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

I'm Chris Cooper.

Sweet potatoes are a southern staple.

Today we are going to be planting them.

Also, we're going to be talking about how to avoid injuring yourself in the garden.

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 Walter Battle.

Walter is a UT County Director in Haywood County and Andrea Jacobo will be joining us later.

Alright Walter, well we're out in our Family Plot garden.

- Yes.

- Sweet potatoes!

- Yes, yes.

- I love sweet potatoes, man.

- Ah yes, and I'll tell ya, they're just a wonderful, wonderful plant, wonderful vegetable to eat.

As a matter of fact, I even brought one along here.

This is really the size that you really would like to get 'em.

You can really bake 'em - Oh, yes.

- at this size, or whatever.

- Love those baked.

- And, just a wonderful, wonderful vegetable for the garden.

You know, a lot of times, Chris, people will say, well, a sweet potato is a yam.

- Yeah, that's good!

- They're actually not the same.

- So, they are different?

- They are different, but because the terms are just used so much interchangeably, what the USDA require that anytime on a sweet potato product, that's processed, that they put in parentheses, yams, beside it.

- Wow, how 'bout that.

- Because you know, the terms get interchanged a lot.

But, I know today, we're here to plant some.

- Sure.

- Obviously.

Let me just say this, it's real simple.

All you really need is some good tilled soil, and what you wanna do, you want to ridge your soil up, at least 10 inches high.

You wanna make it about a foot wide, so, using this good shovel here, [laughing] And you just, real simple there, just turn that up, and put it there.

Let me get a little bit more here.

Notice that this way here, has provided us about 10 inches high.

- Gotcha, okay.

- Then, what we're gonna do, and let me just set this shovel right here, we're going to now get our sweet potatoes.

Now, let me just-- - Which ones do you have?

Which ones do you like?

- This here is the Beauregard, but let me tell ya, the Beauregard and the Vardaman, are the two varieties that you see a lot in the stores, because they have a really good shelf life and all that, that the plant breeders have bred for.

But, you know, really good flavor, good taste, are the Georgia Jets, very, very good.

The bunch Puerto Ricos are a very good potato.

Also, for those who really like the old varieties, that old Centennial is a very good sweet potato.

That's probably the one that we grew up with.

But, it is very, very susceptible to diseases, the Centennial is.

Speaking of insects and things like that, whiteflies to me, tend to be the biggest problem with the sweet potatoes.

They do affect 'em pretty bad.

You can get into some issues of weed control, but if you have grass, you can use, Poast or somethin' like that that'll clean up the grasses.

But pretty much, sweet potatoes, pretty much take care of themselves.

Now, I will warn ya, deer [chuckles] really, and obviously if you live somewhere where they have wild hogs, they'll root 'em up, too.

- [chuckles] How 'bout that?

- Hopefully, you don't have any wild hogs runnin' around.

- What about the wireworms that we?

- Yes, you always want to plant sweet potatoes in ground that has been previously planted.

This is the garden plot here, that's been previously planted.

Otherwise, if you put it in turf grass, that's never been planted before, you gonna get wireworms.

So, we always like to stress that.

Now, in plantin' these, I will start right up here.

Basically, again, you want your ridge to be about 10 inches high and you want to be about a foot wide, and as you can see that's about a foot wide there.

I've done this so long, - I see you have.

- I don't need a ruler.

- Ya did a good job!

- Basically, all I do, I just get here and I just dig me a good piece of soil here.

I usually plant about 12 inches apart, and I just kindly hill these up, you know.

This is gonna be some good potatoes here.

- Okay.

- I can just tell.

Does the soil type matter, or pH or anything like that?

- pH probably around the 6, I would probably say 6.5, 6.6, something along that line, 6.7.

They'll do fine.

Let me just dig here usin' this Family Plot trowel here.

[laughing] Yes.

See there, that's about 12 inches apart.

Then you see, go another one here.

This allows for it to have proper drainage.

- Sure.

- You know, that's what this is really gettin' us.

Right here, I have two more to go.

- Let me ask you about fertilizing.

What would you recommend?

Do they need any fertilize?

- At planting I would put down maybe a 6-12-12, at planting.

Let me do that.

I have one more to go here.

- One more, okay.

- I would use a 6-12-12 at planting.

Make sure that your lime is right.

Obviously, get your soil tests.

That keeps, ah, that one's a little leggy there.

Let's just fix that one up.

And, there you go, right there!

You should have some potatoes here probably, I believe about a hundred days or so, you know.

