June 13, 2026 • 39 mins
What to plant mid-June. Teresa's Top Five Beach Tolerant. Teresa answers your questions on Moss Roses in a pot, watermelons, HOA grass problems, planting in pots, pruning your blueberries & more.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host, Teresa Watkins. Thank
you for joining Lizzie and I and being here this morning.
The sun was bright and shiny this morning. I can
tell that the longest day of the year is coming soon,
and I want to wish good morning to listen. Good morning,
(00:32):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Did you get some rain yesterday? Because what in the heck?
We got some rain? Okay, So June the average monthly
total rainfall is seven inches seven point three five inches,
and so I think some people this is already this month,
have gotten that.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I mean, I mean, I know, probably not yesterday with us,
but it seemed like it.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
We got i mean.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
One witches oh one in like like less than five minutes.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, so you had a little bit of flooding. Yes,
we had quite a bit of flooding.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So yeah, and I'm just like going, okay, this is
not fun.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I can understand that too, because you know, you're going
to be celebrating your thirtieth anniversary with Scheck, So happy anniversary.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thank you, thank you. Yep, yep, We're going to be
doing a hodown tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So we're in so mud.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, we're excited that you know, you and TONI are
going to join us.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So thank you for that. Oh no, we're looking forward
to it. It's just going to be great. H So
Peterson's Nursery at nine thirty. So I want you to
say this fast five times. Proper pruning program at Peterson's Nursery,
nine thirty am. There you go. They say that quick
five times. And so, yes, we're getting finally some rain.
It's we're back in the rainy season. It's hot, it's muggy,
(01:52):
it's going to rain this afternoon, and we're going to
do this through hopefully September October, and that's gonna be good.
We want to say glacias el Nino because that is,
you know, the reason we have the rainfall North Florida.
You have a forty to seventy percent chance of rain
(02:13):
every day this week except Thursday. Temperature is going to
be normal for June. Low nineties and high seventies at night.
That's normal. Central Florida's going to be a week to
stay home from the beach and attractions rain every day,
or you can go to the attraction. You can go
to the beach but you've got to stay out just
for parts of the day. You want to make sure
you're not getting a chance to, you know, experience those
(02:37):
lightning and thunders. So rain chances are a little bit
higher for Central Florida. Fifty to seventy again, low nineties
and seventies at night. I am going to love the rain.
I'm just going to my landscapers are not going to
love the rain. You should in mow wet grass and
some of you know, these guys only have a set
amount of days to get hundreds of homes, thousands, millions
(03:00):
of homes mode, and this is gonna damper. It's gonna
damp down those those goals, and so more of mowing
wet gress. In a bit, I'm gonna talk about that
West coast, Naples, you're the fortunate one on the West coast.
You're gonna get rain. Tampa and Venice. No rain this
week until the weekend. But that's okay. You've had some rain,
(03:22):
so it's good. The ground doesn't need it every day,
Your turf doesn't need it every day. Only one and
a half inches, okay, So if you get rain one
day a week, that is plenty. Don't worry about one
of the things I'm hearing. I'm working with an HOA
on what's wrong with their turfs, and a lot of
it is there's the homeowners are going, we need to
(03:45):
be watering more, and no, why not. Yeah, they're saying
we need water more, it's not that's actually the cause
of it. So all the way down to the East coast, Jacksonville,
Ormond Beach, Melbourne, lots of rain every day this week
and again are awkward for deeds that we are so blessed.
We need it. We've had a severe drought for two years.
(04:06):
We need this rainfall. South Florida, South Florida and Fort Lauderdale.
Rain's gonna you're gonna have it at the beginning of
the week. Then on the weekend you're going to not
have any It's gonna be a lovely weekend for you.
