(gentle music) - [Host] Oklahoma Gardening is a production of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the Land Grant Mission of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University, dedicated to improving the quality of life of the citizens of Oklahoma through research-based information.

Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma green and growing.

Today on Oklahoma Gardening, I'll show you how to get your transplants ready to go outside.

We pot up a beautiful spring container, prep our lawn for the spring green up, and then I'll introduce you to a spring flowering shrub you might want to add to your landscape.

Finally, Jessica Riggin is back with a delicious soup.

We've got a lot to cover, so let's get started.

(gentle music) - Almost like an ombre of sunset colors.

It's not the flowers, right.

(gentle music) - It's the beginning of April and I know this is the time we all get antsy to start putting our tomatoes and peppers out in the garden.

You want to hold off really, depending on where you are in the State of Oklahoma, until about mid-April.

Of course, Southern Oklahoma's gonna get warmer faster than northern Oklahoma, so you may be able to plant a little bit sooner in the month of April.

Really, the best thing to do though, is check your weather forecast, your 10 day forecast, and see what the forecast is predicting as far as warm weather or cooler fronts moving in still.

Because our warm season crops will not like cooler temperatures, so be patient, it's definitely gonna pay off.

However, there is something that you can do with your transplants.

If you've been growing them, you can see we have peppers that are ready to get out into the garden, but we're not gonna plant them just yet.

First of all, we want to do what's called hardening them off, and that is basically pushing our babies out of the nest in essence.

Here in the greenhouse, they've been receiving the ideal conditions.

You can see there's no wind in here, they're getting plenty of sun light.

They've been getting watered regularly, and so they've just been growing great.

Which is what you want to provide for new transplants and also to get those seedlings germinated.

We want to give them the best care to get them off to the proper start.

However, when we plant them out in the garden, they're gonna be exposed to all new sorts of environments so we want to go ahead and start transitioning them, acclimating them to those environmental factors that they're gonna experience.

And so, the best way to do that is go ahead and take them outside just for a few hours.

So you can see here, I've got a garden cart that I'm just gonna load up our transplants and just take them outside, so that they can start to experience what life is going to be like once they're moved outdoors.

When you move your transplants outdoors, you don't necessarily wanna put them in full sun.

Even though they might've been growing under a grow light inside or even in the greenhouse, what they're gonna experience outdoors in partial sun is gonna be about equivalent, because they're not used to the intense bright full sun of the afternoon.

So, early morning, put them out for a few hours or a few hours in the afternoon, and each day, sort of expand that range that they're outdoors, in order to acclimate them and get them used to the brighter sun.

The other thing is you can slowly take them further and further out of the shady area and put them in more sun as well.

So to start off, you might find a shady tree, even a desiduous tree that's lost its leaves is gonna provide some of that dapple shade.

Perhaps a covered porch or a patio would also work as well.

Now, the other thing you're gonna notice about these plants is they're already starting to experience some of those Oklahoma winds that are kind of brushing their vegetation, and that's going to actually dry them out faster than maybe what they were in their previous location.

So, we do wanna make sure that we're still checking them for moisture, however, letting them be a little bit thirsty, not to the point of wilting, but allowing them to experience that thirst just a little bit, is going to get them used to the outdoor environment.

'Cause again, once you plant them out into the garden, they're gonna have a lot more soil to grow into that you're gonna have to monitor.

So, having them in a cart like this allows you to kind of monitor them more closely before you plant them in the garden.

Now, I'm gonna kinda spread these out a little bit, so that they experience a little more of that wind.

But I'm gonna leave them on this cart so that I can simply roll them back indoors when I need to.

You want to make sure to check the weather.

If the temperature is gonna be mild that evening, you might go ahead and leave them outside because.

- Not only do we need to get them used to the sunlight but they still might experience some cooler nights.

Now we wanna make sure that they're not too cold.

If the temperature does get into the forties or fifties you might wanna go ahead and bring them back in for that evening.

Another thing that you can do to kind of get them ready for those Oklahoma winds is you can actually put an oscillating fan on them.

So occasionally that will go past them causing them to have disturbance and again kind of build up that strength and prepare them for our outside winds.

So all of this again is just kicking those little babies out of the nest preparing them for that full sun garden location, where they're gonna be exposed to more winds and also bright sunlight.

This process is called hardening off and you wanna do this about a week or two before you plant your vegetable garden.

(country music) Today we're potting up some spring containers and we aren't quite in full spring yet so we still have to be cautious of some cool nights.

In fact, earlier today it was in fact showing some flurries outside.

So the nice thing about potting something up like this this is kind of a fabric container smart pot is that this one has handles.

So if we have some cooler nights I could still drag this inside and protect it.

Now what we are planting today is primarily perennials so we're not too much concerned but you know they've kind of been used to warmer conditions being in a greenhouse.

So first of all we've got our container here that we've chosen.

We've got a rather a larger container.

This is about a 15 gallon pot here and we've got about two thirds of it filled with potting soil already.

Now I leave that extra space because as we put our containers inside there they're naturally gonna take up a lot of this surface area and this space in here.

So we actually won't need to put as much potting soil around there and it's just easier if you were to fill it all up with potting soil you're gonna actually be having to take it out in order to get your plants in there.

So once you put a little potting soil in there we're next gonna go ahead and put in some slow release fertilizers that we have here that's just gonna help get these plants off to a good start as they continue to grow through the season.

So we're gonna go ahead and work that into the soil the potting soil here.

Again, it's always something to remember when you're potting into containers, you never wanna use top soil.

You'll always wanna use a potting soil media because that is made so that it drains better than your traditional soil that you have in the garden.

So here is one plant that I just really couldn't help but get at the garden center and this particular one is a Knock Out Rose and I know we're all very familiar with knock out roses but this is actually a petite knock out rose.

And it's kind of noted for its distinctive fire engine red, smaller flowers than what you traditionally see on some of your other knock out roses.

And then I just really like the contrast with this dark emerald green foliage.

Obviously it is petite so it's going to stay smaller at about 18 inches tall and 18 inches wide.

So this is going to be our centerpiece here in our container and when you're kind of designing a container, you wanna think about how it's going to be viewed.

Is it just gonna be viewed from one side?

Which is what we are planning on this.

It's just gonna be viewed from your angle here.

You might look at whether you want it to be viewed from all around.

If you want it to be viewed from all angles then you wanna make sure that you're putting something on every side of that container because ours will just be viewed from one angle and it'll be up against a wall.

We're really gonna focus on this front side and kind of creating more of a cascade of color coming down towards you.

So this one that's 18 inches tall is going to be our centerpiece that we're gonna put more towards the back of the plant or the container here.

When you take something out of the container you're gonna wanna look at the roots obviously as well.

So you can see we have nice root structures.

They're not circling or anything.

You could go ahead and tease those a little bit.

If they were densely rooted, you definitely wanna tease those to make sure that you open it up allowing for those roots to know they're in a bigger container so that they will continue to grow down into this potting media.

So ours looks good.

We're gonna go ahead and place it right here.

You can see where the height of that is going to be just below our container.

So that's about good.

So we can set that there.

Next, what we have is a Sallyrosa April Night Salvia.

So we're gonna get just gently pull this out of the pot.

Anytime you pull a plant out of the pot what you wanna do is kind of put the plant in between your hands or your fingers and flip that pot over and allow gravity to pull it out.

You might want to kind of crush the container a little bit causing it to flex a little bit.

- Squeezing those roots, and then gently it will fall out of the container.

You don't necessarily want to pull on the vegetation and pull it out of the container, 'cause that can damage your plant.

Now this April Night Salvia is said to be a longer bloomer than the May Night Salvia, so we're looking forward to seeing that.

But of course it has those well-noted Salvia spikes that are gonna continue to bloom.

And we're gonna put these kind of on either side of flanking this rose here.

And of course our rose is smaller at the time being right now, but as it grows it will get bigger and fill this pot even more.

And then in the front here we've got a few different options that we're gonna work with.

So we've got this Fort Hill Creeping Phlox that we're gonna have kinda draping down the front.

You can can see those white, healthy roots.

We've got a good establishment of roots here.

Again, I'm just gonna sort of tease those, pull those apart.

And this is gonna go down more in our front here.

Now when I was looking at this, I kind of was thinking I needed something with a little more pop to it as I was putting these colors together, so I found this yellow Alyssum that I really liked.

Again, Alyssum tends to be more of a spring bloomer, but a lot of these are.

Our rose and our Salvia will continue to bloom a little bit further into the season.

But I like to just have a lot of color right as we're coming into the season.

If anything this will definitely help our pollinators get off to the start before a lot of other stuff starts blooming.

So we will have these ready to go as soon as we start seeing those pollinators show up.

So I'm just gonna place those in there.

I've got three that I'm gonna put around.

Now this Alyssum, you do want to go ahead and deadhead it later on, just to kinda replenish that vegetation.

So after it is kinda blooming, go ahead and cut that back.

But at that point, our rose is going to be getting bigger, and it's gonna be taking on more of an appearance in this container.

And tuck those in.

And this is getting pretty tight in here.

So like I said, we don't have a lot of room, but we do have some space that I'm gonna go ahead and put some potting soil and fill in between all of these spaces.

So I think we pretty well have it all filled in with soil in between all of those plants.

You can see it's pretty packed in here.

Now again, this is so we've got plenty of flower and color for those pollinators early in the season.