You'll be diggin' and you know, hey, Thanksgivin', sweet potato pie.

Hey, this is what you want right here!

- Love sweet potato pie!

- Candied yams.

- Is there a way you could tell that they're ready?

- Well, it's kinda little bit trial and error.

But, what happens, the vines will die back, and that'll give you a good idea.

Then you would just wanna come out here at some point when you know they're about ready.

Maybe dig, just about a side to kinda see how they look, then you'll 'bout know.

Do they have to be stored once we're ready - Yes!

- for harvesting?

- Yes, once I dig 'em, I leave the dirt on 'em.

I'll put 'em in milk cartons.

You know, the old milk cartons?

I have one that sits up on the table, where air can circulate up under it.

It's actually a big long piece of wire that I can sit it on.

Just let 'em sit there for about two weeks, two or three weeks.

They'll cure out good and you'll have, then you'll be ready to go with 'em!

- Be ready to go?

- Yes!

- Yeah, I like those sweet potatoes.

- Yeah, they're good!

They're good.

- Good stuff.

All right, well, we appreciate the demonstration.

- Well, thank ya for havin' me here and I can't wait to come back and get some of these.

- Can't wait to see, can't wait to see what's gonna happen, all right?

- Thank you much.

- Yes, sir.

[upbeat country music] - When we talk about butterfly gardens we're really talking about more than just butterflies.

There's a lot of pollinator insects, bees, flies, little beetles, that really love these plants.

They come to the plants for nectar, which is a carbohydrate source, and they also come for the pollen, which is a source of protein.

Now, ladybeetles will come, when they can't find aphids they'll feed on protein to get 'em by.

Anything in the carrot family, like this parsley here, they have flat, umble-like flowers, and they have little tiny blossoms that the little parasitoid bees and the hoverflies can feed on.

So, if you look here, you'll see just could be dozens of little tiny insects.

The parasitoid wasp are important because it gives them energy, that nectar.

Then, they can go lay their eggs on caterpillars and do some biological control.

The key to having a garden that's good for the bugs is have things blooming from early spring, throughout the summer, and into the fall like asters in the fall.

You want things that are gonna attract all kinds of insects, and many of them are gonna be beneficial or pollinators.

[upbeat country music] - Andrea.

- Hey!

- Thank you for joining us today.

- Thank you so much for having me.

I'm glad to be back and in the sun.

- In the sun.

We're out in the Family Plot garden.

- Yes.

- So, what are we gonna talk about today?

- So, physical activity is something that's really important.

Gardening's also something very important.

- Yes, it is.

- As you can see, right?

- Yes.

- So, what I want to do is talk about how gardening is a form of physical activity, but also how to protect yourself, so you can garden throughout the rest of your life.

- Good, good.

I think that is so important.

- Very important.

A lot of times, when you hear, probably already, when people come to your office and say, I threw out my back!

[laughing] I can't move too much, I was gardening too much.

So, I wanna show you how to properly pick up things, heavy things, and as well as try to protect yourself while gardening.

- All right, good stuff.

- So, right here, what I have is a normal soil bag, right?

- Okay.

- So, typically what you'd do, muscle pulls on bone, right?

- Right.

- Why I say that is because you have to make sure that everything in your body is in alignment, so that when you're picking up the bag, you can use your full force.

So, what you do, is you square the bag.

You send your hips back, you go into a squat and you grab the bag, fully, and then you pick up it up, with your legs.

That's all!

- That's it?

- That's it!

And, the same thing when you break and set it down.

Just like so, right?

- Yeah, and most of us, what, we just go down and just grab it, right?

- Yeah, 'cause you just grab it, right?

- Yeah, you're exactly right.

- That's not ergonomically correct, because, like I mentioned, muscle pulls on bone, and so when you have everything in alignment, you'll be able to do it without any problem.

- How 'bout that.

- Yeah.

So, what I have here, too, I have my little blanket, right?

My little extension blanket.

- Okay, all right.

[laughs] - You can use a blanket or a towel, whichever one you prefer, you can fold it in half or fold it into threes, like so.

Or, into multiple fours, depending on what you have and what you like.

So, you could place it on the ground, and then you can bring your knees onto it, and then you could reach bending at the hip, holding, gardening, grabbing at something, whatever you like.

Then you travel around either a raised bed, or wherever you are gardening, and it helps protect the knees, as well as maintain the back.

- 'Cause that back is so important!

- Very important.

When I was training before, a lot of my clients that were elderly would throw out their backs because of their gardening.

