Speaker 1: Broadcasting from Studio A Here at Proven Winners, Color Choice Shrubs.
It's time for the Gardening Simplified Show with Stacy Hervella
me Rick weisst and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy.
Sometimes I feel like a farmer, you know, when you're
out there working in your landscape. It's like you're working
your piece of land, your own, very own piece of land,
and I don't know, just stand out there, be outstanding
in the field like a farmer. And falls a great
time of the year to be working the land. From
a design perspective, plant materials have three major functions in
the landscape, esthetic, structural, and utilitarian, and when we work
the land, we're taking advantage of those benefits for our property.
There's many ways where it just feels when I'm out
there like I'm working the land. I like that feeling.
Speaker 2: It is a good feeling. I like feeling like I'm
taking care of the land. But do you realize that
you said you just said something controversial?
Speaker 1: Did I really? Well?
Speaker 2: You did? You said plant material A lot of people
take issue with the term. No, you know, no problem
with it. I get it right, but a lot of
people and I was surprised to hear this, but a
lot of people take offense to the term plant material Wow.
And you know, in the context of being stewards of
the land, it's like that kind of treats it like, well,
you know, you're undergoing a bathroom renovation, so that's like
your bathroom renovation materials your plant The plants that you
plant in the yard are not just materials. They are
you know, living things. I don't know, I don't have
a strong opinion about it, but it did. It did
surprise me that you get.
Speaker 1: It's a lot like it's not dirt, it's soil.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well that I feel strongly about.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, exactly. See one minute in and I've already.
Speaker 2: Learned something hot takes right off the bat.
Speaker 1: But it's true. And when we work the land, we
can work smarter, not harder. I think about weed control,
for example, if only people would listen to me and
not have that scorched earth policy in spring spraying weeds here,
there and everywhere. There are things you can do. For example,
the bigger the weeds get, the more difficult they are
to control. So the most effective way to deal with
weeds is to get them before they're established, or at
a stage when you can lightly disturb them in the
soil and they'll die. So I think that that's a
great approach. Same thing with fall, taking care of weeds
and identifying weeds winter annuals so they're not a problem
in spring, even perennial weeds who are translocating into the
root system for fall. Just like the trees, you do
some selective spraying in the fall, you're able to better
control weeds. So there's many ways in the landscape stacy
where we can work smarter, not harder.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think that we can sit here
and give a lot of tips on how you and
I have discovered different ways to work smarter, not harder.
But one of the things that's just so great about
gardening is that everyone discovers what those different things are
for their unique property, for their unique location, and for
their own unique style of working. You know, we all
find our little shortcuts and tips and tricks, and sometimes
those are the result of what we thought was a
mistake and we learned something from them and said, oh,
actually that works out pretty great. I'm going to do
that from now on. So it's not like these aren't
necessarily set in stone things. We're going to share some
tips and ideas that you and I have developed over
the years. In fact, plants on Trial is going to
be a work smarter, not harder speed round. But yeah,
it's it's each of us discover those things. So if
you have a work smarter not harder tip, you know,
leave it as a comment for us on YouTube, or
write to us at Gardening Simplified on air dot com.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and fall is the perfect time the year to
work smarter not harder. I just mentioned the weed control
but having false strategies. Fall is a time of transformation,
so fall cleanup is often viewed as a chore raking leaves,
cutting back plants, tidying ever every corner. But you don't
need to do that.
Speaker 2: Eck no, I certainly do not. I would prefer I
didn't exact, because what are you gonna look at all winter?
What are the birds going to do? You know? I
would rather have the garden look a mess. Well, it
doesn't look a mess to me, but I'm sure to
most people are like, what in the world is this
person doing? And have that be untidy and let the
birds scramble through there and have something to look at. Otherwise,
what am I looking at? Just bear soil and you know, yeah,
mush snow.
Speaker 1: It's like trees shedding leaves. Why not take advantage of
that bony that the trees are giving us. I shred leaves,
use them in my landscape as mulch. And really doing
some reading the other day the International Society of Arborists,
and they had a really interesting article on the nitrogen
content in leaves. And I'm thinking, if I use these leaves,
I'm working smarter, not harder. And then I took it
to the next level, Stacy, So you know that I've
got this machine where I grind up the leaves and I,
you know, like maple leaves, and I use them in
my landscape. I'm working the land. But I've really gotten
into honey locust leaves. Oh yeah, like a sunburst honey
locust or wherever you see them everywhere, And as they
shed the leaves, they're already pre ground up, so tiny,
they're so tiny. And within this article, this Arborist article,
I found that honey locust was rated near the top
as far as nitrogen content is concerned.
