- From the brightly lit studios of the Public Media Center at PBS 39 in Bethlehem, PA, it is time for another illuminating episode of chemical-free horticultural high jinks, You Bet Your Garden.

I'm your brightly lit host, Mike McGrath.

Coming up on today's show, the next installment of our successful series on successful seed starting.

Let there be light!

Real light, not the dappled darkness you were hoping to get away with.

Other than that, yes, we'll take that heaping helping of your fabulous phone call questions, comments, tips, tricks, suggestions, and bombastic, bellicose beatifications.

So keep your eyes and or ears right here, cats and kittens, because it's all coming up faster than you having a room that's light years away.

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 espoma.com.

Welcome to another thrilling episode of You Bet Your Garden from the studios of... What are we this week?

The Public Media Center at PBS 39.

Probably won't keep that name for long, cats and kittens, so either remember it or forget about it.

It's your choice.

Coming up later in the show, part three of our seed starting spectacular where we will yell at you in an attempt to use... Where we will yell at you in an attempt to get you to use bright light to start your seedlings short and stocky, the way they should be, as opposed to looking like Wilt Chamberlain on a diet.

But before that, many of your fabulous phone calls.

At 88849...

I'm a little goofy today, kids.

Dennis, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hey, Mike, how you doing?

I am just ducky, Dennis!

How are you?

- I'm great.

I'm great, Mike.

I'm just over the hill from you, in Saucon Valley.

I can almost see the studio.

- Oh, OK, I thought you meant over the hill as in you're even older than I am.

What can we do for you?

- I'm a, you know, have been an avid organic gardener for years and years, but we've sort of... Life changed and circumstances changed.

And most of our gardening - big gardens - are well behind us.

But we love to grow herbs.

- Right.

- And we use lots of parsley and basil and mint and chives.

And so, you know, what we've been doing is growing them in pots for years, out on the back area of the home where our entertainment area is, where they're subject to a lot of sun... And if they don't get water... - Wait a minute, how entertaining is this area?

Are we talking a 200 square inch TV, a hot tub, a grill with more burners than most row homes have in all the row, you know?

- Well, if you're looking for an invitation, Mike, I can get you one.

- Can you?

- But it's the family gathering area.

We have a pool out back and we have a, you know, a little bar that we built and a grilling area and a sitting area.

And it's just our hang-out area.

- I hear ya.

- But a good spot to put some pots.

- Right.

- And the pots...

They would just dry out and, you know, we travel a bit.

And if we were gone for, you know, four or five, six days, we'd come back and, of course, you know, some stuff'd make it, some stuff wouldn't.

So about two years ago, I decided to do some above-ground, raised containers.

- Good.

- And I got online and I found...

I found one made out of fir.

They shipped it to me - like two feet by four feet.

- Wait a minute, you're not allowed to wear fur any more!

- Well, I disguised it, I painted it so that nobody could tell.

But when I put the thing together, it was such a piece of junk, Mike.

It lasted like one season and just there were no nails.

It was like, fit it together, slap it together and put little clips on the ends.

And so it fell apart.

Last year, I bought one at Tractor Supply.

I love that place.

- Right.

- And that one was made out of man-made material.

I don't know what - an extruded aluminum, molded plastic bottles...

I don't know what it was made of, but it's held up pretty well.

It's in one of those photos that I sent.

- Are these raised beds on legs?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- OK. - Yes, they are.

- OK.

I would also...

I would also recommend a company called Greens Fencing.

They are the largest producer of raised bed kits and compost... ..compost bin kits in, I believe, the world.

Certainly the US.

And it's all local cedar.

And it's very high quality.

I have raised bed on legs out on my patio.

- I've decided I would like to find a more organic - and maybe this Green Fencing is perfect - solution to something that I can put irrigation in and something that will drain.

That seems to be the biggest issue here with rotting.

- OK, that's interesting.

- And finding a way to get... - Uh, does your deck have railings?

- Yes.

- So my first answer is going to be technically non-organic, but there are many hard plastic rectangular containers that have cut-outs in the bottom where they kind of attach themselves naturally to the decking.

And you can grow a lot of things in a line of those.

And it would not be at all impossible to get a little drip line and a timer and have it take care of your stuff while you're away.

- That's what I was thinking.

- I do recommend Greens' raised beds on legs, but you don't necessarily have to choose, you can play around with a bunch of things, but I think the containers that are built to fit onto a deck are going to be much easier to attach a drip line or a sweat line to because they'll all be in a row.

- Are you talking about the ones that hang off of the railing, Mike?

- No, no.

- No?

- You sit them on top of the railing and the bottoms are cut out, so they fit right onto the top of the deck.

- Got you.

Yeah.

So with just like two legs, you mean?

- No, no.

- Rather than four legs?

- Imagine a rectangular container that has a flat bottom.

Now cut out the center of the flat bottom and move it up so that it fits precisely onto your average wooden deck, so it sits up there nice and high, doesn't need to be screwed in or anything like that.

The weight of the container holds it in place.

And again, if you line up like six of these puppies, you can run a single drip line across them, again with a timer, and you can go away to your heart's content and come back to herbs.

And because you have so many different ones out there, you can plan a different herb in each one so they won't get bullied out of their lunch money.

- I should say that the railing that we're talking about clipping this on is a major runway for the squirrels.

So they'll... - Do you have bird feeders?

- I don't know whether that'll be an issue or not.

No, I don't have bird feeders.

- You don't have bird feeders.

Do your neighbors have bird...?

- I do, but I don't use them.

You told me not to use them.

- Yes, I did!

There you go.

- OK. - One simple solution, because we got to move on, is buy a whole bunch of bulk hot pepper powder and dust that on top of the soil.

It won't hurt the plants, but it'll keep the squirrels from moving your spring bulbs around.

- OK, and can I get these devices you're talking about through Green Fencing?

- I don't know if they make a wooden version, but once you start looking at rectangular deck containers, you'll see what I mean.

- OK. - All right?

- That sounds like my solution.

- All right.

- Thank you very much.

- My pleasure.

You get out of here!

- And I'll give you...

I'll give you a call in July when the pool's open.

- I hear that!

All right.

Take care, Dennis.

- Thank you.

- Bye-bye.

William, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hello, Mike.

- Hello, William, how are you doing?

- I'm fine, how's Ducky?

- Ducky is just ducky.

Whoop!

- Good.

- Ducky, put your mask back on.

Come on, come on.

Come on, be a good duck.

Ow!

Ow!

No, he's giving me a hard time.

Where are you, Will?

- OK.

I'm in Bern Township, Berks County, right outside of Redding.

- Oh, OK. What can we do for William?

- OK. Um, last I would say late summer, early fall, I was out looking at some of my trees and I noticed that one of the trees had a lot of brown.

The needles had turned brown.

- Mm-hm.

- So I called my tree service and the guy came out and he identified six spruce trees... - Right.

- ..on the side of my property that he called it needle cast.

- Yep.

- Had never heard of before.

So I went and looked it up online, and says it's a fungus.

- Yes.

- And, um, other than that, he's... ..the tree service guy is now saying he wants to treat it with a pesticide - two applications of pesticide.

I'm not comfortable with that because we don't do any, you know... - Right.

- No herbicides, no... - It would be a fungicide, but actually, um, in the extension services around the country, cultural controls are recommended.

Now, this is a new condition?

- Yeah, it's a first.

I just noticed it last...late summer, you know.

It's the first time I've noticed it.

- OK, needle cast starts at the bottom of the tree and works its way up.

- Right.

It's where I noticed it, it was at the lower branches.

- And how much is affected?

- Uh, the different trees, it's different.

The tree that I first noticed it on, it's pretty, pretty extensive.

Some of the other trees, it's just starting.

- Hmm.

Oh, OK, good.

Because one of the important things is to try to stop the spread.

- Mm-hm.

- Now, the trees you first noticed it on, does it affect 20%, 50%...?

- I can't tell.

They're so tall, I can't tell how far up it goes.

You know, I'm about six foot, and it goes above my head, so... - Right, but you can see that the needle cast is above your head?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- OK. - I don't know how far up, but, yeah.

On the one tree.

- Are they planted close together?

- Some are close together, some are not.

- Would you consider... And how many are terribly... - There are three that are close together with other trees, and then there's three that are kind of separate, and they're not as effected as the ones that are close together.

- Right.

And those are the trees we want to protect.

How would you feel about culling the others?

- My wife would not be happy, but I guess we'd have to do it if that's the best way to go.

- No, it's, well, it's not the only way to go.

Prune out as much of the affected material as possible.

Trash it and burn it.

Clean up under the trees completely.

I want you to, you know, once the snow melts.

- Yeah.

- Rake everything away because everything on the ground under the trees is harboring that fungal disease.

- OK. - Now, there is... Oh, and keep the orchard floor clean, so to speak.

I know they're not fruit trees, but that's the line.

- Yeah, I understand.

- Yeah.

Keep them clean.

And then I would mulch them with compost.

I would mulch them with a good two inches of compost, which contains organisms that will actually fight the disease organism.

Obviously, you want to keep an eye on the other trees.

As soon as you see a branch go bad, prune it off.

Get rid of it.

- OK.

Even if it's not, you know, prime season to prune, like now?

- Oh, now is the time season, prime season to prune.

Yeah, the only time you don't want to prune is in the fall.

- Right.

OK. All righty.

I think I understand what to do.

- OK. Good luck to you, sir.

It's a tough disease.

It took one of my spruces.

- Yeah, OK. Then you know what we're going through.

- Oh yeah.

- Thanks for your advice, Mike.

- Appreciate it.

- All right.

Good luck to you.

Elise, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hi, thank you.

- Hi, thank you, Elise.

I don't have to ask you where you live because I know that you live in South Jersey.

I know who you are!

- Yep!

- Elise is one of my daughter Amanda's best friends and contributes a lot of beautiful plant photos to the You Bet Your Garden Facebook page.

So, Elise, it's great to hear from you again.

All right, Elise in South Jersey, what can we possibly do for you?

- So I guess I'm still a little new to the gardening game.

It's kind of my... ..second and a half year planting out, and I feel like I'm already behind because I'm seeing people talk about...

They're buying their seeds and everything, so... - Now, wait a minute, wait a minute.

- I was wondering if I'm behind for where I am.

- Wait a minute.

There's snow on the ground!

- See?!

- So, Elise, are you planning to start plants from seed this year?

- I'm going to give it a go.

I've even got a little set-up in my basement, and I did want to try potatoes for the first time this year.

- Well, potatoes you just put in the ground - they're easy peasy.

- OK. - So... And is that the only thing you want to try to, quote, start yourself?

You're going to buy your other plants?

- Well, I...you...your tomato knowledge has been imparted to me.

I've got your book.

- OK. - So I'm trying to do some tomatoes from seed.

- OK. - And maybe... Peppers are hard.

At least, I tried peppers last year.

- No, you're correct.

You're correct.

Peppers are, I guess, the best way to describe it is they're more tropical than tomatoes.

They germinate more slowly.

They like more bottom heat than tomatoes to germinate, and some of the really exotic hot pepper varieties have to be watered with bat guano.

- Oh, wow.

- Because for them to exist and propagate in the wild, they have to be eaten by birds.

So the closest we can come to that is the is the guano.

Bat guano and sea bird guano.

And so, yeah, no, you're right, they are.

- Yeah, that makes me feel a little better about my lack of success with peppers.

- Oh, yeah, no.

Um, now we're in the middle, hopefully closer to the end of a whole series on seed starting, and on the third show, the third episode, I talk about how different peppers are and how they need brighter light, a little bit more heat and how they grow very slowly.

So let's get back to potatoes.

I won't waste my space on russet potatoes, white potatoes, and I believe purple potatoes are tremendously overrated.

The best ones for nutrition and color and showing off are the reds and the golds.

Yukon Gold is the classic.

- I do love gold potatoes.

- And the only thing you want to do is make sure the area drains well.

And I do not recommend cutting up your seed potatoes.

I recommend planting whole potatoes.

Um, a lot of people will tell you to, quote, coin them.

I think, in a wet spring, that can cause disease and disaster, but, yes, get your order in soon, because since COVID started, suppliers are selling out fast.

This has been the best series of years for gardening supply people in ages, and some of them feel bad because they run out.

- We'll have to get out over to Wood Prairie.

- Yes, go over to Wood Prairie.

You'll fall in love with so many of these.

Potatoes are easy to grow, rewarding...

There's nothing that tastes better than a fresh potato right out of the ground.

Take a bucket of clean water out with you.

Rinse it off, clean it off and bite into it like it was a tomato.

The juice will run down your face.

The easy answer to your other question, if you want to try starting peppers again, you know, make sure that you fertilize them with something high nitrogen, that's organic.

Like, it's so much fun to have a bag of bat guano in the house to show people.

And make sure they get the brightest light and the most heat, and you want to start... - Do they need a heat mat underneath?

- Yes.

For peppers, absolutely.

All right, you're going to have so much fun with your potatoes.

Don't worry about anything else.

OK?

- Yeah.

I'll send some pictures when they're done.

- Please, please.

All right, you take care and say hi to Amanda for me.

- All right, thank you so much.

- Bye-bye.

I always wanted to do that.

Anyway, if you had followed our last two thrilling episodes, you now have sprouts up, plastic tops removed and bottom heat off, unless you are trying to start your seeds in a cold dungeon, then keep the heating mats on.

The only thing now missing is bright light.

And, no, your so-called sunny windowsill does not count!

Not even to one!

It is winter.

There are few hours of sunlight to begin with, and that sunlight is in an extreme angle that is not conducive to photosynthesis.

Everybody out there who enjoys driving into the sun in winter raise your hands!

Does anybody have their hands up?

I can't tell because I am sun glare and snow blind.

Bright light.

What used to seem like a royal pain in the shop light is now ridiculously easy to achieve.

Sure, you can continue to use your old fluorescent fixtures.

A two-tube shop light for a small batch of seedlings and a four-tube fixture for a good sized batch.

If you follow the rules.

Tomatoes are going to grow faster and taller than your other starts, so plan for that.

Peppers and eggplants will not put on nearly as much height.

So start out with them up on several layers of books, bricks, blocks of wood, anything that can be removed one by one as the starts grow large, which they're not really going to much in 60 days.

If you want lots of peppers, start those seeds 90 days ahead of your desired planting time instead of the traditional 60 days and keep them in the brightest light, where no evil will escape your sight.

Existing fluorescent fixtures should be fitted with new bulbs, as the lumens of light the bulbs emit diminishes greatly over the years, much like many of us.

Basic rules.

Peppers go in the center of the light array, placed as high as possible.

Slightly touching the bulbs is better than an inch away.

Same with eggplant, especially the Asian varieties.

Then come the blessed tomatoes.

Read seed package descriptions carefully.

Over the past couple of years, true dwarf or bush-style tomatoes have become a real thing, including my new and forever favorite, Tasmanian chocolate.

Incredibly flavorful, dark purple, full-size fruits that grow on four to five-foot vines that are more like stalks and require minimal support.

You can get those seeds from Rene's Garden.

And tell her McGrath sent you because I owe her money.

But other varieties, especially most of the cherished heirlooms, are indeterminate, meaning they grow big, fast and act like real vines.

The smart money says to start these on a brick or two while your peppers are up on five or six bricks.

Strategic removal of these supports can then be used to keep all of the plants equal distance from the lights, or close enough.

Remember, tops of plants almost touching the tubes is great.

Three inches below the tubes is as useless as a Lone Ranger holster without the cap gun.

Now, turn off all the other lights, except the plant lights.

Is every plant getting strong light?

Be honest!

If the answer is no, lose some of the plants or add some lights, but feel free to start a first run of lettuce and peas on the outskirts because they'll go outside much sooner.

Now, what about LEDs?

Yes!

I just did a quick search and found a dizzying array of LED shop lights, many of which look super cool and futuristic, and they seem to deliver about 20% more lumens than similar fluorescents.

Now that's an edumacated guess.

Don't quote me, but I think I'm close.

And, of course, LEDs are even cheaper than fluorescents to run.

I won't be giving up entirely on my shop lights yet, as I have dozens of fresh tubes in the basement, but everything from that package will go into storage soon.

Wait a minute, the basement is storage.

Then there's a new kid in town.

Introduced via TV infomercials a few years back, these multi-winged LED arrays were first promoted as, quote, garage lights, but they're simple design as standard Edison-style base that screws into a standard light socket makes them easy to use and easy to move around.

Attach them to a, quote, troubled light, which is an extension cord with a light socket at one end, and you can move them around willy nilly, up and down, over this way, over that way.

I've been using these deformable lights for two years now, and they're great for seed starting and providing light for overwintering plants.

Seems the Jedi have struck back.

Well, that sure was an intensive look at seed starting, now, wasn't it?

Luckily for you, the question of the week appears in print at the Gardens Alive website.

To read it over in detail at your leisure or your leisure, just click the link for the question of the week at our website, which is still and will forever be... Ow, that hurt.

Gardens Alive supports the You Bet Your Garden question of the week, and you will always... Ow, why did I do that again?

..find the latest question of the week at the Garden...at the Gardens Alive website.

Medic!

Medic!

Man down!

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 from the Public Media Center at PBS 39 in Bethlehem, PA. Our radio show is distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.

You Bet Your Garden was created by Mike McGrath.

Mike McGrath was created when he was abducted by a flying saucer and replaced with an exact duplicate...

Except for the toes.

Apparently, the aliens don't know from toes.

Yikes.

My producer is threatening to shut the light if I don't get out of the studio.

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I'm you're sick of snow host, Mike McGrath and I'll keep shoveling until I can see you again - next week.