- Well, what does a Northern Gao when early June temperatures are in the 90s?

And what is the trick to protecting your garden from grazing deer?

Explore solutions and these other trials tonight with Great Gardening.

We'll also celebrate some inspiring programs aimed at growing the next generation of growers and answer your phoned in quest.

So stay tuned.

- [Woman] Gardens are always a work in progress (laughing).

- [Man] But the earthworm is a sign that there's lots of life in your garden.

- Google doesn't have all the as and the best way is to talk to fellow gardeners.

- You know, in the spring it has a totally different look.

I kind of like that it changes from month to month.

(upbeat music) - Well, welcome to Great Garden.

I'm your host, Karen Sunderman and we are excited to share some real expert advice with you tonight and hope to inspire you to up your game.

Now, our garden experts are Deb Erickson Byrns, she's the head grower at a family greenhouse on the Iron Range.

And Bob Olen is a horticulturalt and long time educator and we sure appreciate your being here tonight.

- It's our pleasure it's always.

- It's nice and cool in the stu.

- It's very true.

- This is the time of year that air conditioning actually feels good.

Now if you have questions and you're dying to have them ad please give us a call at 218-784 or toll free at 877-307-8762.

You can also email your questions to ask@wdse.org.

Now our telephone volunteers have generously donated their evening to help you get the information that you need.

They are from the Master Gardenm in St. Louis county.

And we thank them for collecting your questions and funneling in to the studio so we can answer them.

Well, when we named this gardenl we had no idea that it truly would be a summer warmup.

It's called the summer warmup and boy did it ever.

- It warmed up, didn't it?

It got hot, yes indeed.

And we can't really complain because it was freezing just a short time before that.

So talk about extremes.

Some of the challenges for us in the north end but without challenges it wouldn't be any fun, would it?

- Well, I don't know.

- You don't need those challeng.

- I don't need those challenges.

How cold was it out by you Deb?

- Well, it was 21 degrees.

What, 10 days ago?

Was it just 10 days ago?

- Yeah, it was a short time ago.

- And now it's 90s.

That's extreme, yeah.

- So what do you think the consequences are for plants?

You know, putting them out in 9.

I mean, they weren't ready for that being in the end.

- No, I have seen a lot of shock and a lot of heat, stress and drought stress even.

I mean, they both can come on with all the wind too.

And so taking something that extreme from 21 and then bringing it up to 90 in such a short amount of time is really stressful on plants.

- You know Deb a lot of people t hardening things off.

You can bring them out of the ge and you harden them.

People put it in the shade or in the garage, you really need to expose them to some sun, bright sun before you put them out in the field or in your garden.

So the hardening process while they're still in containers I think is very important.

If it's cold, you wanna harden off against the cold.

If it's warm, you really wanna m to bright sunlight rather before you take them out of the pots and put them in the.

- For a few hours every day or an hour starting with an hour and building from there.

- Okay, guilty as charged.

I took a plant from inside put it in full sun and it completely died.

So watering is going to be key this year I have a feeling and Deb you have some tricks.

You brought us some video and showed us what we should be, how we should be watering.

Let's take a look at that - [Deb] Water into the container and then water it thoroughly and really saturate it early in the morning this is a morning shot.

Then she turns down her hose to, make sure she gets the water int and not spraying around it.

And then if the afternoon and things are looking hot then she does a foliar but that's what you would do just to cool down the foliage in the afternoon.

And not too much water and not oversaturating the soil cause that can bring you far mos than the heat does, you know, that overwatering will do more .

- We talked about that using water almost like you know, when you step out of r and you're still wet and you cool down kind of.

- The foliar cool down and dropping down the basal teme and then that evaporation and letting it cool down the basil leaf temps so that they are, I mean, they are not going to really absorb it but it's definitely going to cool them down and help them get through the stressful part of the day.

- Yeah, we really talk about watering thoroughly.

So people should water thorough, particularly you know, transplas the root system isn't there.

So you might have to come over the top as you mentioned particularly with like cold seas with the cabbage family that you put out as transplants.

Water thoroughly once but then come over the top.

We call it syringing actually where you gonna actually get some evaporation and that's really critical under these intensely warm temp.

But always in the morning and always make sure the foliagy before we come into the evening.

- Debbie, you wanna show us thi.

