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

I'm your host Tinisha, Spain.

And joining me in the studio today are two of our favorite panelists that you are no doubt used to saying we've got Kay and Martie in the house today.

So go ahead, introduce yourselves and then we'll jump in with questions and show and tells so go for Well, I'm a Champaign County Master Gardener.

I love herbs and vegetables.

I help with the herb garden out at Allerton Park, and just keep busy with my herbs.

Excellent.

Okay.

All right, Martie.

I am not a Master Gardener, but a lot of people think so.

So I just tell him I play one on TV.

My, probably my favorite genre are perennials and small shrubs for the home garden.

landscape.

You know how to get the most bang for your buck.

Okay, excellent.

And we do have some of those questions that came in today.

So, Kay, we'll start with you on your show and tell us what you bring in.

Well, I brought some kind of variety of beans, seeds, you know, filling us you brought drugs, look at those things it can be all different colors and shapes and sizes.

This one happens to be called Marconi.

It's a Black Sea pump like a black bean.

Yes.

And it actually the pods are green and the beans are good cook with the pot on but then the dry beans can also be cooked that we use lightly like a black bean.

Gotcha.

And these are all heirloom varieties.

So this one is called Brinker carrier.

And it's it's a white Venus.

This is your typical white bean that you see at the grocery store.

Gotcha.

Like the Navy being tired.

And this is a poll bean.

And you can also like the others.

You can use the pod, click the pod more.

You can cook the bean itself.

Then when you say pull beans, let's give people can you explain the difference between a pole and a bush?

Yes, a bush bean gross doesn't grow very tall.

It's kind of like like your green beans.

They're usually bush beans.

And they might get a fit for two tall pole beans will grow up.

So you'd have to give them support.

And now they can grow and grow and grow.

And it'll say on your seed pack, hopefully which ones?

Yeah.

They do.

They usually say Gotcha.

Okay.

And this one is funky tan color.

Green live, though.

And that's called anti Wilder's B.

And it's a poll being and the pods on this one are purple.

Oh, and you can still cook those.

Just because they're purple.

Doesn't mean can't cook them for 80 but they will turn green when you cook pod.

Now flavor wise, which of these are your favorite two?

Do you like them all?

Do you do a lot of soups?

Or do you do a lot of beans like as a side dish?

How do you well I enjoy your freeze a lot of green beans.

Oh.

During the winter, you can do soups with this kind of depends on the bean.

Not all of them are really great for soup.

But yeah, you can do soups.

Just what however you want to call it.

Okay.

All right.

Anything to add there, Martie?

I love pull beans because you don't have to bend over to pick.

Pull beans exclusively.

Because, yeah, right.

So Okay, while we're talking about beans and seeds.

I brought in some of mine from home from last year.

And I wanted to ask you ladies, when you're looking at seed leftover seed morning, if you wouldn't mind.

Sure.

Is there anything that you need to inspect or look for?

You know, can you pull out and if you see, it's open, it's open.

I pointed that out earlier okay.

Are you to look for or do you inspect these or how do you know that they're good from year to year?

What do you ladies do?

Really and recent.

I mean you could look at Sometimes insects, they'll be like gravy stuff.

But they have not had problems with anything bothering me.

But as long as you keep them dry and yeah, you probably I keep mine in the refrigerator I have a refrigerator I just received.

Yes.

Okay.

I was gonna say being the one to be Master Gardener that I am and then oh yeah, by the way, open your packages from the top just for fun.

I had to be different.

I'll just see these.

Can you can you see those in my hand?

Can you get a close up there?

There?

Okay, these are these are a three bean blend.

I didn't even have to read the package, because that's what I did.

These beans, these are different.

These are probably yellow and green and purple.

You can buy like a green bean that you do purchase.

We're just gonna have to be picking him up.

He's got extra.

I'm gonna be honest, like a chicken on the floor.

Obviously, don't plan any broken beans.

Okay, that's good to know.

And you can also look and see if there's any stones and unlucky wood when there ain't no but don't don't bother to plant broken beans.

Yeah, these are.

These are bean bush bean.

Three color blend.

It'll tell you all, you know, some some poor little Bob Cratchit had to sit with his candle and write all this stuff.

So read it.

And it'll be very helpful.

And these are both bush beans.

The two that I had, I don't have any pull beans.

But I still use it like a small tomato cage because they are, you know, the lean on you.

Yeah, if you take if you take pretty good care of them, they get taller.

Yes.

And then the beans are at the top and they you know, that's another thing.

Pull means you don't have to.

You don't have to dig underneath and they don't get splashed with dirt from the garden.

If you add mulch or anything like that lalala like a you know, like a one day lugging around.

You'll get all it's coming.

