"LifestyleGardening" is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

(easy listening music) - Hello again and welcome to "Lifestyle Gardening."

I'm Kim Todd, and today, we'll be looking at insect eggs around your home and garden, and we'll hear how the plant world can help you recover from illness.

But first, we're going to talk about timing.

As gardeners, we're always anxious to get plants started indoors as soon as possible for that upcoming growing season.

And I know it can be hard to wait for the right moment.

Getting started too soon can cause some headaches later.

Let's take a few minutes to discuss proper timing when starting your plants.

(easy listening music) It's always great fun to start those seeds in the greenhouse in the winter months or take those cuttings in the fall so you can have plants in the garden and in the landscape that you actually created at least in some form.

The danger?

We get too excited.

We are tired of the cold, we're tired of the gray, we're tired of not having anything green growing and scented to be able to touch, feel, and smell.

We start those seeds too early, or we take those cuttings and then we sort of let them do their own thing.

There's some dangers in that.

And that has to do particularly with the seeds of the plants that love it hot.

These are some great examples.

These are zinnias that were started at the end of January only a little while ago.

They have already put on their true leaves.

Now, they're leaning toward the sun.

We moved them in the greenhouse so we could actually see the camera angle a little bit better, but they are already beginning to stretch and they are already showing some of the issues associated with living in a greenhouse in the winter months and potentially for too long.

And that would be we have some of these that are tipping over.

This is probably damping off that is happening.

We have all that leaning.

We're going to have to do something called pinching.

Tomatoes are another great example.

Who doesn't love tomatoes?

Of course, we always get, I get to get mine first.

I want tomatoes that are big, and luscious, and lovely by the 4th of July.

I'm gonna start my tomato seeds early.

Well, these have clearly just germinated and they don't even have true leaves yet.

They're way stretched already.

By the time it is time in the spring to put them out in the landscaper in the garden because temperatures have to be warm for both of these, if you don't do some pinching or some training of these particular plants, they're going to end up being way too stretched, way too long, way too floppy, and not doing what you want them to do.

So realistically, on the plants that love it warm, unless you have very specific uses for them, you want to wait.

Look at that seed packet and make sure that you are not planting two or three months too early.

Frost-free date is really important with the ones that like it warm.

That's not until May, and this year, we might still have snow on the ground in May.

So back that up, start six to eight weeks earlier.

Make sure that you give those plants enough light, not too much fertilizer, enough water but not too much so that they don't damp off, and then be prepared to pinch and train those plants so that they will stay short and stocky, a little closer to the ground, so they're tough little plants.

This rosemary is a good example actually of plants that have been pinched.

So you can look over here on the corner and you can see that this has started to branch.

Up here, no branching has happened.

And if this one gets pinched off and done correctly and then the plants are still managed properly, it will go ahead and branch instead of trying to grow up into a tree like form.

Better for the plant, better for what it will look like when it moves out into the landscape.

And while this isn't really easy to see, this is one of the geraniums that actually has a great scent if you could smell it through the camera.

This one also has been pinched and made squatty or shorter so it has that foliage.

It isn't stretching getting too long because of course, these are ones that were taken from cuttings as opposed to started from seed.

So the long and the short of it, literally, is you want to make sure you start those seeds at the right time.

Make sure you give them the right conditions in the greenhouse.

If you've taken the cuttings, pay attention.

Coleus, which we always love to start for our Backyard Farmer garden, can be like this and already flowering if we aren't paying attention to keeping it in check.

As much as I hate to do it, let's move out of the greenhouse for this week's landscape lesson, which is in a snowbank, or at least what's under that snowbank and the damage we might expect to see this year based on the snow, the snow cover, and that dreadful cold.

(easy listening music) The winter snow can of course bring us much needed moisture or it can be that really white fluffy stuff that is easy to scoop, doesn't bring us any moisture.

The downside of snow coupled with really, really cold temperatures can be devastating on our plant material.

And when we have a lot of snow that piles up deeply, we can see a lot of damage later in the spring.

