<Narrator>: Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina is a cooperative effort among farmers retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture to help consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

The Boyd Foundation supporting outdoor recreational opportunities, the appreciation of wildlife, educational programs, and enhancing the quality of life in Columbia, South Carolina and the Midlands at large.

McLeod Farms in Mc Bee South Carolina family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.

♪(opening music)♪ ♪(opening music)♪ Amanda: Good evening, and welcome to Making It Grow.

We are so glad that you can join us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty.

I'm a Clemson and Horticulture Agent.

and I get to come over here and be with my friend and co-host Terasa Lott and Terasa we say that we have continuing education every Tuesday.

Terasa: That's right.

We hope our viewers learn something new.

I feel like I learned something new as well.

Amanda: Then of course you are overseeing the Master Gardener statewide.

I'm and they are always doing continuing education so that they can help people who call on to the office or go to diagnostic clinics and things like that.

I think they're A big help to our hort agents.

Terasa: They sure are at least we hope so that's the intent to be a help to their local horticulture agent and to go out into their communities where they can make a difference by sharing that information on gardening or other horticulture related things.

Amanda: and Paul Thompson, you're up there in York County and heavans to Pete, y'all aren't...

There is nothing sleepy about York County anymore.

Paul>>: It's really growing.

Yeah, It's really growing.

Wherever you move, there will one high school and now we have three, and that was 20 years ago.

Amanda: Golly, Pete.

As people come, are you finding that a lot of them are from areas where they were they gardened about the same?

Are you seeing that people are coming from farther away with different backgrounds as to what the climatic requirements were?

Paul>>: Well, I can only, I mean, I don't know where everybody comes from, or might talk to on the phone, or that attends a talk or something like that.

But certainly, you know, with the Master Gardener classes, certainly have a lot coming from the Northeast and Midwest.

I think I had a couple from California last year.

So a lot of them are moving into a different growing zone.

and that's one reason.

You know, they have an interest of learning.

They might have already been an avid gardener, you know, and they want to learn the plants and soils and everything down here.

They come down to the red clay of York County.

Amanda: I guess, since we have kind of hot, humid summers, they might not have been as accustomed to some of the fungal diseases and things we have too.

Paul>>: Right and I would imagine that it also impacts a lot of over wintering insects that might over winter here might not over winter up there.

So... Amanda: Oh, well, thank you for trying to help them get situated in their new abode.

Right.

Appreciate it.

and then I'm Brad Fowler, you're down there in Horry, Georgetown, and same thing going I think a lot of people are coming there from places that are kind of far away.

Brad: Yes, ma'am.

Yeah, we I talked to people from all over the country.

Every every week is interesting to see where people are coming from but they are definitely moving in quickly, for sure.

Amanda: But y'all have some kind of special places down there.

I think you've got a heritage site.

That's a really unusual one.

What is it called?

Brad: I believe I'm talking about the Lewis ocean bay here.

Awesome place.

Some of the Carolina bays right in the middle of a pretty populated area.

So something they're trying to protect and hold on to for sure.

Amanda: and as I remember, there were Prunus serotina There I think and, and I think some of those pines are kind of dependent on the having fire come through occasionally for the seeds to become viable is that correct?

Brad: right?

A lot of those natural areas as preserves and things they really need regular fire regular burning schedules and things like that.

and so as places get populated that can become a quite a bit more difficult.

So It's important that we kind of keep that in mind for those special places.

We want on to be maintained properly, for sure.

Amanda: Yeah, that's that was a really special place.

That is when I went there.

They were little Sundews.

and some things real special things to see.

It is pretty cool.

Yeah.

Well, thank you for coming up and being with us.

I really appreciate it.

Well Terasa do we have some beautiful or interesting or colorful gardens for the week To start us off?

Terasa: Probably all of the above.

So this is gardens of the week.

It's your turn to show off what you're doing in your yard, your garden or perhaps you've visited a wonderfully beautiful place in South Carolina like those Carolina Bays I have some fond memories of being a college student at Coastal Carolina and taking wetland plant ecology and tromping through some of the bays to learn about the flora there.

So we don't have any of those pictures today.

but we are going to begin with Randy Neeely who shared and assorted bed that contains bee balm day lilies, columbine cleome, Guara... hollyhocks and salvia lots of things going on there from Jared Megan pickerel weed which is an eastern North American Native grows in shallow water, It's really a shame It's called it has weed in the common name.

It can provide shelter for fish and so pickerel that I mean, not just pickerel but other fish and dragonflies and damselflies will sometimes lay their eggs on the stems near the surface of the water.

So pretty interesting plant from Ryan Merk a gorgeous wildflower area that is dominated by cone flower.

and then Dorothy Keller shared a curving rock wall that's at the base of a sloped area that's been landscaped and mulched to reduce erosion.

We finish up with Cathy Parker, who is utilizing hostas and other shade loving plants.

Thanks to everyone who submitted their photos, this is just a random sampling of what was sent in and posted to our Face Book page.

Whenever you see the call for gardens of the week on our Face book page, you can just post in the comments, and you never know your photo might show up on TV.

