Media in Bethlehem, P.A., it is time for another "get ready for spring" episode of chemical-free horticultural hijinks, You Bet Your Garden.

I'm your host, Mike McGrath.

O, the weather outside is frightful, but thoughts of spring are so delightful.

On today's show, we'll begin a seasonal series on what you need to do to have a successful garden in 2022.

Plus, your fabulous phone call questions, comments, tips, tricks, suggestions and beneficially bodacious beautifications.

So keep your ears and/or eyes right here, cats and kittens, because it's all coming up faster than you having a garden of good eatin'.

Right after this.

- Support for You Bet Your Garden is provided by the Espoma Company.

Offering a complete selection of natural, organic plant foods and potting soils.

More information about Espoma and the Espoma natural gardening community can be found at... - Welcome to another thrilling episode of You Bet Your Garden, all new from the studios of Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, I am your host, Mike McGrath.

And, yes, just like we've done in previous years, with your total approval, we're going to go over all the basics of getting ready for this season, because we simply have so many listeners joining, finding out about the show, joining in.

But I guarantee there's going to be some stuff in there that hardcore old-time gardeners are going to go... "Yeah, I heard him say it before."

OK?

In between, lots of your fabulous phone calls at... Mr. Z.

Welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Thanks for having me, Mike.

- Well, thank you for being had, sir.

How are you doing?

- I'm doing fine, thank you.

How about you?

- I am Ducky!

Although Ducky is asking if he can get gloves and boots, I don't know.

You're supposed to be more hardy than that!

Now the reason we are calling you, Mr. Z, is that part of your question involves you being away from your house for a while, and you have wisely learned that you don't advertise things like that on Facebook or on a radio show, or anything like that.

You don't want to make your house a target while you're away, and we respect that.

And we also want to remind all of our cats and kittens out there, don't post about your going on vacation up front.

Post about it after you're safely home.

All right.

Is that it?

Do we have a gardening question here?

What's going on?

- We do.

We're going to be away.

My daughter is going to be watering our plants, and we have basically two plants, a Ficus tree and a very large cactus, that I don't know what type of cactus it is.

I've had it for many, many years.

I actually inherited it.

- How big is your cactus?

- It's mostly vertical, it's probably 4-5 feet tall.

- OK, that's a good sized cactus, does it flower?

- It does not flower.

- OK, so the cactus stores water.

The fig tree is quite... - Ficus.

- Are you correcting me, sir?

- I'm sorry.

No, no, let's call it a fig tree.

Well, it is a fig tree!

Ficus equals fig.

- OK, fair enough.

I'm ignorant about this.

- Huh.

- I'm offended.

Yeah.

Neither one wants to be over-watered.

I would suggest...don't...

I guess you have to have drip trays underneath.

- Yeah, we're pretty good, I think, the cactus, I water with a water bottle every two weeks.

- OK. You know, 12-16 ounces, whatever it is.

And the Ficus gets watered each week, a little bit more than that.

- Do you ever have water run out the base?

- Not that I'm aware of.

- Okay.

Well, I would say to saturate both plants until water does run out of the base, and then, use paper towels or a turkey baster to get that extra water out of there.

And my suggestion would be leave the cactus alone.

The cactus has probably six months' worth of water reserves.

- Oh, wow.

- Ad also, plants at lower temperatures don't work as hard, they don't use up as much water.

So overwatering is a much bigger danger.

I would say, you know, 12-16 ounces of water once for the Ficus while you're gone, but that's it.

I mean... - Okay, very interesting.

Think of these plants in the desert.

Two things are analogous here.

One, they only get rained on a couple of times a year, and two, outside of the scorching middle of the summer, the desert gets cold at night.

No matter how warm it was during the day, the desert drops down into the 50s.

So you're really not inducing any kind of unnaturalism, and it is always more important to under-water than over-water.

If you're worried about it, get one of those wooden shish kebab sticks and tell the plant keeper to stick the stick down into the very bottom of the soil until she hits the base of the pot.

Wait like five minutes.

Pull it up.

If you can see it's all wet at the bottom, do not water.

- Okay, good to know.

Good to know.

- All right?

- Yes, great information.

- Thank you, sir, and have a good time.

Denise, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Well, thank you so much.

- Well, thank you so much for making that call, Denise.

How are you doing?

- I'm doing fine, it's freezing, but sunny here in Virginia.

- What part of Virginia?

- This is the eastern coastal area, a little tiny town called Kilmarnock.

- So what can we do for you?

- Well, it's about the tomatoes I brought home that were still very hard, and called... the tomatoes on the vine.

So I thought, "Well, maybe I can ripen them up," and I put them in a bag, a Ziploc bag.

And, maybe five days later, I see that there's these short, little straight.... Whatever they are, protruding from the sepals of each tomato.

