Making it Grow is brought to you in part by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture Certified South Carolina Grown helps consumers identify, find, and buy South Carolina products.

Mcleod Farms in Mcbee, South Carolina.

This family farm offers seasonal produce including over 22 varieties of peaches, additional funding provided by International Paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance.

♪ (Making it Grow opening music) ♪ ♪ Good evening and welcome to Making It Grow.

We're so glad you can join us here tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty.

I'm a Clemson Extension agent.

...I get to come over here on Tuesdays surrounded by people who knows so many things.

I learned so much, and we hope that you learn as well.

Terasa Lott is an indispensable member of our team.

If you aren't a member, if you don't follow us on Facebook, you really should, because Terasa, you put so many wonderful pictures on there all the time.

>> Why thank you.

I try, but that's mostly thanks to everyone who shares their photos.

>> Yeah, we do encourage people to send them to us and if they don't want to - they don't do Facebook, they can always email you something I think just at Terasa T-E-R-A-S-A.

She's a ray of sunshine at Clemson.edu.

Then Keith Mearns is the Director of Grounds, which is a minor description of what he has to do at Historic Columbia, because they have about seven or eight properties, >> Six properties, yeah.

>> It's a lot or grounds.

>> About 14 acres worth.

>> It's a lot of grounds.

>> It's just wonderful and I think one of the fun things you're doing in the summertime cause nothing's fun in the Fall when it's hot, but the Robert Mills House to me has got to be fascinating because it's going to serve as an example of how you could have a traditional kind of 18th century, 19th century garden using native plants.

>> Yeah We're switching that side over to native plants instilling the English landscape design.

>> That's pretty interesting.

Can't wait to see it when it's done.

We'll come up and have a filming with you when the weather is cool.

How about that?

Paul Thompson is the Extension Agent up in York County.

Paul, one of the things that I think you have is a pretty large community garden.

>> Yeah we have, well the master gardeners have to plant our own garden in Fort Mill, <Amanda> - which helps support needy organizations.

>> Right, but I'm involved with community garden in Chester.

We got 21 raised beds, plus some in ground stuff and grew watermelons under that nursery fabric I talked about.

Just a blank area.

Didn't know if that would work very well with that black material, but the watermelons loved it.

>> Good.

>> And they were very clean.

>> Yeah?

>> Kept the disease down and that kind of thing >> I guess it did.

Yeah, well good for you.

it's fun to go up to pick a watermelon.

You have to know when the right curly q. is dry or something.

>> I don't know about the curly q.

<Amanda> Did they taste pretty good?

>> Yeah.

>> Good I'm glad.

>> We got some good watermelons out of there.

>> I'm delighted.

Okay.

I hope you had a big enough refrigerator to put one in and get it cool.

That's the problem with watermelons.

Although, now they got those little bitty ones Well, Terasa, I know that people are so kind at sharing.

I hope they're proud of their gardens.

They send you pictures and we can start with Gardens of the Week.

>> Absolutely, I love this part of the show where we get to take sort of what I've called a virtual field trip to see your yards and gardens.

We're going to begin with Diana O'Neal.

She shared some lavender and sage that she was drying on it looked like a kitchen table.

Betty Simmons sent us a photo, a combination pot with a Datura and a Kalanchoe and then from Debbie McGee, we have sort of a tropical look with...one of the ginger Curcuma species.

Lantana with a butterfly is the subject of a photo from, I believe you say it, Kim (Pain) or (Pay-own-nee) I apologize if I have missed pronounced your name.

We're going to wrap up with another tropical feel.

This is from Shane who shared a bromeliad flowering in front of the pool.

I think I would like to be in front of that pool.

Wouldn't that be nice?

>> I'd like to be in the pool (both laugh) Speaking of curcumas, I think a good many shows ago, you came with - you and Keith talked a lot about the new varieties and types that are out there and I bet Sean will put a link up to that so people could go back and review that because it's a field.

When I was a little girl, there was one you could have and now it's a just a huge, huge area and thank you for sharing that information with us and people can always go to Historic Columbia and walk around for free and see all those things in bloom.

It's pretty fun to go up there.

Well, Terasa, I bet we've got some questions and so let's start and see what we can do to help people.

>> Sure thing.

This comes in from Julia in Union.

She says, "Help!

", with an exclamation point.

The deer think my hostas are candy.

What else can I plant that they won't devour.

<Amanda> Oh boy!

Those deer.

They are something.

Paul, have you got any suggestions for these people?

>> I sure do.

I have a few things right here, that's a good selection.

These are all one species of plants that are different selections of the same thing.

>> This just represents a small sample I think of everything that's out there.

>> Right.

I got a picture of another one - <Amanda> The Giganteum, maybe.

<Paul> Yeah, the Giganteum.

I'm trying to think of the genus Farfugium.

Yeah.

>> They change it on us all the time.

<Paul> ...I had been these and kind of thought them as being an exotic type thing for a while and I went down to Fripp island with my brothers and their wives.

It's been a few days, and the deer were just everywhere on Fripp Island, and I started seeing that Farfugium Gigantea everywhere, in everybody's yards, planted in the similar place you would put hostas, shaded areas.

