WEBVTT 00:01.001 --> 00:02.436 - Hi, thanks for joining us for 00:02.436 --> 00:04.204 The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South. 00:04.204 --> 00:05.739 I'm Chris Cooper. 00:05.739 --> 00:07.641  Want to garden in a   very small space? 00:07.641 --> 00:09.142  It's called   square foot gardening, 00:09.142 --> 00:11.645  and today we're going   to learn how to do it. 00:11.645 --> 00:13.547  Also, does your crape   myrtle have bark scale? 00:13.547 --> 00:15.816  We'll show you one   way to take care of it. 00:15.816 --> 00:17.417  That's just ahead on 00:17.417 --> 00:19.286  The Family Plot:   Gardening in the Mid-South. 00:19.286 --> 00:20.554  - (female announcer)   Production funding for 00:20.554 --> 00:23.757  The Family Plot: Gardening in   the Mid-South is provided by: 00:23.757 --> 00:26.660  The WKNO Production Fund, 00:26.660 --> 00:29.096  The WKNO Endowment Fund, 00:29.096 --> 00:32.432  and by viewers like you.   Thank you. 00:32.432 --> 00:35.736 [cheerful country music] 00:42.643 --> 00:45.012 - Welcome to The Family Plot, I'm Chris Cooper. 00:45.012 --> 00:47.047 Joining me today is Tonya Ashworth. 00:47.047 --> 00:48.382 Tonya is our local garden expert, 00:48.382 --> 00:50.384 and Mr. D. will be joining us later. 00:50.384 --> 00:51.785 Alright Tonya, it's good to have you here 00:51.785 --> 00:53.754 at The Family Plot garden. - Yeah, thanks so much. 00:53.754 --> 00:55.422 - Oh, no problem. We're going to talk about 00:55.422 --> 00:57.057 square foot gardening. 00:57.057 --> 00:59.760 So the first question is this, what is square foot gardening? 00:59.760 --> 01:02.996 - Well it's my very favorite method of growing vegetables 01:02.996 --> 01:04.998 in my own backyard. 01:04.998 --> 01:08.135 And it was popularized by books from Mel Bartholomew. 01:08.135 --> 01:10.270 The idea behind square foot gardening is that 01:10.270 --> 01:12.472 it's a raised bed system. 01:12.472 --> 01:16.476  The basic raised bed size   is four foot by four foot. 01:16.476 --> 01:19.746  And a square foot garden, a true   square foot garden always has a 01:19.746 --> 01:23.050  grid laid on top of the   four-by-four square bed. 01:24.418 --> 01:27.120  That divides it   into square feet, 01:27.120 --> 01:30.490  so you'll have   16 square foot sections 01:30.490 --> 01:33.126  in a square foot garden bed. 01:33.126 --> 01:36.263 And you can make those grids out of twine and nails, 01:36.263 --> 01:38.465 or little pieces of wood strips that you lay on top. 01:38.465 --> 01:40.267 - Ok, that was going to be my next question. 01:40.267 --> 01:42.903 Ok, well what are the benefits of square foot gardening? 01:42.903 --> 01:45.605 - Ok, well here's the reasons why I do it in my yard. 01:45.605 --> 01:48.475 The first one is that it doesn't take up a whole lot of space. 01:49.376 --> 01:51.912 You can grow a lot in a very small back yard. 01:53.413 --> 01:56.216 You don't have to own a tiller or anything like that. 01:56.216 --> 01:58.952 The only thing I've ever used in my square foot beds 01:58.952 --> 02:01.788 are my hand trowel. 02:01.788 --> 02:04.524 Very, very little weed pressure, almost no weeds, 02:04.524 --> 02:06.727 I rarely ever have to pull a weed. 02:06.727 --> 02:09.596 You use less water because it's a smaller space 02:09.596 --> 02:12.065 that you have to water. 02:12.065 --> 02:15.969 And I have dogs in my backyard, so if I had a great big garden, 02:15.969 --> 02:19.740 I would have to fence around the whole thing to keep my dogs out, 02:19.740 --> 02:22.709  but it's very, very simple to   fence around to keep dogs or 02:22.709 --> 02:25.545  other critters out of   your square foot beds. 02:25.545 --> 02:27.280  - Good point, good point.   No weeds. 02:27.280 --> 02:29.449 Did I hear you say that? - Very, very little. Yes. 02:29.449 --> 02:31.084 - How about that, ok. 02:31.084 --> 02:33.186 Now how do we get started with our square foot garden. 02:33.186 --> 02:36.089 - Ok, the first thing that you have to do is build your bed, 02:36.089 --> 02:40.527 or now, you can even buy kits to build your square foot bed. 02:40.527 --> 02:43.463 And you want them to be at least six inches deep. 02:43.463 --> 02:45.399 Mine are a little bit deeper than that in my backyard, 02:45.399 --> 02:47.668 but six inches is really all that you need. 02:47.668 --> 02:51.605 And then you would first locate that in an area that gets at 02:51.605 --> 02:55.409 least six hours of sunshine a day, so full sun is best. 02:55.409 --> 02:57.077 - Full sun is best, ok. 02:57.077 --> 02:59.746 - And you know if you don't have a lot of full sun areas in your 02:59.746 --> 03:01.815 yard, if it's a concrete patio, you can put this thing right on 03:01.815 --> 03:05.419 top of concrete, so, it's great for small spaces. 