Preparing for the upcoming gardening season

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, everybody. Welcome. I'm Ron Wilson, and you are
in the garden here on news Radio six ' ten
WTVN A two to one WTVN eight hundred and six
y ten WTVN. We're all rocking and reeling today and
party and hardy after the Big Bucky went last night phenomenal.
Can't wait for this final game. I do not and

(00:20):
I will first want to say, I do not never
have like Notre Dame. So I'm looking forward to this
game because we're going to take it to him. All right,
what do you say? We kick off our show with
a very special guest. I love having her on our show.
We are honored when she gives up a little bit
of time on a Saturday morning to spend time with us.
She is nationally known gardening expert, TV radio host, author,

(00:42):
and columnist. Been in this business for over years. She's
written over twenty gardening books. She has so many awards.
It's phenomenal. You'll see her on PBS, she's on other
radio stations, she travels around. It's she just does a
great job. And yes, I always have folks say. Is
Melinda as nice in person as she is sounds on

(01:05):
your show. Yes, she is, ladies and gentlemen, one of
the nicest gardeners I know. Miss Melinda Myers, good morning.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Good morning. Thanks for allowing me to join you this morning.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Ron, it is our pleasure. Were you watching any football
last night?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
I was. It was pretty exciting, I have to tell you, boy,
I always get very nervous, so it was good to
see the victory. And they did a great job. And
I'm with you, I'm hoping they really do a number
on Notre Dame.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Absolutely I was. It was couldn't ask for better ending.
So yeah, it was great. And of course, so folks
know you are. You had a little something to do
going on at the Ohio State University.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
I did, so that's where I did my undergrad work.
And I'm a proud buck Eye and so I brought
that spirit with me. And there are more and more
buck Eyes invading the Badger State, which is great.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
So you got I've got a few friends up there,
so you can now you can kind of half wear
that Badger T shirt over the Buckeye T shirt or
vice versa. Yeah. Whatever. So well, it's great having you
on with us this morning, and I really do appreciate
you spending the time with us real quick, like, though,
are you getting the same weather up there that we're
getting in Ohio?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
You know, the snow has gone south of us, you know,
my cousins. I saw family and friends in Ohio and
nicey pictures of their kids fledding, And we just have
a light dusting. We've had lots of cold, single digit
but you know, just very little snow, which is kind
of reverse of what I was used to growing up
at Ohio, you know, minimal snow and more so in Wisconsin.

(02:42):
So it's been an interesting year so far.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well I'm looking I don't know about you, but I
always get so excited January February. I like it when
winter comes. I enjoy the winter. I enjoy the snow.
If we get it, I just feel like it's like
Mother Nature cleansing the palette, and you know, we getting
ready to start all over again. And of course this
time of the year, the catalogs and the classes and
the training and the workshops and trying to sharpen the

(03:05):
old axe, I always say, you know, trying to get
to get you ready for the twenty upcoming gardening season
twenty twenty five. Obviously, I couldn't believe what I was
thinking this morning. And you've probably never done this before.
Put it on your bucket list. Three weeks from tomorrow
is Groundhog Day.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Oh you know, I'm still adjusting to where this far
in January, you're right.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
And then two weeks after that we got Valentine's Day,
and then that, and then we're in spring and you're
at home and garden shows and it's all happening again.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
It is. I have my first appearance next Saturday, a
week from today. It's virtual and in person in central Wisconsin.
So if we're going to get a snowstorm, I'm sure
it's going to happen next then.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Then yeah, then that's what is going to show up
for you.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
So exactly. But it's so great to be with gardeners
in person. But if not virtually, you know, we you
know because you get to go out and meet with
gardeners all the time too. It really feeds our soul.
You walk in a room full of gardeners, the energy
is unbelievable, and I always walk away with great tips
to pass along from gardeners I meet along the way.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
I don't think I've ever given a garden talk or
a workshop or whatever that I haven't learned something at
that particular talk. You always come away with somebody's tip
or something that they've done it was successful or wasn't
successful that you learn from, you know, but you always do.
You come away with some new information exactly.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
And that's one of the exciting things the webinars I
started during COVID, like so many people who was worried
about losing that sense of community. But what I found
is I invite people to use the chat to share
information and if I talk about a plant, someone in
another state says, all this worked for me, or you know, go,
oh there's this great video online. Somebody will pop the