We asked you what your favoritee and this was on your list.

- And this is like my magic wan.

So this is a rain wand and it has a head that you can .

So if you have pest pressure or if you want to just do a really light mist to smaller transplants, you can adjust it and or do a f. You can change the head to a full head if you like it.

It's short so it's not real hea.

And then the thumb is the best for controlling how much you're putting on things.

And it's just a great wand and you have a lot of control w. And then this is another favorite tool of mine.

And I love this one obviously I use it a lot, but I use it to do weeding.

Like we would, if you stick it into a well water plant and it just pulls out so easily.

And my grandfather used to make sure his employees had a knife on him.

And it's basically the same thig but you can do so much more wit.

You can do a trimming and you can do cuttings with it and just take your cutting off and then stick it in the soil.

- Wait, you can show us that cu.

Truly that was just one-- - Right, so just take it, knock it off and put it in.

And guess what you get in like, oh here's one that was stuck in there, ops, sorry.

Here's one that was stuck in th.

And it just roots just like tha.

And those are succulents and this could be the year of s. Succulents and geraniums with all this heat that we're h. So that's what that this works really well for.

And then we also can do major jobs with it.

Want to do this?

- Should I stand (indistinct).

- And so then this in my opinion is overgrown.

And so what I do with my tool is I just do a major haircut, cut it.

Because if you're cutting again half the foliage you're cutting half of its wate.

And so then you cut up all this extra at night skies.

It's a beautiful petunia, but there's just too much of it.

And then this, so this is ribbo.

And if there's too much of it and you don't like it it's just like a weed and then you just cut it out and you give more space to the other things because it can take over, ribbon grass can.

And so then you just cut it out, clean it up, tidy it up.

And then-- - You realize that I have my mouth open just wondering and marveling at this.

- It's just gonna be so much ber and it's going to be a much hap.

And then for deadheading geranis take him all the way down.

It won't hurt them if you snap off the top, it's just really ugly.

Some people used to think they'd get disease, they don't get disease.

But you just cut it down and the great thing about this l is it has springs for old hands, for arthritis.

It just makes everything so muc.

And I think a lot of the geraniums are gonna get shut down in the afternoons and they're going to have more burn to them.

So you could go in there and pit but you could just take it off because you're taking off the s. - Thank you so much because you just are way more b.

- I just have way more pots to do than most people do.

- It is the right tool for the .

And now we have some expert adve for anyone who's ever dreamt of a garden terrace with elegant stonewalls.

While leaning in for this next , Taylor Leege has studied them and builds gorgeous and functional stonewalls.

He shared his approach with photo journalist, AJ Larson.

Take a look.

- My name is Taylor Leege and I am a dry stonewall builder.

What I'm doing here is rebuildig several retaining walls that have fallen over and needed some attention.

So what dry stone walling or dry stone building is is just building using stone without the use of mortar hence.

It relies strictly just on friction and gravity and proper placement to keep things together.

But if you have to pick one you go for structural stability versus the aesthetics.

One thing you want to have for sure is good footwear.

These happened to be something , that way just in case you happen to drop something on your foot you're not going to have any injury.

Even when it's warm I like wearing long pants something that has double material especially on the knees and on the thighs where you're setting stones a lot.

I do a lot of work with hammers and chisels and things like that too.

And then you're gonna want to wear safety glasses.

You know, the first and most important is to put the length into the wall.

Meaning the long part of the stone goes into the wall.

Second thing would be putting oe over two or two over one or crossing all the joints.

So making sure that you're setting the stone over the space between the two below it.

As you can see there are some of these occasionally a really long stone that goes all the way through it which is really important that's called the through stone.

And you put those roughly halfwp just to really bind the wall and keep it firmly planted.

Other than that too you also kind of taper the wall as it gets taller, meaning it gets slightly less wide as you go up.

And then the other thing you really want to do is just make sure you're building everything level.

Even if you're building on a sl, it's easy to want to put the stones to follow the slope that you're on but you really want everything to be horizontal and level.

You know, a wall or anything lit is really only as good as its f. But you want to think about using the largest ones at the bottom.

And then you slowly are kind of using smaller ones as you go up.

And then you're trying to use the second biggest ones generally on the top.

So it's almost like you've got this sandwich where you've got really big at , next biggest at the top.

And then you're kind of slowly using smaller stones up in between.