Not because they were doing a fast movement or catching a sprint, it's because of, - Gardening.

- it's through gardening.

So, this was one way that I thought would be very beneficial for listeners to know how to really pick up everything in good form.

Now, I see you have a shovel.

So, with shoveling, are you right-handed or left-handed?

- I'm right-handed.

- Okay, so, the same thing.

You're gonna want to do opposite to what you're dominant.

So, you're gonna have your left foot forward.

Now, you can either use the legs to fully bend at the knee, and then pick up what you're needing to pick up, and use your legs as well.

Same thing, you can use you right leg, bring your foot down, whatever you're trying to do with your shovel.

That's one of the things that you could do.

Like I mentioned, muscle pulls on bone, so you wanna make sure that everything's in alignment.

So, the knees are over the ankle.

- Over the ankle.

- Yeah, and the foot is right behind you, so it has that added support, so you can bend at the knee, and then you can pick it up.

- That's good stuff Andrea.

- So, now, the most important part, when you're finishing gardening-- - Most important part?

More important than all of this?

- Most important part, is that you need to stretch after.

- All right, let me grab that here.

- So, there's a couple exercises that you could do.

You can either, just do a forward bend, to touch your toes.

Or, come back up, flex the foot.

Then reach down, bending the knee, the other knee, and slightly touching your toes, so it can go straight into the hamstring and the calves.

Now, also, depending on what you feel, what you did the most, you can also do a quad, quadricep, which is the front part of your leg.

So, you grab, one hand, grab the ankle and pull it towards you.

Now, this is also balancing.

I have a trick for you.

So, if you're wobbling, hold your opposite ear.

- Really?

- Your balance is in your ear, so you can hold yourself up, just like so.

Then you bring it down and do the other side.

- That's somethin'.

- Then you just hold your ear.

Then bring it back down.

- Wow!

- Yeah.

- Really?

- That's how you prevent injuries.

By stretching, making sure you're picking up things in the correct manner, then also having a trusty blanket or a towel, to help you with your raised beds, or whatever you're low to the ground.

- Okay.

I'm gonna ask you about this: what about those of us who have wheelbarrows?

And, we have soil in the wheelbarrow, what's the proper way to move that?

- Same thing.

Same thing, also.

Making sure that your weight is on your heels, you bend back, hold the wheelbarrow, I'm imagining a wheelbarrow, and then you just pick up, from your legs, and then you walk forward.

- Same thing!

That prepares the body to know that it's gonna move in a forward direction, so that all your muscles are activated as you're pushing the wheelbarrow.

- Okay, Are there any exercises for folks that use pruners a lot, that you could think of for your hands?

- Yes!

So, when you finish pruning, you can place your hands in front of you, in a wall, then slightly come down.

It stretches out the forearm and the biceps, and also the hands.

- The hands, okay.

- There's muscle even to the fingertips.

So, you really have to, that's a great way to stretch.

- Wow!

So, you could really get in some good gardening exercises?

- Yes.

Do you know how many calories you burn in an hour for gardening?

- How many?

- Three hundred.

- Three hundred?

- Three hundred calories, - That's pretty good!

- of moderate activity.

It's because there's always higher bouts of intensity.

So, when you're picking up the wheelbarrow, when you're walking with the heavy bag of soil, that's a higher intensity than actually just pruning or, you're just harvesting, whatever you're doing in the garden.

There's always varied bouts on intensity, so that's very beneficial for our heart and for our muscles.

- Wow, this is good stuff.

'Cause we don't think about this when we're out there gardening, do we?

- No we don't.

- Especially when we younger.

We just like, we just go down, just grab this and just walk off.

- I know that I've been, one of the main things that I need for my kids, when I tell them what to do, they have to make sure they have maintained good form.

That way throughout their whole life they get to maintain that.

- Wow, Andrea, good stuff.

Thank you for that.

- Thank you so much.

- I'm gonna have to implement some of those into my own daily gardening activities, so I appreciate that.

- Okay, you let me know how it goes.

- All right, will do that.

Thank you much!

- Thank you.

[gentle country music] - It's time to sidedress the corn.

You typically sidedress corn when it gets about a foot tall, about knee-high, a little less than knee-high.

We have some varying sizes here.

Some of this corn's been more successful at grabbing fertilizer than the other.

So, we're gonna try to equal things up a little bit.

General rule of thumb on amount of sidedress nitrogen, and nitrogen is the only element you need to apply in a sidedress.

We've already taken care of the phosphorus and potassium needs out here.

It's 1 pound, 16 ounces of 34-0-0 per 100 foot of row.