I'm waiting for that.

Today, all right, let's see.

Let's do another question.

Kathy from Springfield writes in an older words, do you love bush?

Now that the branches are bare, I can see it large, older part in the center.

Should I prune this out sometime to allow the newer branches to come up?

So let me pull up these pictures.

And she's talking about there's a lot going on in the center there.

There's the full photo.

So what are your thoughts on whether or not or when she should shake this up, prune it and give it a little bit more?

You know, Kathy wasn't?

Yes.

Kathy, would you love to come in a couple different varieties.

It got some new varieties now that rebloom like the sonic bloom series comes in red and pink.

And they'll put on a big flash in the spring like all would you do.

And then they they kind of put it around in the summer.

And then they put a big flush on when the weather gets cooler and the false and they're lovely.

But I mean they'll classic red prints is a very nice variety as well, but it doesn't bloom the same way.

So if you're with Sheila is older, and it blooms a big ol blast in the spring, but not in the fall.

I would wait until blooms in the spring this year.

And then I would cut it completely down and let it rejuvenate.

Because the more new growth you have next year, the more flowers you're gonna get spring bloomers bloom on the the old wood like would you lie like those kinds of things?

spiral.

Yeah, don't don't turn those in the spring flowers off.

So for Scythia doesn't too.

If it's the kind that blooms pretty well, twice a year.

I'd wait for it to bloom this year.

It's a booger because all the leaves are on.

But I'd take that extra wood.

You can take it out now if it's convenient.

Or you can take it back and put it back a little bit, but I see you've got it someplace where it can romp.

I like that.

Because with Jayla and for Scythia and spy Rhea, they need to explode like the fireworks they are you know, when they bloom, they're just like this fantastic eye catching blast of color.

And when you prune them back, they just look like they went to jail.

So enjoy it for the season.

Yeah.

And then yeah, if it's bloom that much in the fall.

Once this bloom this spring, cut it down.

How far back should you cut it six or eight inches.

I mean That's a pretty intense haircut it is.

But when Gielen need rejuvenation just like spiring and need rejuvenate, like forsythia need rejuvenation, burning bushes made nation or they just go ape.

So you can get that big stuff out now, and it's easier to see if it's gonna if it's one of the ones that blooms all summer, essentially.

But if it just puts out a big blast in the spring, and then that's it, wait till it blooms, enjoy the flowers, and then just give it a haircut and do it right after it blooms.

Because that way, like I said, you'll have enough time for new girls to come on.

And hard enough until before the winter weather comes.

And then you'll have fantastic blooms next spring.

Okay.

All right.

Dan Sullivan writes in we start our vegetable seeds indoors around March 15.

Every year, because of the higher higher than normal temperatures this year, should we start their seeds earlier?

And will our last frost date be earlier?

Do you think so?

Two part question.

Everybody's itching to get out there because we've had some lovely, lovely weather.

It's a lie.

It's all lies.

I like that chart where it says where we are full spring, second winter, third winter, second full spring.

So we're in that chart somewhere.

But would you start your seeds early?

Or would you stick to it depends on what you're starting.

If you're starting something that's cold hardy, like some of the greens, things like that.

Okay, hot weather tomatoes and peppers.

I usually wait till about the first of April.

Because you don't want them to get too big before you can put them out.

You don't want to risk putting them out when it's cold.

Okay, so I think the transplant better when they're a little smaller date.

Yeah.

Quickly.

Yeah, they do.

Okay, fair.

Let me and then the second part of that question is, do you guys have a hunch that we will see our last frost date move up a little bit.

This year, it's hard to tell, get out because it's getting too hot.

So you never know what it's gonna do.

It's Illinois.

Whether it's an AFib around here all the time, so it's exactly.

I would also, I would, we were talking about this before the show, because we kind of review the questions.

And I was also going to add that if you start your tomatoes and peppers, you can if you start them early, and the weather stays cold, and you can't get them out, or muddy or whatever it is, you're gonna you can, you can still start them on the 15th.

But you have to, you know, you're gonna have to start them small because they're like, children, you know, children start out in little shoes, and then their shoes get bigger and bigger, so you can't start it in a pod this size, and let it go, you're gonna have started in cell packs or something, but when they get bigger and it's still too cold, you're gonna have to put it into a four inch pot.

Or you know, and maybe maybe one more before you're able to plant them outside.

And when you put them outside, put some kind of protection around him get in you know, make tomato box or I like milk jugs, because they're a recyclable at the end of the season.

You can just, you can cut the bottom out, cut a little bit of the top, leave the handle, very handy.

You can also throw them on a pole or a rope like that if they so I use it up, wear it out, make it do or do we posted this on our Facebook a couple of weeks ago but Chuck's Sewing Guide for transplanting and I just pulled it up to look at it briefly and he's got tomatoes, starting tomato seeds between April 1 and 15th.

What I do yeah, in this the packs the tricel pack was not the little teeny round ones, but oh six packs.

Yeah, I do too.

Okay.

And then let's see, he's got melons and things towards the latter part of April, but I'm saying, let's say dill, fennel, kohlrabi, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.

Are we now comfortably in those ranges or Yeah, okay.

If you had a little bit of a cold frame, you can play them outside.

Okay, but you're gonna have to protect them from weather and critters.

So, okay, no, those are all yeah, those are all right on schedule.

And you can find this guide on our Facebook.

Just look for Mid American gardener and look for Chuck smiling face on our posts there.

Alright, let's get back to a couple more questions.

Let's see.

Gina writes in if I didn't get all my tulip bulbs in the ground in the fall, can I plant them now that the ground is no longer frozen this happened to me too.

It's happened to me too.

So what are your thoughts?

Well, so I put them in a pot this year.

Instead of putting them in the ground, I put them in a pot.

But that's a good idea.

I don't know, if you tried to put a bowl a tulip bulb in the ground now, do you think it would flower?

Do you think it's worth it think Ghibli won't probably no.

It needs to establish itself in the ground like a Braille which is what it kind of is.

You can you can try putting them up like Tanisha did.

And you can also put them in a in a refrigerator, because they need that cold period.

And then they'll develop roots in that pot.

And you can do and if you're going to pot them like for, for spring bloom in the house, you can do like in a six inch pot, you'd probably do five bulbs, cram them in there, because they're only gonna do one thing in there in that pot.

So you know, get more bang for your buck, as I have said before.

So yeah, plenum in there, put them in the bottom part of your refrigerator for a few weeks.

I can't remember exactly how long you need to leave him, what like a month, I think.

And then you can take them out, put them in a sunny window, give him some water, they'll start to grow and they might bloom, they likely will bloom.

But then when they're done blooming, plant them in the ground, even in summer, just get them in the yard on the bed somewhere too, because I like I said I have that I have a big pot that I had ended up doing because I just couldn't get them in.

So as soon as they're spent, yeah.

Get them in the ground.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then the you know, the tops will die back just like all the other tulips in your yard.

Roll up.

Yeah, they're growing like crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If people started to ask, is it too early?

My tulips and my daffodils and everything are up and no, especially the ones that are close to the house.

A lot of extra?

No, right on schedule.

God knows how to do they know what they're doing and get snowed on and get frozen doesn't matter.

Oh, come on.

So I've got a bowl of black eyed Susans.

Some are still on the on the head on the seat however we're saying here.

And then some of them are not and I honestly when I when I went to go save these last late last summer.

I just threw them all in here.

Should I take them off of the seated or can I plant these as they are and what would you do to get a nice?

I like how they look and I just want to get a nice little patch established.

So I've got some that are you know, seed.

And then I haven't taken off.

So what how would you how would you do those?

Would you take them off the seedheads?

I'd take them off to get them off.

Okay.

That's yeah, there we go.

Usually I just put him in the bowl and my eight year old is a designated shaker.

I was gonna say put them in there.

Snap the lid.

Shake the snot out.

Yeah.

Okay.

Seed as well.

Not the kid the seats.

When When should I put these out?

Would you wait until after a frost?

Or do you think I could get away with sprinkle in these down now?

I think I tried to start to keep you in the pot just to see what your germination looks like.

You can transplant them then outside obviously their warm weather plant some flowers are.

But if it were me, I think I'd try to try to do you know, several in a six pack.

checkup see what they Yeah, see what your germination looks like, see how they go transplant them out.

When the weather's warm, you know, like tomato and pepper whether that has to be warm for those like melons and things and then take the other ones and sprinkle them in the area if you want just check delineate because they take a little room, you know, yes.

Well in nature when wood wood they dropped those seats in.

Yeah.

So they would have spent the winter out there.

Yeah, this is when we were moving.

I was just reading like snatching flower heads off.

So I could take a few things with me.

And then these are BlackBerry lilies.

Yes.

Now also wait a little bit longer until it's warmer.

My mind would come up when I would see them.

I mean, they'd see themselves and they come up in the spring.

I think I'd do the same thing there.

Okay, see how they do and I don't Katie you know if you have to scarify those at all.

That was my next question.

I hope pretty small.

And that is where you can you explain what that is?

Yeah, scarifying on on like, large hard seas, like a like take green outs or something like that you need to you need to break that outer shell of the seat and you don't have to break it a lot.

Like you can take a little file and scratch a place.

Yeah, I was.