<Well, thank> Amanda: you.

and thanks to everybody who submitted I really do appreciate it.

Well, shall we see if we can do something to help someone with a dilemma or give them some enlightenment?

Terasa: We should that is what we are here for.

So Daniel from York said, Amanda: Oh, It's funny, I've been out doing some things in the yard and I come across some that have come up the old trees we have that have taken root.

and I'm going to tell you, it is a it is a labor sometimes to pull those little fellahs up that is not just a shallow root plant.

If you've got one going, Paul, he should try and do something with it.

Paul>>: Well, the problem with Wait, you know, waiting, usually It's going to be anywhere from 10 to 15 years in that range.

Before you ever get to first nut off of a pecan tree.

That's a long time to wait to see whether or not It's going to be a decent tree.

and It's gonna have a decent nut.

Amanda: Yeah, because I mean, a seedling isn't going to necessarily be a quality tree.

Paul>>: Because pecans are wind pollinated do you don't know what the parentage is.

and so you could have all kinds of genetic possibilities.

It's you know, It's just not something that you typically want to keep a seedling pecan tree unless It's just out of the way and you just want the tree to grow.

but what you can do is you can change it to a better variety by doing something this time of the year called budding.

Yes.

and I actually did a workshop for my first Friday presentation this month and had a pecan tree grown up in the in the oregano bed behind the office and I tried to get rid of before but can't dig it up.

So I thought well, you know, you'd make a nice subject for this workshop.

So It's a process and this is about the easiest kind of plant propagation that you could do.

but It's called T-budding.

Now I've wrapped this I'm going to take the wrapping off.

and this is just the plastic tape that you tie things up with but you could use any kind of non sticky.

You could use flagging tape, they make grafting tape but all that for is to hold everything together and seal the moisture in.

but It's a thing called T-budding and so here, this was the petiole of a leaf.

and what I have done here is, and I'll go ahead and see if I can take this thing apart.

Alright, so this bud was removed from bud wood.

So if you if you know of a good pecan tree, you know, a neighbor, a friend, whatever, and you go get a small branch about this size of where you got mature buds don't go up where the new growth is still green and succulent.

But you're really starting to see a lot of bark coloration, well, close to the base of that seedling tree, you know, a few inches above the ground, you would kind of T in the bark.

Okay, you roll the knife cross and then you cut a vertical slit.

Now this has to be done after the leaves fully expand.

and typically during most of the summer months, the bark will be slipping, really okay.

So slipping bark just means there's a lot of cell division going on in there, and the bark will actually peel separate from the woods, because you'd never be able to open up that little T slot if it was tightly bound to the wood.

So because when the bark is slipping, you can do this T budding.

and then on your bud wood, you just take a sharp knife, and you cut a little shield shape, bud but you leave the petiole on.

So once you separate it now I've got a handle on I Amanda: want to be touching the leaf, and you went back to where it was attacked.

Paul>>: This was the bottle, the leafs and the bud the you know the vegetative bud is right above the leaf stalk, okay, and so you take a knife and you basically cut a shield shape, you cut into the wood up top, and then you come from underneath and slice up to that.

So you've got a little shield shape, and you don't touch the back.

So you're gonna usually get a little splinter of wood in there by kind of, you're basically splitting it off the plant with a sharp knife.

Then that little shield can be used to push down into that slot.

and then you anchor it.

and the good thing about this is unlike a lot of grafting where you have to perfectly match up green tissues, this is great, the green cambium is exposed all around this.

and when you open that up, that green cambium is all on the inside of the bark, you're gonna make good cambium contact all the way around.

<You don't even need to get your readers out.> So It's a really easy way is probably the most easy way to propagate and a lot of our fruit trees and you know, nut trees are propagated by using either T-budding or there's another process called chip budding.

So It's not a hard thing to do.

There's plenty of videos out there.

I leave the petiole alone, some people will take it off.

but if you leave the petiole on, when that petiole finally falls off, you know that the abscission layer has formed and the abscission layer has formed because It's united.

Okay.

and so the bud might not sprout right away.

but as soon as you see that petiole fall off, you'll know that took.

They're gonna be successful.

Amanda: It's now one organism.

Yeah, that is just too cool.

So if somebody has a pecan tree that you just love to go and pick up this weekend because they're so good, and maybe if It's probably too much acid might have lower resistance to scab.

That was the double for good.

Paul>>: You could easily change over a tree normally do in fruit tree productions.

Amanda: That's really fun.

and as we know, if It's a pecan tree that's been going for a little while.

It's a good root system already going.

Yeah.

Paul>>: Yeah.

Well, It's mostly that, that I know they are something else.

Amanda: Yep.

Yeah.

Okay.

Because when I'm out there pulling them up.

I'm like, oh, and it might just be this far, you know, and you can see where It's coming out of the nut, but I feel like, you know, I've been doing my exercise when I can get one out of the ground.

Okay, well, that was a lot of fun.

I sure appreciate it.

Okay.

Terasa?