We've calculated, we have about 80 foot of row here, so 12.8 ounces split into 2 right here.

I'm gonna try to put a half out at a time.

And, 34-0-0 goes a long way, so you want to be as even with your application as you can.

If you put it out too heavy in some places you can actually cause a burn.

Now, I'm going to apply the other half.

I want the fertilizer to go on the ground, not on the plant because it can actually burn the foliage if you get it on the foliage.

Well, that should give us the nitrogen that we need, should need to make a good crop of sweet corn.

[upbeat country music] All right, here's our Q & A segment.

Andrea, you jump in there with us you have anything to say, all right?

- All right, sounds good.

Thank you for having me.

- Y'all ready?

These are good questions.

Here's our first viewer email.

"What is the best way to get rid of moles in your lawn?"

That has got to be one of the top questions we get in extension, throughout the state.

- Yes, yes.

- How do we get rid of those moles?

[laughing] - Well, you know, I really like to use harpoon traps.

That's one good way to get 'em.

Now, also, if you have some dogs or some cats, will also, dig 'em up and get 'em, as well.

I've also see coyotes get 'em.

But, I don't know if you want a coyote in your yard.

[laughing] But, you know, I've seen that happen.

What they're after, they're after the grubs, that's off in there.

If you really just take a sharp tool and just kinda lift your soil up a little bit, you'll see those grubs layin' there.

Now, some people will say, use granular Sevin, you know, to kill the grubs.

The only problem I don't like doin' that is because you're also gonna kill earthworms.

- Earthworms are a part of the diet for the moles.

- For the moles as well.

- You get rid of the grubs, but the earthworms are still there, guess what?

They're still gonna eat.

- Yes.

And, I will tell you another little oddball thing about the moles.

They're actually, those tunnels, do provide oxygen down there for the roots.

You might not want the tunnels in your yard.

But, I really recommend the harpoon traps.

I've heard people talk about the chewin' gum.

- I have, too.

- There's nothin' to that.

I've heard people talk about pourin' ammonia down off in the holes.

I don't know if I'd wanna do that or not.

- Castor bean.

- Yes, I've heard all that, but really, if you ever have a dog or a cat that'll dig 'em up and get 'em, that's a good route to get 'em.

- Or, they're pretty active first thing in the mornin'.

- Yes.

- So, you can get behind them with a sharpshooter or a shovel.

You could flick 'em out the ground.

- Ah, yes, yes, yes.

- You could go that route.

- You could go that route, yeah.

- Humanely?

- Yes.

You have to figure out what you gonna do with 'em.

You know, once you flick it out.

But, yeah, we get this question so often about the moles and they can be a problem.

- They can be a big problem.

- They can be a problem.

You know, just tunneling through, just tryin' to find food, of course.

Another reason why I think we are seein' 'em so much now is because the ground is so moist and saturated.

So, it's easy for them to swim through the soil, if you will.

I think that's why you see so many of them runs or tunnels, if you will, because it's just been so wet.

The ground is so moist, so saturated, and it's easy again, for them to get through that soil, because it's been moist and saturated.

Good luck with those moles, Kevin.

Thank you for the question.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I found a crossvine growing in my in my George Tabor azalea.

"It is very beautiful.

Will it hurt my azaleas if I leave it?"

And, this is Ms. Elsie in Millington.

That crossvine is a beautiful vine as you can see growing there.

- That is pretty!

- Will grow like crazy.

- Yes.

- All right.

Likes full sun, can grow in partial shade.

Azaleas like partial shade.

It can cover up those azaleas, if you're not careful.

So, here's my question Ms. Elsie: What do you want?

Which one do you want?

Do you want the crossvine?

Do you want the azaleas?

Because there's gonna be competition there, eventually.

You have to make a decision.

It's a beautiful vine, but you have beautiful azaleas.

- Let me ask this question: Do they both like acidic soils?

- Crossvines can, - I know that, like - Azaleas for sure.

Crossvines, yes, can actually deal with it, yes.

Obviously, from the picture, it looks good.

So, it's growin' pretty well.

But, that would be my only question, you know, Ms. Elsie.

Which one do you want?

You can have, if you want both that's fine.

It's your landscape, that's fine.

But, do know, very aggressive growers.

Right, and it will take over.

It's beautiful.

Here's our next viewer email.

Uh-oh!

"How do you get rid of monkey grass?"

This is Andrew, right here in Memphis.

The old Liriope, all right.

- Yes.

- How would you get rid of monkey grass?