03:05.419 --> 03:07.287 And then you fill it with whatever you're going 03:07.287 --> 03:09.256 to put in your raised beds. 03:09.256 --> 03:11.758 I think in his books Mel Bartholomew has 03:11.758 --> 03:14.428 his own mix that he's formulated. 03:14.428 --> 03:16.697 It's like a third vermiculite, a third peat moss, 03:16.697 --> 03:19.032 and a third compost. But you don't have to put that 03:19.032 --> 03:21.034 if that's not what you have on hand. 03:21.034 --> 03:23.036 If you've got some good compost, or whatever, 03:23.036 --> 03:24.771 you can fill that up. 03:24.771 --> 03:27.174 So we're going to modify this barrel to show you an example 03:27.174 --> 03:28.775 of how to do a square foot garden. 03:28.775 --> 03:32.946 So we're going to add a little bit of compost to our barrel. 03:32.946 --> 03:34.948 - I think I can handle that Tonya. 03:34.948 --> 03:36.783 - Thank you. - You just tell me how much. 03:36.783 --> 03:40.253 - Ok. And in my own yard in the spring, 03:40.253 --> 03:43.757 I usually will have to top dress with compost to get it back up 03:43.757 --> 03:47.394 to the top of my container. 03:49.596 --> 03:51.998 - This is good stuff here. 03:53.066 --> 03:55.969 - Alright, so another thing about square foot gardening is 03:55.969 --> 03:57.971 inside of these grids, you're going to plant your 03:57.971 --> 04:01.308 plants very close together. 04:01.308 --> 04:04.277 And you don't plant in rows with a square foot garden. 04:04.277 --> 04:07.747 So you'll usually see in planting guidelines, 04:07.747 --> 04:11.785 plant your things so many inches apart, 04:11.785 --> 04:14.154 and then so many inches between rows. 04:14.154 --> 04:16.857 But we just ignore the row part and you put them on centers. 04:16.857 --> 04:19.426 And so this allows you to be able to plant a lot of things in 04:19.426 --> 04:22.095 a small space, like in a square foot. 04:22.095 --> 04:27.134  In one square in your raised   bed you can plant 16 carrots. 04:27.134 --> 04:28.735  - Really? Wow. 04:28.735 --> 04:31.138  - Or you can plant   one tomato per square, 04:31.138 --> 04:35.308  so that gives you 16 tomatoes   in one four-by-four bed. 04:35.308 --> 04:38.278  Which is highly   intensive planting. 04:39.513 --> 04:42.582  Or you can do one pepper,   or one eggplant per square. 04:42.582 --> 04:46.686  You can also do four   bush beans per square, 04:46.686 --> 04:50.056  or you can do nine   sweet peas per square. 04:50.056 --> 04:51.691 So I know that sounds like a lot, 04:51.691 --> 04:53.460 but I've tried it on my own and it actually works. 04:53.460 --> 04:55.929 So in my one little one foot by one foot square 04:55.929 --> 04:58.865 I planted nine sugar sweet peas. 04:58.865 --> 05:01.201 And when they grow up they kind of support each other as they 05:01.201 --> 05:04.204 grow, and you don't even hardly need a support system, 05:04.204 --> 05:06.072 and there's no weeds because they're out-competing 05:06.072 --> 05:08.508 all the weeds. - Right, I got you, I got you. 05:08.508 --> 05:11.845 - Those are some of the basics, and if you want to do this in 05:11.845 --> 05:15.849 your yard, and you're not sure how many plants to put 05:15.849 --> 05:18.018 per square, there's some good resources online. 05:18.018 --> 05:20.387 You can go to squarefootgardening.com 05:20.387 --> 05:23.156 and watch short video clips on how to set this thing up. 05:23.156 --> 05:25.392 And you can also if you're on Pinterest, 05:25.392 --> 05:28.295 you can follow the Square Foot Gardening Foundation and they 05:28.295 --> 05:31.431 have charts of samples for how many plants to put in each 05:31.431 --> 05:34.935 square, so that's a great resource if you're on Pinterest. 05:35.669 --> 05:37.704 - Pinterest, ok. - So I brought some 05:37.704 --> 05:39.973 things with me to show, you could do one 05:39.973 --> 05:42.843 tomato plant per square, this is 'Pink Girl'. 05:42.843 --> 05:45.011 - [chuckles] Pink Girl. 05:45.011 --> 05:47.814 - Or one pepper, you could put that. 05:47.814 --> 05:51.017 And then I like to plant from seed sometimes, 05:51.017 --> 05:55.522 you could do one okra per square in your garden, 05:56.857 --> 05:59.793 or 16 carrot seeds per square, 05:59.793 --> 06:02.929 you could plant a whole bunch of carrots. 06:02.929 --> 06:05.165 Also it's good to plant carrots in containers because the soil 06:05.165 --> 06:07.300 is usually not as compact, they do better, 06:07.300 --> 06:09.336 they're a root vegetable. 