- From the dark and chilly Univest Studios at Lehigh Valley Public Media, in Bethlehem, PA., it is time for another Hail Mary episode of chemical-free horticultural hijinks, You Bet Your Garden.

It happens every fall.

Suddenly it's getting cooler, but your tomato plants are covered with almost their fruits.

I'm your host, Mike McGrath, and on today's show, I'll reveal ten tricks and tips that can help you ripen up some of those late-season love apples.

Plus, we'll take that heaping helping of your telecommunicated questions, comments, tips, tricks, suggestions...and erroneously eclectic edifications.

So, keep your eyes and/or ears right here, cats and kittens, because it's all coming up faster than you de-flowering your tomato plants 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, from the Universal Studios at Lehigh Valley Public Media, in Bethlehem, PA., I am, I am, I am your host, Mike McGrath.

Coming up later in the show, do you still have tomato plants outside that haven't given it up to frost yet, and you want to try to ripen up those last big, green love apples?

We got ten, ten, count 'em, ten trip...trips?

Oh, I'm back in college.

We got ten tips and tricks for you coming up in the Question of the Week.

Before that, I better start taking your fabulous phone calls at... - Donna, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Thank you.

Hello from Alaska.

- Well, hello back to Alaska~ What part of Alaska does Donna live in?

- The southeast part, in Haines, about 90 miles north of the capital of Juneau.

- So what can we do you for?

- Well, I am putting some 12-inch deep garden boxes on top of a lawn of clover.

And I want to know if that is enough cover to kill the clover, or will it just grow right up through that 12 inches?

- I doubt it would grow... - That's the first question.

- Yeah, I doubt it would grow up through 12.

How come...?

Oh, and what's the actual size?

Not just the depth.

- It's a 4x8, the first one, I'm just on the first one here.

So it's a 4x8 garden box.

12 inches deep.

- Perfect size and shape.

And what do you intend to grow in it?

Not to be cruel, but haven't you harvested enough cabbages to keep you happy for the rest of your life?

- Well, my cabbages are still out there, and I'm chasing the slugs every day, trying to keep them nice till I get around to picking them.

But... What am I planting in this particular bed?

I'm planning to plant just strawberries.

- Oh, okay.

And... - And I'm going to do a couple more that will be for vegetables.

- Okay.

But you know, you can't grow tomatoes or peppers out in the open, in southeast Alaska.

You need to have, like, a rudimentary greenhouse to trap enough heat to ripen them up.

- For the most part, yes, that's true.

- Okay.

- So this is a property.

It's not my home.

And I do grow tomatoes outdoors in my home up against the building, though, where they have that residual warmth.

But I'm not trying to grow tomatoes over in this garden.

This is an old hostel that I bought, and I'm trying to put in a garden for the residents that live there.

And I'm putting in this garden in the middle of an acre of lawn.

So, my other question is about that, too.

But yeah, the first question was just of growing up through the clover.

- I would, because... - The clover growing up through the dirt.

- I hear you.

Because it's a 4x8 raised bed, I would either... Well, I would remove the sod, is essentially it.

You can rent a machine to do that, or if you're handy, you can use a couple of different tools to get it out, as if you were using a sod cutter.

And then, our normal advice is to simply turn that sod upside down and build your raised bed on top of that.

So, over time, the nitrogen-rich grass and the nitrogen-rich clover will decompose and, additionally, feed your plants.

But I'm thinking about this clover.

So, is this a lawn that was deliberately overseeded?

- You know, it was I think, underneath my topsoil is like a gravel where it used to be a driveway to the kitchen house.

And so, if I try to dig down, it's really rocky right there.

So, the rest of the soil and other places is not.

But in this particular spot, it's really not very good.

So then, I called in two truckloads of topsoil, and I think the clover came with the topsoil, not the grass seed that I bought.

And I bought this topsoil, two truckloads, and then it was so un-nutritious that I bought bags and bags, and bags of compost to put on top of it.

So, I got the whole thing going last year and, you know, I thought I had a good lawn going, and I come back this spring and it's just absolutely full of clover, wherever I seeded.

- Well, you... - I mean, wherever that topsoil went out.

- I would urge you to use a bagging lawnmower, when the clover is in full flower.

And then, let that dry out a little bit and crush it up.

And I would use that to fertilize your raised bed, and the other plants at home.

As you probably know, clover is a nitrogen-fixing plant.

It is able to take nitrogen from the air and hold it inside its own biomass.

Now, people mistakenly think it'll feed a plant next to it, which it won't.

But each clover plant is a nutritional powerhouse, especially for non-flowering plants which are, in a regular vegetable garden, they're the most popular ones in your area of the country.

So I would urge you to incorporate the clover.

It's...yeah... - If I put the... - Go ahead.

- I'm sorry.

If I put the clippings on the garden, though, is the grass just going to sprout more grass, you know?

Because maybe stuff is seeding when the lawn is cut.

- No, no, no.

That should not happen, as long as you're cutting it on a normal regular basis.

No, I mean, grass clippings are rich in nitrogen.

The clover is incredibly rich in natural nitrogen.

So, I would specialize here in growing non-flowering plants, which of course does not include strawberries.

Is there a special variety of strawberries that can take your day-and-night extremes when you get to the edges of the universe?

- You know, I have seen several varieties of strawberries grow here, I've grown, I don't even know the names of the varieties I have anymore.

But I was just going to take some cuttings off of my ones at home to bring over there and... - Okay.

- You know, start them again.

- You should collect the combination of the grass clippings and the clover, and do something with it for non-flowering plants.

Lettuces, salad greens, again, cabbages and kale, things that grow really well in your climate.

And then, what I would do, save time, save work, I would just scalp that area.

I would run it over with a lawn mower until you see dirt blowing out the back.

And then, just build the raised bed on top of it.

If you want some insurance, there's the old trick of laying cardboard down over top of the scalped area to smother any grass that tries to re-sprout, and then, you fill your soil and compost over top of that.

So, I think you'd do very well with that situation.

- Thank you so much for your help.

- Well, thank you!

It's great to hear from somebody up there.

- All right.

Well, take care.

- You, too.

Bye-bye.

Kristen, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Thanks so much, Mike.

- Well, thank you, Kristen, how are you doing?

- Oh, I'm wonderful.

Enjoying a reprieve from the humidity of Tennessee.

- I hear that.

What part of Tennessee?

- I live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, currently outside of the city center, but we're very close to Georgia.

- Okay, what can we do you for?

- Well, I've recently relocated to a rental.

I owned a house inside the heat sink of the city, and am trying to move up the mountain to slightly cooler climes.

But with the housing market being what it is, it's taking a little more time than anticipated.

So, we've parked our tissues in a rental for now.

And, along with all the humans and four-legged kiddos, we also have some plants that have come with us that I'm hoping to keep alive until we get somewhere more permanent.

- Okay.

I believe...

I remember your email.

I believe you sent us pictures of a blueberry plant in a pot, and a cutting from a fig in another pot.

- Yes, yes!

And I am thrilled.

So, I have an LSU purple fig.

And I was fortunate enough that I just, you know, on a whim, buried one of the low branches and got it to take root while I was still at the old house.

And then, I could cut it and stick those roots in a pot.

And it's doing great.

I've got tons of new leaves.

I'm psyched.

And then, I also have a sunshine... Oh, gosh, a powder blue, that's it!

A powder blue blueberry bush that is a few years old.

And I dug that up and stuck it in the biggest pot I could find, and I'm hoping to keep these suckers alive through the winter.

- Not only are blueberries very frost-hardy, but they need a good amount of what's called winter chilling.

So, that thing should definitely stay outside.

What I would recommend, I don't know what your landscape looks like or what your limitations are, but would it be possible for you to find a spot somewhere, dig a hole, and drop the plant into the hole, pot and all?

- Possibly.

I might be able to get just a little bit of the pot, but the ground is particularly hard.

It's basically clay, and then, I think it's shale or limestone, or I forget what it is, but some kind of hard rock that you can't dig very deep.

- Gotcha.

Well, I would suggest you do the best you can.

And, because the blueberry is very frost-hardy, and I'm thinking your winters don't get that cold?

- We do have some hard freezes, but it's rare.

It's not the majority of nights, certainly.

- Well, what I would do is dig a hole as deep as I could get, and then, I would collect some soil from around that area, drop the pot into the hole, and then, use the other soil to kind of insulate the pot, pile it up around it.

And, as far out as you can go from the pot, the better the plant is going to do.

- Okey doke.

- But it should survive.

And if you can't get out in time, it should flower and fruit in there.

You know, the secret is just... - Hooray!

- Just keep the soil acidic.

- Right?

Okay.

- Got it.

- As for the fig-cutting, figs don't like hard frosts, and you just have a little baby fig.

So, what I'm going to suggest, and you're welcome to go back a week or two and watch or listen, or both to the show where Lee Reich was my guest, because his new book is all about growing figs in cold climates.

Do you have a cool, unheated, but not freezing area in this rental?

- I have a basement, but also a garage.

- Okay.

I would put it in the garage.

The closest to the house as possible.

Water at once, and leave it alone.

Then it can go out very early.

Figs only need to be protected for about two months.

But if you fail to protect them, they lose all their above-ground growth.

And then, it takes too long to regrow that for the plant to be able to produce figs.

- Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed and light some candles, and do those things that you've outlined.

- Very good, and good luck on finding your new place.

Mark, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hey, Mike, how's it going?

- I am just Duckyyy!

Mark, how are you?

- I am doing okay.

Beautiful weather here in University Park, Maryland.

- All right, what can we do you for?

- Well, you had a caller a couple of weeks back, you'll probably recall, who was complaining about what to do with all the itchy balls he had in his yard.

Itchy balls, meaning those spiky balls that the sweet gum trees drop.

- Right.

- And we have the same problem in the park, just outside our back fence.

We have a couple of sweet gum trees, and somehow, they're in the park, but somehow, they manage to throw at least half their spiky itchy balls into our yard.

- Oh, yeah.

- And...yeah.

And if that listener caller happens to be listening, he might like to know that those itchy balls actually make excellent kindling.

- Oh, okay.

I remember, I've spent a lot of time in your immediate area, and a lot of people burn wood in the winter.

- That's right.

That's right.

And actually, where I was burning them was in the wood stove in our cabin up in Pennsylvania.

But I only did it once, and years back, I took a bag of them up to the cabin, burned them in the wood stove, and they worked great.

But I stopped doing it after that first bag, because I was worried about the possibility I might be transporting pests across state lines, you know, since those spikey balls sit on the ground for a while before they get picked up, I was wondering if I might not be doing some damage somehow with transporting bugs?

- Well, that is an honorable thing to worry about.

What do you use to transport them?

- I just had them stored in a paper bag out in the gazebo outside our back yard, and took them up to the cabin.

And they were then stored inside the cabin, next to the woodstove until I used them.

- If you're dealing with small amounts, go to a home or hardware store and get what we used to call a slop can.

Which is a metal garbage can, so to speak, with a locking lid.

And use that to transport it.

Open the lid when you want to throw in some kindling, and then, lock it back up again.

So, if there are any nefarious pests in there, they'll just burn to death!

Now, tell me exactly what you do, because I have a wood stove.

And what I do is I take apart a bunch of newspaper, roll it up, and put that on the bottom, and then, some small sticks and other forms of kindling we've picked up from the yard.

And then, one piece of wood that's ready, you know, that's been split.

And then, I'll get that going.

And once that's really raging, I'll start throwing in more logs, for lack of a better word.

Do you do the newspaper?

- Yeah, but that's about exactly what I do.

And when I was using the spikey balls, I just substituted them for the small kindling sticks, and then, the one or maybe two logs above that.

- I think that is a great idea.

I've got nothing to say, other than congratulations.

Thanks for helping.

Thanks for taking the time.

- I appreciate it.

- My pleasure.

Bye-bye.

- As promised, it is time for the Question of the Week... Lynn, in Akron, Pennsylvania, Lancaster County, writes "I watch your show on PBS and enjoy it very much."

Thank you, Lynn.

"I bought an heirloom tomato plant this spring, "but lost the tag."

Welcome to the club, Lynn.

"It's a small tomato, but I don't know what kind it is, "or what it should even look like when it's ripe.

"It was very slow to grow early on.

"It looks like the fruits are dark green and purple "when they're unripe, and then, turn an orange, yellow, "and green when ripe, which has taken all summer.

"There are about 30 tomatoes of various sizes on the plant, "which is still in the ground, "and I know that time is running out.

Thanks for any help you can provide."

Lynn sent us a bunch of photos, which we'll show right now on the TV version of You Bet Your Garden, and include when this article is published at the Gardens Alive website.

We will also show the photos to our Facebook friends, and see if anyone can I.D.

this incredibly confusing tomato, which has me totally baffled.

The orange, yellow, and green ones, which she feels are the right ones, are shaped like normal tomatoes and look unripe to me.

The dark green and purple, almost black ones, are shaped decidedly like eggplants and look ripe to me.

I attempted what I thought was an educated guess, but Lynn didn't think the tomatoes matched.

So, cats and kittens, take a look at these photos and tell us what you think.

As an incentive, I will send a signed copy of my tomato book, The You Bet Your Garden Guide to Growing Great Tomatoes, to the listener, viewer, podcaster who sends in the first guess that Lynn agrees with.

Kindly send those guesses to YBYG@WLVT.org.

Okay.

Enough about that.

Let's move on to some tips that everybody can use to hopefully ripen up those last tomatoes of fall.

Number one, pinch off any flowers on the plants you want to ripen up their existing fruits.

Same for teeny, tiny tomatoes.

There's very little chance they'll grow big before frost calls the game.

Number two, be realistic.

Not only are the nights getting cooler, but the hours of daylight are also now markedly shorter than they were back in June.

When those of us who were forced to go to bed when it was still light out as children doggedly attempt to defy that mandate, no matter how tired we are and wind up falling asleep on the couch.

If you're uncertain about a small tomato, pull it off!

It will devote more of the plant's energy to the ones that are closer to full size.

Number three, cover the plants with row covers or sheer curtains, not plastic or anything heavy.

Professionally-made row covers, trap heat, but allow sunlight and water to pass through.

The right type of sheer curtain material should do the same.

But don't use clear plastic, as you might inadvertently cook the plants on a cool but sunny day.

And don't use anything you can't see through, like a light summer sheet, for the reason that will be explained in number four!

Number four, put the protection on and leave it on.

Row covers are designed to stay on the plants night and day.

If you foolishly believe you can throw a blanket over the plants at night and remove them first thing in the morning, you will likely dislodge most of the fruits, or just plain kill the plants before nature has a chance to.

Number five, do not prune off any green leaves.

They are the solar panels attempting to use those greatly reduced hours of sunlight to keep things moving along.

Number six, water when dry.

Plants that are fully hydrated can survive lower temperatures than dry ones.

If you go a week without rain water, each plant slowly at the base for an hour using a hose set to drip slowly.

Number seven, don't delay the harvest.

Once a tomato is half-colored up, it is certain to finish ripening indoors.

Just sit these breaker tomatoes out on the kitchen counter at room temperature.

No direct sunlight.

Number eight, become a Weather Channel stalker.

Keep an eye on upcoming predicted temperatures from both national and local sources, and trust the ones you like the least.

Number nine, be prepared to call the game.

If nighttime temperatures are predicted to dip below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, strip the plants and bring the fruits inside.

The only exception is if the weather guessers predict one night that will dip to 38-39 degrees Fahrenheit, bookended by good and decent nighttime temperatures.

In this case, harvest any tomato that has begun to change color and roll the dice on your greenies.

Remember that daytime temps mean nothing, and the tomatoes turn mealy when exposed to low temperatures, which is why you are never supposed to put your love apples in the fridge!

Number ten, again, be realistic.

It isn't just frost we're fighting.

It's temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

And I'm being generous here.

The smart money would suggest you harvest everything before temps dip down to 40.

If tomatoes have reached full size, there's a darn good chance they will slowly ripen up indoors.

Or follow the advice of the famed McGrath Sisters, no relation, and make some delicious fried green tomatoes.

Well, that sure was some hopefully useful information about coaxing tomatoes to ripen up, now, wasn't it?

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

To read it over 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, YouBetYourGarden.org.

Gardens Alive supports the You Bet Your Garden Question of the Week, and you'll 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 from the Univest Studios, at Lehigh Valley Public Media, 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 saw a strange light vanish into the sand pit behind his home, and the villagers suddenly started acting really weird.

Yikes!

My producer is threatening to uncover my last love apples if I don't get out of this studio.

We must be out of time.

But you can call us anytime at... Or send us your email, your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse of a message teeming towards our garden shore at... For God's sake, please include your location!

I'm your host, Mike McGrath, and I'll be begging my last tomato plants to die with dignity, so I can get out of my sauce-splattered kitchen and see you again next week.