(upbeat music) - Hello, and thanks for joining us for another episode of Mid-American Gardner.

I'm your Host, Tanisha Spain.

And we've got two of our expert veteran panelists here to answer your questions today and show you some show and tells.

But before we jump into that let's have them introduce themselves and tell you a little bit more about their specialty and what they're into.

So Jen, we'll start with you.

Hi, I'm Jen Nelson.

I'm a horticulturalist and you can find me online@groundedingrowing.com.

I love to talk about general horticulture particularly vegetable gardening and houseplants are my two very favorite topics but you know, pretty much anything's fair game with me.

All right.

Hi, I'm John Bowden center.

I'm a Vermilion County master gardener.

I live up near the town of Bismarck, just North of Danville.

And my yard is got A little bit of that a little bit.

I like a, a large variety so I can pretty much pick and grow in this area.

I can pretty much talk about it.

Wonderful.

Okay.

So today we've got a lot of show and tell this might be the show and tell show actually for the month of January.

So I'll start out.

Cause I rarely bring things to the show but today I actually do have something.

So this weekend I was grocery shopping at my local store.

And if you're a plant person you know exactly how it goes, right?

You're just walking by minding your own business and then entrepreneur jumps into your cart.

So it was the fragrance.

This one that got me just walking by.

If you, if you love a fragrant house plan or a plan in general, even for outside hyacinth this is the one for you.

So my question to the expert is after she's finished performing in the house as you can see, and I'll try not to spill but I've got three profits for bulbs in here.

So we'll start with you, John and Jen you can weigh in as well.

Give me some advice, give me some tips.

Should I leave this in this container until spring?

Do you put these outside?

Do you keep them inside?

So I like to hear what both of you would do if this was your house.

Okay.

That's kind of funny.

Cause that ties into my show until one of my show entails today in that I'm going to be talking about some of the bulb.

Now yours is a spring bald.

We're the ones I'm talking about or the full book yours are Hardy once you get them out.

But what do you do now until spring time?

Once the ground is a thought out, you'll wanna get those into the ground as soon as possible.

They won't bloom this year, but this, this summer but after that, they'll start to bloom.

Okay, what you want to do now is keep keep that green on there.

You know, once the flowers have kind of gone and done their thing, clip that and STEM off so that they don't put energy into producing seeds or think that they're doing that keep the green as long as you can because they're going to be putting more energy into into the bulb is as, as far as possible.

So you'll wanna do that.

And then once they, once they dry off, so to speak you'll see that they'll turn yellow and go dormant.

Basically stop watering them, put them in a cool place, dark, maybe the refrigerator can't get them out of the ground and just put them in a in a Ziploc with a little bit of peat moss just something so that they don't dry, just moist peat moss and keep them cool until spring, get them put out.

And then you'll, you'll have, you know, those I've had some of those that have lasted 30 years.

So Jen, would you fertilize these in this pot or leave no fertilizer?

You could just fertilize the leaves just a little bit to kind of the bulbs rejuvenate in my experience with them I agree a hundred percent with all of what John's saying to do.

I've had kind of a delay it's can be really stressful for the bulbs in the pots like that.

So sometimes after, sometimes after I put them out in the garden in any time for Midsummer on is fine to get them out in the garden.

You have to wait until your soil is workable, of course, and highest.

And you want to be really careful about not putting them someplace where the soil is really heavy or really waterlogged 'cause they will be really susceptible to rotting.

But sometimes that sec, that second year so like next spring or spring 2022 you may not see flowers and that it just takes a little time for them to kind of rebuild after it having been forced out like that.

So don't be alarmed if that happens but I've saved some that have lasted quite awhile not 30 years.

- So once these are done blooming you want me to cut the flower stocks?

- Right.

- Wonderful.

Thank you.

I will, we'll have to update everybody on these and I definitely plan on taking them outside, but okay.

So John you said you're showing how kind of wrapped into this.

So why don't you go here?