06:09.336 --> 06:11.605 Also eggplant, I'm going to try from seed this year, 06:11.605 --> 06:13.673 and this is a container variety for a 12-inch pot, 06:13.673 --> 06:16.042 so this would be perfect for my 06:16.042 --> 06:18.745 space intensive square foot beds. 06:18.745 --> 06:22.382 So I'm just going to go ahead and plant, 06:22.382 --> 06:25.418 sorry, this tomato plant in there. 06:25.418 --> 06:28.255 And we probably have, this is probably a little bit more than 06:28.255 --> 06:30.790 one square would be in your square foot bed, 06:30.790 --> 06:32.826 so I'm going to put it kind of towards the back, 06:32.826 --> 06:34.561 and then I'm going to put a parsley in there too. 06:34.561 --> 06:36.696 'Cause I think we've got room. 06:36.696 --> 06:38.632 - It's a good root system on that too. 06:38.632 --> 06:41.635 - Nice, fluffy dirt. 06:41.635 --> 06:43.670 - Alright, looks good. 06:43.670 --> 06:45.672 Now how successful are you with the seeds though, 06:45.672 --> 06:47.240 when you're planting your seeds at home 06:47.240 --> 06:49.542 in your own square foot garden? 06:49.542 --> 06:53.546 - Well I have three of the four-by-four raised beds, 06:53.546 --> 06:55.782 one of them I use strictly as an herb bed, 06:55.782 --> 06:58.551 so I have a lot of success with planting things like basil, 06:58.551 --> 07:01.588 and parsley, and dill from seed. 07:01.588 --> 07:04.858 I've already got basil and dill seed sprouted up in my own yard 07:04.858 --> 07:09.296 in my own square foot bed, and also I've had a lot of success 07:09.296 --> 07:11.831 with carrots especially. 07:11.831 --> 07:16.102 And lettuce, lettuce is a great spring crop that you can do. 07:16.102 --> 07:20.006 You just get a nice seed bed and sprinkle out your lettuce seeds, 07:20.006 --> 07:24.110 it's fantastic for this type of scheme. 07:24.110 --> 07:26.112 And then let's see, what else have I planted from seed? 07:27.247 --> 07:30.383 My peas, I plant peas from seed. 07:30.383 --> 07:33.286 So you can definitely save money that way. 07:33.286 --> 07:35.555 And that's pretty much all there is too it. 07:35.555 --> 07:38.091 - And I guess it's easy to harvest too, 07:38.091 --> 07:39.793 right, you said there's no weeding. 07:39.793 --> 07:41.661 - No weeding. 07:41.661 --> 07:42.929 - Harvesting is going to be easy. 07:42.929 --> 07:44.531 What if you had like pest problems, it would be easy 07:44.531 --> 07:46.299 to just come in here and take those off, right? 07:46.299 --> 07:49.202 - Yeah, I mean I've mostly just had aphids that you can easily 07:49.202 --> 07:51.504 remove if you catch them in time. 07:52.972 --> 07:55.675 Yeah, the pest problems, very few, 07:55.675 --> 07:58.345 and my favorite part is no weeds. 07:58.345 --> 08:00.447 And it's easier on your back too, 08:00.447 --> 08:02.615 it's easier on your back than doing it in the ground. 08:02.615 --> 08:04.451 - I'm glad you mentioned that. 08:04.451 --> 08:06.453 - And they're easy, the beds are easy to build. 08:06.453 --> 08:10.457 My husband built mine for me, but I'll tell people that he was 08:10.457 --> 08:12.559 outside building my beds, and I was inside cooking dinner, 08:12.559 --> 08:15.195 and he got finished first. - Oh, Daniel's good. 08:15.195 --> 08:19.032 He's good. [both chuckle] One last question, 08:19.032 --> 08:21.368 any disease problems, you know because they're 08:21.368 --> 08:23.470 planted fairly close together, so... 08:23.470 --> 08:27.874 - Yes, well, for my tomatoes I spray preventative fungicide. 08:27.874 --> 08:30.944 Chlorothalonil is my favorite. Yeah, so. 08:30.944 --> 08:32.645 - And it works pretty good? No other problems? 08:32.645 --> 08:34.814 - No. - Alright, well Tonya we 08:34.814 --> 08:36.583 appreciate that demonstration, we can't wait to see what 08:36.583 --> 08:38.418 it looks like throughout the summer. 08:38.418 --> 08:40.053 - Yes! - Thank you much. 08:40.053 --> 08:41.654 - Thank you. 08:41.654 --> 08:43.256  - (Chris)   There are a number of gardening 08:43.256 --> 08:45.158  events going on in the   next couple of weeks. 08:45.158 --> 08:47.193  Here are just a few   that might interest you. 08:47.193 --> 08:50.964 [cheerful country music] 09:08.982 --> 09:12.051 Well, here at WKNO we have a problem with our crape myrtles. 09:12.051 --> 09:15.155  Looks like we have the   crape myrtle bark scale. 09:15.155 --> 09:17.190  - That's right, looks like   we got a fungus among us. 09:17.190 --> 09:19.292  [Chris chuckles]   - That's bad. 09:19.292 --> 09:22.128  - So how do you think the   scales got here Mr. D.? 09:22.128 --> 09:25.565  - You know, I don't know, these   were first identified in Texas, 09:25.565 --> 09:27.667 is that right? In the United States? 09:27.667 --> 09:29.402 - That's right. 09:29.402 --> 09:32.005 - So there's got to be some windborn activity. 