I was gonna say that too with things like this.

These are so small You can take some coarse sandpaper and just rub it on there.

So you can't you can't see that.

That black outer shell has its shiny.

And when you see, this one's kind of collapsing here.

Yeah, some of these aren't the one you want to just cut through this little dude, you can do it with a knife.

Or like I said, you can do it with sandpaper, you can do with a small file, something like that.

But just to crack that outer shell a little bit so that they can, so when the seeds swell up, they can emerge more easily.

And they can just push that, that shell off.

I do the same thing.

Yeah, let's start Oh, man, six pack?

Yeah, well, there you go.

You put them in, start them in there and see what they do.

And, again, once you have six of them, or 12, or whatever you decide to start, you can decide where you want him delineate that area with the plants you have up already, and then scatter the seed in the middle, see what you get.

At least you'll know where they go.

That's true.

That's true.

That's the that's the beauty part of that.

It's like, where did I put?

Where did this guy go?

Another question that I get a lot is do greenhouses count as hardening off?

So let's say I start a tray of tomatoes inside, and it's not quite planting time out?

Can I put them in an outdoor greenhouse?

And will that harden them off?

Or do they actually have to be outside exposed to unfiltered sun?

And you know, it's a good question.

I think I think you could step them down.

But that final outside stare is a greenhouse.

But there's not a lot of light comes in.

So I've set the trays out during the day, so they get the sun.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Totally bigger than I transplant on.

Okay.

So that outside step is definitely still it is, it is necessary for you put them I mean, you could even you could even set them in a garage, if you have a garage window, because that'll keep squirrels out of them.

It's true.

It's our tiny furry enemies.

They'll they'll decimate you girls like that.

Oh, yeah, just set them out on the board.

Because they'll they'll wipe them out.

But yeah, someplace that somehow they're protected.

You can do one of those structures that are kind of enclosed in vinyl, you know, it's like a baker track Yes, club zips jet or something, you could do that as a hardening off.

Probably even whether it was in the sun or not, I would think it's just a, it's just a step to make them kind of go home.

You're outside now we're outside.

So this is not the basement, you know, you get some light through there.

And then you also have some protection from birds and kind of like, alright, so but I would bring them back, bring them back in, bring them back in at night, if it's going to I mean, watch the temperature closely.

And if you have a little greenhouse that freezes in the winter, because it's so small and it maybe doesn't have you know, if it's like glass all the way to the ground.

It's not going to hold much heat there.

So a little greenhouse like that could be great for hardening off, but then you're gonna have to still bring him back in.

You know, until the till the weather's consistent.

Gotcha.

In the 50s.

All right, we've got about three minutes left.

Let's do Jessica Elmore.

She sent us a picture on Facebook.

She said this needs help.

That she took this picture a few days ago and says it's not dogs.

This tree is in an enclosed courtyard and wants to know if if you guys have any idea what's going on around the bottom area here.

She's wondering if it's a fungus, or if there are pests.

So what are your thoughts?

The gunner?

Who's there looks otherwise healthy just there on the bottom?

Have you either have you run into this before with any evergreens?

No, and if it's an enclosed garden where you don't get like an enclosed courtyard, maybe I was gonna say I've had I've had squirrels damage my arms before.

I also had a question for her if that's a green giant are providing it's gonna get way too big for where you have it.

Okay, they're massive.

I'm just saying now while it's small enough to move, you might want to consider something but you'll never be able to see out that window ever a snowball's chance in hell?

So I'm thinking printed, printed dead off and see what happens.

See if he if you get more because I can't They have a have a disease that causes that.

Okay, it just looks like maybe mechanical damage or critters.

Maybe.

Yeah, yeah, I mean the tree will sacrifice lower down to keep the new growth going.

But of course you want to you want an evergreen to be nice all the way down.

So got it.

I would print that off.

Don't even though it blends in with the brick, don't do print it off and maybe look out for squirrels and see if they're there.

See what's going on.

Maybe prune that now.

Is it okay to do that now?

Yeah, it's dead.

Anything dead comes off anytime it's dead.

But make sure you have enough water there.

Make sure you have enough drainage there.

That's true.

Usually water will will indicate by yellowing, and then brown.

So but yeah, see what to what happens.

Really, if it's a green giant variety.

Might want to move it.

Yeah, you have to move it okeydoke All right, ladies, we are out of time.

Thank you so much for coming in and bringing the seeds and chatting with me and helping me get my yard together at the same time.

If you have questions for our panelists, you can send them into us at your garden@gmail.com or search for us on Facebook.

Just look for Mid American gardener and post your questions there.

And we will see you next time.

I'm just gonna pick up beans.

She's gonna pick up my beans Yeah.