These tolerate a little more dryness than hostas would, and anyway you've got selections here of a variegated form, one they just commonly refer to as a parsley leaf form and then one that's often called Leopard spot, where you have these yellow polka dots that are just kind of random on the leaves, which turns some people on.

To me, I've always looked at them and thought, oh what is that leaf spot disease that plant has?

It's still a very interesting plant and aside from days another plant to consider that's deer proof is...your hellebores.

...Hellebores have come such a long way in the past 10, 15 years, with all the selections and hybrids and flowers that stand up and look up at you instead of the typical look down at the ants, flowers, and I think >> They're good for dry shade, aren't they?

<Paul> They also do well in dry shade and the deer won't touch them.

There's also a lot of ferns that the deer won't touch.

So, you've got a lot of choices other than hostas.

>> Talk about - now this used to be called Ligularia and sometimes the common name is tractor seat plant, because the big one.

>> Yeah, it looks kind of like the old John Deere tractor seat, >> And the big one I mean, they're <Amanda> - a big, a big behind.

(laughs) <Amanda> Yeah, but let's talk, also I mean, in addition to, I think having beautiful foliage, I think it has pretty colorful, bright flowers.

<Paul> It does.

It'll have a spike of yellow flowers in the late summer, early fall period.

They're kind of a surprise on the plant because they're a daisy like flower, and it just doesn't look like it belongs on this broad leafy, kind of herbaceous looking thing, but they're kind of a surprise, It blooms well even in the shade.

yeah you get that for Fall interest as well.

>> Can it take part sun or does it need deep shade?

>> I would imagine, it could ...get a little bit of early morning sun and be fine.

>> Okay.

Definitely afternoon shade, for sure.

>> Okay, all right and so at Fripp Island that's stunning, because I just know that even plants that sometimes we say are deer resistant at places like that, get chewed up and so this one apparently, they just do not like.

<Paul> No, they won't touch them.

<Amanda> That's wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Farfugium >> Farfugium.

>> Or tractor seat plant.

>>There we go.

<Amanda> If you want to remember tractors.

We had a visit recently from our dear friend, Tony Melton and it was wonderful to have him come over and see us as you know, Tony's retired but he just can't stop helping people with problems in their Gardens and in their yards and we thought it would be fun when he came over to talk about Tony's early life, because he really has had a fascinating career.

So, let's have a visit with our dear friend Tony Melton.

I'm here today happily sitting next to my wonderful friend Tony Melton, Who, gosh Tony, I probably learned more about horticulture and farming with you sitting here on the set of Making It Grow than all those years at Clemson.

>> Well, I've been around.

I had seen a lot of things in my 60 years of being out there.

That's even, because I started picking cotton when I was three years old.

>> You got a cute little story about that.

Tell me.

>> Yeah, My grand-daddy, he took a flour sack.

<Amanda> A flour sack.

>> And put a little strap on it.

...and I could drag it through the fields and start picking cotton, because the cotton, they weren't tall cotton, because it was short cotton, and we called it bumble bee cotton.

>> Bumblebee?

>> Yeah, the bumblebee would bump it's butt against the ground when he tried to pollinate, because it was so short, because of the dry conditions up on that sandy land in McBee.

>> Yeah, that McBee it's hard to grow a crop there.

>> It is.

It's tough to grow anything.

I think it's an amazing testament to farmers and things they can grow on that type of soil.

Today we got irrigation.

We didn't have it in those days, but back in those days, you had to find the right soil and the right place, which is good to do anyway.

It's not - just try to find a good place - quality soil that really makes a crop.

>> - and that suits the crop, yeah.

That's one reason, I guess that our wonderful friends, the McLeods, Kemp says that McBee's really just like the beach without the girls in the bathing suits, because you're a big sand dune, but that's good for peach roots.

It keeps them from rotting so much.

There's some advantages to that.

>> Drainage.

Drainage is very important.

We found that out the last few years.

A lot of crops have drowned.

It don't take long.

I usually say about three hours of water.

<Amanda> Standing?

>> of most vegetables standing, and you could have dead fields, huge dead fields and then you're out of luck.

>> People just don't realize too much water is just as bad as not enough sometimes.

You went on, your family, y'all were almost kind of subsistence - although your father had a wonderful job, but, y'all really grew your food.

>> Yep we really did.

I worked.

We always, all of us worked.

We started out.

I helped with picking cotton for grand-daddy I think was five cent a pound, but we always grew - Daddy had this large piece of land, that he grew crops and stuff on.

We grow butter beans and peas.

We'd pick them and he's sell of them.

Corn, sweet corn, and we'd have some of that and we'd grow that, and he'd sell some of it but most of it was used to feed our family >> - because you got a big family.

>> Yep.

I was number eight.

I was number eight.

I was the baby of the group and then they adopted another.

There was nine of us total, and then there was a lot to be growing.

Then when I got through picking cotton, grand-daddy changed crops because he couldn't do cotton no more because the cotton pickers was coming around at the time then.

Then we started out with butter beans.

Grand-daddy was picking.

That's like going from the frying pan - That's tough to get down and pick butter beans all day and I remember I used to make 50 cents a bucket.

>> ...Tony, you still butter beans and southern peas have been a large part of your work and research, I believe, even after you got to Clemson when you went to experimental farm, you would not believe Doctor Ogle did a lot of work on trying to get some larger southern peas.

