Hi, I'm Chris Cooper.
Welcome to "The Family Plot:
Gardening in the Mid-South."
Thanks for joining us.
Home canning is a great way to
preserve the foods you grow in
your garden.
But what's the best
way to get started?
What equipment do you need?
Today we're gonna give you
a head start on canning.
We'll also be
talking about conifers.
What are they?
Why should we plant them?
And what are the best
conifers for our area?
All of that and
more is just ahead on
"The Family Plot:
Gardening in the Mid-South."
So stay with us!
(female announcer)
This is a production
of WKNO - Memphis.
Production funding for
"The Family Plot:
Gardening in the Mid-South"
is provided by Good Winds
Landscape and Garden Center
in Germantown since 1943
and continuing to offer it's
plants for successful gardening
with seven greenhouses and three
acres of plants plus
comprehensive landscape
services..
[soft music]
♪♪♪
[theme music]
♪♪♪
Hi, welcome to
"The Family Plot."
I'm Chris Cooper.
Joining me today is Cathy Faust.
Cathy is the director of the U-T
extension service right here in
Shelby County.
And Carol Reese is here.
Carol is the horticulture
specialist with U-T Extension.
Thanks for joining me.
Glad to be here.
Alright, now let's talk canning.
It seems to be real popular now.
It's making a resurgence.
You know every where you go
now people want to know about
canning.
So we're talking about
canning green beans.
Why do we need to
can green beans?
Well green beans are
a low acid vegetable.
And to prevent the growth of
micro-organisms or botchalism,
we have got to
pressure can green beans.
Okay.
Now take us through the process.
Okay, if you can
imagine we're in my kitchen.
And we've got these three
pots on elements on the range.
If you have a ceramic cook
top, you can not do this.
It's got to be either a gas
range or an electric range --
not ceramic.
Wow.
The pressure canner gets too hot
and it will crack the ceramic.
Okay.
Yes, so you've got to go
with your conventional.
The first thing we need to do
is check out our equipment.
Alright, let's do that.
And we test these
lids at our office,
if anybody wants
to bring one in.
And I've actually seen a
couple of people bring those in.
Oh, yeah.
There we go!
Alright!
Yeah, if you have a dial gauge,
you can bring it in to our
office and we'll test it.
Usually they test out okay.
But if it's more
than two pounds off,
we suggest that you
get a new dial gauge.
And we also check the
gasket because many times,
people will call
and they'll say,
I've had this on the stove for
40 minutes and it isn't building
up pressure.
The reason could be the
gasket is old or dry rotted.
Or it could be losing
steam through the dial gauge.
You know some malfunction.
Also before you can, you want to
run a string through this little
vent to make sure
no food has clogged.
To do our green beans, we're
going to pressure can them for
20 minutes for pints at 11
pounds of pressure and 25
minutes for quarts.
So we'll just set that aside.
And we've got about two to three
inches of water in the pressure
canner.
That pressure accuracy is to
make sure it gets to the right
temperature?
Yes.
And like I tell folks, this is
not something you can do and
multi-task.
You can't check e-mails.
You can't look at Facebook.
This is something.
That's why I've got my timer.
Okay, so you have to
keep your eyes on it?
Oh, yes.
You've got to
stand here with it.
And you begin with
some fresh green beans.
I bought these at
the Farmer's Market.
And you go ahead and
snap your green beans.
You also have a huge pot.
I like to use a stock pot.
And let's say that this has
boiling water in the stock pot.
And we've got our..
You can usually put
about eight cans in here.
And you just lift them out of
the boiling water and put them
down on your tray.
Do they need to be
totally submerged?
Yes, they do.
And we'll talk a little
bit more about that later.
I want you to have in your mind
all of this preparation that you
have to have because you've
got to have your jars hot.
You've got to have two to three
inches of water simmering in the
pressure canner.
And this is something important
that many people don't think
about.
You've got to have your
lids simmering at 180 degrees.
And see I've got a
thermometer in here.
Right.
Many times when
the lids dont seal,
this is why.
Because if you put
it in boiling water,
that little rubber
gasket just boils away.
So I tell people to have
this set aside and 180 degrees.
Seems like it's a
lot to do at one time,
doesn't it?
It is!
That's why you can't multi-task.
Okay, now how do we go about
preparing the green beans?
Oh, this was easy.
Okay.
I just went ahead and got..
I have about eight ounces
of green beans in here, fresh.
And I just went ahead and
trimmed the ends and the
strings, pulled the strings off
and put them in a Ziplock bag.
