Cutting back evergreen trees, firebushes

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Good morning, everybody, Welcome back. I'm Ron Wilson, and you
are in the garden here on news Radio six '
ten WTVN eight two to one WTVN eight hundred and
six to ten WTVN talking about yardening and of course,
uh no guest today because we're taking your calls, your questions,
your tips that you'd like to share, like to hear
from you. Again. It's at the a two to one
wtv IN eight hundred and sixty ten WTVN, and I

(00:25):
you know, think about this. We got a week to go.
January's out of here, Groundhog Day next weekend. Got that
on your bucket list? Right? They head up to a
punks to Tony on Sunday, Saturday afternoon and Sunday, and
then of course after that's Valentine's Day and then we're
in two. Of course the Home and Guarden Show is
right around that's I think it's the fifteenth or so.

(00:45):
But then you got that, and then we're right into
March the first, and who knows what's going to happen
at that point. And you know, I've always said, you know,
as we go into the spring season, especially right now,
is to have you know, kind of it just takes
you don't have to get too specific, but start writing
out the projects that you want to accomplish this spring

(01:06):
as the weather breaks in the fall, and one of
the reasons why fall is such a great time for
planting is that the weather is typically a little more
consistent and so you've got a longer planting time. So
you've got these projects to do. Now, there are some
things that may delay it, but for the most part,
not that bad. But in the springtime, once you know

(01:28):
how it is, you get the first of March, it
could be thirty one day, it's going to be seventy
the next and rain for four days and then back
down to twenty and back up to seventy. It's all
over the board. So you know, you've got to figure
out what can you do on those cooler, rainy days
or cooler days, And then what do we want to
make sure we're doing when as the temperatures are warming up,
And one thing we want to make sure we're doing

(01:49):
is holding back on those rains for planting anything that's
really tender. You know, know when that approximate frost free
date is, and you know, typically you know, we used
to say May the fifteenth, And the reason we said
May the fifteenth was that it was based on the
probabilities of you having a frost from that point forward,

(02:12):
and the chances were about fifty percent or less. So
frost free dates were declared in all the different areas
around the country as just like I said, you know,
when your chances were fifty percent or less based on
past history, weather history, when frost happened, and so it
was always right around May the fifteenth, and then it

(02:34):
kind of backed up and everybody just declared Mother's Day
weekend because why not, right, let's just kick everything off
on Mother's Day weekend whenever that happens to fall. Well, technically,
looking at past averages, ours is really to get to
that fifty percent mark or so is really at the
end of April at this stage. And I don't like

(02:54):
to tell a lot of people that, but that's when
it is. And then if you're looking for like ninety
chance and now you start looking at May fifteenth, May twentieth,
something like that, that the chances are really low after
that point, not that they won't happen, but your chances
are pretty low at that point that you're going to
get a frost, so you got to keep that in
mind and obviously watch the weather as we go along.

(03:16):
But if you're growing things from seed indoors that you
want to plant outside in that garden, flower, garden, vegetable garden,
whatever it may be, in the springtime and they are
cold tender, you know, you've really got to watch that
and make sure you're not planting too early. Trees, shrubs, evergreens,

(03:36):
roses that are still dormant. A lot of times the
garden centers will get the roses in, put them in
the greenhouse, get them out and leaf. Then you got
to be a little bit more cautious to make sure
we're at a point where we can plant those without
getting a frost damage on that new foliage. But evergreens,
all of that, you know, as soon as the soil
is workable, you know, and there's crews that are planting

(03:58):
right now. I guarantee you out there somewhere installing a
few trees every now and then. But as soon as
the ground's workable sometime in March, those woody plants are
all they're ready to go. You know, you plant them,
they're dormant, no big deal, get them in the ground.
Get them planted, watered in, ready to go, and then
you know go from there. And you can do that

(04:18):
obviously right on through. And you want to get that
done as early as you can and not wait too
late into the spring and summer season. So you get
them in the ground, settled in, and ready to go
before we get into the summer. But an yours you
got to be a little bit more cautious, and so
you've got to watch that and we've got to hold
the reins back a little bit. So if you're sowing seeds,
and I had several people this week saying, when do

(04:39):
I start I'm going to try this year, we're gonna
grow some peppers and tomatoes and some zennias and some
other things. When do I start these seeds indoors for
planting outdoors? And again you got to know your frost
free data approximate. And then if you buy seeds by
the pack, typically on all those packs, if you turn
it over, look on the back, it'll tell the amount

(05:01):
of time from the time that seed germinates until it's
transplantable out into the garden. And for most tomatoes, for instance,
and that's probably the most popular thing that's grown indoors
for planting in the vegetable garden. Tomatoes typically take about
six weeks maybe seven to be ready to go outside.