Speaker 2: That's not surprising. It's in the bean family and we
all know that, you know, beans and soybeans and so
forth fix nitrogen in the soil, and when they do that,
that foliage actually takes that nitrogen, so it is naturally
higher in nitrogen because of the fabaesi or bean family's
ability to fix nitrogen from the soil. So it's win
when although we all know that it's a beggars can't
be chooser situation for you with leaves, you just take
whatever you can get off the street. But how are
you ensuring you get honeylocust?
Speaker 1: Oh? Because I identify the trees.
Speaker 2: Well, you have one under You're driving around and you're like,
that person has a honeylocust. I'm like scoping them out
for their leaf.
Speaker 1: There's a park. There's a park near my house and
they have pretty honey locust trees there. And when the
leaves fall off, I just take leaf bags and pick
them up and then I use them in my landscape.
Speaker 2: Do you wear an orange vest so people think you're
a park personnell while they're doing this.
Speaker 1: It's okay, folks, I'm a trained professional. Nothing to see.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're doing them a favor. It's just you know.
Speaker 1: But still I think that it works out really really well,
and then I feel like a farmer, like I'm working
the land, like I'm taking the natural bounty from the land.
Here's a dad joke for you. What's a farmer's favorite
rock song?
Speaker 2: Maggie's Farm by Bob Dylan. Good.
Speaker 1: Try living in the USDA. Bruce Springsteen, Right, that's really good.
Speaker 2: Born in the USDA, Born in the us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it. Living in the USDA would be John
Cougar Mellencamp. You're right. Yeah, born in the USDA would
be Bruce Springsteen. And you improved my joke. As bad
as it is, I grew a crop of beans this
year organically they died of natural causes. That's another bad one. Okay,
I'll move on. By the way, I wanted to mention
something here too, working the land. Have some friends who
live in Nebraska and in the Plain States, and they
really deal with a lot of wind. But you can
take advantage of the wind in your landscape where maybe
you determine where the prevailing winds are coming from and
grow some hedging or some plants that help block the
wind in winter, or maybe it's really hot around your
house in summer and you want to create a tunnel
effect where you feed the wind in a nice breeze.
All of these things are things that you can look
at when you work the land. And by the way, again,
living on the shores of Lake Michigan, I'm very familiar
with a website windfinder dot com. That's a fun website
to go to, and if you go to windfinder dot com,
you're able to see where, what direction the wind predominantly
comes from in your area, at what month of the year.
For example, where I live on the lake shore, in November,
fifty six percent of the time, winds are at eight
to twenty five miles per hour. Wow, that's cooking.
Speaker 2: That's a lot. Yeah. Well, you know, speaking of wind,
I think another really important consideration that people should bear
in mind is for snow. If you live in a
groat climate, I can't tell you how many times you'll
be driving down the country road and you're driving along
it's a snowy day and la la la lah lah,
and then all of a sudden there's a house with
no plantings and the snow just drifts there.
Speaker 1: You go.
Speaker 2: So, if you are the person who's like, gosh, wire
car is always getting it stuck in front of my house,
it would be a good time to consider planting a
wind break because that will make a world of difference exactly.
Speaker 1: So that's why I mentioned the windfinder website and living
on the lake shore, people are always looking to you know,
kite surf and that, and so they're interested in that.
Let me give you a limb a rick today, as
we work the land like farmers, it's kind of a
work in the land mentality. I have a new mentality
to improve my landscape's functionality. Need solutions that are cheap,
not a price tag that steep First and foremost. I
practice frugality doesn't have to be totally grand. I also
don't want something that's bland at efficient is my domain name.
Get it Done is my claim to fame. Just a
plant lover, work in the land in any weather. I'm
not in my hovel in self pity. You won't see
me grovel. I'm American Gothic with a pitchfork. I sling
mulch and dirt with great torque. I get it done.
When push comes to shovel, there you go. So we're
gonna do a speed round.
Speaker 2: We're doing a speed round for plants on trial.
Speaker 1: That's Coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified.
Speaker 2: Show, beautify your home and community with Proven Winner's Color
Choice Shrubs. With over three hundred and twenty five unique
varieties to choose from. There's a flowering shrubber evergreen for
every taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive
white container your local garden center or learn more at
Proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. We're reading's gardening friends,
and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the
order of the day is all about working the land,
which is to say, taking care of your land like
a good steward or a farmer. And you know, it's
not just about the plants. The plants are what we
focus on because most people when they think of gardening,
they're thinking about plants and tending plants, but really the
land that you plant those plants in requires tending in
many different ways as well. And of course it helps
to think of your whole yard as a place that
you tend, not just you know, a place where your
plant plants. So normally, at this time in the show,
what we do is I'll tell you all about one
of the three hundred and fifty plus proven winner's color choice
shrubs and you can decide if you're going to put
it in your garden. But of course, with such a
broad topic, I mean, how would I possibly narrow it down.