09:32.005 --> 09:34.974 I know the males, we know have wings and can fly. 09:34.974 --> 09:39.012 But the females are secile, they can't move so, 09:40.313 --> 09:42.782 they couldn't have come in on their own. 09:42.782 --> 09:44.517 I think we've probably helped them a little bit. 09:44.517 --> 09:46.586 - I think we helped them too, and I think birds may have also 09:46.586 --> 09:48.455 brought them over too, what do you think about that? 09:48.455 --> 09:52.792 - Birds, birds. But transporting plants around. 09:52.792 --> 09:56.396 You know, we probably inadvertantly moved more 09:56.396 --> 10:00.066 critters and bad things than we really mean to. 10:00.066 --> 10:03.970 - Right. - But that would make sense. 10:04.971 --> 10:06.773 - And I'll tell you what, there's some heavy infestations 10:06.773 --> 10:08.741 here in Shelby County. I mean I've gotten calls 10:08.741 --> 10:12.679 from Germantown, Bartlett, Midtown, Collierville, 10:12.679 --> 10:14.914 so they're pretty much all over the place now. 10:14.914 --> 10:17.784 - In one year, I mean it's a little over a year ago when they 10:17.784 --> 10:19.652 discovered them in this area. 10:19.652 --> 10:22.689 - Right, you know, Dr. Harold and Dr. Windham came down last 10:22.689 --> 10:25.625 year, they're in Germantown, and saw a couple of cases, 10:25.625 --> 10:28.795 but this year, for some reason it's just exploded. 10:28.795 --> 10:30.864 Just multiplied, so they're pretty much 10:30.864 --> 10:32.799 all around the area now. - I wonder how closely 10:32.799 --> 10:36.469 they are related to their Asian counterpart. 10:36.469 --> 10:39.606 They're common over across the ocean. 10:41.774 --> 10:46.012 I wonder how close this race is that we have here 10:46.012 --> 10:48.882  is to the Asian variety.   I don't know. 10:48.882 --> 10:50.817  - That's a good   question, I don't know. 10:50.817 --> 10:52.552  But right now we know   they're pretty much specific 10:52.552 --> 10:54.687 to the crape myrtles. 10:54.687 --> 10:57.090  Which is a mainstay   pretty much here in the south. 10:57.090 --> 10:59.759  Everybody grows crape myrtles,   so we'll see what happens. 10:59.759 --> 11:01.261  - And it's been a   worry free plant, 11:01.261 --> 11:04.631 a plant that we didn't have any pests-- 11:04.631 --> 11:07.534 - Pest free. So this is how we're to treat 11:07.534 --> 11:09.736 the crape myrtle bark scale. This is what we've been 11:09.736 --> 11:12.105 telling the home owner to use. - This is what, imidacloprid? 11:12.105 --> 11:15.008 - It is, that's the active ingredient, it sure is. 11:15.008 --> 11:18.578 And of course, you know, our crape myrtle is multi-trunked, 11:18.578 --> 11:21.014 so you have to make sure that you read and follow the label, 11:21.014 --> 11:22.949 we definitely want people to do that. 11:22.949 --> 11:24.951 And what we're going to do is we're going to measure the 11:24.951 --> 11:27.787 distance in inches around each tree trunk at about 11:27.787 --> 11:29.889 four and a half feet. 11:29.889 --> 11:32.592 We're going to add together, and then we're going to multiply 11:32.592 --> 11:35.094 by .75, and that's going to give us the ounces that 11:35.094 --> 11:37.463 we add to a gallon of water. 11:37.463 --> 11:39.299 - That's a lot more specific than I... 11:39.299 --> 11:41.801 I don't guess that's that much more specific than a lot of 11:41.801 --> 11:45.471 pesticide, but it's kind of a different way of figuring out 11:45.471 --> 11:47.440 how much to apply. 11:47.440 --> 11:49.842 - But make sure that you read and follow the label on that. 11:49.842 --> 11:52.745 - That's the law. - Alright, let's do that. 11:55.782 --> 11:57.450 Alright Mr. D., so we're going to measure 11:57.450 --> 12:00.453 four and a half feet up. - Diameter chest height. 12:00.453 --> 12:02.589 - Alright, then at that level, we're going to measure in 12:02.589 --> 12:04.891 diameter the individual trunks. - All of these. 12:04.891 --> 12:08.661 It looks like we're going to have 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11? 12:08.661 --> 12:10.997 - 11. - 11 measurements, ok. 12:10.997 --> 12:13.299 - Alright we're going to start with the first one. 12:13.299 --> 12:17.070 And you're recording this, right? 12:17.070 --> 12:19.906 - Yep. That would be five. 12:19.906 --> 12:22.642 Next one is going to be a bit bigger. 12:22.642 --> 12:24.277 And look at all the scales on here though, 12:24.277 --> 12:26.512 my gosh, it's covered. - Lots of sooty mold. 12:29.048 --> 12:30.516 That's going to be five and a half. 12:30.516 --> 12:32.385 - Ok. 12:34.420 --> 12:36.823 Right there. 12:38.625 --> 12:41.260 - Come up here, bring it through right there. 