>> That's right.

We did.

We worked to develop the varieties, Colossus, Colossus 80, Hercules Ogle variety, and one of my biggest babies that I worked with totally from front to back was Clemson purple.

<Amanda> Clemson purple.

>> Clemson purple is a still good one.

Well, they're all good, but there are bigger ones and people have kind of fallen away from the big seeded ones.

They want the smaller seeded ones, but Clemson Purple is doing good.

>> I think you even did some work on improving the okra that Clemson is so famous for.

>> Clemson's Spineless 80.

We went to Clemson's Spineless and brought it.

What we did we selected for consistency.

In other words, you can look out through the field and you can see one end to the other It was all the same.

So we took the Clemson Spineless and slated it for consistency so it would have the same plant from one end to the other, so you could pick it and handle it a lot easier.

Yeah, there's a lot of other crops including Carolina Hot, which was a pepper.

We helped develop the Carolina hot pepper, which was not the Carolina reaper, but the Carolina Hot.

It's just not a real hot pepper.

>> Hot enough to use without killing yourself.

>> That's right.

I tell you, these days, people love spicy foods, Amanda.

>> Tony, but then you got a master's degree and you became an Extension Agent.

Where did they send you first?

>> I came down from the horticulture department at Clemson where I was growing crops in the Clemson bottoms.

<Amanda> Yep, still there today.

>> It's still there today beside the football field.

Came down to Florence, Darlington County to help farmers grow the different crops that are in that area, all the vegetable type crops.

And then butter beans, still.

People in South Carolina love their butter beans.

especially their speckle.

They like them and they like that colored, we call it liquor.

It's a dark liquor.

>> The pot likker.

It takes on the color from that speckled in the beans.

>> That's right and they love to take the corn bread and sop up that pot likker.

>> We all do.

Yeah.

>> Yes it's wonderful.

>> So, you became a small fruit veg specialist and a vegetable specialist.

You've really had a lot of counties in which you tried to help the farmers.

>> Moved here from down two or three counties and moved up to 10 or 12.

I have been blessed to work with some of the greatest people on the face of this earth.

A lot of the farmers and I would call each other brothers.

If I was too old, they would call me uncle.

(laughs) Uncle Tony.

Then, a lot of my brothers, we just bonded together.

I think that's the main thing for a County agent.

Is the love of people.

Is to love what you're doing and helping to people and showing them and making South Carolina a better place for the people of South Carolina and loving folks.

That's county agents and they ...all County agents should know that.

You don't work for Clemson University.

You work for the people of South Carolina.

You're there to help the people of South Carolina and make a better life for their folk.

>> ...by doing that you show and tell them the ways to best be stewards of the land at the same time.

>> That's right.

>> So, you're protecting our environment and helping these people stay sustainable as farmers, so that they can keep that land in agriculture.

We want to keep every bit of land and agriculture.

That's the basis of the Extension service, right there.

It does work, that we are here to help folks take care of the land, take care of themselves, and really take care of the world around us.

>> I know you're glad to see Tony.

We sure are glad to have him over here with us, and thanks to Mitzi, his sweet bride, who drove him and she said she'll bring him back to see us.

Well, Terasa, I think we got something else in your stack of questions.

Let's try to get another one answered.

>> Questions are endless.

This is from Angela in Beaufort.

I really like tropical plants but don't have enough sun for hibiscus.

What would be a good substitute for part shade?

<Amanda> My goodness.

Well, Keith, you've got on your 17 acres or however many it is, every exposure in the world.

Have you got a suggestion for us?

>> Oh yes, a lot of our plantings are very sub-tropical in nature.

So, the direction we're going...wise.

>> Yes.

>> We try to find something to fill all the garden niches, and there's one genus of plants, it's really good for a sort of part shade situation and they're very tropical and that genus is Abutilon and the common name for this interestingly enough is Flowering Maple.

The leaves do resemble a maple leaf.

<Amanda> Alright.

<Keith> but they're not arranged in an opposite way, which maples are.

So there's a difference there and plus maple trees don't quite have a flower like this.

This is in the mallow family or the hibiscus family, which is obviously related to the genus hibiscus.

...and there's a lot actually different selections of Abutilon and a lot of them start out as house plants in conservatories and they function really well in that capacity, but as it turns out in our climate a lot of them are also ground hearty, and sometimes they die down in the ground, and sometimes they don't, but most of the time they make it through, which is really nice.

And they come up and they have a nice tropical feel in a part sun situation with some nice even moisture.

>> Yes.

>>...we have an example of one here, and this... particular one is called Biltmore Ballgown.

I want to say it was, if not discovered at least made popular by Biltmore Estate.

As you can see the flowers are pendant hanging down there.

Hummingbirds actually as it turns out, really like these flowers, and I think bumblebees too.

We don't see them set seed too much.

I've never seen any seedlings.

...it's not something that's going to take over your garden or seed around, really easily controlled.

...if you want to do cuttings on them, they will root and you can have a few house plants, as well.

If you want to do that.

>> How big do you think this is going to get?

Will it fill up it's space nicely eventually?

<Keith> They tend not to get very wide.