- First, it's gonna take about, I don't know the situation, but it's gonna take about two to three years, - Oh, wow.

- to get rid of it, but, what I would do, I would go out and dig it up.

And, then as you see those little shoots or whatever that's left.

- Little rhizomes?

- Yes, you just have to hit it with something that contains glyphosate.

Just know that it's gonna be a battle for about two years, about two or three years.

But eventually, you'll win that war.

You'll eventually win it, but it's just gonna take some time to get it.

But, definitely dig out the ones that obviously, that you see.

Those big clumps, just go on and dig 'em up and get 'em outta there.

- Right.

Yeah, that's good.

I can tell you what I've done, Andrew, from experience, right?

So, we actually tried to remove some Liriope, monkey grass.

We cut it back, weed eater, lawnmower.

Allow it to regrow, re-sprout, young green tissue.

Sprayed it with the product that contain glyphosate.

Start to knock it out, okay, a little bit.

But then, this was during the summer, we actually covered it with black plastic.

- Okay, yep.

- Got real hot under there.

So, it really knocked it back.

Then later on that summer, we started diggin' it out.

So, we cut it, sprayed it, covered it with black plastic, this was in the summer time, was real hot, right?

Knocked it back considerably, and then we dug out what we could.

You gotta get all of that root system out.

- It's a little bit of a-- - 'Cause if not, it will come back with a vengeance.

- Yes.

- Ah ha.

- Yeah, you take it all.

- I'm back.

[laughing] So, you gotta be careful with that.

What you said is fine, and yeah, this is, from personal experience and it did work.

But, it will take some time, you wanna get all those roots outta there.

Good luck to ya, Andrew.

Good luck.

All right, hope that helps.

Here's our next viewer email.

"We have a walnut tree and there are worms in the nuts.

"What can we do to get rid of the worms "and save our huge tree?

It is over 50 years old and we don't wanna lose it."

This is Sharon from Delano, Tennessee.

Worms, walnut tree, okay?

How do we get rid of those worms?

- Well-- - What are those worms?

- Well, yeah, that's the first thing, it would be some type of curculio.

- Right, it's the black walnut curculio.

- Now, how to get rid of it?

I know, like a product like, Durasband or Lurasband, is labeled for it, but I don't know how a homeowner could spray it or whatever to, take it out.

There is one little side note, I want to say about black walnut trees.

- Okay, sure.

- They can produce walnuts for like 250 years.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

So, that's one of the few things that really, you know, can last in a family for generations.

- Wow, literally.

- Yeah, literally, but back to point, yes, it's that little curculio worm that you mentioned.

That's what it is.

Now, there's also another little worm that probably, larvae actually, I'd say, that gets confused and that is that husk fly.

But, it doesn't get into the kernel, that I know of, that it doesn't.

So, like I say, that's what the worm is.

- Yeah, the curculio does feed on the kernel.

- It gets to the kernel.

- Because the adult female would actually chew a hole in the husk.

- That's right.

- Right, as that fruit is startin' to develop and lay her eggs.

Of course, the eggs hatch, the larvae then start to feed on the kernel.

- The kernel.

- Right.

Which will cause it to drop.

Which is what we call, June drop.

So, this usually happens usually, between April and June/July.

So, of course, when it drops, hits the ground, that larvae is still feeding.

Once it finishes feeding, it pupates into the ground, comes back as an adult, to go right back into the tree again.

- Wow.

- It's tough to control.

You know?

'Cause you mentioned a couple, Carbaryl, you know, something that you.

But, again, as a homeowner, it's a 50 year old tree.

This tree is probably huge!

So, it would be hard to get out there with a - Yeah, tryin' to.

- Yeah, tryin' to spray it.. - Spray it.

I wish I had better news.

- Yeah, that's gonna be a tough one Ms. Sharon.

But now, you do know what it is.

Maybe there's someone in the area that could help you with that.

You know, maybe another farmer or somethin' like that.

- Right.

- You know, that has one of these trucks that have the little blower.

- Yeah, blow it up in there!

- Blow it up through there, like they have at the orchards and things like that.

But, you have a decision to make whether you wanna do it or not.

- Right.

- Right, 'cause this black walnut curculio can cause some problems.

Sorry for the bad news Ms. Sharon.

All right.

So, Walter, Andrea, it's been fun.

Thank you for being here.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- It's been fun.

- Remember, we love to hear from you.

Send us a 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.

Need gardening advice?

Go online to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

There are tons of videos from the show and links to extension publications from all over the country.

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

Be safe!

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]