12:43.796 --> 12:45.331 Six. 12:46.799 --> 12:49.502 - Getting bigger. - Yeah, getting pretty big. 12:49.502 --> 12:51.404 This one is a small one. 12:54.307 --> 12:56.342 Yeah, there you go. 12:56.342 --> 12:58.544 It's four. - Ok. 12:59.946 --> 13:01.781 - Looks like we're averaging around five. 13:01.781 --> 13:03.616 - Yeah, it looks so. 13:03.616 --> 13:05.652 You want to see if you can get those on that side? 13:05.652 --> 13:07.720 - Yeah. Trade? 13:07.720 --> 13:09.789 - I'll record that. 13:15.361 --> 13:19.265 - 4.75. Four and three quarters. - Ok. 13:25.538 --> 13:28.107 - Looks like about three and a half. 13:29.575 --> 13:31.411 - Three and a half. 13:33.513 --> 13:35.515 - Five. - Ok. 13:38.384 --> 13:40.520 - Six. - Six. That's a big one. 13:45.325 --> 13:46.893 - Looks like three and a half. - Ok. 13:52.865 --> 13:55.868 - Looks like four and three quarters, 4.75. 13:55.868 --> 13:57.637 - Ok. 14:00.940 --> 14:04.243 - And that's 3.75. Is that it? 14:05.378 --> 14:07.280 - Alright, so that's going to be it. 14:07.280 --> 14:09.182 - Ok, let's figure now. Calculate. 14:09.182 --> 14:11.517 - We got to do math. - Oh man. 14:11.517 --> 14:13.753 - Alright Mr. D., we have all the measurements, 14:13.753 --> 14:15.021 so what do we have. 14:15.021 --> 14:17.757 - We do, it came up to 51.75 total inches, 14:17.757 --> 14:22.862 and we multiply that times .75 and we came out with 38.8. 14:23.930 --> 14:27.700 So we need 38.8 ounces of the product in a gallon of water. 14:29.001 --> 14:31.471 - Ok, sounds good, let's go for it. 14:31.471 --> 14:33.973 - That's a big plant. - It is. 14:33.973 --> 14:35.775 And we always want people to be safe. 14:35.775 --> 14:38.611 - We do. Follow the directions. It's the law. 14:38.611 --> 14:41.047 - Follow the label. Wear your gloves. 14:41.047 --> 14:42.749 - Get your rubber gloves on. 14:45.985 --> 14:48.020 - Alright, shake it up real good here. 14:48.020 --> 14:50.957 [liquid shaking in container] 14:50.957 --> 14:52.792 - And as you see it's a pretty green color. 14:52.792 --> 14:55.361 - Oh really? - Yeah. 14:57.597 --> 14:59.899 - There you go. It sure is. 15:07.640 --> 15:11.711 - This is also a fertilizer, it's a 2-1-1 fertilizer in here. 15:12.845 --> 15:15.314 - Ok, good deal. 15:15.314 --> 15:17.350 - Alright, so it was 38.8 ounces? 15:17.350 --> 15:19.552 - 38.8. 15:19.552 --> 15:21.487 - Ok, we're going to put that there, 15:21.487 --> 15:24.090 and put this into our gallon of water here. 15:26.826 --> 15:29.462 - That's turning green too. 15:29.462 --> 15:30.997 - Yeah, look at that green color, I tell you. 15:31.764 --> 15:33.900 [liquid splashes] 15:33.900 --> 15:36.502 Think that's pretty good? - Ought to do the trick. 15:36.502 --> 15:38.237 Need to stir it up a bit? 15:38.237 --> 15:41.707 - Yeah, stir it up there, make sure we get it into a solution. 15:43.242 --> 15:46.379 [stick scraping bucket] - Oh yeah. 15:46.379 --> 15:48.447 - Do you just put it under the drip line pretty much, 15:48.447 --> 15:50.349 or all up-- - The label says get it as 15:50.349 --> 15:52.485 close-- - to the trunk? 15:52.485 --> 15:54.353 - to the trunk as you possibly can. 15:54.353 --> 15:56.022 - Ok. 15:56.022 --> 15:57.723 - Again, we're following the label. 15:57.723 --> 15:59.292 - That's right. 15:59.292 --> 16:01.394 - As close to the trunk as you possibly can. 16:01.394 --> 16:03.763 - Ok. You got the gloves on. 16:08.534 --> 16:12.371 - Alright Mr. D., I'm going to go ahead and pour this as close 16:12.371 --> 16:14.540 to the trunk as we possibly can here. 16:14.540 --> 16:16.709 - Ok. 16:16.709 --> 16:18.678 - And I'll just try to go around here. 16:18.678 --> 16:22.048 [water splashing] 16:26.085 --> 16:28.054 - It would be nice if they'd start falling off right now. 16:28.054 --> 16:30.122 I don't think it works that way, do you? 16:30.122 --> 16:32.158 - I don't think it works that fast. 16:32.158 --> 16:34.827 And it will tell you on the label that according to the size 16:34.827 --> 16:37.697 of the tree it may take a couple of months for it 16:39.165 --> 16:42.802 to actually take effect. 16:42.802 --> 16:44.871 And there you have it. 16:44.871 --> 16:47.473 The roots will take it up systemically. 16:47.473 --> 16:49.342 And then we'll wait a couple of months or so, 16:49.342 --> 16:51.677 and we'll see what happens. 16:51.677 --> 16:53.813 - Yeah, to be on the safe side, we better treat the rest of 16:53.813 --> 16:55.581 these crape myrtles here, don't you think? 16:55.581 --> 16:56.949 - I think so. 16:56.949 --> 16:59.452 [cheerful country music] 17:01.087 --> 17:03.122 - Ok, it wasn't hard to tell that we 17:03.122 --> 17:06.192 had something feeding on our snap beans here. 17:06.192 --> 17:09.095 We've got holes in the leaves, and after we did just a very 17:09.095 --> 17:11.697 little investigation, we found the culprit. 