And in fact we might not even be putting this outside just yet, because it is still good and cool here in North Central Oklahoma.

But what again, what's nice about this, even though these Phlox and these smaller Alyssums are probably gonna fade later on in the season, as the rose continues to grow, we'll be able to pull these out, and we could plant the Phlox somewhere else in our garden so it'll continue to give us a nice show.

It is a perennial, so next spring we'll be able to enjoy it somewhere else.

So there's no reason why you can't transition some of these perennials once they're past their prime out into your garden, and this container could just turn into a beautiful miniature rose container later on in the season.

So if you're looking at planting containers, here's a great option to transition perennials from your containers to your garden later in the season.

(lively bluegrass music) (upbeat bluegrass music) (mower whirring) A lot of times in late winter, we talk about cutting back ornamental grasses to remove that dead vegetation in order to prepare for that spring flush that's gonna soon be coming out.

Well, the same is true with our warm season Bermuda grass.

Pretty soon it's going to be spring, and we're gonna need to get rid of some of this nice, beautiful blonde color that it takes on in the wintertime as it's dormant.

But by removing some of this dead material, we're gonna allow that sun to penetrate onto that soil profile, warming it up sooner, getting those rhizomes and those stolons activated to start growing.

Now you can see here, we have a bagger on ours, so we are gonna collect the vegetation.

Now normally we don't recommend collecting your clippings, 'cause they actually add some nitrogen typically.

However, this is dead vegetation, so we are gonna remove it.

If you don't have a bagging unit on your mower, you can also just rake the clippings up.

Now we're gonna lower our mower all the way down to a a one-inch height.

Typically with common Bermuda grass, we're gonna start mowing around 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches later in the season.

However, again, to get it cut low.

- We're gonna start at a one-inch height.

Now, of course, mowing at a one-inch height means those blades are gonna be right near that soil surface, so we wanna be cautious as we're mowing because we're more likely to even scalp the Bermuda grass, which is what we do not want to happen.

That is when those blades actually interfere and damage the soil surface and can damage the stolons and the rhizomes of the Bermuda grass.

So not only will it damage your Bermuda grass, but it also could impact your mower by dulling your blades or even causing some additional problems, so we wanna steer clear of that.

Usually it's not a problem if you're working on a flat surface, but be careful on uneven lawns and also especially, as you can see, we have some hills behind us here, and on the crest of those, a lotta times that's where you'll get some of that scalping, so be careful with that.

Now, again, we've lowered our mower to a one-inch height.

So this is the only time that we're gonna mow this low in the season, and that's just to get rid of this dead vegetation.

After we mow today, we're going to then go ahead and raise our mower for common Bermuda grass up to about a 1 1/2-inch height, and then later on in the season as the temperatures warm up even more and the Bermuda grass is really growing, we'll be up to about a 2 1/2-inch height later on in the summertime.

So that is a little bit taller height, which is a more of a low maintenance mowing program.

That's gonna allow the canopy of the Bermuda grass to actually shade out the roots a little bit, not causing any problems, but actually to reduce the moisture loss, and so you won't have to mow it quite as often.

Now, on some of your cultivars or your hybrid Bermuda grasses such as Tahoma 31, Latitude 36, and NorthBridge, now some of those are gonna need to remain being mowed at about a one to 1 1/2-inch height.

Now remember, just because we're collecting our clippings this time doesn't mean it needs to go to the curbside to be picked up with your trash.

These clippings are actually really beneficial to add into your compost pile.

(gentle upbeat music) (mower engine rumbling) (gentle upbeat music) We have a lot of great early spring flowering trees and shrubs that you're probably noticing this time of year, including a lot of our fruit trees bloom early in the springtime.

Well, today I wanted to introduce you to another flowering shrub that blooms early in the spring, and this actually is in the Prunus genus.

However, it is not grown for edible reasons.

We actually grow it more for ornamental purposes, but this is our flowering almond shrub.

Like I said, it is in the Prunus genus.

However, being ornamental, the maintenance is a little bit lower than what you might find on a lot of your fruit trees.

You can see as it just comes out of dormancy, it's gonna have these little flower buds all over and it seems like overnight they're gonna explode into these beautiful double flowers.

So they start out kind of a bright pink and then they slowly fade to more of a bright white color.

But it's a double flower, almost like a rose-like flower.

There is a cultivar that is just a white cultivar.

However, this particular cultivar is called Rosea.

So you can see how many flowers just cover the branches, and it's a beautiful addition to your landscape.

Now, because it's blooming early in the springtime, we do know that that means it's blooming on old wood, so all of these flower buds were developed last season.

So we wanna make sure if for any reason we need to prune it, we're going to prune it after it blooms in a few weeks.

The other thing, you know, you don't have to really prune it too much because it's gonna maintain a moderate height of about four feet tall and four feet wide.

While it's not native to the United States, it was actually noted by Thomas Jefferson in 1794 in some of his writings, so it's been around in the United States for a long time and is in fact the host larva plant for the eastern tiger swallowtail.

So another great plant to add to your landscape if you're looking for early spring blooming plants is the flowering almond.

(gentle upbeat music) - Hi, everybody.

Today, I am gonna be showing you how to make a really quick 10-vegetable soup, and we're just gonna start with a little bit of olive oil and my pan is already heating on the stove and I'm just gonna put a little olive oil in there.

And to this, I'm gonna add most of my 10 vegetables.

In this bowl, I've got a whole diced yellow onion.

(oil sizzling) In this bowl, I've got three diced carrots.

(oil sizzling) In this bowl, I've got three stalks of celery, all diced up.

And in this bowl, I've got one yellow bell pepper, one red bell pepper, and one poblano pepper, all diced up.

- We'll just give these a little stir and it's gonna take probably five to eight minutes for these to get soft.

At this point, you might wanna add a little salt and pepper.

I've got a salt and pepper blend here and then just let 'em cook until they've softened.

So it's been about five minutes and my vegetables are looking pretty soft.

So now I'm gonna add in my garlic, garlic burns really, really fast.

So you're just gonna put the garlic in and as soon as you smell the garlic, it's probably ready to go to the next phase.

Once you're smelling the garlic and it usually only takes about 30 seconds, it's probably about to burn.

So stir that garlic in and then I'm gonna add in some tomato paste, about two tablespoons of tomato paste, and we'll give that a good stir as well.

You wanna cook the tomato paste for, three or four minutes so that it gets kind of the raw canned tomato flavor cooked out of it.

All right, once that's good and incorporated, we'll add in just a little bit of vegetable stock.

So my box here is actually four cups and we're gonna use the whole thing, but I'm gonna start by pouring just a little bit in there to deglaze my pan.

So deglazing your pan, you would pour a little liquid in and then use your spatula to kind of scrape up anything that's burned to the bottom of your pot.

Anything that's sticking there and all of that adds really great flavor to your soup.

Once I've deglaze the pan, I'll go ahead and pour the rest of my stock in.

Now I've got one box of vegetable broth and I've also got a box of chicken broth.

You could do two boxes of vegetable broth.

You could do two boxes of chicken broth.

It's really just your preference.

I like the flavor of the chicken broth and that's why I put it in here.

But, of course, it's no longer vegetarian this way.

So if you want your soup to be vegetarian, then they just add two boxes of the vegetable broth and give that a stir and we wanna let this come to a boil and once it's starting to boil, I am gonna add in a cup of lentils and a cup of frozen corn.

So our soup is starting to boil and I'm gonna add in my cup of frozen corn and my cup of lentils and just give 'em a little stir and these lentils will cook pretty quickly, probably another 15 minutes and then we'll add in some baby spinach and this soup will be ready to eat.

So our soup has been boiling for about 15 minutes.

I think our lentils are done.

So I'm going to season this with a little bit of paprika and some thyme and a little bit of cumin and at this point I am also gonna add in our baby spinach.

Now, adding in spinach is tricky.

It takes up a lot of space at first, but then as it wilts down, it doesn't take up much space.

So just add it in a little bit at a time.

So just add some in, stir it, add some more until you get it all in there.

Then once the spinach has wilted down, the soup is done.

This would be wonderful for your family on a cold evening or for lunch someday.

I hope you'll try the recipe and I hope you enjoy.

(upbeat guitar music) - [Narrator] There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

Be sure and consider some of these events in the weeks ahead.

(upbeat guitar music) As we put a little more time into our garden, next week we take a unique look at some locations you might wanna consider when landscaping.

Plus we take a closer look at some of the plants that are beginning to sprout up, both in the garden and in the lawn.

(gentle guitar music) - [Woman] You shine a little light on the situation.

- This is all gonna just fall over here in a minute.

- [Woman] I don't know if that table can handle much more.

- [Narrator] To find out more information about show topics as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets and other resources, including a directory of local extension offices, be sure to visit our website at oklahomagardening.okstate.edu.

Join in on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can find this entire show and other recent shows as well as individual segments on our Oklahoma Gardening YouTube channel.

Tune in to our OK Gardening Classics YouTube channel to watch segments from previous hosts.

"Oklahoma Gardening" is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

The Botanic Garden at OSU is home to our studio gardens and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful still water gem.

We would like to thank our generous underwriter, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

Additional support is also provided by Pond Pro Shop, Greenleaf Nursery and the Garden Debut Plants, the Tulsa Garden Center at Woodward Park, the Oklahoma Horticultural Society, Smart Pot and the Tulsa Garden Club.