Flower Bed Flaws

Sjip Richter answers your questions all morning long!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Katie r. H Garden Line with Skip Rictor.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's mill the crazy.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Ding in the bassis and gas they can use on
shrim just watching as whom bobs the gasses and gas
and began you dig as many got the soup buckets
in the red hand in the grasses like gas.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
And again you did the samos the covers back kicking.

Speaker 5 (00:30):
Not a sun in the basses like gas, and you
did so bemon of clesing the gasses like gas.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Maybe can you jam the.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
First starting in the gasses like gas became you did everything.

Speaker 5 (00:51):
Is so can see and everything here Sunday had its range.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
WHOA, let's do this. Hey, good morning, time for a
little garden line today. I'm your host, Skip Richter, and
we are here to answer gardening questions that you might
have so you can have success and so you can
have fun. That's what I think the show's all about.
It's helping you to have success. I like to say,
to have a more bountiful garden, a more beautiful landscape,

(01:33):
and more fun in the process. That's what I would
call gardening success. There's so many things we can grow
and enjoy. You want your place to look good. You
want to enjoy it. Maybe you want to grow some
really tasty food that's about fifteen hundred miles fresher the
stuff at the grocery store. Yeah, you can do that here,
We sure can. We've got a lot of great opportunities

(01:56):
here in the Greater Houston area, this whole region to
be able to grow things that you can't grow in
other places. So that's what we're going to talk about today.
If you got a question and you would like to
give me a call, here's how you do it. Seven
one three two one two five eight seven four seven
one three two one two fifty eight seventy four. We

(02:17):
are looking forward to a number of things that are
going to talk about today. I've had some people email
me some photos during the week and hopefully they'll be
calling in we'll continue that discussion. That's that's how we
do it. By the way, Uh, if you have a question,
I can't do the email pen pal thing. I just
am not able to answer all the questions that come
in to do to my other horticultural endeavors. And so

(02:41):
if you would like to send me a photo and
then follow it up with a call on Guardline, we'll
be happy to discuss it. Make sure your photos are
in good sharp focus. Sharp focused pictures give me give
you a sharp focused answer. Fuzzy pictures get you a
fuzzy answer, and you don't want that. So that's what
that's what you need to do. Attach them, show something

(03:02):
up close, show something from a distance. Sometimes more than
one angle helps, especially if there's an issue like a bug.
You got to get in as close as you can
before you hit send. Make sure and check that photo,
make sure it's clear. In fact, while you're out there
taking the pictures, check them. You need to take another
one so we have a good close up and we'll
be happy to help diagnose. Some things need to be

(03:25):
diagnosed from a distance, you know. Take the brown patch circles,
the big circles in the yard now called large patch.
That helps to sit back a little bit from a distance,
but a close up along with that also helps. So
that is what I'm basically talking about. If you need
to get an email for that, just when you call,
talk to my producer and they will get you an

(03:47):
email where you can send me those photos. I'm always
a broken record here on Guardenline when it comes to
the secrets of success with plants, and that is basically
one simple concept, brown stuff before green stuff, meaning you
create a foundation of soil where a plant can thrive,

(04:08):
where its roots can thrive, where it has moisture, where
it has nutrients, where it has organic matter decomposing and
lots of microbial activity and all of those things, and
you're going to have success. Now, it's important to have sunlight,
it's important to do a lot of things taking care
of the plant. But if you don't start with the foundation,
you're just you're just swimming upstream. You're going to have

(04:31):
a very difficult time of having success. Cnamalts down south
of Houston is a place where you go to create
the foundation for success. Cenimulch is They've got everything that
you need. You know, all the name brand fertilizers you
hear me talk about here to get the nutrients right,
the composts and the soil blends. You know, they carry

(04:53):
heirloom soils, veggie and herb mix. It's an awesome soil
for containers for building a bed in the ground. Even
it is specially blended for success. And they have many
other options and blends, composts and many types of mulches.
And rock and flat stone for the patios and just

(05:15):
it is the place to go. Now. The website is
cenmuls dot com and if you just go to cnmls
dot com you can see everything you need to know,
like how to get there and the phone numbers and
everything else. They're on FM five twenty one south of Houston.
They just keep adding to their store. If you go outside,
there's beautiful pottery and some really decorative yard art. They

(05:39):
carry the vego beds, the garden bedg You can see
what they look like out there, set up and planted.
Go in the store. You got a lot more cool
things that they carry inside. It is a one stop
shop no matter what you're looking for, run by there
and check them out. Say hi, if you are anywhere
in that region, and I mean like Meridian, like Riverstone

(05:59):
or Quell Valley, or like Olympia or Alvin or Manville, Pomona,
Siena Plantation, Iowa Colony or Colas, any point, et cetera,
et cetera, that whole area down there. This is your backyard.
Secrets of success Siena Mulch and I would recommend you
stop either you're going to enjoy it. They're really nice,
friendly folks too. In my own garden, which is that

(06:21):
the current moment's suffering due to my absence traveling around,
I have got some work to do getting ready. I'm
going to be planning a fruit tree here pretty soon,
and I've got a series of beds that I set
up for fruit in an area where the drainage is
not that great. And so you're not supposed to plant

(06:41):
fruit in areas where drainage isn't good. Well, that's true.
So I got two options. You can put in subsurface
drainage like a French strain to get the water out
of the soil, or you can bring the soil up,
and I chose the second, raise the soil up. I've
got some beds that are about a foot high, which
gets the roots plenty up out of the extra moist soil.

(07:04):
And I've got some citrus growing. About to put a
peach tree in this fall winter season, and really looking
forward to getting that thing going. I love. That's my
favorite fruit. It's peaches. Actually, let me think about that. Yeah,
it's probably the favorite. Mangoes run a close second, but mangoes,
there's no such thing as a freestone mango. By the way,
if you'll invent one, the world will beat a path

(07:26):
to your door. But I love the flavors of both
of those kinds of fruit. So we're getting unplanted. So
what am I going to do? And I say, what
am I going to do?

Speaker 6 (07:35):
This?

Speaker 2 (07:36):
I'm that shows not about me. It's about you having success.
But here's what I do, and here's what I recommend
you do. Let's look at it that way. What I'm
going to do is number one, get a variety that
will do well here. There are peaches that will never
come out of winter and bloom and set fruit in

(07:56):
our area because they are too high chill. They are
wonderful peaches. Further north, you know, head up, head up
the road up Interstate forty five. By the time you
get to you know, the Waco Mahea area, that hilling
hours up there is the whole band of soil and
peach growing that's done up in that area. I know

(08:18):
Waco's not on forty five, but I'm talking about that
that that far north, and they do well there, but
not done here. We're too far south. We have varieties though,
that do very well here. Peaches do not require cross pollination,
so anytime you're planting the fruit, ask that question. When
you're buying it, you go to a good garden center,

(08:38):
an independent garden center some people refer to it. I
do sometimes as mom and pop. Those kinds of garden
centers can tell you, yes, this variety needs a pollinator. No,
it does not need a pollinator. And with peaches, the
inchers always know they do not need a second variety
for cross pollination. The other thing, you know, picking the
variety wants to be here. It doesn't need a second

(08:59):
variety of pollination or not. That's very important. And then
when you plant it, planting it at the proper depth,
the depth that it was growing before. That's true of
ornamental plants and shrubs and a lot of other kinds
of things. You got to put them at the right depth.
And if you plant them too deep, they don't do well.
And of course you don't I'm sticking halfway out of

(09:20):
the ground, although that would be better in planting them
too deep. But anyway, making sure that you get it
at the right depth, you firm the soil in around
the roots. I don't mean jump up and down on
it and pack it down. I just mean, no, are
pockets in the ground. I'll put some I'll put the
plant in the hole, which is only dug as deep
as that cylinder that comes out of the pot, because otherwise,

(09:42):
you know, if you dig, dig up, loosen up soil,
it's going to settle then later. So only go as
deep as the cylinder. As I'm putting soil in around
the plant, I will water it in as I kind
of as I go, just kind of settle it in,
because once you fill the whole hole up, it's hard
to get you know, water all the way down to
I mean you can, it just takes a little while.
It's better to fill it as you go. Use the

(10:04):
sole from the hole to fill the hole. Do not
just put a bunch of composts. Yes, compost is wonderful. Yes,
potting soil is wonderful. That tree's going to have to grow,
or that bush or shrub, whatever kind of fruit you have,
it's going to have to grow in that spot. And
so amending the planting hole, you might as well stick
get in the container, because that's kind of what you're
doing is you're just giving it a little soil right

(10:27):
around it, and it's just not going to establish well.
So use the soil from the hole watered in real well.
One step I skipped over that is very important is
for anything that's going to be in the ground for
a good while, like a tree, check for roots that
are going around in a circle. They don't unwind underground
after you plant them. So if you see circling roots

(10:48):
around the pot, cut them. It is okay to cut them.
Trust me on this. You cut the root and what
will happen. It's the same as if you cut a
branch if you walk out there. Let's say you walked
out there and you just lopped a branch off some
tree in your yard. What would happen. Well, right where
you cut it off, new growth would start to emerge.

(11:08):
You would get a bunch of shoots that come out
where you cut that branch off to sort of replace it,
if you will. If the plant had a brain, that
that's what it would be thinking, I'm going to replace
what you cut off with some new growth. Same thing
happens in the ground. One year, Beverly at Arburgate allowed
me to take one of the containers and kind of

(11:31):
lift the plant up and make a cut in a
couple of the roots around it, and then put it
back in the right back down in the container, come
back a couple of weeks later, pulled it up out
of the container again, and there were already white roots
starting to form from every cut surface. So that is
the best way to help your plant establish fast. If
you've got the circling roots around it, don't let them

(11:53):
circle cut them in three or four places. Sometimes a
box cutter knife is enough to do it. A bigger roots,
you're going to need to use handprinters to do it,
but do that all right. So those are some tips.
Don't worry about fertilizing unless you use like something like
Genesis from Nelson Plant Food, that's fine. And the hole
you can use organic fertilizers microlife in the hole if

(12:16):
you want. But I want to tell you that the
plant is going to get going, and once it's in
about six weeks, I would go ahead and do another
fertilizing on it. One excuse me, Let me change that.
Not once it's in, once it's started growing. Six weeks
after it begins growing, you're going to want to do
another fertilization on it and water that in. Really well,

(12:39):
the goal the first year or two or three is
to get that plant growing quickly to make a big
tree to hang fruit on. Think of it as a
Christmas tree is gonna hang ornaments, the ornaments of the fruit.
And so if you have a little Christmas tree, you're
gonna have handful of ornaments. Right. If you have a
giant tree, you're gonna have a truckload ornaments on that thing.

(13:00):
So our goal of the first three years in the
fruit trees life is to do just that. All right, Well,
I'm rambling on here right past a break, so let's
take a break and I'll be right back. Hey, welcome back.
What a back reguard line. Good to have you with us.
Look forward to visiting with you about the questions that
you might have. In order for me to do that,

(13:25):
you need a phone number seven one three two one
two fifty eight seventy four seven one three two one
two five eight seven four. I was just talking about
fruit trees and proper planting of them, proper selection of them. Uh,
they're the two things I guess when you're deciding where
to put a fruit tree that are most important are drainage.

(13:48):
I already talked about how I put mine in a
raised bed because there's not great drainage in that area.
It's okay, but it's not great.

Speaker 7 (13:54):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
And the second thing is sunlight. Sunlight is the key.
Here's a simple way to think about it. If you
are wanting blooms or fruit off a plant, you need
extra sunlight compared to something that you just need foliage from. So,
for example, a shrub that's just foliage doesn't want to

(14:16):
be maybe in the shade, but it can do okay
in some shade. But as you take a fruit tree
or a fruiting plant like a squash or a tomato
or a pepper, and you move them into less and
less sunlight, you get less and less carbohydrate production because
the sun's not shining on the leaves, and you're not
going to get the blooms in the fruits you want.

(14:37):
Be very disappointed in the fruits you get, mate will
lack in flavor and sugar content because it's all about
the sun on the leaves doing all that. Very important.
Let's talk about the leafy things. If you're in a
vegetable garden and you do have some you want to
plant an eggplant or a pepper, or a tomato or
a squash or a green bean, something that is producing

(14:59):
fruit for you. And yes, those are fruits of the
plant lots of sun. If you're going to grow lettuce
or spinach or coloreds or kale or something, you can
go in less sun. Does it mean the plants want
to be in partial shade. No, but they will produce
because there isn't as much of a carbohydrate requirement to
grow a leaf as there is to set a bloom

(15:20):
bud or grow fruit. So think about that when you're
making choices. Sometimes we have to go with less than ideal.
I've got many plants in my landscape that are not
getting exactly what they want. But if I had to
look for a sunny area for everything I plant, I
don't have enough room. And then I got all these
areas that are partial sun that have nothing in them.

(15:40):
So we make those compromises in our landscape. But just
make that compromise based on that fact that I just
shared with you. Houston Powder Coders is our local powder
coating company. We're fortunaires. We have the biggest powder coder
in the whole region here in Houston, and I don't
mean like Southeast Texas, I mean all around. They can

(16:01):
do anything that you can imagine to take old metal
and make it look good again. Over one hundred different
colors they can put on it, getting rid of the rust,
getting rid of the corrosion, Putting new hardware on you
know that furniture you have out on the patio to
make it look good. Putting on coatings that can withstand
salt sprays along the Gulf coast. Putting on coatings it

(16:23):
can take you know, seven hundred degree heat of a
barbecue pit, for example. They can do that. They have
got the technology to do it. Cast iron, wrought iron,
your aluminum patio furniture. Here's what you do. You take
a picture of what you got. You send that picture
by email to sales at Houstoncoders dot com. Now that
email address doesn't have the word powder in it. Company

(16:46):
is Houston Powder Coders. The email sales at houstoncoders dot com.
They'll give you a quick quote and they'll come pick
it up. They'll do the work, they'll bring it back,
simple as that. Here's a phone number two eight one
six seven six thirty eight eighty eight, Houston Powdercoders dot com.
Let's go now to Houston and talk to Steven this morning.

(17:07):
Hey Steven, welcome to garden line.

Speaker 8 (17:11):
Hey, good morning, can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yes, sir, how can we help?

Speaker 9 (17:18):
Have you heard of the jack and the.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Uh? I, I've heard of things like that. I don't
know which specific when you're talking about, but.

Speaker 8 (17:32):
While researching for planning and treat new tree. It's just
supposedly came from the Texas A and M Extension Office.
But it's got like miracle grow, some roote stimulant, super
drive golf grangles, and then powdered gypsum and then you
would mix all that up and water and feed your

(17:54):
tree when you plant it.

Speaker 7 (17:59):
Is that something you?

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, that may be. There's a there's a product that
they do up at producers call up and Brian. I
think that goes by that name. I don't know of
A and M ever, you know, like uh it was,
but yeah, I probably probably was. I'd have to look

(18:21):
at the numbers and everything to make a comment on it,
but if it came from up there, they're they're pretty
good about fertilizers and blends. I do a lot of
that kind of stuff, and so I'm sure it.