17:11.697 --> 17:13.933 It's the Mexican Bean Beetle. 17:13.933 --> 17:16.235 Right here is the adult. 17:16.235 --> 17:20.539 Both the adult and the larvae create damage on snap beans, 17:21.908 --> 17:25.378  butter beans, they're   one of the main pests. 17:25.378 --> 17:29.015  The adult can fly   away and hide from you. 17:29.015 --> 17:31.584  The larvae are little   yellow, wooly critters, 17:31.584 --> 17:33.786  and they can't   get away from you. 17:33.786 --> 17:36.088 They feed on the little-bitty leaves, and when 17:36.088 --> 17:39.525 the leaves grow, the holes that they create grow also. 17:39.525 --> 17:42.428 One thing about almost any kind of beans, 17:42.428 --> 17:45.798 they can tolerate a lot of leaf feeding injury, 17:45.798 --> 17:48.801 without affecting the yield of the crop, 17:48.801 --> 17:51.237 so you probably don't have to treat right now. 17:52.271 --> 17:55.942 A reason to wait would be the hope that a beneficial insect 17:55.942 --> 17:59.111 will come along and eat these Mexican Bean Beetles, 17:59.779 --> 18:01.747 and you never build up a population, 18:01.747 --> 18:04.116 but you do need to keep a close eye on them, 18:04.116 --> 18:06.485 and as soon as you start to see the larvae out here, 18:06.485 --> 18:08.821  then you would need to   treat with carbaryl, 18:08.821 --> 18:12.491  bifenthrin, zeta-cypermethrin,   and gamma-cyhalothrin are four 18:12.491 --> 18:16.529  insecticides that should   take care of this problem. 18:16.529 --> 18:19.966 [cheerful country music] 18:19.966 --> 18:21.901 - Alright Tonya, here's our Q & A session, you ready? 18:21.901 --> 18:23.436 - Yes. - We have some 18:23.436 --> 18:25.171 good questions here. - Uh-huh. 18:25.171 --> 18:26.772 - Alright, so here's our first viewer email. 18:26.772 --> 18:29.375  "Please help me get rid   of this hump in my yard. 18:29.375 --> 18:31.077  "I pulled up an azalea   and now I have a hump. 18:31.077 --> 18:33.346  "I want grass to grow back   over it smoothly with the 18:33.346 --> 18:37.717  rest of the yard.   What should I do? Thank you." 18:37.717 --> 18:39.085  And this is from Mona,   right here in Memphis. 18:40.052 --> 18:42.822  So help, she has a   hump in her yard. 18:42.822 --> 18:46.359 - Well, it's time to get out the shovel unfortunately. 18:46.359 --> 18:49.228 - Uh-huh. - And pull back that grass, 18:49.228 --> 18:52.398 and try to level it out as best you can. 18:52.398 --> 18:56.836 - I think that's, yeah. Shovel is one option. 18:56.836 --> 18:59.405 Two I thought a good rake would be another option. 18:59.405 --> 19:01.907 The third thing... maybe pull out a tiller? 19:01.907 --> 19:04.810 You think. Just kind of till it in pretty good, 19:04.810 --> 19:06.912 and then smooth it out with the rake, 19:06.912 --> 19:09.849 and I think that may help. - Yes. 19:09.849 --> 19:12.618 - But yeah, a hump after pulling out an azalea though. 19:12.618 --> 19:15.054 - Yeah, usually you have a sunk in place, but... 19:15.054 --> 19:20.192 - Right. So shovel, good rake, till it up, smooth it over. 19:22.061 --> 19:24.230 You got a lot of work to do Miss Mona. 19:24.230 --> 19:25.765 - Yeah. 19:25.765 --> 19:27.266 - Alright, thank you for the question. 19:27.266 --> 19:29.201 Here's our next viewer email. 19:29.201 --> 19:30.870  "What is the definition of   the different kinds of soils 19:30.870 --> 19:33.939  "purchased by the bag,   specifically garden soil, 19:33.939 --> 19:36.776  "potting soil, top   soil, raised bed soil. 19:36.776 --> 19:38.811  "All of these have   the same components, 19:38.811 --> 19:40.813  "so how do they differ? 19:40.813 --> 19:43.616  "Also, none of these   have clay as a component. 19:43.616 --> 19:45.284  "Why not? 19:45.284 --> 19:48.287  You would think true   soil would contain clay." 19:48.287 --> 19:50.289  And this is from Chuck. 19:50.289 --> 19:54.560 So we're talking about the old soils in bags that you get from 19:54.560 --> 19:57.029 the big box stores, so Tonya, let's look 19:57.029 --> 19:59.031 at these individually for a second. 19:59.031 --> 20:00.666 Garden soil, what's in garden soil, 20:00.666 --> 20:02.268 do you think? 20:02.268 --> 20:06.505 - Well garden soil is going to be a lot of wood products mixed 20:06.505 --> 20:10.576 in, not very much peat, and not as much organic matter as like a 20:11.944 --> 20:14.346 potting soil would be. 20:14.346 --> 20:18.384 Garden soil is usually for just to put out into the landscape 20:19.852 --> 20:21.821 and not in a container. 