They tend to grow up and to have a somewhat of a miniature tree look to them.

<Amanda> Really?

>> Now, you can pinch them back, a little bit if you want them to be tighter, and give them a little bit more sun and they'll be a bit tighter.

>> Do they have an extended blooming time throughout the summer?

>> So they will begin blooming probably in late June.

They'll just continue all the way until frost.

>>Whenever, the heck that's... >> That's right.

[laughs] It could be months and months and months.

Okay Well thanks so much.

So, it's pretty care free once you get it established >> Yeah, there's no pest problems really or diseases.

>> Okay.

Thank you so very much.

Well, Terasa, let's see if we can knock another one off the list of things we need to talk about.

<Terasa> Alright.

This one is an identification question.

Frederick in Moncks Corner said, I found this little flower growing in the woodlands on my property in Berkeley County.

Can you identify it?

>> My goodness, a lovely town down that way.

Moncks Corner is really nice.

Paul, I think you got to look at the picture and did it... remind you of anything?

Could come up with something?

<Paul> ...well I wasn't really familiar with it at first.

I got a little help from Keith, but I immediately recognized it was in the mint family, because of the way the flower looked.

He referred to it as being a skull cap.

I looked a little further into it.

There are several different species, and looks as though that's the integrifolia species.

Scutellaria integrifolia seems to have a wide range of habitats from wooded pine woods, hardwoods to meadows.

...so quite versatile perennial plant.

>> ...for those of you who hadn't been to Moncks Corner, lately, they have a lovely little park there that has the Old Santee Canal gates or something.

It's historic, and the grounds are quite lovely and it's a lovely place to take a picnic and walk around, and it's got some nice shady spots.

So if you're down that way, I would certainly encourage you to go to the old - I think it's called the Old Santee State Canal Park.

...it's just a lovely place to go and while you're there you might enjoy riding around Moncks Corner, a nice historic community.

So, let's see.

Terasa I know I think this is when we are going to have our gardens spotlights.

...someone who has more than just one pretty part of their yard, which is sometimes in South Carolina it's challenging to have, to keep a whole yard looking good.

Isn't it?

>> Oh my goodness.

Yes, it's funny that you said it that way, because our spotlight is from Dia Daniels of Conway.

...She sent me a few photos, but I needed a few more and she's like, "I don't know if I'm "ready for this spotlight garden."

I was like, I'm sure you can find enough photographs.

...She did.

but Dia started in a typical kind of residential neighborhood, and she said it was a naked lot.

I hope I can say that on television.

...she's been slowly adding natives as she could find them.

and you can really see an amazing transformation in her before and after shots of her front yard.

She's got a nice buffer along the water's edge which you know that's near and dear to my heart and it's attractive to pollinators.

You can see, she's got some caterpillars of the black swallowtail feasting on her bronze fennel, and then a fenced area off her screened porch contains some landscape beds, a compost bin and a rain barrel.

So she's really got the environmentally friendly landscaping concept going on.

<Amanda> ...I was going to say if Tony were with us, he would remind you that if you weren't from New York and grown up in McBee, South Carolina, you'd probably say neck-ked instead of nay-ked.

...but tell us why it's nice to have things planted around the water sources, rather than just mowed down to the water, Terasa, please.

>> So, there are lots of reasons we would do that one, it's going to just help stabilize the edge of that pond, so your valuable property isn't washing away.

It also protects water quality, because the roots of those plants are going to be able to soak in and absorb things that might be washing across the landscape - all things, you know, bacteria from pet waste, excess fertilizers and pesticides, you name it.

Anything that we use can potentially end up in our water.

So that buffer is going to slow the water down.

Allow it to soak into the ground...then it can just be aesthetically pleasing, I think to have flowers around the edge.

>> ...I believe that you've told me that it also discourages the count of the geese; that they feel like a predator might be there, and although I mean I know it's some people interested in them and all that, but they can be a real nuisance around waterways and I believe if you have that planting there that would discourage them and they can make a mess of an area, pretty quickly.

>> Yes very messy, a lot of waste produced by those geese and you're right.

So, it can discourage them if you have an area where you'd like to start putting plants in though, you'll have to protect the plants from the geese or they will eat them down, before they have a chance to grow up.

We do know that they have a voracious appetite, and they produce a voracious amount of waste, as well, unfortunately.

...one thing about voracious appetites is I had one the other day, fortunately, because Craig Ness is one of our crew members.

He's the station manager here, as a matter of fact, has been telling us about a place he and his wife Sari love to go eat supper and he says, " It's just so wonderful and he's got a wonderful garden where he produces, gets a lot of the produce, and...Craig has real good taste.

I knew the food was good, but when we went up there to the Mediterranean Cafe and met Azmi Jebali and saw the - it's almost a farm that they have, and then what they do with the produce there, it's also used to supply people who are in need in the community, and then they bring it in to the cafe, between being a remarkable farmer, greenhouse production and then a chef extraordinaire.

It was a day to remember.

♪ I'm with Azmi Jebali and the Lexington Community Garden and Azmi, this is one heck of a garden.

...you actually have a whole regular job at a cafe, a restaurant.

>> Yes, ma'am.

I own a restaurant called the Mediterranean Cafe.