These are some of the items you're going to have to look for and watch for in your landscape.

First off, starting with what exactly is under that snow pile?

We've seen lots of places where the evergreen shrubs, the conifers, the small little deciduous plants, and the perennials have simply disappeared.

Who knows whether they're actually still under there?

If you've piled that snow on top over, and over, and over again, the weight of course can cause the branches to break.

So it's insulating, but it's also potentially causing some of that damage.

In particular, we're going to look for critter damage this year.

So that insulating blanket also allows those critters to come underneath the snow unseen, attack those trees and shrubs, and cause significant damage.

You might see an awful lot of that this year as well if you happen to feed the birds who are in desperate need of the seeds.

Seeds on top, critter underneath.

Come up, grab a seed, go down, and then continue to do all their damage.

The other thing that we're probably going to see is rabbits are going to be standing on top of that snow, chewing up much higher than potentially your screen was or your device that you're using to keep those rabbits out.

We also are seeing a lot of very, very brittle twigs.

And this has more to do with the cold obviously than the snow since trees, a lot of our trees are not small enough to be insulated by that snow.

Redbud, as an example, is the dead bud.

This is all twig that is simply snapping in my hand.

We're seeing that even on a lot of our other natives.

There's still some green tissue associated with it, but we are likely to see an awful lot of damage to the flower buds on many of our trees and shrubs.

And that's gonna be particularly true of the ones that are maybe on the edge of the hardiness zone to begin with, simply could not withstand this abrupt, extremely cold temperatures that are so long lasting, even with the snow itself insulating the roots.

So the long and the short of it is make sure you understand what's under those snow piles, be ready to look for damage that might be breakage, damage that might have happened because of the critters underneath the snow, maybe those de-icers, which of course we've talked about before on the show.

And then be aware that we may not have the flowering or the fruit crop that we would really like to have in our landscape this year.

So there we go with all that snow.

Let's switch gears and talk to Lisa and Deb about the real advantages of using the landscape for therapy for people who really feel the challenges this year maybe more than others, but how the landscape and great plants can help us all feel better.

(easy listening music) It is my pleasure to be talking to Lisa Culbertson and Deb Oates today from Madonna.

And we're gonna be talking about a subject that is challenging, hopeful, full of hope, necessary, and can really be one of those things that we all ought to consider.

And that is what is the connection between human health and rehabilitation, physical activity, gardening, being outside.

How does that contribute to people's wellbeing?

So Deb, let's start off with you.

Talk about what you actually do at Madonna that connects people to that outdoor, that gardening world.

- I'm an activity coordinator in the recreation program in our extended care programs of Madonna.

And gardening is just one of the components of recreation.

And it's kind of that component that gets people outside.

It connects them with a past interest.

- So Lisa, I know Madonna has a multitude of outdoor spaces that are possible for activities for your residents.

Do you want to talk a little bit about some of the challenges maybe associated with those spaces, but what do your residents do or how do they feel about being outdoors in those gardening spaces?

- Sure.

Well, I actually work on a ventilator unit and it's on St. Jane De Chantal.

It's our long term care part of Madonna.

And so a lot of our residents are not able to actively take care of plants or actually get in working with the plants, but what they really enjoy is just being in the outdoor space, looking at the plants that we're working with.

We've tried to plant several ones that have different scents so we can let them smell them after we bring them up to them.

And a lot of times, they just enjoy being out there in a little bit of nature with us.

And it's also nice that they can see the change of seasons when we're out there because we have spring bulbs and we have fall color.

Try to make it so that they have a view out of their window even for some of them that can't leave their rooms so that they can see a change of seasons out there.

- Which is really a wonderful thing to think about.

So Deb, what are some of the gardening activities or the actual connections that you make with your residents, and how do you make those decisions?

- Okay.

Sometimes the residents help me make those decisions and make some suggestions.

In the summertimes, we do plant tomatoes, and cucumbers, and green peppers, whatever they want to eat.

In the past years, we planted green beans 'cause people wanted those.

