- Hi, thanks for joining us for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Cleaning up the garden in the fall can be one of the best things you can do to reduce insect and disease problems next year.

Also, fall is a great time to lime your lawn.

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 Lee Sammons.

Lee is a UT Extension agent in Hardeman County and Mr. D will be joining me later.

All right Lee, it's always good to have you here.

- Thanks Chris.

- All right, so we're gonna talk about fall garden sanitation, 'cause this is the time of the year, people wanna know what do I need to be doing out in my landscape?

So can you help us out please?

- Sure.

We're getting into time where we're having frost in our gardens, and killing our vegetable crops, that we've had all summer long growing.

And we want to remove those diseased and frost plants that have been killed and clean up the soil, and get rid of any grass that may be existing in the garden.

We don't wanna carry over those dead leaves in the garden soil for next year.

So we're gonna get those removed, eliminate disease and insect carryover.

- Okay there's some other things that we need to be doing as well?

- Yeah, well now's actually the time to lime your garden, if you need lime, get a soil test.

Find out for sure, what you need to do for next year, because it takes about six months for that lime to activate the soil and change the pH.

So now's that time you need to pull a soil sample in the garden there.

- Okay and they can find soil sample kits, in the office here at Shelby County, and Hardeman County of course.

Or at your local extension office, you can find a soil test kit.

Yeah, definitely a good idea to get your soil tested.

And if there's a lime requirement, as you mentioned, this is a good time to put down that lime.

- Correct.

Right.

- And it's real specific now.

It lets you know how much lime you need to put down.

- That's right.

- So yeah, you just put that down according to the recommendation.

I think you'd be fine.

Now you mentioned about the leaves.

So if we have diseased leaves, and have vegetable gardens, for example, so what do we need to do with those diseased leaves?

Do we need to put those in the compost pile?

- No, let's not put anything in the compost pile.

Bag 'em up, put 'em in garbage bags, and remove 'em from our property off there.

So don't put 'em in your compost pile.

'Cause your compost may not get that hot that it actually will kill the disease.

So you don't want to infect your soil 'cause you may be putting it back in your garden next year.

- Okay now since we're talking about compost piles, is this a good time to compost you think?

- Yeah.

You can put things in your compost bin.

But you're not gonna get the activity that you will in the summertime as far as the composting.

- So how would you determine what you would need to put in a compost pile, versus what you would not need to put in a compost pile?

- I wouldn't wanna put anything that's diseased, or grass seedlings and things.

'Cause that could be a potential infection next year in your garden if you didn't get it composted to a high enough temperature that'll kill those grass seeds or disease.

- Would you recommend possibly using compost around your beds and things like that in the fall?

- Yeah, you can mulch and add compost.

Maybe you've gotten compost all summer, and you've got compost.

You can add organic matter to your soil.

This is a good time to add organic matter, or plant a cover crop that will add organic matter when we till next spring.

- Okay.

So what cover crops would you suggest?

- We can put clovers in there.

You can put rye in there.

We don't wanna let it go to fruition and to seed when we till it up next year.

We don't wanna do that.

But any of the clovers or rye grass or wheat, or any of those type things.

- Will be good.

Okay.

And when is the best time to plant those?

- Now is a good time right after frost.

It's a good time to do that.

- All right and we do have some publications at the Extension Office - That's right.

- About those cover crops.

So check with your local Extension Office about that as well.

Something else, right?

We've been talking about this for a couple of weeks now.

So the leaves are falling off the trees.

Right?

Instead of bagging those leaves, would you suggest maybe running those leaves over, breaking 'em down, letting them of course be deposited right on the soil surface, how do you feel about that?

Instead of just again, bagging them up and putting those bags on the curb.

- Yeah, take your lawnmower, and mulch 'em till they're smaller, cut 'em up in small finer chips, and then they'll break down real fast.

in your garden.

If you put whole leaves in your garden, they're gonna be slow to break down so you wanna mulch it.

And you don't wanna leave the leaves on your lawn if you've got a grass there.

So you wanna get 'em off.

But if you've cut 'em up, the lawnmower mulched 'em fine, then you can leave 'em there and be organic matter.

Building your turf.

- I used to tell people free fertilizer.

- That's right.

- Yeah, why you putting that fertilizer in a bag, on the side of the road?

So incorporate that into your garden.