- Yes.

Now you don't, those are like spring bulbs.

I have, what, what do you call fall bulbs?

And it's basically the opposite of what you really think.

The fall bulbs are the ones you dig up in the fall the spring balls are those that you would plant in the, in the, in the spring.

So you plant these in the spring.

Those you would plant in the in the fall, the, the, the hardy ones.

These are what I would consider tender bulbs.

These are tender bulbs.

And I was just checking mine.

I do check them.

And that's what I want the listeners to know is go out and check your bulbs because you could see these two are really nice.

They're they've got good color.

I can squeeze them.

They're very firm, but then I've got this little boy and you can see it's got a little bit of mold.

And so this guy here, I want to get it all over my computer.

This guy here, I want to pull out of that.

And when I do pack that I'd make sure that these bulbs are not touching each other.

Because if this one was right up against this that mold's going to go right from here to this but you still wanna get it up again.

I don't want that mold in, in that container.

And what I pack them in is kind of a a moist SPAG a moss or peat moss.

And I put them in a, in, in the garage, in the basement in a cool dark place.

So, so that's where So the, where is somewhere cool.

The temp of the template is temp.

You want it cool.

And it just can not freeze.

So this guy here, I'm just going to throw in the garbage.

Now I have another one and Tanisha, I gave you some of these and you said, they're doing very well.

This is my Jerusalem artichokes.

This is the way I want them to look nice and clean.

But I found a couple that look fuzzy.

So I need to pull those up the same way that I'm, again they're not touching each other in my packing material, because if they were this mold would have gone from this one to touch this one.

And then this one here is in fact it's.

So one of the most important things is in the fall when you pack these up is to make sure that they are not touching each other.

I use newspapers just crumpled up newspapers and then kind of put the just lay them in so that they're not touching.

Use the newspaper kind of as a cushion sprinkle a little bit of a peat moss as opposed to just this just damp peat moss not wet peat moss, not totally dry 'cause you don't want them to dry out either.

If you just totally dry peat moss it'll draw the moisture out of this.

And you'll end up with shrivel.

You want it some moisture, but not a lot of moisture.

Let's see, light.

You don't wanna any light on them and the moisture again you want it moist, but if you would take that peat moss and squeeze it and it drips you've got it way, way, way through wet.

Some of the others that you would do this with his dahlias, your, any of the tender bulbs you would treat kind of the same gladiolas would be another one.

And so separate.

Get those go, Vicky, go out there and look at them because now mid winter, now's a good time to go out.

If your peak moss is completely dry you may wanna miss it.

Now again, don't make it too wet.

Cause you'll end up with something like this.

And this one here.

I looked at it.

I had an injury that I didn't catch when I was packing away.

So, you know what?

If you have an injury on them you may want to put all your injured ones.

If you really, you can't throw them away.

I have a hard time throwing anything away put those in a separate container and then go through them a month or two months later, and then weed out.

Those that you just are no good.

So that one goes into the garbage shoots film.

- Okay thank you John.

You know, a lot of times we don't think about going and checking on them once they've been packed away until we go out to the spring to put them back in the ground.

So not only does that give us something to do as we're waiting, but it's good to check your inventory and see what we've got.

So thank you.

All right, Jen, you're up.

What have you got?

- I brought a DIY project that I bought with my four year old daughter, Margaret in mind and she's not here today to show it but she might probably get too shy anyway.

She is my helper and she likes to help with all kinds of things.

So I want to give her something that could we could help with, but it wasn't gonna involve her tearing apart the kitchen Or (Tanisha chuckles) she has a tendency to be very quiet and very industrious.

So this is a home.

These are oyster your mushrooms.

We're gonna cook with them later this week probably throw them in the stir fry.

And every day Margaret's job is to spray these.

It comes with a little spray bottle it's it comes as a brick of a media that's inoculated with pores and you still get and then you spray it every day.

And this is about eight days old.

I mean, they're in the point where they're doubling in size every day or so.

