Episode 30 of The Sunshine Gardening podcast introduces the focus of the discussion to be the SOW Garden app and its applicability to Kentucky gardeners. The show's introduction underscores the podcast's aim to inspire gardeners with helpful advice and particular attention to plants suitable to Kentucky's gardening conditions.
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(00:00):
- Welcome to episode 30 of theSunshine Gardening Podcast,
(00:03):
where we dig deep into gardening.
I'm your host, Kristen Hildebrand.
Today we're diving into digital gardening
with the So Garden App Special guest Dr.
Rick Durham with theUniversity of Kentucky chats
with me today on the podcast.
And he discusses
how this innovative tool canhelp you easily plan, plant,
(00:25):
and cultivate your dream garden.
So grab your TRS
and let's sow some seedsof knowledge together.
- Welcome to the SunshineGardening Podcast.
This gardening show will equip
and inspire avid gardeners with tips
and tricks to help themnavigate the gardening world.
The show will also highlightspecific growing requirements
(00:46):
for seasonal plants
so the sun will shine brighterover their Kentucky garden.
And now here's that ray ofSunshine Garden Enthusiast
and Horticulture extensionagent Kristen Hildebrand
with the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
- Alright, joining us onthe podcast today is Dr.
Rick Durham. We're so excited
(01:07):
to have you on the podcast. Hello.
- Thanks Kristen. I'm glad to be here.
- Yes, I know that I'm reallyexcited to have you on board
with us because we are gonnabe talking about a digital
resource for Kentucky Gardeners,
and that's called the Sow Garden app.
That's spelled SOW like you'reactually sowing garden seeds.
(01:28):
And I thought we would justfirst open up the discussion
today about, um, yourself,your background in horticulture
and then what kind of ledto your work with working
with the So Garden Map.
- Okay. So yeah,
I've been an extension specialistin horticulture here at
the University of Kentuckyfor almost 25 years.
Right. So, a long time.
(01:48):
My extension responsibilitiesare in consumer horticulture,
so all aspects of home horticulture,
whether it's vegetable gardening, trees
and shrubs, flowers, interior plants.
You know, I, I kind of haveresponsibility for all of it.
So I try to assist, uh,
county agents likeyourself in doing programs
(02:10):
that benefit the Home Gardener.
So in terms of the SO app,it was actually brought
to our attention by someagents in the state.
They, uh, had seen it, itwas developed at, in Alabama,
Alabama Cooperative Extension.
So the people at Auburndeveloped the app a couple years
ago, and I think some of theagents in the state, you know,
(02:33):
became familiar with the app
and they asked if we might putsome data in it for Kentucky.
So we did that startedon it a couple years ago.
I think the first versionwas launched in 2023. So
- Yeah.
And I know that it can be very helpful
and we're about to talkabout some of the features
(02:53):
and I know like
how does the So Garden appactually help gardeners plan
and manage their gardensthroughout the seasons?
- Well, there's uh, threemain aspects to the app.
So it's, people downloadit to their phones, right?
It, I think it's, so agardening companion is the,
for full title of it, whenthey first pull it up,
(03:13):
they'll be prompted to putin their, you know, county
where they reside andthat will then link them
to the correct, uh, USDAhardiness zone for their county.
Right. So that then feeds them
specific information on plantingdates, things like that.
Right. So there's threemain aspects to the,
(03:36):
the SO app there iswhat's called My garden.
So that's usually where people will start.
They can start planting a garden.
You can actually plan morethan one garden, right?
So you can have like a spring garden,
a summer garden, a fall garden.
You know, you might have, youknow, the garden at your house
and if you're in a communitygarden, maybe a garden there
(03:57):
or a garden at yourgrandparents' house, right?
So it's very flexible.
Once you do that garden, thenyou can start selecting plants
that you might put into that garden.
You know, there's a, a library of plants.
Currently we have 36 different, you know,
very common vegetables there go grown.
So you can access information there
(04:18):
and maybe come up with like a planting a,
a proposed planting date.
So you put that in your garden
and then there's an optionwhere you can tell the app
to contact a calendar that's on your phone
and, you know, issue areminder that, you know,
today's the day to plant.
So I don't know if we needto be that specific in terms
(04:38):
of, of planting.
I know for me it's moreabout like, you know,
what's the weather like today, whether
or not, not I'm gonna plant,
but at least, you know, forsome of us that are very busy
and re rely on our calendarsfor, for everything,
there's a place thereto, to input, you know,
some important dates foryour gardening activities
as well. So that's kind of fun.
- Yeah, I don't guess I knewthat it had reminders kind
(05:00):
of built into your calendar.
- It'll only do it if you ask it
to do it right. So that's kind of good.
- Yeah, yeah. Give you access,uh, to my calendar here.
And you know, that'sreally interesting you said
that there's a library of different crops
that are featured on the So Garden app
and uh, we always get the question here,
it's like people are reallyantsy about planting tomatoes
(05:23):
and it can tell you exactly, you know,
it's not ready for planting.
And so that can be agood reminder as well.
- It is. And, and so when youaccess that calendar, it will.
So actually, you know,once you download the app
and maybe you haven'tvisited in a couple days,
when you pull it up, the firstthing it's gonna tell you is,
(05:43):
what can I plant today?
Right? So it'll give you a listof things that's currently,
you know, available for planting.
And I would pay a littlebit of attention to that
because it's kind of on amonth by month basis, you know.
And so like I know for ushere in central Kentucky,
the first day of May can bea lot different than the 15th
(06:04):
day of, of May, you know,so you might think about,
you know, when is theaverage last frost date,
you know, in my county.
And, and that's gonna bevery important when you're
transplanting things like tomatoes
and things that are alittle bit more, more tender
and sensitive to frost.
- Yes. And you know, it'sreally nice that we have
(06:25):
that feature, you know,
where you can put inyour location depending,
because you know, EasternKentucky's very different
compared like you said for Central,
even Western is a little bit warmer.
So I know you mentioned My Garden
and the three differentgardening seasons that we have.
Is there any otherfeatures that are a part
of the So Garden appthat you wanna explain?
(06:48):
- So yeah, so there arethree features, right?
The My Garden we've talked about.
Then once you start, you know,you, there's a, a library
of all the different cropsthat you know has information
in the SO app, and thenthe third feature is a
journal feature, right?
So that feature onlycomes into play if you
start creating a garden in the app
(07:09):
because then what thejournal does, it allows you
to take notes on the plantsthat you have in the garden.
Like specifically there's inthe journal, there's a place
to input like when yourplant date was, you know,
your harvest date and then you know,
you can talk aboutyield, you can talk about
did you have any particularpest problems, things like that,
(07:32):
which cultivars you grew.
So that journal featureis a nice thing to kind
of keep notes about yourgarden as it goes through,
- You know, and sometimes we fall,
or I should say I fall a littleshort of taking good records
and you know, there'sjust so much going on
and this is something great
that you can actually fall back on.
Especially to compare it to years past.
(07:55):
I don't think I realizedyou could do the yields,
the harvestable yields. Yeah.
- So in the informationthere's kind, so again,
all this information that'sin SOF it comes primarily from
our big gardening publication,which is ID 1 28 Right.
Which is vegetable gardening in Kentucky.
(08:15):
So we've tried to translatemost of that information,
well not most of it, but the information
that's in the app comesfrom that publication.
Right. So, and that information is there,
but, so in that garden librarywe talk about, you know,
typical yields, maybe like howmany plants you need to plant
for, you know, for yourself
(08:37):
or for your family kind of thing.
So talk about planting depth,you know, spacing of plants,
so lots of information therejust at your fingertips.
- Yeah. And that can also be very helpful,
especially like if youhave a small size family
because you, you would thinkmaybe a few plants, uh,
could do that, but it reallyjust depends like you said on
(08:59):
the Cultivar and allthe other information.
Sure, sure. And what I wouldlike about the ID 1 28,
our big home vegetablegardening book, you know,
like you said within thisapp, it's got everything
that you need to knowI'll at your fingertips.
That's right. So sometimesour phone carries
with us everywhere we go,
so it's like information at your
(09:20):
fingertips when you have this.
Yeah. So garden app, one ofthe other questions I had
that I wanted to ask youabout Dr. Durham is the app,
does it also assist withany kind of pests control
or disease management?
Because as we go throughoutthe summer garden season, we,
we do see an increase in pest issues.
(09:40):
- So it, it does give like an indication
of potential problems youmight experience, right.
With different crops, whetherthat's, you know, the fact
that you need to be sure and
and plant into warm soil,you know, is, is important
for some of our thingslike, like sweet corn and,
and things, you know,only germinates very well,
(10:00):
especially some of our newer,you know, extra sweet hybrids,
they like that warm soil to germinate.
So it, it's gonna give you someinformation in that regard.
It will also tell you aboutwhat pests to look out for,
but we really don't doa lot of recommending
specific pesticides and things like that.
We really think that'ssomething that, you know,
(10:23):
gardeners need to consultwith an expert, you know,
to do not, not that we're not experts,
but you know, we don't knowthe local situation, right?
So what we do is there's like a
for more information section
where you can actually accessyour county extension offices
website and then find outinformation to contact
(10:47):
a county agent there to asksome of those questions about,
you know, disease diagnosis or,
or you know, which insectpest is bothering me here
and you know, specific to my area,
what are the control optionsthat I have for dealing,
you know, with these pest. So
- It always seems like that's,uh, where, like you said,
(11:07):
we come into play especially with, uh,
diagnosing different pest
and we always recommend, you know,
pictures really do help with that.
So it really just depends on
what the agent in eachcounty kind of looks at.
But certainly we can take thatinside the extension office
as well as if you haveany pest information
questions. But, um,
(11:29):
- No, you all are getting those
questions all the time, right?
So if somebody comes in
and says, you know,I've got these big green
wicked looking worms on my tomatoes,
you all have probablyhad that question a lot,
you know, the past few weeks.
And so, you know, it's, it'stomato horn worm is is out
and about, you know, so Ithink it's, it's really best
to direct those questions locally
(11:51):
because you, you all are, arereally in the know in terms of
what might be happening locally.
- Yes, yes, absolutely.
And it seems like, youknow, they, they tend
to get some larvae, uh,sometimes throughout the season
that, you know, feed onthe tomato hornworms.
So that's always a goodindicator for good. Yeah.
So now I know that youmentioned previously there
(12:13):
that you know, our hardinesszone has changed recently
and I didn't know with thisapp, is there any future updates
or maybe features that we canexpect to see going forward
with the So Garden app?
- So I know when, uh, it wasfirst launched, you know,
by the Alabama folks maybe three
(12:34):
or four years ago, I'm not exactly sure,
and it's actually Alabama, North Carolina
and now Kentucky have allcontributed to this app.
So Alabama is, are the peoplethat really control the app.
So they're the ones that are in control
of when we do an update,
but I would suspect that in the next year
or two there would be an update.
(12:56):
So, and with that, as you said,
there's been recently an update to
the USDA hardiness zone map
and most places in Kentuckythey're pushing our hardiness
zone to like a half zone, like an A or B
or even in some cases a full zone higher,
like in some places.
(13:17):
But, you know, between you
and I, I don't, I don'tthink it's gonna be a,
a big deal in terms of vegetablegardening, you know, for,
for us, you know, the, thespring plants are those plants
that come with withstand some frost.
And so we generally areplanting those, you know,
late March, early April across the state.
And then, you know, the bigsummer gardens usually go in,
(13:39):
you know, about the time ofthe last expected frost, which
I don't know if you allin Western Kentucky,
that's probably early May.
Here in central Kentuckywe usually use a date
of about mid-May, May 15th,
then Eastern Kentucky being,being a little bit later.
I don't anticipate even
with these changes inthe hardiness zone map
(14:00):
that those dates will reallychange very much in the future.
So I'm not sure that it'llhave very much effect on our
planning dates for vegetables.
- So, okay, I appreciate that information.
And then, you know, as far as the,
so Garden app is concerned,in what ways does
that really help a lotof beginning gardeners?
I know you mentioned a coupleof the features, you know,
(14:22):
just for your expertise,
how do you think it could be helpful?
- Well, I, I think just,just the basic information
that's in that library, you know,
so when you pull up somethinglike broccoli, right?
It, it tells you how long doyou expect from the day you
plant that until you harvestit, you know, so maybe 70
to 90 days right?
(14:42):
Tells you about how much yieldyou might get from a single
plant, right?
So broccoli you might expect like a pound
of broccoli from a single plant tells you
how wide you might need tospace those plants, like,
you know, a foot apart tellsyou like, uh, soil pH levels
that are ideal for that particular crop.
(15:02):
And then, you know, ideally, you know,
how many plants should I plant,you know, for my own use.
So maybe three block broccoli plants
and then if I've got a family of four,
maybe I wanna plant like 10 to12 broccoli plants, you know,
so all that information isright there in the library
for you to, to see.
So it, it really helpsyou kind of get familiar
(15:26):
with these specific crops thatwe have in the gardening app.
- Yeah. And you could almostjust like once you get into it,
you could probably, you know,it's a little easier to review
and kind of make sure it'scorrect for what you want. Yeah.
- Just to plant, to plant
a garden, you know? Mm-Hmm,
- Yeah.
You're not having tophysically move plants when
it's actually out in the garden.
(15:47):
- And we also have list of,you know, suggested cultivars
of these plants, you know, so
for a beginning gardener they may think,
well I just wanna grow a tomato, right?
They go to their local gardencenter or their uh, home store
and they see like 10 differentvarieties that are offered
or more, you know, andso how do you know which
(16:08):
of those are best for you, right?
So we've got a little bit of, you know,
some recommended varieties to,
to choose from there in the app.
- So, oh yeah, that's alwaysthe next question is like
what varieties best over another.
So now I wanted to ask you on
actually downloading the,so Garden app, is it uh,
(16:28):
a free app or is there a charge?
- It is totally free and it'savailable both for iPhone
and then Android kind of devices.
- I like that that's music to my ears,
especially when it's a, a free resource.
So that's just a great way again, just
to have it on your phone andhave as a quick reference.
Another quick question about the app is
(16:48):
how can listeners get started with it
and are there any otherresources available
to help them if they dohave questions with the app?
- Yeah, so it's very easy to get started.
You know, you, youdownload it to your phone
and when you open it the firsttime it's gonna ask for you
to input just a little bit ofdata in terms of, you know,
where you're located.
(17:08):
If you, you know, move
or if you need to accessinformation from another area,
you can always go back andchange that information,
you know, to get an update of, you know,
specific planning datesand things like that.
So that's there that, that'sthe way to get started.
And I think, you know,
your county extensionoffice is a great place
(17:29):
to go for more information.
So we have, you know, aswe've talked about the,
the ID 1 28, the VegetableGuardian Kentucky,
that's available throughmost extension offices
as well as online.
I'm involved in another project
through the nutrition education program.
We're building individual factsheets on many vegetables,
(17:50):
just like usually two page front
and back fact sheets that talkabout specific vegetables.
Gives a lot of the same informationthat we have in the app,
but you know, maybe it'seasier for some people
to have a paper copy for that.
So I don't think those are available
as paper copies in thecounty extension office
(18:11):
unless they printed them out.
Right. So, but you can go toyour county extension office.
I think they would print itout for you if you needed to
or you know, you can accessthose online as well.
- I'm glad that youmentioned those publications
'cause we've actually usedthem quite a bit here.
It's nice, you know, it's whereyou talk a little bit more.
(18:31):
I know we just did anepisode on Sweet Potatoes
and that was really nice tosee the different cultivars
- And those publications aremeant to be very user friendly.
Right. We've designed those for, you know,
very basic audiences thatdunno anything about gardening.
So it's, it's very simplelanguage and easy to access.
So yeah, and we've got I think, oh, 12
(18:53):
or 14 different vegetablesthat are available now
and we're adding more all the time,
so it's something we'vebeen working on quite a bit.
- Yeah. Well, uh, kudos to you guys.
And I just wanna say thank you
for your time today on the podcast
talking about the So Garden app.
And I hope that you know, people
that are interested indownloading the app, they go
(19:14):
to our show notes, which we're gonna post
that up on our blog atWarren County Agriculture.
But, uh, Dr. Dr it's alwaysa, a joy to get to talk to you
and we appreciate youbeing on the podcast today.
- Thanks, Kristen. I appreciateyou having me. Thanks.
Thanks.
- That's a wrap for episode 30
of the Sunshine Gardening Podcast.
We hope you've been inspiredto take your gardening game
(19:36):
to the next level with the So Garden app.
This app empowers you
to cultivate your green space from seed
to harvest confidently.
We've included a link in theshow notes for this episode
where you can download the So Garden app
for your smartphone device.
To view the show notes for episode 30,
visit me over on theblog@warrencountyagriculture.com.
(20:01):
If you enjoyed today's episode,
please consider leavinga review on your favorite
podcast platform.
Your reviews help us reach more people
and grow our community.
We would also love to hearfrom you if you have any
questions, feedback, orsuggestions for future episodes.
Thanks for listening to theSunshine Gardening podcast.
(20:22):
Stay tuned for more gardeningtips, tricks, and inspiration.
Until next time, happy gardening.
- Thanks for listening to theSunshine Gardening Podcast
with Kristen Hildebrand.
If you enjoy today's content, make sure
to hit the subscribe buttonwherever you get your podcast
to catch future segments ofthe Sunshine Gardening Podcast
(20:43):
gardeners keep on digging
and learning more about gardening
so the sun shines brighterover your Kentucky Garden.
The Sunshine Gardening Podcasts
with Kristen Hilderbrand is aproduction of the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
- Welcome to episode 30 of theSunshine Gardening Podcast,
(00:03):
where we dig deep into gardening.
I'm your host, Kristen Hildebrand.
Today we're diving into digital gardening
with the So Garden App Special guest Dr.
Rick Durham with theUniversity of Kentucky chats
with me today on the podcast.
And he discusses
how this innovative tool canhelp you easily plan, plant,
(00:25):
and cultivate your dream garden.
So grab your TRS
and let's sow some seedsof knowledge together.
- Welcome to the SunshineGardening Podcast.
This gardening show will equip
and inspire avid gardeners with tips
and tricks to help themnavigate the gardening world.
The show will also highlightspecific growing requirements
(00:46):
for seasonal plants
so the sun will shine brighterover their Kentucky garden.
And now here's that ray ofSunshine Garden Enthusiast
and Horticulture extensionagent Kristen Hildebrand
with the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
- Alright, joining us onthe podcast today is Dr.
Rick Durham. We're so excited
(01:07):
to have you on the podcast. Hello.
- Thanks Kristen. I'm glad to be here.
- Yes, I know that I'm reallyexcited to have you on board
with us because we are gonnabe talking about a digital
resource for Kentucky Gardeners,
and that's called the Sow Garden app.
That's spelled SOW like you'reactually sowing garden seeds.
(01:28):
And I thought we would justfirst open up the discussion
today about, um, yourself,your background in horticulture
and then what kind of ledto your work with working
with the So Garden Map.
- Okay. So yeah,
I've been an extension specialistin horticulture here at
the University of Kentuckyfor almost 25 years.
Right. So, a long time.
(01:48):
My extension responsibilitiesare in consumer horticulture,
so all aspects of home horticulture,
whether it's vegetable gardening, trees
and shrubs, flowers, interior plants.
You know, I, I kind of haveresponsibility for all of it.
So I try to assist, uh,
county agents likeyourself in doing programs
(02:10):
that benefit the Home Gardener.
So in terms of the SO app,it was actually brought
to our attention by someagents in the state.
They, uh, had seen it, itwas developed at, in Alabama,
Alabama Cooperative Extension.
So the people at Auburndeveloped the app a couple years
ago, and I think some of theagents in the state, you know,
(02:33):
became familiar with the app
and they asked if we might putsome data in it for Kentucky.
So we did that startedon it a couple years ago.
I think the first versionwas launched in 2023. So
- Yeah.
And I know that it can be very helpful
and we're about to talkabout some of the features
(02:53):
and I know like
how does the So Garden appactually help gardeners plan
and manage their gardensthroughout the seasons?
- Well, there's uh, threemain aspects to the app.
So it's, people downloadit to their phones, right?
It, I think it's, so agardening companion is the,
for full title of it, whenthey first pull it up,
(03:13):
they'll be prompted to putin their, you know, county
where they reside andthat will then link them
to the correct, uh, USDAhardiness zone for their county.
Right. So that then feeds them
specific information on plantingdates, things like that.
Right. So there's threemain aspects to the,
(03:36):
the SO app there iswhat's called My garden.
So that's usually where people will start.
They can start planting a garden.
You can actually plan morethan one garden, right?
So you can have like a spring garden,
a summer garden, a fall garden.
You know, you might have, youknow, the garden at your house
and if you're in a communitygarden, maybe a garden there
(03:57):
or a garden at yourgrandparents' house, right?
So it's very flexible.
Once you do that garden, thenyou can start selecting plants
that you might put into that garden.
You know, there's a, a library of plants.
Currently we have 36 different, you know,
very common vegetables there go grown.
So you can access information there
(04:18):
and maybe come up with like a planting a,
a proposed planting date.
So you put that in your garden
and then there's an optionwhere you can tell the app
to contact a calendar that's on your phone
and, you know, issue areminder that, you know,
today's the day to plant.
So I don't know if we needto be that specific in terms
(04:38):
of, of planting.
I know for me it's moreabout like, you know,
what's the weather like today, whether
or not, not I'm gonna plant,
but at least, you know, forsome of us that are very busy
and re rely on our calendarsfor, for everything,
there's a place thereto, to input, you know,
some important dates foryour gardening activities
as well. So that's kind of fun.
- Yeah, I don't guess I knewthat it had reminders kind
(05:00):
of built into your calendar.
- It'll only do it if you ask it
to do it right. So that's kind of good.
- Yeah, yeah. Give you access,uh, to my calendar here.
And you know, that'sreally interesting you said
that there's a library of different crops
that are featured on the So Garden app
and uh, we always get the question here,
it's like people are reallyantsy about planting tomatoes
(05:23):
and it can tell you exactly, you know,
it's not ready for planting.
And so that can be agood reminder as well.
- It is. And, and so when youaccess that calendar, it will.
So actually, you know,once you download the app
and maybe you haven'tvisited in a couple days,
when you pull it up, the firstthing it's gonna tell you is,
(05:43):
what can I plant today?
Right? So it'll give you a listof things that's currently,
you know, available for planting.
And I would pay a littlebit of attention to that
because it's kind of on amonth by month basis, you know.
And so like I know for ushere in central Kentucky,
the first day of May can bea lot different than the 15th
(06:04):
day of, of May, you know,so you might think about,
you know, when is theaverage last frost date,
you know, in my county.
And, and that's gonna bevery important when you're
transplanting things like tomatoes
and things that are alittle bit more, more tender
and sensitive to frost.
- Yes. And you know, it'sreally nice that we have
(06:25):
that feature, you know,
where you can put inyour location depending,
because you know, EasternKentucky's very different
compared like you said for Central,
even Western is a little bit warmer.
So I know you mentioned My Garden
and the three differentgardening seasons that we have.
Is there any otherfeatures that are a part
of the So Garden appthat you wanna explain?
(06:48):
- So yeah, so there arethree features, right?
The My Garden we've talked about.
Then once you start, you know,you, there's a, a library
of all the different cropsthat you know has information
in the SO app, and thenthe third feature is a
journal feature, right?
So that feature onlycomes into play if you
start creating a garden in the app
(07:09):
because then what thejournal does, it allows you
to take notes on the plantsthat you have in the garden.
Like specifically there's inthe journal, there's a place
to input like when yourplant date was, you know,
your harvest date and then you know,
you can talk aboutyield, you can talk about
did you have any particularpest problems, things like that,
(07:32):
which cultivars you grew.
So that journal featureis a nice thing to kind
of keep notes about yourgarden as it goes through,
- You know, and sometimes we fall,
or I should say I fall a littleshort of taking good records
and you know, there'sjust so much going on
and this is something great
that you can actually fall back on.
Especially to compare it to years past.
(07:55):
I don't think I realizedyou could do the yields,
the harvestable yields. Yeah.
- So in the informationthere's kind, so again,
all this information that'sin SOF it comes primarily from
our big gardening publication,which is ID 1 28 Right.
Which is vegetable gardening in Kentucky.
(08:15):
So we've tried to translatemost of that information,
well not most of it, but the information
that's in the app comesfrom that publication.
Right. So, and that information is there,
but, so in that garden librarywe talk about, you know,
typical yields, maybe like howmany plants you need to plant
for, you know, for yourself
(08:37):
or for your family kind of thing.
So talk about planting depth,you know, spacing of plants,
so lots of information therejust at your fingertips.
- Yeah. And that can also be very helpful,
especially like if youhave a small size family
because you, you would thinkmaybe a few plants, uh,
could do that, but it reallyjust depends like you said on
(08:59):
the Cultivar and allthe other information.
Sure, sure. And what I wouldlike about the ID 1 28,
our big home vegetablegardening book, you know,
like you said within thisapp, it's got everything
that you need to knowI'll at your fingertips.
That's right. So sometimesour phone carries
with us everywhere we go,
so it's like information at your
(09:20):
fingertips when you have this.
Yeah. So garden app, one ofthe other questions I had
that I wanted to ask youabout Dr. Durham is the app,
does it also assist withany kind of pests control
or disease management?
Because as we go throughoutthe summer garden season, we,
we do see an increase in pest issues.
(09:40):
- So it, it does give like an indication
of potential problems youmight experience, right.
With different crops, whetherthat's, you know, the fact
that you need to be sure and
and plant into warm soil,you know, is, is important
for some of our thingslike, like sweet corn and,
and things, you know,only germinates very well,
(10:00):
especially some of our newer,you know, extra sweet hybrids,
they like that warm soil to germinate.
So it, it's gonna give you someinformation in that regard.
It will also tell you aboutwhat pests to look out for,
but we really don't doa lot of recommending
specific pesticides and things like that.
We really think that'ssomething that, you know,
(10:23):
gardeners need to consultwith an expert, you know,
to do not, not that we're not experts,
but you know, we don't knowthe local situation, right?
So what we do is there's like a
for more information section
where you can actually accessyour county extension offices
website and then find outinformation to contact
(10:47):
a county agent there to asksome of those questions about,
you know, disease diagnosis or,
or you know, which insectpest is bothering me here
and you know, specific to my area,
what are the control optionsthat I have for dealing,
you know, with these pest. So
- It always seems like that's,uh, where, like you said,
(11:07):
we come into play especially with, uh,
diagnosing different pest
and we always recommend, you know,
pictures really do help with that.
So it really just depends on
what the agent in eachcounty kind of looks at.
But certainly we can take thatinside the extension office
as well as if you haveany pest information
questions. But, um,
(11:29):
- No, you all are getting those
questions all the time, right?
So if somebody comes in
and says, you know,I've got these big green
wicked looking worms on my tomatoes,
you all have probablyhad that question a lot,
you know, the past few weeks.
And so, you know, it's, it'stomato horn worm is is out
and about, you know, so Ithink it's, it's really best
to direct those questions locally
(11:51):
because you, you all are, arereally in the know in terms of
what might be happening locally.
- Yes, yes, absolutely.
And it seems like, youknow, they, they tend
to get some larvae, uh,sometimes throughout the season
that, you know, feed onthe tomato hornworms.
So that's always a goodindicator for good. Yeah.
So now I know that youmentioned previously there
(12:13):
that you know, our hardinesszone has changed recently
and I didn't know with thisapp, is there any future updates
or maybe features that we canexpect to see going forward
with the So Garden app?
- So I know when, uh, it wasfirst launched, you know,
by the Alabama folks maybe three
(12:34):
or four years ago, I'm not exactly sure,
and it's actually Alabama, North Carolina
and now Kentucky have allcontributed to this app.
So Alabama is, are the peoplethat really control the app.
So they're the ones that are in control
of when we do an update,
but I would suspect that in the next year
or two there would be an update.
(12:56):
So, and with that, as you said,
there's been recently an update to
the USDA hardiness zone map
and most places in Kentuckythey're pushing our hardiness
zone to like a half zone, like an A or B
or even in some cases a full zone higher,
like in some places.
(13:17):
But, you know, between you
and I, I don't, I don'tthink it's gonna be a,
a big deal in terms of vegetablegardening, you know, for,
for us, you know, the, thespring plants are those plants
that come with withstand some frost.
And so we generally areplanting those, you know,
late March, early April across the state.
And then, you know, the bigsummer gardens usually go in,
(13:39):
you know, about the time ofthe last expected frost, which
I don't know if you allin Western Kentucky,
that's probably early May.
Here in central Kentuckywe usually use a date
of about mid-May, May 15th,
then Eastern Kentucky being,being a little bit later.
I don't anticipate even
with these changes inthe hardiness zone map
(14:00):
that those dates will reallychange very much in the future.
So I'm not sure that it'llhave very much effect on our
planning dates for vegetables.
- So, okay, I appreciate that information.
And then, you know, as far as the,
so Garden app is concerned,in what ways does
that really help a lotof beginning gardeners?
I know you mentioned a coupleof the features, you know,
(14:22):
just for your expertise,
how do you think it could be helpful?
- Well, I, I think just,just the basic information
that's in that library, you know,
so when you pull up somethinglike broccoli, right?
It, it tells you how long doyou expect from the day you
plant that until you harvestit, you know, so maybe 70
to 90 days right?
(14:42):
Tells you about how much yieldyou might get from a single
plant, right?
So broccoli you might expect like a pound
of broccoli from a single plant tells you
how wide you might need tospace those plants, like,
you know, a foot apart tellsyou like, uh, soil pH levels
that are ideal for that particular crop.
(15:02):
And then, you know, ideally, you know,
how many plants should I plant,you know, for my own use.
So maybe three block broccoli plants
and then if I've got a family of four,
maybe I wanna plant like 10 to12 broccoli plants, you know,
so all that information isright there in the library
for you to, to see.
So it, it really helpsyou kind of get familiar
(15:26):
with these specific crops thatwe have in the gardening app.
- Yeah. And you could almostjust like once you get into it,
you could probably, you know,it's a little easier to review
and kind of make sure it'scorrect for what you want. Yeah.
- Just to plant, to plant
a garden, you know? Mm-Hmm
- Yeah.
You're not having tophysically move plants when
it's actually out in the garden.
(15:47):
- And we also have list of,you know, suggested cultivars
of these plants, you know, so
for a beginning gardener they may think,
well I just wanna grow a tomato, right?
They go to their local gardencenter or their uh, home store
and they see like 10 differentvarieties that are offered
or more, you know, andso how do you know which
(16:08):
of those are best for you, right?
So we've got a little bit of, you know,
some recommended varieties to,
to choose from there in the app.
- So, oh yeah, that's alwaysthe next question is like
what varieties best over another.
So now I wanted to ask you on
actually downloading the,so Garden app, is it uh,
(16:28):
a free app or is there a charge?
- It is totally free and it'savailable both for iPhone
and then Android kind of devices.
- I like that that's music to my ears,
especially when it's a, a free resource.
So that's just a great way again, just
to have it on your phone andhave as a quick reference.
Another quick question about the app is
(16:48):
how can listeners get started with it
and are there any otherresources available
to help them if they dohave questions with the app?
- Yeah, so it's very easy to get started.
You know, you, youdownload it to your phone
and when you open it the firsttime it's gonna ask for you
to input just a little bit ofdata in terms of, you know,
where you're located.
(17:08):
If you, you know, move
or if you need to accessinformation from another area,
you can always go back andchange that information,
you know, to get an update of, you know,
specific planning datesand things like that.
So that's there that, that'sthe way to get started.
And I think, you know,
your county extensionoffice is a great place
(17:29):
to go for more information.
So we have, you know, aswe've talked about the,
the ID 1 28, the VegetableGuardian Kentucky,
that's available throughmost extension offices
as well as online.
I'm involved in another project
through the nutrition education program.
We're building individual factsheets on many vegetables,
(17:50):
just like usually two page front
and back fact sheets that talkabout specific vegetables.
Gives a lot of the same informationthat we have in the app,
but you know, maybe it'seasier for some people
to have a paper copy for that.
So I don't think those are available
as paper copies in thecounty extension office
(18:11):
unless they printed them out.
Right. So, but you can go toyour county extension office.
I think they would print itout for you if you needed to
or you know, you can accessthose online as well.
- I'm glad that youmentioned those publications
'cause we've actually usedthem quite a bit here.
It's nice, you know, it's whereyou talk a little bit more.
(18:31):
I know we just did anepisode on Sweet Potatoes
and that was really nice tosee the different cultivars
- And those publications aremeant to be very user friendly.
Right. We've designed those for, you know,
very basic audiences thatdunno anything about gardening.
So it's, it's very simplelanguage and easy to access.
So yeah, and we've got I think, oh, 12
(18:53):
or 14 different vegetablesthat are available now
and we're adding more all the time,
so it's something we'vebeen working on quite a bit.
- Yeah. Well, uh, kudos to you guys.
And I just wanna say thank you
for your time today on the podcast
talking about the So Garden app.
And I hope that you know, people
that are interested indownloading the app, they go
(19:14):
to our show notes, which we're gonna post
that up on our blog atWarren County Agriculture.
But, uh, Dr. Dr it's alwaysa, a joy to get to talk to you
and we appreciate youbeing on the podcast today.
- Thanks, Kristen. I appreciateyou having me. Thanks.
Thanks.
- That's a wrap for episode 30
of the Sunshine Gardening Podcast.
We hope you've been inspiredto take your gardening game
(19:36):
to the next level with the So Garden app.
This app empowers you
to cultivate your green space from seed
to harvest confidently.
We've included a link in theshow notes for this episode
where you can download the So Garden app
for your smartphone device.
To view the show notes for episode 30,
visit me over on theblog@warrencountyagriculture.com.
(20:01):
If you enjoyed today's episode,
please consider leavinga review on your favorite
podcast platform.
Your reviews help us reach more people
and grow our community.
We would also love to hearfrom you if you have any
questions, feedback, orsuggestions for future episodes.
Thanks for listening to theSunshine Gardening podcast.
(20:22):
Stay tuned for more gardeningtips, tricks, and inspiration.
Until next time, happy gardening.
- Thanks for listening to theSunshine Gardening Podcast
with Kristen Hildebrand.
If you enjoy today's content, make sure
to hit the subscribe buttonwherever you get your podcast
to catch future segments ofthe Sunshine Gardening Podcast
(20:43):
gardeners keep on digging
and learning more about gardening
so the sun shines brighterover your Kentucky Garden.
The Sunshine Gardening Podcasts
with Kristen Hilderbrand is aproduction of the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
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