(05:23):
So you count back from your frost free date, and
let's just use May the fifteenth for instance. If we
count backwards, that's two weeks in May, four weeks in March.
That's the six weeks. So you would start that, you know,
or April, sorry, and then so you'd be looking at
late March for starting those last week of March or
so to be ready for a mid May planting. From

(05:47):
seed germination to planting would be somewhere around the last
week of March. If you start too early, and say
you started them the first of March and the weather
doesn't break and we don't have we have cold weather
up until the fifteenth of May or later. Now you've
got these plants that were ready to go three weeks ago,
can't get them in the ground. They're going to start

(06:08):
to get taller. You're going to try to figure out
what to do with them. The good thing about tomatoes
is if they stretch on the indoors, you get them outside,
you get them hardened off. You can plant them deeper.
But other plants you can't do that with so you know,
you try to calculate based on your frost free date
and use the later date just to make sure you're
covered as far as weather changes. And if it's a

(06:29):
little bit earlier, you know, if you're a little bit smaller,
you can still get them outside get a planet. But again,
the seed packs will tell you that if you want
to know a great planting calendar, and it's amazing what's
available for you on the internet today that will calculate
it for you. One website that I've just been totally
blown away with is from the Old Farmer's Almanac. It's

(06:51):
almanac dot com. And I was suggesting that when if
you're looking for a source for all your catalogs, where
you can go and these are for the free catalogs
we can go to link right to their website or
has all the mailing addresses or their eight hundred numbers.
They've got that charted out for about forty four different
calendars or catalogs on that website, allmanac dot com. Well,

(07:12):
then I started playing around with it, and they have
a spring planting calendar and a fall planting calendar, so
it shows you you put in your zip code and
it will print out for you based on frost dates
and frost free dates, when to start the seeds indoors,
when to plant the seedlings the transplants outside, when you
can start seeds outdoors, and you know the lattice latest

(07:38):
date that you really want to be planting those outside
in the summertime. It's got all of the calculated for you.
It's Almanac dot Com. And then it's just the gardening
planting calendar. And again put your zip code in there
and you're good to go. Print it out, tells you
it's right there for you. Not a whole lot you
have to do as far as trying to figure that out.

(07:59):
So again, amazing what you can find. You can't trust
all the sources, but I've looked at this one, gone
through their website a lot, and they've got some pretty
good information on there against Almanac dot Com. Pretty simple.
All right to the guarding phone lines. We shall go, Tim,
Good morning Tim here, Yes, sir, yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
I have some taxes bushes. They were in a planter
and they're kind of taking over and growing up to
bound the windows. But thirty years ago I moved them
out along the road and you know for screening, and
swore i'd never let them get higher than I could
reach over across. Well, now they're about at tall and

(08:45):
twelve feet wide. I'm trying to what to know the
best way to get them on to control. About two
years ago I took about a foot and a half
to two feet off the one side of the driveway
and it's kind of filling in. I need to do
the same at least to the other side of the
driveway the long term. What's the best time.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
To do that?

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Sure, and you can do it, you know, you can
do it over a period of time. You know you
did that foot and a half what two years ago? Yeah,
and now this year, the past year, you're seeing it
starting to fill in, more needles starting to come in.
So it takes about a two year three year recovery
once you cut them back like that. But Japanese us
or taxes are probably one of the only evergreens that

(09:29):
you can really cut back hard, and most of the
time they do respond quite nicely to that. Now it
takes a couple of years, but they will fill back in.
So could I take a ten by twelve or an
eight by twelve hedge and take it back to four
by six you could, and chances are if you did
that there's still be some some needles left inside that

(09:50):
those branches, but for the most part you'd be removing
about everything there. It's a risk, there's no doubt about it.
But they're one of the like I said, one of
the only in one of the best evergreens for doing
a really hard rejuvenation pruning. I have taken personally six
foot Japanese use back to eighteen inches above the ground.
Took two years, but they all came back, flushed out

(10:12):
nicely and became a nice lower hedge and were easily maintained,
so they will respond to that. Best time to do
that would be end of February early March, while they're
just coming out of the winter starting to go into
the spring. That's the best time to cut them back. Now,
tim if you don't want to be that drastic, you
could do what you did a couple of years ago.