Speaker 8 (18:31):
Would okay, yeah, different, all right, thoughts of putting in
fertilizers when you plant a tree, so it's well at
the time of planning.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
I would recommend not doing that unless that fertilizer was
a was a specific slow release product that could not
burn the roots. And even that, you know, having to
add it at that time, it's not so important, especially
in the planting hole. And if you wanted to amend

(19:09):
a large area of a bed where you're going to
plant the tree and then dig a hole and plant
in it, that's just fine. And like I said, with
a slow release, you're not going to burn the roots.
Most organic products are not going to burn the roots,
and so you could you know, I could see doing that.
I generally, and I've had planted peach orchards myself, and

(19:30):
we wait until about six weeks after the growth begins,
and then we begin the fertilization process in small amounts
over time, because that young tree getting started just doesn't
have the roots system to take up a whole bunch
of nutrients. But it's kind of like us, you know,
you eat a little bit every day, and so as
your baby in that tree along getting it going the
first year, small doses over time work really well. Or

(19:53):
there are some products that are slow release that will
gradually do that for you automatically. All right, thank you sir, Yes, sir,
thank you for the call. Appreciate that you bet. Appreciate
that very much. In Channi Gardens down in the Richmond
Rosenberg area, outstanding garden center. In fact, I'm gonna actually

(20:15):
be up there in January, late January next year. In
Chenna Gardens is the place you go for inspiration. It's
the place you go for good advice. In Channi Gardens
is an outstanding spot to find anything seasonal. Right now,
they got their Christmas trees in. They look good. The
cool season color is in. It looks good. If you

(20:38):
are looking to do any kind of gift shopping, you
need to see their gift shop. It is unbelievable and
right now it's loaded with all the regular stuff, but
also a lot of really nice Christmas items including bulbs,
rendoor forcing and things. In Chane Gardens is on FM
three point fifty nine, which is the Katie fullsher side
of Richmond. Here's the website. Just go here and make

(21:00):
sure and sign up for the newsletter. It's very good.
Enchanted Gardens Richmond dot com. Enchanted Gardens Richmond dot com.
Stop by there, pick up some fertilizer on your way out.
They've got all the good ones that I recommend at
Enchanted Gardens in Richmond, Texas. All right, be right back
after some news. Alrighty, we're bating. Hey, you got a

(21:27):
gardening question. I've got a phone number seven one three
two one two fifty eight seventy four seven one three
two one two five eight seven four. Yeah, Why don't
you just put that on a little post it note
and stick it on the phone. How about that? Actually,
we don't have those kind of phones anymore. We carry

(21:47):
them around with us, don't we. How many of you
remember when you could only get as far away from
the phone that was attached to the wall as the court,
and they had those long cordrey you practically go halfway
across the house, remember those? Yep? Some mean you do. Well.
Welcome back to Guardline. Good heavy with us. We're gonna
talk gardening today. We already have been talking about the

(22:09):
secrets of success getting a fruit tree planet established and
taking care of really well some other topics.

Speaker 4 (22:18):
You know.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
The soil has everything that a plant needs to thrive.
It's got, for example, it's it's got the mineral content
of the soil, the minerals, many minerals and soil, and
it has the organic matter content. The organic matter are
things that was the parts that were once alive but
now not Now they're decomposing like compost in humus for example,

(22:42):
those stages. But when you put those two together and
throw in a bunch of microbes, you end up with
a really, really rich soil. And that's what nature does.
That's why you know the Great Plains. When the settlers
came across in Conestoga wagons, whether they say grass as
deep as the horses bell, who's taking care of that grass?
Who was fertilizing it? Who was, you know, doing all

(23:03):
the things we do well? Nature was. It was providing
and now it wasn't growing as nice and dense and
foot traffic y as your lawn is. But that is
the natural way. You go to a tropical rainforest and
you look at giant trees, giant trees and soiled that
is just so rich. Who built that soil? Nature did

(23:24):
the natural way? And microlife fertilizers are based on that
same kind of product. There's sixty four that we recommend
all through the growing season. It's in my schedule. It's
the number one selling organic fertilizer in Houston now. Being
an organic fertilizer the way they make it, it's not
going to burn plants and things. But well, by the way,
if you if you don't follow me on Facebook, garden

(23:45):
line on Facebook, you need to go check this out.
I posted something on my golden retriever Ellie, and I
were working in the garden using some of Microlife's acidic
fertilizer for acid living plants like blueberries and camellias and
azaleas and whatnot. And anyway, just go check out the post.
It's a little video post. But Ellie likes Microlife fertilizer,

(24:08):
so I have to scratch mine into the soil and
water it in really good because she likes it a lot,
which is just to say it's safe for pets. It's
safe for people, save for pets. Each bag contains billions
and billions beneficial microbes help your plants to thrive, to perform,
to produce it, and you know, the product itself is

(24:30):
just part of building the soil. That's what Microlife is
based on. In the fall, we've been talking about their
brown patch formula, which is basically a fall fertilizer with
sixty three different beneficial microbes added to it. Microlife products
are available all over town. Go to their website Microlifefertilizer
dot com. You can find out a lot more about
them right there on the website. That is our Houston

(24:57):
area fertilizer. Here we've got with the Microlife for organic
types of products, well known all over really the region.
I talk to people from boy outside the Houston area
that swear by and use Microlife. I always like to
go into Ace Hardware stores when we start getting close

(25:17):
to the holiday season. I like going all the time,
but this is always a fun time because they get
all their holiday decorations in their lights or strings of
lighting and that, boy, they have really cool stuff. And
if you're about to go Christmas tree shopping, a lot
of people do that right after Thanksgiving, but some people
are shopping right now. Our garden centers are getting the
trees in now. None wrong with that. Getting those lights

(25:39):
up on your house. Stop by your Ace Hardware store.
They are ready for the season and you're going to
find everything that you need there at Ace Hardware. Which
is the case with any topic copy I could be
talking about from regular hardware things. You know, you need
to do some sort of a plumbing work repair, you
need to do some electrical work, you need some fixtures
or ball and all the different things like that. It's

(26:02):
a hardware store, They've got it. But when you walk
in and you see the kinds of things that they
have that are not hardware, that are beautiful home decorations,
that are things to turn, whether it's a living room
or an outdoor patio into something special. Ace Hardware is
that Ace Hardware carries the fertilizers you hear me talk

(26:23):
about here on garden Line. Now, where do you find
your local ACE Hardware store, because there's a bunch of
them here my Houston area ACE Hardware group. You can
find it at ACE Hardware Texas dot com. Don't forget
the word Texas. Ace Hardware Texas dot com. And when
you go in, you're going to find the things I'm
talking about. Someone told me the day, Wow, I went

(26:44):
into an ACE Hardware right like you're always talking about him.
It's like, what is he? What do you mean by that?
And then I went in It's like, whoa, there's so
much cool stuff here, And yes, absolutely, I'm trying to
tell you that there is. Where are they all over
the place. There's, for example, a Deer on Center Street,
a Taskasita on Timber Forest out northeast, all Star Ace

(27:05):
in Spring on Rayford Road, Patco Ace on West Willis
in Alburn. I was there not too long ago. Sinko
Ranch Ace on South Mason and Katie All go up
on Jones Road to the Ace Hardworth store I used
to go to when I lived up in Cypress. Cypress
As on Jones Road. I was just just barely down
the street from them. Lots of great Ace hardware stores.

(27:27):
Acehardware Texas dot com. If you got a question and
we can assist with it, well, give me a call
seven to one three two one two five eight seven
four seven to one three two one two fifty eight
seventy four uh. In the on on the topic of

(27:47):
gardening and things, I've got a lot of indoor gardening
to get done. And I'm not talking about house plants,
although that is what most indoor gardening consists of. I'm
talking about getting ready to create plants. For example, I've
got some cool seasoned vegetables that I'm going to start
some transplants off, just because I like to do that.

(28:08):
A lot of them you can just plant directly by
seed in the garden. But I've got some of those
some seeds ready to go. I've got a set of
transplants of broccoli about the other day that need to
go in the garden. And I know sometimes I'm a
little late getting my plantings done. It's because I'm running
around doing other things. And you probably experienced that same
thing yourself. But I've also got some cuttings that I

(28:31):
rooted that need to be potted up into the next
size container, and that is so fun. I've never rooted
blackfoot daisy before. That's a native Texas plant common in
the hill country. Likes really good drainage, but it'll grow here.
My wife has some in her raised bed of flowers.
Looks great. So I just took some cuttings off of
it and went through the process, and by golly, they

(28:52):
rooted did just fine. So that's kind of fun. I
tried that. I often rosemary. It's easy to root. It's
a fun one. I've got some roses, some roses that
are non patented roses that I make cuttings of that
I'm starting. It's getting ready to pot them up. And
so what I'm gonna when I do that, what I'm

(29:13):
gonna do is I'm gonna get a hold of some
of the Nelson plant food. They're a Genesis product. Genesis
is a natural product by Nelson. It's an organic. It's
got microbes and all kinds of things. It's loaded with
all kinds of beneficial microbes and fungian things. I mix
it into the soil and then I put the new

(29:35):
transplants in there to pot them up into a larger pot.
And I'm telling you it will not burn the roots
and they grow like crazy. I always do it when
I pot things up, and so I'm going to be
doing that with the folks from Nelson plant Food. You know,
Dean Nelson's family has been out there in the Kadi
area for a very long time, very long time, and
they make their own Nelson plant food right here in

(29:57):
the greater Houston area. So you need to get some
of that and try it. I would recommend always. I
do always have Genesis on hand, So anytime I'm going
to pot something up or plant something, I've got it there.
If i'm a bit of rosebush in, drop it in
the ground, Okay, mix some end of the hole, plant
the rose bush, and then once it gets growing, you
can begin your supplemental fertilizing additionally, but you gotta start

(30:20):
with that genesis in the ground from the folks at Nelson.
Let's take a little break right now and we will
be back with your calls in just a moment. Hey,
welcome back, Welcome back to Guardenline.

Speaker 7 (30:31):
Folks.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Have you listening in this morning? I hope you are
enjoying yourself getting your eyes open with a couple of
cups of coffee or whatever. Some people, some people wake
up like just birds in the morning. They wake up singing.
It's like, that's not me, that's not me. People, I've

(30:57):
got a morning gardening show that starts at six am.
And they're like, let's kIPS some more. Kim gets up
at six A. Yes, I do a bright eyed, if
not bushy tailed.

Speaker 7 (31:11):
H what if this?

Speaker 2 (31:12):
Will? They say? I rise? But I refuse to shine.
I have to both rise and shine. But that's okay.
I'm glad you're with me this morning. We can talk gardening.
So if you've got a question you want to call
in seven one three two one two five eight seven
four seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four.
Feel free to give me a call. We'll talk about
whatever kind of gardening topics that you might have. RCW

(31:35):
is an outstanding garden center. It's right there where Biltley
eight comes into Tomball Parkway. Easy in, easy out, easy access. Really,
from wherever you are, you got some great roads taking
you right to rc W. Nurseries been open since nineteen
seventy nine. They've been a Garden Line sponsor since the beginning.
Really I refer to them as the get it, got

(31:57):
it nursery because if they don't have it, they can
probably get it for you. They'll do everything they can
to find it, and usually they can to bring it
in there at rc w's right now, they still have
their November sale going on, and that would be azaleas
and camellias fifteen percent off. That's one thing. By the way.
Camellias are a plant that blooms depending on the types.

(32:21):
The Sainquas in Japonic because are the two main types
of chamellas, and they bloom December January February through that
winter season, so it's it's color in the cool season
and the blooms are just gorgeous. But anyway, Azalias and
Comellia's fifteen percent off at RCW. Craig Mertle's thirty percent
off and their metal arbors, their benches, their yard art

(32:43):
and they've got some real clese, really cool stuff. They're
thirty percent off it and Centrus streets forty percent off.
Now that you're not going to find a better deal
than that, So I would swing by there and grab that,
even if you're going, well skip you know, I don't
have a spot prepared for citrus yet. Get the plant,
bring it in, you know, mood in a garage on
a very very cold night, and while you're getting the

(33:04):
soil prepared and done, you can overwinter it right there
in and out of the garage. Uh. And I don't know,
you just have a head start and then when spring
comes you got so already you got a tree that's
a very good deal, still in great shape. And there
you go, as simple as that. You know, those of
you live further south, I mean plant planet directly out
in the yard right now. Absolutely r CW Nurseries RCW

(33:29):
Nurseries dot com. That's all you need to know. We're
going to go now to uh talk to Chris this morning.
Hey Chris, welcome to garden Line.

Speaker 10 (33:39):
Hey, how you doing, first time caller. I have to
have a plue tree, which is also considered a plum
plot tree. I guess you would call it. There's a
plum between the and any way. I've planted in three years.
It has grown pretty good. There's like chin foot tall.

(34:02):
The limbs are kind of you know, like snaky long ones.

Speaker 11 (34:05):
But see, I haven't had no fruit come from it.
I'm hoping this year I would have fruit. I have
to have a plum tree, so I have a plum
tree to fertilize it, you know, to fertilize it. I
guess when the springtime comes, is there anything I should do?
Seck at the branches?

Speaker 10 (34:25):
Lower?

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Is your pluot? Is it blooming for you? Are you
seeing gloms?

Speaker 7 (34:37):
I have not seen no blooms out of it.

Speaker 10 (34:40):
I'm getting kind of worried.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Okay, yeah, well you know there's two things. Number one,
is it blooming. If it's not blooming, you can't have fruit.
And the other is it blooming but not setting fruit?
And in your case, it's not even blooming. Uh, they
need a little bit of time to start that. How
long would you say you planted.

Speaker 7 (34:57):
It three years.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
Okay, well it ought to be this spring. You ought
to see some good blooms on that thing, for sure.
What I would recommend the key too, is notice when
it blooms and when whatever you're going to pollinate it with.
It could be a plumber an apricot, both will pollinate
a pluott or a plumb cut. But I would say

(35:25):
make sure they're blooming at the same time. That would
be another factor to keep in mind.

Speaker 7 (35:30):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
And then as far as the lack of blooms, is
it getting lots of sunlight?

Speaker 10 (35:36):
Yes, sir, it is. I got to plan right in
the middle of the yard and it definitely din't.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
Okay, yeah, six to eight is what you're Okay, Well,
maybe hold off a little bit on pushing it to
grow so fast now that it's three years old. Uh.
And uh, you know it sets its blooms in the
late summer and fall, So the blooms you hope to
see in spring are they've pretty much been have been

(36:06):
sat by now if they're there. So when you prune,
prune just according to shaping the tree like it needs
to be shaped. And would I would prune it a pluout.
I would prune it into the same recommended shape for
a plum. So if you go online to the Aggie
Horticulture website, there's publications on all kinds of fruit, and

(36:27):
look at the plum publication and prune it according to that.
You're going to make it an open a bowl shape,
kind of like a chalice or an open bowl where
the center is hollowed out and the branches go all
the way around. Anyway, that is what I would do.
I think you're going to see blooms this spring. If
you're not, I don't know anything that would other than

(36:48):
sunlight that would cause it to not even bloom unless
you're just doing excessive pruning in the winter. You're cutting
off the bloom most of the blooms, but you still
should see some blooms on it.

Speaker 10 (37:00):
Yeah, and I believe he's getting six to eight hours
of sun and I'm gonna have to check it, but I'm.

Speaker 7 (37:05):
Almost sure six. But yeah, all right, I'm shaky.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Good luck, you bet, Good luck, Chris. I appreciate that. Hey, listen,
our soil moves around here. We got clays. It gets
dry at shrinks, it gets wet as swells. It causes
problems for our foundations. I want to tell you about it.
Hang around when we come back from break. I want
to tell you about a place called fixed my slab.
These folks are professionals. They know what they're doing. So

(37:35):
I'm I was talking with Tye Strigling the other day
from there. I was like, Tie is just he's an
expert man. He knows what he's talking about. I want
to tell you a little bit about that when we
come back in the meantime, if you would like to
go ahead and call and get on the boards, that's
one way to get at the front of the line
before we enter our next hour. It's seven one three

(37:57):
two one two fifty eight seventy four seven one three
two one two five eight seven four cale we'll talk
about that. I want to remind you my schedules are
online at gardening with Skip dot com, as well as
a lot of other helpful information.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Be right back, Welcome to kt r H garden Line
with Skip. Ricord's shoes man Crazy.

Speaker 5 (38:28):
Gas can trim.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
You just watch him as woo.

Speaker 5 (38:38):
Us many goas to see botasy gas gas back again
not a sign credit gas gas sun Beamon down between.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
Hey I'm back. Are you ready to go? Let's kick
off this second hour of Gardenline this morning. Start off
giving you a phone number seven one three two one
two five eight seven four if you'd like to give
me a call. Be happy to visit with you about that.
You had a call earlier about a pluot. Uh. Some
of you may not be familiar with that, but a pluot.