Port Saint Lucy and Miami. You're gonna be blessed with
rain every day this week. So this hour I would
love your gardening questions. I'm gonna be talking a little
(04:28):
bit about FIFA and turf and also too about mowing
wet grass. You're gonna want to get this and if
you don't know whether you should mow or not. I'm
gonna be telling you. You can call us one triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero. Remember if you're
texting us, to provide your name or your non de
(04:50):
plume and the city you're in so I can answer
you easier. Father's Day is June twenty first, so you're
gonna I want to make sure that you go to
your favorite nursery and that's Quality Green Specialists Nursery or
Peterson's in Lakeland. A Quality Green Specialist nursery in DeLand
(05:11):
has just the plants, shrubs and trees that your dad
is gonna love. So we want you to let them
know that you listen to them on Better Lawns and
Gardens and thank them for their sponsorship. Yes. Then in
our second hour, I've had a lot of interesting questions
about mosquito bits and dunks, Lisa or Lizzie, haven't we? Oh? Definitely,
(05:33):
And I got I got mine out.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I'm so glad that I got mine out this last week. So,
and it's working. It's working very well, it's doing its
job wonderful.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So Heather Stickney, she's the national sales director for some
Responsible Solutions. She's gonna join us in the second hour
and she's gonna explain the science of foamy mosquito bits.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And don't be scared off because she does a good
job of playing in the science side of it. So
you're just going.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
It's not gonna be boring, Is it over? Is it?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
No, it's not. It's not going to be boring at all.
And so June vegetables, you can still be planting. You
can still be planting amaranth and boneato, calabasa chiote, all
the Caribbean South American vegetables there. Not only that, but
you can be planting cherry tomatoes. Season for regular tomatoes
and uh is over with but cherry tomatoes and everglade
(06:30):
tomatoes will continue to produce all summer long. You're going
to want to uh, you know, growth doesn't taste delicious.
So from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. If it's Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens, I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
(07:11):
to Better Lawns and Gardens. Taking your gardening questions early
this morning, so if you'd like to give a call
one triple eight four five five two nine six seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero. I'd
like to say good morning to Dom and Ireland, Ireland,
IRA and just lots of great listeners out there. We
have wonderful listeners. So one of our best listeners, wonderful
(07:36):
listeners is Bev from Tallahassee, and she's calling in. Good morning, Bev.
So good to hear from you.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Good morning. It's early for me to get going, so
if I stumble over my words, you'll just have to
forgive me.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
But we will. We will really.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Really dry up here. I had to laugh when you
were talking about all the rain we were gonna get.
I was from the Weather Channel. It's like, Nope, not
up here.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
A little bit more further to the east, Jacksonville, Saint Augustine,
that area is going to get it. But hopefully you'll
get some. And that's that's hopefully. Did you get any
last week at all?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Uh? A couple of hours one morning, I want to say,
maybe Monday morning we had sort of a drizzle, not
really a rain, but anything we get I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I'm sure. How have you been pretty.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Well pretty well. Been trying to get out there early
to water. Everything's so dry. I have to completely fill
my bird baths every morning there complete the water dehydrates
out of it. And I'm watering my thirty five year
old ginko tree that it's so dry. You know, a
(08:47):
month couple of months back, I looked at it and
I thought, you're not supposed to be turning brown yet. No, No,
it's really dry.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
How tall is it?
Speaker 4 (08:57):
It's about thirty feet.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I bet it. It's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
It's especially in the fall when it's those gold you know.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Oh, I'm sure so. For those of you who don't know,
Ginkgo trees have these beautiful fan shaped circular fan shaped
leaves that are just gorgeous. They're an Asian tree and
they have they turned beautiful yellow in the fall.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Yeah, gold and gold, and I took I've taken pictures
of it. Maybe I'll send some pictures.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
To lie, wouldn't you're there?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
You know, it's supposed to be the oldest known tree,
and it's so dry up here this summer. I'm thinking
they must have found it in a low spot.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
They must have had water that during that time.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I'm watering a thirty foot tree because it's just it's
it's in bad shape. It's desperate. I can understand that
a couple of pruning questions. So I planted my Regno
out in my flower gardens and it quit growing tall.