And so we do a little vegetable gardening in raised beds.

So we plant flowers.

So we have large pots, raised beds, so they can do the planting, the physical get their hands dirty 'cause some people really want to do that.

They need to get the feel of the earth in their hands.

And then the care of them all season long.

The watering, the picking of the vegetables, and getting to eat them, then later we are allowed to to cut them up and serve them for them.

During the winter months, we do indoor kind of things.

So we forced tulip bulbs and hyacinths.

So we'll bring them out in February or March, whenever they bloom, when they need them most.

We'll have little sessions on birds and bird calls, try to identify bird calls in the middle of winter as well.

I'm trying to think of what else.

- That's a good list.

That's a very good list.

- And we have indoor plants in the rec room.

We also have the ability to help them transplant the plants in their rooms, so we have plants in their rooms.

I help care for some people who need the help to care for the plants in their rooms.

So yeah, just kind of a wide variety actually.

- So year round, all the residents, can you tell, Lisa or Deb, can you tell a reaction or what do you see for how that interaction with the plants helps your residents?

What do you see?

- Yeah, you really can see that because for a lot of them, just to have the opportunity to go outside and do something that they grew up doing maybe with their parents or grandparents, and that they have the opportunity to do that again, and just bring back some of those memories.

Something else I think is that really nice that we do is we have some adaptations so that they can use them.

For example, I know Deb uses some of the watering wands.

So maybe they can't reach over there and get something watered, but they can use that wand.

And we've got some automatic doors so if they want to go outside on their own, they can do that without us having to take them out there.

So we do try to adapt it to what they're able to do.

- And I think those of us who are able to do most everything tend to forget that there are an awful lot of people who can't.

So that's maybe a little bit of a wake-up call, especially for people who have maybe a family member who needs that sort of assistance, even if it's a temporary kind of an assistance.

Do you see particular challenges that are really tough to overcome or sort of excellent light at the end of any tunnel with the landscape or the gardening part of what you do?

Does anything come to mind on that?

- One of them I can think of is we have some that want to do too much, and we have to watch them because they are out in the sun too long or out in the cold too long.

And Deb has to really keep an eye on that because they want to be out there and they don't tell til later that they've been out there too long.

- Yeah, it's almost good.

Yeah, so they get fatigued or whatever, or blisters, and so I've boughten gloves for people who are-- - Right, lots of scabs.

- Yeah, so that was one thing.

What else did I think of?

I mean, just people being out in the sunshine affects people's moods.

So just getting that fresh air and sunshine, I mean.

And we're very lucky that we have several gardens off of every unit basically, so residents, when they're able to, when the weather's right, can usually get outside and get some fresh air.

If they can go out independently, great.

And some of our staff will actually go out with those people who aren't safe to be out there alone and maybe need some assistance.

Back when families could come, they could go out there with them.

So just a variety of things.

But people need to be needed sometimes, so that volunteer work sometimes is available.

- That's excellent.

And again, we all need community however we define that community.

So I think one last question for you would be here we are in January, which means the growing season is upon us.

Do you have anything in mind that is exciting or a little different for the coming season, and are you ready for that?

Or have those catalogs not hit your inbox yet?

- The catalogs hit my inbox.

And you know, we just kind of go with the flow.

And depending on who's our current patients, kind of what their interests are.

So we kind of just adapt and change depending on what they want to do sometimes.

- And we've been fortunate to have some nice days where they can get outside and at least think about spring coming.

- Exactly.

Again, that light as the days get longer and the sun occasionally peeks through.

So thanks so much for what you do, working with people who absolutely need it and appreciate it.

And thanks for coming in.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- It really isn't surprising to us gardeners to hear about how health and gardening are good partners.

That's a good lesson for all of us as we tend to our own landscapes around our own homes.

It's not Backyard Farmer if we don't answer a few questions, so let's take a few minutes to hear from our panelists as they answer your common garden questions.

(easy listening music) - So we have a number of cool season crops that you can grow early in the season.