(39:20):
Chris also mentioned plumcot. It's a cross. Number of years ago,
a guy named uh Floyd I believe Zager is the
last name, Lloyd or Floyd anyway, in California found a
way to cross the different species of stone fruits. Stone
fruits are the ones with the pits in them, So cherries, plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines,

(39:43):
those are all stone fruit anyway. They when you cross
a plum with an apricot, you get a plumcot or
a pluot, if you want to go that way. Uh. Anyway,
these varieties are kind of unique, they are. These species
crossed species are kind of unique. And we don't grow
them a lot down here. They're not that many of
them out there, and you gotta get the right chilling

(40:06):
hours and everything like that. But that certainly is an option.
So kind of cool to get a call about that.
Before we went to break, I was talking about fixing
my slab foundation repair. And Ty Strickland, who's been doing
foundation repair for over twenty five years, tis a native Houstonian,
fifth generation Texan, lived in this area a long long time,
and he knows our soils and he knows foundations and

(40:29):
in fact, beyond foundations. You know that driveway, that sidewalk,
those kind of structures that when you start taking a
clay soil and getting it wet and getting it dry,
it shrinks and swells and the power is incredible. You
see water line breaks, you know downtown Remember a number
of years ago during a very droughty summer, they were

(40:51):
just going everwhere trying to fix water line breaks and
main streets. And the clay it has a powerful force
that just cracks foundations and slabs, waterlines and other things.
And I understands that, and he he, he told me
and that I hadn't thought about this, because we'll all
foundations have some sort of little crack in them in time.
That's gonna happen. It's not that there is a crack,

(41:13):
it's that isn't moving and is it is it causing
a problem? And when you see your sheet rock cracking inside,
when you see your bricks cracking on the outside. Okay,
now we got some movement. We need to look into that.
And maybe a door is sticking and sometimes it sticks,
sometimes it doesn't. Well, that's that movement of the house
and we don't want that. I'll come out as a

(41:34):
guardenline listener. He's going to give you a free estimate.
He is going to look it over, and he's gonna
shoot straight with you and tell you this is something
that needs to be done, and here's what it's gonna
take to fix your slab. Because he understands everything's different.
Every situation is different, U, so you have to assess
them individually. Uh, And he'll tell you if it doesn't
need it, so let's watch it. It's okay for now,

(41:55):
let's watch it. Or he'll give you advice on things
you can do to help minimize that movement in the slab.
But anyway, when he does come in to do his work,
he's going to show up when he says he is.
Isn't that a pleasant and refreshing thought when you have
service people come to the house he's going to charge
you a fair price and he's gonna fix it right.

(42:15):
And that's what fix my slab is all about. Fixmislab
dot com is his website. Go check it out. Two
eight one two fy five forty nine forty nine to
eight one forty nine forty nine. I was like visiting
with him. I always learned something when I visit with him, too.
Kind of cool. We had him on this summer this

(42:36):
past summer. Well, if anything you need for your lawn
and garden and landscape and the way of fertilizers, pest control,
weed control, you got tools, you're looking to get, Southwest
Fertilizer it's a place to go because they got it all.
They got it all right there a corner of Byssinet
and Runwick. I like going in there because I've been

(42:57):
in one hundred times. But every time I go in,
I just to make the loop around the store and
go up and down the aisle looking at what they got.
Because if there's anything new on the market, anything that's
gonna work, going to be effective, Bob's going to get
it in there at Southwest Fertilizer. They're going to make
sure that they have it. So when you come in
and you bring them a weed and a bag and

(43:17):
you're trying to control it and it's all over your yard.
They'll look at it, they'll know what it is. They'll
point you in the right direction, and they'll not just
give you the option, but the options for managing it,
because Bob carries enough stuff where it's not like, oh,
there's only one thing you can use for that, although
there are some leads that are that way, but in general,
he's going to have options for you. We're entering the

(43:39):
holiday season and I'm telling you, if there's a gardener
on your list, or if you're a gardener and you
want to give your little hint list to the people
around you, you need to go buy Southwest Fertilizer and
check out their tool lines like Felco and Corona. The
kneeling bench that I like so much is there as well,
and Bob's got plenty of things like that. He also

(43:59):
got seed, and he's got bulk seed, not just by
the packet, but by the bulk. You take a little
scoop and you scoop it out and put it in
an envelope. That is the most economical way you come
buy seed. And then out front. He's always got seasonal plants.
You know, you need your vegetables and your herbs and things.
He's got those out front when you come in. But
you just got to go by there Southwest Fertilizer corner

(44:20):
of this and that and run with the website Southwest
Fertilizer dot com. Southwest Fertilizer dot com. We are we
are in the on the verge of getting our first
freezer frost. You never know when that's going to occur,
but when it does, you need to be ready for it.

(44:41):
And I would recommend this is like a word to
the wise, a word that what you know, the thing
where people say do as I say, not as I do.
If I told you how many times over my life
that it has been a coal front blowing in, maybe
it's even the day the coal front is blowing in

(45:03):
and I'm out there trying to cover plants in the
cold wind with a piece of plastic and doing the
things I'm doing, or blankets or whatever it is. Oh boy,
don't be that person. Now, Why you can still shop,
get your covers for the plants, get your heat lamps
and your extension cords and all the kind of stuff

(45:25):
you need. You're going to make a PVC frame to
hold the cover over it. Get all that stuff done.
I was just shopping the other day trying to decide
what type of a support I'm gonna make. I've got
a couple of different ideas in mind for some centrist
trees that I put in this past year, but get
it done ahead of time. I have a publication online.

(45:46):
It's called Well It's about protecting plants from frosts and
freezes in your landscape. It's one that I co authored,
and in fact, yesterday, late yesterday, I put a Facebook
post up that I think you ought to go check out.
It points you to that publication. But in the post,

(46:07):
I talked about a pattern in the grass that's caused
by frost, and I'm going to come back to that.
I don't want to sidetrack for my side trucks. But
in it I pointed to that publication. There's a direct
link there to it. It's on my website, but go
ahead and get it now and read it now. It's
like nine pages with full color pictures and everything, and

(46:27):
we go into the details about what's the difference between
a frost and a freeze and how do you protect plants.
What are the principles that make it effective or not effective?
As you're trying to protect plants, and you need to
check that out because the season is coming, and don't
wait until the blue norther is blowing right across your
property to start thinking about gathering supplies. And how do

(46:51):
you properly protect a plant? Because I see so many
people that do it the wrong way or do it
various wrong ways, and they're just not going to get
as much benefit from it as if they do it
the right way. Stack a little break, we'll be right
back here we go. Hey, welcome back, Welcome back to
the garden line. Hey, we got things to talk about today,

(47:15):
and I bet you have a question. Well, how about
how about a phone number that can call seven one
three two fifty eight seventy four seven one three two
one two five A seven four. All right, Hey, if
you were in Kingwood or anywhere around that region, you
need to get over to Warren's Garden Warren Southern Gardens

(47:38):
uh in Kingwood Garden Center. Warrens is on North Park,
Kingwood's on Stone Hollow. Both of them open seven days
a week, and boy or they they are loaded for
bear when it comes to the holiday season. Right now
they have gotten in gotten they at Warrens and at
Kingwood Garden Center. Uh, they have received their shipment of
Point Settas. That is unbelievable. Oh my gosh, so many

(48:01):
remember when point said is you got to choose a
red or a red that red was your option. Now,
oh my gosh, pink's and almost a corally looking color.
And then the swirls and the splotches and the decorations
that it is just it is just amazing what breeders
have done with Pointsetts. And they have a nice arrangement

(48:22):
of all that at Warren's Southern Gardens Kingwood Garden Center
as well. If you have not stopped by, I've been
telling you about these houseplants that are out there, kind
of the collector's corner types of things. House plants that
may maybe you knew a gardener that loves houseplants. They're
gonna have houseplints your friend doesn't have. They just do.
It's amazing some of the specialty things they call it

(48:45):
the collector's corner that are just different and they're really cool.
While you're there. Also, while you're there, pick up some herbs,
They make great gifts, they really do. You know, you
got somebody coming over for Thanksgiving, and why not put
a little roseman or a little time plant, put it
in some little decorative paper foil or whatever on the bottom,

(49:06):
put a little bow on it, even at the very least,
and have one of everybody's table or everybody's place setting.
And that's just for them to take home something they
can kind of reach out and touch and smell during
the meal. It's a freshing smell. I think it'd be
a good idea. And plus, you need to be getting
your own herb garden planted, whether that herb garden is
a container or whether you know it is a large bed,

(49:30):
or whether it's a really nice, decorated, beautiful, geometrically designed garden.
They've got you covered at Warren's and at Kingwoo Garden
Center both. I've got myerland now and we're going to
visit with John this morning. Hey John, welcome to garden Line.

Speaker 10 (49:50):
Aw Stip.

Speaker 6 (49:51):
You hit a bit of a nerve a minute ago.
Back in twenty til I planted citrus trees. I got
big and beautiful, and I had linens and limes and
key limes and pink grapefruits. But it seems like since
twenty seventeen, no matter what I do to try to

(50:14):
keep stuff warm, you know, the electricity goes out. So
I always wondering. You know, raised beds are kind of porous,
and I'm not averse to spending a little bit of money.
Do you think like a tankless water heater and running

(50:35):
some pecks around the root balls might keep them alive?

Speaker 2 (50:44):
In greenhouse large greenhouse operations, you will sometimes see a
table above the ground and there's a little tube going
through the table, you know, kind of like the tubes
going through your radiator on the car, are back and
forth all over, and they run warm water through there
and so that the plants that are sitting on there

(51:07):
are getting the warmth from that from the warm water. Now,
that would require a gas operated if electricity loss is
your probable. You don't want electrical heat to the water,
but you could do that something. Also when water lose,
when water starts to freeze, it gives off a little bit,

(51:28):
a tiny bit of heat in that process. And if
you were to have a like a I'll just go
to an extreme, a large barrel of water or a
large rubber made trash can full of water right beside
your citrus trees underneath there, really close to them, not
three feet away, and then you had a cover that

(51:50):
prevented any air movement, you would get a considerable amount
of benefit. It's not going to keep them from freezing,
and if the wind's blowing through, it's not going to
do any thing at all. But if you can create
a dead air space and have that water in there,
even if you start to get some freezing, it will
it will help. I've used that same principle on tomato
plants with gallon milk jugs filled with water, one up

(52:12):
against each side of a tomato plant with a clear
cover over it. So there are some techniques you have
that are that are power outage proof. They're not as good,
but but they can help in a pinch.

Speaker 6 (52:25):
I have a foot walls, and I you know, I've
put the tarps up and and I've even tried putting
the grill up under there, but it's a pretty big
area and I only had a fund grilled.

Speaker 10 (52:39):
So yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
Well maybe moving moving the air, maybe moving the air
a little bit underneath there, uh you know, would be
helpful so that the warmth is evenly distributed underneath there
that anyway, those are those are some things and then

(53:03):
the only other thing would be to have a generator
that backs up your power. But yeah, I understand.

Speaker 6 (53:10):
Now, all right, Well, thanks for the feedby you.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Bet John, Thank you for the call. I appreciate that.
Good luck taking care of those plants over the wintertime.
Nature's Way Resources two acre Garden center out there. So
if you have met out to Nature's Way, you got
to get by. It's on the way up toward Conra
up enter State forty five. You get almost Conro, you
cross over the railroad tracks to the right and it's

(53:37):
right there on Sherbrooke Circle, just right down the website.
Everything you need to know is there Nature's Way Resources
dot com, Nature's Way Resources dot com. For those of
you down in the Houston area, there's one or two
places now that are carrying their fine leafmole compost and
you might just talk to Nature's Way and see, you know,

(53:58):
where where can you find that bulk. There's a couple
of places around town that have that, but I would
recommend just going up there and getting It's not that far.
You can buy their products by the bag around town,
and you can also have them deliver That is yet
another option for you. The main thing is just know this.
It's quality products. You know. John Ferguson, who recently has passed,

(54:21):
He created a series of products that are designed to
be just like what nature does and to create the
environment for the roots for success with plants. Nature's Way
resources and our hearts do go out still. I want
to say to John's family, to Ian and all the family,
to the folks at Nature's Way Resources at work there.

(54:44):
It's a bit a big, humongous loss for the family,
for the friends, and I think for the gardening world
around here because in so many ways John influenced the
way that we understand how to grow plants successfully Nature's
Way Resources. Our phone number here at garden Line, if
you'd like to give me a call, is seven one

(55:04):
three two one two five eight seven four seven one
three two one two fifty eight seventy four. I recently,
not too long ago, it was down at Enchanted Forest.
I love to go down there to Enchanted Forest because
you just it's just a great place to go and wander.

(55:25):
And I'm a garden center wanderer. Okay, do you know
what I'm what I'm saying. When I say that, I
mean I love to just go to a garden center
and just walk around and look at plants and take
in things and read the tags and see what's going on.
Visit with the garden center folks there and in chanted
gardens in channed Forest is a great way to go

(55:47):
do that. Uh, you go down there and you visit
with Danny, you visit with Clay, visit with the team
down there. You're gonna get good advice. You're gonna get
really good advice all right. Now. By the way, they've
got their ten to fifteen onions onions that's an onion
transplants rather or in the point settas the Christmas trees.
They're all there waiting for you to come by and

(56:08):
pick them up and everything that they always have. You know,
you're always going to find good housepunch. You're always going
to find herbs and vegetables and annual flowers, and you're
always going to find shrubs and trees. You know, now's
the time to get that spring blooming tree planted, that
shade tree planted, or that beautiful shrub. Get them planted now.
Even perennials. Now's the time to get it done, and

(56:30):
all you had is run over to Enchanted Forest, which
is on FM twenty seven fifty nine just outside of Richmond, Texas,
FM twenty seven to fifty nine. Here's the website. Write
this down please. This is where you find out everything
you need, including any classes they have going on, and
they do that from time to time. Out there. It

(56:51):
is Enchanted Forest, RICHMONDTX dot com. Enchanted Forest, Richmond, TX
dot com. Go say hi. Talk to the folks out there.
They are enthusiastic and they're friendly, and I always love

(57:11):
going out there to visit with the folks. You're listening
to garden Line. I'm your host, Skip Richter, and we're
here to help you have success. That is my goal.
I want gardening to be fun. I want you to
feel good about what you accomplish. And all you do
is learn to see things from a plant's point of view.

(57:33):
Learn to see them from a plant's point of view,
and that's how we have success. People say, I don't
have a green thumb, blowney, it's not the color of
your thumb. There's no such thing as a green thumb.
There's not. You just need to give a plant what
a plant wants and your thumb starts to turn green.
So bring your thumb to garden Line. Let's sit down
and talk. We'll get your thumbs straightened out. Pest Bros

(57:55):
Our pest control company. We talk about them all the
time here on garden Line for any kind of pest
manager you need in your house. And you got terminits
and cockroaches and all those kinds of things. Right now,
the critters, the four leggeds are trying to get in.
They want a warm place to be. You do not
need rats or mice or raccoons or whatever and your
attic or crawling through the walls. Pest Bros Can come out.

(58:16):
They'll do a very thorough analysis, so show you exactly
where pests are coming in and they'll shut that process down.
They know how to block them out and what to
look for. Dpestbros dot com, dpestbros dot com. Two eight
one two o six forty six seventy Let me give
you one more time two eight one two o six

(58:37):
four six seven zero take a little break. There we go.
All right, we're back by the way, welcome back to
guard Like, hey, a minute ago, get that music down
a little bit, A little bit ago. I was talking

(58:58):
about Nature's Way Resources and I didn't mention that they're
having their semi annual nursery clear out sale. So now
now through the twenty six which is just a few
days from now, the entire nursery stock is thirty percent
off and they have an excellent selection natives too, by

(59:18):
the way out there as part of their nursery stock.
But if you're looking for a great opportunity to get
a great price for the best time to plant plants,
head out to Nature's Way resoarch check out that semi
annual nursery sale clear out really really cool. You can
go to Nature's Resources dot com and find out more
information about them there. Let's head out to talk to

(59:40):
Trish now this morning. Hey Trish, welcome to garden Line.