But it's best to break those down if at all possible.

- Right.

- Is it a good time in the fall to actually rototill those leaves into the ground?

- Yeah, you can rototill the leaves into the ground after you've removed any diseased vegetable plants that may be growing in the garden.

So you can incorporate those shredded leaves into the garden, and till 'em in so that they'll decay over the wintertime.

- So what should we be doing with our turf grass, during this time in the fall, you think?

Have we had our last cutting, for the year, you think?

- It may have been our last cutting.

I wouldn't cut it, scalp it down.

Don't cut it real, real, real short.

Leave the turf there where you can have a coverage over your yard, not just scalp.

- Okay.

So definitely don't scalp it.

And then something else, this is a good time to go through your landscape, do some scouting.

Right?

Look for diseases, insect pests and things like that.

If anybody had any diseases or insect pests in their landscape at this time, are there anything that you would suggest to use at this time of the year, if anything?

How do you feel about that?

- You could use a fungicide if you see an active disease or if you see pests there in your shrubbery.

That way you may want to use a insecticide to control or remove anything that may be a problem now.

- Right.

So you just remove it now.

Would this be a good time to use a systemic drench?

- Yes, you could use a systemic drench for some of the insects in there.

We usually do it in the spring though, more than we do it in fall.

Spring is a better time on some of the systemics, because we're fixing to go in the winter and the plants are not actively growing, pulling up sap.

Where in the spring you get more of a pool of the sap rising, and pulling the systemic insecticide up into the trees and leaves at that time.

- Okay.

All right.

So let me ask you about tools.

Right?

So now is the time of the year, right?

We gotta take care of those tools.

So how would you suggest that we take care of those?

- All of our shovels, rakes, anything that may have soil on it, we wanna wash it really good.

Remove any of the soil particles on there 'cause we don't want the rust on our tools.

You can spray a WD-40 or some type of oil sealant on those.

Keep 'em from rusting over the winter.

Get 'em in the shed.

Don't leave 'em out, leaning against a tree in your garden area or against your fence.

You wanna get 'em outta the weather that way and stuff.

Definitely remove any soil that you've got on any your garden tools now on that.

- Yeah.

- And your motorized garden tools and things, you need to take care of those, don't leave gas in your gas tank.

- Yeah, good.

- That type thing.

Run it totally empty or drain it out.

- Yeah.

Drain it out.

Or if you have trees in your yard, you have those leaves on your lawn, go ahead and run over.

those leaves with that lawn mower to run your gas out.

How about that?

So yeah, we just have a little time left, Lee.

So again, some of the things we should be doing in our garden this fall for sanitation is what?

- Just removing any of the dead, diseased plants, and things off your garden area.

- Okay.

- That will remove any decay or any disease in the soil.

- Yeah, 'cause we want to definitely reduce insect pressure and disease pressure going into the spring.

- Right.

- So practice good sanitation folks.

Pick those leaves up.

Don't put 'em in a compost file.

Put 'em in the trash.

I think we'll be good.

- That's good.

- All right.

All right.

Thank you Lee.

We appreciate you being here.

- All right.

- All right.

[upbeat country music] - We're in the garden now in the fall of the year.

You set out sweet potatoes, early in the summer, probably in late May and June.

And we've got all these vines just growing all over our garden now in the sweet potatoes.

But how do we know that sweet potatoes are ready to be dug?

You'll see some flowers that are blooming in the sweet potato vines, that has no effect as far as the production.

They do not produce seed for your potatoes next year.

But as we look down in the soil, we'll see that the soil is beginning to crack.

And that is a good indication that sweet potatoes are developing and they're getting closer to being ready to be harvested.

So if you start seeing these cracks in the soil, you may wanna look and dig, just a little bit.

So when you move the vines back in the sweet potato and you see the cracks, you'll see that there are small sweet potatoes here in the garden and they're ready to be dug.

Your vines are destroyed when you dig the sweet potatoes.

So you're not trying to keep the vines alive.

So you dig the sweet potatoes out, and do the harvest for your sweet potatoes for the fall and enjoy it.

[upbeat country music] - All right, Mr. D we're gonna talk about applying lime.

So what is lime?

- Actually what we apply on our yards is limestone.

Lime is a derivative of limestone.

When you heat limestone, it creates calcium oxide.