It's a perfect plant for today. So instead we're doing
a work smarter not harder speed round. Yes, and we
do a couple speed rounds every now and then. And
basically what that means is we just have different topics
and we just try I'm usually bad at this, Rick
is pretty good at this to quickly give you an
answer on that. But I do have to say I
think that because we were being very tip based here,
it might need a little bit It's like a speed
ish round, okay, so we might need to have like
a little bit of you know, expository ghetto information around it.
Speaker 1: Expository.
Speaker 2: So if this is your first time joining to ask
for a speed round, we are often speedier in our
speed round. This is just going to be but the
information is good, so stick with us. So all right,
to kick it off, since it is October, what is
your favorite work smarter not harder fall tip?
Speaker 1: Oh I could give you hundreds, I'll give you one.
Move plants around best time of the year to move plants,
rearrange your garden.
Speaker 2: Yep, you know, I hear from so many people. Is
now a good time? Yes? The answer is absolutely yes.
And you know we've talked about it before. I think
we recently did a show on it. If it's on
your mind, you were thinking in summer home, man, these
things are getting too close. I don't really like that.
Now is the perfect time, even if you're in a
colder zone. If you're in a warmer zone than we
are here in West Michigan, maybe a couple more weeks
down the line, if things are really still kicking. My
fault tip is plant bulbs, and lots of them, because
you don't need to plant them one at a time. Now.
If you have great, big bulbs, like a really fancy
alium sure or a frittle area, those you're probably gonna
plant one at a time. But when we're talking about daffodil's, tulips,
minor bulbs, all of this kind of stuff, it's best
what I always do. Dig a big hole, cram it
full of bulbs, cover it right back up and it
looks fabulous in the spring.
Speaker 1: Word of the day swaths, Yes, swatz.
Speaker 2: And it doesn't require digging one hundred different holes. You
dig like five holes and put twenty five bulbs in them.
So that's working smarter, not harder, and you'll be real
grateful you did that in the spring. Next up, work
smarter not harder. Planting tip.
Speaker 1: Great follow up to your answer. My planting tip was
make like a squirrel and plant long lasting deer resistant
bulbs like fritile areas, aliums, dutch iris, daffodils. Oh all
deer resistant.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, the squirrels are going bananas right now. Oh
my gosh. Mine is a general tip, not just specifically
for fall. But a lot of people don't realize this,
but as long as you are not using a dehandled shovel,
you're using a straight handled shovel, turn that thing the
other way around and use that to gauge the depth
and width of your whole. Compare it to the plant
that you have out of the hole. Rather than lifting
a thing up, putting it in, lift it up, put
it in, move it around. Use that to gauge the
depth in the midth of your hole. So much easier.
You just use your hand. It doesn't have to be exact,
but it's still a much faster weighted plant properly. I
like it all right. Next up pruning tip.
Speaker 1: Weight on both roses and ornamental grasses. They're beautiful. My
roses don't shut down until well after Thanksgiving Day. Don't
be out there pruning them. Wait.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great point, and especially if you live
in a warmer climate, you definitely don't want to prune
until they're really going to be going for a lot longer.
And yeah, I mean, just wait until spring. And if
you wait until spring on roses, then they're telling you
exactly where to prune them because you're going to see
that new growth coming out, and then it's very easy
to figure out where you should actually make that cut.
And of course, for ornamental grasses, why do you want
to look at a pile of stubble all winter when
you could be looking at some really lovely ornamental grasses.
Those ornamental grasses give birds, you know, material for making
nests and for insulating birdhouses so they can make it
through winter better.
Speaker 1: Did you say it gives birds material?
Speaker 2: I did say material?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, hot take.
Speaker 2: Does a plant become plant material when it's dormant, like
like an ornamental grass? Because this is what you're talking
about the weeds.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Well, like I said, I don't personally have a trouble
with the plant material thing, but I know some people do.