Speaker 7 (59:44):
Good morning.

Speaker 12 (59:46):
I have some raised beds. They're not they're in close
proximity to some oaks and a crape myrtle.

Speaker 13 (59:54):
But I have a whole lot of.

Speaker 12 (59:58):
Roots in the beds.

Speaker 13 (01:00:02):
Is that from the trees?

Speaker 14 (01:00:03):
And do how far do.

Speaker 12 (01:00:04):
I need to move those beds away from the root
system of a tree?

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Well, it's not going to be the tree roots can
go up the two and a half times the height
of the tree in all directions, So in other words,
there's nowhere to move those beds. The closer one part
of the tree, the more roots that you're going to have.
But what happens is you've got beautiful soil with good
nutrients and you're keeping it moist to keep all the
plants in the bed happy, and that tree understands this

(01:00:33):
is the place to hang out and it builds a
root system in that area because of what you have.
So what you would have to do is maybe go
around the bed and do kind of a cutting of
the roots of the tree going straight down. Some people
will trench to cut the roots. Some people will just
use their shovels that have like a saw tooth on

(01:00:54):
the side of the shovel. It's called a root slayer.
But the only way to deal with that would be
to go outside the bed and cut the roots.

Speaker 7 (01:01:02):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
And but then the tree will begin to grow new
ones in. So you have to do that periodically. I've
got tree roots that are getting into my beds and
I need I need to get out and do some
some of that around it. It's a lot of work,
and most people don't bother with it.

Speaker 14 (01:01:17):
Okay.

Speaker 12 (01:01:20):
And then alternative to move it's to move it far away.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Yeah, yeah, far away. But but the but the work
of moving the bed because you're gonna have to get
that soil out and all the roots that are in
the soil and stuff. It's probably more work. But anyway,
if you if you can do some of that, just
some cutting and stuff, that's about the only thing. Or

(01:01:46):
you're just gonna give them a lot of extra water
and nutrients because the tree roots are going to proliferate
where there's water.

Speaker 13 (01:01:52):
I guess I can make higher I can make higher
raised beds.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
Well, the roots are just gonna come up in them.

Speaker 12 (01:02:01):
So yeah, and so well either way, okay, all right, well,
thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Wonder all right, takes a lot. First time I heard
that on garden Line. There you go, Hey, the arbor Gate,
you know that is just an outstanding garden center, really cool,
really cool. Well, at the arbor Gate, you're going to
find right now some of the freshest, best trees in

(01:02:29):
the world. They had their trees shipped in from the
Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, U and they do
Fraser fur Fraser firs have nice short needles there. They're
they're soft and pliable, but they have plenty of branches
in there for a nice, thick, dense tree. It's just
gorgeous and I would suggest why not take your family
out to the arbor Gate for your holiday tradition of

(01:02:50):
choosing the perfect freshest tree available. They they got them in.
I mean these trees, they were like they made a
bee line when they were cut. They came straight to Arburgate.
They're there there. They've been taking care of them at
Arbrogate and not let them dry out. You get by
there and you get them, you take them home, you
take care of them. You're gonna have a tree that's
gonna last a while. So anyway, beautiful, deep bringing color

(01:03:13):
and that refreshing fragrance of the mountains that comes in
with your fraser fur from the folks at the Arborgate.
Take the kids out. Make this a big tradition right
every year that we do. While you're at the arbor Gate,
check out all the other things they have, you know,
the you know, the ribbons and tinsil and things like
that we decorate inside with. They have things like that

(01:03:34):
that you can put in containers outside and then just
decorating around the entrance and the landscape and everything. You
just need to go by and see it. Talked to Beverly,
talked to one of the folks out there at Arburgate.
And so I want to see some of the decorations
that I heard about, you know, for creating wreaths, for
creating even decorating a container outside the front of the house.

(01:03:55):
They've got you covered for that. And also while you're there,
grab some of the garlic. I believe they still have
some on hand. Now's the time to get it planted.
And you're thinking, I don't have a garden, it doesn't matter.
You got a sunny spot. Put some garlic in it.
You'll be harvesting it next spring and it'll be really
cool to have your own homegrown garlic. Let's go now
to Jersey Village and talk to George. Hey, George, welcome

(01:04:17):
bout your guard line.

Speaker 7 (01:04:18):
Yeah, good morning, Skip. I want to talk to you
about a tree.

Speaker 9 (01:04:21):
We get this.

Speaker 7 (01:04:21):
Enormous snavy look I think his name was. They call
them just pushing up the driveway and the walkway and
everything else around the house. So we're going to take
it out and put something else.

Speaker 9 (01:04:31):
In this place.

Speaker 7 (01:04:34):
And we is there something with trees roofs don't do
that so much as the other ones.

Speaker 15 (01:04:39):
And then.

Speaker 7 (01:04:42):
See do you have a recommended version that sells that
does that kind of work? As now a good time
to go ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
Yeah, you're talking about does the work of taking the
tree out and putting.

Speaker 7 (01:04:57):
A new You know a lot of people do that,
but who who brings it new one over and then
puts it in the ground too?

Speaker 9 (01:05:03):
For us?

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
Okay, as far as bringing a new one over, you
were in Jersey Village and I mean just just down
to two ninety there from you is uh RCW Nurse Street. Yeah,
and RCW grows their own trees up in Plannersville and
they do come out and plant them for you. So
that's just down the street and they can come out

(01:05:25):
and do that. As far as trees doing that, any
tree is going to have roots up somewhat near the surface.
Some are worse about it than others. But it's time.
That's the problem.

Speaker 9 (01:05:37):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
You get a little root the size of a spaghetti
that goes under a sidewalk, and year after year after year,
that root grows in diameter as it gets as big
as your arm or as big as your leg. Well,
it's going to lift up that sidewalk a period. The
only alternative would be to have some sort of a
root barrier. It's like a wall in the ground, a

(01:05:57):
vertical wall in the ground that the roots hit it
and they have to go down or sideways or something. Uh,
and that that can avoid that spaghetti growing into something
the size your arm that I just described, and so
that that would be the only approach. Are occasionally cutting
the roots, you know, just every few years cut her

(01:06:18):
so away from the sidewalk, you just cut them.

Speaker 7 (01:06:22):
So is now the time to do this? To plant
a new tree?

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
The best time, This is prime time to get that done.
Winners also good falls, even better.

Speaker 7 (01:06:34):
Respon and how much my wife trees like a tulip poplar.
She likes that thing. It's pretty and she likes what
just looking at the on the back of my head,
the Chinese fringe tree. Is that what that thing says?

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
Chinese fringe is a medium size Yeah, Chinese fringe is
a medium size spring blooming tree that I love it.
It doesn't get too big, it grow slow, but it
has beautiful shaggy white ballooms that have a wonderful fragrance.
I would highly recommend it, and being a smaller stature tree,
you're not going to end up with roots that are
as huge as you would on a giant shade tree.

(01:07:13):
So Chinese fringe would be a better, better one to
plant in the vicinity of the sidewalk. I still would
get it away from the sidewalk as much as possible.
And as far as the tulip, those are good. Those
are huge, huge trees. Very now when we say tulip,
we're talking about a tulip magnolia or a tulip pop

(01:07:35):
the tulip poplar. Okay, yeah, it's okay. I think I
would just talk to the folks at r CW because
they're gonna have a nice selection and they'll be able
to recommend some that they have had success with here
locally for you. So that that's the approach I would
take for it. I'm up. I'm up against a break now, George.
But thank you for the calling, good luck, thanks for

(01:07:56):
calling before you planted. You now you can pick out
a good one. All right, there you go, All right, folks,
we'll be right back there. You go. All folks, welcome
back to guard Line. What are you gonna talk about today?

Speaker 9 (01:08:17):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
The best shows are the ones where you call in
because your question is a question somebody else has and
I I'm trying to find the right words here. It
is frustrating to me to talk to folks and they go, yeah,
I would call in, but I don't want to be
on the air. Listen. If you listen to guard Line

(01:08:40):
for five minutes, you know that I am gentle and
kind of my callers, and nobody there's no stupid questions.
There's only stupid answers. So the pressure's on me. How
about that. Let's look at it that way. Uh So
you call about your question, because I'll tell you this,
you're sitting there with some question, and there are other
people that when they hear the question and the answer,

(01:09:02):
they're gonna benefit from it. They're gonna go, yeah, I've
got the same question. And I've been doing this for
oh gosh, over thirty five years now, and I've heard
questions over and over for every year for years. But
that's okay because we got new gardeners coming on. We've
got people that are getting more serious about gardening than they,

(01:09:23):
you know, than they were before, and so suddenly they're
finding out that there's a whole new, whole new world
out there that they're gonna they're gonna have questions about.
So feel free to give me a call. I'm just saying,
you know, I like repeat customer callers, but I like
new callers too, And give us a call. It'll all
work out. It'll be good. I don't worry about your question.

(01:09:44):
You'll be treated with respect. So there you go. But
I still I still go out and I talk to
people all the time, and they just don't want to
be in the air. And I understand the shyness of it.
But listen, nobody's listening. It's just you and me. No sweat,
it's just to me visiting. There we go, all right, Well,
the folks at Medina have so many excellent products, so

(01:10:06):
many excellent products that work. You know, I ever fall
really other times of the year as well. I talk
about the has to grow six to twelve six plant
food Medina haster grows six to twelve six plant food.
That is the Medina Soil Activator, original product they've had
super for stimulating the biological activity. It's got humate humic

(01:10:27):
acid in it.

Speaker 9 (01:10:28):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
Humus is the final decomposition stage of compost. Humus is
concentrated compost if you will. So you take the humic acid,
one of the natural occurring acids, humic acid that you
find in humus, and it is designed. This whole world
was designed to work for plants to grow, and it's

(01:10:48):
designed to enhance the soil, to improve soil structure, to
improve nutrient uptake for your plants. Then throw in some
seaweed extracts to stimulate the fruiting, stimulate the blooming. You
will find it. Seaweed has so many benefits to post
on that the other day. Excellent for folier application when
you got a product with seaweed in it. Anyway, Medina

(01:11:11):
six twelve six has to grow six twelve six, That
big number twelve in the middle, that's phosphorus for rooting.
You drench your soil your plants with that, and they're
going to do well. When I plant, I may sometimes
I'll just mix some up in a bucket and just
set the plant down in it and let it soak
in that way. Sometimes I'll put the plant in the

(01:11:31):
ground and I'll put a little soil around it just
a little, and then I'll drench that planting hole, fill
it up and drench it again, just to thoroughly soak
that planting hole with medina hash to grow six twelve six.
Do it again a week later, and again a week
after that. Three soakings of that and your plant. Don't
don't stand over the plant when you do this, because

(01:11:52):
it's going to grow so fast it's gonna hit you
in your chin and you don't want that. Now, just
stand back. Okay, it's a little bit of an exiit.
But this stuff does work, I know because they use it.
All Right, here comes the phones. We're going to go
out to Sugarland now and talk to Susan. Hey, Susan,
Welcome to garden line.

Speaker 11 (01:12:11):
Hi.

Speaker 13 (01:12:11):
Skip question about amaryllis. I have several that are in
pot Okay that I realized last year they kind of
sunk down and they didn't bloom because I think the bulb.

Speaker 7 (01:12:22):
Was covered too much.

Speaker 13 (01:12:23):
So I read where they're supposed to be taken out
of the elements, put somewhere where they can dry out
and then reintroduce in the spring.

Speaker 16 (01:12:31):
Is that correct?

Speaker 2 (01:12:34):
That's generally what's done late summer. But you can even
since yours are in pots. Oh, you have to just
lay the pot on its side. And that keeps rain
from getting in it and stuff, and they'll dry out
like that and then when we, you know, get into
September or October. Actually even you can set that plant
up and start watering it and it'll take off and

(01:12:56):
it'll do its thing now, so we're just left in
the ground and they do they do, okay, hmm.

Speaker 13 (01:13:03):
I never had luck with them in the ground. I
got some from a family friend in Illinois, and they
bloomed every year, and I seem as people's yards and
like a radical. They're not like a beautiful ameralds you
get for Christmas, but they're more of a I don't know.
They just they did well, but then all of a
sudden they were gone.

Speaker 14 (01:13:21):
They died.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
So were they when you said not like yeah, Susan,
when you said not like regular or the or the
bloom petals scrappier and not as fat as normal, Yes, yeah, okay,
that's what that's called Johnson's. Yeah, it's Johnson's Amarillis. You

(01:13:43):
might be able, uh, you might be able to get
those at a local garden center one of your enchanteds
down there. Uh in the Richmond Rosenberg area, they may
carry those. Uh, but Johnson's amarillas been passed around by
gardeners for years, and it is a outstanding naturalizing ameryllus

(01:14:03):
that you do not need to send through an end
of summer drought.

Speaker 13 (01:14:07):
That's and also I want to ask you another quick question.
I got a bag of muscari. I gave thirty away
to friends each friend, and.

Speaker 14 (01:14:14):
I've got like fifty of them left. How deep do
I plant those?

Speaker 2 (01:14:17):
Okay?

Speaker 14 (01:14:18):
And I want to put them at a pot.

Speaker 2 (01:14:21):
Those are tiny bulbs, so put them three times the
height of the bulb deep.

Speaker 9 (01:14:29):
Okay, very good?

Speaker 13 (01:14:30):
All right, Well that's all I needed.

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
You could even go you could even go for Yeah,
there you go. Thanks Susan, appreciate the call very much.
Heirloom soil products quality products. You can go out to
porter and get them. You can find them in by
the bag all over town. You can have them delivered
to you by the supersack, which is a qbic caard
sack that's set on your driveway, or by bulk delivery.

(01:14:54):
You got to check out their leaf mow compost, their
veggie and herb mix, their roses and other bloomers blend,
and all of these are outstanding. I've used them. I
know this, and without hesitation, I can tell you this
is an outstanding product. Go to Heirloomsoils dot com. Heirloomsoils
dot com. You'll find about all the products and all

(01:15:14):
the information that you need, and a really nice little
calculator if you're going to put in a raised bed,
tells you how much soil you can need to do it.
Airloomsoils dot com. Let's see. Let me look at my time.
I think we're running short on time. Okay, Chris and
Brenham and Rick out on the bottle of our We're
gonna have to hold you over and you'll be the

(01:15:35):
first two up and when we come back out of
our break. Just don't have enough time, but I don't
want to be able to give you adequate time for
your questions and things. Just a reminder, check out my website.
Go find the publication on protecting plants from cold damage,
how to do it, the differences in frosts and freezes,
and how you do it, how you protect a plant.

(01:15:58):
The whole science of it is right there, and if
you do it that way you have the best chance
of success. Now against a minor freeze on a cold,
still night, it's easy to protect plants. When you get
a blue northern and the winds going thirty miles an
hour sideways, and you know, yeah, that's a tough one.

(01:16:18):
That's a tough one. But how to protect them. Everything
you can do to get the best chance of success
is there. Remember also that we have tender perennials that
can get frozen out, ones that are kind of hardy
here but not fully hardy in some parts of the
listening area. If you mound up some mulch accomposed a

(01:16:38):
mulch over the surface of the crown of the plant.
Crown is the base where the stems come into the roots.
You sort of insulate that area and you can help
get those two and then you want to pull that
back in the spring when they are ready to begin growing.
There's just another tip. It's easy to do it that way.

Speaker 1 (01:16:57):
Welcome to krh guarden Line with Skip Rickardes.

Speaker 2 (01:17:03):
The crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:17:06):
Gas a shrimp.

Speaker 3 (01:17:09):
You just watch him as many births.