(10:33):
You could go back two feet and you know you
still got needles on there, But go back two feed
give them a year, they'll start to and you'll start
to see him break out needles to the inside of
the plant. That's what you want them to do, and
then next year take it back another foot and they're
still breaking out on the inside. So you can kind
of do that over a two year three year phases

(10:54):
if you wanted to do it that way and not
take as much of a risk Otherwise, like I said,
could you go half on the top and sides, Absolutely,
you do take a risk, but they were pretty good
about coming back from then.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
It'll be better to take the top off one year
and a couple of years later do the size or
something like that.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
Oh, you can do that too, because that way you're
leaving plenty of needles on there for the plant to
continue on. But yeah, so if you wanted to take
them back, you know, a couple of feet on the top,
leave the size alone, or do some light pruning to
the sides, that's a possibility as well. But do it
in phases over a two to three year period. Absolutely
not an issue at all.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
All Right, thanks a lot, All.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
Right, Tim, good talking with you. Let me know how
that turns out for you. By the way, quick break
we come back. Phone lines are open a few at
eight two to one WTVN. Here on news radio six
to ten WTVN. Now see hearing Ella do the weather
report twenties at night above freezing during the day. What
does that mean? It's the meaning to you, Well, what
that means is that is perfect timing for we're getting

(12:00):
out and tapping those maple trees. If you've never done
that before and you got a big one in your
backyard and you want to get the kids involved or whatever.
Pretty easy to do. But you know, it's a you know,
it's it's it's simple, uh, And you can get those
taps as matter of Factor's a great website. I think
it's tapmtrees dot com. When The Gentleman first started that,

(12:21):
we had them on the show many many years ago,
talking about how simple it was for homeowners to get
involved with tapping maple trees. And of course you can
tap other trees too for the for their SAP. I've
had walnut syrup and birch syrup, and I think I
had hickory syrup. But you can tap those trees. And
so when you have freezing nights and then the warmer
days above freezing days, that's when the SAP starts to flow.

(12:45):
So we're getting into that maple tree tapping season. So
there you go. So again tap my trees. I believe
it is. Dot com is the website check it out
or just Google map, you know. And I think OSU
even puts on a couple classes around the area on
doing that as well. And even if you don't boil
it down, because it takes like five gallons to make

(13:06):
a little pint of maple syrup, it takes a lot
of the sap. You can drink that sap. As a
matter of fact, they do bottle that. It's very perishable,
but they do bottle that this time of the year
also and sell that. But you can drink it and
it's pretty tasty. But put it in the fridge. I
think it'd last. I believe they told me two weeks
in the fridge. But you guys can try that as well.

(13:27):
So again something to have a little bit of fun.
But that kind of weather forecast, that's the perfect timing
for tapping those maple trees. To the gardening phone lines,
we shall go Dave, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Good morning, sir. Appreciate what you do for us around here.
You have a wealth of information.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
About four years ago, I started gardening after my father
passed away, and I've got like a twenty five by
forty forty five sized garden. Well, I got yeah, I
got my plants all in last year doing good, and
I got sick, so a lot of what I planted

(14:09):
never got used.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
So it was just.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
A month or so ago I was healthy enough to
go out and pull the plants out, you know, but
I never had time to do anything with the soil.
So I was wondering what would be the best way
and the best thing for me to do now that
I'm healthier to be able to get into my garden.
I'm not really expecting a great garden. Maybe this year,

(14:36):
because I noticed I had some I think it's called
root rot on my tomatoes. Some of my cucumbers would
get so big and then they would stop growing and
get mushy. So I was wondering if you had anything
that you could tell me to help me out this year.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Well, you know, let's look at the cucumbers real quick.
You know they will do that. I mean there's a
size that you want to pick those before they get
too big. And of course they get too large, and
all of a sudden they're over size, they start to turn,
they lose their colors, start to turn yellow and mush out.
So that's kind of normal. So you've got to you know,
and unfortunately not feeling well being able to harvest those
on a regular basis when they're smaller that's six to

(15:19):
eight inch size or whatever you know, is the right whatever,
depending on the type of cucumber that you're you're picking.
But you know, if it was producing a lot and
all sounds like you did, okay there, it just becomes
a harvest timing to get those picked before they get
too large. And boy, I've seen some cucumbers get you know,
eighteen inches long and four inches in diameter, and they