This farming idea started as a hobby and then I incorporated it with the restaurant as a Farm to Table way of doing business.

<Amanda> You grew up on a farm in Israel, I believe.

>> Yes ma'am.

>> Came here and studied and have done a variety of things, and obviously that need to have your hands in the dirt was strong.

>> I always had this in my blood, and it's the best thing...I enjoy it the most.

I always enjoyed farming and gardening, and I'm so happy.

I'm always happy when I'm here.

<Amanda> Y'all have a massive amount of produce coming out of this garden and help people who might need food.

How do you distribute it?

<Azmi> Yeah, so a friend of mine Scott Emil and his wife Susan had the idea for a nonprofit organization, a community garden and they needed help with that with the growing part of it.

...So, this is our third year actually.

We produce so much and we distribute it through the churches and ministries, the police department sometimes.

Wherever we can help, we do it.

We do that.

<Amanda> It's a lot just to pick.

I think you got some help.

<Azmi> We do have some help.

We have the Tyler family.

Charles Tyler and his family from Salley.

<Amanda> Yes.

>>...they're very generous.

They're always here helping, and if it wasn't for them, really we cannot do all this work.

<Amanda> He was a nice fellow.

I enjoyed meeting him.

...the variety that's here is just stunning, and this is a small part, you have several fields, but in this one you've got a - really good head start on everything.

...it's interesting to think of using okra and corn in the Mediterranean dishes but you said, you found ways to incorporate everything.

<Azmi> Okra is very popular in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean area anyway So, that was... an easy dish for us to - our vegetables to handle.

<Amanda> It's pretty easy to serve fried okras to southerners.

Isn't it?

<Azmi> Yeah.

<Amanda> ...then peppers, eggplants, squash and <Azmi> cucumbers, <Amanda> watermelons, <Azmi> cantaloupes, potatoes, beans... We got it all.

<Amanda> You sure do, and you got - we saw nice pollinators out here.

<Azmi> Yes ma'am.

<Amanda> One of the things, we are on that sandy Lexington county soil, and you are very conservative with water.

>> Yes, ma'am.

We use drip irrigation.

It uses a whole lot less water and it increases the production, actually, as compared to the sprinkler or flooding, or any other method.

<Amanda> - and helps with diseases, as well.

<Azmi> Exactly, and prevents the weeds.

You have less weeds to deal with, and you apply the water for the plant and we also have the luxury of to applying the fertilizer through the drip irrigation.

So, we don't have to have spreaders or anything else like that, a waste of fertilizer.

We use about one third of what we're supposed to use in a conventional way.

<Amanda> ...so that protects groundwater and runoff and helps with all those problems that sometimes happens with over fertilization.

<Azmi> Yes ma'am.

<Amanda>...then to get an early start, you'll start on black plastic I believe.

<Azmi> So, early in the year in the early spring we, our mulch - We call it plastic mulch, which holds the moisture and also creates heat.

It keeps the ground warm enough and ... it speeds, stimulates the growth, and speeds the plants.

Once we hit ...the middle of May, we switch to - the plastic has two sides, black and white, we switch on the, if we're planting something new, we use the white side, which reflects the light toward the plant.

The plant will consume that light to grow because plants need light and it keeps the ground cool and prevent the weeds at the same time.

<Amanda> Yes, and so you'll be harvesting these summer crops, because you keep planning and we never know when we're going to get a freeze in South Carolina, right now.

So, it's a long growing season for you.

<Azmi> So, most crops you can plant up to July ten, fifteen and you will not have the risk of getting frost.

Otherwise, after that you there are some crops that you can grow like leaves and greens, and leafy greens, and collards, kale, <Amanda> You do that, as well.

<Azmi> We do that too, <Amanda> - but then a green house, and your customers and the wonderful people with whom your friends help distribute the produce are having tomatoes in the winter time.

I was blown away.

<Azmi> So, the greenhouse was my idea, because we wanted to find a way to have continuous supply.

<Amanda> Yes.

<Azmi> Or almost continuous supply.

So, it's been a good experience.

We've been successful with it, and as you saw, we have some nice plants there, nice tomatoes, nice yield too.

<Amanda> Tremendous yield, and you got determinate and indeterminate and then you got the English cucumbers and I said, you started having tomatoes, how early?

<Azmi> We, around January we'll have tomatoes.

In January.

<Amanda> Yeah, big red, juicy, slice of tomatoes.

That is quite an accomplishment.

<Azmi> We grow in plastic bags.

We don't grow yet directly in the ground.

Plastic bags with peat moss and drip irrigation again.

<Amanda> Again being very conservative of water and fertilizer.

It's stunning to see that you were able to, in that small bag get that massive production of tomatoes.

<Azmi> It's a continuous feeding.

That's what it is... >> So, even though you have this wonderful old fashioned Farmall tractor, this is one heck of a modernized situation.

Isn't it?

>> Yes, I have a hobby.

I like equipment and I like to do mechanical work, and during the winter time...when it's slow, a project like this would be really nice to have around the house.

<Amanda> As if you didn't have enough going on with your cafe.

<Azmi> ...the wife keeps coming to the shop, "When you coming inside?

When you coming inside?"

<Amanda> Well, I am very excited to go over to the cafe and see how you incorporate some of this wonderful produce in your menu.