Speaker 5 (01:17:17):
To soup block crazy gas bagain not a sign glasses.

Speaker 14 (01:17:29):
And gas.

Speaker 4 (01:17:32):
Salmon starting and treat.

Speaker 2 (01:17:44):
All right, we're back, Hey, welcome back to the garden line.
Glad to have you with us. Uh folks at Greenpro
are professionals when it comes to core errating and compost,
top dressing your lawn as well as fertilizing your lawn.
You can have green Pro come out. They primarily service
the area in the northwest quadrant of Houston. That would

(01:18:06):
be Interstate forty five and I ten going out to
the west, creating a little quadrant there. So let me
be more specific. If you're in Spring or Cypress or
the Woodlands or Conrad or Willis or Montgomery or Magnolia
or Katie or West Easton, they cover all that area
through there. Now what they do is they come out
with their very expensive quality equipment and do a proper

(01:18:28):
corrodation pulling plugs out of the ground, followed by accomplist
top dressing with a special machine that spreads it nice
and even all over your yard. And I mentioned also
the fertilization which they can do, and it just breeds
life in your soil. It gets oxygen done in the soil,
the root systems are going to thrive. Organic matter and

(01:18:49):
nutrient goes down in those holes as well to further
stimulate the root system. And it's something that you'll find
it on my schedule Corrooration Green pro Texas eight three
two three five one zero zero three two. Let's go
out and out of Brenham and talk to Chris this morning. Hey, Chris,

(01:19:09):
welcome to garden Mine. Hey, Skip, thanks. I need some help.

Speaker 17 (01:19:13):
I'm getting frustrated with our fall garden we got planted
at our farm between chuckle Hill and Brenham. We've got
a lot of varieties of cabbage growing and probably one
to two plants a week seem to be dying. And
I'll inspect it and the leaves are drooped over both
my red and green cabbages, and so what that in
common is out touched the soil and there's a bunch

(01:19:35):
of ants, and so I don't know if it's the
ants killing it or if it's something else that is
attracting the ants. But I appreciate some help.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
Yeah, it's not the ants. Or have you tried pulling
any plants up and looking at the base of the
stem and the roots.

Speaker 9 (01:19:52):
I haven't.

Speaker 17 (01:19:53):
Some of them, it's like they'll sever off the base.

Speaker 2 (01:19:58):
And some Okay, here's it. Yeah, when the plant, when
the plants are really young, transplants, things like cutworms will
cut them off at the ground. That's something that can happen.
There's also some decays root rot decays that can get
in them, and you'll see the base of the stem

(01:20:20):
start to decaying. You'll see the or the root system
starting to decay. So when you see a plant first
start to wilt, if you can kind of lift it
up out of the ground, shake the soil loose, and
look at what you see, it's probably that the roots
are going first and therefore the top is following, you know,
with wilting, because it can't get water anymore. But the
adequate watering is important. I suspect you're already doing that,

(01:20:43):
but that's important. And I generally don't recommend fungicides for
these out there, but something there's one other possibility, and
that would be a soil insect. There's things called wireworms
or grubs or other things that feed underground. The wireworms
are oh gosh, they're about an eighth of an inch

(01:21:07):
across and they're typically about an inch long, and they
have a reddish tan look to them. So if you
see any of those, as you're sifting through the soil
around the roots, you see a bunch of severed roots.
That also will cause the wilting, because again they're cutting
loose connection to water. If you wanted to dig one up,

(01:21:30):
it's not the ants ants a fire. Ants in search
of water will sometimes chew into like an okra pod
to get some moisture and stuff from it, but ants
do not kill plants directly typically, So if you want
to do this, take a picture of some of the

(01:21:50):
plants showing what they look like, and then dig one up,
kind of shake the soil loose and lay it down
on a dark surface and take a picture. Email that
to me and let me look at it. Maybe I'll
see something else on the photo. I'd be glad to
continue helping with that. I'm going to put you on
hole Chris, and if you wish to do the email,
just hang on and my producer is gonna pick the
lineup and he'll give you an email thank you sir,

(01:22:14):
that that is frustrating to have, you know, nice new
transplants and you're looking forward to some good, good produce
and sometimes that that doesn't happen. Plants for all seasons.
Has stocked up on cool season color, the beautiful violas,
the beautiful pansies, so many different kinds of cool season

(01:22:36):
color plants that they carry there. I just think it's
it's outstanding to bring color into the cool season. Now
they've also stocked up recently. They've got a nice shipment
of beautiful, just gorgeous looking point set is in that
are just beautiful. I just saw the other day. Look

(01:22:56):
like they're getting some trees in and the and the
wreaths and things like that that are perfect for decorating.
You know, Plants for all Seasons is always gonna have
quality materials, always gonna have quality plants, and always gonna
have quality advice. If folks know what they're talking about,
they can guide you in to success. That is the
nice thing about a independent garden center staff. By what

(01:23:21):
we say, the mom and pops and the family, and
in the case of Plants for All Season, the Flaherty family,
it's a family operation since nineteen seventy three. Plants for
All Seasons dot com two eight, one, three, seven, six,
sixteen forty six. All right, let's head out to the
Bolivard Peninsula and we're going to talk to Chris this morning.
Are asking me Rick this morning. Welcome to the guarden Line.

Speaker 9 (01:23:43):
Rick, good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 18 (01:23:46):
I've got to I give some questions on I've grown
bogan vellus and I actually live in the Beaumont area
in north of Beaumont, and for the past couple of years,
I've got like five different colors or five or six
different colors of broken villas, and I've been for the
past couple.

Speaker 9 (01:24:04):
Of years, I've been, you know, doing my best to
take care of them in.

Speaker 18 (01:24:07):
The wintertime, take them in the garage to save them,
and then I bring them down. It's been a lot
of work. And I've decided to bring them down to
our beach cabin here on Bolivard Peninsula. And I brought
half of them down and uh, the ones their own
containers and so uh, one was two it was rooted down,
I guess one container. So I got it out and

(01:24:29):
planted it in the ground, and I didn't think it
did too well, but actual about a week or two
it it started new growth and it's it's coming back
to life and everything.

Speaker 9 (01:24:37):
And the others uh.

Speaker 18 (01:24:38):
There a couple of them are small plants coming out
of the small hanging containers.

Speaker 9 (01:24:44):
And then uh, and then I then I have a
couple of larger ones. But my question is, like I said,
I had.

Speaker 18 (01:24:50):
You know, a lot of work in my holding the
Beaumont area, and it's just too much work and it
freezes up there. So I brought them down and I
got one planet and the others and five different colors.
I noticed they kind of hit five different needs, you know,
each color. Just things like that, either there or I
just have different soil or whatever. But I keeping water
and they get enough stone. They seem to be doing okay.

(01:25:12):
But I just want to know how I can get
the best flower with these boatman they just down here
in the battle group.

Speaker 2 (01:25:22):
Okay, all right, Well, you want to get a b
Bovia fertilizer because it has the ratio of nutrients that
those plants are going to do well with. We have
some excellent products out there. I know that the folks
at night FoST make one. I know the folks at
Nelson Plant Food make one specifically for the boom and
begs and get them in little jars of nutrient. Uh
you want to They actually like to be a little

(01:25:44):
on the root mound side, and so you may initially
see just some luxuriant growth coming out next spring as
they are establishing in the soil where you planted them.
But but just be patient with them and time they
settle in and start to bloom really well. But the nutrients, right,
the water not not soggy wet. Make sure the containers

(01:26:05):
drain very well, but enough to keep the plant hydrated,
because we're not just trying to keep it surviving. We're
trying to We're trying to have it thrive and bloom,
and so water at some moisture for them, and and
lots of sun and the nutrients, and I think that
sets you up for success.

Speaker 9 (01:26:23):
And it's got good drainage, so I'm not worried about that.
I keep it water, but I don't over water.

Speaker 18 (01:26:30):
But gosh, uh but I was kind of thinking that,
you know, it's less likely to freeze down here than
it is up in the where I live, and so,
uh right, I'm just hoping. And what I'm trying to
do is, you know, I've seen some boven b is
in this area that looks beautiful, and so now I
do have the time to.

Speaker 9 (01:26:50):
Take care of them. I just wanted up some pointers
I do.

Speaker 18 (01:26:53):
Uh the fertilizers talking the fertilizer is talking about I
did buy someone and about a year or so ago,
member of the numbers the numbers, but right, uh, but
it seemed to contrast with what I've read That first
number was kind of low.

Speaker 2 (01:27:10):
Well, there's some range there, but just just go with one.
If you get a product from night Foss or or
from Nelson, it's going to work for you, and just
follow the instructions. Rick, I'm up against a very In fact,
I passed a hard break here. I need I need
to run, But good luck with it. Send me some
pictures as they as they get growing. I'd love to
see that. We'll be right back, folks. All right, let's

(01:27:33):
get time. We'll get back to the guard line here.
Appreciate you guys listening. If you'd like to give me
a call, the number is seven one three two one
two fifty eight seventy four seven one three, two one
two five eight seven four, which way we should. Micro

(01:27:54):
Life has so many outstanding products, both liquid and granular,
for whatever you want to You know, do you have
citrus and fruit trees, Get the orange bag. Do you
have azaleas and camellias and other acid loving plants, get
the red bag. Do you want to have a successful lawn,
well in the summer of the green bag and the

(01:28:16):
fall of the brown bag. That's kind of how it works.
Also the blue bag Microlife. Ultimately it's a hybrid product,
works real well. And then they have products that are
just designed to provide microbe boosts to plants, like the
bio Inoculate, kind of a burgundy colored bag. It's an
excellent product, works very very well. So whatever way you go,

(01:28:38):
just do it. You know, indoors, I always have the
Biomatrix on hand. It's a seven to one three which
is a higher nitrogen and I use it diluted in
water as an ongoing way of water in the plants.
You can fertilize occasionally with it, or you can just
dilute it and keep every time you water, you put
it down, and I found good success with it. Most

(01:29:00):
of our indoor plants or foliage type plants, they need
the extra boost of nitrogen to do well. And microlte
Biometrix it's an orange label liquid that you can find
all over the place. It works really really well. The
other day, I and in the backyard, I've got a

(01:29:21):
little area where I've put some bird I got bird
feeders and and provide them a source of water, which
by the way, birds need twelve months out of the year,
access to water, and if you make it easy for
them and have the water at your house, they're just
going to hang out there. And I always you know,
when I'm thinking about some other thing about the birds,

(01:29:43):
what I'm gonna do. But I always call my well
birds unlimited stores because that's the experts. They know what
they're talking about. They don't just sell bird seed. They
they know how to have success. And you know, questions
like well, what like the other day, I ask I
believe it's rich from the wildbird stores, like what about hummingbirds?
Are they still around? When do they migrate? And they say, no,

(01:30:04):
they're gone, except we get some roofous hummingbirds that hang
out here sometimes through the holidays. So go ahead and
leave a feeder out for them. That's the kind of
knowledge that you're going to get there. When it comes
to products, their seed is the highest quality you can
find anywhere. And here's what I mean by that. First
of all, they don't, let's say, expand the volume of

(01:30:28):
their seed with the little red bebies. I've seen bird
seed blends with seventy percent red bebes in them. Crazy amount.
Birds don't like that. I mean, if they're starting to depth,
they'll lead it. But that's not what draws them in
with wildbirds unlimited. By the way, those are called milow seeds.
Wildbirds doesn't do that. They don't put that in there
their mixes. They put in a mix what birds are

(01:30:50):
going to eat. And they have different blends if you
want to attract different types of birds. You know, blue
jay and eat the same thing that all little finch,
for example, would eat, And you can buy this specific blend. Now,
if you really want it neat and clean, you can
buy their No Mess blends. They have a little n
M after the name No Mess. The no Mess blends,

(01:31:12):
like the sunflowers in them, don't have shells around them,
so instead of having just empty sunflower shells under the feeder,
you have nothing clean. It's clean and neat. However you
want to go about it. If you're looking for a
suet for winter, it goes in a little cage, just
put on the maybe on the side of the bark
of a tree. They've got that. They've got every kind
of feeder, they have every kind of bird house. They

(01:31:34):
have everything you need, including information at your local wildbird store.
Now how do you find that store? Well, go to
wild WBU dot Com almost said wild Birds Unlimited. It's
just the initials WBU dot com forward slash, don't forget
forward slash. Houston. That's all the six stores that are

(01:31:55):
around here and those of you listening in the Greater
Houston area, places like Clear go to El Dorado Boulevard,
there's one there. Maybe you're in West Houston. How about
Memorial Drive, Kingwood Kingwood Drive down in Perland on East
Broadway in Southwest Houston South area, the bel Air Boulevard store.
And up in Cypress there's a storm Barker Cypress as well,

(01:32:18):
So it's not hard to find a wild Bird's Unlimited
store near you. Listen. It is a perfect gift one
year about my mother in law a hummingbird feeder from
there as a gift. It was beautiful, it was really nice,
and Wildbird's Unlimited is a great place to shop for
your holiday gifts. You're listening to the Guarden Line. The

(01:32:38):
phone number is seven one three two one two five
eight seven four seven one three two one two fifty
eight seventy four. It's always interesting how the phone's ring
and I realize, you know, all the listeners aren't sitting
in one room at least, I hope I have more
listeners than that, uh and saying okay, it's my turn
to call alcohol. But we get these waves of callers
where I'm trying to get to everybody, so you're not

(01:33:00):
sitting there waiting forever, and then all of a sudden
it'll just go go drive for a second. And it's like, man,
that would be a good time to call. But if
I say that on the air, then ten people try
to call it once and so I don't know. I
don't know which way to do it. We do have
some open lines right now. If you'd like to get
me a call, this would be a good time. One

(01:33:20):
of my favorite garden centers to go visit is Moss
Nursery down in Seabrook, Texas, And the reason is that
at Moss, it's just a wandering adventure through the coolest
plants and pottery that you're going to find so many
nice things as you wander around Moss Nursery. They're having

(01:33:42):
their open house on December sixth from ten to three.
They're gonna have artists and vendors, games and snacks, a
popcorn shop, a broad worst shop is going to be
in there, and if you go in on December sixth
from ten to three and purchase something, you can get

(01:34:04):
a free Christmas cactus while supplies last, so there's not
an unlimited supply. So go by and get there and
check it out. If you're looking for landscape art that
nobody else has in their yard, go to Moss Nursery
because they have all kinds of things. I just noticing
they had some like little teaky decorations, you know, with
the face kind of reminds me. Yeah, I don't know it.

(01:34:29):
I'm not going to say who it reminds me of,
but I know somebody that that refines me up. Anyway,
They got that the guy's a cool season color. They
got all kinds of things to attract the hummingbirds and
the bees. But boy, the yard art, the bling, it's outstanding.
Tons of statuary things and every other kind of feature

(01:34:51):
that you're gonna want in your landscape. Stop by there.
I told you once before that they carry the tea
camellia to the amelia that the leaves are dried to
make the standard type of what they call China tea.
The tea Camellia Camellia senensus so what a cool novel
plant to give somebody as a gift. Now there's an

(01:35:13):
idea that for somebody who loves tea. There you go,
all right, well, Moss Nursery, Toddville Road, Seabrook, Texas two
eight one four seven four twenty four eighty eight. I
like unusual plants, plants that not everybody has. Now I
have my staples, whether it's a tomato variety in the

(01:35:33):
vegetable garden. I got varieties that I like to grow
every year. But I always gotta try something new because
you never know the new one may become your favorite
one or one of your favorite ones in time. So
you just have to just have to do some experimenting around.
In the house plants, I love house plants. I've just
started getting into succulents a little bit more. My wife

(01:35:56):
likes succulents and so we've we've got some plantings of those.
But the tropicals, the foliage plants just gorgeous things are
all cool to have in the house, and in the
cool season, they bring life into the room instead of
a cold, sterile setting. When you put plants in, it

(01:36:16):
just changes, it changes the ambience of the room, and
I would recommend that you consider doing that. Pretty cool stuff.
For those of you who are doing house plants, remember this.
We kill more house plants by overwatering than by underwatering. Now,
underwatering is bad. The lot of them will wilt and

(01:36:38):
they'll drop all leaves and stuff. Some eventually die. But
overwatering overwatering them the soil stays soggy wet for an
extended period of time. Here come the root rots. Now
you've got a problem that's almost unfixable. So don't overwater
your plants. There's different ways to know if you're water
I use the weight test. I can pick up a

(01:36:59):
plant when I've watered it and I know how heavy
that pot is, and then when it gets dry you
pick it up. It's like ooh, there's a difference, and
I can use that. You can also use a pencil
sharpen a pencil, a freshly sharpened pencil, not one with
the oil of your hands all around the end of it,
freshly sharpened. Stick it down about two inches into the soil,

(01:37:20):
and then pull it out and it's like putting a
toothpick end to find out if your pound cakes ready.
You'll find little moist pieces of soil sticking to that
fresh cut surface. If it is indeed moist or you
just find it totally saturated because there's a water table
in there. But if it comes out all clean and dry,
well that tells you you need to give it a

(01:37:41):
good soaking. And you give it a good soaking and
then let it dry out again. That cycle is very important,
especially on houseplants. All right, well, here we go. The
phone's a buzz and I'm gonna take a little break here.
We're gonna have our news and I'll be right back
with your calls.