Terasa: Well, a completely different topic from Al in Loris who said: It sounds like you might be loving it just a little to much.

Amanda: Like set of feet is normally just...

It's not a greeny green.

It's not.

It's not a greeny green grass, I don't think Brad?

Brad: right.

So yeah, centipede is gonna be a yellowish green or kind of a lime green color.

That's just his natural state.

Exactly.

It's not necessarily mean that It's sick or anything like that.

It's just the It's Just its color is never going to be a beautifully green fescue or something like that.

It just kind of is what it is.

centipede is also what we call a lazy man's grass.

It does not like a whole lot of stuff being done to it, It's, It's for a person that doesn't want to have to do a whole lot to their yard, you know.

So with the fertilizer, what can happen a lot of times is centipede doesn't like a whole lot of nitrogen.

So if we keep continuing to fertilize it too much nitrogen, too much nitrogen, it can start to make that Centipede grass then out, they can start to die off.

and so in a few years of over fertilization you're left with that we're ready... you're exactly, exactly.

So centipede just doesn't need to be fertilized the whole lot.

and you normally don't want to use a really high nitrogen fertilizer.

Normally something around a 15-0-15 is pretty good.

but I will say we always want to fertilize based on a soil test, we need to have a soil test done before we figure that out.

and with a soil test.

It'll give recommendations for what needs to be done and what fertilizers but yes, when it comes to Centipede, a lot of times it does worse when we when we love it a little bit too much.

So yeah, doesn't like a whole lot of fertilizer, nitrogen especially.

Amanda: Okay, so um, get that soil test and then when you go, or a lot of the lawn fertilizers now, do they sometimes include some slow release?

The better ones that are out there.

Brad: So a lot of the a lot of there will be a lot of combination products, fertilizer, and someone will have a slow release aspect to it.

So Yet not all fertilizers necessarily made equal for sure.

So kind of do some research on what you're getting in what you're buying and kind of start to understand those numbers you know that 15-0-15, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is good to understand that okay.

Amanda: And then again to people need to learn about watering as well.

I think that goes along with it hand in hand.

I think.

Brad: It definitely does.

That's probably one of the main issues I see, especially a lot of times with centipede is too much too much water, you need water you fertilizer in but then maybe back it off after you got that.

Amanda: They don't need a bath every day.

<Exactly.> Paul>>: One other thing to mention on that is especially if he's in the sandy soil area.

He could use some liquid nitrogen just a chelated iron, oh, not liquid nitrogen sorry.

chelated iron.

Because often in sandy soils, there's going to be an iron deficiency.

and so a little bit of... a lite application, you know, sprayed over the top of the centipede will give him some green color without adding nitrogen.

Amanda: Okay.

So if his brother is coming down to visit him and his brother likes to stick on his chest and talk about how green his lawn is, he could at least green his up for that visit.

<Right, exactly.> Because I don't know how long that would last.

Paul>>: Well, it'll last a while.

Okay.

You know, in sandy soils, iron deficiency is not uncommon.

Amanda: Okay.

Okay.

Oh, thanks a lot.

That's a good tip.

All right.

Um, well, we had a good visit.

We went up to Walhalla in the upper part of the state and went there specifically, because they have such an incredible program going with some of the kids.

They're working with some of the teachers in an apiary.

♪(happy tunes)♪ I'm at James M. Brown Elementary School in Walhalla, South Carolina, and I'm speaking with Elijah.

Elijah Addis, thanks for coming out and showing me the beehives <You're welcome.> You are I believe your teachers, your STEM teachers, beekeeper assistant.

That's kind of a big job, I think for fourth grader.

Elijah: As soon as I start being the bee assistant I started learning more and more about bees, if we didn't have bees.

Most of the food in the world like probably like 75% of the food in the world wouldn't be like able to grow.

Amanda: So many people are afraid of bees.

What can we do to reassure them that bees aren't really after them?

Elijah: What bees are really trying to do is trying to do their jobs what they were made to do.

Most of the time when people get stung it's because they're messing with the bees.

Amanda: Ah, so if we give them courtesy, then they aren't really interested in us.

Because in order to make honey What's the main thing that they need to do?

Elijah: Usually they need to go around to like plants and stuff.

So they can collect pollen and bring it back to make the honey.

Amanda: okay.

Do you help smoke the bees so they calm down?

Does that make it easier to go up to them?

Elijah: Yeah, it does.

It does a lot.

So when first of all when you're coming out here first time I came out here, the first thing was to puff of smoke in that little hole right there where all the bees are gathering for stir puffed out round took the top off of it.

Then I put the smoke down in there and then there Were calmer and they were getting back inside, inside of there, so, and then I took the lid off, then I took the top frame off.

Then, and then I took the hive tool, and I put it beside the frame, and then I pulled it up, and then I grabbed the frame.

and then I, then I did the other side, don't grab those, then there's like this little metal thing that holds the frames.

So when I picked it up, I put it on the frame.

and then when I did that, I can like, look down and get a better view of them.

Amanda: Do you have some phrases that you use to reassure people about being around the bees sometime?