(04:46):
link in and it's it's not as good as in person,
but boy, there is still that sense of community which
I think gardeners are good at creating.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Oh absolutely. We were talking with Milanda Myers or website
of course outstanding. Sign up for newsletters it's Melinda Meyers
dot com. And you can find out where Melinda's going
to be throughout the spring season, and maybe she's going
to be close to where you are, and you can
go and meet Melinda and see what she has to say. Well,
let's just take a look at what's going on right now.
I know, I don't know about you, but for me,

(05:16):
this is a great time of the year because I
try to gather up as many gardening catalogs, seed catalogs,
plant catalogs, great inspiration. I really get you fired up
looking for you for new things that are out there,
and I think, what's interesting. There's so many out there available,
but so many of them have become great reference books
as well.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know that is so excellent because in a lot
of places I found even plant tags now send you
to the website. So lucky most of us are have
access when we're shopping, and then we can get more detail.
And you're right, I'm always looking at more detailed information
at some of my favorite catalogs, not only about the
new varieties, but how do they hold up with disease

(05:58):
and sect pass What are the reviews, you know, seeing
what gardeners who've grown them, how they respond, you know,
get that inside scoop as well and exactly. And then
the beautiful pictures you think gets us all through these
long gray winter day or short gray winter days. I
guess I should.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Say, yep, they do, There's no doubt. Great inspiration. Any
favorites for you out there? I mean, you know, there's
so many out there today, and I always get folks like, well,
how do I know which is a good one to
order from? And course, my initial response is, if you
find things in these gardening catalogs that you like, whether
it be plants or whether it be seeds or whatever,
check with your locally owned independent garden centers see if

(06:37):
they sell that, you know, to see if they're going
to have it, or the sea packs or whatever. They don't,
then you go on order. And you know, again there's
a lot of references out there, a lot of folks
you can go online to see if they've had success
with them and reviews, and I know I have a
few that are my favorites. I was just curious if
you did as well.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
You know, I agree totally with you. Your local independent
garden center support them because they're great source for not
only seeds, but the transplants. Though you can, you know,
buy the plant and put it in your garden. I
have a couple favorites Renee Gardens. She has some really
unique plants. One of my favorites are Ostia zucchini. I've

(07:17):
grown lots of zucchini like everybody else, but I find
these compact plants. They've got some variegation, so they're pretty
and they're very productive. And so I always get that
from her in Tuscan baby leaf kale, because I'm trying
to embrace that super food. And I do eat kale,
but the baby leaf kale is much milder. So that's

(07:38):
kind of my stepping stone to the big one. And
so I find some I always like looking in her
seed packets. Piece of artwork is oh yeah, you know.
I also love the traditional burbie. You know, they've been
around a long time.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
You always have to have a burpie catalog.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
You do exactly. And then for I had a gardener
one time called the porn magazine. Is Baker's Rare Seed?

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh yeah, it's this.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Huge one inch the catalog and it's amazing. And I
met the guy who founded it. At fifteen. He told
his parents, I want to start a nursery. At fifteen,
that was not anywhere in my realm of being that
creative or you know, hardworking, and so he wanted to
start a nursery. His parents supported him, and here he

(08:25):
started this amazing catalogs heirloom and rare seeds, things that
you can't find anywhere else, many of which, and so
that's kind of a fun one as well. Territorial seeds,
oh yeah, and then totally tomatoes. I like some of it. Yeah, yeah,
if you're hard to find tomatoes. Those are some of

(08:46):
my favorites, how.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
About you, Yes, all of those. I like Johnny Seeds too.
I mean I like Johnny's because of the again a
good reference book, the good good information in there, and
of course, again a lot of different things as well.
I've met some folks out in Texas. It's called Dixondale Farms,
Oh yeah, yeah, And I've had Bruce on several times.

(09:08):
And if you're into onions, shallots, things like that. Their
catalog is great reference as well, and a great source too.
You can't beat Starks. If you can't find fruit trees
at your local garden center, you know Starks and now
they get I just printed this out this week, whole
line of heirloom fruit trees, which you know a lot
of folks are going. And it's got the history behind

(09:28):
the trees in their catalog, which is pretty cool. But
I think the one that I really like is rh shumways.
I get that every year because it's all garden illustrated.
There's no actual pictures. It's just like they printed it
a hundred years ago. It's so nostalgic. Now it's all
updated plants and all that. But I love that one.

(09:49):
It's just to go through one last one. Kittizawa Seeds
for Asian greens.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Oh I haven't. Oh that's a new one for me.
I'm gonna have to check that out.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Kid Azawa Seed and they're out of the California. I
hope they're okay, and I think they're in that area.
But again, it have been around forever. They specialize in
Asian greens, and again you learn a lot from their
catalog as well. But there's so many out there is
phenomenal and it's just great references, great inspiration this time
of the year. And again, if you can't find it

(10:19):
at your locally owned independent garden center, well those folks
do a real good job getting it getting it to you.
So I like the porn thing. I've had other people
reference that. I've had people yell at me for saying
out on our show, like why would you call it that? Well, no, no, no,
And I said, well, that's what it is. You get
addicted to it. You can't help it. But you know
what can I say? Talking with with Melinda Myers this morning,

(10:41):
real quick before we take a break here. You know
a lot of folks do save seeds from some of
their heirloom plants and something you know, to try to overwinter.
Do you do you save seed? And if so, I
always get the question how long are these seeds good for?
And I know it really does vary, but usually with
what two or three years? If you're sayingaving seed, you.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Bet, depending on how you store it. And then I
do a pre germination test if I doubt it's something
I can't replace. You know, ten seeds in a damp cloth,
a paper towel and a plastic bag. See what germinates?
Half germinate seed twice sixth nothing, make it into seed?

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Art? Got it? Got it? Talking with Milenda Myers her
website again, Melinda Myers, and that's M Y E. R
S dot com Belinda Myers dot com. To be sure
and check it out. Quick break we come back, we'll
talk to her about yesterday was house plant Appreciation Day.
I bet Melenda's got a few houseplants that she was
appreciating yesterday. We'll find out after the break here on
news radio six to ten WTVN. That would be nice

(11:39):
to be in Jamaica right now, but we are here
in Columbus, Ohio on news radio six to ten WTVN.
I am Ron Wilson. Our special guest this morning, the
ever lovely Belinda Myers. Her website is Melinda Meyers dot com.
You know, during the break, Weland, I was thinking, you know,
we're talking about Jerry and the Baker Creek Seeds and
Rare seed dot com. Is I think of their website.

(12:01):
But I think I met him and you probably did
too at the Garden Center show in Chicago was the
year that I met you for the first time as well.
He had a booth there, yes, yes, guy, yeah, and
the overalls and everything and his wife with them, and
I thought, I thought it was like part of their

(12:22):
booth right then, and it was him. And that's the
way they And they have all their little vignettes now
on the like YouTube and stuff talking about their new plants.
Have you seen any of those? They're hilarious.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Check that out. That's great.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah, they got a button and they talk about all
their new cabbages and kales and stuff like that. But
I think that's where I first met him, cause we
had we had him on the show for a couple
of years and then he got so big we can't
can't get him on the show anymore. But but yeah,
that's where I first met him, And that's of course
where I first met you as well.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
So exactly we'll have to make sure our paths across
in the coming year.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, I kind of miss those shows, you know, they've
kind of gone by the wayside. I think we still
have one wat up in they had Milwaukee. I think
right right.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Now work in State Fair. So if you end up
coming to that one, let me know. We'll get you.
I'll get you into State Fair. You can eat some
good Wisconsin fattening food, have a couple beers and relax.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Deep fried twinkies and some cold beer.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Anything that's bad, it's probably at the fair.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
So there you go talking with the Milinda Myers And
I just thought i'd bring this up because I'm yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yesterday was a National House Plan Appreciation Day. I would guess,
and I don't know, but I would guess. You've got
a few indoor plants in the in the Meyers home.
Anything you do special on National Appreciation Day for your

(13:37):
house plants.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Well, you know, with the holiday and then so much
focus on closing up the garden in the fall, getting
things harvested, you know, house plants kind of take a
secondary role unfortunately. So this is a good reminder to
all of us, especially me. That takes some time. So
I have a weeping fig that I had to kind
of move around when we had our floors done, covered

(13:59):
with dust and the light wasn't the best. And you know,
they can fortunately lose a lot of leaves and still recover.
That's what I'm banking on. So I finally got some
grow lights in place, kind of cleaned up the leaves
a little bit, so hoping that it was a gift
from a friend when they moved. It didn't sit in
their house, so they gave it to me. So you
can't kill a plant someone's given you, right, No, So

(14:22):
I keep breaking up the leaves, hoping it's flowing down
a bit and we'll recover in time for their next
visit to my house.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
You'll have to keep us posted and I usually do
you know, I've gone through that. I know a lot
of people have all of a sudden, you move that
somewhere and then it loses ninety percent of the leaves.
But they seem to always respond and come back as
long as as long as you don't overreact and start watering.
When I think folks used to do that all the time.
It's like, oh my god, I need to start watering
it more. And then of course you put it over

(14:50):
the eeds because you water too much.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
But exactly most people, I think that's the biggest mistake, right.
We both see with house plants. Holiday plants is compensate
for low light, poor growing with more water or even fertilizer.
This is really the time of the year that you know,
unless your plants need it, let them be your guide.
Most of our plants are just trying to get through winter,

(15:13):
so we don't need to overwater. Check the soil moisture.
I'm a big I use my finger. I know a
lot of people are pick up the pot, see how
much it weighs, and then water thoroughly pour out the excess,
or be lazy like me, put some petals in the
saucer to elevate that pot above any water boost the humidity,

(15:33):
and it saves you from needing to empty it and
reduces the risk of root rut.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Yeah, great idea. You know you're talking about the grow
lights and all I tell you look at some of
the catalogs and what's out there today, you know, compared
to what we used to use for grow lights. I
mean there's pieces of furniture and things that are just
blend in with whatever you have in that particular room.
But it's a grow light. It's phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
It's great because if you're sharing your home with the
non plant per they may not be into those old fashioned,
you know, shop light fixtures. We use what right, convincing
the family these aren't so bad, So now we do
and they're cheaper energy efficient so it's longer lasting. So
it's really a wonderful benefit for those of us that

(16:18):
like to garden indoors.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Have you do you ever use a moisture meter? I
know we promote that quite a bit, and that seems
to help folks out that have a real hard time judging,
especially if the containers a little bit deeper.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, and do you have a favorite. When I used
to do plant scaping in the seventies, way back then
and we go to factories and beauty salons, and back
then the moisture meters weren't that great, and so that's
kind of how I got into using my finger. But
it sounds right. You found a good one that works
well for you.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
You know, there's a lot of them out there today
that that you know, and they only last, you know,
if you buy the ten dollars one, there's you know,
they last probably a couple of years and then they're done.
But they do a fairly decent job. And I always
tell fu, don't get too involved with your moisture meter.
You want to know if it's wet, dryer in between.
You know, that's the whole thing. And it does help

(17:09):
a lot of folks, just even with planting trees and
shrubs and things like that, to be able to judge,
because sometimes it's hard to tell one to water those
trees and shrubs. Stick that in the root ball and
you know, get a good general reading. And it really
can't help you out, but you're right, the finger, the
old touch method with a finger still works great.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
And you know, I think the more you garden indoors
and out, the better you can read your plants. It
kind of get that funky off green gray green look
before they wilt. And you know I've waited too long.
Give them some good water. And I think the more
you garden, it gets a lot easier. And so you're right,
any tools to help you get to that point so
you build some confidence. I think that's a great suggestion.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
All right. That one last question is very personal. We'll
let you go. We're talking about house plants. I'm a
big advocate of showering with your plants.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
I think it's a great idea. You feel like you're
in the tropics. I will put a garbage bag or
something over the soil so I don't end up with
dirt in the drain, right, But it's a great way
to wash on dust insects and just kind of keep
them healthier throughout the winter.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
Now, you didn't admit that you do. You just said
it was a great way to rent them off.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Hey, I do too.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
All right, there we go. Even Melinda Meyers showers with
her house plast during the wintertime. Hey, always a pleasure again.
Her website is Melendameers dot com. Check it out. Sign
up for her newsletter always great information. You have your
monthly gardening calendars. You can follow along as well, and
of course you can find out where she's going to
be in case you want to go meet her, because
she is as nice as she sounds on our show,

(18:42):
Melinda Myers, always a pleasure and from one buckeye to another,
go bucks.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah you bet, Thanks.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
All right, Melinda Myers. And again her website Melendameyers dot com.
Be sure and check it out. Quick break we come back.
Phone lines are open for you at eight two to
one WTVN here on news radio six ' ten WTVN
talking you yardening here on news radio six ' ten
WTVN eight two one WTVN is our number. And you
know yesterday and what a great thing having Melinda Meyers on.

(19:11):
She's just the nicest lady. And you know she does
get requests to travel all around the country and speak
and you could tell why she just she does does
such a great job. And meeting her a person many
many years ago and became friends and have been ever since,
and just a super nice person. Always an honor to
have her on the show with us. But yesterday was

(19:31):
National House Plan Appreciation Day, and I think it's always
interesting to see how you know some of these gardening
trends go what goes around comes around you. We talk
about that all the time. But you know when back
in the mid seventies, and dating myself here, but back
in the mid seventies when I was going to Ohio State,
we lived on the West ninth and at the time

(19:56):
I also worked at Slimmon's Garden Center. And if you were,
if some of you foks have been around for a while,
remember Slimins Garden Center on Old Tangy River Road and
it was huge and as a matter of fact, I
think that garden center at that time was way ahead
of its time. It covered had everything you could imagine
as far as product, big trees, shrubs, old nine yards.

(20:17):
Scott Cavanaugh, good friend of mine Ohio State grad worked there.
Day Party and I worked together there at the Slimmers
with the landscape division. You all remember Dave. But anyway,
point being is back then they had a separate greenhouse
from their annual greenhouse that they did nothing but foliage plants,
and they had a great selection. Their houseplant buyer was

(20:39):
just did a wonderful job. And I remember my apartment
had I think forty one forty four something like that.
Individual house plants, and I'm talking about plants that were
in like one gallon pots or larger. I mean, it
looked like a tropical jungle. And fortunately the windows that
we had there were big windows, and it faced the

(21:00):
south and the southwest and kind of west, so I
got really good bright light in there, so we can
grow about anything. And I had all those plants in there,
and anybody that ever came over to study or do whatever.
Never party, no, no, no, no, never did that, but anybody
would come over, which is always blown away with all
the folies plants and you know all I kind of

(21:23):
went away after a while, but now back but I
think what's interesting is this trend. I don't think is
going to go away because I think that not only
have we everyone embraced indoor plants indoor gardening in general,
but indoor house plants and all the different varieties that
are available today. I know, back then, I mean, you
had your basics, and every now and then something new

(21:45):
would come along. I collected Aurelia's False Auraelias, Balfour, a Rali,
all those. I had a great collection of those, and
that was kind of interesting back then. But you know,
the selection isn't at all like it is today, which
is true with most of all the plants. And of course,
so they've got plants out there now that are rare
to find. You go to these garden centers, local garden
centers or whatever, and you see these little four inch

(22:07):
six inch potted plants that are two hundred bucks, and
it's like, you know, it's rare. You know, there's only
a hundred of them growing in the United States, and
folks are buying these plants at two hundred dollars apiece.
Me personally, and Linda and I talked about this a
couple of weeks ago. No, I don't, but there's a
lot of folks that do, and have just really gotten
into an embrace at big time, and rightfully so, because

(22:31):
you know, not only is it nice to have that
indoor bringing the outdoors back indoors with the indoor guarding
with folish plants. A lot of foolish plants available now
that take lower like conditions, that are a lot lower maintenance,
that you know, very forgiving if you don't water enough
or you overwater them, things like that like the zz plant.
I mean, the only way I think you could kill

(22:51):
that thing is you either try to grow in total
darkness or you water too much, otherwise that thing will
grow just about anywhere. But so many great ones available,
and of course, you know, studies have all shown not
only does it help to improve air quality, and NASA
did that years and years ago to prove that. You know,
we now know that you know, anybody that's in an

(23:12):
area that's you know, has lots of house plants, lots
of indoor plants, flowering plants, indoors, cut flowers fall into
the same category. It does reduce your stress, It can
boost productivity with students and employees and offices places like that.
You can smell them, you know, you can smell that
living plant. Of course, if you have flowers in there,

(23:32):
you can smell those as well. You know, it is
bringing the outdoors in. There's just so many great reasons
why we have more and more houseplants all the time
indoors and rightfully so. And I don't think this is
a trend that's going to go away. I think this
is one is going to stick around with us for
quite some time. And I think as we're seeing these
new LED lights and these new grow lights inside and

(23:53):
these new units indoors that look like furniture. It's so much,
it's very attractive, and it just makes it so much
easier to do this indoors as well as outdoors. So
I think houseplants is one of those things that's I
think this trend is going to be here to stay
for quite some time, and rightfully, so quick break, we
come back again, Joe Ann, you're coming up next. Phone

(24:15):
lines are open for you at eight two to one
WTVN here on news radio six y ten WTVN. You know,
we're talking about National house Plan Appreciation Day, and if
you're a houseplant fish or not, or you like collecting houseplants,
I think I noticed on the Wilson's Garden Center out
in Newark. I think they were having a sale I

(24:36):
think yesterday and today commemorating National house Plan Appreciation Day.
I think they got them like twenty percent off, and
they do a nice job usually have a fair selection
of houseplants. So if you happen to be in the
Newark area today stopping Wilson's, and I think it's twenty
percent off all the house plants that are out there,
So yeah, I might want to check that one out

(24:56):
to the gardening phone lines. We shall go. Joe Ann,
good morning there.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
I have a common regarding houseplants. Yes, my son is
a Countistry bred and he says it's helpful for us
each room to have one plant at least. Yeah, so
that's a plug for houseplants.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
There you go, and I agree. And you know, I
actually when I was talking earlier, NASA did some research
about the benefits of foliage plants purifying the air. And
they did this this was many years ago, and what
they what they found was, you know, I think an
average size houseplant they were looking at like every ten

(25:44):
by ten area, twelve by twelve area one in that
particular area, which would be like a small bedroom, would
be enough to actually affect the air quality that's in there.
And then of course at that time they were just
looking at the air quality. But you know, today this
so much research has been done, and I think the
one eight hundred floorists actually started this many years ago.

(26:06):
The research being done on how they affect you and
me mentally, you know, make us feel better, and just
all of that and the smells and all, you know,
just everything is so plus. So you're right, if you
had a house plan or two in every room of
your house. Definitely would be a much better atmosphere. There's
no doubt about it. Your son is right.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Then two more comments have. One of them is go
Ron Wilson, you're doing a great service.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
Then the other one is on hints from seed catalogs.
Yes years ago, I think it was Pine Hill, but
I forget for sure the seed catalog and it said
four o'clocks planted among your gardens to repel Japanese beetles.

(27:00):
And at the time we had two long rolls of
sweet potatoes and they were really important to us because
they were passed down to the family, and the leaves
were getting laced with Japanese bugs. And the hint is
to plant four o'clocks among your garden and they eat

(27:22):
the leaves and die. And at that time my sweet
potatoes were getting laced with sweet skeletonized sure the Japanese beetles,
and that worked every year for many years.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
So they were attracted to the four o'clocks more than
the sweet potato, and it was toxic enough that it
would actually take them out.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah, I don't know that I've ever heard that.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
When I you know, I've heard the one and I've
done this one with geraniums. The same way with geraniums,
they're attracted to a geranium plant and planning geraniums like
around grapes and things like that. As a matter of fact,
gentlemen used to be on the show all the time.
Tomato Dick grew tomato or grapes, and he always would
grow geraniums along the base and the Japanese beetles that

(28:14):
would come into the area were attracted to those. They
would actually eat that and it made them It just
kind of made them like flip out and they would
fall off and most of the time die And so
that was kind of a natural for that as well.
But i'd never heard of it with the four o'clocks.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
And once you have four o'clocks, you'll always have them.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
I was going to say, once you get them, it's
hard to get rid of them.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
Well, I loved him, and I just had them in
three places. So I always had seeds because they'll get
volunteers right before you had them before. Yeah, and you
can either move that volunteer or the seeds. They're very
prominent and very easy to collect in the fall.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Absolutely well, I've never heard that one, and I will
try that one out. I'm interested to see how that works.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
Great.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Thank you, Thanks Joanne, good talking with you. Appreciate the call.
And I've never had again the geraniums. I have done
that myself and they do. They will feed on thoses
fall right off, and like I said, Tomato Dickius who
do that around his grape vines as well, and it
was always very successful, he say, didn't have to spray
very often with Japanese beetles. Fortunately, we don't see them

(29:29):
as much as we used to. Now. There are still
pockets of them out there and in some areas they
have kind of increased a little bit, but we don't
see him quite as bad as we used to out there.
But they can sure do a number, especially on sweet
potato vines ornamental sweet potatoes. As a matter of fact,
there is a golden tortoise beetle that loves to feed

(29:51):
on those things. Next thing you know, they get holes
all over the place and looks like you bottom with
all the holes in there. But yeah, so I ought
to get that. If you've done that before with the
four o'clocks, let me know that is a new one.
For me. And again I appreciate Joeanne calling and sharing
tips like that. I think that, you know, through all

(30:11):
these years of doing this show, one of the things
that I've always said is that, you know, I try
to base my answers on my experiences other you know,
folks that specialize in whatever their experiences, scientific research, put
all this together and come up with some answers to
help you be more successful in your gardening endeavors. And
I've always said, there's more than one way to properly

(30:34):
gardener to get the same you know, success, And I've
always encouraged folks and like Melinda and I were talking earlier,
you know, giving garden talks, the workshops, going out talking
with other people, you always walk away with a couple
tips just like that, and it's always fun to hear.
And I always encourage that. And I've always said, you know,
if you've got a tip you'd like to share, we

(30:56):
really want to hear from you, because I love hearing
from folks and say here's something that I've done has
really worked for me over the years, or here's something
that I tried and it didn't work, because it's nice
to know about that as well. But I always encourage
all of our listeners, you know, if we have an
answer for something, or sometimes we don't have an answer
for everything, and you do and something's worked for you,

(31:19):
don't be shy. I've had a lot of folks say, well,
you know, I feel kind of silly calling in you know,
you're you know, it's it's just a silly old Well,
it's not. We really appreciate that, and it's fun sharing ideas.
I always love it. Sometimes we you know, you start
talking about squirrels getting into something and the boy you
get a million calls about how I take care of

(31:39):
the squirrels or how I grow my tomatoes or tomato
varieties that are out there. As a matter of fact,
you know, the Kellogg's having Tomato was talking about Tomato
Dick earlier, having them on the show and Tomato George,
which we don't hear from too much anymore, but having
them on and sharing their expertise with the tomatoes and
new selections that they try every year. And of course

(32:00):
the Kellogg's Breakfast came from Tomato George. He had tried
it the first time and absolutely loved it. And you
know that's when we started and I started, we grew it,
we tried it. Definitely one of the sweetest tomatoes you
can find out there, and that kind of got the
conversation going with the sweet tomatoes best teaching tomato. The

(32:22):
next thing, you know, we've got the big throw down
because big owl from Straighters calling in and saying, hey,
you talk about Kellogg's Orange. I grow tomatoes and a
man or Kellogg's Breakfast. I grow a mana Orange, and
I think a mana is better than Kellogg's. And if
you google either one of them, a lot of times
they reference each other because they're so similar. But we

(32:44):
had the big tomato throw down there, you remember that,
And we had contests at Tomato Dicks and at the
oh the tomato thing in the Wilmington anyway, and folks
voted and a Man of Orange actually won by a
couple votes, but they were so close they were tied.
And that's what we learned about a Man of Orange
and Kellogg's Breakfast. So always feel free to give us

(33:06):
a call and share your tips, share your success or
things that didn't work for you. We'd like to hear
about that as well. Quick break we come back. Phone
lines are open you for you a two to one
WTVN here on news Radio six ' ten WTVN