Welcome back to Oklahoma Gardening.

Today, we're trimming our boxwoods here in the garden.

We'll also learn about microgreens.

And finally, Christy's back with a quick and easy recipe for a busy evening.

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Oklahoma Gardening is a proud partner with Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

Shape Your Future provides resources for Oklahomans to make the healthy choice the easy choice.

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Today, we're here in the backyard gardening.

I wanted to revisit these boxwoods that we planted a few years ago.

And if you remember, after they were just recently planted, we had a really deep freeze and they suffered a lot of winter damage.

We did a segment that spring on them, talking about how to get your boxwoods to recover from that winter damage.

And really essentially what we did was just cut out a lot of the dead material and believe it or not, they recover.

So I just kind of want to show how they've recovered over the last few years, because they were pretty scraggly back then and they weren't in good shape, but we fertilized them.

We've continued to maintain them.

And you can see now they've really taken off and filled in.

So at this point, what we're going to do is kind of shape them up a little bit.

So here we have sort of a potager style.

We've got two squares essentially.

And so we really want to maintain our open space in the center here to be able to put our vegetables.

Also with this walkway here, we want to make sure that we don't lose our width here for people to be able to walk in here.

So there's a couple of ways that you can go about getting your boxwoods into shape, and that's using selective pruning, or you can use shears.

So with shears, you can use manual shears that you kind of use like scissors, or you can also use electric or gas powered shears.

Now, if you're doing a large amount, shears are a great way to go because you can really take after a lot of boxwoods and pruning and not physically strain yourself too much.

But the nice thing about selective pruning is you can be a little more precise about your cuts.

So with shears, it's kind of indiscriminate.

It's going to be cutting different branches at different points.

It's going to be cutting the leaves.

And you can see that effect later on on your shrubs until they start to grow out a little bit.

Now, because we're just looking at two small areas, I'm going to be a little more selective and use some hand pruners here.

So again, we're not going to really make these too tight.

I don't want this perfectly square shape.

I just want it to be a little more natural.

And that's another great reason to use more selective pruning.

So when we're looking at this, you can see that we've got some wild hairs that are coming.

So one shrub is a little bit smaller.

This one's a little bit taller.

These on the front here are all in general a little bit higher than those on the back here.

So what we're going to try to do is look at leveling that out a little bit.

So we want to make sure that we're not pruning the middle of this, cutting down to the middle of this and exposing the openness just to get it to this height.

Now, these are baby jade boxwoods, so they're going to get about three feet.

So they got a little more growing to do.

So we're going to hope that these back here will catch up a little bit.

But we are going to bring these back just in check, just slightly.

Also on the sides, what we want to do is kind of bring up the sides and straighten those up a little bit.

Now, the thing about the sides is you want to make sure that you're not cutting it so that the top is wider than the bottom, because if your top is wider than your bottom, the sun won't be able to penetrate down to those lower leaves and you're going to have some dieback on that.

So we're going to go ahead and get started here.

I do like to start with the sides versus the top.

So just to kind of clean up the sides and then we'll work on the top.

So if you look at this, it's sometimes helpful to look at it from the side and you can see that this particular bush here is well within our space.

So I'm not going to really prune anything on it.

Now, this next one, you can see how it's kind of hanging over.

So I want to go ahead and bring it up.

So what I'm going to do again, instead of using trimmers or shears that would have kind of stripped this all off and maybe exposed some of this inside of here, which would have caused, you know, some unsightly, it would regrow, but it's kind of unsightly for the moment.

So what I'm going to do is look for the branches and kind of trace them back a little bit to where they divide.

And every time you prune back to where it divides, then that means it's going to make that shrub denser and re-sprout from there.

So I'm just doing this a little more, and this is why it's called selective pruning.

Because you're being more selective about exactly what you're cutting.

So you can see I didn't take as much off back here as I did in the front because that part was really hanging out.

And again, it's got a little bit more of a natural flow.

So by selective pruning, it gives you a little more allowance if you make mistakes or something like that versus hedge trimmers that you maybe put a dent in your shrubs.

Now, if you were using hedge trimmers, it might be also a good idea to go ahead and put a string so that you can sort of follow that string and really have that meticulous flat side to it.

Now, at this point, we're just going to keep working our way around and see any of those areas that are kind of sticking out.

And we will also do the inside then so that we can maintain that space for our vegetables.

So here's a prime example of where we have the top growth that's growing out more than the bottom growth.

And it's probably because this is on the north side.

And so, of course, the top is receiving more sunlight and the bottom is shading out.

So when we're pruning this, we're really going to be focusing on cutting this top growth back a little bit.

Again, we don't want to just go in and trim it and expose the inside that maybe has less vegetation that might not be as pretty.