Elijah: Make sure to be safe, be ready, be brave.

Amanda: be safe, be ready and be brave.

Well, I think I'm gonna speak with your teacher.

and then after that, I guess we're gonna completely put on our suit and go over and look at the bees.

♪(happy tunes)♪ Courtney you're the STEM teacher here, which I thought was like making robots and things like that, but you were outside in beekeeping suits.

Courtney: Yes, we are.

STEM covers a lot of different fields that science, technology, engineering and math.

and so as part of our science curriculum, we promote The Bee Cause curriculum that they have given to us through a grant.

So the best way for us to learn is in a hands on way about Bees.

So we're out here in our protective gear, ready to go inside of our beehives.

Amanda: What do you think, working with the bees, and even just becoming aware of the importance of honeybees and other pollinators?

What are some of the things that you want your students to learn from this experience?

Courtney: I want our students to know that without bees, we would not have 75% of our food.

and so one of my main questions that I asked whenever I start teaching about bees is, raise your hand if you like to eat, and everyone's hand goes up.

No matter how picky of an eater that you are, you have to have honeybees.

and if we don't have honey, these, so many things in our environment would collapse without it.

So my main goal is for our students to know how essential something so small as a honeybee is to our environment.

Amanda: and we're having a lot of threats and pressures on our environment.

Now, do you?

Is this an opportunity for you to... raise awareness of that as well?

Courtney: Yes, during the curriculum with The Bee Cause Project, we talked about how pesticides can hurt our honeybees and how, whenever you're at home, you do need to be aware of the pesticides, you know, that your parents are putting out if you're helping them outside.

Then my students can also communicate with their parents of what they've learned in STEM, about why certain pesticides are not good for honeybees and how It's not necessarily intentional that you kill the honeybee.

Um, but we do need to be aware of what we're putting in their environment too.

Amanda: There's school is difficult.

We had COVID, we I mean, school, you know, is there a lot of kids, there's a lot of activity, a lot of noise going on, sometimes even at a great school like this.

Can activities like this, help kids learn throughout the day to sometimes take that breath and kind of settle into a mindful state.

Do you think it does things for them emotionally as well?

Courtney: Yes, I believe so.

Then, for me being into a honeybee hive is very calming.

the noise that you hear the buzzing from their wings that you will hear in just a couple minutes.

To me It's soothing.

and to me, it just creates a calming effect and it does for our student beekeepers as well.

Amanda: And then y'all share the honey with the community through some efforts that y'all do.

So I imagine that the awareness of this, you think It's filtering into the community beyond just the students?

Courtney: Yes, absolutely.

Our students designed our honey, the label that we placed on all of our honey bee jars during STEM class, as a part of our technology design courses that we did that our whole school voted on their favorite and then we were able to use that honey bee label on all of our honey bee jars that were given out to the public.

Amanda: Even the kids who don't get to come out here within your classroom.

There's a big old crazy looking contraption with them.

Thanks growing in it.

What's that all about?

Courtney: Yes, we have an observation hive which is the glass sealed case where our students can safely observe from the inside.

Right now we have two student beekeepers, one of which is here.

The two student beekeepers actually working are five hives out here with me and then the rest of our students are able to participate by seeing our honeybees.

It's a whole colony of bees that are inside of the hallway.

Amanda: and I believe your next hope is that you may have a garden setup to attract pollinators.

Courtney: Yes, our goal is to create a space, wildflowers that are native to Oconee County, where our honeybees don't have to travel nearly as far as what they're doing right now.

and so that way we can make an even better environment for our babies here at James M. Brown.

Amanda: For something like this to happen.

You don't get to just make a decision.

I mean, this is these are kids, people have certain ideas about bees safety.

I imagine that your whole community here the academic community, had to approve and support you in this project.

Courtney: Yes, our superintendent from the top down from the district office and our principals here, Miss Thrift and Mr. C, Slag and Miss Garland all had to give approval before we let our two student beekeepers in our hives along with their parents consent as well.

and in order to do that, it was just education on how we can be safe and how our students can be safe in these hives as they do something that has not been done here before.

Amanda: One of your beekeepers grandmothers I understand makes a just marvelous biscuit.

and maybe you should take some of those jars of honey and some biscuits to your administrators and principals to remind them of how happy they are they have this program on campus.

Courtney: We certainly will, whenever we harvest again during the late summer.

Amanda: Thanks for letting me come.

Courtney: Thanks for being here.

♪(happy tunes)♪ Amanda: The principal at the school and the teachers of course, everybody's bought into this program, and um, I had a good time getting all suited up and going out there with them too.

Imagine Terasa, up the lack of fear that the kids school have now because they've got an apiary right out there.

and, um, you know, and they're just learning that, you know, with respect, and you know, and minding their business that I'm Terasa: So empowering, yeah.

Amanda: the bees aren't there to bother them.

So they're creating a whole group of kids who are going to love pollinators.

I think that's really kind of fun.

Well, hats, again, are always something to do.

and, um, in this one, I had some Echinacea and then giant coneflower.

and I'll show you what it looks like when It's not in a hat.