And when we're done with this side, this side we can take the brick out of the box and flip it around and cut another hole and do it again.

- Oh, wow.

- Yeah.

So I, this is, I did this kit from company stuff several years ago when they first came out and it did not look this spectacular and yeah, it's, it's totally I'm feeding my love of growing things and it's not a trouble.

And so this is all good.

- Awesome.

So are there different varieties In kits or did you specifically purchase that one for a reason - This particular company, I think this is the only one they make but it is possible to grow all sorts of mushrooms at home.

Some of them take a little bit different conditions and you can get really fancy and have like specific logs from specific trees.

If you have woods and you can buy little sort of plugs that you drill into the logs so you can have them growing 40, is it there's also a company out there that sells like fours.

I think it comes in like a little spray bottle or something and you grow the mushrooms on a roll of toilet paper.

And I think that sounds so disgusting but I think my kids would love it.

So that may be her next project.

- I was gonna say, you may have found your next purchase.

That's awesome.

And I think, you know, just watching her are having her watch those the whole time and then sort of that grow to table experience for kids.

I think that is so great that you're able to do that.

And people are able to do that with their kids so that they can see what they're eating and what the process is.

- Oh, absolutely.

And she, she loves to help me cook.

So yeah, having that whole process of watching it grow and just kind of building that love of gardening.

I, you know I have a vested interest in my kids enjoying her in plants.

So, - I grow this talkies on, on Oak logs, depending on the type that you want.

Some rope better on certain logs, like the oysters they can grow on softer woods, but (indistinct) the grow best on your hardwoods, especially Oak is their number one.

And I've got, you can bring the logs in.

I know I've got one at Sharman and we've had a couple of crops of mushrooms they're ready.

And I just pack them.

Somebody, you know, you make kind of Lincoln logs you take your logs and put to this way to this way.

And then you- - Kind of find their way in the little nooks and crannies in there.

- Like Jen said, it can take six six months to a year on some of those.

But like on the Oak logs, you'll get they say up to eight years depending on the size of the log mushrooms.

- Well, John, if I, if I build a stack of logs in my kitchen and my husband complained, I've given him your number - Mine are outside there by the garage.

So I don't have my inside either.

(chuckles) - Okay.

alright, John, we're back around to you with another show with that.

- Okay.

I've been ordering seeds, you know, my seeds and I I ordered some, some lettuce seeds and it came this year and something I had never seen before.

And this is a frozen seed capsule.

I don't know if he can Hear we can.

- No, we can see it.

- I've got to find out where my CA or my lenses on my, my phone, but they, they, they these you're keeping the refrigerator there.

The seeds are on the top part.

And then they've got a little bit of cotton and then there's a desiccant on the bottom and they've desiccants will change color as it draws moisture.

And once they turn pink, they say, you should then that's when you should plant your, you know, you know consider that the they're at the end of their cycle but these will last up to five years.

So, and, and, and lettuce is usually they lose, they're bigger after about two or three years where this I they said I could keep these for up to five years.

They say they do last better.

If you put them back in the freezer or or just in the refrigerator, they'll keep their bigger.

And you can expect almost a 100% germination.

When you went to purchase those, were you buying those with the mindset of I want to be able to keep these for awhile you know, I'm, I'm, I'm trying to wrap my brain around.

Why you, or what's, what's the allure I spoke to the packet.

I didn't even know that they were gonna come.

- This was a surprise to you, didn't it?

- Yes it was a surprise but I would think that some of your mail orders are gonna start to do this.

Yes.

I think it's gonna cost them a little bit more and they were just a little bit more expensive but not that much more than my seed packets that I get from you know, from anyone else.

And they'd all the nice thing is all the information is there, like on my seeds, but you can see I got all kinds of- - You ready to go.

This was the other seeds.

And I got, I think I've got three orders in ready.

And that's another thing with ordering seeds.

You want it, you get your catalogs, right?