Speaker 9 (01:38:00):
There we go, Here you go.

Speaker 2 (01:38:11):
Hey, welcome back to Guardline. If you would like to
ask a gardening question, well, here is a phone number
seven one three two one two five eight seven four
seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four.
Plenty plenty, plenty of time to get that in. We've
got another hour and a half in the show today.

(01:38:34):
Santa Maltch is it is the place to go for
all kinds of quality. Soil blends absolutely, no hands down,
no questions asked. It is a place to go. Also
when you're in Sienna, you can just walk into the
building there and find all of the quality fertilizers you
hear me talk about from azamite, from Nelson's, from nitroposs,

(01:38:54):
from Medina, from microlife. It's all there. It is the
one stop shop to create the foundation for success. But
I'm trying. They keep expanding their options there. A good
while back they started offering the supersacks. That's a cubic
yard that is deliverable. You have to do. I think
it's a three super sacked minimum for delivery because hard

(01:39:17):
the hardest part of anybody providing you mult or compost
or whatever at your house is getting it there. A
very expensive process for companies to have to do that.
So there is a charge for the delivery, or you
can just go by there and pick them up. Uh,
and you can get it bulk too as well. They've
gotten in a lot of cool pottery, some really beautiful
things and some decorative things that when you go, you're

(01:39:40):
gonna want to You're gonna want to get those because
they're so beautiful. I have always been impressed with the
way that they treat people when they get there, the
friendly service, It is just it is just a fun
place to go and to check out. So I recommend
you do that here here's what you need to know.
Sienna Mulch dot com. Sienna Mulch dot com, go buy there.

(01:40:04):
Check out the outdoor decorations that they have and the
Veggo beds. Go inside the store and check out all
the cool things from soaps and candles and lotions, leather goods,
smart pots, all kinds of stuff inside the shop. Now
at Cienamulch. We're going to go now to Jersey Village
and talk to Walter this morning. Hey Walter, welcome to

(01:40:25):
garden line.

Speaker 19 (01:40:27):
Hei there. I bought thank you, different species of peachtrees
from harshw and I don't have a large shirt, and
I was wondering how close together is too close.

Speaker 7 (01:40:42):
To plant them?

Speaker 2 (01:40:45):
Well, there are different approaches to this. You know, in
a peach orchard, they're looking at an eighteen foot spacing
typically between trees I have planted on myself as close
as ten feet apart. There's going to be some overlap
of the branches, but you get your two trees together
that way. And then there's techniques where they're being grown

(01:41:12):
very close together. But it's like each tree is sort
of going out in its own. It's prune to kind
of go out in its own direction, so you get
the benefit of having different varieties ripening at different times,
but they've kind of been squeezed together where they're just
you know, a couple of feet apart or something like that.
The more you crowd them, the less overall production you're

(01:41:34):
going to get. You know, two trees with plenty of
spacing and sunlight are going to produce a lot more
than two trees that are crowded together. But there are
reasons to do it, including yours, which has had I
need space and I want more than one kind of peach.

Speaker 19 (01:41:48):
Okay, so I guess the guideline would be something like
ten feet apart at least.

Speaker 2 (01:41:55):
Well, yeah, if you can get them ten feet apart,
that is that is easy. You're going to have about
five feet from each tree going toward the other one,
so the pruning is going to send that tree a
little more upright on that side. But yeah, you can
do that. There's a lot of ways to do it.

(01:42:17):
Thank you, good luck. Enjoy them now. You know, I
don't charge for advice, girl, but I do expect half
the peaches you pick, so we'll nego share it that later. Okay, aye,
bye bye, there you go. Let's see here, let's go
to I said Gerald Walter, because I'm about to go
to Gerald and Crosby. Hey, Gerald, welcome to garden Line.

Speaker 9 (01:42:41):
Good morning, nurse. You know, hey, I have a question
about the's a minding this week?

Speaker 14 (01:42:46):
Ring?

Speaker 9 (01:42:47):
How how all can you put that down?

Speaker 2 (01:42:52):
Well? Here, here's the thing. Asmite is a micro nutrient supplement,
and you want adequate levels in the soil. You don't
want excessive levels in the soil. So it's not about
how often you can put it out is as often
as you want, but generally I would recommend about once
a year is probably adequate. There are situations where you

(01:43:14):
do more than that, and then there are situations where
you do less because the levels are already high enough
in the soil and the soil test is the only
way to know where you are on all those levels.
But I would say once a year is kind of
the general goal. Right, Okay, what was what was the

(01:43:36):
other Yeah? What was the other product? You mentioned? Sweeten? Yeah,
the sweet green is huh. Sweet green is an immediately
available fertilizer from the folks at Nitropos, And I say
immediately It dissolves the way into the soil and microbes
break that that sugar particle loose and release the nutrients

(01:44:00):
as well.

Speaker 6 (01:44:01):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:44:01):
So with that, I would say, depending on how much
you put out. Uh, let's say you're going into summertime.
That's when we are in the springtime, you would put
it out. If you did a moderate a very moderate dose,
you could do it again a month later, and a
GET a month later, and a get a month later.
If you put out more, then you're not going to

(01:44:22):
do it as often. But it is immediate, and so
you don't want to put too much out of a
time because you've got a real gully washer rain some
of those nutrients that dissolve fertilizers that dissolve away into
the soil, you can lose some of them put to
the nutrient washing away.

Speaker 9 (01:44:38):
Yeah, okay, I got one more.

Speaker 2 (01:44:43):
Is this a lawn we're talking about?

Speaker 20 (01:44:45):
Yeah, yes, go ahead, one of those plant. It's a
Queen of the Night plant. And okay, I had on
coming out.

Speaker 7 (01:45:00):
On our limbs.

Speaker 16 (01:45:01):
I guess you call them coming out about three or
four foot long. I mean, this thing blooms like crazy
this year. Uh Can I cut them off and plant
them without damaging my plant?

Speaker 9 (01:45:17):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:45:17):
Yeah, I won't hurt them at all. Now, I assume
when you say queen of the night, I'm assuming what
you're referring to is a night blooming cirrus.

Speaker 9 (01:45:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:45:29):
Yeah, are the flowers or the flowers kind of lots
of little white then petals and the stems.

Speaker 9 (01:45:38):
This thing and it blooms. It looks like a squid.
Uh it's I've got pictures of sand the people and
uh it's it's a weird looking bloom.

Speaker 16 (01:45:50):
But the bloom only lasts for one night and it
opens up like a big or huge blossom.

Speaker 9 (01:45:58):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:45:58):
And yeah, I still think we're talking about. Are the
stems flat on?

Speaker 13 (01:46:07):
It?

Speaker 7 (01:46:08):
Gerald flat?

Speaker 9 (01:46:11):
The kind of flat and flat down?

Speaker 7 (01:46:14):
Okay, I'll tell you what.

Speaker 2 (01:46:17):
Let's do this. I'm gonna put you on hold, and
I want to see a picture of the plant. And
if you can show me a picture of a bloom,
that's also even better. But let me take a look
at it and i'll reply back. I just want to
make sure what I'm picturing is what you have.

Speaker 16 (01:46:29):
Okay, Okay, Okay, well I'll have Well I'll have to
do is get my wive's phone because I just use
a little flip phone.

Speaker 7 (01:46:39):
So I'll have to.

Speaker 2 (01:46:41):
Yeah, so that's okay. You just just send me the
email at the address and just tell me I talk
to you on Guardline on Saturday and and and I'll
connect it. All right, Thank you, Gerald, Appreciate that. Appreciate it,
you bet, and right down in the email to write

(01:47:01):
down any question that you might have. All right, let's
take a little break. We'll be back for the last
segment of the hour. All right, folks, we're back. We're back.
Welcome back to the guard Line. We had to move
fast in this segment. Buchanan's Plants the websites buchanansplants dot com.

(01:47:22):
It's just one of those places you visit and you
want to hang out, you want to hang around. It's
on Eleventh Street and the Heights. I love going in
there every time I go into Buchanan's Native Plants. And
by the way, they have the best selection of natives
anywhere in the region. But they don't just have natives,
have lots of other kinds of plants. Right now, they

(01:47:43):
are stocked up on everything you need for your holiday decorations.
We're talking about Christmas trees, We're talking about ornaments that
are so gorgeous. You've never seen anything like them. That
are in their gift shop right there. Their holiday open
house is coming up. It is Saturday, December sixth, from
ten am to three pm. You need to write that down.
There's gonna be music, stuff for the kids to do.

(01:48:05):
Sat will be there. They always put on a shindig
there at Buchanan's Native Plants. Get bye there and check
it out. You will never have as beautiful of a
holiday decoration as you have when you stop by Buchanan's
Native Plants and get all of the cool stuff from
Quincetta's to Christmas trees, to holiday ornaments to you name it,

(01:48:26):
wreath and everything else. Let's head out now. We are
going to go up to Conroe and talk to Kyle. Hello, Kyle,
welcome to garden Line. Good morning, Skip. The last hurricane
that we really have year and a half. Two years ago,
I had a red bud tree kind of blow over

(01:48:47):
a little bit, leaned it and I tied it back
with a table and everything, and I was just wondering
how long I need to keep the cable on it
before I can take it down release it? Well, help,
what is the trunk diameter of that tree? Are we
talking about something like a Coca cola can or are
we talking about something smaller or bigger.

Speaker 7 (01:49:07):
It's about eight eight to ten inches around breast high.

Speaker 2 (01:49:12):
Oh okay, probably a long time. That's a lot of
weight and top to the tree. And for it to
have leaned, Uh, it's got to grow. It's got to
strengthen the roots that kind of got bent or twisted
or broken. Uh, and then it's got to grow, you know,
the root system to hold it up. You might try

(01:49:33):
taking the thing off and with your hand just kind
of wiggling around, see see what you think. But I
think it's gonna it's gonna take a few years probably
for it to have the stability that you're looking for.

Speaker 20 (01:49:45):
All right, Okay, Like I said, it's been a year
and a half, two years, so I was just tired
of seeing the cable.

Speaker 2 (01:49:51):
Yeah, I understand. And you know you can always just
take just take your chances on it. That's another option, Kyle,
all right, thank you. I appreciate that.

Speaker 10 (01:49:59):
Ca.

Speaker 2 (01:50:00):
Ace Hardware is all over the area. Ace Hardware stores
are all over the area. You can go to Ace
Hardware Texas dot com to find the one near you.
Right now, whatever you need for decorating from lights. Do
you name it? They got it at your local ACE
hardware store stores and places like Lake Conor Rice on

(01:50:21):
one oh five west of Conroe, jn Ours up in
Porter on FM thirteen fourteen, League City ACE on West,
League City down there and Rockport ACE on State Highway
thirty five north. And finally let's do this Hardware City.
I was zero a good while back on Memorial Drive
in Houston, just checking my timer. Here we're going to

(01:50:45):
go now to Ethyl Inviter. Hey, Ethel, Welcome to Gardner
High Skip.

Speaker 15 (01:50:51):
I had just sent three pictures via email of a
creeping jasmine that we have if I could get you
to It's an issue we have never had before.

Speaker 2 (01:51:06):
You're talking about the color of the foliage in your pictures.

Speaker 15 (01:51:11):
And yes, the red and then some of them are brown.
It seems like the plant is also getting thinner than
what it normally is. And the red and brown leaves
you just simply touch them lightly and they fall off.
And we've never had that before.

Speaker 2 (01:51:32):
Yeah, something is stressing that plant because it to defoliate.
It shouldn't defoliate. Now, all plants, even evergreens like the
jasmine Asian jasmine, you have. Their leaves only live a
certain amount of time and they fall off. When you
see the reddish color, that's usually a sign that's an

(01:51:53):
anthrasianin pigment in the leaf that is showing that beautiful,
beautiful red color. But it's it's part of that process.
I've never seen this specific thing. It's not a disease
and it's not an insect. So my first thought is,
how is the soil in the root system? You know,
are we talking about uh staying a little on the

(01:52:14):
wet side continually?

Speaker 4 (01:52:17):
Did it?

Speaker 2 (01:52:17):
Did it dry out on you?

Speaker 15 (01:52:23):
We're short of rain that my husband does go out
in water well the plants outside usually twice a week. Now,
it's not, you know, excessively wet that I'm aware of
because we're so short of rain.

Speaker 7 (01:52:39):
Mhm.

Speaker 2 (01:52:40):
Well, the fact that the end of the shoots and
the growth is still green and stuff. I think the
plant's okay. Just you might dig around and feel the
soil a few inches down around it, uh, just kind
of see how it's doing. Check the base of the
plant stem for anything that looks unusual on the base
of the plant stem. But I think they're going to
be okay. Let's uh, when spring comes and we get

(01:53:04):
some warmer temperatures, maybe get a little bit of fertilizer
to support some new growth coming out.

Speaker 15 (01:53:10):
Okay, but we should not fertilize it now. We normally
use microlives. Should we not do that now?

Speaker 2 (01:53:17):
Well, here's the thing. There's nothing wrong with doing it now,
but it's not gonna be vigorous in the cool season.
You know, that's when growth is very slowed, and so
when it does want to take off growing fertilizer you
put down now, a lot of it is going to
have moved on by the time it starts growing. So

(01:53:38):
that's why I just wait and do a little bit later.
Either way, though, you're not going to hurt it by
fertilizing it.

Speaker 15 (01:53:44):
Okay, all right, Well hopefully it will. Hopefully it'll it'll
make it. My sister gave it to me and it's
always been so pretty, so we just never encountered this
issue before. So okay, thank you for your health. I
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:54:01):
All right, thank you appreciate that. I'm going to go now,
and I'm pretty much out of time, Jody, but I
want I'm going to hold you over, but I'd like
to at least give you a chance to start your question,
uh before we go to break.

Speaker 21 (01:54:16):
Yes, sir, I've got a scene every senyard. I take
a lot of pride in and probably get three or
four inches stick and I'll mult it when I'm mowed.
But now got runners six eighteen twenty inch runners on.

Speaker 9 (01:54:28):
Top all over the place?

Speaker 21 (01:54:29):
How do I got you remove those? And then how
do I prevent it from happening again?

Speaker 2 (01:54:36):
Okay, Well, that that's a good question, and we're going
to discuss that one a little bit. We're out of
we're running out of time on this, but I did
want to get your question. Hang on and we'll come back,
because that's a common thing. I've even had that happen
in my yard, Jody, So just hang on a little
bit and we'll be back with you and some more information.

Speaker 18 (01:54:54):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:54:54):
You're listening to garden Line the phone number seven one
three two one two five Age seven or guess what
we got One more hour today, one more hour today.
We'll be back tomorrow morning, six a m. Again. Got
a question. It's good time.

Speaker 1 (01:55:12):
Welcome to Katy r. H. Garden Line with Skip Rictores.

Speaker 2 (01:55:17):
The Crazy Gas can use a trim.

Speaker 4 (01:55:24):
You can just watch him as world googles g gas.

Speaker 3 (01:55:30):
That was so many bodies to sup basic in bays
like gas you dad boscobles back again.

Speaker 5 (01:55:40):
They're not a sid credit the gases.

Speaker 7 (01:55:43):
Gas and.

Speaker 5 (01:55:46):
Sun bemon down between.

Speaker 3 (01:55:50):
The gasses a gas.

Speaker 2 (01:55:54):
First starting alrighty, hey, welcome, welcome to garden Line. Glad
you're listening in with us today. What kind of questions
do you have? Kind of strange sound in my ears
is sure? What's causing that? Anyway, we're here to help

(01:56:16):
you have success. We welcome your calls at seven one three,
two one two, five, eight seven four. Right now we're
in the middle of a call with Jody at West
Columbia and so, Jody, before we went to break, you
described that your Saint Augustine runners are growing up on
top of the of the turf. Uh and uh, you

(01:56:37):
know what do you do about that? Maybe what causes it? Well,
one of the things that can can happen with Saint
Augustine is it gets it gets really dense, uh, and
the runners as a plant kind of comes up a
little bit in that In that density, the runners are
like pushed up and they're they're growing on the surface
and they have no way of getting a root down

(01:56:59):
to the soul up there. Uh, had the Saint Augustine
been maybe mote a little lower and maybe not fertilized
as quite as much, or extra fertilizer or extra water.
All all helps build density, but can create that that
kind of condition. And I've had it in my lawn. I'll,
you know, I'll reach down and just clip them off

(01:57:19):
or something like that. If they're up at the surface.
Sometimes a mower will lift them up and cut them up,
cut them off. If you've got a mower with really
good air movement, suction moving moving upward like that. Uh,
there's not a It's not caused by any disease or
insect or anything else. It's just a function of that
density of the lawn. So that that happens more in

(01:57:44):
some types of turf grass In the other is.

Speaker 21 (01:57:48):
That you need with that with that hip if I
did it that and not make my lord Lord look
my eggie for a while, But would that be hip
to kind of sand that grass out a little bit
or just mow a.

Speaker 2 (01:57:56):
Lower well that that is a that is a good question.

Speaker 11 (01:58:03):
The the.

Speaker 2 (01:58:05):
A true de thatching machine is not used on running
types of turf grass. It's used on clumping types like
the you would see further north, the bluegrass and fescue
and whatnot. On on running grasses, we use what's called
a vertic cutter, which imagine blades that are that are
operating just like an edge or blade, would you know,

(01:58:28):
up and down. It's it's rotating uh and and you
have those spaced out at a good distance and you
run through the lawn that way, and it's cutting runners
and stuff. It's a very stressing thing to the grass.
And do not do it now. Wait until that grass
has gotten out a spring and is strong and growing
and able to take that. But you could do a

(01:58:49):
vertic cutting on it. Doing compost top dressing helps reduce that.
Cutting back on nitrogen helps reduce that as well. Core
aeration is another way that we bring some swell up
and start to decompose that thatchy layer. But that's just
the bottom line. As you need to get that thatch
down and if you need to go with a verdicutting

(01:59:10):
you can. It can result in damage. It takes a
period to recuperate because you are slashing the heck out
of of that those grass plant runners.

Speaker 10 (01:59:19):
And it needs to be done in the spring when
when the gross is active.

Speaker 2 (01:59:26):
Yes, I would say late spring, you know, like let's
see West Columbia. I would I would probably look at
maybe late April, early May. So maybe late April early
May when it is really growing well in your area.

Speaker 8 (01:59:46):
All right, I was sure.

Speaker 21 (01:59:47):
Thank you skip, enjoy your show.

Speaker 2 (01:59:50):
All right, well, get ready to look at some ugly
for a good while too while it recuperates. But that's it.
Thanks for your call. That's a good question.

Speaker 9 (02:00:00):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (02:00:01):
Uh uh oh, all right, bye bye. It's funny. Uh
someone called about as earlier and asking about putting it out,
and asmite is chock full of all the micros that
we need to grow a healthy lawn.

Speaker 10 (02:00:17):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (02:00:17):
And then some over seventy seven known trace elements, and
as mite you put it out. It's small amounts, very
small amounts, because this is a micro nutrient. It's not
like nitrogen and phosphorus and potassium, where we were putting
a lot out over and over through the year. This
is we're supplementing. We're building a bank account in the
soil so that there's adequate supply of these particular nutrients

(02:00:42):
when the grass needs them, and the grass needs them
every day that it's when it's growing, and you're going
to find asmite in a lot of places around town.
You can go to azte Texas dot com. That's a
website where you can learn a lot more about it.
But not just for your lawn. I would use it
in your vegetable gardens as well. About per thousand square
feet and a vegetable garden or one pound per hundred

(02:01:04):
square feet, not much. Don't overdo it. You know, so
many really good things when we overdo them, become not
so good things. And so whether it's we control or
whether it's fertilizers or whatever it is, follow the label.
Do it like that and you're going to have success.
Azemite is an outstanding product mind out a Utah, very natural.

(02:01:26):
So it is I'm relisted, meaning it's allowed in official
organic production systems. All right, let's head out now to
Katie and we're going to talk to Greg. Hey, Greg,
welcome to garden Line.

Speaker 14 (02:01:40):
Good mornings hip, thanks for taking my call.

Speaker 7 (02:01:43):
I'm having a problem with some raised beds.

Speaker 14 (02:01:45):
I've got four raised beds that are two feet high,
four feet wide, eight feet long, and got vegetables and
let us or and something is.

Speaker 7 (02:01:54):
Tearing it up.

Speaker 14 (02:01:55):
I think it's a raccoon. It's not eating the vegetables,
but it's that ball of the soil and picking up
the vegetables that way. Is there anything I can do?
None or not options?

Speaker 2 (02:02:08):
Uh, so you're you're finding the soiled sort of rooted
up or dug up, and but but nothing, nothing is
trying to feed on the vegetables. Arm armadillos. Are they
these beds high enough where armadillos can't get in them?
I mean, are they beds with metal sides or something?

(02:02:29):
Or is this just a sloping bed.

Speaker 14 (02:02:32):
Raised straight up but it's two feet tall?

Speaker 2 (02:02:35):
That's uh, you know, just a wood armadillos. Yeah, okay,
well armadilla is not gonna get in that bed. So
sometimes skunks will root around a little bit looking for
grubs and other things. I'm trying to think of what else,
what other kind of critter might do that sort of thing.

Speaker 14 (02:02:55):
I see pictures on a different camera of possums and raccoons,
but I don't know if it's either as those.

Speaker 2 (02:03:03):
I don't know if raccoons is digging in the soil,
possums possibly looking for grubs or something like that. But
that is an unusual, unusual thing. You know, your options,
you know, just kind of ignore it and go on.
I know that's not an acceptable option. Another one would

(02:03:26):
be a little electrical fence around there, whatever's crawling up
in there, give them a good pop. That would be
an option. That's a lot of hassle and stuff.

Speaker 9 (02:03:36):
To do that.

Speaker 2 (02:03:38):
I don't know, since we don't know what's exactly doing it,
it's kind of hard to say what kind of a
scare away scent might work on them. That'd be a possibility.
There's a little gadget, not cheap, but a little gadget
called a scarecrow sprinkler that has a motion sensor, and
so when something moves in front of the sprinkler where

(02:03:58):
the sprinkler is looking that direction, it comes on for
about an eight second strafing of water. You know, there's
a lot of low machine gun of water going across there,
and that a lot of animals, you know, are scared
off by that. I don't know how long that would
be effective, but that is something used to keep varmits
out of an area. You just kind of have to
position it in the right way. Those are the best

(02:04:21):
or the options I can come up with none of
them are super appealing, but that those might work.

Speaker 7 (02:04:30):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (02:04:30):
Thank you, all right, you take care and keep that Colm.
That's a That is a I guess I could have suggested, Greg,
if you're still listening, I could have suggested maybe netting
as a possibility, but you'd have to secure it so
something wouldn't just kind of lift it up and go
under it. That might be a possibility to try. Good

(02:04:55):
good question, or you don't want to build a fence
around it. Take a little break here and we'll be
right back. All right, folks, we're back. Welcome back to
the garden line. Good to have you with us this morning. Listen,
up fall is the best time to plant. I think
that's probably one thousandths time I've said it. This fall

(02:05:17):
fall is the best time to plant. And right now
RCW is making that easy for you because they have
a heck of a sale going on. Thirty percent off
Ceterrius trees, excuse me, forty percent off Ceterris trees, thirty
percent off crpe myrtles and as and communities are fifteen
percent off. Get the plants, get them in the ground.

(02:05:37):
Now is the time to do it. Uh and if
you're looking for metal arbors, benches and yard arc, thirty
percent off that as well. At RCW, that's the garden
Center right where bilt Way eight comes into Tomball Parkway.
Easy access, easy and easy out. As I like to
put it h RCW nurseries dot Com. Main thing is
to get by there. Today be a great day to

(02:05:59):
do that too. Bud Way, you are listening to Guardenline.
We're here to help you have success. That is our
goal is to help you have success with what you
are growing here. I was out doing some prep work
for some planting that I need to do because I
don't ever PLoP a poor plant into an unprepared plot.

(02:06:21):
I take my own advice on this and I get
the soil right first. So I was getting the soil right,
make sure drainage is good, making sure the nutrient content
of the soil is good, the organic matter content of
the soil is good. And it just made me think
about something I don't talk about a lot, and I
do some, but not enough, and that is the importance

(02:06:41):
of expanded shale in a soil that is a heavy clay.
When you get a heavy clay soil, you can get
decomposed organic matter composed, and you can mix it in
and it does a wonderful job of helping the soil
form and from just a mass into smail small clumpings

(02:07:02):
of soil down a zoomed in level that is excellent.
But organic matter decomposes away, it becomes humous and it
ends up. It's a good thing to do, and in
fact it's an essential thing to do, but often in
a clay soil, over time it goes back to a
condition where it just is needing a little bit of

(02:07:24):
a loosening up an expanded shale if you put it
down thick, not just a little sprinkling of some shale.
But by the way, this stuff looks like remember the
old gray, dusty kitty litter the people used to use,
or the stuff you sprinkle on an oil spot in
a garage to soak up the oil. It's kind of

(02:07:44):
like that. But you put it in, you put in
three inches deep. That's what I would recommend. They did
some research up in Dallas where they took a horrible
black clay soil similar to some of ours here, and
they put three inches of expanded shale and it mixed
it in really well, and it did a significant benefit
for a longer term because this is a it's essentially
like little rocks, porous rocks that have been fired at

(02:08:06):
a high temperature, and they hold their integrity over time
for quite well. So expanded shale and compost is even better.
But if you're dealing with a sticky black clay, you
got only two options. One is a significant amount of
expanded shale and compost mixed in with it. Number two

(02:08:28):
would be to put a raised bed on top of
the ground. Just sit on top of the clay and
grow in that raised bed. If you're going to do that,
I recommend putting a little bit of the raised bed
mix down first, mixing it in with the clay to
kind of create a smoother transition between the two, and
then put the rest of the raised bed mix in.
So a couple of tips there. But I don't talk
about that expanded shale as much. And you can find

(02:08:51):
it in a lot of places. A lot of our
garden centers will carry expanded shale, and I know Southwest
Fertilizer carries it, but you know that's like a course
that was like saying ice is cold. The Southwest Fertilizer
is the source for all the things that you're looking
to get, and right now, I just want to suggest

(02:09:12):
you go by there and do a little bit of
shopping for the people on your holiday list. There's going
to be things at Southwest Fertilizer that are very beneficial
and desired by any gardener worth their wait in salt.
That would include a quality tools. I like soil knives.

(02:09:32):
It's one of my top five tools. And Bob's got
at least two types I think there. I know he
has one. I think I saw too, that are quality brands.
That's what Bob carries, the quality brands, prunters, you know,
any kind of the wall of tools that Southwest Fertilizers
ninety feet long. Okay, So do I need to tell
you that there's a lot of tools there, quality tools.

(02:09:53):
They make awesome gifts. You ought to check those out. So,
by the way, they also have a shop in the
back for a FI seeing small engine repair. Uh. And
so when we get out of this season of boeing
and stuff, why not get your more in there and
get it ready to go so you're ready to go
for spring, because you know in spring that's when everybody's
taking their stuff into shops. To get it fixed up

(02:10:15):
and ready. Don't don't hit at the rush hour, do it,
do it now? Southwest for a corner of Businet and
Renwick in southwest Houston. Visiting with the folks that Affordable
Tree Care. You know, the Texas is in an overall drought.
The one this summer snuck up on me, you know
when it didn't rain from the end of August until

(02:10:38):
we were in mid October. I know it still hadn't rained.
But there are a number of counties that are in
a significant drought, like Colorado and Jackson, Austin, Wharton. Those
listening to me down there, you're an extent stream drought,
severe drought. Still. We're looking at Harrison, Fort ben Montgomery, Brazoria, Liberty,
several others other counties in this area. And that's stressful

(02:10:59):
to the trees. Are trees or stressed. A lot of
them are dropping their leaves early because of the stresses
of it. I had Great Martles that were dropping their
leaves especially early because of the Because of that stress.
You need to call Affordable Tree Care for a couple
of reasons. One is they can do a deeper watering
on your trees to provide the adequate moisture that they need.

(02:11:22):
And they also come in and do the dormancys in
pruning and they know what they're doing. They do it right.
You just got to call though to get them to
get on the schedule so that they can come out
and do that work for you. And now for every
tree that you have pruned, they will do a deep
root watering on that tree, so that's free for that tree.

(02:11:46):
So many trees you get prune, you can get a
free deeper watering on those. You can get pay for
deeper watering on others. When you call Affordable Tree Service,
this is very important. Make sure you're talking to the family,
and that would be Martin, Martin's wife Joe, or Martin's
mom Judy. Those are the three people that answer the phone.
There are a couple of companies out there with Affordable

(02:12:06):
in their name pretending to be part of Martin's team.
If you're not speaking with Martin, his wife, Joe or Judy,
it's not the right Affordable Tree Service. Hang up and
call again. Seven to one three six nine nine two
six six three. I'm going to give you that one
more time. You just write that on a paper and
put on your refrigerator seven to one three sixt nine

(02:12:26):
nine two six six y three. Let's go back out
to the bones. Now we're going to head to Houston
and talk to Stephen. Hey, Stephen, welcome to garden Line.

Speaker 8 (02:12:37):
Question planting and thirty gallon live oak tree. I read
all different ways to plant.

Speaker 21 (02:12:45):
When you're digging the.

Speaker 8 (02:12:45):
Hole, are you supposed to dig the bottom of the
hole out as well or just the diameter two times
the size of the group?

Speaker 2 (02:12:53):
Call that is? I am so glad you called that,
because a lot of people need to hear this. You
do not dig deeper than the cylinder of roots that
comes out of the container. Uh And and I would
I would add one one additional comment on that. Sometimes
as trees are grown, as they move from pot to pot,

(02:13:14):
getting bigger, they end up putting soil in on top
of them. So where the soil is and the container
may may not be where the topmost root is. But
your goal is to get the topmost root at or
slightly above the soil line. If you dig deeper, that
tree will settle and it'll be a bit will be
too deep, So don't let let it have. You want

(02:13:35):
a really firm base, so only dig that deep, set
that tree in it. Now you can go wider. That's fine, wider,
breaking up the soil around it. And I only put
soil from the hole back back in the container.

Speaker 7 (02:13:50):
All right, thanks sir, Yeah, you bet.