All kinds of stuff coming up.

and It's real tall.

I mean, some of them are, you know, they're taller than I am, which is not saying a whole lot, but It's a lot.

and um, then as the summer goes on, of course the petals are gonna, you know, fall off, but this structure is gonna remain and It's really very handsome to have in the garden, I would encourage you to add that to your garden if you don't have it, and then I've got some lilies and um, if you have kitty cats, and you're going to bring lilies in the house, be sure that you go in when they open and take off the male parts of the flower.

Just like that, because they are very toxic to kitty cats.

and so and you know, kitty cats are always doing things they aren't supposed to, you'd say well, they my kitty cat.

No kitty cats gonna go up they mess up.

Mess with the flower.

Well, you never know what a kitty cats gonna do.

Terasa: With cats I could not have indoor plants.

I couldn't have indoor plants with cats because they were just... Amanda: I just Yeah, I mean the you know, something they're not supposed Yeah, if you want them to come and behave they won't but you know, there's something they shouldn't get into.

Anyway, not to say that It's not wonderful to have kitty cats but that keeps them safe if you do.

All righty.

Well, let's see Terasa, what can we do now?

Terasa: Well, in keeping with grass related question Misty wrote in from Myrtle Beach she said: Amanda: I think that grass you know we think of the grasslands in the prairies.

and you know, they're places that trees and there's a lot of sunshine.

I think grass kind of likes sunshine, doesn't it Brad?

Brad: Grass normally does our turf grass normally like sun.

Yeah, sometimes I will make the joke of if you want grass, you need to cut your trees down but I don't want people to cut their trees.

So there's a couple of different routes you can go here.

There are one in particular other grass that is pretty good when it comes to shade tolerance and that's St Augustine grass.

It is probably our most shade tolerant grass.

Now some of the newer zoysias can tolerate some shade, but probably not as much as St. Augustine.

So St. Augustine is going to be one of our most shade tolerant grass now.

Even with that being said it still needs four to six hours of sunlight and really, exactly it At the very least, it has to be in an area that's getting it dappled throughout the day.

So it still needs a fair amount of sunlight four hours is not nothing.

So even St. Augustine our most shade tolerant needs some sunlight.

In these areas where It's so shaded, you might get it to grow for a couple of years, but eventually, It's just going to start to go away.

Even if It's associated that the St. Augustine won't grow, it'll just start going away.

If it doesn't have enough, enough sunlight.

So what I like to recommend to people, if if you know, they're continuously had a problem, and I've had people that have resodded, you know, three, four or five times trying to keep grass in certain area.

and eventually by like, resodding time three, I tell them, maybe you want to try something new this time.

Exactly.

So I tell them, just make it a bed, make it a natural area, turn it into one of your landscape beds, and I know it may be a larger area.

but you can create some beautiful, more natural areas with some low maintenance plants and that sort of stuff.

Just turn it into into a bed area.

There's lots of great shade loving plants that you can really are exactly, and a lot of ones that will kind of fill in an area too now be careful with some of the more aggressive ones but but the things you can get to fill in an area and there you've created a kind of a low maintenance section of your yard that you're not having to do as much with not having to worry about mowing and that sort of stuff so.

Amanda: I mean, just the simplest of all alternatives would be to mulch, I suppose.

Brad: Exactly.

Yeah, it definitely always and always mulch even if you do planning or planting it, yes, always use some kind of mulch out there that'll benefit the trees that are shading the area that'll benefit those.

So definitely put some mulch out.

Amanda: Okay.

You know, it doesn't have to all be a green carpet.

Brad: Exactly, exactly.

Definitely.

Amanda: Well, thanks so much.

That was good.

All right, Terasa.

Terasa: Well, some people like to build raised beds in their landscape and William from Lancaster wants to know what is the best material for building a raised bed?

Amanda: Oh, well, Paul, I know for years, y'all have had raised beds behind your extension office.

They held up all this time what's been your experience?

Paul>>: They've held up because started off with four by six timber so you know they haven't rotted away plus they were treated for ground contact.

Versus using the two by whatever treated lumber like you know.

Amanda: So treated lumber and ground contact lumber.

Paul>>: Right well both of them are treated but It's different in the amount that it is treated.

Okay.

Anyway, we have some community garden down and Chester that I've been involved with since it started and some of the original raised beds built out of the above ground type treated lumber Yeah, you know, and finally began to fall apart at the corners and you know, you got some rot and the screws are coming out and that kind of thing.

So I wanted to be able to replace it with something that's a little bit more long lasting now.

I've seen beds built out of concrete block and that works fine.

but I decided to go with something a little different.

I want to get something a little bit easier to install instead of lining up you know, concrete blocks, carrying them around and then the holes in the blocks What do you do with that you're gonna grow something and they're just gonna grow weeds whatever.

but I started looking into I had ordered some when when the lumber prices got out of whack during the lock down metal was less expensive than lumber.

and so I looked into your corrugated metal roofing galvanized roofing panels.