You don't have to wait until the last frost date in May to start those crops.

You can get them started as early as March and April in your garden, or even a little bit earlier if you're using like a low tunnel or if you're using a cold frame to get those started.

So some of the earliest things that you can start in the garden are things like radishes and spinach.

They really love the cool weather and they can take some of those frost and freeze temperatures that we have in the early season.

And especially if you pair that with a little bit of a season extension, like a row cover or a low tunnel, you're going to be just fine.

Some other things that will do well as early season, lettuce is a great start, especially if you have some sort of cover to put over it to get it started.

And some of the other leafy greens, kale, for example, chard, beets.

All of those things do really well in the cooler temperatures.

So you want to take a look at what you really like to eat and pick some of those things from that list.

And remember that you can get them started in the outside earlier.

Don't forget things like peas as well.

They can take some cooler temperatures.

We typically look at the soil temperatures as they start warming up for some of those things, especially the stuff that sorta likes cool, but get started when it's a little warmer.

And so we look for temperatures around 40 to 45 degrees before we get a lot of that stuff started.

And some of the other warmer season stuff, the soil needs to be warmer.

But for a lot of the cool season stuff, we can get there.

And actually if we use stuff like raised beds, those actually get warmer faster than soil that's at ground level because we have warmer air around it and it can warm up faster.

(easy listening music) - There's a fair amount of confusion out there with a product called Roundup for lawns.

Unfortunately, people associate Roundup with the active ingredient glyphosate which is a non-selective herbicide that kills or at least damages most of the green tissue it comes in contact with.

That's where we get into the debate about whether it's a name or a trademark, or is it actually a chemical?

And in the case of Roundup, it's a trademark for the consumer line of O.M.

Scott's.

By giving it the name Roundup, it gets brand recognition, but unfortunately, they have a plethora of products that have the name Roundup in them.

Roundup for lawns is a four-way mix of multiple herbicides exclusive of glyphosate, the active ingredient in the ag product Roundup, and it can be confusing.

Understand that Roundup for lawns as labeled is safe to put on your lawn whether it be Buffalo grass, Kentucky bluegrass, or tall fescue.

Unfortunately, many people have grabbed the glyphosate products that are just tagged Roundup that are Roundup for lawns.

And we end up with a product that will be damaging to the lawn and any green tissue they come in contact with.

So this is where label, being conscious of the label is critical to making sure you don't make a mistake in the lawn.

Look at the active ingredients and small print on the label.

And if it says Roundup for lawns, then it probably is safe.

If it says Roundup for extended control, then it might be a near long-term non-selective herbicide that's gonna damage your lawn for up to six to nine months, so be careful when you do this.

Look at the label.

Roundup is a trade name for consumers.

In the ag market, it tends to be simply a glyphosate containing product.

Not true in the consumer lines.

So when you go to your local box store or your local nursery and you see Roundup, make sure you read between the lines and don't make the mistake that has been made frequently in the last three to five years.

(easy listening music) - Winter watering can be very important, especially if we have a dry winter.

We don't just get droughts in the summertime.

And quite often in the fall, sometimes November and December can be very dry months.

What happens when we have dry conditions in the winter is we see symptoms particularly on our evergreens like white pine, or arborvitae, or boxwood, or the evergreen hollies.

And so what you'll start to see is scorch on the needles or on the leaves, scorching around the edges where the tissue turns brown similar to what we would see in the summer with drought conditions.

So one method you can take to try to protect your trees from winter desiccation injury is to make sure that they're well-watered going into the fall.

So good deep soakings where you're moistening the top 12 to 18 inches of the soil and focus on the area from the trunk to the edge of the widest branch, the whole drip line of the tree.

Also, apply mulch in the fall about three to four inches deep.

This will help to hold moisture in the soil, whether that's from your irrigation or from snow or rain.

If we have periods in the winter with no rain or no snow precipitation and the ground is not frozen, then you can still water.

You may need to just take a hose and sprinklers out and water the tree about once a month if we don't have a good amount of precipitation from snow.