So what we're going to do is be selective, but we're trying to reduce this so that we can get more sun exposure to that bottom part and allow it to fill out a bit more.

Now we've pretty much got the outside done as well as the inside.

And another thing to keep in mind is sometimes you have some of these upper branches sort of laying over.

So you might have to get in there and get some of those as well, especially on the edge, because what you're really looking for is a narrower top and a wider base.

So because this is getting pretty dense and as I'm getting in there, it's a little woody.

So I know that I've left that sticking out just a little bit, but I'm going to leave that so that it can fill out a little bit more.

And then we can always come back.

That's the thing with pruning is you can always cut more.

So kind of step back, take a look at it, reevaluate.

And then if you need to prune or cut more than you can do that, but you can't glue it back on.

So at this point, what we're going to do is find that median between the bottom, the lowest part and the highest part and start working at that height around the top here.

All right.

So we are finishing up the top here and you can see I'm taking out some good chunks.

And essentially that's really all to it.

Now, again, this is selective pruning.

It does take a little bit more time, but it allows you to have a little more of a natural look versus the shears, which are indiscriminate about cutting.

And over a long period of time, having it recut at the same level can kind of make some denser branching.

So this allows you to kind of go in and take out some of those clusters of denser branching and allow it to open up and get that sunlight.

So we've got the top leveled off, the sides leveled off, the inside opened up and we're good to go for the season.

Today we are joined by a master's student in the horticulture department, Madeline Mocio.

Madeline, thank you.

I'm so excited to hear about your research.

So microgreens, right?

Yeah.

Tell me a little bit about what microgreens are first.

Microgreens, we have a media they're grown in.

They root into the media.

Sprouts, you grow them loose in water, normally in a jar, and you harvest them a lot earlier.

You let them get to just starting the sprout out of the seed.

And microgreens, you wait until they grow their first true leaves before you harvest them.

So sprouts were essentially in the whole thing, right?

And microgreens were really after that vegetation.

Yeah.

You remove all the roots and the seeds.

Okay.

So when you say the first true leaves, the cotyledons have come up, but then we've got the actual leaf of what the plant is.

So let's talk about your research specifically.

Obviously, you know how to grow them.

Tell us a little bit about what you're specifically trying to investigate.

Yeah.

So my first trial was growing 20 different species in the greenhouse here, where we're just trialing them, see what does best in these conditions and just test them out, see the highest yield and their nutrient contents.

And then our second trial will be taking six of those cultivars and doing duplicate trials, one in a hoop house and one in a greenhouse.

So we can test what does well in actual greenhouse conditions.

So we just want to see what is actually possible for Oklahoma growers.

Okay.

So this might be an option that a farmer market grower might be able to grow.

So what are the six that you're specifically kind of narrowed it down to?

Yeah.

So we're doing three cooler crops and three warmer crops.

We chose three brassicas since those are generally the most common.

We're doing broccoli, radish and beets.

And then the three warmer crops, we're doing sunflower, peas and cilantro as those are some of the industry standards.

Okay.

I never thought about sunflowers as being a microgreen.

They're pretty popular.

I mean, you eat the seeds, but you don't think about eating the plants.

No, that's fascinating.

So let's talk a little bit about, okay, you've got a whole setup here and you've got different medias too.

Tell me a little bit about, are you testing the media as well?

No, so not in this study.

So we have some of the industry standards for media here.

So this is a cocoa corn mat.

You might see hemp mats or something of a sort.

They are really easy to use because you just buy them to fit a 10, 20 tray and just set them in there.

These ones are a little annoying because they are really hydrophobic.

So if I take this one that's completely dry, so this is what they'll come as.

You can buy them for different size trays.

So that's pretty handy.

But if I put water on it, it just beads off.

It doesn't absorb any of that.

So it takes a long time to really soak in that moisture.

Yeah.

These you have to soak for about overnight to get them to actually usable.

Okay.

We have these that are hydroponic growing mats.

They're pretty handy as well.

They don't take nearly as long to soak.

They absorb water just much easier, but once they're wet, they become really delicate and they tear really easily.

Okay.

So these ones you can pick up as a whole and the plants will stay attached and you can see all the roots.

But these ones, once they're wet, they have to stay in the tray.

You can't really mess with them too much.

Is one easier to harvest out of than the other?

I would say these are the easier options than something like a soilless media, which is another standard.

These, it takes a little bit more work to clean the plants.

The sticks to them as they grow up.

So you have to wash them off before you can sell them.

These there's nothing really to stick to the plants.

You can just cut them off.

So maybe a little more sanitary with the fiber mix and stuff.

Yes.

Okay.

Can you show us a little bit about how maybe a home grower might be able to do this also?