So anyway, I've created a prototype bed down at the Chester garden and we're gonna replicate it using roofing and you buy it in different widths I guess.

but I think the one I have is 26 inches wide, and took metal shears just electric metal shears and cut it in half.

So I've got two 13 inch pieces.

Amanda: and that was relatively easy to do with that was really?

Paul>>: As long you got the right tool.

Easy to do and all I needed was 3 12 foot panels to build a 24 by three foot raised bed and I got enough leftover to for the ends of the next raise bed.

and you kind of thought about it a long time and I wanted to be able to join the corners together without soil leaking, but also not have wood contact with the soil by using wood to connect them together somehow.

and I just came up with this idea of using PVC sewer pipe in a larger diameter, PVC pipe, and I made a little template marked the little wavy edge with metal.

Yeah, and then took a drill and drilled the hole in the pipe and then took my little saber saw and cut the little wiggle and I had to go over it several times and try the metal and then do it again and make it a little bit wider.

Amanda: I just slipped right in, I Paul>>: slipped the metal in and then filled the PVC with concrete mixed up.

So you know those, those corners go on anyway, they're not going anywhere.

It's gonna ride and they're set in concrete.

and then we did put one on the outside of the bed and a seat of wooden seat, but all that was outside and not in contact with the soil.

Okay, and it you know, that was the first one we did and kind of learning as we go type of thing and got to continue to build some more.

Amanda: Paul, if someone just wants the wooden bed situation, sometimes people are afraid to use treated lumber because they're afraid It's not safe.

Paul>>: Well, I'm not sure of the product that's used to treat the ground contact.

I think It's the same thing.

I think It's just a matter of how they actually get it into the wood.

But, you know, 2003 was a turning point where the arsenic treated wood was no longer sold.

and the new preservative that they went to was a product just abbreviated as ACQ, but ammoniated copper quaternary and It's the copper.

Which is the preservative.

Oh, that protects from decay now It's not gonna last but so long.

Yeah, but still.

but it'll give you probably 10 years of that kind of treated lumber in contact with soil.

Yeah, well, copper is you know, It's an organic fungicide.

People purposely spray it on their plants as an organic gardener, you know, as a control to bacterial diseases and that kind of thing.

It's really not gonna It's also a plant essential element is one of the 17 Essential Elements planning for growth.

So It's really not adding anything, that's gonna be harmful.

Amanda: So don't worry if you want to go that route instead.

That It's perfectly safe.

Okay, well, I think your new ideas really super smart.

and no point... in a place where you know, people are gonna want to keep it going.

This is just a real win, I think.

Good for you and your little saber saw and all that kind of Ziggly line, appreciate it.

Terasa: Hey, Paul is very talented, not just within the horticulture world of growing plants, but you do a lot of construction type building activities.

I think.

Amanda: that okay, I like thanks for sharing that idea with us.

We appreciate it.

All right, Mrs. Terasa?

Terasa: Well, it seems Walter in Georgetown, which is looking for some recommendations.

He said: Amanda: Oh, low maintenance, low maintenance, low maintenance.

Well, Brad, we could have centipede lawn because that's kind of a lazy man's lawn and how about some lazy man plants?

Brad: Okay, so everybody wants low maintenance.

Nobody wants to have to do any more than they have to do so.

Now I will preface this with nothing is no maintenance, no maintenance will be considered a forest.

This is we're talking about low maintenance.

So everything has to have some maintenance done to it.

Just a few quick plants that I really like and actually probably my favorite plant.

the first one is sweet grass.

So technically not a shrub but a great plant to use around the house.

Some people will cut it back every year.

Doesn't need to be cut back too early.

You have to be careful with that but not everybody does.

I don't cut mine back every year it doesn't stunningly it comes up and old part goes away.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So it does not have to be cut back every year has a beautiful bloom in the in the fall.

There are pinkish purple varieties and some white varieties as well.

So beautiful blooms in the fall and I think it looks wonderful over the winter as just kind of a you know, a background has a lot of nice form especially when the wind blows through it.

So absolutely beautiful plant looks really great in planting in masses.

Yeah, big area and maybe some more those natural areas.

Plant quite a few of them in our eyes like that.

It just looks good to our eye.

Next distylium.

The distylium I believe was developed by Dr. Michael Durr.

A lot of folks might be familiar with a lot of his work but distylium... Amanda: somebody with a pretty good pedigree.

Brad: Just a little bit exactly distyliumI believe there are five or six different varieties at this point are different hybrids at this point.

but they're an excellent evergreen, compact, disease resistant, drought resistant plants that if you're looking for just a foundation, planting, type plant, the distyliums are wonderful, planted quite a few of them and they seem to be doing great.

and each of the hybrids kind of maybe look a little bit different.

Some of them have a little bit of, I think a purplish tinge to the leaf and stuff is so excellent plants.

Just they're really tough and they don't need to have a whole lot of pruning and trimming.

Amanda: That's what I was gonna say they really don't do that.

It's not a plant that lends itself to trimming exact you don't want to make that you can't make it into a meatball.

Let it just be its natural.

Yes.