And it almost looked like a cactus plant.

- We'll be showing these unique images as you and I speak here.

Because they are beyond description.

But, so you bought these in a store?

- Yes.

- Oh, OK.

These are the classic hothouse tomatoes, I think most of them are still grown in Holland.

And, you know, no matter where they come from, they have to pick them a little bit unripe.

And you must have gotten a nice, fresh batch, and then, you took them home and you decided they were too hard to eat, but then you made a mistake.

You put them into plastic.

Plastic does not breathe.

Now we have this image of the starfish-encrusted tomatoes.

How are they feeling now, do you think they're ripe?

- Well, I did take them out of its plastic enclosure, and they have softened some.

And one of them is looking kind of bad, where the stem used to be.

But it was so encrusted with those little, like... - Crystals, almost, right?

- They were kind of hard, like, you know... - Like crystals.

- It reminded me of what you might see... Yeah, crystals.

...or on a cactus.

- OK, well, it's not related to cactus, but there are more of these microorganisms, molds, things like that than we can ever imagine.

So, for now, I want you to simply pull off all those parts.

Don't leave any of these little starfish attached.

Let them sit out in the open in a cardboard box, not in direct light and not in the refrigerator, ever.

- Oh, yes, I got that one, yeah.

- Good, and they'll ripen up as best they can, but you know, these are winter tomatoes.

They're not, you know, they're not going to be as succulent as a summertime tomato.

And in the future, when you pick green tomatoes, something like that out in the open, in a cardboard box or in a paper bag, no more plastic.

- Okay, will do, thank you so very much.

- Oh, thank you!

You're going to save a lot of tomatoes this summer.

- Yes, I am.

- All right, thank you and goodbye.

Number to call... Steve, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Calling in from Wethersfield, Connecticut.

- Oh, OK!

You sound familiar.

Have you been stalking this show?

- I guess you could call that, yes.

- Well, that's OK. We can have repeat callers.

Teresa, forget his phone number!

Ahem!

No, no, of course not.

All right, Steve, what can we do you for?

- Okay.

I have collected four bags of chipped leaves.

- Good.

- I use a leaf blower, then chop 'em up in the lawnmower, and put them in bags, and I save them for wonderful days like today.

Question is, do I have to wait for the snow to melt before I put it out, or can I put it out on top of the snow?

- Snow is the ultimate mulch.

The best gardening seasons follow a winter in which there is constant snow cover.

Because snow is the best insulator.

The soil temperature underneath that snow never changes.

It's right there at the freezing point, and it prevents weeds, it does all that good stuff.

It would be a mistake to put mulch out now.

But once and if the snow melts, then you are perfectly acceptable if you spread your...

Hold on a second.

I just bit my tongue.

Oh, God, my director loves me.

But, once and if the snow melts, it is perfectly acceptable to put those shredded leaves on your garden beds, and it's fine if it snows on top of that, as well.

But you never mess with what's called "God's mulch", which is snow, this is how these plants and soils, and organisms have evolved over untold numbers of years.

Now one thing I'm going to use your phone call for is to either remind people or alert them, or tell them, or smarten them up, or whatever, that if you have mulch on your garden beds, you should rake it off gently about 2-3 weeks before you intend to plant in those beds.

That allows the sun to hit the soil, warm it up naturally.

And then, again, provided you're planting at the correct temperature and stuff, you know, for the crops you're growing, then you immediately put the mulch back in place for started plants like tomatoes, peppers, stuff like that.

And you wait until direct-sown crops, like lettuce or string beans, come up, and then, you mulch around them, because it's always good to have that layer of mulch there.

But there's nothing better than snow.

And the most important thing to take away from this is to give your garden a good 2-3 weeks to warm up without mulch on top of the beds.

- Okay, that's good for the raised beds and vegetables, how about flower gardens?

- You know, your perennials, don't sweat it, man.

Leave the snow there.

It's keeping the soil at a nice, steady temperature.

And then, you know, when all the snow is gone and the perennials are growing again, I really recommend a couple shovel-fulls of compost, and then, you can put leaves on top of those, if that's your idea of a good time.

- Okay.

All right, man.

Nice to talk to you.

Take care, bye-bye.

- Thank you.

All right.

As advertised, it is time for the Question of the Week, which we're calling... Brandon from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, writes...

I had no idea what Brandon was talking about until a quick search revealed a company selling bagged potting soil that included wood.

And the bag was named "potting soil and mulch".

A phrase I had also never heard before.

A typical potting soil would make a lousy mulch, and a typical mulch would make a lousy potting soil.

The company explains that the "wood finds" they include in their mixes "force soil particles apart, allowing water "and air to travel down away from the surface and "towards plant root systems."

In other words, they're substituting small pieces of wood for pearlite, my favorite soil conditioner.