Yeah.

So this is something you'll have more for bigger production systems.

This is something that's a lot more accessible for home grower.

Okay.

So these are just a five by five trays or even these little clamshells you'll get leftovers in.

For a 10-20 tray, we would just take one of our mats.

This one's pre-soaked and you can normally measure microgreens just with a teaspoon.

So we will do one here.

Broccoli is probably one of the most common.

So here's some of my broccoli seeds.

And then for broccoli for 10 by 20 tray, you want to do about six teaspoons.

So it's quite a lot.

Okay.

So you want them really densely packed in.

I mean, that's pretty, that is not a normal seeding rate for our greens, right?

No, definitely not.

Yeah.

And that's one of the things with microgreens.

If you want to let these go a little longer and turn them into greens, with the way you plant them, you can't really do that super well.

So if you let them go too long and start getting large leaves, this one here is kind of at that stage.

Have you put any fertilizers on these or anything to kind of, you know, initially get them started?

I mean, they are so young still.

So in theory, the seed contains enough energy for the plant to get to this stage.

They don't need any fertilizer.

You can grow them perfectly fine without any fertilizer, but it can help.

So one of the benefits of a commercial mix like this BM2 is that it has nutrients in it.

So they're a little bigger.

You can get a little more yield out of a tray.

They will be a little bigger, but it's absolutely not necessary.

And for your research, what are you going to be evaluating?

So for these, we will do height and we will just do yield and weight.

So we will cut the whole tray down and measure just the yield.

Okay.

All right.

So now you've got your seed spread in there, adding a little water.

A lot of people recommend against top watering.

That's where you might not want a tray with no holes in the bottom.

So what you can do is take one of these trays, that 10-20 trays that has holes and places it inside, not quite fit, but a bigger tray underneath it and water into that bigger tray.

So the bottom of that.

Okay.

The seeds, they don't really like light very much.

Okay.

You'll want to cover it with something else.

So this is just a vermiculite.

Okay.

It's pretty commonly used.

You can use something like perlite.

You want it pretty thin, just enough to cover.

And it's not directly necessary.

These ones were grown without that media on top.

Brassicas are a lot more resistant to that, but when you get into some specialty ones, they need it.

Okay.

So one of the other things you can do is instead of that vermiculite is you can just take a separate tray and set it on top.

And that works as well.

That makes sense.

Right.

You're just trying to exclude the light essentially.

So you generally want to do that just until they start to emerge, germinate, get a little tall, like a half inch or start.

But if you leave that on too long, they're going to start looking pretty ugly.

They're going to be searching for light and that can kill them.

Okay.

Now I also see the clear tray.

So are you trying to, like any seedling, kind of keep that humidity up around them?

Yeah.

So big thing with microgreens is, I mean, they like to stay wet because they're so dense that can bring rot in.

So you don't want to leave the top on too long.

That's what happened with this tray, why they're a little funky, a little ugly.

But once they start to emerge, something like this is when you might want to start taking the mat off.

Okay.

So that's the cotyledons on that first tray.

These are cotyledons.

And as you can see, they're just barely starting to put out their next set of leaves.

These ones too.

So this is a pretty good looking tray of broccoli.

Okay.

That's probably got a couple more days before that's ready, but this one's going to be ready soon.

Okay.

And so you just take scissors and harvest essentially?

Yeah.

So what you want to do for these, the reason it's easier for the mat is you can just pull the whole mat up and cut it that way.

For these ones, since in mat.

For the ones in soil, it's a little harder.

You normally have to harvest them in the tray, but this is a matted one.

So you can take them and just cut it at the bottom and you'll get your little sprouts.

So one of the benefits of microgreens is they're much more nutrient dense than the larger version.

So a common one is cilantro.

This is a big, healthy cilantro plant, but if you harvest them when they're this small per cup, you're getting way more nutrients and the nutrient density is higher, but it's also much easier for your body to take in.

So it's much more usable.

Well, Madeline, thank you so much.

This has been very informative and I appreciate the demonstration to show homeowners how to do this also.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We would like to thank our generous underwriters, Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

Today, we're making an easy chicken enchilada recipe.

And back in the kitchen with me today is Julie Bisbee, Executive Director of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

I'm here to share another recipe from Shape Your Future.

Yeah.

What we have today is the six ingredient enchiladas.

So it's something that you can find on the shapeyourfutureok .com website and Shape Your Future is a program of TSET helping people eat healthier, be healthier.

So I'm going to go ahead and combine these for the filling.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we're going to start with one can of black beans, canned black beans, and we've already drained and rinsed the black beans.

So yeah, just go ahead and add those to the bowl.

And then we're using, we've got three cups of cooked rotisserie chicken.