Brad: and that also goes with the sweet grass and that might be a little bit of a theme here.

We want to just let them be their natural shapes instead of doing a whole lot of pruning and manicuring there's a place for that but you know, in our home landscape forward not wanting to do as much maintenance you know, just let them be natural.

The last one that I don't see enough is our native azaleas.

Now, these are not our traditional azaleas that we may see you know, on Augusta National or something like that, that are blooming in the spring.

These are deciduous the native Azaleas are deciduous and there are quite a few different native as a as Florida flame is one of the native azaleas but they have some really awesome orange and kind of almost reddish blooms and then they'll have some pinkish and white blooms and fragrant.

Yes, absolutely beautiful plants.

and they don't require all that pruning and stuff.

Yeah, if you might want to keep it a little smaller, sure, but realistically, you don't have to do a whole lot of pruning to it.

So absolutely amazing plants and like I said, I don't see them used enough.

but that's another one of those plants, that's gonna look really well in kind of a natural area and maybe a shade more shaded area where you can just kind of let them be plant them in a big swath, you know, where they really make an impact when they bloom in the in the spring.

Amanda: They are exquisitely beautiful they are everybody will slow down and they'll want to know what it is.

Brad: yes, because the flower looks almost exotic.

In a way it doesn't look like something that would be you know, a native to the southeast.

So absolutely beautiful plant.

So those are just a few ideas.

But like I said, Nothing is no maintenance, but gives you lower maintenance.

Amanda: Well thank you so very much that was...

I'm kind of trying to picture that now.

It's gonna be quite beautiful.

I think that sounds fun.

Well, we are now going to share with you an anagama kiln segment.

and again, this is from my wonderful friends up at SCETV Lynn Cornfoot, Josh Thompson, Gaines Halford and Mark Adams went up there and this is a remarkable situation that Potter's have created.

<Rob> Origami, oregano, anagram, anamanamana.

<laughs> I've heard 'em all.

Good morning!

<Robin> I'm from Columbia, South Carolina and I'm here because I got the opportunity to do one of the things on my bucket list and join an anagama kiln firing.

♪ <Mike> Well, the shape of the kiln goes back to about 900 A.D. Japanese original kiln influenced by the Chinese, we're not sure.

But it was dug into a hillside into raw clay and it is a bottle shape or a flame shape.

<Rob> So you have starting a little bit smaller and rounded, going into a belly and then going up to the top and to a point so that the fire will actually move through the entire kiln.

<Mike> By going up the hill, we don't have to put quite the chimney on it and we get strong draft and we're able to get to the temperature.

[ engine buzzing ] <Rob> I have now gone from being a full time potter for 38 years, to being a full time wood splitter < laughs > and a part time potter.

We get trees that have already been cut.

The tree services have to pay to dump it, so I just get them to come bring it here.

Now I have 15 to 20 potter's that participate in these firings and everybody comes and helps with the work.

The difference between the kil and a kiln is basically where you grew up.

<Mike> It's kiln in my book, but I know people who want to call it kil.

<Rob> The word is spelled k-i-l-n with an "n." I grew up in South Florida and it was always just kil.

<Mike> Kiln.

♪ <Rob> We spend probably two days glazing and wadding and getting everything ready.

What I'm doing here is using wadding that will raise the piece up off of the kiln shelf.

We're going up to temperatures where the wood ash itself will melt and form a glaze.

So, you have to raise everything up off of the shelf, or else it will be glazed down to it and it'll break the piece and break the pot and the shelf ♪ Nobody can say I'm not dedicated.

I think that's too tall.

<Mike> We load the kiln from the back all the way forward, filling it in each layer, so as to allow the flame to go through the entire kiln.

<Rob> Every time you fire, it's going to be different, because how the pots are stacked in the kiln will determine how the flame weaves its way through.

<Mike> We'll take that.

<You got it> We have to be careful that we want to get the glazes that need a lot of heat in one area and distributing that is an ongoing process that usually pretty experienced people are doing the loading that know the kiln and the more we know about the kiln the better we can place the pieces.

<Rob> So those in front get a lot more ash.

Those that are facing the front, that front surface will get ash the back might not get as much.

Depending on how the kiln is stacked every time there's going to be a different firing.

The cones look good.

I can see both sets.

<Mike> Ceramics depends upon time and temperature and the cones melt at the same rate that the glaze melts.

So we're not just going to a temperature.

We're going to a temperature and holding that temperature.

That allows the relationship between the ceramic ingredients to melt and form the glaze or glass like coating.

After finishing loading the kiln, we will actually build a small fire without starting it and then we'll break up the door so that when we're ready to we can start it very easily and we'll begin to firing.

[ thunder clap ] <Rob> There is a tradition saying when it rains, it enhances the glazes.

The humidity carrying a lot of H2O in there, both the oxygen level and the hydrogen will supposedly enhance the glazes.

What's the front and back looking like?

<Chris> Well, front's holding at 15 77.

The back is getting better and we're... Reason why we keep a log of the temperatures is so everybody knows where we're at in the firing.