And when you hydrate it, you create calcium hydroxide, which is also a quick lime, which is used in the cement industry.

But limestone is what these lime products are made from.

Limestone is calcium carbonate, very simply.

And it comes in several different formulations.

The first one that we used for years and years, farmers used, was agricultural ground limestone.

Later they came out with dolomitic limestone, which is agricultural ground limestone with magnesium in it, which is really, really good, if you need magnesium in your soil.

And most of the time we do need small amounts of magnesium.

And so dolomitic agricultural ground limestone is a real good product.

Pelletized lime is very popular with homeowners.

- Yes, it is.

- And the reason is if you've ever tried to scatter agricultural ground limestone, you can understand that it's difficult to work with.

And let me get a little bit out here.

- Real fine stuff.

- Yeah and I'll show you what I'm talking about here.

Let's see here.

And in the back end of your pickup truck, or in that spreader right there, it's so fine.

Some of it is so fine, that it will actually clog the spreader up.

So the pelletized lime is a lot easier to spread with spreaders.

Unfortunately, pelletized lime is made up most of the time of very, very, very fine particles which, can break down rapidly.

Does a real good job of raising soil pH pretty quickly, but it doesn't last quite as long.

Agricultural ground limestone has particles that will go from between a 10 mesh screen, to a 200 mesh screen.

And most of them are within the 60 to 100 mesh range, which you have some pretty big particles, which take longer to break down.

It's a slow release deal.

And so if you use agricultural ground, or dolomitic limestone that's not pelletized, it's probably gonna take two or three years for some of that lime to take effect.

But it's gonna spread.

But you do have some fine particles also that will work pretty quickly.

- Okay.

- With the pelletized lime, you probably need to check your soil a little bit quicker than three years down the road.

You probably need to check it in two years.

Because it may raise your pH quicker, and higher than you expected it to, a little bit and then fizzle out at the end of that two or three year period.

- Okay, well look, so we get our soil test results back from the lab, Ms. Debbie.

All right.

- Got one right here.

- And she tells us we need to add lime.

So where do we go from there?

- And you can see here, it's 1.5 pounds per 100 square feet.

The water pH is what you look for.

And it's 5.9, which is not really too acid.

- Not too bad.

- Most of our vegetable crops, and Bermuda grass you want it between 6.5, 6.2, 6.5.

So the recommendation is one and a half pounds per 100 square feet.

Well, I understand we've got about a 4,000 square foot area here that we're going to need to be applying lime to.

And this is where the soil test was taken.

- Okay.

- And so to figure that out.

One and a half pounds per one hundred square feet.

We get it to the thousand square foot ranges, ten point five pounds and then it's 4,000 square feet, multiply that times 4.

So it's 42 pounds- - 42 pounds.

- Of limestone is what we need to put out right here.

and that's really handy, because this pelletized limestone that we have here came in a 40-pound bag.

It's almost there'll be no waste.

You won't have one of these sitting in your garage for the next 10 years like I did with that.

- All right.

So you're gonna demo how we're gonna spread our limestone.

- That's right.

- Okay.

- And before I do that, what I like to do, with a spreader, and this is with fertilizer, or with lime, I like to start with a low rate.

'Cause the worst thing you can do is pour a bag of fertilizer or lime in a spreader like this, and get about a fourth of the area covered and you're out of it.

You've used up all the recommended rate.

So you've got a really, really high rate in some areas, and nothing over here where you need it.

- That's smart though.

- So I try to put a half out at one application going in one direction, and the other half going directly, nintey degrees, different direction.

So let's go ahead and go with this.

And I'm gonna set this.

I guess I'm gonna set this on about five.

I really don't have a clue.

I don't know, so I'm gonna go low rather than high.

And that's got that open about a third, thirty percent, those openings there.

Okay?

- All right.

Is that your trusty spreader right there?

- Mm-hmm.

Trusty pocket knife here.

- And your pocket knife.

- That all farm boys had when I was growing up.

Used to carry 'em to school.

You'd have to have a pocket knife with you.

Can't do that nowadays.

- No.

- I noticed this pelletized lime is also dolomitic and that's a good thing.

Okay, we're moving right now.

So let me turn that off.

I noticed some going down.

Okay, I'm gonna start going long ways, and I'll get a feel for how far it's spreading.

I think it probably throws at least a six- or eight-foot spread.

- Okay.