>> Let's go do that.

<Amanda> Okay.

♪ >> Azmi, after a meal like that, I feel like I need a good snooze.

What a delicious feast we've had with you, and we started with a good many appetizers and I think they're considered traditional.

So, let's talk about what some of them were.

>> One of the appetizers was the fried eggplant appetizer.

We take eggplant, slice it about a third of an inch thick and we saute it either with olive oil or you can deep fry it - <Amanda> - but you did not coat it.

<Azmi> It's not breaded.

Then we top it with tomatoes, basil, garlic, lemon juice, <Amanda> Yes.

<Azmi> A little salt.

<Amanda> It was just wonderfully refreshing.

<Azmi> The second appetizer was the bruschetta, which is roasted pita bread, topped with tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette, and a touch of salt.

<Amanda> - but as a child growing up in Israel, your grandparents farmed and you said that really just vegetables cook rather simply were the main way that y'all ate most of the time.

Is that correct?

<Azmi> That's correct.

Our diet is high in vegetables and I was fortunate to grow up on a farm,... my grandparents were farmers.

And my daddy after he retired from his job, he moved to the farm.

So, we have a good, good connection to the land.

...we always enjoyed what we have on the farm.

Actually people used to get jealous of us.

So, we always had the freshest, the best looking vegetables and that's how we use that in our diet and without cooking.

<Amanda> ...and in front of us we have two examples of vegetables being used as a way that people order when they come to the restaurant.

<Azmi> This is our tomato mozzarella appetizer.

It's fresh tomatoes topped with mozzarella cheese and olives, olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette and served with a pita bread.

<Amanda>...then I saw the new little basil coming up in the green house today when I was out there.

<Azmi> Yes, and I'll be planting those smaller ones too in the field soon.

<Amanda> ...here we have grilled vegetables that just look delicious.

<Azmi> Yes.

This is our most popular dish during lunchtime.

It's basically a grilled chicken breast, with grilled vegetables.

We bring most of these vegetables from the farm; squash, zucchini, onions, tomatoes and peppers.

<Amanda>...always some parsley and basil on top of everything.

<Azmi> That's for garnish, yes.

>> But it's also for freshness.

Don't you like that fresh taste it leaves in your mouth?

>> Yes ma'am.

>> Well, I think everything that went in mouth today was absolutely delicious, and I want to thank you for being part of the Farm-to-Table movement and reminding people that things that are grown locally, really are outstanding in flavor, and it helps the farmers, and it helps the Lexington community garden, which does such a wonderful job providing food to people who are in need.

Thank you for what you do.

>> Thank you for having us.

♪ >> Next time, my children come home I'm going to get them to drive me up to Lexington to that wonderful Mediterranean cafe.

They're always telling me how good the food out in Los Angeles is, but I think they're going to say, Oh mama.

Y'all yeah really have a lot better food in South Carolina.

It really was just that delicious.

Thank you so much, Azmi, and for your nice family.

Y'all were so kind to us that day.

I went out to my friend, Ann Nolte's this morning, because I didn't have anything for a hat.

She's always so kind to me.

We both got about a dozen mosquito bites.

We were running around after about five minutes and we got some celosia and some mums, and then I came over here and there was liriope outside in the studio parking lot growing, and I got some sun coleus from Ann.

Thank you, Ann.

You are always so kind, helping me find something.

..thank you for all the gardening you do in your garden, so that I don't have to always have something in mine.

Terasa, let's see if we can help somebody else with something that's going on in their yard.

>> How about Grant from Columbia, who said what can I grow in my home landscape that would be a good filler for arrangements?

<Amanda> Ooh, well that's something I'd like to sure know about.

Keith, I'm going to next time I do an arrangement, I'm going to come up there and see if you'll let me cut some at your place, because you've got so many things with - you got an idea of something that you've noticed would work well in that situation?

>> Oh, yeah.

We do - I do cut things for little events here in there in Historic Columbia and one of the plants that we have in the garden as a foliage accent has turned out really well in that capacity, so, what it is actually one of the beauty berries, and a lot of us here in South Carolina will be familiar with Callicarpa Americana, which is just starting to color up now with the wonderful fuchsia berries.

...this is an Asian species.

Callicarpa dichotoma.

That is the Japanese beauty berry, and the normal version of that species does make little purple berries, but as it turns out this particular selection really isn't growing for the berries.

It doesn't set fruit very often.

It's called Shiji Murasaki and it's commonly sold under a trademark name of Wine Spritzer, if you're looking in the store for it, but it's got this really beautiful purple stem, and the leaves have this wonderful splash white variegation all over them.

...and as it turns out when you cut these for an arrangement, they really do hold up and a lot of plants with these sort of thin broad leaves like this would weep, but this one doesn't do that.

In the garden, it functions really well, as a filler or even as a screen, even though it is deciduous in the winter.

It's a very vigorous plant.

So, it can takes the cutting very well.

<Amanda> Well, how big is it going to get?

<Keith> So the ultimate size on this would probably be almost 15 feet tall, but very, very easy to keep smaller than that.

>> You could be getting filler to your heart's desire.

<Keith> Yes.

Yes.

>> ...it comes back faithfully, every year.

