- Hi, thanks for joining us for The Family Plot: Gardening in The Mid-South.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Summer flowers give a pop   of color to the garden.

Today we're planting   scaevola, pentas, and vinca.

Also, the corn is growing.

We'll talk about what to do   to maximize your harvest.

That's just ahead   on The Family Plot:   Gardening in the Mid-South.

- (female announcer)   Production funding   for The Family Plot:   Gardening in the Mid-South   is provided by   the WKNO Production Fund,   the WKNO Endowment Fund,   and by viewers like   you, thank you.

[upbeat country music] - Welcome to The Family Plot.

I'm Chris Cooper.

Joining me today is Joellen Dimond.

Joellen is the Director of Landscape at the University of Memphis.

And Mr. D will be joining me later.

All right, Joellen, this is one of my favorite things to do right here.

So what are we gonna do today?

- The landscaper changed out the flowers and then they did something that we don't really recommend, and they cut the daffodils back.

- Oh yeah, I see that.

- What we like to do is leave the foliage and let it die down naturally because that's how it's gonna produce energy to have blooms for next year.

That's not to say that there's not gonna be some blooms, but it may not be as many as there would normally have been if the foliage had been left.

And you know, I know it gets gangly, unsightly, and if you want to, you can always tie them   in a knot so that they're   lower to the ground.

And they'll still use the   chlorophyll they produced   for the blooms for next year.

- Because we want the energy to go back down into the bulb.

- Yes, exactly.

And today we're going to plant three plants, a blue scaevola, a red pentas, and a white with a red center vinca.

- Have we planted any of those in this area before?

- We actually have planted vinca before.

And you know, you rotate your crops for tomatoes and other vegetables, you have to do the same thing for your annuals also.

There are several of them, like the vinca, that you should only plant once every two, three years in a rotation.

You can't plant them every year in the same place.

You have to rotate the crops of the annuals just like you do vegetables.

- How about that?

All right, Joellen, let's get started.

- First thing we're gonna do is going to put down some slow-release fertilizer just to give them a little bit of energy for the start of the season.

- Just a little boost.

- And just a little bit of a fertilizer here.

- Again, this is a slow release?

- Slow release, not too much.

First thing we'll plant is this blue scaevola.

Now the scaevola comes in pink and white also, but the blue is the original one.

It's a little bit more vigorous than the others.

These are good for container plants.

They'll spill over the side.

They use them for hanging baskets but they also can be planted in the ground and they can run along the ground.

- I'm excited about those.

I've never done that before.

- We've never planted these before.

- Never done those before.

- We're gonna plant these first because they are the largest of all that we're planting and we may not need all that we've gotten here.

Because they will spread out through the bed.

- Yeah, those are gonna be nice.

And will these bloom all summer?

- Yes, these will bloom all summer.

These all, these will stay, some of the runners will get longer and you can always trim these during the season if you think that they are getting too big.

But the idea is these will run along and be underneath the other plants that we're planting.

- Nice, okay.

- We can go ahead and plant these first.

Of course you got to knock them.

You see roots at the bottom coming out.

- Yeah, I can see that.

Nice root systems, too.

- You pop it out of the plant very gently and see how root bound it is at the bottom.

Very nice and healthy roots.

But since they're circling the pot we might just pull them apart a little bit in a few places just to stop that circling pattern.

- We just tickled the roots a little bit, right?

- And move the mulch out of the way and dig a hole and plant the plant.

Level with the soil, level what's in here.

Don't bury it in the ground.

- Joellen, I do see earthworms.

- Yay, good organic matter in this bed.

- And if we have some pieces that are broken off, we just go ahead and just pinch those off?

- Yes, you can.

In fact, some people might actually trim all of this back so that all these long stems are gone to let it start all over again.

- Okay, so that is an option?

- It's an option.

We'll plant the pentas next.

- Beautiful red color.

And we can expect those blooms all summer as well?

- Yes, and this can get a little bit tall.

I say 12 to possibly even 18 inches, but 12 to 15 is normal.