Those would be very important things to keep in mind if we have dry conditions this winter.

- Thanks to everybody who helped answer those questions.

We're going to hear more from our panel in coming shows.

For our final feature today, Backyard Farmer entomologist Jody Green will show us a few things about eggs, insect eggs that is.

She'll help us get a better understanding about those tiny eggs that will soon be appearing in your gardens.

(easy listening music) - We got a lot of pictures this past season on Backyard Farmer with eggs, asking for identification.

And even though I'm the entomologist, we want to know if those are friend or foe.

And sometimes, it's very difficult for me as well.

It does take time and some investigation, so here's some tips that I'm gonna give you that you can help me help you.

So first, when you find those eggs, you want to let me know what kind of plant it's on 'cause generally a lot of insects will feed on particular plants.

And some insects that don't feed on that plant will feed on other pests of that particular plant, so they're predators.

And that is a good way for us to identify them.

Another thing to do is to get some characteristics of those eggs.

What are the shape of them?

What are the color?

Are they laid singly or are they in clusters?

Are they in an egg mass?

Are they in an egg sac?

All those things are very important with identification.

Also, do they have ridges on them?

Are they on a stock?

Are they shaped like a barrel?

All those things are important.

Did you find them on the top of the leaf, the bottom of the leaf, on the stems?

I know, you probably didn't think it was that complicated, but we have so many different insects here in Nebraska and elsewhere.

And they all will start off as an egg, so we want to know what those look like so we can help you.

But if it's on a leaf, you can always take that leaf off that has the eggs.

And if it's summertime, you can actually rear them out or put them in a container outside and see what comes out of them.

And then you'll know next time if it's a caterpillar, or a beetle, or something else.

If an adult wasp comes out of it, it wasn't an egg.

It was the cocoon.

So right now in winter, we may find some things in the garden that we had previously.

So think about what you saw in the garden during the spring and summer.

Right now, you may see those egg sacs from those garden spiders, which are really cool.

They'll be in a protective place, sometimes in the vegetation, in the shrubs, or close to a building.

We also have those preying mantis ootheca.

We've got the Carolina mantid that sometimes will lay their egg sac on items in the garden that you may leave outside.

And the Chinese preying mantis will lay their egg cases that kind of look like a foamy mass on vegetation, so in shrubs and on the plants.

And so when you're doing garden cleanup or pruning in the spring, you may find those.

And you want to leave those somewhere in the garden so they can emerge.

We also will find eggs on certain plants that we want to eat.

So if you think about your vegetable garden, what plants are these eggs on?

So if you've got a squash plant, those are likely the squash bug or the squash vine borer.

And we'll be able to identify that by the color, the shape, the location.

And those are gonna be pests, so you're gonna want to get rid of those eggs.

And the best way to do that is just by squishing them, so you don't need to use any insecticide.

Another pest that we may find on cabbage, we'll see little eggs.

A lot of those will be the cabbage white butterfly.

And butterflies are beautiful, but they all start off as caterpillars.

And depending on what your crop or your flower is, you may not want it there.

Sometimes they're not gonna be enough to damage your crop, so it should be all right.

People also love butterfly gardens and one of those are gonna be the monarch.

So monarch butterflies will always lay their eggs on milkweed.

So if you're looking at a milkweed plant and you see a single egg laid on the underside that's white and almost spherical, that may be a monarch butterfly.

If you do see an egg mass, that may be the milkweed tussock moth.

So these are all gonna be clues to identify the insect eggs that you find out in your landscape.

So keep sending us those pictures, but remember to take that information so we can help you out.

- As always, some of those eggs are good and beneficial and some will produce evil insects that will want to eat your produce.

Keep that in mind when your garden starts to grow this spring.

That's all the time we have for today's program.

Next time, we'll be showing you edible plants for your landscape and talk about the nutritional value of growing your own food.

So, good afternoon.

Good gardening.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you all next time on "Lifestyle Gardening."

(easy listening music)