(15:40):
don't taste like anything. They're very pithy, but you know,
it's pretty good sized cucumber and you're kind of proud
of that. But then they start to fall apart. So
that would be one thing. The tomato you said the
tomatoes themselves were rotting.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, tour on the bottom. I know it wasn't on
every plant, but I did notice why I was, you know,
discarding stuff right, and I had that I put that
in back and hold that away.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
That's you know, I was going to say, clearing all
that stuff out like you're doing and getting it away
from the garden. That's good. As a matter of fact,
any of the vegetables that even fell down, you get
all that out of there and get off to a
clean start. I think that's very very important. That what
you're seeing on the bottom of those tomatoes, that's called
blossom in rot and it's a combination of things. The

(16:26):
bottom line is it's the lack of calcium in the
fruit itself, and tomatoes will do that, peppers will do that,
some of the melons will do that as well, But
it's a lack of calcium. So you have the soil
tested to make sure you've got a nice level of calcium.
If you don't, you can supplement and there's plenty of
calcium supplements out there for you to use. But if

(16:49):
you've got the right amount of calcium, the next step
becomes the watering and watering on a regular basis so
that the water moves the calcium from the soil of
the plant through the plant and out to the fruit.
And there's other factors that can be involved. Weather, cold,
weather too hot, whatever, plants not rooted in well, that

(17:09):
can cause that. But it's blossoming rod and that's that's
a pretty common problem, especially earlier on in the season,
but it usually corrects itself as the plant gets older
and roots in better. But I think one thing you
might want to take a look at is you're doing
the right thing. Clear all that stuff out of there,
get it all cleared off. Was the soil pretty tillable?
I mean pretty you know, nice, pretty nice soil, you know,

(17:32):
as far as planting last year?

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, yeah, because the gentleman on my property before he
always gardened, and he did an excellent job in.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
That same garden.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
Yeah. You know.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
What I used to do was I would either put
kalmaneu or horse manure on it in the fall, and
then I would till it in in the spring. And
I did pretty good the first couple of years. Last year,
not being able to get in it like I should
it just seemed like I started seeing a lot of
like my cucumbers at three or four inches, they would

(18:09):
stop and they would will illustraight eights. Okay, I've got
a problem somewhere. Yeah, not being able to get into it,
you know ahead of time, you know, with the soil.
I just kind of stumped at what.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
I should do.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Here's here's the other thing I would do right off
the bat and again, you know you, I love adding
the soil amendments in the fall, letting it work in
either tilling it in the fall or tilling it in
the spring. Either way it doesn't matter. I like doing
it more in the fall than I do in the spring.
But it's okay either way it works. But you could
get to a point where, if you've got some you know,
real good organic matter, the soil is pretty pliable. I mean,

(18:45):
at least it works very nicely. You may not have
to do that every year. And what you may want
to do is have the soil tested and that way
and say it's you know, it's just a general vegetable garden.
Tell me what's in there. They'll give you a calcium level,
they'll give nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, they'll give you all the micronutrients.
So they'll give you the whole list of stuff, probably

(19:06):
more than you needed to know. And the other one
would be the pH level. And so many times we
don't pay any attention to that, but the pH level
is really important. And if you aren't within that six
to sixty five six ' eight range somewhere in there,
and your two akland or too urcidic. A lot of
times these plants can't take up the nutrients so they
don't like that particular level. So soil testing DAVE is

(19:28):
going to be really important. So if I were you
right now, I'd be getting it all cleared out. I'd
be getting some samples from the garden, mixing them together
and getting that to one of the labs to get
it tested. If you're not sure where to do that,
I think I have a listing of labs that you
can use. If you email me, I can send it

(19:48):
back to you, or check with O Issue Extension, or
check with your local garden center. They'll show you a
couple of addresses of labs that you can send it to.
Fifteen bucks, twenty bucks, whatever it may cost. I think
you'll that that really can help you out. And then
you look at that see what adjustments need to be made.
You can make those between now and when you're ready
to plant, and you try to have most of that done.