20:21.821 --> 20:23.856 You can use garden soil in a raised bed. 20:23.856 --> 20:25.458 - Ok, so you can use it in a raised bed. 20:25.458 --> 20:27.126 Alright, potting soil? 20:27.126 --> 20:29.261 - Potting soil is going to be fluffier and ligher, 20:29.261 --> 20:31.530 less compaction, good drainage for your containers. 20:32.698 --> 20:34.333 Usually it will have a lot of peat moss in there, 20:34.333 --> 20:38.037 and some vermiculite, and nice loose material. 20:40.406 --> 20:43.309 As far as your topsoil, it usually comes from the top 20:43.309 --> 20:47.279 12 inches of the earth's surface, and there's not going 20:47.279 --> 20:49.381 to be a lot of organic matter or anything in there, 20:49.381 --> 20:52.751 it's usually the least expensive of all those, 20:52.751 --> 20:54.720 the cheapest stuff to use. 20:54.720 --> 20:57.656 You can use that, you can even mix compost in with that to make 20:57.656 --> 21:00.493 it a little bit better. 21:00.493 --> 21:02.962 And as far as why-- oh, what was the other? 21:02.962 --> 21:05.030 - Raised bed? The raised bed soil. 21:05.030 --> 21:07.633 - Raised bed, ok, that's going to be kind of like between 21:07.633 --> 21:11.670 potting soil and garden soil. So maybe not quite as 21:13.272 --> 21:15.908 good for containers, but you don't have 21:15.908 --> 21:18.944 to buy raised bed soil for your raised bed gardens, 21:18.944 --> 21:21.547 you can use the cheaper garden soil, but it's going to be a 21:21.547 --> 21:24.049 little bit lighter and fluffier, and maybe a bit less 21:24.049 --> 21:26.318 wood product that just plain garden soil. 21:26.318 --> 21:28.254 - Ok. You think you'll get the nutrients needed for 21:28.254 --> 21:31.824 plant growth if you use garden soil or raised bed soil? 21:33.058 --> 21:35.027 - Probably not, you might want to wait and do a soil test after 21:35.027 --> 21:37.196 a little while, and you may have to add some things, 21:37.196 --> 21:40.566 and I would say if you're just dumping out a bag of garden soil 21:40.566 --> 21:43.536 it wouldn't hurt to mix in some compost if you've got it. 21:43.536 --> 21:45.804 And was the other one, why is there not clay? 21:45.804 --> 21:48.174 - Yeah, why is there not clay in it. [chuckles] 21:48.174 --> 21:50.142 - Well you know, in soils class they teach you 21:50.142 --> 21:52.745 the three components of soil is sand, silt, and clay, 21:52.745 --> 21:55.447 so why don't they have clay in the soil. 21:55.447 --> 21:59.585 Well, clay is heavier, it's finer, and it's... 22:00.753 --> 22:03.455 doesn't drain very well. 22:03.455 --> 22:06.425 So that's probably why they don't put clay in there. 22:06.425 --> 22:08.260 - Right, it's going to hold a lot of moisture. 22:08.260 --> 22:10.362 Just take the clay in your backyard 22:10.362 --> 22:12.298 or front yard for that matter. 22:12.298 --> 22:14.533 But yeah, you're definitely right about those, 22:14.533 --> 22:17.102 and yeah, you see these all the time at the big box stores. 22:17.102 --> 22:19.338 Of course, you know, in the bags. 22:19.338 --> 22:21.073 But yeah, you don't want a lot of clay in that. 22:21.073 --> 22:22.541 - Right. 22:22.541 --> 22:25.110 - And I was thinking too, for the raised bed soil, 22:26.111 --> 22:28.247 I would think some of that would contain maybe some organic 22:28.247 --> 22:30.249 material, wouldn't you think? Probably has a little sand 22:30.249 --> 22:34.286 in it, little organic material. Maybe it holds nutrients 22:34.286 --> 22:36.488 a little better than some of the rest. 22:36.488 --> 22:38.958 The topsoil I use at home, I pretty much use that 22:38.958 --> 22:41.994 to fill in holes. - Yeah, uh-huh. 22:43.262 --> 22:44.930 - If I have little divots, or something in the yard or 22:44.930 --> 22:47.333 whatever, I just grab the topsoil and put it in there. 22:47.333 --> 22:49.501 Seems to fit that purpose pretty well. 22:49.501 --> 22:51.637 Alright, so there you have it Mr. Chuck, 22:51.637 --> 22:53.239 there's your different kinds of soils. 22:53.239 --> 22:54.773 Thanks for that question. 22:54.773 --> 22:56.842 Alright, here's our next viewer email. 22:56.842 --> 22:58.811  "My trees are dying   from the top down. 22:58.811 --> 23:01.113  "The centers are hollow   and filled with ants. 23:01.113 --> 23:02.815  "Why is this? 23:02.815 --> 23:06.051  Is there anything to kill   the ants on a healthy tree?" 23:06.051 --> 23:08.654  And this is from   Richard in Greenville. 23:08.654 --> 23:11.457 So we talked a little bit about this earlier. 23:11.457 --> 23:13.058 Be good to have a picture so we could see 23:13.058 --> 23:14.760 what's wrong with the tree. - Yeah, mm-hmm. 23:14.760 --> 23:18.230 - But anytime that I see or think about ants being in trees, 23:18.230 --> 23:20.833 there's a couple of things that come to mind. 23:20.833 --> 23:24.737 It's usually aphids around, or soft-scales. 