My pruning, too, is a little bit more direct, and
I don't think a lot of people know this. This
is one of the first things that I learned in
horticulture school, and that is when you have your hand pruners,
they have what I guess I would call a bumpy
side where you know, the little screw is and the
little you know, gear thingy is, and they have a
flat side. So when you are pruning, you should always
face the flat side toward the plant. That helps you
get as close as possible to where you're actually making
that pruning cut. So there is kind of you know,
and sometimes it's not possible you're you know, all in
there and contorted and twistering yourself around in a plant.
But if possible, when you pick up those pruners, face
the flat side into the plant and the other side out.
Speaker 1: That's really sharp cutting edge, uh cutting hedge? Okay, move on?
Speaker 2: What is yours? Worksmurder not harder watering tip.
Speaker 1: Mulch evergreens at the base so they don't go into
winter dry and use anti desk on broad leaf.
Speaker 2: Evergreens, especially if they were newly planted this year. You know,
mulch is just one of those things I say, keep
things mulched y around, but especially for winter. It will
look better, your plants will be happier. I know some
people don't love the look of mulch, but your plants
will be so much happier that it is more than
worth it. I thought about all of this in a
much more practical and less autumnal sense. But my watering
tip is to get a shut off valve. It amazes
me how many people don't have a simple, you know,
ball shut off valve on their hose, and then what happens.
They go to move their sprinkler or their water and
they're kinking the hose and trying to you know, prevent
it from going all over the place. Now, most watering
wands do come with a shut off valve, not all
of them. It's kind of built in. In many cases. I
would actually prefer it to be separate, because then you
don't lose the whole thing if your shut off valve
goes bad.
Speaker 1: And preferably one that doesn't leak. Well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they all get to leaking sooner or later. I'm
in the market for a new one come this spring,
because ours has definitely given up the ghost here in October.
But it's such I mean, they're like a dollar at
the hardware store, and it will change your life. It
is just so much easier, it's more efficient to use water.
You can also use it, you know, kind of dial
it down so that ball valve is just kind of
sort of cracked, and use that to dribble on to
new plants. You know, leave that running for a little
while to make sure you're thoroughly saturating newly planted trees
and shrubs. It's just a great thing to have around.
Speaker 1: I just wet my plants.
Speaker 2: Yes you will if you have a shut off valve.
What is your work? Smarter not harder?
Speaker 1: Fertilizing tip most important time of the year to feed
lawns because they're focused on root growth. And I feed
trees in fall, just as the leaves are falling off.
I feed trees because the soil is still warm. Tree
is gonna benefit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know you often benefit from rains, autumn
rains which will help to weather that fertilizer make it
available to the tree. Or other plants and then they'll
actually be able to make use of it. Mine is
to keep it to the outside ring when you are
fertilizing anything. So what's also known as the drip line.
You know, so often I think that people go out
there and they just sprinkle it all close to the plant.
And especially when we were talking about trees and shrubs
and even perennials, the closer you get into the center
of that plant, the fewer root tips there are going
to be. And it's the root tips that are the
most responsible for absorbing those nutrients and translocating it into
the plant for it to use. So you want to
concentrate your effort just in a ring sort of around
the outer edge of your plants, which actually makes it
even easier than trying to get in there, and you know,
sprinkle it up in the middle.
Speaker 1: I love that you're in for a root to awaken it.
Speaker 2: Are we Now? We talked a little bit about weeds
in segment one, But what is your work? Smarter not
harder weeding tip? Yes, that's the same one you said earlier.
Speaker 1: Fall is time to you know, you're weeding by example,
when you're identifying both annual and perennial weeds in fall
and getting them in fall as opposed to spring.
Speaker 2: Well, I kind of have two. Okay, So my number one,
and I know this is not going to be a
tip for everybody, but if you watch my summer garden tour,
it is one that I certainly give freely, and that
is grow a lot of self sowing annuals and plants,
and they will outcompete your weeds and then all of
your weeds become beautiful and useful plants instead of you know,
junkie plants that are just going to spread more like
you know, yellow nutsede or something. So I have kind
of gotten my garden to a place where my self
sowers pretty effectively, I mean not all, I certainly am
not going to pretend all, but pretty effectively out compete
smart other weeds, either because of shade or you know,
just space. My other one is, you know, goes back
to what you said, Rick, and this is a great
winter project for you know when to snap and no
when to pull. There are weeds that you you don't
need to pull. Just snip those flowers off, snip the
you know, or with with printers or whatever, and no
which ones you have to pull. Perennial weeds you have
to pull, but there are annual weeds where if you
simply prevent them from going to seed, you will greatly
reduce the number of that weed that you will have,
And then you don't necessarily have to go and disturb
the soil and you know, spend hours down there in
the soil pulling everything out. So it's kind of a
lazy man's way. You do obviously have to be able
to tolerate some weeds, but also I think it's also
just interesting to, you know, learn more about weeds. So
that is all we have for our speed around. I
think we did pretty pretty speedy all things considered.