I like to lay them out first before I plant them 'cause I'd like to see what it looks like once they're planted.

And since we know these get a little bit bigger we space them out accordingly so that they don't crowd each other.

'Cause that's when you get disease problems.

- Yes, so there's always a method to the way you set these out.

- Yeah.

I like mixed color beds and I like to mix up the colors in the bed, more kind of somewhat, even like a patchwork.

- Right, got them all in.

- Now that these are all in place we can plant them.

- It's gonna be nice.

- These don't seem to be as root bound.

And I don't feel the need to try to move them too much out of the way.

And we'll have to look at each one.

Some of them are okay.

Some of them need a little bit of separation.

And we don't want to bury them.

So we're gonna try to stick with the same level of soil that it was grown in.

And there's an earthworm.

- Goody goody.

- Yay.

- That's our garden friend.

I'll leave that last one for you there.

- I'm right here, yeah.

- That soil's good too.

- It's really good.

Well, this is nice.

- Yeah, looks good.

- Now we got blue and red.

Now for the white vinca.

- All right.

- Now we have the white vinca in here and it's ready to plant.

- Okay, so the same principles.

- Same principles.

And vinca sometimes is not real well-rooted and so you gotta be careful handling some of them sometimes, keeping them together.

Keep the roots as together as possible when you're planting.

And don't plant them too deep.

- Is there any disease issue or pest issues we need to be concerned about?

- Only disease issues are with the vinca and that usually occurs when they're being planted year after year.

That's why you have to make that be at least two, three, sometimes even four years between vinca plantings in a bed.

Just like you would tomatoes.

Okay, so again, that rotation that you were talking about, not just for your vegetable garden, right?

- Not just for your vegetable garden, for your annuals also.

And so now we have a theme of red, white, and blue for the summer.

- For the summer, I can't wait to see what it looks like once everything grows up and fills in, right?

- Yes, I think it's gonna look good.

- This is always fun, Joellen, thank you.

- It is.

- I appreciate that.

- You're welcome.

[upbeat country music] - This willow oak is showing signs of iron chlorosis.

It's very prevalent on the leaves.

You can tell it has iron chlorosis 'cause it has these dark green veins and the outside is more of a chartreuse, kind of yellowing color.

So it needs some iron and some fertilizer.

And then that will go away and this tree will green up.

Of course you also see some lichens on here and there's nothing wrong with that, they're fine.

[upbeat country music] - All right, Mr. D, let's talk a little bit about corn and the corn is really jumping out of the ground.

- It's blowing and going now.

Kind of had a slow start this year.

It was so cool and damp conditions early.

And we had a little trouble with it early, but it's blowing and going now.

- It's doing pretty good.

- It's really doing good.

So really it's too late to start talking about planting corn.

You can plant corn now and you could probably harvest it, sweet corn, but you're gonna have a lot more insect problems.

Then you'll have to really fight the European corn borer and ear worms and things a lot more now, if you start with it this late.

But you know, growing corn is pretty easy to do.

If you soil test, you know, check your soil levels.

Make sure your pH is up there where it ought to be, you know, six and a half.

With corn it's not a legume, so it doesn't put nitrogen in the soil.

So you're gonna need to side dress it.

And you know, some of our plot corn is only about this tall.

And within the next couple of weeks we'll be going in there and hitting it with more nitrogen, additional nitrogen.

You fertilize according to soil test before you plant and then you side dress.

In a home garden, I think about a pint of ammonium nitrate or 34-0-0 per 100-foot a row or something like that.

Scout, keep an eye out for insects.

European corn borer and the corn ear worm are probably a couple of the worst insects that can create problems.

- What kind of damage do they do?

- The European corn borer, the first one that you'll get,   and they'll get into the   plant when it's small   and they'll feed in   the whirl of the leaf.

The whirl of the plant,   down in the very   center of the plant.

And if you can imagine that new leaf is developing and it's like quarter of an inch long, and you've got a little caterpillar that's probably about an eighth of an inch long feeding through that tiny little leaf and then the corn plant continues to grow.