Now there are two
ways you can do this.
You can either hot pack where
you put them in a big pot and
bring them to a boil.
You can put them in boiling
water for just a couple of
minutes because the
longer they cook,
the softer they will be.
And in a way, that's good
because you can put more in your
jar.
But before you serve
them to your family,
you are going to be
boiling these for 20 minutes.
These I canned in 2011.
They're still good!
I had some a
couple of weeks ago.
But before you serve them, you
want to boil for 20 minutes to
make sure there's no
botchalism or bacteria.
And also these jars have sealed.
These were from 2011.
These were from 2012.
And we recommend consuming the
vegetables within two years.
Okay, yeah.
I was about to ask you that.
So when you tasted
it, it was still fresh?
Oh, yeah!
It tasted like fresh, just right
out of the garden green beans,
which is why this is so popular.
You know gardening is popular.
And people say, "Oh, I
got all these green beans."
And we tell them
to pressure can.
When I was at the zoo last week,
we had folks coming by saying,
"Oh, our grandparents did this
but they didn't use a pressure
canner -- they used a
water bath canner."
Which they're really taking a
chance because the acidity of
the soil has decreased and
you've got to use the pressure
canner.
Okay, they've been
very fortunate.
Well let me ask you about this.
What about the altitude?
Because you know I hear that
question a lot when it comes
time for canning.
Yes, Memphis is 300 degrees
-- 300 feet above sea level.
So that's why we use 11 pounds
of pressure for 20 minutes.
If we were up in Colarado
or some place like that,
we might have to use 12 or even
15 pounds of pressure if we were
at a very high altitude.
So the higher the altitude,
the higher the pressure.
Okay, that makes sense.
Now what do we do next?
Okay, let's say that
we've got our hot jars.
And we take the hot
jar out of the water.
And you go ahead and drain it.
People ask, "Well, do I
have to sterilize the jars?"
Not in this case because we're
going to process for more than
10 minutes.
Otherwise, you would.
A lot of times people just go
ahead and put the jars in the
dishwasher.
I like to do that.
That's a shortcut.
So you go ahead
and let's say, too,
that these green beans are hot.
I've gone ahead and I'm spooning
the green beans in to the jar.
And this jar just came
out of that hot water?
Yes, I'm glad you mentoned that.
I want you to think that that
hot jar came out of the hot
water.
We want to leave about
one inch of head space.
And let's say that
this water is boiling.
So we're gonna pour the water in
to the jar leaving one inch of
head space.
Okay.
How do I know I've got
one inch of head space?
This helps us check and that's
about one inch of head space.
This is a kit that you
can purchase at Walmart.
You have the
funnel, the bubbler.
Why do we call it the bubbler?
This is important also.
You need to stick this down in
the jar and make sure you get
rid of all of your air bubbles.
Because that might interfere
in the pressure build up.
Now you see I can put a
few more beans in here.
Just a few.
I think you've done
this before, Ms. Cathy.
Yeah, we've done this a lot.
Everything's hot and sterile.
Does it matter if the
spoon and the strainer aren't?
Well you want to
wash everything in hot,
soapy water before you begin.
Everything needs to be clean.
And for pints, we're going to
add about one half teaspoon.
Okay.
Canning salt.
Okay, so canning salt, okay.
Let's mix this up.
And that's different.
It's different from table salt.
This has a finer grain
and it's non-iodized.
If you took a look at it, you
can see how fine grain it is.
And that's your canning salt.
And a pound of this
will last forever,
just last forever.
So gone ahead.
I've done the bubbling.
I've gotten the air bubbles out.
I've put the salt in.
Now we're going to wipe our lid
because if you have just a tiny
piece of green
beans on your lid,
that might interfere.
And you see how they're
already floating to the top?
You know what
would prevent that?
If these green
beans were piping hot.
That would make a difference.
Now we come back with our lid.
Okay, and we're
gonna put that on top.
And that little piece of green
bean would keep it from sealing?
It would.
And we're gonna wipe our lid.
Put the screw band on,
just fingertip tight.
Not too terribly tight.
And then we're
gonna come over here.
And remember this is in the
water that's simmering at about
180 degrees.
And how much water?
About two inches.
So we've got hot jar, hot beans.
Now we're going to
put this in our canner.
And you put it
close to the side,
Ms. Cathy?
I like to allow about
one inch all around.
And you can put about
eight pints in here.
There is a rack in the
bottom of the canner.
You don't want to put your beans
directly on the bottom of the
pot.
You need your rack.
So you go ahead
and arrange these.
And then this is where it
gets a little bit tricky.
Line up the V on the lid and
you've got the V on the handle.
Line these two up.
Let's see..
Let it seal.
Let me bring it a
little bit closer.
This is the tricky part.
There we go!
This is the hard part.
And we've got this on the stove.
It is locked.
Now what we're
gonna do is turn it up.
If it's an electric range,
turn it on about number seven.
And you watch as the heat begins
rising and steam will begin
escaping from your vent.
If you've got something..
I like to have like a dark tray
that I can hold up behind it.
And when you see a
steady steam spray,
what you do is you let
that vent for 10 minutes.
After the steam has
vented for 10 minutes,
you put this petcock on.
Now at that point, the steam
will begin rising and your dial
gauge wil eventually
come up to 11 pounds.
When it comes up to 11 pounds,
you want to set your timer for
20 minutes.
And just sit there with it.
Just sit there.
Now you really have to have
your instructions right there.
Oh, yes.
When it comes up to 11 pounds
and you start timing for 20
minutes.
After it has reached 20
minutes, you go ahead and..
You need somebody big and strong
who can help you lift this
canner off the heating element.
And you let it cool down.
It takes probably 30 minutes.
And you don't take this off.
No, if you were
to take that off,
big trouble!
But just go ahead and cool down
naturally for about 30 minutes.
After it has cooled down, you
wait an additional 10 minutes.
Then you can take this off.
Alright Ms. Cathy, well I
know this is a long process.
But we do appreciate
you doing that for us.
And like I said before, I
mean definitely have your
instructions right
there in front of you.
Which you can get at the office.
Yes, just call us and we
can tell you all the steps!
Okay.
There are a number of gardening
events going on in the next
couple of weeks.
Here are just a few
that might interest you.
♪♪♪
Alright Ms. Cathy, thank
you again for that canning
demonstration.
We appreciate that.
Thank you.
Alright Ms. Carol,
let's talk conifers.
So before we even get
started, what is a conifer?
It's a cone bearing plant.
So conifer just, you know, we
rearranged the pronunciation a
little bit.
If we said cone-i-fer maybe it
would be more easily understood.
And often we think
of them as evergreen.
They aren't always of course.
Our common bald cypress that we
find in our swamps would be an
example of one
that is deciduous.
And sometimes the cones
don't look like cones.
Like on the junipers,
they look like little,
tiny, blue berries.
But if you dissect them, you
know anatomically they actually
are a cone.
Okay, cone-i-fers.
Yeah.
Okay, and I know something else.
You know basically
here in the south,
when we hear
conifers we're like,
"Wait a minute.
"Those can't grow here!"
It's too hot!
Is that true?
Well depends on the conifer
because of course we do think of
them as more of a northern.
If you look at the natural
range of our native trees,
you'll find spruce and fir and
hemlock in the cooler regions.
And you don't in the south but
you do find cedar and juniper.
And if you go in to the
southwest you'll find the true
evergreen cypress.
Of course our cypress
isn't really a cypress.
It's a taxodium we won't get to.
Too technical there!
But there are of course
a lot that will do here.
But we grew up with
just such a small range.
You know we always had the
little brown colored junipers
and that was kind of what
we thought of conifers,
period.
Now why do we need
to plant them though?
Well the rain is
just so exciting.
And now that we've gotten more
well-versed in what will grow
here in the south.
And I think, you know, when
you first start gardening,
you think flowers.
And then you start
thinking, "Well,
maybe other seasons
should be addressed."
And maybe other things
that can be interesting.
And conifers present such a
great range for design because I
don't know what it is about
them but they tend to mutate.
And you'll find weeping forms
and forms with gold foilage and
blue foilage.
So you've got all these
exciting things to do in design.
Okay, wow!
Because I think one of the
things people fail to do when
they think about design is to
think about using the growth
habit of the plant as interest.
Because I thought this was a
great thing I read one time.
It said if you photograph
your garden in black and white,
it still should be interesting.
That makes sense!
It does!
It makes sense.
So if you've got a tall,
narrow form against a spiky form
against a moundy form, you've
got a great composition going
there before you
even look at color.
Wow, never thought of that
before in black and white!
Makes sense.
Okay, now which ones
are good for our area?
Because I know the people
out there want to know.
Right.
Most of the junipers.
We do well with most junipers
which are very tolerant of our
heat.
Some of the western species of
juniper aren't real tolerant of
our humidity.
But when you talk about
our eastern red cedar,
of course that is truly
a juniper as you know.
And there are a lot of
other species of juniper.
So in general we can find ground
cover forms or spiky shrub
forms.
And a good example is right out
at the Ag Center on Walnut Grove
road.
The big grey owl
junipers in the parking lot,
people have probably seen
and seen that those are winter
plants.
Then we have the fall cypress.
The fall cypress are
really good for the South.
And you can find a great range.
You can find perfectly,
round natural meatballs.
I know I hate meatballs.
Don't you hate meatballs?
I hate meatballs when
people shear their shrubs in to
unnatural meatballs.
But a natural
meatball is fun, yeah.
You'll find perfect
pyramids and again,
spiky forms.
Very feathery, ferny forms and a
lot of different colors in the
foilage, as well.
And then the cryptomerias.
Cryptomerias fun to say.
A lot of people want to
call them Japanese cedars.
And that's confusing to me
because they always start
tlaking about true cedars.
So cryptomerias fun to say.
If I could just
remember tales from the crypt.
Yeah.
And you can remember it.
That's a good way
to remember it!
That's right.
And of course the
cypress, we know about those.
And a lot of people just think
about the ones in the swamp
which are big trees.
But there are weeping forms
of our common bald cypress.
And we have a great
collection of conifers,
a course of it at the
experiment station in Jackson.
We are a recognized American
Conifer Society Reference Garden
and we specialize in
ones for the south.
Okay, now let's talk about this.
So we want to get some of these
conifers that you're talking
about.
How do we prepare the site?
What's most important?
Drainage generally.
And sun, not for
all but for most.
One of the exceptions for sun
is the little Japanese Yew.
It's not a true
Yew but that Taxus.
And it will make a spreading,
beautiful evergreen shrub in the
shade.
But for most of the conifers,
we want sun or mostly sun and
excellent, sharp drainage.
And there's a couple of
exceptions in one of them.
In fact I forgot to mention the
Thujas or the Arborvitaes are
also very good
evergreens for the south.
And a couple of those
will take wetter sites.
Okay.
But if you don't
have good drainage,
I always reccommend
planting up on a mound,
you know, raising that bed and
mixing in a little more gravel
or sand.
But to make sure that that water
does move away from the roots.
Gravel?
Yeah, I actually sometimes mix
pea gravel in to some of our
planting sites.
The station and our
ground is so flat.
Just to raise it
up a little bit,
sometimes we'll do that.
Now which ones do
we need to avoid?
Because we don't want anybody
running out there getting
something that's
not for this area.
Yeah and it's funny.
We'll get argumentative,
plant people will.
Because they will have a
spruce that has limbs.
And I'm like yes, but for
every one that was planted,
for every 10 that were
planted, maybe one succeeded.
Yeah, somebody
always has just that one.
You're right.
So we generally
avoid spruce and fir.
We could experiment a little
bit with Hemlock because Hemlock
actually comes all the way
down in the top of North Alabama
where the Appalachian tree
trickles out until the daggum
Wooly Adelgid is on the scene.
And that's an insect that
is just killing Hemlocks.
Yeah, knocking 'em out.
So we can't.
Well we could if we wanted to
treat it constantly which we
could do.
But mostly we just don't
want people to plant it.
It's sad because there's such
a great range of them as well.
And Larch is another one that
does beautifully up north and
doesn't necessarily do
well here in the south.
You just kind of have to
go enjoy those up north.
And another thing I meant to
mention -- With the larger
forms, you can use
them as screening plants.
I always think it's kind of
funny sometimes when I see
people make a screen of like
a Sunday supplement Poplar.
They order those fast growing
deciduous Poplars that are
deciduous.
So in the winter,
all the leaves fall.
And also people will plant
Loblolly Pine as a spring.
And you'll see this around old
home places out in the country
all the time where it's all
trunk and a little top knot of
needles at the top.
So they don't
necessarily make good screens.
A diverse mix is
always a better idea.
A diverse mix.
Alright, good information!
You ready for the
Q and A session?
I am.
Alright Ms. Cathy, jump in
there with us if you would like.
Okay.
Here's our first viewer question
and some photos from Mark all
the way from
Appleton, Wisconsin.
Really?
Yes!
We're excited about that.
I have a grass taking over my
lawn especially in the lower
areas that may hold more water.
It is blueish-green with small
leaf blades instead of single
grass blades.
It is also very viney and
overgrows existing grass.
I've been told that it is a bent
grass and there is no way to
kill it without killing the
surrounding grass and reseeding.
We have it on the screen there.
First question, what is the
best way to kill this grass?
Second question is how do
I keep it out of my yard.
I currently use a riding
lawn mower and mulch the grass.
This is what it is.
It is creeping bent grass.
Perennial cool season grass.
We don't have it in this area
because of our temperatures,
okay?
Loves cool night
time temperatures.
But here's the thing about it.
It grows by creeping stolons.
Real shallow root system.
So if you cut your grass at
the highest possible height,
you can crowd it out.
Or you can just
remove it with a shovel,
sharp shooter or
something like that.
Yeah, just manually.
If you must use a chemical,
you can use a non-selective
herbicide.
Glyphosate is a
non-selective spot treatment,
okay.
Because you don't want to
kill your surrounding grass.
Wait 'til it dies
out, reseed, sod it.
And you'll be fine.
And if it were a cool season,
it would be growing in the cool
season.
And if they had..
Do they use warm season
turf grasses up north?
Most of the grasses they have in
the Wisconsin areas is going to
be Kentucky Bluegrass.
Okay.
Which is a cool season grass.
So they don't have a time
they'd spray when the other ones
forming, gotcha.
Okay, they can spray but
it'd be real slow acting.
But yeah, if you cut it
the possible highest height.
It sounds like the best way.
Yeah, just let it crowd it out.
And like I said, if you
must then use a non-selective
herbicide.
Knock it out.
Go ahead and reseed
it or sod that area.
Let it grow in.
It will be fine.
Okay and this last
comment is -- question is..
Is there anyone else that you
would recommend to review this
issue?
Yes, there is Mr, Mark.
That would be your local
extension agent in your county.
Alright, but we definitely
appreciate the questions.
So we're excited
about getting that one.
Okay, gonna have to be
real quick with this one.
Okay.
My Crepe Myrtle leaves are
covered with some type of black
stuff.
Why is it doing that?
Now I actually pinched this
off this morning from a Crepe
Myrtle.
Would you like to
tell them what that is?
I love this.
This is easy to answer
because we see so much of it.
And it's actually, you know,
people think that it's sort of a
fungus or something
but it's actually..
And it is a fungus growing
on what we call honey dew.
Caused by insects feeding
on the twigs and leaves.
And they drip.
It goes through their
body, on to the leaves.
The sticky film then
promotes this sooty mold,
this lilttle fungus.
So you can actually rub it off.
And it doesn't
usually kill the plant.
But it does probably slow
down the photosynthesis because
you're getting covered up.
So you have to kill the insects.
You do.
And if you actually look at the
back of the leaves Ms. Carol,
you can actually see some
of the Aphids on there.
Yeah, you sure can.
I mean it's covered with Aphids.
Which is easily done with the..
I like the systemic products
that you can put on the base,
the imidacloprid which would --
one treatment would take care of
it throughout the whole summer.
That's the Merit,
okay, that you can get.
Right or Bayer's Advance.
Yeah, Bayer's
Advance tree and shrub.
Right, insecticide will work.
Heavy stream of water.
Can wash it off even.
I mean if you actually put a
little bit of a soapy solution
on there and give
it a little time,
you can spray it off with
a hard stream of water.
But these leaves are
done for the summer.
I wouldn't bother.
But yeah.
It's the same thing I say.
I mean I guess it's the fall.
The leaves are
gonna fall off anyway.
But you want to make sure
that you get those leaves up.
You want to
practice good sanitation.
Good point, yes.
And then you want to
prevent it next year.
Start early.
Put whatever product you're
gonna use to prevent the insects
because once
you've got it on there,
it's there unless you
try to wash every leaf.
So we're not gonna do that.
Alright, thank you.
Okay, that's all we
have time for today.
Don't forget you can send a
letter or an e-mail with your
gardening questions.
The mailing address is on the
screen and the e-mail address is
Family-Plot-at-WKNO-dot-org.
I'm Chris Cooper.
Thanks for watching and be sure
to join us next time for
"The Family Plot:
Gardening in the Mid-South."
Be safe!
[theme music]
♪♪♪
Production funding for "The
Family Plot: Gardening in the
Mid-South" is provided by
Good Winds Landscape and Garden
Center in Germantown since 1943
and continuing to offer it's
plants for successful gardening
with seven greenhouses and three
acres of plants plus
comprehensive landscape
services..
CLOSED CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY
WKNO - MEMPHIS.