Speaker 1: I'm bad.
Speaker 2: I knew I would be the ones to talk more,
but that's just how it is.
Speaker 1: You know, when it comes to weeds you've got pull.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a little break, but when we
come back, we're going to be opening up the garden
mail bags, So please stay tuned. At proven when there's
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with a better shrub. Our team of experts tests and
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Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
where it is our pleasure to help you with your
gardening questions, quandaries and conundrums. And you know, in addition
to helping you with all of that stuff, we also
welcome your gardening celebrations and triumphs. In fact, I just
had a message from someone the other day who said,
I hope I can share some of my garden with
you next year because she just had done a bunch
of work for based on what we had recommended. And
last week I got a mysterious package in the mail
addressed to the Gardening Simplified staff, and I took it
over to Adriana and we were like, what is this,
Because you know, Rick doesn't actually work with us every day,
only when we're in studio a here recording the show,
and we already opened it. But I brought it in
so you can see what this lovely listener Cheryl uh
sent for us. Wow, all right, so you're ready.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like, let's make a deal. Let's behind yours.
Speaker 2: Well, this is your only option.
Speaker 1: Is it a Macromain lawn chair? No?
Speaker 2: No, no, those are two things you love.
Speaker 1: But wind chimes.
Speaker 2: It is not wind chimes. Not a good time to
talk to about wind chimes, because I was awake all
night from someone's wind chimes last night. Dang, Dane Dan anyway,
So go ahead, and we had to unwrap the box.
But you know now you can.
Speaker 1: Open it all. Oh my, yes, fantastic.
Speaker 2: You got to hold them mops over, I can see.
Speaker 1: Look at that. I talked about that, I know, yes,
a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So this is what Cheryl sent in her message
to us.
Speaker 1: This is great.
Speaker 2: Your nine twenty seven show included mention of knitted pumpkins.
In clothes, you will find a trio of crocheted kirky bits.
This one's a gourd, which I love, that one for
each of you. Crocheting is a hobby that relaxes me
and I create gifts for people who hold a special
place in my heart. I hope you'll enjoy my left
handed handiwork filled with autumn vibes. Love watching your show
each week, and I'm learning so much. And she goes
on to say that the straw flowers on this cute
little pumpkin are from her own garden. Wow, so it was.
Speaker 1: You know, we joke around a lot, but this is
this is special.
Speaker 2: No, it's honestly, it was so delightful. I got choked up,
honestly when I when Adriana, I know, opened up this package.
So thank you so much, Cheryl. These are absolutely beautiful.
I'm a knitter and crochetre, so I know how much
this means. And we just wanted to thank you so
much for.
Speaker 1: Thank you your lovely gift. Thank you very much. That
is fantastic. For others who'd like to send gifts, send
us a box of fudge. Fudge yeah, fudge, know.
Speaker 2: So send your five gallon buckets to But anyway, let's
get to some of our listener questions. And this first
question from Alicia I think is especially timely and useful
for today's theme.
Speaker 1: Alicia says, love your show, I watch it on YouTube
every week. My question is regarding adding manure based composts
to my gardens. When's the best time to apply how
much sheep, horse, cow? Does it matter? I'm surprised she
doesn't mention chicken.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well maybe she doesn't have access to chicken. And
she also has a second part to her question.
Speaker 1: Oh also, I have wood chips on top of my
garden beds and there are hundreds of lady bugs where
whenever I move the chips, will it harm them? If
I move the chips and add the compost and then
move the chips back.
Speaker 2: Okay, So what's your perspective on that manure question?
Speaker 1: First of all, I wouldn't move the chips. I'd put
the compost right on top.
Speaker 2: Of the chips, you would me, okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, stir it up and then just refresh the chips
maybe next spring or what. That's what I would do.
I'm not saying it's right. I'm not saying that's what
you have to do. It's what I would do.
Speaker 2: And what do you have a feeling about sheep, horse, cow, chicken, poultry?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: What is it?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: All all, yes, I mean.
Speaker 1: It, I guess I just I want to work with
stuff that's composted.
Speaker 2: Yes, of course you want it fully composted, which is
basically another way of saying it doesn't smell like its
original product anymore. It's completely decomposed and made into organic matter.