And when the leaf becomes 36 inches long and four inches wide, those little bitty holes,   you know, they're like a   quarter of an inch in diameter.

It looks like you have a   real big critter feeding   on your leaves,   but it's old damage and it really doesn't affect the plant.

The corn ear worm, of course, that's later, that's when you have the ear being formed and the corn ear worm gets in and feeds on the kernels.

And so you really try to protec   that ear when it's silking.

And from the time of   silking until you harvest, almost, you pretty much have to protect that.

Unless your your variety happens to be Bt corn.

If it's got the bacillus thuringiensis gene in it, then when either of those critters, the European corn borer or the ear worm feeds on them, they'll get a big stomach ache and die.

- That's what you want.

- I know there's some Bt varieties out there.

The most popular variety's Silver Queen.

It's a white, sweet, really sweet, sweet corn which is really good.

And then Peaches and Cream is one that's kinda mixed between white and yellow, and it's really sweet also.

That's a good variety.

Harvesting sweet corn is important.

It's best to harvest it early in the morning and you realize that the sugars in the sweet corn as soon as you harvest, it begins to turn to starch.

So harvest it early in the morning and try to get it in a cooler or something to slow down that breakdown of sugar to starch.

Harvest only what you need but harvest it right.

If you wait too late and then the kernels will get real hard.

And you know, best in a home garden situation if you can kind of stagger your plantings.

Plant a row or two and then wait a couple of weeks, plant another row or two that way you'll spread out your harvest a little bit.

It's a good idea.

- And what about hills versus rows as far as planting your corn?

Does it make a difference?

- You know, I don't really think so.

I know I've always planted corn in rows and you know you don't get corn too thick.

It's a big plant, takes a tremendous amount of nutrients from the soil.

And it takes a lot of water to produce corn.

And so eight inches apart is close enough for sweet corn.

You can even stretch it out a little further that.

But eight, six to eight inches apart is good if you don't have a lot of space in rows.

And there's no need to bed it up, but they will work in beds.

It's just not as... you need some room to grow corn.

Realizing you only get one ear, maybe two ears off each plant.

So if you only have four or five cornstalks in a raised bed, you're not gonna feed a very large family.

You may have one meal.

- It's just the one meal.

[laughs] - That's provided-- - Maybe.

We love corn at my house.

- Yeah, maybe, right?

I love corn.

- And also it's a good idea to plant enough corn for you and the raccoon.

'Cause raccoons also like sweet corn and if you only have four or five plants and they take three of them down, they've taken most of your crop.

And if you've got a row up 25 feet long, they take 10 feet of it out, you still have some sweet corn.

- So you've got to share, how about that?

- You gotta share with the raccoons.

- So what about watering?

'Cause we know corn needs a lot of water.

- It needs a lot of water, it needs a lot of water.

I would just any week that you don't get a half inch rain, I guess kind of treat like you do your yard.

Any week you don't get a half inch of rain, give it a half inch.

And then as a crop is maturing and you're gonna up that little bit.

Drip is a really good way to water corn.

Soaker hoses, if you had it in rows.

Try to keep the water off the foliage, just as we do ornamental, because there are diseases that will attack corn.

Several diseases that will attack them and try to keep that foliage as dry as you can.

- How is corn pollinated?

- How is corn pollinated-- The top, the tassel that comes out   the top of the plant,   releases pollen.

Pollen will fall   down to the silks.

Each silk that comes out of   the tip of an ear of corn,   you know, the pollen   will go into that.

That silk is a hollow tube   and that pollen will go down   that hollow tube, and each   kernel of corn has its own silk   And so if pollination occurs,   that's how it happens.

And it doesn't happen really well when temperatures are in the upper 90s.

and around 100 degrees.

And when it's that hot, it just doesn't occur.

I don't know whether the pollen can't get through the silk, the silk draws up too small or what.

But when temperatures are really, really hot, we have trouble with pollination.

If you've got your corn in a bed and it's really hot, you might want to put a fan on it during pollination.

Try to air condition it or get out there and fan it.

- And cool it down a little bit.