Oh, I love the rotisserie chicken.

Yeah, it's so easy.

If you buy one already cooked or if you had leftover chicken in your refrigerator, this would be great to use for this recipe.

Super simple, easy recipe, which I love.

The next thing we have, shredded cheddar cheese.

And now we're going to add just about a quarter of a cup to the mixture for right now.

This is my eyeball measurement, but yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It doesn't have to be exact because it's going to all end up going into the recipe eventually.

But yeah, if you want to mix that together and then we're also going to add just about two tablespoons of enchilada sauce to this mixture.

All right.

And again, that doesn't need to be exact either because we're going to add, you know, eventually all of the enchilada sauce that we are using is going to be in the pan.

It's important to add it though to this mix because it's going to keep that chicken nice and moist for the enchiladas.

So yeah, once we get all that mixed together, the enchilada sauce, what we're using is about 15 ounces of green enchilada sauce.

Okay.

You could use red enchilada sauce if you prefer or whatever you have, you know, in your pantry.

Is this like from a can or a jar?

This is from a can.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just, you know, that's what we had available, but also red would work.

Yeah.

I feel like you could go through the grocery very quickly on a busy weeknight and pick these things up.

You've got your canned beans, your rotisserie chicken, a few cans of sauce, and you're ready to go.

Right.

Yeah.

But if you had, you know, other vegetables that you wanted to add or, you know, things that you had leftover, like, so leftover vegetables, like pepper mix or something, that would also go great in here.

But I like that it's simple and, you know, like it is now because it's so easy to make.

So once we've got all that mixed together now, so we're going to start adding the mix to our, to our tortillas.

We want to, we're going to eventually add all of this to our nine by 13 inch pan.

I've already sprayed this with cooking spray, but we're going to add about a quarter of a cup of our enchilada sauce to the bottom of the pan before we add anything.

Again, you know, it doesn't need to be exact because it's all going to end up going in there, but we want to make sure that we've spread it pretty evenly around the bottom of the pan.

And it looks like you're using whole wheat tortillas.

They are whole wheat tortillas.

Yeah.

The whole wheat tortillas.

I mean, you could use regular, but these are going to be so much healthier, higher in fiber.

Yeah.

A little bit better for us.

So we've got 10 tortillas and we're going to just spoon about, you know, kind of rough estimate about a half of a cup per tortilla.

We'll just kind of spread that out there and then roll it up and then we'll put it in our pan.

Seam side down.

Seam side down.

Yeah.

You don't want them to, to go unrolling in the oven.

And this, you know, comes right in line with what we're doing with Shape Your Future.

If we can help kiddos and their families have healthier options, quicker options.

I know sometimes you you're really in a hurry, like, oh, let's just, you know, run through a drive through or something.

But this is a recipe that you could get your kids to make if they're a little bit older even.

It is.

Yeah.

Cause I mean, I think even like maybe some of the younger kids could help with this part, you know, with the rolling and tortillas, that's something simple and easy that kids can help do.

And, you know, the more you can get kids in the kitchen and helping the more likely they're going to be to eat those, make those healthier food choices.

Absolutely.

And that's right in line with Shape Your Future.

So there's lots of resources on the website, how to get active, how to, you know, add fruits and vegetables to your meals and that's shapeyourfutureok.com.

Okay.

And now we'll put the last one in our pan and then we can go ahead and add, and I'll go ahead and pour the rest of the enchilada sauce.

Just, we're going to pour that over the top.

Okay.

Very good.

And then the rest, we'll add the rest of our cheese.

Yes.

Yeah.

I think this would be something you could make ahead, maybe on a Sunday night, put it in an airtight container and fire up the oven and have a nice meal.

Uh huh.

They're quick and easy to put in the oven and yeah, ready to go.

So now that we've got everything in the pan, we're going to go ahead and add these to the oven for at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Okay.

Okay.

So it's been 15 minutes.

So we'll go ahead and check on our Great.

Oh yeah.

These look done.

The cheese is melted and they look nice and hot.

The crispy golden cheese.

So while I go ahead and plate these, can you go ahead and remind our viewers where they can find this recipe?

Yeah, this is on shapeyourfutureok.com.

We have a lot of different recipes there that are great for families.

Great for, you know, quick, healthy meals.

This has that whole wheat tortilla.

And I love that we have this cilantro that we're adding.

It gives such a bright flavor, whether it's from your garden or the store.

Yeah.

And I always love avocado, but you could also add other vegetables if you have other vegetables, either from the store or from your garden.

I love fresh tomatoes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Tomatoes would be great.

Well, thank you, Julie, for joining me today.

I can't wait to give this recipe a try.

Great.

Thank you.

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