This mined volcanic material is popped into little balls that provide excellent drainage, but also hold on to excess moisture in their honeycombed interiors and release that moisture when the soil gets dry.

Now, as all of you good You Bet Your Gardeners know, wood absorbs plant-feeding nitrogen while depriving the actual plants of this essential nutrient, especially when the wood is mixed into the soil.

So that's strike one.

Strike two is called by the umpire of gardening because of their very next line, where they add that it is critical to mix soil amendments or planting mixes with your native soil rather than using them "straight".

Ugh.

Never used garden soil to start seeds or repot plants!

Never, ever, ever!

You'll wind up with weeds whose seeds were lurking in that outdoor soil, possible disease organisms that were hanging out with the weed seeds, and a soil consistency that is the opposite of what you want for potting soils.

I would proceed to have strike three called.

But I've read more than enough already.

I'm just going to throw at them, put them on first, and then pick them off when they try to steal second.

Wood?

Are you kidding me?

Wood?!

Back to Brandon.

Sorry, pal, but you, like 90% of our gardening cats and kittens, are also watering way incorrectly.

Nobody cares if the soil surface is dry.

It means nothing!

As we have repeatedly been saying, repeatedly, it is the root area that counts.

So, stick a long chopstick or a shish kebab holder down to the bottom of the pot and let it sit there for a few minutes, then take it out.

If the tip is wet, your roots are still saturated.

Please let them dry out before you water again.

Intelligent withholding of water is hugely important, especially with new starts.

Too much water equals damping off disease.

There are many excellent non-wooden organic potting soils out there.

Now, I personally use the bag products from Espoma, who, yes, have been amazingly dependable in helping support this show for many years.

But I use their potting soil because it is organic, high-quality, and I pay for it with my own dime at my local independent garden center.

Please don't use "Miracle Gag" or "I lost my Osma coat", or other potting soils that contain toxic chemical salts.

Organic potting soils contain lots of groovy, natural plant foods, like worm castings and such.

And please do support your local independent garden centers.

If you've been going to a big box store for plants and soils, you're missing the whole point of having a community of gardening.

Huh!

Ducky, how many sermons is that?

That's at least a month of Sundays.

We move on to timing.

If you have some gardening skill and think you're up for it, starting your own seeds indoors is enlightening and wonderful.

But if you're just getting started growing things in general, don't do it!

It's a trap!

Seriously, starting seeds indoors is a much different skill than growing plants outdoors.

Newbies are encouraged to buy plants like tomatoes and peppers, already professionally started at their local independent garden center!

Hint-hint.

You can test your seed-starting skills outdoors with direct seeded crops like lettuce, spinach, and string beans.

We move onto timing.

Or did I just say that?

My rule is to start your seeds exactly two months before you intend to set the plants out.

Research the historical weather data for your region.

For the past five April, Mays, and Junes.

That should give you an idea when nighttime temps typically reach and stay in the 50s.

That's right, cats and kittens, your last average frost date means nothing.

Tropical plants like tomatoes, peppers, cukes, melons, et cetera, suffer greatly when temps are in the high-30s and mid-to-low-40s.

You're looking for nighttime temps in the 50s.

For instance, I typically start my plants around March 15, for hopefully planting out somewhere around May 15.

But if nights are still cold, then I keep them inside until the ten-day forecast shows nights in the 50s.

Now, come on.

48 degrees, 49 degrees.

That's not a problem.

42 or 43?

That, my friends, is a chump move.

Well, that sure was an interesting look at what you need to do right now for the beginning of the season, now wasn't it?

Luckily for yous, the Question of the Week appears in print at the Gardens Alive website.

To read it over in detail, just click the link for the Question of the Week on our website, which is still and will forever be... Gardens Alive supports the You Bet Your Garden Question of the Week, and you will always find the latest Question of the Week at the Gardens Alive website.

You Bet Your Garden is a half hour public television show, an hour-long public radio show and podcast, all produced and delivered to you weekly by Lehigh Valley Public Media, in Bethlehem, P.A.

Our radio show is distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.

You Bet Your Garden was created by Mike McGrath.

Mike McGrath was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels.

Oh, and George Reeves and underwater detective Mike Nelson.

Yikes!

My producer is threatening to over-water my ailanthus if I don't get out of the studio.

Whoo!

We must be out of time.

But you, our special people, our beloved listeners, watchers, potters, whatever you call yourselves, you can call us anytime at... Or send us your emails, your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse teeming towards our garden shore at...

Please include your location when you send that email.

You'll find all of this contact information at our website... ...where you'll also find the answers to all your garden questions, audio of this show, video of this show, and our priceless podcast.

I'm your host, Mike McGrath, and I'll be defrosting my car, defrosting my hands, changing out of my wet socks and dreaming of spring until I see you again next week.