And I think the general guideline about which animals manure
you are using is whatever you can get. You know,
some of us live in areas that are maybe very
horse heavy, and so the horse maneuver is going to
be what you're gonna have. You If you live in
a dairy farming area, you're gonna get cow. If you
live out here in West Michigan, where we are making
tons and tons of poultry, especially turkeys, then it's probably
going to be poultry manure.
Speaker 1: We have egg farms out here and they make pelletized
chicken manure pellets, yeah, that you can use on your lan.
Speaker 2: So usually whatever is going to do whatever, is going
to be the least expensive and the most abundantly available
to you. You know, there probably are various analyzes of
you know, just like Rick was talking about earlier in
the show with the different nitrogen content and leaves. Yes,
but it's not I don't think quite so much based
on the animal as their diet, and that's really going
to vary as well, so by all means, yes, it's
great to do that and make sure it's fully composted.
I personally would not invest the time or the money
in applying manure to my garden in fall for fear
that that because it's very heavy in nitrogen. And that's great,
you want nitrogen for your plants, but I would worry
that with the relatively limited amount of time in the
growing season, that a lot of that nitrogen is just
going to leach out before it gets used by the
plants since it's growing dormant. So I would personally save
that effort for later in the season when it's going
to you know, have a definitely direct benefit for the plant.
Speaker 1: That's what you call entremneurial savvy.
Speaker 2: That's you know, that's just what I would do. And
I would actually move the mulch aside just because I
would rather have the compost down there. But it's okay
if it mixes a bit, because many people use compost
as mulch, and you know, that's perfectly swell if you
have enough. I would not be able to have quite enough.
Speaker 1: Stacy, I consider you an insect expert. I'm curious and
interested how you feel about the lady.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this was an interesting question, and I feel like,
you know, a couple months ago, we talked about how
all worms in North America are essentially invasive species, and
I feel like that kind of breaks a lot of
people's hearts because as gardeners are taught, oh the more
worms that are in your soil, the better it is. Well,
I am going to break people's hearts once again because
the majority of ladybugs that are in our yards in
most of the country are actually invasive. They yeah, they're
asiatic ladybugs. Now whether they are truly harmful to our
native populations of the various ladybugs. And it's not just
like we have one ladybug. I mean, ladybugs are a
big group of insects and there's lots and lots of them.
So it's not really necessarily a situation where the asiatic
ladybugs are directly threatening our native ladybugs and causing problems
for them. But it's also not necessarily like something that
you need to feel like, oh, every single one is
you know, precious and I really need to worry about it.
But also I would say ladybugs are going to maybe
get a little bit in a kerfuffle after you move
up this mulch. But they'll just settle. They'll just settle
right back down, so I would not worry about them
at all. I do have a link that we will
add to the YouTube version about ladybugs as invasive species
and kind of understanding what they mean. People don't necessarily
recommend that you go around just killing ladybugs because they're
apparently quite difficult to tell the asiatic species from our
native species. And again they're not that threatening, but it's
still good to know that they're as cute as they are,
they're not completely innocent, so it goes all right.
Speaker 1: Beth has what's the best way to overwinter a passion flower?
I'd say passionately right. We have had this one on
our deck for many years. Each fall we pull off
what we can from the post, cut the vines back
to three to four foot long. A new issue this
year was that the squirrel felt the support was a
perfect ladder up to the deck and he defoliated most
of the lower part of the plant. How far back
should we be cutting this plant? You know? It brings
up a great point Stacey, that yes, it's the time
of year when people are moving mandavillas and hibiscus and
passion flower inside the bug. These are plants that tend
to get bugs like aphids inside or mites. So I
personally believe cutting them back hard and then keeping them
in a cool room, a cool area, and be careful
with the water. Make sure they're not overwatered. You're gonna
rot the roots. But it's possible to do. An unheated
spare bedroom that has a window is a perfect spot
for Not everybody has that, I understand, right.
Speaker 2: A lot of times we were just like, oh, if
you have this, yeah, and so I think the question
the answer to best question that was all. I agree
with everything you just said, Rick, But it does depend
on the passion flower. So there are actually hardy passion flowers.
We have a native passion flower that is native through
the Midwest. I don't know if it quite comes up
into Michigan, but interest certainly throughout the Midwest it grows native.
And if you have that passion flower, then you can
easily just you know, overwinter it in a protected spot.
I think it's hardy to his own six. Really yeah,
it's pretty great. And so in that case you don't
have to do anything at all. But now the tropical
passion flowers and our native one is just as showy
and just as beautiful. Well maybe not quite, but pretty close.
The tropical ones absolutely need to come indoors, obviously, since
they're tropical and they're not going to survive a cold winter.