(20:09):
You know, a couple weeks before you raad a plant,
you may not have to do any don't worry about
anything else. Just clean it up, you know, get it
ready to plant. You may do a no tail garden
and not do any tilling. Just clear it all out,
get in there and plant your rows. Plants need to
be done without any tilling whatsoever. You could bring in
some composts after that and use that as a top

(20:29):
dressing for the summer, which would be great, and then
take it from there. But I think clearing it out,
soil tests, find out where you are exactly, and then
take it from there are your first two steps, and
then you go from there and see where we are.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
What sounds good.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
I appreciate that very much.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
You're welcome, Dave. Glad you're feeling better, and good luck
with that garden this year.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Well, thank you you two have a great year.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Hey, thank you good and keep us posting on. Everything
goes for you quick break, we come back, Mark you're
coming up next. Phone lines you're open for you at
a two to one WT here on news radio six
to ten WTVN. You know, thinking about his garden over
the break there, especially the cucumbers. Straight eight's been around forever.
They do a really good job. Sometimes when that happens,

(21:14):
the only thing I can think of, and maybe you
can think of something else. Insufficient watering sometimes, but again,
if you don't get good pollination there. Maybe there's not
getting good pollination, you know, with not enough pollinators in there.
Sometimes you don't get good pollination to fruit only goes
to a certain point and it's done. That could be
an issue also, so you got to keep that in mind.

(21:35):
And by the way, adding organic matter to the soil,
and it's a note that I have on here to
talk about as we go to the spring season, is
a great thing to do. Adding organic matter to your soil,
gets that organic matter in there and helps an increase
of microbial activity. I mean, it just really helps them
improve the overall soil and just makes it wonderful for
those plants to get rooted into. But you got to
remember also that is that just adding organic matter itself,

(22:00):
post or whatever great soil additive, but in many cases
doesn't add nutrient value to the soil. And that's where
you want to get a tested. Whereas if you're using
composts of manures things like that can but it's also
very low in nutrient value. But you are adding some there,

(22:20):
and some composts it's kind of deceiving. Can actually change
the pH to a higher level you think it would
being more acidic, but in lots of cases it's actually
a higher pH. So that's where we have the soil
tests and see where we are. Always keep adding organic
matter back to your to your gardens, to your wherever
you can to get it back into the soil in
the lawn and the landscape, whatever it may be. But

(22:42):
always have a test too to see where the nutrient
levels are and where that pH level is very very important.
Back to the guarding phone lines, mark, good morning, I'm
good in yourself.

Speaker 5 (22:56):
Good, I promise that all I'd behave. Why didn't want
her cutting me off? She said, only on open.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
There you go.

Speaker 5 (23:07):
Hey, I got two questions for you, kind of separate questions.
First off, I started using soil moist last year, really
had good results with it. Do I need to put
that back in my pots again? Or how long does
that last?

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Two years?

Speaker 5 (23:25):
Okay? Does that have any effect as far as the plants,
like making an organic or non organic or you know,
we'll let's suck it up and have any effect with
any like vegetables As far as.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
What I mean, and all all that's doing is helping
to uh cut down on your watering and keeping you know,
keeping more water available for those plants. As the soil
dries out. The other good thing about using polymers like
soil moist is that when they swell up, you know,
and sometimes those things can get an echine diameter, they're
also opening up the soil and then it closed back up,

(23:58):
so they're always moving that soil around, which is a
great thing too. So and typically about a two year session.
Actually when you water, you can still see some of
them in there, you know, once you start to water again,
and if you don't think you're seeing enough down there,
you can always and you've already planted, just poke some
pencil holes down in there and drop a few crystals

(24:18):
in to try to supplement. But typically, though they've always
told me two years and then try to refresh it
at that point. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (24:28):
Note the South, don't put it on as a top
dressing because it's ety.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Don't put it on as a top dressing, and always
follow the label. More is not better when it comes
to soil and moist, especially in containers.

Speaker 5 (24:40):
Awesome. And the other question is I had had my
lot surveyed. I live out in the country. I have
a lot beside me that somebody recently purchased, and I've
been planning a whole bunch of pine trees and so forth.
After getting to resurveyed, I realized that my eyesight wasn't
the best. So I've got about a dozen or so
little tiny pine tree and arborviidy shrubs. When's a good

(25:02):
time to move those while they're still dormant back on side?