- But in the field and during the real hot dry conditions we had a few years ago, it was not at all unusual for to have a cob with no kernels on it.

And you don't get much money out of that.

You know, when you're trying to sell corn for farmers.

So farmers really get concerned about high temperatures when pollination is occurring.

Now I haven't seen much corn silking and tasseling yet.

But it won't be long they'll start doing it.

- Wow, so each individual-- - And it happens during the hottest part of the year, too.

- But corn likes hot weather.

- It likes hot weather for growing, but not pollinating.

Not really hot, but I mean, eighty-five degrees is fine for pollination.

Typical average summer temperatures is okay for pollination.

But the really, really hot temperatures like we had a few weeks ago makes it tough.

- All right, Mr. D, we definitely appreciate that.

And plant extra for the 'coons.

- Plant extra for the raccoons.

- For the raccoons.

Thank you.

[gentle country music] - When it is time to side dress your tomato plants you want to use about a tablespoon of a nitrogen fertilizer.

You want to do this probably monthly.

The best thing to do is to get about a tablespoon or so of your nitrogen fertilizer.

Now you don't want this fertilizer to actually touch the stem of your tomato plants.

So just along the side like that would be good enough.

And nitrogen is actually needed to make the plant grow and to make it green.

As you can see here it's already turning a faint green color, so again, this nitrogen is going to help it to turn a more darker green color.

But be cautious, you don't want to use too much nitrogen fertilizer because you're gonna get more foliage than fruit.

After you've finished spreading your fertilizer, don't forget to water it in.

So again be careful when you're spreading your nitrogen fertilizer.

Do it monthly when you're side dressing and you should be just fine.

[gentle country music] All right, Joellen, here's our Q and A segment.

You ready?

- Yes.

- These are some great questions.

- Good questions.

- Yes.

Let's get to our first viewer email.

"I have some yellow irises   in my front flower bed.

"The flowers have long gone,   have turned to see pods.

"Can you tell me   when to collect them   and how and when   to plant them?"

This is Carrie in   Memphis, Tennessee.

So can we help her out with that?

- Yes, we can.

Iris, the state of Tennessee's flower.

So yeah, the seed, gotta wait 'til they dry.

And once they're dried, you can collect them and you have to wait until cooler weather starts in the fall and then plant them in the ground outside in the fall.

- Right, so plant those seeds in the fall.

Sunny location, well-drained soils.

And I think it will be just fine.

- I think so too.

- I think it'd be fine.

I actually learned that from somebody from the Iris Society.

How about that?

So I was listening that day.

All right, so there you have it, Ms. Carrie.

Good luck with that.

Should work out for you good.

Here's the next viewer email.

"I am growing peppers   from seed in containers.

"Should I use a fertilizer   "or will good organic   potting soil be enough?

If I do use a fertilizer   what should I use?"

And this is Deanna in   Memphis, Tennessee.

So she wants to grow peppers from seed in a container.

- Yeah.

- That's good.

- That's very good.

- I like that.

So what would you recommend?

Fertilizer or-- - She could do either one, really.

And a lot of potting mixes already have fertilizer in them, organic or non-organic potting mix.

Sometimes they have fertilizer in them already.

They will last up to three months.

Probably around here, about a month or two.

But if she wants to supplement, add a little more organic matter to make it more nutritious for them.

But don't go too crazy with fertilizer because you're gonna get a whole bunch of green and you're not gonna get the blooms and the nice peppers that you want.

They gotta think they're starving a little bit.

So you don't want to feed them too much anyway.

- Yeah, so hold off the nitrogen fertilizer, because you don't want too much foliage.

You know, we want fruit, right.

Concentrate on the fruit, to the peppers.

But I would go with organic material compost or you can go with a fertilizer.

- Whichever she likes.

- Right.

So good luck with that.

And yeah, I liked the fact that she started from seed in a container.

- I do too.

I think that's pretty good.

So thank you for that question.

Here's our next viewer email.

"What are the names   of these flowers?"

This is Richard.

I think we've seen   those, haven't we?