>> Absolutely, it's a very, very tough, vigorous plant.

<Amanda> Well and I love the native one.

It seems to want to have some shade.

Does this one want some shade?

>> You know, this does best, I think with a part sun situation.

It takes a little bit more sun, or a little bit less sun than that, but really more of a very, very bright shade with some morning sun.

>>...is it in the trade yet?

Or would you have to go through a whole lot to trouble to find one, you think?

>>...I don't know, it's not very popular.

I will say that I believe the wonderful nursery in North Augusta, Nurseries Caroliniana does carry it most of the time.

<Amanda> Okay, well I think that sounds like something that people who enjoy flower arranging would really like, because it's just one, you don't want to just have flower, flower flower.

Things get too stiff looking when you do that.

You need something graceful to drape over.

Thank you so much for telling me about that.

I'm really glad to know about it.

Well, Terasa, let's hit another one.

>> Sure.

This one is from Ben in Florence.

This was an email to me.

It's more of a request, I guess, than a question.

"At some point, could you get "the experts on Making It Grow to talk about the "invasive hammerhead worms.

I see them all the time "in my yard."

And Ben included a photo for us.

<Amanda> Huh!

...and, I have not seen one in my yard.

>> Me either >> Sometimes when I'm moving things, I find that flat-headed thing, but whatever it is but - >> That's it.

Land Planarian.

>> Oh, okay.

Well I do see it.

Yeah, it's always under the cats' water bowl, but I hadn't been worried about it.

Paul, do I need to be worried about it?

They're commonly called... flat worms.

There are several different species.

We have one common one here that are kind of, shovel-headed, couple of longitudinal dark stripes down its back.

<Amanda> Uh huh!

<Paul> ...there's a lot of things on the Internet about them, reporting them, and this, that and the other, and yet they've been established in the United States for over a century.

They do feed on earthworms.

I would imagine if you were an earthworm farmer trying to raise worms and these got in there, you would probably - cause problems for you, but we have a strong enough native worm population.

They're not going to devastate the earth worms.

The good thing is, they also eat things like slugs.

So...anything that eats a slug is good with me.

So, it's really not anything to worry about.

You tend not to see them, unless we're having a lot of rainfall.

That definitely brings them out.

Just kind of like the same thing when you, you suddenly see earthworms on the driveway.

because you've had a lot of rain.

I have gotten a lot more calls about them this year than what I've typically gotten, but they're really nothing, - nothing to be concerned about.

>> Have y'all had as much rain in the upstate as we have down here?

>> Well, it's just here and there.

>> Here and there, yeah.

Heavy rains.

>> We've certainly had some periods of some heavy downpours for several days of rain, but we've had plenty of dryness in between.

>> But, those heavy rains tend to be when they come up and you're more likely to see them?

<Paul> Right.

>> Okay, but nothing to worry about.

>> Nothing to worry about.

>> You don't need to report them to us.

>> Don't need to try to eliminate it or anything.

Just go pull weeds.

>> Yeah and don't cut them in half, thinking you're doing good, because you just made two worms.

>> Come on.

>> Cause they - yeah - They will procreate.

In fact, any fragment the breaks off their rear end will go ahead within a week or so something really quick.

.. That's sounds pretty weird - Okay.

Alright.

Well, Sean Flynn, our producers wife, called the other day, and she was beside herself with excitement, because she really is a scientist at heart, and she had seen a turtle laying eggs in the front yard, and so we have a video of that.

...We were so fortunate that because when Andrew Grosse from DNR was talking to us, Sean sent it to him and he looked at it and he told us all about it and identified the turtle.

...it just made it all that much more fascinating.

I'm sitting with Andrew Grosse and he is the state herpetologist for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Andrew, we had a curious thing happen with one of our crew members here.

Sean Flynn my producer's wife called and she was all excited and I mean really excited, because there was a turtle in her front yard laying eggs.

...they just live in this subdivision.

I mean, there's not a pond or anything near by So, we've sent you the video and I think you're going to tell us a little bit about what's going on and what kind of turtle this is <Andrew> Yes, so I looked at the video.

It's a yellow belly slider, large female, probably the most common turtle species we have here in South Carolina throughout the spring.

Not usually too much later than this but spring and summer is when they're typically nesting, and those females will come up out of the water.

Turtles have to lay their eggs out of the water, so during that time frame, they'll come out of the water find a suitable place to lay those eggs and it's always fun to watch the nest, but they'll find a good spot if they're not disturbed, they feel comfortable enough, they'll dig a hole with their back feet, drop those eggs in there, bury them and be on their way.

So, really cool for anyone to experience and see those turtles laying eggs.

<Amanda> ...so even though they- this turtle spends most of his life in or near the water, I guess.

They want a dry and higher place ...for the eggs.

Is that important for the eggs to safely develop?

Or -?

>> Yes, so real interesting with turtles.

...their hatchlings - whether or not their males or females is determined by the temperature.

We call it temperature dependent sex determination, and where those females lay their eggs is going to determine the temperature at which they're incubated.

So, if it's an open area and the sun's shining down they maybe warmer, and so you might get females.

So, with the majority of turtle species we have here in South Carolina, warmer temperatures make females.