This is just one company you wanna get your orders in early, because I have found even though I've already got my seeds, there were two two packs of seeds that I really wanted that they had already sold out.

So they said that I might get them later.

- And did you have something you wanted to weigh in there on the seeds?

- The seeds in the vile.

I would really love to have something like that for seeds that like tomatoes or like cantaloupe the stuff that you're like I really don't need 50 seeds of this tomato.

- Right.

- That's kind of why I was asking on the front.

Like, I could see you harvesting seed then buying that vile and buying the desiccant, but shipping them out to you.

To me, that's almost like, what are, what what am I planning for?

I guess, I don't know.

- I think what I'm going to try to do is I've got some small vials I'm going to, I've got some desiccant too and I'm gonna try doing this and just storm and see you know, like kids at school would be a good, a good test for them to see what the germination difference is you know, from the pack at least some in the packet, do some like this.

And, you know, we'll see if it is really what, you know I don't know if it's just a promotion or, but it sounds it sounds pretty accurate to me.

- I think it'd be more cost-effective in the long run.

I was telling John before the show I have not ordered any seed or bought any seed.

Cause I've got so many seeds.

I need to go through my boxes and purge the stuff that's too old.

And I feel like that's such a class, a waste of money.

If I didn't get to grow everything in that packet that way in those viles I might get a little more of my money's worth.

Even if I had to pay a little bit more for the vile- - Go ahead, John.

- This one company like seeds and such you can find companies that have much smaller.

So like some of these only have 10 seats and I pay less than $2 or maybe even only a dollar per pack on some things.

So, you know, if you're going to, like Jim says I don't need a hundred seeds of of that particular type of tomato, because I'm not going to be planting a hundred Roma tomatoes.

I may be planning to this year.

And then the rest, the other seats I'll say for the fall I may plant four of them just to make sure that I get the two that I want this year and keep the best two plants.

But like Jen says, you know, I've got stacks and stacks of seeds that I've I've used part of, or some- - Well lets talk about that for a minute general rule for you guys.

And Jen, we'll start with you.

You know, how long is too long?

I have bought some seeds before from a farmer and he says, Oh, my seeds keep for five or six years.

You know, you get them from the store.

And the packet says one year shelf life.

So as a general is there a general rule of thumb that can be applied?

And if not, how do you guys determine?

- Its definitely depends on the seed.

And there are some parts you can find online that gives some general guidelines, but making sure that you're storing seeds correctly is really important.

So you want them to be cool and dry.

So storing them in your garage is probably not the greatest idea because it's all kinds of weather out in, in most garages- - Especially during the summer.

- Yeah.

I have mine in a box.

It's actually a box I found in the office supply section that it had is has dividers in it.

Generally speaking, you can say like if you're questioning me, like count out 10, put them in a damp paper towel in a baggie on top of your fridge somewhere warm and then the appropriate amount of time for it to grow and then see how they're doing.

I just tried growing some flower seeds another project with my kids.

And we were two year olds.

They grew last year and the garden is fine and they totally rotted.

So, but general rule of thumb like I'm going to go through like a mass quantities.

I found some lost seed that were tucked in, you know, being off the kitchen counter I bought, I'm going to look through.

And some, I would say five years out five years on up this guy to go away, just focused on I have a lot to go through.

So the three years I give it a shot.

Okay.

- I've had some tomato seeds that I've, I've actually lost.

And then I, I tried and they actually they were ten-year-old seeds.

And I D I got some good germination.

I have some seeds from my dad and he passed away in 88 and I still get some germination out of those.

- Wow.

- Like Jen said, if you have questions and you don't want to wait until spring, now's a good time before you really get into the seed, starting time take a paper towel, get it damp.

Not, not soppy wet, count 10 seeds.

See what your germination rate is in three or four days.

Check it.

And then when you are ready to plant your seeds if you had a 50%, you plant twice as many seeds as as what you thought you were going to need but I never throw my seeds away.