- So I'm probably, I think I'll just walk down the middle first.

- All righty.

- That little spot right there, got limed really well.

- It's gonna be high.

- So here we go.

All done.

All done, all through.

- So you got it finished right?

- Got it done.

- All right.

Now does that need to be watered in or anything?

Or we let Mother Nature handle that?

- Mother Nature will take care of that.

- Okay.

- I wouldn't worry about it.

Wipe my hands.

It will do a good job of taking it on down.

I mean these products are water soluble to some extent.

And so Mother Nature will take it on down.

If you wanna speed it up a little bit, it's okay to irrigate.

If you wanna speed the process up a little bit, but not necessary.

- Not necessary.

And again, how long do you think, before we see some improvement in the soil pH?

- You should see some improvements with the pelletized lime fairly quick.

I mean this is the fall of the year, so next spring if you check your pH, I guarantee you'll be better next spring than it's right now.

- So it'll be ready to go?

- Be ready to go.

- All right Mr. D, we appreciate that demo.

All right.

- Fun, thanks.

- All right.

Catch your breath.

- Yeah, I'm outta breath here.

Hard work for an old man.

[Chris laughs] [upbeat country music] - We're looking at Asclepias tuberosa, that's perennial milkweed.

And I just wanna give you a few tips on harvesting these seed heads.

Ideally we want to aim for collecting these seeds from the seed pod just as they begin to naturally open up on their own but before they begin to fly away.

This seed pod right here is a great example of that.

They're still tight inside that pod, but the pod is already opened on its own.

If we have missed that opportunity and we have all of this white fluffiness that we're seeing here, that's okay.

We can still collect these seeds and I'm gonna show you an easy trick for how to clean them.

Okay?

So just as best you can, grab these handfuls of cotton, which have small brown seeds attached to the base.

Put them in a paper bag.

I'm just using my thumb.

I'm starting at the base of the pod and dragging upwards.

That way I make sure and get most of the seeds as I can.

Pop 'em in this bag and then give it a good shake.

What we're trying to do is separate this white, fluffy cloud from our actual seed.

They need more shaking.

Okay, let's see how they're looking.

We'll open up our bag.

The seeds have been separated from the white.

I'm gonna pull out the majority of the fluffy.

It's okay if a few seeds come out with it.

We'll pour out our seeds that we've collected, and that is gonna make for much easier storage.

[upbeat country music] - All right Lee, here's our Q&A segment.

These are some great questions.

All right, here's our first viewer email.

"My burning bushes are over 20 years old with no problems "until last summer when they began losing leaves.

"I was told to drench them in malathion, which I did twice.

"It didn't seem to help.

"This year, I was told to drench "with Dawn dishwashing detergent.

"That didn't seem to help.

"My wife thinks they have just gotten old, "but I'm hoping I could save them.

What can I do?

Thank you."

And this is Kim from Byhalia, Mississippi.

And thank you for that picture Ms. Kim.

So what do you think about that?

So here's my thing, they're losing the leaves, right?

But we're drenching with malathion.

So are we saying that there's an insect problem?

- Right, that's would not be the treatment if it's a disease problem.

'Cause you're using a insecticide and if there's a root problem that's gonna be a fungus or something that you're gonna need a fungicide, not an insecticide.

But 20 years is pretty old.

We had a severe winter last year too.

And it could be cold damage from that standpoint too, as well as, or potential root problem, being 20 years old that way.

But you can always cut it back and Viburnums have a good resilience to come back with it being cut back.

So that would be a potential what they could do.

- Yeah, I would definitely cut out the dead.

- Oh, yeah.

- Just looking at the pictures, I would cut that out.

Probably come back in the spring with some fertilizer to see if it could rejuvenate it a little bit.

But yeah, if it's losing leaves, I'm thinking the same thing you are.

It's probably something in the root system 'Cause you look at where it is, right?

It's like in that little encasement there.

So could it be winter injury, could it be you watered it a little bit too much.

But I would definitely cut out the dead.

But yeah, using malathion, and then the Dawn dishwashing liquid, you would do that if you had problems with insects, aphids, scales or something like that.

But the thing about the burning bush, I mean they can have problems with scales.

But you just have to make sure the scales are there and then of course you can use these means.

But yeah, if it's losing leaves, I would look for scales.

It may be root rot, twig blight.