Cooler temperatures make males and it's really just dependant on where that female ...lays her eggs.

...then, another advantage maybe to being in more open, sunny habitat and warmer temperatures, those eggs incubate a little bit quicker.

So, they're not exposed to potential predators, while being in the ground as long and they might come, and they might hatch sooner and get into the water where, even for hatchling turtles, it's not safe, but the water is a safer place than being up on land.

<Amanda> How many eggs do you suppose a yellow bellied slider usually lays?

<Andrew> That's a good question.

The number of eggs any turtle can lay is going to be limited by how much space it has.

Right?

...so yellow bellied sliders are a larger species.

They might have eight, maybe a dozen eggs, maybe more.

It also depends on how big those eggs are going to be, different turtles have different sized eggs.

...so it's going to vary, but they certainly, based on their size, can probably easily do ten or twelve eggs at a time.

<Amanda> ...and so when they emerge I guess it's a mad dash to try to get to safety, because, I mean here you got these little turtles and they don't know where the water is, but they got to figure it out and try to get there pretty quick.

<Andrew> They do.

A lot of - There's some research looking at different species and how they move towards the water.

Certain species do like to go towards the water, but when you're talking about box turtles, they don't need to be in water.

...they might be looking for leaf litter or something else to hide in.

There's also some species if it's a late nest or some species that nest later in the year when it's colder and the turtles will hatch and actually stay underground and wait till it's warmer to come up.

...a lot of times they do that anyway, where the first egg will hatch and they'll stay in there until most or all of the eggs hatch and they come out at one time, and a lot of times I would say the majority of the time, you never see them, you come back out to where the nest was and there's a hole in the ground and they're gone.

(laughs) >> Well, it sure was exciting for all of us and we'll be - we're going to hope that when we see that hole in the ground that we had a wonderful survival rate and thank you for sharing this with us today.

>> Absolutely, happy to do it.

>> Well, Terasa, we've got a little bit of time left.

Anything we can answer quickly, maybe?

<Terasa> Let's try to help Jane from Myrtle Beach who says, "We moved "from the mountains of Georgia where we successfully "grew Dahlias.

What do we need to do" "differently now that we are in Myrtle Beach."

<Amanda> Well, I try to have days at home and usually for me they do - they come into their own in the fall when it gets cooler I'll have - but my friend Ann Nolte, who of course has everything that does well in her yard, but even she said this year I think because it hasn't been so brutally hot this summer, hers are coming in earlier.

So here's some beautiful ones from her garden, but the Georgia Dahlia Society has a really nice web page, several pages long that tells you, which ones are good for showing, because people love to show Dahlias and win prizes, and which ones will do better in hotter weather and are more productive, and so I would encourage people to go there and see about ordering ones that might be even better for where - because Myrtle Beach is pretty different from the mountains of North Georgia.

...then if you have a friend who has some, because I was, Ann's so sweet and I know she's going to give me... some of hers and I've got one that's I've got that I'm going to divide with her, but...they're like a sweet potato.

They're not like a potato.

So, when you dig it get up a lot of people think if you just - Keith they think, don't you think if they just break a piece of that root issue off that that's going to make a new plant, but that's not true is it?

>> No.

I found that oftentimes, Dahlia roots kind of resemble larger, thicker versions of day lilly roots, so you would want to, if possible try to retain a tuber intact, if you can.

...really the top of the tuber where it's starting out is where the stems are >> - Yeah >> going to emerge from.

>> because it's like a white potato is really a underground stem and a sweet potato and a dahlia is an underground root.

So you need to get some of this top like on this sweet potato that I found in the kitchen and didn't eat for supper last night.

...So you'd need to cut it so that you were sure you - like I can probably cut this maybe at least in half or maybe in fours.

Then I would know that I had enough, had some real tissue that would produce new stems.

...you said you think that drainage and moisture.

>> ...Yeah.

I would also add that, actually Dahlias if you have any above ground tissue root pretty well.

>> Really?!

>> So, if you cut the above ground tissue and put a couple of nodes >> Okay.

>> And some soil with some... root hormone.

you'll probably get it to root, which is another way to do it, and yeah I would say that in a place like Myrtle Beach in the coastal plain, we really want to be careful that if you have them in the garden over the winter, you want to keep the soil not saturated, like well draining soil.

There's a saturated cold soil that's going to lead to a lot of rot in those tupurs.

>> Oh, okay.

And people think that the beach that everything there's sandy, but when you think of all the construction that goes on down there, you don't have any idea what may have happened... in your yard.

It could have been dirt, soil brought in from lord knows where.

>> The water table being so much higher.

>> Yeah all kinds of things to consider.

Well, do sometimes people dig them up and put them in baskets over them, >> - Mmm hmm >> - and save them that way too?

Okay, well anyway they are nice plans to have.

They're real pretty and again thank Ann for letting me have some.

She saved my life many times with hats.

That's all we have time for tonight.

I want to say thank you so much for being with us.

...we'll see you next week.

♪ ♪ Making it Grow is brought to you in part by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture Certified South Carolina Grown helps consumers identify, find, and buy South Carolina products, McLeod Farms in Mcbee, South Carolina.

This family farm offers seasonal produce including over 22 varieties of peaches, additional funding provided by International Paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance.