September 19, 2025 • 29 mins
Even though it’s been dry, that hasn’t stopped the garden questions from coming in. Check out this week’s Good Growing Podcast as we answer some of your questions, as well as some of the most common gardening questions on the internet! From watering lawns and planting bulbs and perennials to dealing with ants, black spots on maple leaves, and more! Plus, we celebrate National Houseplant Week and pawpaws.
Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FI0D5Z2mfYQ
Skip to what you want to know:
01:17 – It's still dry outside and National House Plant Week
04:05 - Getting houseplants ready to bring back indoors
05:39 - Pawpaws are ripening!
11:09 - Lightning round: questions from the internet and you
12:14 – How do I keep ants out of my yard?
13:36 – What are the black spots on my maple leaves?
14:36 – Can I still plant perennials and trees in the fall?
15:23 – Is it too late to sow fall vegetables?
16:44 – Should I cut back my perennials now?
17:58 – My annuals look bad right now. What should I do?
19:00 – Can I collect seeds now for next year?
20:28 – How often should I water my lawn in the fall?
21:57 – Is now a good time to aerate and fertilize my lawn?
23:09 – Should I treat crabgrass right now?
24:56 – Is it time to plant spring bulbs?
26:30 - Should I test my soil in the fall?
27:51 - Wrap-up, thank yous, what's up next week, and goodbye!
Monstera: From the rainforest to must-have houseplant: https://youtu.be/3xyQlbH-7ws
Growing Pawpaws in Illinois with Doug Gucker: https://youtu.be/m_cCkGqjp80
Illinois Extension Soil Testing website: https://extension.illinois.edu/soil/soil-testing
Contact us!
Chris Enroth: cenroth@illinois.edu
Ken Johnson: kjohnso@illinois.edu
Check out the Good Growing Blog: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowing
Subscribe to the weekly Good Growing email: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowingsubscribe
Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.
Barnyard Bash: freesfx.co.uk
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris Enroth (00:05):
Welcome to the Good Growing podcast. I am Chris
Enroth, horticulture educatorwith University of Illinois
Extension coming at you fromMacomb, Illinois. We have got a
great show for you today. Wehave got a onslaught of
gardening questions for you, andwe have our answers on the way.
But you know I definitely can'tdo this one by myself.
(00:25):
I am joined as always everysingle week by horticulture
educator Ken Johnson inJacksonville. Hey, Ken.
Ken Johnson (00:32):
Hello, Chris. I think you'd be able to do this
without me.
Chris Enroth (00:35):
I oh, well, only because we we've we've said
kinda before the show they weregonna, like, try to give, like
like, quick answers. And my oneword answer of, like, I don't
know or is it know, that that'sstill an answer, technically
speaking.
Ken Johnson (00:52):
Yes. That's technically correct.
Chris Enroth (00:56):
Technically, yes.
Ken Johnson (00:57):
The best type are correct.
Chris Enroth (00:59):
Or it depends. Yeah. If longtime fans of the
show know, that's the bestanswer that we can give you. It
depends. Well, if folks havelistened to the show, if you
listened last week, you knowthat we talked about it is dry,
and guess what?
It's still dry. No rain yet. Ithink there's been some
(01:19):
scattered storms, and byscattered, widely scattered. Not
everybody is getting the fallmoisture that we would typically
get. So still dry here inMacomb.
How about you, Ken?
Ken Johnson (01:33):
Same in Jacksonville. I know we talked
about last week a crack in myyard. I actually went out and
measured it, and I can put apicture in of it here. It's
about a little over 10 inchesdeep. Nice.
Now I will say this is where wegot our waterline replaced, so
there's a lot of clay subsoil inthat area. So it's cracking a
little more than the rest of theyard, but, yeah, 10 and a half
(01:56):
inches, give or take.
Chris Enroth (01:58):
So you're you're tethering the the kids before
they go out in the yard. Right?You gotta tie them off onto the
porch or something so they don'tget lost.
Ken Johnson (02:05):
You build a build a bridge here soon over it.
Chris Enroth (02:09):
It's nice. Alright. Well, the other thing
that's going on this week isbeing very dry in Illinois is
it's national houseplant week.And so, you know, yay
houseplants. You know, we alllove our houseplants.
I I especially like mine. I needthem in the winter. I mean, I
really do. In terms of, like, aboost of of green, my mood, joy,
(02:35):
all of that, I definitely need alittle bit of foliage in in the
winter months especially, so itreally helps. And,
unfortunately, I don't reallyhave I've never lived in a good
house for house plants.
So I don't have many goodhouseplants. I got some aloe,
pothos. I have a diphenbachia,and a a mother in law's tongue,
(02:59):
also known as snake plant. Andthat's really the only things I
can survive in my house. Howabout you, Ken?
I know you got a coupledifferent ones in there.
Ken Johnson (03:07):
We also do not have a good house for house plants,
but we still have probably morethan we should have given our
house. We've got different typesof we got Thanksgiving cactus.
We've got Christmas cactus.We've got the Easter cactus.
Those holiday cacti that all getlumped together as Christmas
cactus.
We've got all three types ofthose, different colors. We've
(03:28):
got some Monstera that Ipurchased for the Monstera show,
and somehow they're still alive.Not looking much better than
when we recorded that, butthey're still alive. Got some ZZ
plant, various different cacti,succulents, bunch of carnivorous
plants. A lot of these aregrowing under, grow lights year
(03:50):
round just because we don't havea lot of good windows, and they
get taken outside.
Sometimes they get forgottenabout and don't get watered. So
if they're inside, they're notout of sight, out of mind. Yeah.
Yeah.
Chris Enroth (04:05):
So, yeah, it it is well, not really getting cold
outside, but it's maybe time tostart considering bringing in
your house plants. I know when Iwater mine, which are all
outside right now, that probablyonce every few days when I'm
watering them, a toad pops rightout of the soil. Very common for
(04:28):
that to happen in probably sayabout December. I'll be in the
laundry room where I have all mylights set up and my my outdoor
house plants are inside then,And all of sudden, I see this
big old toad just hopping aroundin the basement, and I'm like,
oh, buddy. You picked the wrongtime and the wrong place to wake
up.
(04:48):
So, yeah, it's time to scoutaround, I think, and start
getting those plants ready to bemoved indoors.
Ken Johnson (04:53):
You know, they got ants. We'll move in a lot of
times in the potted plants, soflushing those with water,
trying to drive those ants out.If you can't get them out, you
may think about repotting beforeyou bring them inside so you're
not bringing all kinds of antsinto your house, which most
people are not terribly excitedabout when that happens.
Chris Enroth (05:13):
Yeah. Yeah. They're just ants. I they don't
bother me. They I I like ants.
They're they're one of myfavorites. Nature's
housekeepers.
Ken Johnson (05:20):
Yeah. Clean up for you. As long as they're not
carpenter ants, it's all good.
Chris Enroth (05:25):
Yeah. Or fire ants. Fortunately, we don't have
those in Illinois. Knock ondesk.
Ken Johnson (05:29):
Yet. Yet.
Chris Enroth (05:33):
Oh, yeah. I I guess with national house plant
week, you know, that's big news.The other thing that's big news
is that I have paw paws. Yeah.It's paw paws harvest time.
So we have a master gardenerwho, she has lots of paw paw
(05:54):
trees for fun, but she hasenough for fun paw paw trees.
You could almost classify it as,a commercial growing operation.
It's a lot of pawpaws. And shehas several different types,
different varieties. And so whatI'm holding right here, she's
labeled them.
She gave me a bag of them. Thisis Pennsylvania gold or
(06:14):
Pennsylvania golden. And thisthis, you can see this on on
YouTube that I'm holding up. Itlooks basically, it's like the
shape of a potato. Looks like apotato, but it's a paw paw.
But then this one, alsoPennsylvania gold, is a much
smaller looking potato. Sametree, but they they smell
(06:38):
currently, office is just anaroma of, like, mango, banana,
very tropical smelling rightnow. I mean, it it it's like,
I'm at some kind of buffet in,like, Hawaii or somewhere. It's
just it smells great in here. SoI'm really looking forward to
getting some paw paws on myplate because this is the
(07:01):
season.
And, yeah, I'm I'm superexcited. She has all all
different types. This is labeledb t, which she said stands for
big tree. It's kind of a wildpawpaw that they're they're most
pawpaws like this thisPennsylvania one, this is a
grafted tree. But this one here,she grew from seed, and it's
just a wild pawpaw tree.
(07:24):
And so we we actually had DougGooker on the show a couple
years ago to talk about pawpaws.So if you really wanna dive deep
into that, we can leave a linkbelow in the show notes. But I
guess, Ken, you know, pawpaws,they're they're, they're an
interesting tree. They're anunderstory tree. And how are
they pollinated?
It's this is wild.
Ken Johnson (07:42):
Yeah. So they have these beautiful kinda dark
purple flesh colored rottingflesh colored, flowers that
supposedly don't smell good.I've I've been fairly close to
the flowers. I don't smellanything. I've never stuck my
nose in one either, but kind ofa less than desirable fragrance,
and they're pollinated by flies,usually like carrion flies,
house flies, things like that.
(08:02):
So it gives off it looks likerotting flesh, smells like
rotting flesh. Flies visit it,and I'm thinking that's
something I can lay my eggs on.They'll crawl around, pick up
pollen, realize it's not, moveoff to the next flower, and
pollinate that way.
Chris Enroth (08:17):
Smart plant. Yeah. And then those flowers, they're
born in clusters, and then theyactually now this here is a
fruit that is still barelyattached to the cluster that was
on the tree. So folks, you cansee oh, blur. Don't you do it.
The where different paw pawswere attached right here. And,
(08:39):
yeah. So these are these, like,clusters. And when they're
ready, they they fall, and thatkind of indicates that they're
ready. Now our my mastergardener, she did say that they
really do fight the raccoons forthese.
They they're it's a really goodmeal for raccoons. Deer don't
seem to care about them otherthan rubbing their antlers on
(09:00):
them this time of year, But it'sa raccoon, so what she has done
after talking to a wildlifenuisance control operator is
they do a two strand electricalwire. And I wish I had these
numbers off the top of my head,but she puts one low to the
ground just a few inches off ofthe ground, and then there's
(09:22):
another one about a foot higher.And so, basically, she just has
to step over about a foot and ahalf ish step over the two
strands of electrical wire, andshe said that has been enough to
keep the raccoons away fromtheir plantation of pawpaw
trees.
Ken Johnson (09:41):
Until they figure it out.
Chris Enroth (09:42):
Until the until life finds a way, and they will.
She still she says we still gotsquirrel problems. You're not
gonna solve those, but, yeah.But at least the raccoons solve
those. So, yeah, I have so manypaw paws I get to eat, and then,
we'll harvest the seed out ofhere.
And, you know, see if I can getsome trees going in my neck of
(10:03):
the woods.
Ken Johnson (10:05):
So if if people wanna eat paw paws, probably
need to go to, like, a farmer'smarket or find somebody who's
got them because you're notgonna find them in the grocery
store. They're really soft. Theydon't ship at all. I don't think
they have very long shelf lifeeither. So they're about the
worst fruit you could have forkind of our commercial
(10:26):
production as far as grocerystores and all that.
Chris Enroth (10:29):
Now I I do think I remember Doug mentioning that
there are certain pawpaw growersin The US that will overnight
fly pawpaws to France becausethere are chefs over there that
that like, this is a specialcuisine, seasonal cuisine for,
French chefs cooking over inFrance that they have paw paws
(10:51):
over there. They, I'm sure theymake all kinds of custards,
baked goods, all of that stuff.Actually, our master gardener,
she would supply our localbrewery with paw paws, and they
would make a paw paw beer out ofit. It was quite good.
Ken Johnson (11:06):
Time for lightning questions.
Chris Enroth (11:07):
I think so. Well, so this next round of questions
that we have, basically, what wedid is we asked the old AI. We
said we we we we mined the thedepths of the Internet search
engines, and we said, what arepeople searching for the most
(11:30):
right now on 09/16/2025? And theAIs gave us a list of questions.
And so Ken and I are going to gothrough this list lickety split,
lightning fast, answering thesequestions.
We'll do our best. Right, Ken?We'll try.
Ken Johnson (11:50):
Yes. I think there's a there's a couple we
threw in here too that we'vegotten. But
Chris Enroth (11:53):
Yes. That that that seem to be pretty routine
or, like, you know, Ken or I areseeing these around quite a bit.
So, yeah, that might be a commonquestion people might have too
locally. So you ready, Ken?
Ken Johnson (12:07):
As I'm gonna be.
Chris Enroth (12:08):
Excellent. Alright. The first question here
is, I have ants in my yard,don't we all? And aren't they
great? How do I keep them out ofmy yard?
Ken Johnson (12:26):
This one, there's a there's really not a good way to
do that. I mean, ants areeverywhere, and they're good. I
mean, for the most part, they'regood to have in your in your
landscapes. You know, they'retunneling through the soil,
aerating it. Some of them aregonna be predatory, and, you
know, they're they're doingthey're providing ecological
services for us.
You know, if that they had aspot where so I would encourage
people not to try to get rid ofants unless they are causing
(12:49):
problems. And then, obviously,if you're in the southern part
of the country with fire ants,that's a different story, but we
don't have to worry about thatin Illinois as of now. You know,
if you wanted to get rid of ifyou've got a nest, you maybe
it's right by the driveway orsomething and you're tired of
looking at the the ant hill orsomething. If you really wanted
to, you know, you can get apesticide, apply that to the
mound, and and kinda take careof it that way. But, I I would I
(13:14):
would encourage people toreconsider trying to get rid the
ants because they're everywhere.
You can get rid of a mound.Something else will will move
back in eventually. Oh,
Chris Enroth (13:25):
great great answer, Ken. I love it.
Lightning fast, but, verbose inexplanation. I loved it.
Alright, Ken.
Here comes the next one. I havethese black spots all over my
maple leaves. What are they? Bigblotches.
Ken Johnson (13:44):
So maple tar spot is is more than likely what it's
gonna be. This is a a prettycommon disease we have on
maples. It's really an aestheticdisease. Doesn't really hurt the
plants, unless you've got leavescompletely covered, but rarely
if ever see that. It's more justkinda here and there.
They will overwinter on thosefall on those leaves. So if if
you don't like the look of it,rake it up, get those leaves out
(14:05):
of there because they'lloverwinter on that. The spores
will be released in the spring.We have, you know, nice, moist
weather conditions. It'll infectleaves in the spring, and then
it's kinda there.
You kinda get light yellowpatches on the leaves, which
most people don't notice. Youdon't really notice it a lot of
times until the fall when youget those big black circles on
there. So just an aesthetic,don't really need to worry about
(14:26):
it. Good conversation starter.If it really bothers you, get
rid of all your leaves.
Get them out of the landscape.Alright.
Chris Enroth (14:36):
Next question. Can I still plant perennials and
trees in the fall? Yes.Excellent question. Good answer.
And
Ken Johnson (14:48):
I would say, you know, for for this year, 2025
and last year, we were dry too.If if you're gonna be doing
that, and we are in droughtconditions or it's been very
dry, we wanna make sure we'rewe're watering those plants very
well while they're gettingestablished. This year,
depending on where you're at inthe state, you're probably
watering wanna water before youtry to plant because you're
(15:08):
gonna have a hard time digginginto the soil. Yeah. We can as
long as the ground isn't frozen,we can still potentially plant
stuff.
Just make sure they've gotenough moisture, help them get
established.
Chris Enroth (15:22):
Next one. Here we go. Is it too late to sow fall
vegetables?
Ken Johnson (15:27):
So this is gonna be the that depends. Depends on
what you're gonna grow it. We'reprobably getting a little late
without you having some kind ofseason extension for, like,
lettuce, some of those leafygreens. Again, it's all gonna
depend on on the weather whenthe frost comes. But as our days
get shorter, that growth reallyslows down on stuff.
Something like radishes, youcould still do those. That's
(15:49):
pretty quick turnaround forthose. I don't know if carrots,
I think we're probably gettingtoo late for that unless you can
find one that's got a prettyshort turnaround. So for most
stuff, yeah, we're we'reprobably September. We're
getting a little late for a lotof the state, maybe Far Southern
Illinois.
You have a little more wiggleroom. If you've got some kind of
(16:11):
season extension, low tunnel orcold frame, something like that,
you may be able to draw it out alittle bit. But with the days
getting shorter, growth isreally gonna start slowing down.
Chris Enroth (16:22):
It's it's those shorter days that really do them
in that they just they have toreach some growth point by is
it, November 10 or, you know,around that area where our days
just get too short for a lot ofactive plant growth.
Ken Johnson (16:38):
Yeah. A lot of our fall garden is more than August
Mhmm. Time frame when we'replanting that.
Chris Enroth (16:43):
Mhmm. Should I cut back my perennials now? The
Internet wants to know.
Ken Johnson (16:49):
Say, should? I would say no. You can? Yes. So,
Amy, yeah, you can you can cutthem back.
It you know, it depends on onthe plants too. And, you know,
lot I I think we're more andmore trying to get away from
that cleaning up the landscapereally well. You know, leave
some of that stuff lay out for,you know, your habitat for
(17:11):
pollinators and other wildlifeout there. If you've got disease
issues, then, yes, cut that backand get that out of there so you
don't have that inoculum fornext year. So you can if you
want that nice clean manicuredlook.
But maybe think about leavingsome stuff, you know, you have
the the seed heads and stuffthat birds can feed on. Various
(17:32):
insects will overwinter and inplant debris and stuff. And,
obviously, if you got a reallybad pest outbreak, then, yeah,
clean that up to get them out oftheir stuff. But, yeah, it's a
little bit of a of a case bycase. But if you don't have any
issues, I would I wouldencourage people to maybe hold
off on that until the spring.
Mhmm.
Chris Enroth (17:51):
Okay. And, Ken, your your final, Internet,
popular search question is, myannuals look bad right now.
Don't all of ours? What should Ido?
Ken Johnson (18:05):
Well, watering would I know in my case would
help a lot of my annuals.Obviously, with it being so dry,
watering is gonna help.Deadheading can help if it maybe
give you a new flush of growth.Will pre count the two things I
would look at. As late as it isin the year, you know, maybe
you're you pull them out and geta mum to put in the ground.
(18:28):
You know, that may or may notestablish. But if you if you
still want that color, maybelook at replacing them with with
something else. Because they areannuals. They're that mean that
you're not gonna get themthey're not gonna overwinter. So
replace them more, see if youcan water them, nurse them back
to health, deadhead, clean themup a little bit.
Mhmm. Alright.
Chris Enroth (18:46):
Excellent. Great job, Ken. You have answered the
Internet's questions. I thinkyou get to go home early today.
Ken Johnson (18:52):
Excellent. Well, as soon as I've been asking New
Year's, I'll head home.
Chris Enroth (18:56):
Alright. Sounds good.
Ken Johnson (18:58):
Alright. So your first question is, can I collect
seeds now for next year?
Chris Enroth (19:04):
Well, that is one of those it depends questions.
For the most part, I would say,yeah. If you're collecting seeds
off of tomatoes, peppers, and ifyour beans, anything like that,
sure. Pick some of the most highquality ones that you can off of
those plants, set those aside,and there are steps that you
have to take for harvestingcertain seeds, you know,
(19:26):
tomatoes especially, whether youhave to ferment them in water.
Outside of the vegetable garden,it depends on what species you
want to be harvesting seeds.
I would say most of myexperience deals with, like,
native plant seed harvest, soeverything from your wild native
forbs to your native prairiegrasses. And that is a huge
(19:49):
educational piece right there.Some seed heads that look like
they're ripe and ready to gomight not be, or maybe they've
already dropped their seeds. Andsome of these native seeds can
be teeny tiny, like the size ofpepper flakes or sometimes even
smaller. And so I would saydepending upon your specific
species, do a little bit ofresearch about when that seed
(20:09):
head is ripe and ready toharvest.
Ken Johnson (20:13):
And is it a project wingspan that the pollinator
partnership? They do a lot ofthose classes. Also, that may be
something to look into if ifpeople are interested in that.
Native plant seed collecting.
Chris Enroth (20:25):
Mhmm.
Ken Johnson (20:26):
Alright. Next up for you. How often should I
water my lawn in the fall?
Chris Enroth (20:31):
That is a good question. I would say if you
don't have an irrigation system,like a in ground dedicated
irrigation system, may maybeskip it, for this fall. But,
again, it's another one of thosethat depends how dry are you.
Right now, we are so dry, atleast in Ken and my neck of the
(20:54):
woods, that I would say we canskip watering the lawn, leave it
dormant, allow it to, staydormant during this hot, dry
time, of the season. And,hopefully, fingers crossed, it's
gonna cool off and bring somerain here in the next couple
weeks.
That should bring that lawn thatcool season lawn out of dormancy
(21:18):
and allow it to then, you know,put a little bit of growth on.
Really, we wanna do a lot ofroot growth this time of year
and prepare preparation forwinter and then spring for next
year wherein then that justexplodes in growth. But it
really depends. What are yourprecipitation levels at right
now? If you have that in groundirrigation system that's
(21:40):
dedicated to it, I would sayyou'd be watering once a week.
You wanna be applying about aninch of water, to that lawn,
during that week period. Unlessyou're getting rain, then keep
your irrigation system turnedoff.
Ken Johnson (21:54):
Alright. We'll stick with the lawns here. Is
now a good time to aerate andfertilize my lawn?
Chris Enroth (22:00):
Once again, if you had rain, yes. This is this is
the time when Illinois Extensionrecommends people aerate their
lawns, overseed their lawns,fertilizer lawns, and, of
course, we're talking coolseason lawns, for most of
Illinois. You can grow warmseason lawns here, but most
people are growing cool seasonlawns, Kentucky bluegrass, drift
(22:22):
type tall fescue, perennialryegrass, fine fescues. But for,
I would say, two thirds ofIllinois going from south up
into Central Illinois, we'rejust waiting. We're waiting for
rain.
We're waiting for a little bitof cool weather. Because right
now, if you tried to aerate yourlawn and the soil is as dry as
(22:43):
it is, it would be like tryingto aerate a slab of granite. The
the the aerator's not gonna beable to punch into the soil and
pull out any clods of of dirt.So it's you just gotta wait.
Ken Johnson (22:55):
Get your cordless drill out and start.
Chris Enroth (22:58):
There you go. If you're really bored, get your
drill out. Start drilling holesin your lawn.
Ken Johnson (23:05):
Alright. Another lawn once. It's funny how this
worked out.
Chris Enroth (23:08):
Mhmm.
Ken Johnson (23:09):
Should I treat crabgrass right now?
Chris Enroth (23:13):
Yeah. No. Don't worry about crabgrass right now.
It's too late in the year. It'sit we've already have seed
formation of crabgrass.
It's already, a lot of seed hasalready dropped in crabgrass,
kind well, depending upon whereyou're at and everything. But
I'd say crabgrass is a summerannual. It germinates in the
spring, kinda germinatesthroughout the summer. At this
(23:36):
point, late in the season, it'sit's too late. If you wanna do
something about crabgrass,you're gonna wanna do a pre
emergent herbicide on your lawnin in the spring.
Crabgrass seed germinates whensoil temperatures reach 55
degrees Fahrenheit for five toseven consecutive days in a row.
(23:57):
And for us, oh, boy, Ken, thisthis is so variable anymore in
the spring. But for us, usually,that's, like, April 15. But I
usually tell people if they'regonna do the crabgrass pre
emergent, have it down by April1 because it does take some time
for that that chemical todissolve and become active in
(24:18):
the soil. But that's CentralIllinois.
Adjust yourself Northern CentralSouthern Illinois based on that.
Northern Southern Illinois basedon that.
Ken Johnson (24:27):
And that won't last all season, will it?
Chris Enroth (24:31):
No. If so, that will help a lot with crabgrass,
but there are others annualweeds like foxtail is another
very common weedy grass, asummer annual. So you will then
need to reapply about six weeksafter whatever that label says.
But, usually, you do you do oneby April 1 and then wait six
weeks, do another application,or whatever your product's label
(24:52):
directions specify.
Ken Johnson (24:54):
Alright. Next one. Is it time to plant spring bulbs
or spring blooming bulbs? I
Chris Enroth (25:00):
don't know. Again, these are all rain dependent.
Sure. I I guess you could. You'dhave to again, get that drill
out.
Maybe you I would say youprobably wanna water too. Water
the soil so you can even getdigging in the ground. We might
(25:20):
be a little bit early. I don'tknow if we're in the right time
because I'm always late plantingmy spring bulbs. I'm always
doing this in, like, midOctober, into November.
It's just because I'm alwayslate. But I I would say you
could probably start getting himin the ground, but, you know, I
might wait again until we getcooler weather, looser soils. We
(25:45):
don't wanna get him in theground too terribly early
either. So
Ken Johnson (25:49):
I think it was usually six ish weeks, four or
six weeks before the groundfreezes. Mhmm. So
Chris Enroth (25:57):
Like a hard freeze.
Ken Johnson (25:58):
Yeah. Who knows when that's gonna be anymore?
But
Chris Enroth (26:00):
We don't. It has been November when we have
gotten those frost, those hardfreezes the last couple of years
because we've been growingginger, and I've been keeping
track of that stuff.
Ken Johnson (26:14):
Yeah. Am I not yet? If you haven't ordered your
bulbs, it's you're probably outof luck.
Chris Enroth (26:19):
I am sorry. Yeah. I haven't ordered mine. I'll
just maybe go to a nursery andsee if they have any for sale.
Oh, yeah.
Ken Johnson (26:28):
Alright. Last one here. Should I test my soil in
the fall?
Chris Enroth (26:33):
Yeah. Do it. Highly recommend it. We'll leave
a link to our soil testing weblink website down below in the
show notes. Fall is a good time.
It's when we usually recommendit. It's because we are yeah. We
don't have many things growing.We're taking things out usually
in the garden. Maybe we're if wehad rain, we might be seeding a
(26:55):
lawn, you know, putting mulchdown in the landscape bed.
We're doing a lot of workoutside. Great time to be taking
the soil sample, sending it to alab. Make sure that you submit
specifically what yourconditions are for. So if you
are in a lawn, if you are in avegetable garden, let them know
that because very often they'llassume you're a corn and soybean
(27:17):
grower if you are sending it toany Midwestern lab. But but,
yeah, it's a good time.
You can do it any time of year,but fall is a good time to do
it, which then means you canapply any amendments that the is
recommended by your soil testresults, and you have all
winters for some of thoseamendments to begin to take
(27:38):
effect.
Ken Johnson (27:39):
Yes. Good job. You too can go home early now.
Chris Enroth (27:44):
Yay. I can. Go home and water. Water. Water.
Water. What I do? Alright. Well,Ken, yeah, I yeah. I I guess,
folks, let us know what youthought of that format.
I mean, it was we we literallyjust mined the Internet just to
figure out what people aresearching for right now. We're
(28:05):
like, hey. Let's just answerthese questions. That's a good
way to fill some time. Well,that was a lot of great
information about questionsgoing on this time of year.
Well, the good growing podcastproduction of University of
Illinois Extension, edited thisweek by is it is it Ken Johnson?
Ken Johnson (28:26):
Maybe this is my turn.
Chris Enroth (28:27):
Alright. Thanks, Ken. Edited this week by Ken
Johnson. And so, yeah. Thankyou, Ken, for hanging out,
answering the Internet's burninghorticultural questions.
That that yeah. That was prettyeasy. I I like that. Keep keep
doing
Ken Johnson (28:46):
I think I think we may have to.
Chris Enroth (28:48):
Yeah. Awesome.
Ken Johnson (28:49):
And I guess, thank you as always, and let's do this
again next week.
Chris Enroth (28:53):
Oh, we shall do this again next week. Looking at
the forecast, is that rain? Isit gonna cool off? Hey, maybe
we'll get to do some otherthings in the garden besides
water. So looking forward tomaybe something like that
happening.
Well, listeners, thank you fordoing what you do best and that
is listening. Or if you'rewatching this on YouTube, watch
it. And as always, keep ongrowing.
Welcome to the Good Growing podcast. I am Chris
Enroth, horticulture educatorwith University of Illinois
Extension coming at you fromMacomb, Illinois. We have got a
great show for you today. Wehave got a onslaught of
gardening questions for you, andwe have our answers on the way.
But you know I definitely can'tdo this one by myself.
(00:25):
I am joined as always everysingle week by horticulture
educator Ken Johnson inJacksonville. Hey, Ken.
Ken Johnson (00:32):
Hello, Chris. I think you'd be able to do this
without me.
Chris Enroth (00:35):
I oh, well, only because we we've we've said
kinda before the show they weregonna, like, try to give, like
like, quick answers. And my oneword answer of, like, I don't
know or is it know, that that'sstill an answer, technically
speaking.
Ken Johnson (00:52):
Yes. That's technically correct.
Chris Enroth (00:56):
Technically, yes.
Ken Johnson (00:57):
The best type are correct.
Chris Enroth (00:59):
Or it depends. Yeah. If longtime fans of the
show know, that's the bestanswer that we can give you. It
depends. Well, if folks havelistened to the show, if you
listened last week, you knowthat we talked about it is dry,
and guess what?
It's still dry. No rain yet. Ithink there's been some
(01:19):
scattered storms, and byscattered, widely scattered. Not
everybody is getting the fallmoisture that we would typically
get. So still dry here inMacomb.
How about you, Ken?
Ken Johnson (01:33):
Same in Jacksonville. I know we talked
about last week a crack in myyard. I actually went out and
measured it, and I can put apicture in of it here. It's
about a little over 10 inchesdeep. Nice.
Now I will say this is where wegot our waterline replaced, so
there's a lot of clay subsoil inthat area. So it's cracking a
little more than the rest of theyard, but, yeah, 10 and a half
(01:56):
inches, give or take.
Chris Enroth (01:58):
So you're you're tethering the the kids before
they go out in the yard. Right?You gotta tie them off onto the
porch or something so they don'tget lost.
Ken Johnson (02:05):
You build a build a bridge here soon over it.
Chris Enroth (02:09):
It's nice. Alright. Well, the other thing
that's going on this week isbeing very dry in Illinois is
it's national houseplant week.And so, you know, yay
houseplants. You know, we alllove our houseplants.
I I especially like mine. I needthem in the winter. I mean, I
really do. In terms of, like, aboost of of green, my mood, joy,
(02:35):
all of that, I definitely need alittle bit of foliage in in the
winter months especially, so itreally helps. And,
unfortunately, I don't reallyhave I've never lived in a good
house for house plants.
So I don't have many goodhouseplants. I got some aloe,
pothos. I have a diphenbachia,and a a mother in law's tongue,
(02:59):
also known as snake plant. Andthat's really the only things I
can survive in my house. Howabout you, Ken?
I know you got a coupledifferent ones in there.
Ken Johnson (03:07):
We also do not have a good house for house plants,
but we still have probably morethan we should have given our
house. We've got different typesof we got Thanksgiving cactus.
We've got Christmas cactus.We've got the Easter cactus.
Those holiday cacti that all getlumped together as Christmas
cactus.
We've got all three types ofthose, different colors. We've
(03:28):
got some Monstera that Ipurchased for the Monstera show,
and somehow they're still alive.Not looking much better than
when we recorded that, butthey're still alive. Got some ZZ
plant, various different cacti,succulents, bunch of carnivorous
plants. A lot of these aregrowing under, grow lights year
(03:50):
round just because we don't havea lot of good windows, and they
get taken outside.
Sometimes they get forgottenabout and don't get watered. So
if they're inside, they're notout of sight, out of mind. Yeah.
Yeah.
Chris Enroth (04:05):
So, yeah, it it is well, not really getting cold
outside, but it's maybe time tostart considering bringing in
your house plants. I know when Iwater mine, which are all
outside right now, that probablyonce every few days when I'm
watering them, a toad pops rightout of the soil. Very common for
(04:28):
that to happen in probably sayabout December. I'll be in the
laundry room where I have all mylights set up and my my outdoor
house plants are inside then,And all of sudden, I see this
big old toad just hopping aroundin the basement, and I'm like,
oh, buddy. You picked the wrongtime and the wrong place to wake
up.
(04:48):
So, yeah, it's time to scoutaround, I think, and start
getting those plants ready to bemoved indoors.
Ken Johnson (04:53):
You know, they got ants. We'll move in a lot of
times in the potted plants, soflushing those with water,
trying to drive those ants out.If you can't get them out, you
may think about repotting beforeyou bring them inside so you're
not bringing all kinds of antsinto your house, which most
people are not terribly excitedabout when that happens.
Chris Enroth (05:13):
Yeah. Yeah. They're just ants. I they don't
bother me. They I I like ants.
They're they're one of myfavorites. Nature's
housekeepers.
Ken Johnson (05:20):
Yeah. Clean up for you. As long as they're not
carpenter ants, it's all good.
Chris Enroth (05:25):
Yeah. Or fire ants. Fortunately, we don't have
those in Illinois. Knock ondesk.
Ken Johnson (05:29):
Yet. Yet.
Chris Enroth (05:33):
Oh, yeah. I I guess with national house plant
week, you know, that's big news.The other thing that's big news
is that I have paw paws. Yeah.It's paw paws harvest time.
So we have a master gardenerwho, she has lots of paw paw
(05:54):
trees for fun, but she hasenough for fun paw paw trees.
You could almost classify it as,a commercial growing operation.
It's a lot of pawpaws. And shehas several different types,
different varieties. And so whatI'm holding right here, she's
labeled them.
She gave me a bag of them. Thisis Pennsylvania gold or
(06:14):
Pennsylvania golden. And thisthis, you can see this on on
YouTube that I'm holding up. Itlooks basically, it's like the
shape of a potato. Looks like apotato, but it's a paw paw.
But then this one, alsoPennsylvania gold, is a much
smaller looking potato. Sametree, but they they smell
(06:38):
currently, office is just anaroma of, like, mango, banana,
very tropical smelling rightnow. I mean, it it it's like,
I'm at some kind of buffet in,like, Hawaii or somewhere. It's
just it smells great in here. SoI'm really looking forward to
getting some paw paws on myplate because this is the
(07:01):
season.
And, yeah, I'm I'm superexcited. She has all all
different types. This is labeledb t, which she said stands for
big tree. It's kind of a wildpawpaw that they're they're most
pawpaws like this thisPennsylvania one, this is a
grafted tree. But this one here,she grew from seed, and it's
just a wild pawpaw tree.
(07:24):
And so we we actually had DougGooker on the show a couple
years ago to talk about pawpaws.So if you really wanna dive deep
into that, we can leave a linkbelow in the show notes. But I
guess, Ken, you know, pawpaws,they're they're, they're an
interesting tree. They're anunderstory tree. And how are
they pollinated?
It's this is wild.
Ken Johnson (07:42):
Yeah. So they have these beautiful kinda dark
purple flesh colored rottingflesh colored, flowers that
supposedly don't smell good.I've I've been fairly close to
the flowers. I don't smellanything. I've never stuck my
nose in one either, but kind ofa less than desirable fragrance,
and they're pollinated by flies,usually like carrion flies,
house flies, things like that.
(08:02):
So it gives off it looks likerotting flesh, smells like
rotting flesh. Flies visit it,and I'm thinking that's
something I can lay my eggs on.They'll crawl around, pick up
pollen, realize it's not, moveoff to the next flower, and
pollinate that way.
Chris Enroth (08:17):
Smart plant. Yeah. And then those flowers, they're
born in clusters, and then theyactually now this here is a
fruit that is still barelyattached to the cluster that was
on the tree. So folks, you cansee oh, blur. Don't you do it.
The where different paw pawswere attached right here. And,
(08:39):
yeah. So these are these, like,clusters. And when they're
ready, they they fall, and thatkind of indicates that they're
ready. Now our my mastergardener, she did say that they
really do fight the raccoons forthese.
They they're it's a really goodmeal for raccoons. Deer don't
seem to care about them otherthan rubbing their antlers on
(09:00):
them this time of year, But it'sa raccoon, so what she has done
after talking to a wildlifenuisance control operator is
they do a two strand electricalwire. And I wish I had these
numbers off the top of my head,but she puts one low to the
ground just a few inches off ofthe ground, and then there's
(09:22):
another one about a foot higher.And so, basically, she just has
to step over about a foot and ahalf ish step over the two
strands of electrical wire, andshe said that has been enough to
keep the raccoons away fromtheir plantation of pawpaw
trees.
Ken Johnson (09:41):
Until they figure it out.
Chris Enroth (09:42):
Until the until life finds a way, and they will.
She still she says we still gotsquirrel problems. You're not
gonna solve those, but, yeah.But at least the raccoons solve
those. So, yeah, I have so manypaw paws I get to eat, and then,
we'll harvest the seed out ofhere.
And, you know, see if I can getsome trees going in my neck of
(10:03):
the woods.
Ken Johnson (10:05):
So if if people wanna eat paw paws, probably
need to go to, like, a farmer'smarket or find somebody who's
got them because you're notgonna find them in the grocery
store. They're really soft. Theydon't ship at all. I don't think
they have very long shelf lifeeither. So they're about the
worst fruit you could have forkind of our commercial
(10:26):
production as far as grocerystores and all that.
Chris Enroth (10:29):
Now I I do think I remember Doug mentioning that
there are certain pawpaw growersin The US that will overnight
fly pawpaws to France becausethere are chefs over there that
that like, this is a specialcuisine, seasonal cuisine for,
French chefs cooking over inFrance that they have paw paws
(10:51):
over there. They, I'm sure theymake all kinds of custards,
baked goods, all of that stuff.Actually, our master gardener,
she would supply our localbrewery with paw paws, and they
would make a paw paw beer out ofit. It was quite good.
Ken Johnson (11:06):
Time for lightning questions.
Chris Enroth (11:07):
I think so. Well, so this next round of questions
that we have, basically, what wedid is we asked the old AI. We
said we we we we mined the thedepths of the Internet search
engines, and we said, what arepeople searching for the most
(11:30):
right now on 09/16/2025? And theAIs gave us a list of questions.
And so Ken and I are going to gothrough this list lickety split,
lightning fast, answering thesequestions.
We'll do our best. Right, Ken?We'll try.
Ken Johnson (11:50):
Yes. I think there's a there's a couple we
threw in here too that we'vegotten. But
Chris Enroth (11:53):
Yes. That that that seem to be pretty routine
or, like, you know, Ken or I areseeing these around quite a bit.
So, yeah, that might be a commonquestion people might have too
locally. So you ready, Ken?
Ken Johnson (12:07):
As I'm gonna be.
Chris Enroth (12:08):
Excellent. Alright. The first question here
is, I have ants in my yard,don't we all? And aren't they
great? How do I keep them out ofmy yard?
Ken Johnson (12:26):
This one, there's a there's really not a good way to
do that. I mean, ants areeverywhere, and they're good. I
mean, for the most part, they'regood to have in your in your
landscapes. You know, they'retunneling through the soil,
aerating it. Some of them aregonna be predatory, and, you
know, they're they're doingthey're providing ecological
services for us.
You know, if that they had aspot where so I would encourage
people not to try to get rid ofants unless they are causing
(12:49):
problems. And then, obviously,if you're in the southern part
of the country with fire ants,that's a different story, but we
don't have to worry about thatin Illinois as of now. You know,
if you wanted to get rid of ifyou've got a nest, you maybe
it's right by the driveway orsomething and you're tired of
looking at the the ant hill orsomething. If you really wanted
to, you know, you can get apesticide, apply that to the
mound, and and kinda take careof it that way. But, I I would I
(13:14):
would encourage people toreconsider trying to get rid the
ants because they're everywhere.
You can get rid of a mound.Something else will will move
back in eventually. Oh,
Chris Enroth (13:25):
great great answer, Ken. I love it.
Lightning fast, but, verbose inexplanation. I loved it.
Alright, Ken.
Here comes the next one. I havethese black spots all over my
maple leaves. What are they? Bigblotches.
Ken Johnson (13:44):
So maple tar spot is is more than likely what it's
gonna be. This is a a prettycommon disease we have on
maples. It's really an aestheticdisease. Doesn't really hurt the
plants, unless you've got leavescompletely covered, but rarely
if ever see that. It's more justkinda here and there.
They will overwinter on thosefall on those leaves. So if if
you don't like the look of it,rake it up, get those leaves out
(14:05):
of there because they'lloverwinter on that. The spores
will be released in the spring.We have, you know, nice, moist
weather conditions. It'll infectleaves in the spring, and then
it's kinda there.
You kinda get light yellowpatches on the leaves, which
most people don't notice. Youdon't really notice it a lot of
times until the fall when youget those big black circles on
there. So just an aesthetic,don't really need to worry about
(14:26):
it. Good conversation starter.If it really bothers you, get
rid of all your leaves.
Get them out of the landscape.Alright.
Chris Enroth (14:36):
Next question. Can I still plant perennials and
trees in the fall? Yes.Excellent question. Good answer.
And
Ken Johnson (14:48):
I would say, you know, for for this year, 2025
and last year, we were dry too.If if you're gonna be doing
that, and we are in droughtconditions or it's been very
dry, we wanna make sure we'rewe're watering those plants very
well while they're gettingestablished. This year,
depending on where you're at inthe state, you're probably
watering wanna water before youtry to plant because you're
(15:08):
gonna have a hard time digginginto the soil. Yeah. We can as
long as the ground isn't frozen,we can still potentially plant
stuff.
Just make sure they've gotenough moisture, help them get
established.
Chris Enroth (15:22):
Next one. Here we go. Is it too late to sow fall
vegetables?
Ken Johnson (15:27):
So this is gonna be the that depends. Depends on
what you're gonna grow it. We'reprobably getting a little late
without you having some kind ofseason extension for, like,
lettuce, some of those leafygreens. Again, it's all gonna
depend on on the weather whenthe frost comes. But as our days
get shorter, that growth reallyslows down on stuff.
Something like radishes, youcould still do those. That's
(15:49):
pretty quick turnaround forthose. I don't know if carrots,
I think we're probably gettingtoo late for that unless you can
find one that's got a prettyshort turnaround. So for most
stuff, yeah, we're we'reprobably September. We're
getting a little late for a lotof the state, maybe Far Southern
Illinois.
You have a little more wiggleroom. If you've got some kind of
(16:11):
season extension, low tunnel orcold frame, something like that,
you may be able to draw it out alittle bit. But with the days
getting shorter, growth isreally gonna start slowing down.
Chris Enroth (16:22):
It's it's those shorter days that really do them
in that they just they have toreach some growth point by is
it, November 10 or, you know,around that area where our days
just get too short for a lot ofactive plant growth.
Ken Johnson (16:38):
Yeah. A lot of our fall garden is more than August
Mhmm. Time frame when we'replanting that.
Chris Enroth (16:43):
Mhmm. Should I cut back my perennials now? The
Internet wants to know.
Ken Johnson (16:49):
Say, should? I would say no. You can? Yes. So,
Amy, yeah, you can you can cutthem back.
It you know, it depends on onthe plants too. And, you know,
lot I I think we're more andmore trying to get away from
that cleaning up the landscapereally well. You know, leave
some of that stuff lay out for,you know, your habitat for
(17:11):
pollinators and other wildlifeout there. If you've got disease
issues, then, yes, cut that backand get that out of there so you
don't have that inoculum fornext year. So you can if you
want that nice clean manicuredlook.
But maybe think about leavingsome stuff, you know, you have
the the seed heads and stuffthat birds can feed on. Various
(17:32):
insects will overwinter and inplant debris and stuff. And,
obviously, if you got a reallybad pest outbreak, then, yeah,
clean that up to get them out oftheir stuff. But, yeah, it's a
little bit of a of a case bycase. But if you don't have any
issues, I would I wouldencourage people to maybe hold
off on that until the spring.
Mhmm.
Chris Enroth (17:51):
Okay. And, Ken, your your final, Internet,
popular search question is, myannuals look bad right now.
Don't all of ours? What should Ido?
Ken Johnson (18:05):
Well, watering would I know in my case would
help a lot of my annuals.Obviously, with it being so dry,
watering is gonna help.Deadheading can help if it maybe
give you a new flush of growth.Will pre count the two things I
would look at. As late as it isin the year, you know, maybe
you're you pull them out and geta mum to put in the ground.
(18:28):
You know, that may or may notestablish. But if you if you
still want that color, maybelook at replacing them with with
something else. Because they areannuals. They're that mean that
you're not gonna get themthey're not gonna overwinter. So
replace them more, see if youcan water them, nurse them back
to health, deadhead, clean themup a little bit.
Mhmm. Alright.
Chris Enroth (18:46):
Excellent. Great job, Ken. You have answered the
Internet's questions. I thinkyou get to go home early today.
Ken Johnson (18:52):
Excellent. Well, as soon as I've been asking New
Year's, I'll head home.
Chris Enroth (18:56):
Alright. Sounds good.
Ken Johnson (18:58):
Alright. So your first question is, can I collect
seeds now for next year?
Chris Enroth (19:04):
Well, that is one of those it depends questions.
For the most part, I would say,yeah. If you're collecting seeds
off of tomatoes, peppers, and ifyour beans, anything like that,
sure. Pick some of the most highquality ones that you can off of
those plants, set those aside,and there are steps that you
have to take for harvestingcertain seeds, you know,
(19:26):
tomatoes especially, whether youhave to ferment them in water.
Outside of the vegetable garden,it depends on what species you
want to be harvesting seeds.
I would say most of myexperience deals with, like,
native plant seed harvest, soeverything from your wild native
forbs to your native prairiegrasses. And that is a huge
(19:49):
educational piece right there.Some seed heads that look like
they're ripe and ready to gomight not be, or maybe they've
already dropped their seeds. Andsome of these native seeds can
be teeny tiny, like the size ofpepper flakes or sometimes even
smaller. And so I would saydepending upon your specific
species, do a little bit ofresearch about when that seed
(20:09):
head is ripe and ready toharvest.
Ken Johnson (20:13):
And is it a project wingspan that the pollinator
partnership? They do a lot ofthose classes. Also, that may be
something to look into if ifpeople are interested in that.
Native plant seed collecting.
Chris Enroth (20:25):
Mhmm.
Ken Johnson (20:26):
Alright. Next up for you. How often should I
water my lawn in the fall?
Chris Enroth (20:31):
That is a good question. I would say if you
don't have an irrigation system,like a in ground dedicated
irrigation system, may maybeskip it, for this fall. But,
again, it's another one of thosethat depends how dry are you.
Right now, we are so dry, atleast in Ken and my neck of the
(20:54):
woods, that I would say we canskip watering the lawn, leave it
dormant, allow it to, staydormant during this hot, dry
time, of the season. And,hopefully, fingers crossed, it's
gonna cool off and bring somerain here in the next couple
weeks.
That should bring that lawn thatcool season lawn out of dormancy
(21:18):
and allow it to then, you know,put a little bit of growth on.
Really, we wanna do a lot ofroot growth this time of year
and prepare preparation forwinter and then spring for next
year wherein then that justexplodes in growth. But it
really depends. What are yourprecipitation levels at right
now? If you have that in groundirrigation system that's
(21:40):
dedicated to it, I would sayyou'd be watering once a week.
You wanna be applying about aninch of water, to that lawn,
during that week period. Unlessyou're getting rain, then keep
your irrigation system turnedoff.