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, while they're still dormant, uh, you know, once the
new growth starts to butt out too late, So we'll
watch that in the nursery. But as soon as we
can start digging, we'll start digging here, you know, sometime
mid to late February, depending on the moisture level and
the weather conditions. We'll try to dig those evergreens as
much as we can until we start to see the
bud swell. And as soon as they're starting to move,

(25:27):
you stop because that's the worst time. Then once they
start to come out again, once that hardens off and
that new growth comes out, you can actually move it,
which could be mid to late summer. You could do
it at that time if absolutely needed, but the best
thing is to try to do it while they are dormant,
before the new growth starts to come out. So you know,
whenever you can get out there and start working it. Uh,

(25:48):
you know, it's still kind of early now, but toward
the late February, first of March I have at it now.

Speaker 5 (25:56):
That ground is pretty hard, pretty hard right at the
moment too. So yeah, it's going to be a hard
on my tools.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yes, it would be it on you as well.

Speaker 5 (26:04):
Yes, thank you.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
I appreciate it. Ron. All right, Mark, good talking to you.
Uh Gurn, good morning, Rob.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
How are you you're taking my call? Hey? I cook a
lot outside on charcoal, and then I get all this
charcoal ash. Often I'll put it on the garden, both
the flower garden and the vegetable garden. But I got
to thinking maybe maybe that's not so good.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Regular regular charcoal, brickettes.

Speaker 4 (26:34):
Bricketts, a lot of wood. I burned a lot of
wood to cook over, but wood would open like chunks
of go ahead.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
I was gonna say, wood is not an issue. So
you know, if you have a fire pit or whatever,
and you're using regular wood to burn in there, not
anything that's treated or whatever, not an issue. But if
you use charcoal brickettes, I mean a lot of times
you have the fire starter in there or you're using
something to get them started. I'm not too crazy about
using that back into the soil, but all the other ones.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
Yeah, the thing, no petroleum starters, Okay, I started with
paper and little twigs. No petroleum substance.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Good, you're the man to do that then, So in
that case, no problem. But here's the thing. You have
to remember. Wood ashes like that and the charcoal bricketts
will change the pH of the soil very quickly, and
they'll change it to go up and make it more alkalin.
And I think some of the latest research I had
ever read was as far as putting ashes down, like

(27:31):
in your vegetable garden was a five pounds I think
was five pounds per thousand square feet every two to
three years.

Speaker 4 (27:42):
Well that's not very much.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Yeah, So you've got to be cautious. So if you're
using it and you want to till it in, don't
ever leave it on the top of the soil. Use
it your compost pile too, but always till it in.
Always do that way before you plant. If you're doing
a vegetable garden, don't put it where you're gonna do tomatoes.
A lot of root crops don't like that in the soil.
So be cautious there, but always watch your phs because

(28:04):
it'll change it in a flash.

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Got it.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
Thanks all right, Gern, good talking with it. Another break.
Come back, Patrick, You're coming up after the break here
on news Radio six ten WTB. Hey, just a quick reminder.
The Knox County Beekeepers have their beginning beekeeping classes coming up.
Beginner be Keeping one and Beginner Beekeeping two February the

(28:29):
first and February the fifteenth. It's at the Mount Vernon
and Nazarene University Faculty Hall, Room one oh five from
nine till three both times. Sixty five bucks one hundred
and twenty for both breakfast and lunch is included. To
register for those classes knoxk and o X knoxbs dot
com and again that's February first and February fifteenth. Central

(28:50):
Ohio Beekeepers Association has their B schools coming up. They've
got four to two hour sessions February nineteenth, twenty six,
March fifth and twelve, two separate full day classes if
you'd rather do that the twenty second and March the eighth,
and again if you want to rest here for those
or learn more about it, Central Ohio Beekeepers dot Org

(29:12):
at Central Ohio Beekeepers Dot Org. Patrick, Good morning, Patrick,
you with us? Yeah, Hey, how are you today?

Speaker 6 (29:26):
Oh? Not too bad?

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Good? What can we do for you?

Speaker 6 (29:30):
I got a couple of bushes on each corner of
my property. My wife said there were fire bushes. I
don't know where they are or not. They had deep,
bright red bushes or leaves on them clear up until
the end of the season. Okay, I'm wanting to know
win is a good time to do a hard trim
on them, because I've got to get them back under
control of this year. People lived there before, didn't do

(29:51):
anything with them, and they are overgrown.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Uh. Sometime in March. You want to do it before
the new leaves start to come out. So let's get
through February. Let's get into March.

Speaker 6 (30:02):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
And sometime at that point, that's when you want to
give them a good hard cutback. And I'll tell you
fire bush or burning bush. Sometimes they're called great fall color.
But again, you know, if you they can get eight
to ten feet high and wide with no problem.