I always test before I throw.

- Yeah.

I sometimes just get overwhelmed with the whole- Sounds like hers are like a lot - Its a lot better than it used to be.

Once I got the boxes and I can kind of sort it and I categorize stuff, I'm a lot better at it but I used to be very curious for filling up boxes here and there, or a bag from this store and that store and yeah all this time of year, you go in and your eyes are bigger than your garden every time.

- Every time.

- That's why planning.

You know, I always tell people if, if, if you're going to start a garden, do your planning put, put down on paper what you need and then go to the store and buy your packets there, or order online.

And the ones I order online, I can't buy locally.

I, if I can buy them locally, I'd like to, I like to support local vendors.

And, and though these are the ones that I've gone.

And I, I looked at what they had.

They didn't have this.

So I said, if I want that, I've got an order online or through the catalog.

And they're specialty items that only Johnny, or maybe two other people in Illinois are going to want while they're not gonna stock that in these local in garden centers.

But you know, they're there they're available.

You gotta just leave Well with me to the store and be the responsible adult.

Yeah.

I've gotten better.

I've kind of moderated the behavior, but in Tanisha I feel like if we went to the store, we would need like a champion.

It would be the real that we would need.

Yeah.

We saw each other into all sorts of things.

- All sorts of trouble.

Yeah.

Okay.

Are we back to you, Jen, for showman?

I've lost track.

We've had such great conversation.

- I think so.

- Okay go for it.

So I have been a houseplantaholic as long as I can remember.

And the, it got started getting really bad like junior high, high school, and it continues.

And I'm really happy that houseplants are trendy again.

And my sister would say that doesn't mean you're cool.

You're still a nerd.

- There's more of us now, though - This is one way you can kind of satisfy that, that need for more plants and not break the bank.

I found these at a local nursery, they are little tiny housemate starts and they had an, a ma I went there for this one.

This is a, a, philodendron called Prince of orange.

And you can see it as the new leaves come out.

The, the kind of orange in color.

I have a really cool blue pot, kind of the color of our shirts.

So I figured it'd be an a I plant, but these were all $3 so I can buy a whole tray of them.

Right.

And there's a, I got some really neat little firms.

These are perfect size.

And so you can enjoy the whole gardening aspect of it of growing these guys up to a bigger size of the plant.

And I can show you I've been doing this for a long time.

As I said, I bought similar sized plants back in grad school, 20 plus years ago.

I was trying to figure out exactly how old this plant is.

It's probably in the neighborhood of 20 to 22 years old.

This is my ponytail palm that grew from on the site - In one of those tiny little cups, huh?

- Yes, yes and so you can just enjoy that.

And it's a good way to try plants out without spending a lot of money.

'Cause some of the, there weren't all that many of like the new hip plants, like Monstera or anything like that and really small containers.

But I found one, another one.

This is called string of dolphins.

And it's another one of those little hip plants that you keep seeing on Instagram and stuff.

But this is a smaller pot.

It was only $5.

And I don't know if you guys can see it on the camera but if you look at the profile of the leaves it looked kind of looks like a leaping dolphin.

- So what's one of those, a, a, a strawberry begonia?

- Yeah, I did have a strawberry begonia here and this will be yes.

And it throws out runners and that's where kind of strawberry comes.

And it does have a little flower on it but it'll make a really nice hanging basket or it had it up on a shelf and let it spill down.

- He didn't have it for 2.99 at a time.

You can't beat that.

- Plants is awesome.

Right.

- The whole plant is always awesome.

Thank you.

Oh, go ahead.

- That was one that my, my godmother way back then when had strawberry begonias all the time and I always loved that Latin, I still have some just because of old memories.

And I saw that- (indistinct) Awesome.

Guys, we just talked for 30 minutes about plants.

This is the best day of my life.

It went super quick.

Thank you guys so much for sharing your time and talents that thank you for watching us.

And we will see you next time.

Good night.

(upbeat music)