Speaker 2 (02:13:54):
Good luck with that. Oh and you a tree grown
in a round pot's always gonna have roots going a
circle around it. So cut those got them, cut them
in three or four places around the tree.

Speaker 8 (02:14:04):
Uh, and it'll just strip it at one inch, she said,
pull it out of the pot and just take one
inch off the entire root ball and just expose that
loose stuff.

Speaker 9 (02:14:19):
Yeah, yeah, all right.

Speaker 2 (02:14:21):
Sometimes what I'll what I'll do is get I'll get
a hose gun sprayer and I'll just spray the outside
of the root ball and that'll wash a bunch of
that soil off. It makes makes it easier than trying
to cut it away. And then you can go in
with printers and cut all the roots that are that
are doing what we're describing here. Well, good luck, Stephen,
and thank you for calling. That's an excellent question. All right,

(02:14:45):
we are about to head to a break here. I
just want to remind you of my website, Gardening with
Skip dot com. Where you will find the educational materials
that I talk about all the time, and they're free
to download on gardening with Skip dot com website. Let's
take a little break for the news and we'll be
back for the last half hour of guard Line today,

(02:15:07):
So stick around, don't go away. Sorry, Welcome back to Guardline.
Good to have you with us. So we got a
lot to talk about today. If you would like to
give me a call now would be a great time.
Seven one three two one two five eight seven four
seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four.

(02:15:32):
Uh that we we had a call earlier. Who was it?
They called me about the Asian jasmine plants.

Speaker 7 (02:15:39):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (02:15:39):
Oh, it is ethel invited and we were we were
talking about that, and I was telling her that there's
a substance called anthocyanin in Asian jasmine leaves, and so
as the green disappears, that the anti sions the red
are left behind, which by the way, is true for
fall color in general. We have moderately limited fall color here,

(02:16:03):
moderate to limited fall color here in our area, and
it's because of the kind of fall weather temperatures we have.
But you go up to the northeast where people do
what they call leaf peeping, go up to look at
the leaves, and all those beautiful colors are because the
green is going away and you're seeing some of the
pigments orange and yellow and red that are in the

(02:16:24):
leaves of those plants, and due to the cool, crisp
nights and warm days as they go into dormancy, you
get that kind of color. So anyway, that's not what
the question was about. The question was about why are
they turning the color? And I've continued to kind of
research that in breaks here because I'm kind of curious
about it as to how that works. Well, cold temperatures

(02:16:45):
can do it. We get a little cool, crisp weather.
I don't mean freezing at all. I'm talking about, you know,
the low forties to fifty degrees in that range, and
you'll sometimes see that kind of color coming in. There
are other things that can cause it. Sometimes a nutrient
can cause that problem, if you see the red. Phosphorus

(02:17:08):
is very important for plant health. But I don't think
that's the cause that Ethel was looking at, because when
you start off and you got good, nice green color
in your Asian jasmine, it's not like the phosphorus suddenly
goes away. Phosphorus is one of the most stable nutrients
in the soil. It sticks to the soil very very well,

(02:17:29):
doesn't even wash down in the root system. It sticks
to the soil. So I don't think that that is
the case. You might want to do a soil test
and check just to make sure you don't have a
phosphorus deficiency or something like that, but that would be
I don't know, maybe something along those lines. But anyway,
it is not the end of the world to see

(02:17:49):
that those anthe synins and the color that can happen.
And just like the beautiful trees of the northeast we
go look at for the fall color. Once the color
starts up here, you often then see the lead. Well
you then do see the leaves beginning to drop following that,
so it's not unusual for after the red color comes

(02:18:10):
to see the leaf drop on there. Okay, well that
was a lot of information, but anyway, I just wanted
to touch base on that again. Nelson Nursery and water
gardens out there in Katie area. In fact, if you
go out to Katie and turn north on Katie Fort
Ben Road, you're going to get to Nelson Nursery and
Water Gardens on the right hand side. I love going

(02:18:34):
to the place. I love the sound of the water gardens.
Every time I go there, I want to buy another
water feature because it is so soothing. They've got their
Christmas trees ready by the way out there. They do
free delivery in the Katy area with the Christmas trees.
That's a pretty cool thing that you don't want to
wait though, because here's the deal. You know, other people
come in and pick, and you wait long enough to

(02:18:56):
get a Christmas tree, and you and Charlie Brown have
similar Actually we don't have trees that bad here, but seriously,
for the best choices, get out there, now, get it done.
It's ready to go. They always have things going on
through the season out there. Just kind of watch the
schedule see what's happening at different times. By the way,

(02:19:17):
right now, they're a holiday cactus. Are just gorgeous, beautiful
holiday cactus. Beautiful indoor plants too. On the inside. I
think sometimes when we think about going to a water
garden place that has a lot of planets, we don't
think about the house plants. But they have one of
the best selections and when it comes to planning your
water garden, which would be a good thing to be

(02:19:38):
doing this cool season, they can get you fixed up
with all the supplies, and they also of course come
out and do those services as well. Let's see, we're
going to go now to Stafford and talk to Mary
this morning. Well, hello, Mary, let skip Welcome to Garden Line.

Speaker 12 (02:19:57):
I sent you a picture of a cooloncho that ever
seen one growth as tall? It's over three feet tall.

Speaker 2 (02:20:05):
Yes, yes, well I think I replied to that email.
Oh oh, okay, I didn't send one previously.

Speaker 10 (02:20:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (02:20:16):
Yeah, well I did send one in an email, but
not during the show.

Speaker 2 (02:20:22):
Okay, So here's what's going on. That plant is bolting.
Bolting is the term when a plant sends up a
bloom stalk out of the plant. It'll happen to cilantro
and as we get into the spring season, our leafy
greens like lettuce and spinach will all bolt. And that's

(02:20:42):
what's happening. It's just sending up that tall stem. It's
not that the planet itself is necessarily getting tall and
big like that. It's just that's the bloomstalk coming up
on it.

Speaker 12 (02:20:54):
Oh okay, I just thought it was very unusual, because
I have some small ones, you know, that are just
in a little pot, But this one just sprung straight up.
I think it's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (02:21:06):
Something triggered it. Well, it is good. It's very pretty,
and you must be taking good care of it because
it's happy enough to bloom send bloomstalks. And some types
of succulents do that readily and regularly. Others not as often,
but that's what it is. Hey, when you get the
booms all done, you'll take a picture of the blooms,

(02:21:27):
you bet?

Speaker 12 (02:21:27):
Okay? Thanks?

Speaker 2 (02:21:31):
All right, there we go. H Nelson Plant Food. The
folks at Nelson Plant Food. I was telling you earlier
about their product, Genesis Transplant Mix. It's an excellent product,
Genesis Transplant Mix. You mix it in the soil of
wherever you're planning a plant, whether you're bumping it up
from one container to another, whether you're planting in the ground.
It works well. I want to tell you also about

(02:21:53):
nutri Star rows. Now, Nelson's has a neutrals Star line,
and typically it's going to be the products for specific
kinds of plants. They are nutri Star for things like
boog and villas. You know or for for plume areas,
or for vegetables, or for a nutri Star ros is
for roses. It's good for any kind of rose. You got,

(02:22:14):
climbing roses, shrub roses, groundcover roses, modern roses, antique roses,
you name all the roses. It does well. Now it
can be used in containers. It can be used in
roses that are in the ground as well. Five different
sources and nitrogen. They sort of regulate the Wi Fi
sources well. Different sources are going to release at different

(02:22:36):
times based on different things. Sometimes you got a nitrogen
source that microbes are releasing. Sometimes it's water affecting on it.
Sometimes there's just a number of reasons. And so the
folks at Nelson put these five different sources in to
give you a regulated vigorous growth and your roses. That's

(02:22:58):
exactly what you want because this bloom at the end
of the terminals of shoots. So the more terminals you
have and the more good growth you have, the more
blooms and better blooms you're gonna get. And Nelson Neutral
Star Rows is exactly that kind of product, made here
locally in the Houston area. It's a beautiful beautiful series
of products. You're gonna go into a garden center and

(02:23:20):
find them, and things that are in a neutral star line,
like the in the plastic jars with the large screw
top lids. There's about a dozen places around town where
you can refill your Nelson plant food jars. That's economical
and it avoids throwing away plastic, which we already do
too much of. All right, let's take a little break.
Guess what we got one chart segment left and I'll

(02:23:43):
be right back. All right, we're going.

Speaker 9 (02:23:46):
Let's go.

Speaker 2 (02:23:47):
We got just a few minutes left. We're gonna get
the We're gonna keep talking. We've got plenty of things
to talk about. If I didn't know the call here,
I'll think I have time for one call if you
would like to call in. We've got a hot pressing issue.
I'll be back tomorrow morning from six am to ten am.
I talk about Piercescapes a lot, and I keep telling
you that as a landscaper, it is unbelievable what they

(02:24:10):
can do to turn your to turn your particular landscape
into something very very special. Piercecapes, you know, they just
have the trained people that know how to design they
have the trained people that know how to manage and
take care of you know you can do. You can
have them come in for gosh, quarterly type maintenance where

(02:24:35):
they come in, you know, they spruce up the beds,
make sure there are any weeds in them, take care
of that if there are, make sure the irrigation is
working well, add some fresh mulch up on top, and
get it all ready to go. Just They're outstanding at
what they do, and I would really recommend maybe right
now you're not looking to have that done, but you

(02:24:55):
have a bookmark piercescapes dot com because it's inspirational to
go there and to see the kind of work that
they do, really really beautiful work. I think the landscape
lighting is one of the things that a lot of
people don't have to haven't had done. It's just not
on the front burner. But they can come in with

(02:25:17):
landscape lighting, nice led efficient lighting, and it totally it
changes the whole look of your landscape. You know, suddenly
you're going to want to be out there in the
evening walking through and taking your guests through that come
to your house. Just outstanding. You got to go to
perscapes dot com and or how about this. Just give

(02:25:39):
them a call two eight one three seven six fifty
sixty two eight one three hold it wrong? Number was
I was giving you another number? Two eight one three
seven zero fifty sixty. There you go. I've only said
that number eight thousand times. I don't know I missed it.
Two eight one three seven zero five zero six zero.

(02:26:03):
Let them come out and work some magic at your place.
I'm going to be doing in my landscape. I'm going
to be doing some more bed work I've got. I've
got some beds that i want to extend a little bit,
some that I'm actually going to reshape a little bit,
and dealing with making sure the grass knows where it's

(02:26:24):
supposed to stop and where the bed starts, and doing
all the soil work. I'm hoping to get it done
so I can get it all planted this fall in
some of those beds. Hopefully I won't have to wait
until spring to do it, but either way, getting that
soil just right. Something I'm noticing around landscapes right now
is we're still seeing the little tiny daisy like flowers

(02:26:47):
that are white to light lavender colored, and that is
slender aster, slender aster you may have an area that's
foot and a half across, got all these little daisy flowers.
You got to pull it up. Now, you got to
pull it up. I saw some yards the other day
that they were all through the yard. Every flower's got

(02:27:09):
about fifty seeds, and you could have a whole bunch
dozens of flowers on one plant. Pull it up. Now
it comes out of a tap root. As long as
the soil is moist, it's very easy. Just pull it up,
get it out of there, or you're going to be
sentencing yourself to a lot of weeding next year. So
simple to do. Some one of our listeners sent me

(02:27:29):
a picture or where they went through their yard and
they pulled it all out and basically there wasn't a
yard when they were done pulling it all out because
it was literally that thick. And they're going to be
doing replanting in the yard, which is a good idea.
As you are planning on putting in plants, feel free
to give me a call and discuss a species, and

(02:27:50):
in some cases even discuss varieties because you want to
get the right plant. You know, you put a plant
in the ground that's a long term investment and you
want to get the right plants for what you're trying
to do. And sometimes folks move here from another area,
typically especially that is from an area further north where
there are things that grow there that don't grow here.

(02:28:12):
And you don't want to put plants like that in.
You want ones that are going to thrive here. As
you're doing your landscape, I'm going to give you a
couple of ideas. It's your way of evaluating your landscape.
You know, you drive up to the house and just
park at the curb, take a look at the lands argical,
walk outside and look at it and ask yourself some questions.

(02:28:35):
You know, where are my evergreens? Do I have some
evergreens so that in the winter time I still have
that color here? Hopefully they're not all on one side
of the yard. They're scattered out. And what about the
height of my plants? There's a window, that living room
bay window that faces the street. How high is the
bottom of it? And how high is a plant that

(02:28:56):
you put under it going to get? So you're fighting
it all the time to try to keep it down.
It's a mistake I see subdivisions make all the time.
You know, they'll have a subdivision with this beautiful rock
sign out front, and the plants they put in front
of it are growing up, so you can't read the
name of the subdivision. So avoid that kind of thing.
Then ask yourself the question, when is their color in
this landscape? Do you have everybody's got color in the spring?

(02:29:19):
That's easy? What about summer? What about fall? That's the
season when we can specifically plant plants that bloom only
in the fall. What about winter? What is your color
in winter? I've been trying to tell you to get
a camellia for winter color. Do you have annual flower
beds and that you do a change out on how's

(02:29:41):
the time to be getting those cool season flowers in
so you can have beautiful color over the winter. And
then perennials. Perennials have their season and they need to
be scattered through a landscape so that when they're putting
on their show, they're beautiful, and when they're not, you
can cut them back and you can always have something
coming on, whereas with annuals you're having to replace the

(02:30:03):
whole plant every time, not so with perennials. One other
thing is what kind of color do you use now?
It's your yard. And I won't read you the riot
Act about the color wheel and you got to use
colors on opposite sides of the color wheel or a
triad from a triangular portion of the color wheel. That

(02:30:26):
that's all true. That's you know, that's something that designers
know all about. But you can do whatever color you want,
you know, it's it's up to you. But if you're
gonna do color that's viewed from a distance, do color
that is in large swaths of color. So maybe you're
going to do some blue pansies and some white pansies.

(02:30:48):
I'm just making you know, picking a plant out of
the air, you would want to really wide swath the
color so that from a distance you can see and
appreciate it as you get close to what you're going
to view. Then if you want to have every pansy
color into the sun in that patio or in that
container you're sitting beside, we'll go for it. You can

(02:31:08):
do that. But when you do a whole lot of
colors all mixed together, and then you back up a
long distance, it's like you know, the the taking the
color print and a newspaper and get a magnifying glass
and looking at it real close, it's all pixels.

Speaker 9 (02:31:22):
You know.

Speaker 2 (02:31:22):
It's like surprising to see the colors that make up
the color you see from a distance. So from a distance,
a whole cacophony of color. Who can use cacoffhony for
color anyway, it's it's our riot of colors is not
as appreciated as it is up close. So just something
to think about. There's a lot of principles like that.

(02:31:44):
And the best way I can suggest you to find
ideas you love is drive around see what people in
other parts of town are doing in their landscapes and
take a picture from the street. Don't go tramping through
the art. Take a picture and just kind of keep
it for when you're doing your designs.

Speaker 9 (02:32:02):
I like this.

Speaker 10 (02:32:02):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (02:32:03):
Maybe you're going to hire a designer, you can show
them a picture of it. And I like this about
this landscape right here and that way you're ready to go,
all right, well we're coming to the end here, got
some music starting up the a. If you have a
question or something that you want to ask tomorrow and

(02:32:24):
you want to send a photo, remember that you can
do that ahead of time. Remember that the show is
available as past shows by podcast at the ktr H website.
If you download the iHeartMedia app, which is the one
I use, you can listen to the show live on
that app, or you can listen to past shows on

(02:32:46):
the app as well. So something you miss maybe you
missed a show and you just kind of want to
catch up, well, listen to the past shows that way.
That's one of the nice things about the garden line.
I'm gonna take a little break here and go do
something with family I planned for today, and I'll be
back tomorrow morning. Look forward to visiting with you about

(02:33:08):
your guardian questions. Now, have a good day out there
in the garden and go visit some of our great
garden centers.