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

I'm your host Tinisha Spain, and we are in the studio and I'm joined by the Martie Alanya.

She's our in studio guest today, and we're gonna be talking about we're itching to get outside.

We're bored.

It's cold.

Yeah.

And so we need to do the things.

And so Marty is going to help us do the thing.

So before we get into that, tell the people a little bit about you and where they can find you.

Well, I sleep here, I never, I never leave.

I've been over in a corner waiting desperately for two years for the studio to reopen.

She's not kidding.

Look the way I do.

I'm a I'm mostly retired.

landscaper, I usually work for the home garden, small, small home gardens that are visually appealing.

And my house my thing, low maintenance, because nobody hires you to do their yard.

If they already know how that's true.

So you would not be or you would not have been in business.

That's right.

That's right.

So I mean, some things are tear this out.

And could we have grass?

Like or Malgrat?

No lawn okay.

Whatever you like you're the customer.

I try.

I do.

I do feel like you know, you'll never have to prune these.

They just come in then go back down.

Again.

I don't know why people don't like hostas more than they do.

But yeah.

So anyway, that's that's your claim.

They're just so simple.

They are they really are.

And I'm ready to Oh, yeah.

The hydrangea varieties that have come out in the last 10-15 years.

Oh my god, they're mind blowing.

She's a landscaper?

Folks.

I can't.

It's in the bud.

I may not remember the house number on your dwelling.

But I will remember the spruce tree on the left hand side.

There you go.

There you go.

I and whether or not you have clematis on your Yeah, clematis.

It's important.

No.

Oh, just I know you have beef with certain plants?

I didn't Know no, no, no.

No, but the the visual aspect of your landscaping.

Good or bad?

Is what sticks in my noggin.

Gotcha, gotcha.

Learn by you know, what, what's stick in our noggin, you see how I did that I saw that.

seed starting and how to do it Well, because sometimes, and I'm one of these people.

Sometimes my mix is a little heavy, and the seedlings are fighting together.

So let's talk about the perfect or the the best or a good recipe for seed mix.

You get what you pay for in public television.

Okay, I'm bringing seed and cutting starter.

Okay.

And you'll notice it's a, it's a partial bag, because I've used some of it.

I'm going to kind of walk through this today, because I'm going to tell you the things I have done wrong.

And while I'm trying to do them again, and there's steps I have, I skipped last year, you know, every year, every year you have hope for your guard.

Yes.

But then last year, there was confined to quarters and you're thinking Victory Garden.

This is what I'm going to do.

This will be so fantastic.

And it was Oh God, my garden was terrible.

Yes, most of the people I know the garden had a horrible.

I don't know what happened there.

But anyway, let's start at the beginning.

Okay, you can buy these.

This, this happens to have a hole in one corner because I've used it over and over a few years.

So I'll probably put another one underneath it so it holds water.

It's just a plastic seed starter about these little Jiffy pots.

I typically start my plants in this size, when people start a much smaller, and I admire them, but I gotta tell you what you're gonna need moving them fairly soon.

Well, this buys you more time on why you like these.

It saves me time.

I don't have to keep transplanting Yes, because I'm not gonna.

I'm lazy.

So most of us so as I said, these and this the cover is absolutely essential if you can find the taller covers, those are awesome.

I've fixed the tray and the cover a couple of times with some tape, but I'm using magic invisible tape so you have to take my word for it.

And then you can use these until the crack until they break until they leak which both of these are doing However, you must wash them every season with hot soapy bleach water okay, when I carry these in and when I took the lid out of the bass Tanisha said oh, I can smell the blade.

You guys would smell them.

Yeah, you could.

So I know Yeah.

So that's what I do that I usually when I plant these when they have the seeds in them, so I buy new ones every year, obviously.

And I've tried the ones, like the peat pellets that you drop in.

Well, yeah, those are fun.

But they're not big enough for me, I can do them.

But if I use them, I use them in a peat pot that is has soil in it.

Yes.

So it gets its own little individual thing there.