Ken Johnson (21:54):
Alright. We'll stick with the lawns here. Is
now a good time to aerate andfertilize my lawn?
Chris Enroth (22:00):
Once again, if you had rain, yes. This is this is
the time when Illinois Extensionrecommends people aerate their
lawns, overseed their lawns,fertilizer lawns, and, of
course, we're talking coolseason lawns, for most of
Illinois. You can grow warmseason lawns here, but most
people are growing cool seasonlawns, Kentucky bluegrass, drift
(22:22):
type tall fescue, perennialryegrass, fine fescues. But for,
I would say, two thirds ofIllinois going from south up
into Central Illinois, we'rejust waiting. We're waiting for
rain.
We're waiting for a little bitof cool weather. Because right
now, if you tried to aerate yourlawn and the soil is as dry as
(22:43):
it is, it would be like tryingto aerate a slab of granite. The
the the aerator's not gonna beable to punch into the soil and
pull out any clods of of dirt.So it's you just gotta wait.
Ken Johnson (22:55):
Get your cordless drill out and start.
Chris Enroth (22:58):
There you go. If you're really bored, get your
drill out. Start drilling holesin your lawn.
Ken Johnson (23:05):
Alright. Another lawn once. It's funny how this
worked out.
Chris Enroth (23:08):
Mhmm.
Ken Johnson (23:09):
Should I treat crabgrass right now?
Chris Enroth (23:13):
Yeah. No. Don't worry about crabgrass right now.
It's too late in the year. It'sit we've already have seed
formation of crabgrass.
It's already, a lot of seed hasalready dropped in crabgrass,
kind well, depending upon whereyou're at and everything. But
I'd say crabgrass is a summerannual. It germinates in the
spring, kinda germinatesthroughout the summer. At this
(23:36):
point, late in the season, it'sit's too late. If you wanna do
something about crabgrass,you're gonna wanna do a pre
emergent herbicide on your lawnin in the spring.
Crabgrass seed germinates whensoil temperatures reach 55
degrees Fahrenheit for five toseven consecutive days in a row.
(23:57):
And for us, oh, boy, Ken, thisthis is so variable anymore in
the spring. But for us, usually,that's, like, April 15. But I
usually tell people if they'regonna do the crabgrass pre
emergent, have it down by April1 because it does take some time
for that that chemical todissolve and become active in
(24:18):
the soil. But that's CentralIllinois.
Adjust yourself Northern CentralSouthern Illinois based on that.
Northern Southern Illinois basedon that.
Ken Johnson (24:27):
And that won't last all season, will it?
Chris Enroth (24:31):
No. If so, that will help a lot with crabgrass,
but there are others annualweeds like foxtail is another
very common weedy grass, asummer annual. So you will then
need to reapply about six weeksafter whatever that label says.
But, usually, you do you do oneby April 1 and then wait six
weeks, do another application,or whatever your product's label
(24:52):
directions specify.
Ken Johnson (24:54):
Alright. Next one. Is it time to plant spring bulbs
or spring blooming bulbs? I
Chris Enroth (25:00):
don't know. Again, these are all rain dependent.
Sure. I I guess you could. You'dhave to again, get that drill
out.
Maybe you I would say youprobably wanna water too. Water
the soil so you can even getdigging in the ground. We might
(25:20):
be a little bit early. I don'tknow if we're in the right time
because I'm always late plantingmy spring bulbs. I'm always
doing this in, like, midOctober, into November.
It's just because I'm alwayslate. But I I would say you
could probably start getting himin the ground, but, you know, I
might wait again until we getcooler weather, looser soils. We
(25:45):
don't wanna get him in theground too terribly early
either. So
Ken Johnson (25:49):
I think it was usually six ish weeks, four or
six weeks before the groundfreezes. Mhmm. So
Chris Enroth (25:57):
Like a hard freeze.
Ken Johnson (25:58):
Yeah. Who knows when that's gonna be anymore?
But
Chris Enroth (26:00):
We don't. It has been November when we have
gotten those frost, those hardfreezes the last couple of years
because we've been growingginger, and I've been keeping
track of that stuff.
Ken Johnson (26:14):
Yeah. Am I not yet? If you haven't ordered your
bulbs, it's you're probably outof luck.
Chris Enroth (26:19):
I am sorry. Yeah. I haven't ordered mine. I'll
just maybe go to a nursery andsee if they have any for sale.
Oh, yeah.
Ken Johnson (26:28):
Alright. Last one here. Should I test my soil in
the fall?
Chris Enroth (26:33):
Yeah. Do it. Highly recommend it. We'll leave
a link to our soil testing weblink website down below in the
show notes. Fall is a good time.
It's when we usually recommendit. It's because we are yeah. We
don't have many things growing.We're taking things out usually
in the garden. Maybe we're if wehad rain, we might be seeding a
(26:55):
lawn, you know, putting mulchdown in the landscape bed.
We're doing a lot of workoutside. Great time to be taking
the soil sample, sending it to alab. Make sure that you submit
specifically what yourconditions are for. So if you
are in a lawn, if you are in avegetable garden, let them know
that because very often they'llassume you're a corn and soybean
(27:17):
grower if you are sending it toany Midwestern lab. But but,
yeah, it's a good time.
You can do it any time of year,but fall is a good time to do
it, which then means you canapply any amendments that the is
recommended by your soil testresults, and you have all
winters for some of thoseamendments to begin to take
(27:38):
effect.
Ken Johnson (27:39):
Yes. Good job. You too can go home early now.
Chris Enroth (27:44):
Yay. I can. Go home and water. Water. Water.
Water. What I do? Alright. Well,Ken, yeah, I yeah. I I guess,
folks, let us know what youthought of that format.
I mean, it was we we literallyjust mined the Internet just to
figure out what people aresearching for right now. We're
(28:05):
like, hey. Let's just answerthese questions. That's a good
way to fill some time. Well,that was a lot of great
information about questionsgoing on this time of year.
Well, the good growing podcastproduction of University of
Illinois Extension, edited thisweek by is it is it Ken Johnson?
Ken Johnson (28:26):
Maybe this is my turn.
Chris Enroth (28:27):
Alright. Thanks, Ken. Edited this week by Ken
Johnson. And so, yeah. Thankyou, Ken, for hanging out,
answering the Internet's burninghorticultural questions.
That that yeah. That was prettyeasy. I I like that. Keep keep
doing
Ken Johnson (28:46):
I think I think we may have to.
Chris Enroth (28:48):
Yeah. Awesome.
Ken Johnson (28:49):
And I guess, thank you as always, and let's do this
again next week.
Chris Enroth (28:53):
Oh, we shall do this again next week. Looking at
the forecast, is that rain? Isit gonna cool off? Hey, maybe
we'll get to do some otherthings in the garden besides
water. So looking forward tomaybe something like that
happening.
Well, listeners, thank you fordoing what you do best and that
is listening. Or if you'rewatching this on YouTube, watch
it. And as always, keep ongrowing.
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