23:25.871 --> 23:28.974 And of course we know aphids and soft scales produce honeydew. 23:28.974 --> 23:32.444 Which the ants are attracted to. 23:32.444 --> 23:34.780 So you may have aphids or soft scales. 23:34.780 --> 23:38.584 And the second thing is this, so the tree is already hollow, 23:38.584 --> 23:40.886 which means it's decaying. 23:40.886 --> 23:44.056 The ants are probably looking for an opportunity to nest. 23:44.056 --> 23:47.126 - Mm-hmm. Yeah the ants are just a symptom, 23:47.126 --> 23:49.228 they're not really the problem. 23:49.228 --> 23:50.829 - They're not going to cause a huge problem. 23:50.829 --> 23:52.898 So I wouldn't personally worry about killing the ants, 23:52.898 --> 23:54.900 would you? - Right. No. 23:54.900 --> 23:57.703 If you have the soft scale or something, 23:57.703 --> 24:00.372 treat that and then the ants should leave. 24:00.372 --> 24:03.642 - Yeah, but since those centers are hollow... 24:03.642 --> 24:05.477 Mr. Richard, I would get a certified arborist 24:05.477 --> 24:06.912 to come out there and take a look at that. 24:06.912 --> 24:08.414 - Yeah, if they're large, yes. 24:08.414 --> 24:10.316 - Right, because that might be a hazard, potentially. 24:10.316 --> 24:12.384 So I wouldn't worry so much about the ants, 24:12.384 --> 24:14.620 I would worry about the hazard. - Right. 24:14.620 --> 24:16.855 - The tree. So there you go Mr. Richard, 24:16.855 --> 24:18.457 thanks for the question. 24:18.457 --> 24:20.125 Alright, here's our next viewer email. 24:20.125 --> 24:22.861 "We had two, big, beautiful burgandy mums last fall. 24:22.861 --> 24:26.265 "I trimmed them back this past winter when they were dormant. 24:26.265 --> 24:28.901 "One has come back, but the other appears to only 24:28.901 --> 24:31.503 "have the front of the plant. 24:31.503 --> 24:34.606 "Literally it's like the whole back half is gone. 24:34.606 --> 24:38.043  Why did half my mum   plant die over the winter?" 24:38.043 --> 24:40.012  And this if from Bethany. 24:40.012 --> 24:42.414 So why do you think the plant died, Tonya? 24:42.414 --> 24:45.951 - Probably too wet, not enough drainage 24:45.951 --> 24:48.320 and the roots rotted in that area. 24:48.320 --> 24:50.923 And maybe a fungal thing set up. 24:50.923 --> 24:53.225 In general when you cut back your mums though, 24:53.225 --> 24:57.129 you want to leave about six inches from the ground, 24:57.129 --> 24:58.964 you leave a little bit of that vegetation, 24:58.964 --> 25:01.266 you don't want to cut them back too terribly late because you 25:01.266 --> 25:03.569 don't want to risk the frost damage. 25:03.569 --> 25:06.405 So those are some tips, but probably poor drainage. 25:06.405 --> 25:08.140 - Poor drainage, yeah. 25:08.140 --> 25:09.908 Definitely the first thing that came to my mind. 25:09.908 --> 25:12.578 Our winters of course are when it's wet. 25:12.578 --> 25:15.414 So I would always think about rotten roots, 25:16.682 --> 25:18.751 you know especially for those mum sitting there. 25:18.751 --> 25:20.819 And a lot of the mums, if you think about it that you get from 25:20.819 --> 25:24.056 the big box stores, and some of your nurseries are annuals. 25:24.056 --> 25:26.692 - Mm-hmm. You can get some garden mums that will come back, 25:26.692 --> 25:28.427 but most of them are annuals. 25:28.427 --> 25:29.828 - Yeah, most of them are annuals. 25:29.828 --> 25:32.264 Tonya we're out of time, it was fun. 25:32.264 --> 25:33.565 - Ok. Alright, thanks. 25:33.565 --> 25:35.801  - Remember, we love   to hear from you. 25:35.801 --> 25:37.269  Send us an email or letter. 25:37.269 --> 25:40.572  The email address is   FamilyPlot@wkno.org, 25:40.572 --> 25:43.742  and the mailing   address is Family Plot, 25:43.742 --> 25:48.347  7151 Cherry Farms Road,   Cordova, Tennessee, 38016. 25:48.347 --> 25:52.418  Or you can go online to   FamilyPlotGarden.com. 25:52.418 --> 25:54.920 That's all we have time for today, 25:54.920 --> 25:56.522 thanks for joining us. 25:56.522 --> 25:58.223 If you want to get more information about growing a 25:58.223 --> 26:00.893 square foot garden, or using soil drenches to control scale, 26:00.893 --> 26:03.562 go to FamilyPlotGarden.com. 26:03.562 --> 26:06.765 We have information on this and hundreds of other topics. 26:06.765 --> 26:09.101 I'm Chris Cooper, be sure to join us next week for 26:09.101 --> 26:11.603 The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South. 26:11.603 --> 26:13.639 Be safe. 26:13.639 --> 26:17.643 [cheerful country music] 26:27.853 --> 26:29.855 [acoustic guitar chords]