Speaker 5 (30:17):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
But they respond quite nicely to a hard cutback. I've
taken again eight footers and taken them back to three
feet above the ground and they respond very nice to that,
so they can take a pretty hard cutback. But you
want to do it, Yeah, before the leaves start to
come out on us. So sometime during the month of
March would be your best shot.

Speaker 6 (30:36):
Yeah, that's what I'm wanting to know, because I need
to take them back a lot. I said, they blocked
our driveway and neighbor on each side. Yeah, definitely need
to get them back this year.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yep. And when you do that, don't just you know,
share them straight across the top. You know, kind of
round them off a little bit if you can. And
sometimes you know, you go in there with a heavy
pruner or whatever, just kind of cut them back and
then go back in with your hand prunters and do
a little more natural open them up a little bit
and kind of get that top a little more of
a rounding rather than just a flat top, you know
what I mean. Yeah, Okay, that's what we're looking for.

(31:10):
But do it in March and you should be good
to go.

Speaker 6 (31:13):
Okoy, that sounds good.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
Thank you, Thank you, sir. Good talking. We didn't good
luck with all of those. By the way, I was
talking earlier about the herb of the week. We're going
to start that today as a matter of fact, and
about every other week well we'll do one specific herb.
But this weekend, this Saturday, we had chosen garlic as
our herb awake. And of course, remember there are different
types of garlic, all of which can be planted in Ohio.

(31:37):
Soft neck, hard neck, elephant garlic. Elephant garlic's truly not
a true garlic. I think it's actually more related to
the leaks, but big, mild flavor, big clothes, but not
the really strong flavor of like the hard necks of
the soft necks. Soft necks probably last store away the longest,

(31:58):
but hard necks are probably the most common used in
Ohio larger clothes. They also have the scape that comes up.
It's not a flower stem, it has actually bulblets on
the top, but that scape that comes up and curls
around using it and cooking, using it fresh and salads
things like that. They are the ones that only the
hard necks do that. So if you're looking for that

(32:20):
as well, hardneck varieties are the ones you want to use. Garlic, unfortunately,
in Ohio, is best planted in the fall. Later in
the fall you can if you plant up too early.
They start to grow and you have to straw them
in and things like that. But if you plant them
in November late October November, sometimes they don't grow quite
as much, don't require winter protection, and then they come

(32:41):
on for you in the springtime, come up and you'll
get much larger clothes and a much nicer garlic if
you plant in the fall versus the spring. Can I
plant in the springtime absolutely, As a matter of fact.
You find garlic clothes, garlic bulbs sold in the fall
and in the spring times. In the spring you'll find

(33:01):
them sold even in individual pots that you can plant.
You know, you buy them for three bucks and you
can plant those as well. Get them and planted as
early as you can in spring because timing is very
very important and that cold period still experiencing that early
is very very important to them as well. Again you'll
get smaller clothes, but it can be done in spring
earlier the better to get those in the ground. But

(33:23):
otherwise use the hard necks. I think you're still the
best for Ohio. Soft Mexico elephants can all be grown,
not not an issue. And I love those scapes to
cook with. Oh my gosh, great flavor. And again they're
pretty easy to grow. Test the soil, see where the
levels are. One feeding usually takes care of it for
you through the season, and they'll tell you when I'm
pretty much when it's time to harvest. Those outer leaves

(33:45):
start to yellow, start to fall over. Time to pull
those those garlics up, Let them dry for a few days,
and you get yourself a nice batch of garlic clothes.
And remember that can be done both in the ground,
in raised beds or in containers. Garlic does quite well
growing in containers if you pot them up in the

(34:06):
fall in a container I had over winter them in
an unheated garage or shed and then bring them back
out like we would utter bulbs as well, But they
will do quite nicely for you in containers as well.
So garlic happens to be our herb of the week
this week. So if you didn't plan any and you'd
like to try it, you can do it in the springtime.
But remember when fall comes around, that is the best time.
Thanks to our collars, thanks our sponsors, Thanks to course,

(34:28):
to Ella, our producer, because without Ella, none of the
stuff would happen. Now do yourself a favor, start thinking
about where you're gonna plant those trees, right tree, right location.
How are you gonna pamper your worms and take care
of those pollinators and those bees, get your kids and
dogs evolved guardening, and by all means, I want you
to go out this weekend and make it the absolute
best weekend of your life. See you,