Something else that just popped into my mind that burning bushes are susceptible to, but that's because of overwatering.

- Right, right.

- So those are the things I would look at Kim.

But I would definitely get out there and cut 'em back.

That's the first thing I would do.

So cut 'em back and then in the spring, let's see, we can give 'em a little fertilizer.

And see if that'll help it out.

All right, yeah.

But no more drenching with malathion and Dawn dishwashing liquid.

All right.

Thank you much.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I'm wanting to plant tulips this fall.

What is the best way to deter chipmunks and squirrels from eating tulip bulbs?"

And this is Lori from Knoxville, Tennessee.

Well Lori, Mr. Lee knows a little something about planting tulips, but do you know something about deterring those chipmunks and squirrels as you're doing that?

- Yeah, I would go to the hardware store, and buy some chicken wire, wh ich has about an inch opening, and cover that, after you planted the tulips, and then cover that with mulch, so the squirrels can't dig through that wire and dig up the tulips.

- So chicken wire, I wonder if you could use hardware cloth.

- Hardware cloth might be a little bit too small an opening, for the tulip foliage to come come up through.

- Good deal, 'cause you want the foliage to come through.

- Right.

- Right, so with that being said, I do know some master gardeners that have actually planted tulips in little cages.

But the cages are of course big enough to allow the the foliage to come up through it.

- Right.

- Right.

So yeah, I would definitely, probably go the route of the chicken wire, or maybe the little cages, the little baskets.

Make sure you're plant 'em deep enough.

Because those chipmunks and squirrels can be tough.

- Yeah, there's no chemical remedy that you can do, just have the physical barrier.

- So just cover that area, and I think you'll be fine, Ms. Lori.

'Cause yeah those repellents.

No, they're hit or miss.

We're talking about outdoors, right?

- Yeah.

- So if it rains or anything like that, you put those repellents down, they just wash out, you have to reapply.

Doesn't work that well.

All right, thank you, Ms. Lori.

We appreciate that question.

Good luck to you.

All right here's our next viewer email.

"I have a Satsuma orange tree that is about 25 years old.

"The good news is that it produces oranges.

"The bad news is that they're about a million of them, "and they're less than the size "of a golf ball and very bitter.

"Is there any easy way to reduce the number "and increase the size of my Satsuma oranges "to what is typically found in a grocery store?

Thanks."

And this is Gerald from Tucker, Georgia.

So hey, Satsuma, 25 years old, - She's doing good.

- Produced a million.

Right?

But they're so small, right?

So is there an easy way to reduce the number and then to increase the size?

- Yes.

You can hand thin them.

A lot of our fruit trees will over produce, produce so many blooms and set so many fruit.

that they don't size up, and so they need to be thinned out, to have less fruit trying to grow on that one limb.

And they're gonna be small, if it over produces fruit on one limb.

- Yeah.

Without a doubt.

- But I would hand thin 'em out, and follow cultural fertilizing maybe help.

- No, I would agree with that.

I would definitely check the fertility for sure.

Because now, Mr. D is in my head.

He would talk about fruit trees, he always talks about proper fertility.

Of course, proper irrigation is something he always talks about or watering.

And then the last thing he always mentioned, thinning.

- Yep.

- You got to thin 'em.

And I know for some, of course this pertains more to peaches.

He would always say one fruit, for every 12 inches of shoot, this one probably not that much.

- Not that much.

- Not that much.

But you're definitely gonna have to thin it back, right, if you want to get that grocery store size Satsuma orange that you're looking for.

So thinning is gonna be key to that.

So thinning, fertility, make sure you get the water that it needs and I think it'll be fine.

But yeah, doing good, 25 years.

- Twenty-five years, you've done something right.

- You've done something right.

Down there in Georgia where we get a lot of those peaches down that way.

But to have an orange after 25 years, I think it's pretty good.

- Yeah, yeah.

You don't want clusters of oranges.

They're not grapes.

You want thinned fruit.

- Exactly, right.

You want to thin the fruit.

That is for sure.

So thank you for that question Mr. Gerald.

Yeah, do check with your local Extension Office there.

They may have a publication about growing Satsuma oranges down there that will help you out with the thinning that we're talking about and the fertilization as well.

So thank you much.

All right Lee, that was fun.

- Oh good.

- Thank you much.

All right.

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[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]