- Yeah, we actually have some out front.

- Yeah, we got some out front.

- Those are canna...   different kinds of cannas.

And you know, I say   just enjoy them.

They have nice big   leaves on them.

Some of them are   fairly large plants.

Some can be smaller.

It just depends on   what variety it is.

Fertilize it in the spring,   but I wouldn't   fertilize it too much.

Again, you don't want them   to grow crazy with foliage,   you want the blooms.

Also watch for leaf rollers and things that like to chew.

There's a lot of caterpillars   that like to chew   and insects that like   to chew on the leaves.

Bt, bacillus thuringiensis,   is good for the leaf rollers   or any kind of little   bugs that you get on there   from the caterpillars   that like to chew on them.

- Yeah, and it basically, caterpillars, canna leaf roller So that you have it.

Just use Bt, DiPel, Javelin, that works.

But that's the name, just cannas.

And they are beautiful.

I definitely like the ones we have out front.

So thank you, Richard, we appreciate that.

And beautiful pictures, thank you much.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I have spots on the leaves   of my reblooming daylilies.

What is causing this?"

Jason in   Rogersville, Tennessee.

So what do   we think that is?

It's a fungus.

- It's a fungus.

- It's a fungus.

- It's hard to tell from the picture but maybe if he turned over the leaves he might see spores on the underside of the leaves.

Because leaf streak-- - Leaf streak, yeah, I actually had that on my daylilies last year.

So very familiar with that.

It is a fungus.

A couple of things there, practice good sanitation, right?

- Yes, when the leaves die, make sure you collect all of that.

And of course, if it persists and he doesn't spray with fungicides, can't control it, I would take them out and put in some resistant varieties.

'Cause there are quite a bit of resistant varieties out there on the market that he could find.

- Right, so resistant varieties, practice good sanitation, or, you know, you mentioned you could use fungicides, but understand you're gonna be doing that-- - Continually.

- on a continuous basis.

You have to read and follow the label on that.

But something like   chlorothalonil would work.

A copper-based fungicide   would work as well.

But yeah, that's going to be   a lot of work, a lot of effort.

So yeah, good sanitation,   resistant varieties.

It should work.

And it just looks bad cosmetically 'cause, you know, it's just bad, but that should help.

So thank you, Jason, for that question.

Here's the next viewer email.

"I just planted six of   these hostas a few days ago   "and the leaves are turning   yellow on three of them.

"This one gets about   three hours of sun a day   "but the rest   are in total shade.

"The ones that I planted   last year are doing fine.

"What do I need to   do to save them?

Or is it a hopeless case?"

And this is Roger.

Is this a hopeless case?

- I don't think so.

And you know to me, it looks like sun scald.

Because usually there's a margin with a dark, you know a dark area, if it's a disease or something, but these just looks like the sun scald to me.

I don't know.

And since it's getting more sun than the others, I say, move it to where they are.

And you know, if the others are happy and it's not happy there, maybe move it to where the others are doing well.

- Yes, because the other seem to be happy in the shade.

- Yes.

- Right.

So I think I would put those in the shade.

And yeah, that should work.

- I would think so.

- That should work.

'Cause you're right, if it has the real dark lesions or whatever, most of the time there's nematodes or something else, but you could see that.

But that to me, it just looks like it's faded.

- Yeah, just faded.

- Yeah just faded out.

- Like exactly how sun scald looks.

- Yeah, yeah, so it's not a hopeless case, Roger.

I would just move those to the others and it'll be just fine.

All right, thank you, Joellen.

That was fun.

- You're welcome.

- Thank you, much.

Remember, we love   to hear from you.

Send us an email or letter.

The email address is   familyplot@wkno.org   and the mailing   address is Family Plot   7151 Cherry Farms Road,   Cordova, Tennessee 38016.

Or you can go online to   familyplotgarden.com.

That's all we have time for today.

Thanks for joining us.

If you want to learn more about anything we talked about today, head on over to familyplotgarden.com.

We've got links to Extension publications on all these topics and many more.

Be sure to join us next week for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]