And I think that just because the squirrel went ahead
and fully did the lower part of this plant, that
doesn't mean there aren't still buds. So I would continue
to do, you know what you've always been doing, cutting
it back, even if that means that the remaining portions
of the plant don't have foliage on them. I don't
think you're going to see much go on indoors, but
you know, as spring comes along and the days start
to get longer, then that will actually leaf out and
recover and you'll be able to put it right back
outside again. So thank y'all so much for your questions,
and thanks again to Cheryl for our lovely crocheted pumpkins.
We appreciate all of you, and we're going to take
a break and when we come back, we'll be continue
our conversation on working the land, so please stay tuned.
Thanks for listening to the gardening Simplified Podcast brought to
you by proven Winter's Color Choice. Our award winning flowering
shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested by experts with
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. As we talk
about working smarter, not harder, working the land, and I
love doing the speed round. That's that's so much fun.
We didn't get to composting tips, and of course you
know what mine's going to be. Stacey, use the leaves,
shred the leaves, use the leaves.
Speaker 2: Are you going to talk about your shredding contraption. We're
gonna have to bring that back because you know, I
don't it's been like a year since people have heard
about your shredding contraption.
Speaker 1: I'll fire it up and we'll have Adriana put some
video on YouTube.
Speaker 2: All right, good, good, good, because that is that's probably
working smarter not harder.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and I always have. And there's an example
of working smarter not harder, because it used to be
I would put leaves in a trash can, put on
a pair of safety goggles, and then use my weed whacker.
Speaker 2: Oh that's what I thought you were still doing.
Speaker 1: No, No, I've got something that's oh okay, we work
and smarter or not hard.
Speaker 2: Okay, good, I feel a lot better about that. Will
get your video, okay perfect. My composting tip is definitely
along those same lines, and that is you have to
keep a stock of browns. And it's a simple thing
that a lot of us don't think about, especially as
we're heading into winter, where if you want to continue
to compost your food scraps, you don't have any of
that brown you know, to keep that nice proportion of
brown and green. So you're putting the food scraps and
it's just getting slimy and it's not good. If you
don't have the proper proportions of browns or you know,
dry dead material and greens, you just don't get compost.
You get slime. So I recommend that you just stockpile
that stuff, whether it is stuff that you're pulling out
of your garden or leaves that you have relieved your
neighbors of.
Speaker 1: Very well done.
Speaker 2: You know, keep that stuff stockpiled, and you know, just
add it to the pile. Whenever you have that layer
of food scraps or whatever. Just make sure you have it,
because back in the day they used to say shredded newspaper.
But when is the last time anyone had enough newspaper
to shred? So those days are long gone and we
have to fend for ourselves on the browns.
Speaker 1: Well done lawn care tip. I'm just going to say,
this is the time of year when we slowly start
to lower the deck. In other words, all year long,
you want to raise the deck. Have the deck high
so the plant can photosynthesize, so it shades the crown
of the plant, so it helps the grass compete with
weeds naturally. But as we get into winter, we want
to lower that deck. That way we reduce the incidents
of snow mold vul problems in.
Speaker 2: That Yeah, that snow mold is nasty and I have
seen it plenty when I had a lawn. And my
lawn care tip is to get an electric mower if
you can, if you have a smaller yard, you know,
I think it can do most residential yards just fine.
And it's just so much more pleasant to mow the lawn.
You're not out there looking like a maniac trying to
yank that cord, and it's quiet and it's just it's
win win all around. So if you're in the market
for a new lawnmower, make it electric. Unless you have
multiple acres to mow, you will be glad you did.
Speaker 1: I love it. So when you're working the land a
pointer here, pick your trees carefully. Remember a tree is
an investment and it grows slowly over time, so make
sure to pick the right tree right off the start,
in the right location, and then maintain your trees. Trees
are one of the most impactful elements that you add
to your landscape. But if you ignore the tree and
you don't do a necessary pruning over time, but wait
until it becomes a problem, don't do that. So that's
a recommendation that I have and one often overlooked key
to a well functioning landscape is planning for storage and
utility areas right from the s for what for story,
your shed, your electric blowers and trimmers and everything else,
your rakes and your shovels. I just think that that's
important so that your outdoor space stays organized, clutter free,
and efficient.
Speaker 2: Hey did you ever get around to organizing that shed?
Speaker 1: Not yet?
Speaker 2: I think that was your New Year's resolution for twenty
twenty five. But don't worry, it's not over yet. You
still got a couple more weeks.
