more details.

Okay.

Now, let's head over to the Lake Superior College campus where one local nonprofit is leasing some land to do some urban gardening while also providing a space to learn and grow your gardening skills.

Eco3 is trying to create a more equitable and just world.

Um, they do a whole bunch of different projects.

We happen to be one of the branches.

My name is August Wallheim.

I am the energy training core food access team leader here at the equilibrium 3 urban farm.

Today we have our summer sampler event.

So it is an event in which we invite the public to come on to our farm and eat some food that we grow, learn about regenerative agriculture practices that we use on site um and just see the work that we're doing.

An urban farm is going to be a farm that is typically with inside of the city limits.

So we are currently sitting on top of land that is owned by Lake Superior College and we are leasing this land from them.

We have some challenges sometimes with the soils that we are working with.

This was a dump location where we had um dump material from the construction H building right next to us and other construction projects.

So we had soils that were had minimal to no nutrients in it.

What we try and do here is we try and have living roots in the system in the soil at all as much as possible.

We don't use intensive chemicals on site.

We introduce organic matter from the compost that we make on site.

So back here where all the vegetation is behind the wood chips, all of that used to have buckthornne so thick that you couldn't see beyond that vegetation line there.

So we were able to code through we had two weekend of volunteer events.

We removed 5 cubic yards of buckthornne that we uh since it's invasive, we had to remove it to resource renew.

Resource renew has a a I believe it's a USDA listed uh invasive removal site.

So they were able to process and compost that material properly.

But we went like we're able to thin out this forest utilizing best practice best forestry practices um to allow us to reduce an invasive species on a site.

Uh this space here is um this the bone that framework above me.

This is what a high tunnel without plastic on it looks like.

This was going this is going to potentially one day be our third high tunnel.

A high tunnel is a is like a greenhouse but different.

Uh high tunnels use a plastic thin plastic film like a not a thin it's like a 3 to 5 mil plastic material that goes over the top and is a more cost effective way to incre have growing space that is heated.

So green houses have a hard rigid plastic material that's costs a lot more has a longer lifespan.

Uh unlike high tunnels, the plastic on high tunnels has to be replaced every roughly every 5 years when on green houses they have a little bit longer lifespan beyond that.

So right here is the most important part of the farm.

This is where we start everything.

This is our seed starting area.

So right next to me we have a whole bunch of starts of kabi um and a couple of the basil plants and lettuce plants all happening over here.

This is one of the things like this is like where we start everything.

Um this section of our high tunnel one is actually heated.

So behind me you see that panel of plastic.

We cut this high tunnel in half, have the sidewalls down.

There are two sheets on of plastic on top of us that we fill with air to create a thermal barrier.

And then we use a propane heater to bring this space up to 50° F approximately during the spring months when it's usually really cold outside.

So we can actually have plants in here before the last frost.

Right now um we have a crew of roughly 20 Americanore volunteers.

So, we helping those members learn the skills that they probably would not have had easily easy access to prior.

Um, but we also have Saturday workshops that are open and free to the public.

Um, they're posted on the equilibrium.org website as well as on our Facebook page.

Um, that we openly invite the community to come and attend.

You don't need a giant space to grow food and growing your own food a process that you don't expect that you'll enjoy as much as you do.

Every day, PBS North brings the Northland stories that matter to you.

Shows like Great Gardening, In Business, and Native Report.

All made right here for neighbors across the region and beyond.

And it's all made possible by people like you.

Now you can put your support on display.

For a suggested donation of $10, you can get a yard sign that tells your neighbors PBS North is your public media made here in the Northland.

Reserve yours now, then display it with pride in your yard, your garden, or your business window.

Sign up today at pbsnorth.org, or give us a call at 218788-2831.

PBS North made here.

It's your public media.

Thank you so much for all your questions.

We get we're getting a ton of them tonight, so we're going to try to go through this last round of questions quickly for you.

Question.

the raspberry patch in the edible community garden on the park point is infected with blight and we talked about that but I think um going back to that with the blight we want more details on on the blight right yeah they want to identify the fungal disease first let's get the right disease I want to follow up on that lean clo um has orange rocket barberry bushes and they planted seven to eight inches in early spring they have not grown at all and they are still alive just not growing Why?

That's unusual.

Yeah.

Usually uh sometimes it takes a while if it's a heavy soil.

I mentioned a heavy clays.

It takes a while to get established.

So if it was a light soil, sandy lom, then I'd have to look at fertility and water.

Sure.

Water is what I would think a little bit with this season, but heavy soil can take some time.

Carol and Hibbing asks that two years ago uh I trimmed my dogwood tree and it hasn't come back yet.

Will it ever come back?

two years ago.

I don't know what she means by come back.

Is it dead?

Dead.

We don't know.

Nothing on there.

If it's nothing two years, I'd be concerned.

Okay.

Uh what can I um what can I this fall to be sure my peies bloom next spring?

What can they do this fall?

Um I've had fewer blooms than past years.

And this is from Sheila.

They say sometimes what happens is like they say our landscape changes.

we've got too many true trees grow bigger and they don't get as much sun and heat as they should.

True.

But you know some fertilizer in the spring usually they're pretty self sustaining might help.

The other big thing the roots get old.

Yeah.

So you want to take some cutting.

You want to lift them and replant them.

Sure.

Give them like a refresh.

That should have been done actually a little bit earlier so they get established.

But you want to think about that for next year.

So mid August she wants to think about digging the roads, taking cutings and and establish in a good weed-free bed with full sun.

A follow-up question from Lee and Coke.

Um has sandy soil and so the pine trees uh they're having a hard time getting anything to grow even after using lime including blueberries.

Any thoughts on the sandy soil?

Sure.

Organics compost everything you possibly get your hands on.

Uh because that's the only thing.

Don't add a Don't add another soil type, even a clay.

You can get a hard pen.

People will do that with a sand.

But the key on sands is let's get organic down there.

That's the best thing you can do.

Then you have a good growing environment.

Humus, rotted manure, well rotted manure, spagnum, essence, spagnum, Pete moss, all the compost you can get in compost.

Let's get some organic.

Let's take it from 1 or 2% to 5 or 10%.

That'll make a difference.

That makes sense.

Linda emailed us about squash and cucumbers having powdery powdery mildew despite spraying with neem oil or hydrogen peroxide.

Um, Linda's an organic gardener, so she doesn't use chemical sprays and knows not to compost the leaves.

But how can she eliminate it next year?

I wouldn't worry about it.

Uh, usually attacks very late in the season.

I'm seeing a lot of red.

Most of the growth has already occurred.

And furthermore, she's organic, doesn't use chemicals, but she was using some chemicals there.

So, we have to be a little careful about what we define because some of the organic materials you have to be very careful with as well.

The other thing you can do is look for resistance uh in the seed cataloges.

There are some varieties that have been introduced that are resistant more resistant to powdery mildew.

But most of that growth is occurring early and powdery mildo is more of a benign fungi and it doesn't cause a problem really for yield.

It really looks like it should.

It looks ugly, but it it isn't.

It's harmless.

Okay.

Fruit flies.

What is the best remedy?

Traps, treating the soil, or move.

I know you feel like that.

Uber over there.

Well, fruit flies has to do with the, you know, overripe fruit.

So, I'm not sure what she's saying when she says soil.

You know, this we think of in our house and we have overwrite fruit that we haven't processed or whatever.

So, I'm not sure if she's got fungus nats.

No, I think probably what she's got on her crops.

So, did she mention crop?

She did not.

No.

No.

Um, spotted winged drosophila, right?

For the I think this is the problem with any any fruit crop at all.

Uh, we don't really advise.

There's not a whole lot you can do about that.

There's containment systems and other things.

Uh, forget about the insecticide use or the pesticide use.

Uh, just harvest your fruit early.

Don't move.

And those populations year to year tend to peak and then they they hit a valley.

So stay with the crop.

Just harvest early and frequently and pick up all the expired the same.

Don't let the old fruit stay in the ground.

Okay.

Holly in Minang, Wisconsin would like to transplant false spyrhea from one garden to another location as it has grown larger than originally thought.

When is the best time to move the shrub?

Now.

False spyhea.

I was thinking it was a still when she said that.

Yeah.

Oh, spy.

Cut back shrub.

spring of the year.

Yeah, I think so.

Okay.

Uh Lean Duth has had potato bugs on my potato plants.

How can I prep the soil now so they don't come back?

What can I plant there that won't that won't uh they won't bother and I don't plan on planting potatoes?

Will they will they eat green beans?

Really good questions.

Right.

When it comes to potato bugs, we found in our garden that it works best to plant later.

Let those potato bugs emerge.

They have sort of a temperature difference between like 58 six 52 I think they start moving in the soil.

58 they emerge.

And if you can let that soil warm up and they emerge, they've gone to the neighbors or some other plant and they leave your potatoes alone.

So we usually plant about the 15th of of June and we seem to not have I didn't see any this year.

I'm not sure if Ronald disagree was if we did he saw one I remember him talking about.

But that seems to help.

Otherwise you have to pick them manually if you wish.

Uh they do harbor in the soil.

So they over winter.

Come to our session on potato fest October 1st because I will share with you all the organic controls what our organic people are.

They're using spinid but we've had some resistance.

So we have identified a number of control procedures but uh in this short time I really can't get into them all now.

Well, thank you so much for joining us this evening and thank you of course a special thank you to Diane and Bob for sharing their exper expertise.

Be sure to join us for our winter special coming up on Thursday, December 3rd.

We hope to see you then.

Good night.