Something like that might be decent to start with.

And then I'll keep filling in with big ones and then I'll take small ones to kind of fill in all those little areas too.

You use bigger stones on the frt and if you look inside the wall there's much smaller ones that I'm using to fill all of the gaps in here too.

That stuff again is traditionaly referred to as harding.

You really want to pack the inside of the wall tightly.

You really want to individually place everyone, make sure they don't move.

And then you keep adding smaller ones until it's full.

And that actually more than anything is what gives the wall its true strength.

It can be a little bit tedious but you really don't want to ru.

As far as time goes building ins I've spent roughly, you know, maybe 20 hours of building time so far on this.

And, but I think the benefits are, you know we get a lot of frost.

We get a lot of heat here in Mi, and the water freely drains thr.

You don't get it trapped inside the wall where it can cause things to shift ou.

Renewable I mean, something min, something falls over, you can r. - So he talks about easily rebut well, it may be easy for him yo.

So let's get to some questions though that was inspiring.

But this past, here's Tara in Willow river, the past two summers, the one large flower cluster on my strawberry hydrangea they were big before now they're small.

What happened?

- Well, you know, it's really ah probably the previous season that's when you're storing all y so it could be water, it could be fertility, it could be sunlight.

It could be any combination lik- - That's not a good answer Bob.

- That's not a good answer.

She doesn't know exactly what she (mumbles) thinks it is.

To just push that plant along and get it to grow more this season is what she really wants to do.

- And she might want to water a lot this season because if it's near foundation and if it's a dry area it's going to be really dry thi.

- And if you've got light soils the thing we've got to mention, if you're watering a lot you have to be conscious of the amount of nutrients.

You're gonna have to supply mort 'cause you can flush particularly nitrogen, very easily to flush through to your red soil.

- Yeah, fertility is gone.

- Fertility is important.

I think slow release nitrogens in particular what we call water and soluble nitrogens are valuable in a year like this with a lot of watering.

- Okay, this might be related.

Karen in Duluth, what is causing the large white spots on my plant leaves?

Is it heat?

Is it drought?

Is it the way I water?

- I'm pretty sure I know what ts 'cause I've seen it all over th.

It's just, again, we've talked about acclimating.

It's taking transplants out that have not been acclimated to the heat and a lot of this actually it's light and it's mechanical damage.

Where they are out and they are in the wind and it's hot and this is actually tissues breaking down because again, the plant doesn't have a root system to replace that and that stem is not very flexible.

So that sunburn, mechanical damage, wind damage and-- - Will it grow out of it?

- Yeah, it will.

- All right, good news Karen.

Kevin in Duluth, I have a little green worms eating my rose rote role, what do I do right now?

Do I just pick them off or do I spray them with something?

- Well, that depends on how you want to treat it.

Where you can treat it with a sc and but then again we worry about our pollinators.

You could pick them off and start that way, you could use that wand and knock them off.

But it's completely up to-- - Up to them and what your opti.

- Yep.

- Frankly, you know, if you have one rose bush, just pick them up.

- That's it.

- Simplest thing and you don't-- - But if you've got a multitudem you might want to be more aggressive on it.

- And I would state because of the pollinators staying away from systemics and they're out there but stay away from those.

Just a topical application.

We could mention (indistinct) mg or on a real cloudy day or a day when you don't have to run the risk of pollinators.

- Okay.

- Neem oil too on that.

- Neem oil as well sure.

- One more to squeeze in here before we get more video.

I planted an autumn blaze maple, purchased at a local garden cen.

It's not leafed out yet.

How long do I need to wait befoy yeah, nope, not happening?

- Okay, so were the buds, when did he plant?

- May 7th.

- So and it didn't leaf out and then we had that cold frost 'cause we had black on our ash on our oaks on everything.

So did it take out the buds?

- It's possible?

- And then what is going to progress from there?

Is it going to be able to have enough energy to produce more buds?

- It was very warm then we got the extreme cold.

So if they did have the lower 2s there could have been damaged t. All you can do is wait.

Make sure it gets adequate water and see if the (mumbles).

- Yeah, boy.

- But I'm not sure, I was worried about our ash but they're coming out of it so.

- We saw that in the forest a lt because they were growing and then we got the cold tempers there was a lot of forest damag.

Deciduous trees.

- Yeah, and I heard people with apple blossoms got frosted off and somebody at your house too I'm sorry to hear.

- Yeah, my father planted when , when he was told not to plant and of course he did and it all died but then he just to the local greenhouse and stole server stuff.

- Convenient for him.

- It's so convenient.

- So it should be daughter know.

- Once, just once.

- So we are inspiring the next generation of growers and it takes a village in far W, The Farm to School program, the Gary New Duluth Recreation Center and the YMCA have joined forces to get kids d in feeding the community.

Photo journalist, AJ Larson captured a bit of the magic on a chilly planting day.

- So as part of our continuing Y Get Outdoors programming which is a collaboration between the Duluth area YMCA, the Gary New Duluth Rec center and Stowe Elementary School, we are gardening today.

This is the Gary New Duluth Rec center gardens and we are given three gardenins that we get to use to do youth programming.

- This space was put in in 2018.

It's part of an initiative with Farm to School researches that when students are involved with growing their own food, they're more likely to eat and enjoy a lot more fruits and vegetables.

- And so we are starting our gardens right now with the kids and then our youth are gonna keep the gardens going all summer weeding and watering.

And the food that's grown in the gardens is given away on Fridays is for our food dist.

And so we were in a food desert out here in Gary New Duluth and this is a way to get fresh produce to our neighbors.

- We are planting corn and bean, and also some squash as part of a three sisters garden at they'll be incorporating.

- I think youth really need to w where their food is coming from.

It gives them an opportunity tos and see where things come from and ask those questions and learn how something starts so tiny as a seed and grows into so much bigger.

For kids to be able to learn how to grow something and be sustainable and be able to grow this for their family is a really powerful thing.

- I remember the first time that students were harvesting potatoes didn't even realize that they were grown underneath the ground.

- Were teaching them depth of sw and how long it takes to grow se of the different types of seeds.

What kind of vegetables grow in this climate?

And so it's also an opportunity for us to work with the Farm to School coordinator Renee Williamson and partner with some of the professionals in Duluth that just have a passion for th.

- That is such a great program and it's fun to see kids with their hands in the dirt legally, you know encouraged to have their hands in the dirt.

All right, we're going on to qu, Mary from Virginia.

Bad news, army worms are here.

Okay, how do you control them?

- Well again, and we're seeing .

We saw them in Cromwell, they are kind of marching into .

They are technically of course, forest tent caterpillar they're associated with the asp.

So I think really you've got to protect areas like your garden area.

And I think just to screen withy with a little vegetable oil on .

So poly sheeting on a screen so they can't come up and over.

The same thing you can do with your other trees.

You want to keep them off of your apple trees, your fruit trees, anything that you could defoliate.

So again, a collar on the outsie and I think just straight poly, you might want to use a black py so we don't get any heating beh.

And then just a vegetable oil on the outside.

People use axle grease it lastsr but it's a little messier.

But just those kinds of barriers to keep them out of the vulnerable portions of your landscape.

- Oh, that sounds like a fight.

- Hopefully not and you know, we're overdue.

I hate to say it but this cycle should have been with us quite a while ago.

And it's kind of sorry to hear that it is creeping into the edges of our viewing area for sure.

- Tracy in Hibbing.

How do you get rid of Japanese ?

And she also wants to know the e of the grass in that planter.

- So this is ribbon grass, that.

- That was not so easy but it is doable if you're not opposed to using glyphosate which had a name brand around up at one time.

And fall application, cut it bak and using a fall application, that's probably going to be your best bet on.

Digging it is very, very, very g and not weed can be very destructive around foundations and other things.

So you kind of have to make a decision there how you want to control it.

Fall of the year would be the best time to control it if you can use any kind of chemical control.

- And one more Sue in Carlton, wondering if there's an update on the white flies that attack raspberries?

what do we do to control them, eliminate them?

- Just WD the (indistinct), rig?

Which is such a big pest and maybe particularly severe tr because of the heat again.

The generation time it gets faster and faster.

And short of going to a massive spray program or exclusion netting.

And those are the two things that are being done commercially.

Most people don't want to do ei.

So my advice would be this, pick every single two days and immediately refrigerator freezer process.

Don't go three days, two days, refrigerate, process, freeze and then pick up any of the fruit that may be on the ground.

And it has to go into a clear plastic bag and solarize it, you can't just put it outside tn 'cause you've got the flies that are just gonna come out.

So the fruit that's on the ground, plastic bag in the sun so it kills everything.

Harvest every two days.

- Wow, wow, wow, but raspberries are so good.

- And they are so good.

And even if you get a little exn it's even better for you.

- Well, if frozen, do we freeze them first?

I knew that would go fast.

Thank you very much.

It is inspiring to hear from so many people who love gag and we'll be back with more ques and tips from Bob about protecting your crops from deer after we tour a lovely garden i.

Hard work and ingenuity transformed the whole yard into a neighborhood treasure enjoy a sneak peek and we'll see you back here after the break.

- This is not scary this is letting the plants do t. For a lot of the plants here we just let them decide where they're happy and try to nurture them that wa.

My name is Kimberly and I am in the backyard of my mother's house in the hunters part neighborhood of Duluth.

In 2014 when we purchased the h, the backyard here was pretty much all Snow-on-the-mountain with a few suffering hydrangeas.

So we decided we wanted to make most of the yard.

So we went to work.

We love it when the lupine are in full bloom and iris and the forget me nots.

And if there's a weed here and e we try not to let it bug us we just let it be.

Most of our iris we pick up from friends, actually one very prolific variy came from Central Minnesota and I don't know its origins ore but it's a light peach dwarf iris that loves it in Duluth.

And in fact, I've shared it with so many people that if you go around town you will see it in other people.

(slow music) When my mother first moved in, this was, you know a regular ya.

We gave it a little structure.

And it really was six years of trial and error to get to this place.

And I still feel like we're working trial and error to see what looks nice together.

And also so that we have variety throughout the, from the early spring to the fall and even winter.

I am not afraid to move things and I've been accused of being a serial mover of plants.

It was a dream of my mother's ta climbing hydrangea up her chimn.

And I know that they tend to be slow growers and they can be a little bit pi.

It turns out that this hydrangea loves the northern exposure.

Gardening is many things for us.

It's that sense of community.

And the wonder of watching it go from Snow-on-the-mountain to flowers that we've nurtured and loved and cared for and now they're paying us back with their beauty.

(gentle music) - Welcome back to "Great Garden" We hope this show inspires you and also that you appreciate the provided to northern gardeners, from budding beginners to the m, We work to support everybody at every stage of gardening.

And Bob, you have been doing ths and giving us the gift, truly for 17 years.

Thank you.

- Don't remind us, but it's beee and you're to be congratulated, you initiated the program and it's been very, very succes.

Part of the reason is it's very.

And these are problems that peo, and we're not even sure what's gonna come in 'cause it's all done live but it's definitely on people's minds right now.

- Yeah.

Oh, and this is the season that we wait for, right?

All winter.

- Yes, absolutely.

Just a great activity.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, protecting our gardens and crops from hungry deer is a topic that comes up every .

So we asked Bob to show us a fence that really works.

Let's take a look.

- Yeah, I'm pleased today that Mark Peterson from Peterson's Berry Farm just outside of Eveleth, has joined me today because oves he's dealt with the deer issue.

- The deer love all the crops that I grow here.

They love juneberries.

They love blueberries.

They love strawberry leaves, I think that's probably their f. So it's pretty hard to grow anyg that you have to get through the winter time and not have to worry about deer coming over for a snack.

- Ultimately, and we're showingu the best of the best here, this is a kind of a system that you want to get installed.

You want permanent fencing, and I know people kid me all the time, Mark, about fencing, but it's the only permanent solution that I've found and less aggrav.

Tell us some of the other systems you've tried, from electric on out, and why you elected to go to this, and why you should have gone to it earlier.

- Electric fence, I had a moose come through one time.

The fence oftentimes were groun.

And it'd be a lot worse if you had to protect your crops during the winter time, when you got snow to contend with besides that.

- For long-term permanent instas for perennial material, your apples, your blueberries, anything like that, that deer are continually harvesting, something more permanent, particularly if you've got a large area to deal with, I think you want to look at a fg that's at least eight feet in h. Eight feet is what we're dealinh as a minimum in height, good structural pressure treated lumber poles that can be stapled in.

We want them about four feet in the ground, at least on what we call the line posts that are running down the line.

Corners we might want to go down a little deeper, about six feet if possible.

So you're gonna make a permanent installation, takes a little bit more money, a little bit more effort, but it will be with you a long,.

It's really important if you're constructing this, you have solid corner posts and we're gonna show you a corner installation.

- This has been here for over 2s and you can see it's still plum.

Corner posts are what take all the tension out of here.

You can see how this whole post is holding up this wire as we s. So that the post doesn't lean a, there's these lateral posts that go across to hold it strai.

- You have to control the deer and make the initial investment, I think you'll be glad you did.

For winter hardy woody crops we really needed a permanent fencing structure of some type.

- Now that is a pretty fence, but it's not going to be for ev.

- Just because of the size and the effort and the expense,.

But it is the permanent solution for winter fencing, woody mater, because you got to do something.

Now, for most folks, if you're gonna look at your su, whether it's vegetables or smal, you have a whole number of other options, actually.

And you can look more at some of the electric fencing.

They do have to be babysit.

You can't let those things grout or you'll be surprised.

- [Karen] Let's take a look at .

You gave us some recommendation.

- We've got some recommendation.

In smaller areas... Obviously, he's got an acre or two of fence there, so he needed at least an eight .

If you've got smaller areas, maybe 10 by 10 or something you can get by with four foot f. They don't want something they're not certain they can jump into and get out of, so the smaller the area, the shorter the fence.

That's true, you can always look at repellents, but you want to be extremely ca.

We talked about labels.

You can have a repellent and there can certainly be odor and taste repellents, they're typically dry-based or they're putrescent egg-based.

Read that label, particularly with edibles, 'cause it might say labeled fors but if you read closer, it says you can put it on the plant, but not on the fruit or the edible portion.

So you have to be extremely carl about anything that you're gonne or you're gonna eat.

Rotate your repellents, 'cause they get used to these things as well.

And then you've got some of these motion activated sprinklers that work really qui.

They're quite effective.

You got to run a little hose oue and it takes away from your watg in a warm area like this, but they certainly do the job.

It's the winter that becomes a .

And in the winter, obviously you're not gonna use sprinkler systems and other things, you're not gonna really...

Your electric fencing may not wu because of the snow load, so you gotta go to a structure that's really strong and you want to protect vulnerable materials.

If you're not gonna fence the w, then you're gonna fence your tr.

You're gonna fence your raspber.

You're gonna get a structure ine that they can't get through, so build it right to begin with.

And again, these are the apples, the raspberries, blueberries, your strawberries, it has to be really durable, eight feet in height, 'cause they can get over that.

If you're running long lines, a good solid pole in the middle, good strong corners, and stretch that wire between the two.

- Thank you.

And thank you for introducing u.

- Mark... - That's really cool.

- Mark is great.

And Mark's gone through a lot of fencing systems and this is the one that he wished he'd gone to lon.

- (laughing) Well, ultimately we're trying to harvest what we plant, right?

Now, there is a food initiatived by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, that's helping Ojibwe families and producers get the resources that they nee.

It's pretty exciting, so take a.

- We are at Gitigaaning, the place of their gardens.

(gentle music) I work for the Bimaaji'idiwin Ojibwe Garden Program, I'm a gardener and I also coordinate the producer training program.

They can grow food for their fas or they can, if they have somet, they can also sell the produce that they grow.

- This program actually is a vision I've had for over 30 years, trying to get Fond du Lac, to start a food sovereignty prom in the agricultural department so that we can be a lot more self-sufficient with food and also grow healthy organic food for our community.

And this is something that the Anishinaabe people have been doing for millennia.

- Overall, I enjoy gardening.

I mean, it's a lot of work, and if people don't like hard l, then this is probably not the w. But the payoff in the end of th, when you're eating the food that you've grown throughout the summer, it is such a satisfying feeling.

- Each plot you will see here the families working together in the garden growing their own food, getting ready for the season.

- [Jeff] It's me, my wife, our , and our grandchildren.

We've come out here and been plg since the program first started.

- We're both older now.

I hope when the time comes that neither Jeff or I are here, our kids and our grandkids will carry this on so they can pass on that legacy to their children.

- It's very important, the connection with food, to know where your food come from, where your food grow, and what is behind your food.

Also to have the seeds and the connection with the soil, with our plant relatives.

And just growing our own food is very important.

- Judy Lundquist of Port Wing, n shares a beautiful example of garden style generosity.

Three years ago, she complimentd a picture of this iris that someone had posted on Face, and a few weeks later she founds from the very same plant on her.

She's been delighted with them .

This hosta was also gifted to hr and dubbed the hosta that took over Center City, by her sister.

(gentle music) Joe Mann had his eye out for color this spring.

He captured these beautiful bleeding hearts outside the Douglas County Historical Society in Superior.

And he found a well-establishedc growing behind Karpeles Manuscript Museum in Duluth.

It is producing gorgeous pink b, more than seven decades after it was planted.

Liz Donley in Duluth share somes from her incredible collection of peonies all in bloom.

From deep rose to coral, delicate pink to vivid magenta, these crinkly white pedals are neatly protected under Japanese sun umbrellas to extend their season.

Glenn Blaszkiewicz took these ss at the Duluth Rose Garden this , where the tulips somehow escapeg by the local deer herd.

A pretty rhododendron caught his eye nearby.

And finally, Michael Heim from , sent in amazing images of his blue Himalayan poppies.

The color is a showstopper.

And he says the plants are winter hardy in the Northland.

Well, please keep us in mind as the growing season unfolds, email your pictures to greatgardening@wdse.org.

We'll share them through our Instagram feed and here on TV.

Thank you.

It's been so fun to see what people are growing and what people are asking, and I learn something every tim.

Okay, Dolores in Barnum, "Hanging begonia is too full.

Do I trim it back?

What do I do?"

- That's an awesome question.

So if it is a tuberous begonia or a Hiemalis begonia, other than a fibrous begonia, you can actually take those blos and the closer they are to yell, the more they taste like a lemo, and the closer you go to red, the more earthy or muddy they t. So if you want to take off some of that weight and take off some of the flower, that'll take off a lot of their water need also, you can actually put it in your.

You can put it in your water, you can serve it on a plate.

And it's really nice and citrusy and light, whites and the yellows are.

But definitely, she can take off some of the weight, 'cause they do get big and heavy and especially with the wind, that wind can do a lot of damag.

- Okay.

How about Suzanne in Du?

She's got a two or three-year-o.

It's got red bumps on the leave.

What are they what's happening?

- Well, that's leaf gall of cou, caused by an insect.

And it can be an insect that's depositing the eggs and there eggs in there and the larva emerges, or it can be just an injury.

So it's really callous tissue.

It's the leaf's reaction to that actual process of deposg that's typically done by a fly.

Nothing to worry about, you can control with insecticide, flies gone already so just live with it.

Doesn't damage the tree at all.

- Okay.

Steve in Duluth has an e with some of the same kind of is that are kind of round golf bal.

- Similar gall.

- Gall, yeah.

Some can get very large golf ba.

- Okay.

Golly, okay.

- Golly.

(laughs) This is a trick one.

Rich in Superior, he planted all the veggies in mid May and they didn't even germinate.

When do you plant?

- So he planted them in the gro, apparently?

- He planted in the ground in mid May.

He replanted in June, like the fourth or fifth.

When should you be planting?

- So do we seed it again, - [Karen] Uh-huh - right?

Well, I mean, you'll have better luck if you seed indoors and then you get them to germin, you have much more control and then you transplant out.

But even, Bob you've said, transplant and seed at the same time, so then if something gets the transplant, then at least the seed can germ.

And you're gonna need to water all those anyway.

- Or vice versa, if the seed doesn't emerge, then the transplant, but it's a good question.

- Yeah - Because seeding and germinatin really requires adequate moistue and it requires warmer temperat.

So it can take a long time to ge and it's gotta stay moist that entire time.

So you're almost better to let the soils warm up and then make sure you provide continuous water until the seed germinates.

- Adequately - And we have to leave it there.

You guys, this is so fun.

And I know that we get to be back in the fall and we'll be checking in on everybody's great gardens, of course.

And thank you guys.

- Yeah, it was our pleasure.

It went fast.

- Yeah.

- It did.

- Yeah.

- Thanks to all the people sending great, great questions .

- Yes.

- Yes, and contributing.

Now you can check out our YouTube channel and subscribe and get updates throughout the growing season.

The tips are drawn from experts across the region.

And from all of us here, thank you for watching and for supporting "Great Gardening."

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