Speaker 1: I'll be out there in the middle of winter doing it,
you know. I remember working in the garden center, we
often would hire speaking of feeling like a farmer when
I'm working out there, we would often hire individuals from
rural areas, and they all had the same type of dynamic,
and that is they could fix anything. They could fix anything,
And I love that because that's essentially what you do
when you work on a learn how to, you know,
fix things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I love going to car shows and
I love going to see like the old nineteen twenties cars.
And I remember one of the first car shows I
was at. I was remarking on how simple the engine was,
and the guy who owned that car told me that
they specifically made them like tractor engines because all of
the farmers could fix tractors on site, and they just figured, well, hey,
I already have this knowledge. I can now fix a
car engine and get it down faster.
Speaker 1: I love that, I really do. Here's another idea, and
that is my personal appealing. A feeling is not my
personal appearance. My feeling, and that is to plant native ours. Yeah,
I just see. I know that I preach this all
the time, but I just see the unbelievable benefit of
you know, Erronias or Baptisias or Amsonia. You know, the
list goes on and on of native plants that have
been bread and cultivated to be better. And so we
work smarter, not harder when we plant native ours. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And I think you know that this idea of
better you know, one of the really important things that
I think a lot of There's two important things that
native ours can do. Number one is be disease resistant.
So right now I have October Skies New England aster
in bloom in my garden. It is glorious, It is beautiful,
and it is powdery mildew resistant.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And if you've ever tried to grow New England asters,
they can be powdery mildew magnets by this time of
the year. And so it's just really nice to have
this plant full of fabulous blue purple flowers covered in
all sorts of native bees and not covered in powdery mildew.
I'm like my zinias, Yeah, still will grow them, but man,
are they looking sad. And similarly, another advantage of native
ours can be sized is that if you don't have
room for a bague old version of the native shrub,
which you know, could be ten feet tall ten feet wide,
like in the case of button bush, you know, our
beautiful native button bush cephalanthis not everyone has room for that,
but they may have room for sugar shock, which is
our selection of that, which is about five feet tall
and wide. So then it makes it a lot more
possible for people to have that plant and get those
benefits in their yard.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I love this, Adrianna. I I throw something out
there like plant native ours. It's just I lob a
softball and then I know Stacy's gonna say something brilliant.
She's gonna say something brilliant, But you're right, and I
just really believe in working the land.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, I mean there. And the thing too, is
like I totally get it when people want to grow,
you know, true natives. But the simple fact is that,
you know, as we've talked about on the show, they
can be hard to find unless you're going to a
specialty nursery. And by all means, if you have one
of those special nurseries around you go out there support
them in the work that they're doing to preserve native
plants and preserve local genotypes. But a lot of us
don't have that ben So native ours available at garden
centers make a good interim measure or alternative to that.
Speaker 1: Absolutely you set it all. Here's one that I'm really
big on for working smarter, not harder, working the land,
and that is creating water basins for your plants. Harvesting
rain water. Now, not everybody wants to mess with a
rain barrel, and people have mosquito issues and you know,
all of that type of thing. So I understand that
if you do fantastic harvesting rainwater makes sense and a
rain barrel makes sense. However, if you don't, you can
use a basin technique at the base of your plants
to help hold valuable water and get it into the
root zone of the plant. And I'm always doing that
with soil or mulch, but I'm creating a basin type
area at the base of the plants or in your landscape,
taking a look at the slope and maybe altering the
slope somewhat so that water doesn't run away from the plants,
but rather runs towards them in the heat of summer.
You're going to be so happy that you did. And
it's so beneficial to the plants. So when I'm out
there working the land, I'm always thinking slope grade and
I'm thinking basin technique.
Speaker 2: You know, I used to do that when I worked
as a landscaper over on the east side of the state.
But I don't think that my very sandy soil will
form many basins. It's really hard to sculpt like a
used to the clay soil over in the area. Do
you just have mandaged your soils?
Speaker 1: Yeah, or in a clay soil, sometimes we elevate the
plants a little bit higher than the grade. But in
sandy or well drained soils, many times we'll put them
in the ground a little lower than the grade. Then
you're able to create that basin. And yes, I've used
mulch to do it. Shredded mulch interlocks and helps create
a basin, and it just makes watering so much easier
and it's so beneficial to the place.
Speaker 2: Yet no, I agree keeps it from running off to well.
Speaker 1: Thanks Stacy, this has been fun. Thank you Rick, Thank
you Adriana, and thanks most of all to you for
watching us on YouTube, listening to the radio version of
our show, or downloading our podcast. Have a great week.