But typically, I don't use those anymore.

Because what I do is, forgive me, John Bowden, Steiner, forgive me.

I use seed until it's gone.

And if it's old, like this is some that I saved, it's from a pepper called Crimson lead friend of mine turned me on to these and they're fantastic.

They got a little bit of bite to them, but they're not horrible.

And they won't hurt you real bad.

So Real, I just got a little zip to him.

But they're not.

I mean, they're not I wouldn't call them a hot pepper at all.

But they're nice and big.

The turn of beautiful red, my gosh, they're just gorgeous.

Things are kind of elongated.

I had some I just, I just let them dry.

So this is older.

See, this is from 2016 16.

That's six years old.

Wow.

Um, as either pre or post pandemic.

So no, I mean, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna plant 40 seeds.

I mean, we only need about five or six peppers.

But what I do since especially since the seed is old, is that I put three seeds in a triangle in that pot, in a little triangle there over close to the edge.

Okay.

And if everybody thrives, God helped me I will actually transplant these damn things.

But if they don't, well, then you got one in the pot, if a couple of them broke off fine, if they all managed to survive, even though they're old seed.

And you only need one of these.

You just ruthlessly pinch off the other one or give it to her son because I'll take Yeah, get off.

Okay, so I will do that.

But I you know, I just do a little cya with older seed because I kind of multi planted so gotcha.

I just I just plant more.

And there's nothing really wrong with using old seed.

Right?

You just might not get a good germination rate is not as good.

Yeah, that's it.

But I have a small garden.

This mess.

Just two of us.

So give me a shot.

Yeah.

Okay, exactly.

So I have this leftover.

Okay.

I usually will shoe, I'll usually buy new.

But if I don't have new, I will do the US stuff and it is worth your while.

Because there's no place that I know of that I would store this and trust it over a season.

Mm hmm.

It's worth your while to put this in like a half sheet.

baking pan, aluminum pan metal, something in a layer about that thick.

And while you could go a little thicker, but still put it in the oven at like 250 and bake it for about an hour.

And then let it cool off.

And you can use it then got it because now it's sterilized and whatever wants to grow in there and make your seeds damp off and then you can be mad at me.

That won't happen.

See, your house might be a little stinky.

Yeah, I've heard it's earthy, it is earthy, earthy.

It's not as bad as a litter box.

I mean, there's a lot worse things than that.

So okay.

I'm just saying you're right.

Okay.

So once you have this bait, there's not very much soil in there, not very much starting to mix.

And you know what, maybe maybe a quart or something.

And you think, Well, I don't need a bowl that Big Gay do.

Yes, you do.

So you put this in the bowl.

I'm not going to do this right now, but because it has been baked yet but I put it in the bowl, and you get hot water and you pour it over.

Now this is after it's been baked after it's been baked and it's cooled.

Okay, you put it in the bowl, and you add hot like steam.

You can feel the pitcher.

Yes.

Okay, I use like, I'll even do a tea kettle, and I'll heat the water doesn't even matter if it's boiling, he wouldn't sterile anyway.

All you're doing is moistening this mix, but it's mostly peat moss and it sucks it up like crazy.

So for that amount of soil mix, I would probably use at least half of this, okay.

It's almost like a two soil one, one to two ratio from the water in the soil.

And that's just the sort of big AI because if you try to pack this in here dry and then you have to water it to moisten it, everything will float out.

Because this is I've done it dry, dry.

How dry is it?

This is dry some popcorn fart.

So, so you moisten the medium first, and then you put it in here.

Start around a little bit and then just do do something else, you know, figure out what their seeds are and how many paths You're gonna need all that, you know, give it a stir.

And when it's nice, it doesn't have to be mushy, you know, just just damp, like you want.

Put it in the pot packet in their packet.

It doesn't seem like you'd want to do that.

But you do because it's such a fluffy like mixed perlite and peat moss.

So it's just really, really dry and feathery.

Yeah, it will be opened the bag too fast, you can inhale and then you got to go to the doctor.

So So do you just put these cups directly in?

I do trace I do I just set them in.

And hopefully they fit like you want them to I have more than these about more than these.

I got them at like, I bought these at Rural King.

You know, because I'm a professional and try this at home.

Yeah, and ordinarily, you know, they'll fit pretty well.

Let's see.

I'd probably get about 18 in here.

And then yeah, and it's watered down the liner.

Yeah.

So your your pots are moist that your medium is moist and your low peat pots.

And then you plant your seeds.

Like I said, I do a triangle.

Because usually I use old if I get if I'm using even if I'm using new seed, I still use at least two because you know, stuff happens.

And I like how you do that.

I did that last year and it makes it easier when you're thinning out a lot of the ones you don't need.

Yeah, Lord, don't put them all in the middle.

Because you're gonna kill them all out.

You know it.

Right?

And since you want to thin if you even go in there with a little scissors or something, you clip it off.

You'll either nick the one you intend to save Yes.

Or that that one you tried to kill somehow.

It'll probably leave.

I'm like I hate you.

I suppose.

My courage to kill you.

And now you just got you won't even.

So yeah, so I've got a I've got a I got a big tin.

Like cookies come in like those little bitty butter cookies, and chocolate and stuff.

I got a big 10 like that.

That's where all my seeds go.

Vaguely organized.

So I love this grand mix of pepper.

Here you can look at that if you want I think that's from Northrup King.

And then I've got some poblano peppers here.

This ancho probono, because poblanos dried around.

But you know, they're a little knowledge for you to draw.

So these that you have in the bag, these are the ones that you were these are the crimson leaves, yeah.

And they, they had several that I that I ate and then I frozen.

So they just let him sit, I let us sit on my kitchen counter because that's the scientific way to do it.

And they dry.

I put them in here.

Let's check the bag a little bit if you can see or not.

But the seeds just fall to the bottom of the bag.

Nope.

There we go on camera.

So and then these are this.

These are the peppers up here.

But what you want, I mean, you can see them and they're nice, big, nice big strong seeds.

They did really well.

Now.

I make my own labels.

Okay, that's another big part of it.

Yeah, as well.

You remember last year, Marty?

Is this a what flour or broccoli?

I couldn't I didn't know.

And so we had to wait a couple weeks until they kind of gave some distinguishing characteristic.

I know they're all embryos.

It's all you can just look like a little anyway.

I get skewers like he used like, like bamboo skewers.

And I cut them to length.

It can't be too long.

Or the lid won't go on them unless you're smart.

And you get a tall lid like I told you which I did not get because I'm not smart.

So then I write my I write my variety on there just with an A pen on paper any paper will do.

And then I completely encase it in tape.

And I know you may not be me.

We'll make it over there.

It says Kellogg's beef steak.

Yeah, that's right big to me.

Yeah, right.

Be steak tomatoes.

Why are why would you buy?

Why would you grow small ones I don't understand.

I don't understand the logic.

I assume.

We'll just move on to pepper.

Okay, so I make these and I put one in every pot.

At the very least plant them plant your seeds in in short rows here.

And if you only have three of something, put one in that row in that row because you will not remember when you and you'll turn the tray to water.

Yeah, and you'll do a bunch of like what you won't know if it's broccoli or cauliflower.

Yeah.

Or a few weeks.

Yeah, so there's that.

Exactly.

That is exactly right level.

are important I know.

And you'll see my method is a little labor intensive.

But this is a tag from last year.

Okay.

And it was just floating around.

So you can still read it.

And I even put it in the garden so I can see later won't lie I believe it is says that she writes on her labels in pencil because pencil doesn't wash out, right?

If she's using the plastic shiny one, so just another.

Yeah, sometimes permanent marker will fade.

Grease pencils stays for a while.

But I wonder if you could do like grease pencil and then put tape over it to be good.

I don't know.

Because wide clear packing tape is for everything breaks, I use it for everything.

Now, last year, I did not wash my tray, or the lid.

I feel a cautionary tale coming on.

And last year.

This isn't children.

Last year.

I didn't wash these last year.

I use some of this that I had leftover and I didn't sterilize it.

And they all came up just fine.

So I felt like well, there's there's 50 years of experience that goes no, that's not how it goes.

Nailed damped off.

Right.

You know, it was sad.

Something was in there.

So you can't skip those steps you don't want to talk about okay, we'll just move on.

It's pretty bad.

So the other thing we have all of us have at home is poinsettias.

Yeah, that we've got leftover from the holidays.

If your garden or your points that is left other people just throw them out.

That's true.

One of our panelists encourages people to toss them so that the greenhouse folks can stay in business.

So we get that people throw them away.

But if I've got one at home that I've had for two years, I can't throw it away.

It's really, it's full and pretty hasn't bloomed, but it's alive.

And I don't want to just I don't know, when I go to it.

I attend a small church people buy poinsettias for the Christmas season.

And there's still Yeah, I'm wondering Oh, no, I could just like please, my take me.

So I take them home, I have a south facing picture window in my living room.

And that's where all the houseplants are.

Okay.

And I try.

I try and convince myself that I will put them in the closet every year.

And I will, you know, go through the whole job of things I'm supposed to do.

I don't do that.

Are these both?

These are this year?

These are two years old years old.

Okay.

Yeah.

Last year, they also they would have bloomed better.

It was kind of like this a little bit.

I mean, they were a little fuller, because I was sick in December.

And November was busy.

And they were growing.

They were putting on new growth.

And I thought no, I don't want to prune that off.

I need to be a little taller.

Anyway.

So that's what I'll do.

So much to my delight.

They went ahead and nature friends away.

So.

So this guy, he's a little droopy, but that's okay.

The dog knocked it off time or two.

I felt bad for it, then I couldn't throw it away because I was so sympathetic.

I love the bank.

And like, yeah, so this is what they did on their own.

Okay, so if you follow the directions for that are multiple websites and books and you know, how much better yours could look than mine do now is just with a little neglect.

Yeah.

See that?

Yeah.

Scientific neglect Nobel's scientific neglect, right.

So you're gonna keep these these family?

You betcha.

So what are you going to do with them?

How are we going when the blooms fade when these brackets laid up because they're not on poinsettias.

The blooms are those little yellow dudes in the middle, right?

These are just brackets because in their native countries where they grow they need a little extra color.

Tell the flowers until the the bugs to pollinate and they need to find those little tiny flowers.

So all these brackets around this just leaves they just changed color.

So when the brackets fall, and everything's just green again, I'll probably this guy this is definitely coming off the sale the new growth and feel these how dry they're okay people a lot of times when they want to overwinter poinsettias they make a huge mistake in watering when like they would house plant.

But poinsettias grow in Equitorial countries, they don't need it to be wet at all.

Also, when you you've no doubt broken one off and the sap is real sticky and thick.

Mm hmm.

Okay, because they're like like Euphorbia.

So they have that really thick gummy SAP and they don't need a lot of moisture.

They're almost there almost Like a succulent because of the thickness, their SAP interesting.

Their leaves are just typical leaves but the SAP itself the way the plant grows a minute.

It's designed to be able to survive.

Take the abuse.

I saw I saw one on St. Kitts one time.

And I knew I I knew I recognize a plant but I couldn't figure out what it was.

Or not to be poinsettia.

That was like the size of a dogwood tree here.

It was big enough growing on somebody's side of somebody's house.

They had a bench you could sit on.

Sitting under appoints Yes.

Yeah.

Did you go sit on the stranger's bed?

It was since I wanted we were walking down this hill and I'm see this little house in this plan.

Like no, I know plan is I just want but I've never seen one that was big enough.

You could put a bench under let alone sometimes amazing.

Wow.

So yeah, it wasn't looming in my was.

So with these are you going to take them all the way back?

Like let's let's probably come back about this one, I probably won't cut back until it put some more blood.

This one I'll probably cut back about six, seven inches tall.

I'll take I'll take this little dead stem off.

There's no one I can just there's some new growth and there's new there is new growth.

And I've got a couple more at home and they're all just growing up.

So maybe, maybe I'll do right by him, you know?

Or you can take him back to church next Christmas.

There you go.

Don't tell Kelly.

So only at home person who has a poinsettia like this at home.

What do you recommend for them?

Kodak blah, blah, blah, give give us the rundown.

I would, I would water them minimally.

Okay, so feel the soil like it's an inch down or further, it's got to be dried that far before you water it again.

Because they don't need a lot of water, they'll rot especially if you have them in something like the spoil which kind of I didn't have any more drip tray.

So I left the foil on, which I've heard people do but they just say make sure water isn't cooling down there.

So exactly foils fine.

When I water these I use I mean this like a six inch pot I use I don't know, no more than a cup of water at a time.

And they're just fine.

They just they do great.

The Brax will fall they'll fade they'll start putting on a little bit of new growth now that the days are getting longer here in January.

And when it gets warm enough outside if you have a shaded porch, I put them out there even are on the east side of a porch that shady in the in the afternoon or the you know, only only morning sun or under a shade tree if you have a situation like that like in spring and summer.

Okay, yeah.

Direct sunlight.

No, I wouldn't.

They're not I mean, they live in direct sunlight, where they're native to, but these just came out of the house.

Treat them like something you're trying too hard.

No, yes.

Got it for you fry.

Fry that industry term.

So and take out, take the take the foil off, let them let them drain.

Like they you know, just treat them like a potted plant you have outside in the shade somewhere.

And if they start to get a little leggy cut back or move them where they get a little more sun or not feed them you know, try to get as much growth on as you can probably I would probably use a probably uses a balanced fertilizer.

I mean, you could do just nitrogen if you wanted them just get bigger, but then you got to knock that off like July.

August.

Got it because you want to bloom so Okay, and what about reporting How long would you leave them in the six inch pots till they're too big for him?

Science?

Yeah.

Potted plants, container plants of any kind do better with with tattoos.

They just do because there's snow.

It's just not the same as growing in the in the face of the planet.

I know that surprises you.

It is it is shocking.

I wonder if we can take a peek at the roots.

Sure.

Oh, it's good.

See?

It's dry.

Yeah.

Same around the edge there.

I'll hold you talk.

Yeah, are these Oh, yeah.

And if I wanted to report this, if by some miracle, it would grow that I think it would need to be repotted.

I would take a knife sharpening and ruthlessly slice about six or eight places on these routes.

I'd take this top, a little bit weak.

This little top crusty edge.

I'd peel it off.

I'd loosen the bottom maybe with an axe or maybe three cuts or four.

Big Star.

Loosen it up.

He's a mount yeah, one more kind of mob What the heck, you know, take your hair down and put it in.

One bigger one size pot bigger.

One inch or two To get away like this, use leg six 810 Go one size up, and your new soil will be around the outside, put put it in the pot, pull in the bottom, put it in there.

Make sure the level is up here where it needs to be.

Don't let it sink too far down in the pot.

And then stuff your soil which has been moistened down around the edges, and then water the whole thing.

There you go.

Yeah, can I leave it in the sink or set it outside into the tree?

Like we discussed earlier?

Yeah, usually, most people report stuff when they really don't need to be repotted.

They just tried to open their pot.

Yeah, you want to you know, you get bored the plants, not the plants, plants for us.

People are better off really, to prune the plant back in 90% of the cases, bring the plant back smaller, and put it in the same size pot, which is a cool pot or one size, smaller pie size because you're gonna have transplant shock, and they're not going to do well with that.

So.

Okay, so you believe we're at a time that was the show.

I can't even see a clock.

I don't know what was it.

Alright, great.

Well, thank you so much for coming and sharing your wealth of knowledge.

And thank you so much for watching, and we will see you next time.

Make sure you look us up on our socials just search MidAmerican gardener and you can send us your questions to yourgarden@gmail.com We'll see you next time.