There's a certain temperature that we want to reach at a given time.

You don't want the kiln to run too hot, too fast, or obviously you don't want it to be too slow and low.

And you'd like to have the back and the front, about the same.

How about, hey guys, another stoke, front,12 pieces at least.

Mix 'em up in between.

<Mike> So the kiln is monitored and stoked for the next 30 hours or so.

And that's done with teams of at least three if not, four people who watch the temperature rise, stoke, move the wood, talk, chat, eat, and then stoke more.

♪ And we do that through the night.

We have different shifts, usually they're four to eight hour shifts, depending on everybody's schedule.

And that schedule is maintained constantly throughout the entire firing.

You do not leave this kiln alone.

You never leave it for more than 15 minutes without somebody paying attention.

♪ <Chris> Once the kiln gets up to temperature and you're working around the kiln, we require that you wear non synthetic clothing.

Polyester is a big no no 'cause it, it's plastic and it does melt.

When it's at temperature, that piece of wood you throw in will start on fire before it leaves your hands.

<Rob> At the height of this firing, there is a roar that starts in the kiln.

When you open up the door to stoke, the oxygen flows in and ignition of unburned gases starts and you start hearing the roar of the kiln.

It's like the wakening of the dragon.

[ burning wood crackling ] I have listened to that for so many times and I thought that's the name of the kiln, Fire song.

♪ The kiln has cooled for five days and now it's Christmas morning.

♪ <Mike> The glazes went well.

Well unloading a kiln is probably the most exciting part of the entire process.

Maybe not as dramatic but exciting for all the potters because there's been a transformation.

Before, it was flat.

Now it's not flat anymore.

About 30 colors running in there.

<Rob> You know, there's results, every time you fire.

The results are always going to be different.

And that's the serendipitous nature of this kiln.

Yay!

<laughs> It looks good.

<Mike> The unique thing about any wood kiln, and particularly the anagama is the impact of the flame on the glaze and on the clay body.

We really don't know what we're gonna get.

But we put it in the kiln with the idea that we'll get something may be interesting or exciting.

<Rob> And then, you just wait.

And you're always surprised.

And most of the time, it's even better than you thought.

♪ Broken pot.

< laughs > Sometimes it can be disastrous.

< laughs > Well, we have half of a robot here.

When he went in, he did have a head.

But unfortunately, the kiln had other options for him.

<Mike> In either case, it's always, it's always worthwhile, because there's a sense of discovery.

♪ Good kiln everybody!

< applause > I think the thing that brings us back to the kiln is the camaraderie and the interaction, the exchange that happens between young students who are just starting out and people who have been doing it for 30 or 40 years.

There's a lot of exchange.

It's informal, but it's, it's part of the enjoyment and part of the reason we do it.

<Rob> We get to see the new work that everybody has been working on and get to catch up with each other.

This is now sort of the clay clubhouse.

It is creativity personified.

It's happening in the kiln and we're honored to be a part of that.

Fire song!

Amanda: Wouldn't it be fun to be there when they unpick... unpack that kiln and see all the marvelous things that come out?

Again, thanks to our friends at SCETV for sharing that with us.

Well Terasa, we just have a few minutes left.

Terasa: We sure do.

and Paul brought a great show and tell with golden rod but applies to other flowers.

Like I have some swamp sunflowers, that we get tall and leggy.

and so yeah, really.

So I think there's a way we can keep them a little shorter.

Okay.

Paul>>: Well, things that bloom in the fall time of the year because they are called short day plants.

and short day plants initiate flower buds when days begin to get shorter.

and hear that starts in June 21.

So before June 21, or actually you could probably go to July 1.

Okay, that's only nine days later.

You can do some pinching on these tall growing fall blooming perennials.

Now I've got a volunteer Goldenrod that started, this popped up and one of the beds at my house several years back.

and I like Goldenrod and left it but the first year it bloomed it was like five feet tall and kind of fallen over.

So the next year I started pitching it back in the spring as it was growing.

So what I brought here, these are two this is an un-pinched shoot.

Okay.

and it does have a few buds here that are beginning to expand where It's gonna branch a little bit.

This is a shoot that I have actually pitched twice.

Okay.

So I pitched it down here and I got this branching started.

and then I did some pitching up here and got some more sprouting.

but I could do some more pinching and It's easy to do.

In fact, just the term having a green thumb came from Oh, aside from cleaning underneath a lawnmower.

This is all gardening gives you a green thumb is doing some, okay.

Amanda: and It's just gonna be a wonderful shoulder and full of blooms.

Okay, that's just wonderful thanks.

I didn't mean to cut you off but we're almost out of time so we need to say goodbye to everybody and tell them we hope they'll come and join us next week.

Night night.

<Narrator>: Making It Grow is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina is a cooperative effort among farmers retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture to help consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

The Boyd Foundation.

Supporting outdoor recreational opportunities, the appreciation of wildlife educational programs, and enhancing the quality of life in Columbia, South Carolina and the Midlands at large.

McLeod Farms in Mc Bee South Carolina family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms