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

I'm Chris Cooper.

A good yard and garden takes years to establish, but when you move, you have to start over.

Today, we're gonna talk about how to get off on the right foot with a new yard.

Also, there are certain plants you don't want if you have pets.

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 Dr. Natalie Bumgarner.

Dr. Natalie is the Residential and Consumer Horticulture specialist for UT Extension.

And Joellen Dimond will be joining me later.

All right Doc, let's talk about getting this yard started.

- Yeah, so this is actually a fun question that, I mean we're getting a lot.

I mean, I'm sure you are, you know, in your role as well.

- All the time.

- So we have folks, moving in to the state.

We have a whole new generation that's buying homes for the first time.

- First time, right.

- And of course, you know, folks who moved.

So I think that this is a really great time to help people get established well in a lot of, you know, the base principles and practices of horticulture.

- Right, 'cause, yeah, a lot of these folks have moved into homes and they've inherited this yard.

So what do I do with it?

That's what they're asking, so.

- Yeah.

So I think that as early in that conversation, of course, I always like to figure out, are we talking about an out-of-state move in?

Are we talking about, you know, first time?

I think that- - Good question.

- That climate comes into play, right?

Because we have a lot of folks who may be moving to the area, who may be retiring, and so, are you moving south?

Have you come, you know, from the north?

And so a lot of that mindset about, you know, growing climates, it comes into play when you think about turf grass, when you think about, you know, selection of species.

So, knowing really the temperature ranges, the climate zone, those are things that I always like to talk about.

- That's good, that's good.

- Yeah, of course, your Crosstown folks, you don't have to worry about that as much.

And then, we think about some more specifics on the site.

And so, I'm smiling because we've now made it, what, a minute and a half and we're just about to say, take a soil test, right?

- Yeah, yeah.

Finally.

- Yeah, yeah.

It's as long as any extension person ever makes it into a conversation without bringing up soil testing.

- That's right.

Yeah, why guess, soil test, right?

- Yeah, right.

- Get a soil test, okay.

- Yeah.

And so I think that even if you're familiar with the concept, it's important to be really detailed about the practices, right?

So your lawn would be different from a landscape bed, which would be different, potentially, from your garden site, And I would say that especially if this is a whole new area, I would probably sample, I would over-sample rather than under-sample, initially.

Because you don't really know how that site has been managed.

And so, you know, having separate samples for the lawn, for the landscape, you know, for other growing areas might help you narrow down differences that maybe you didn't know of.

- Okay, I like that.

All right, good deal.

Yeah, so get your soil tested, right?

- Yeah.

- All right.

- I mean, I know when I got my soil tested when I moved to my house, the lawn, for instance, was high in P, it was high in K. And so I found out phosphorus and potassium very early on, that a complete fertilizer was not what I needed.

So those are important things, even if you're not gonna make any big changes.

But the soil test will allow you to then, you know, get recommendations based on, you know, your site.

Make sure you rule out pH and things like that.

- Okay, good deal.

- And then we want to start to think about, okay, I've kind of laid the foundation.

I know some of the basics about my climate, about my soil, now, kind of doing assessment of the plant material and what we have.

- Okay.

- And oftentimes this discussion will include ID, right?

- Of course it does.

- Yeah.

- One of our other favorite things.

And so thinking about what species do I have?

Are they performing well in that site?

Because just because it's there doesn't mean that, you know, we need to keep it.

- That's right, it doesn't mean it's happy either, right?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Because we want our plant material to survive and thrive.

- Right, right.

- Got it.

- And those kinds of decisions are true for lawns as well as landscapes.

It may be that we're inheriting a lot of cool-season grasses that struggle and, you know, larger changes might be better, you know, to a warm-season grass.

So we want to, you know, make a detailed assessment and maybe even draw a little map, right.

So sometimes it can be helpful to, you know, to kind of map out, pick out your trouble spots, and use this in conjunction with the soil test information.

- I like that.

That's good.

- And then we get to the fun part.

- Ah, it's the fun part, right?

- Yeah.

Because then we get to make our landscape plans based on our own needs and desires.

- I do like that.

- Yeah.

- Good deal.

- So then we wanna think about, you know, what our own goals are.

Are there kids?

Are there pets?

You know, how do we really want to use this space?

Because we don't have to keep the percentage of lawn versus landscape.

There could be lots of ways that we could adjust.

You know, large plants or trees wouldn't necessarily have to remain if we needed more sun, if we needed more, you know, space.

So that kind of gives us the opportunity to decide what we really want.

Do we want outdoor living?

Do we want, you know, flowering?

Do we love lawn?

All of those are fine, right?

- All of those are fine.

- Yeah.

- Right.

- And then we can integrate, you know, broader principles as far as sustainability.

You know, are we making sure that we install things that are water efficient?

Are they well placed?

Well, we're gonna use all the cliches, right?

So we've already said... - Right plant, right place.

- Yeah.

- Right plant, right place.

- Yeah, yeah.

And so those are our two favorite Extension phrases right there.

And then once we kind of have those basic principles, then we can start to build, you know, our landscape plan onto that.

And I think that what I always try to encourage folks is, don't start at an overwhelming pace.

- Yes.

- Move slow.

- I so agree, move slow.

Just a little bit at a time.

- Yeah.

- A little bit at a time.

Okay, I like that.

- And I mean, I know even in my own landscape, I just kind of did, you know, a bed at a time, and kind of, you know, over time then you're able to install your vision.

I repainted my house to match my shrubs.

- How about that, look at you.

- You know?

- Oh my gosh.

- Yeah.

- All right.

Serious.

- Yeah, but then you can add in smaller-scale food production, wildlife support.

And so kind of thinking about different areas over a period of time gives you a chance to focus and, you know, learn new types of gardening.

Maybe this is the raised bed year, maybe this is the small fruit year.

So I think that, you know, learn new options, enjoy it, and don't feel like it all has to be done at the same time.

- I like that.

I like that.

And then, of course, you know, this hits home for you because you've moved to Tennessee from West Virginia, so you had to learn about soil types, you know, sites, drainage and things like that, so.

- Yeah, so it's funny.

When I told my best friend that I was moving to Tennessee, she was like, "Well, Tennessee, what do we grow there?"

I said, "Solid crape myrtle territory."

- Right.

- Because, you know, for my folks at home, like, I mean, you could plant 'em, they just may not survive for very many years.

- That's funny, yeah.

- And so, yes, I do describe states by new species.

I've really enjoyed being on the seven line, because there's a lot of things that I really hadn't grown very much until I moved here.

And it's true when you move north as well, right?

- That's true.

- You get into stronger lilac and rhododendron territory if you move north.

- That's right.

Something we can't grow well here.

- Yeah.

- Right, exactly right.

I like that, good deal.

All right, so yeah.

If all else fails, locate your local extension office.

- Right, yeah.

So know your site, know your options, and make good friends.

- Make good friends.

- With your resources.

We have great folks that'll help you with these things.

And, you know, a lot of good businesses in the area that provide great plant material.

So I think, enjoy the process, you know?

- Enjoy the process, she says, I think she enjoyed her process.

- Yeah.

- Thank you much, Doc.

We appreciate that.

It's good.

[upbeat country music] - So I'm an Extension Specialist with the University of Tennessee, and a very common question that I get is, "What exactly is Extension?"

So it's a really fun part of the public universities that we work for.

They're called Land-Grants, and we have them, many of them, all across the country.

And so we do research in very applied areas, in food production, in nutrition.

And then that research is delivered through university employees, that are Extension service, and they are based in county or regional offices all throughout the states in which they are affiliated.

So each Land-Grant university has an affiliated Extension system, and those Extension personnel are dedicated to providing free information that's research-based to improve the lives of the citizens in their area.

It can be on agricultural production, as well as lawns, landscapes, nutrition, youth.

It's the service that we provide to our citizens, supported by our great public institutions.

[upbeat country music] - All right, Joellen.

Plants to avoid around pets, really?

- Yeah, pets, yeah.

I have a couple of pets that actually like to eat some.

One of them likes to eat tomatoes.

And that's on the list.

No, you don't eat tomatoes, for dogs.

- So Chevy eats tomatoes.

- Chevy eats tomatoes.

- So does Glory?

- Well, Glory eats, she will run in the backyard and she grabs some of my perennials, and she'll chew on and eat 'em before I say, "Stop, stop, stop."

But, luckily, it's not on this list.

[laughs] So I'm not gonna worry.

- Alright, so let's find out what's on the list then.

- Let's find out what's on the list.

We're gonna go through an some annuals first.

Begonias, believe it or not.

Begonias are on the list.

Coleus.

A lot of these are common plants.

Forget-me-nots, and there's a lot of seed of that that people put out.

Geraniums.

Lantana.

- Really?

- And lantana has liver toxicity with it for pets.

So that's not a good one.

- Wow, didn't know that.

- Some larkspur.

And, of course, the Christmas poinsettia.

I mean, some people will plant it outside, and so it'd be a possibility that pets could get around it.

And if the leaves fall off of it inside, you know, during the Christmas holidays, you don't want your pets to eat those either.

So be careful with that.

Then there's, of course, the perennials.

And there are more on the list than this, but I'm gonna go on the ones that are most common.

Some of the perennials are Asclepias, which everybody plants as the butterfly weed for the monarchs.

Well, that's fine, but if your pets get ahold of it, it's not good for them either.

So keep it away.

Carnations is another one.

Dianthus.

Chrysanthemum.

Of course, that makes sense because there's chemicals for killing insects made with Chrysanthemum.

So you know, that wouldn't be good for, you know, Fido or Fluffy.

- Yeah.

- Then there's Dahlias.

Dahlias aren't good for animals.

Daisies.

And Foxglove.

Now, Foxglove is probably, you're gonna see it out blooming in the nurseries and stuff, but just remember that there is cardiotoxic chemicals in it, which affects hearts of the pets.

- Cardio, huh?

- Yeah, cardio.

So it's cardiotoxic, don't get those.

Iris is another one.

Lenton rose, one of my favorites.

Yeah.

And it's evergreen, it's gonna be around all the time, but don't let your pets chew on it.

Lily of the valley.

And mayapples, you know, out in the woods.

- Yeah.

- Don't let Fido or Fluffy eat on those either.

Peonies, that have just finished blooming.

Those are also on the list.

And Yarrow.

- Yarrow, okay.

- And then we're gonna move into herbs, vegetables, and fruits.

- Wow, you shocked me already with this.

- I know.

This is, this is-- Alliums.

Garlic and onions, you know, and then ornamental ones, don't let 'em chew on those either.

And of course, then there's apples, cherries, plums.

The seeds of all of those have cyanide in 'em.

So that's not good.

And a lot of people will let them fall on the ground, leave 'em on the ground.

- Yeah.

- That's when the animals can get ahold of them.

But besides that, even the leaves and the stems are not good because they have chemicals in 'em that are toxic to animals.

So just think about it, if you wanna toss a stick, or you know, there's loose sticks in the yard and the, you know, animals go and catch 'em and try to play, you know, they tear 'em up.

It's not good because those are not good trees to have around for your pets.

- Oh, man.

- Citrus fruit too.

Now, citrus fruit, a lot of people have citrus fruits that they bring in and outside around here.

- Okay, yeah.

- So those are not good.

The fruit, the actual fruit themselves is okay.

It's the coating, the waxy coating around.

And even the leaves and the stems, again, is not good for 'em.

- Like your lemon and lime.

Wow, okay.

- I know.

And then of course, grapes and raisins also.

Those can cause acute kidney failure in dogs and cats.

- Wow.

- So be careful with those.

And mint family.

You know, you plant a mint, it gets really big.

- Sure.

- Those are not good for your pets either.

Peppers, not good for your pets.

And of course, tomatoes, like we talked about before.

Aloe vera is not good either.

And it's good for us, but it's not good for your pets.

And of course there's a lot of other spices that are not good for your pets.

And just think about it, when you're cooking, you use these spices, and Fido gets a bite, or the cat gets a bite.

Well, if it's got some of the spices that they don't need to have in the herbs, you know, you're not doing the dog a favor by giving 'em those.

So just be careful.

Just be careful.

- Because of course I'm thinking about catmint.

- Well, yeah.

But believe it or not, parsley is also one of the things that you cannot give to animals.

- Wow.

- It's not good for 'em.

- Good for caterpillars.

Alright.

- So we'll go on to bulbs.

Amaryllis, Caladiums.

Of course, there's a lot of problems with Caladiums.

Even people have problems with Caladiums.

Crocus, daffodils.

You know, daffodils are deer resistant.

Well, you know, your pets shouldn't be eaten daffodils either.

Gladiolas, those are not good for your pets.

Hyacinths.

And a lot of the lilies.

Not all the lilies, but a lot of the lilies are bad.

And the tulips, not good.

- And tulips, wow.

- Don't let them eat those either.

Some of the vines that aren't good.

- Vines?

- Clematis, English and Boston ivy is not good for pets.

And that's, you know, that you could have that all over your yard.

- Yes.

- Morning glory and Wisteria.

And you know, you find wisteria in the the woods.

The seeds and pods and stuff, don't let your dogs and cats play with those.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Then shrubs.

- Shrubs?

- Shrubs, Azaleas and Rhododendrons.

And in fact, they are one of the cardiotoxins, again.

- Okay.

- And just a few azalea leaves can be toxic to your dog.

Yeah, not good.

Boxwood, burning bush, the Euonymus.

That's not good.

Gardenia.

Those are not good for pets.

Hydrangeas.

They are also cardiotoxic.

So that affects their heart too, as is Japanese Pieris.

That is also a cardiotoxic plant to have around.

And of course one thing they're gonna encounter, just almost everywhere, is privet.

And privet is not good for dogs and cats either.

I dunno how you can get away with that.

I mean, it's in the woods, it's everywhere.

But it's not good for them to eat.

But how many times have you, you know, seen people, getting rid of the privet and the sticks are around, and the dogs are running around the neighborhood.

That's not good for your pet.

And then of course, oak trees.

The oak, the acorns are not good for your dogs to ingest.

And I actually caught one of my dogs with, you know, I said, "What are you chewing on?"

I opened up their mouth and there's an acorn.

I'm like, "stop eating stuff like that".

I don't know why, but they do it.

And that's one of the things to watch out for.

So just watch your pets.

You know, be careful, and observe them.

Don't just let them out there for them to themselves and don't watch what they're doing.

- Right.

- The best list that there is around of toxic and non-toxic plants is on the aspca.org website.

They have long lists of things to look at.

'Cause this is just the most common ones that I've picked out.

- Okay.

And we'll have a link to that.

But those are just the most common.

- Those are the most common.

- That's a lot of common plants.

- That's a lot of common plants that I have in my yard.

- Right, that a lot of people-- - A lot of people have in their yard.

That's why I say, well see, you notice I caught my dogs when they were doing stuff.

So I knew what they were, you know, ingesting or trying to ingest.

And I tried and I stopped them.

So that's what you've gotta do.

Pay attention to your pets.

- Gotta pay attention.

All right, Joellen, that's good stuff.

So we gotta keep Fido and Fluffy safe, right?

- Keep 'em safe.

- And Glory and Chevy.

- Yeah.

- Gotta keep 'em safe, good stuff.

Alright.

[upbeat country music] - Typically I use three basic fertilizers in my vegetable garden.

The first one is 6-12-12.

You know, it's nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

On root crops like carrots, beets, radishes, you don't want a lot of nitrogen, otherwise you're gonna get a lot of foliage but no fruit.

So by having it 6-12-12, more of it goes into the actual growing of the bulbs, carrots, beets.

34-0-0, which is all nitrogen, no phosphorus and potassium, I like to use this on green crops.

So I use 34-0-0 on crops like lettuce, broccoli, spinach, or your various greens that you grow.

For all else, like squash, cucumbers, watermelon, corn, tomatoes, I like a balanced fertilizer.

In this case I use 15-15-15.

But you can just use 10-10-10.

Except when you're using 10-10-10, you use a little bit more.

Using 15-15-15 you use a little bit less.

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

These are great questions.

You ready?

All right.

Here's our first viewer email.

"How do I get rid of a quarter acre of bamboo established 50 years ago?"

And this is from Bill.

We're talking bamboo, 50 years established.

- There's just no way to say this other than, this is gonna be a challenge.

- This is gonna be tough.

- I mean, with time and with a lot of sweat.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

- So a couple of things that come to mind for me, of course we know bamboo's in the grass family.

- Yeah.

- You gotta get as much of the root mass as possible.

That's number one.

- Yeah.

- It might be some machinery involved in that.

Number two, if you mow often enough, maybe you can deplete the rhizomes of the carbohydrates.

- Yeah.

- Maybe?

- No, I would agree.

I think that it'll be a process.

And there's always, you know, the option combined with mowing there, you know, might be some herbicide options.

And for, you know, scale of course, everybody needs to make their own decisions about that.

But for this large an area, you know, it's something to consider.

There are barriers.

I'm telling you the barriers, they crack me up.

Because people will talk about, "Well, you could pour concrete", but then over time the concrete will have a crack and those, you know-- - Come right through it.

- It is, yeah.

So we were talking about one of the, you know, one of the more progressive, challenging, weedy options.

- Yes.

Definitely gonna be a challenge.

- Yeah.

- If you can't get all of the root mass, I would just mow it and mow it and mow it and mow it.

And hopefully-- - Weaken, weaken, weaken.

- You can deplete it of its carbohydrates.

And then you did mention the herbicide option as a non-selective option that you can use.

Just read and follow the label on that.

But it's still gonna be multiple, multiple, multiple applications.

- Yes.

I mean, no matter what you do, there's no silver bullet on this one.

- All right, Mr. Bill, good luck.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I have a skip laurel "that got bad winter burn this past winter.

"It is three years old "and seems really happy in this location.

"It has more than doubled inside since planting.

"I find some green wood under the bark "and some sprouting down low.

"How hard should I prune it ba ck to help the shrub recover?

"If I need to prune back more than 50%, "I would rather replace it.

"It's under a ledge against the house "facing south, southeast.

What are common reasons for this condition?"

And this is Brian from Thompson's Station, Tennessee.

So the old skip laurel, having some issues with a little winter burn.

I can see that little freeze damage from the winds.

- Oh, it has been variable all through this season, this spring.

- Okay, and we always tell folks if you can find that green tissue... - It's a good sign.

- It's a good sign, right?

- Yeah.

- So what do you think about that, though?

I mean, do you cut it all the way back to the green tissue and you reduce the plant by 50%?

Would you keep it, plant something else?

- Yeah, I mean, I think that, I would answer that in the, you know, in the context of the broader planting area, the site.

You know, because he does mention then it's under a ledge.

And so, you know, I started to think about site drainage, some of those things I would, you know, make that in context of, is this really a high quality species or is it potentially time to think about replacing it.

- Maybe it is time to think about replacing it, moving it, you know, perhaps.

But look, I like for folks to be citizen scientists, right.

If you wanna reduce about 50 cent-- fifty percent, not fifty cent.

Yeah, just see what happens though.

- Yeah.

- I'd be curious to see what happens to it.

I mean, they grow relatively fast.

- Yeah.

- So I'll just, yeah, I'll do it just to see.

- Well, and you know, because they're already willing to replace if necessary, it's sort of a win-win and you know, in some ways.

- Yeah.

I guess, for me, I'm just curious.

It's just like to see what happens, you know.

And if it doesn't come back then of course you can replace it.

- Yeah.

I had a lot of damage in a variety of, it was a rough gardenia year for me.

- Okay, yeah.

I think it's a rough year for everybody, for the most part.

So thank you for that question, Brian, we appreciate that.

All right, here's our next viewer email.

"I know of an area in Pennsylvania "where grape hyacinth has been growing wild "and naturalizing for decades.

"I would like to transplant some into my garden in Maryland.

"This past weekend I tried to dig them with a trowel, "but it seemed like we were unable to dig deep enough "to find a bulb.

"Is it possible that grape hyacinth bulbs "are just too deep to dig "since they've been growing in that location for so many years?"

And this is More Must Be Better on YouTube.

Like that, More Must Be Better.

So what do you think?

Is it possible that they're just too deep.

- I think we may just need larger shovel.

- Okay, that's what I thought.

- Yeah.

- Larger shovel, dig down a little deeper.

Because look, they shouldn't be any deeper than about what, five inches?

- Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't think, we'll plant actually shallower than that if we were establishing them again.

And of course there is a risk, of course, if you dig them too shallow, then you just take the tops and you know, you miss the bulb.

But I smiled at this question because grape hyacinths in, you know, I grew up in more northern climates than where I live now in Tennessee.

And so they were just a great bulb.

And we are getting to the part now-- I have 'em growing all over my yard.

I never thought of them, you know, as a mildly invasive species, but they move pretty well.

- They move pretty well.

I have some in my landscape as well.

I have dug some up before.

- Yeah.

- Didn't have to dig to deep.

- Yeah.

Where I have them they're only three or four inches.

- Yeah, three or four inches.

But yeah, a bigger shovel.

I mean, that's exactly what I thought of.

And that should get it for you, More Must Be Better.

Thank you for that question.

All right, that was fun.

Hope you enjoyed it.

- Yeah.

- All right.

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.

Thanks for watching.

If you want more information about getting a garden or landscape started in a new place, or about the plants that are dangerous for pets, head on over to FamilyPlotGarden.com.

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

Be safe.

[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]