(10:08):
It's just spread out, you know, it's like this three
foot dome out in the middle of the garden. And
of course it's flowering. So do I just snip off
the flowers or do I want to cut it back further?
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Well, are you going to use it? So, if you're
not going to use it as an herb, I would
just snip it all the way back. Okay, okay, But
if you're going to take it for herbs or you know,
kind of freeze it or dry it out, I would
cut the flowers off and then just wait a few
days and then cut your uh, you know, your herbs.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Yeah, I've got plenty of a red snow. It's a
very uh. I don't want to say voracious, but it is.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
It is. It's a very. It loves to grow.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
So it's inn immnt family it is. Okay. So my
second question regards my amarillist yes, which I've had in
the ground for at least twenty five years, and I
dug them up to give to my neighbor, and she
put them in the garage till last paul Mine has
(11:11):
quit blooming in hers are blooming like crazy, and I
remembered that you're supposed to occasionally like put them in hibernation.
So my question is when do I dig them up?
I mean, they don't have flowers, they didn't flower this year,
So do I dig them up while there's still green
stuff before it gets too hot?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Well, I don't think they need hibernation, okay, so not
here in Florida. They just put them in the ground.
What I think they need, though, is dividing up. So
when you divide it up that batch for your neighbor
or your friend, then that encouraged the growing the flowering.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Okay, so it's now a good time to do that.
Or should I wait till it's cooler.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
No, No, I would go ahead and do it right now.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Okay, Okay, great, that Thank.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
You so much for colleague. I think of you often.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
So well, and I do. I usually am slow to
get going, but I just had to get going with
my watering, so I thought i'd call first.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Okay, you're welcome, and take care bye bye. Let's go
to Jerry and Citrus. Good morning Jerry, how can I
help you?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Good morning Theresa. I have a question about moss rose
and growing them in that I planted some seeds in
the pod. Okay, they came up in a few weeks
and started blooming all colors of flowers.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
How wonderful.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And I was wondering how long do they last or
or and what should I plan them? And okay, that
type of thing. Okay, well, it takes them, you know,
for best for them.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Wonderful. Well you've had really good luck. They're an easy
plant to grow. They take full sun, don't need a
lot of water, but they actually love that sun. They're
really wonderful. Succulents don't need a lot of water because
they will kind of rot if they get too much water,
but they will grow there. They're considered a you know,
annual up north, but they're considered perennial here in Florida.
(13:06):
They are spread that they do well. They're not going
to spread by seeds, They're going to spread. Each one
of those leaves will grow a new one. Oh okay, yeah,
the suculent leaves. So if you if you if you
take a little clipping of it and plant it. It
will it will start to grow its own shrub so
and and there are some seeds that will germinate, but
(13:29):
it's not really the easiest way to propagate it. So
they do lovely.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
And that naturally when it drops its leaves, it will
they will grow it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Into Yes, yes, yes they will.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I know how to plant it. Now you you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
You're welcome. I enjoy them. And they're such beautiful colors.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, they are surprised me. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
You're welcome to take care Jerry. Let's go to Pinky
and Port Orange. Good morning, Pinky. How are you doing.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
I'm wonderful. Thank you for using Teresa. I am going
to take a road trip for three weeks leaving tomorrow.
I have the most beautiful jubilee watermelon out on my
yard growing. That is probably thirty five to forty pounds.
See yeah, and it's one hundred and fifteen days. I
don't the vine is I don't know if you count
(14:20):
the days from you know the size of the fruit
when it starts that anyhow, that the stripes are dark
green and light green. When I turned it over, though,
first the tundril and the stem are not brown. I
do have it on a plate to prevent insects, but
when I turn it over it's still white. My fear
(14:40):
is if if I leave it with the summer rains coming, Yeah,
it's going to rot by the time I get back.
But I fail terribly at the self test. I cannot do.
I cannot I'm not that smart. Well, what can I do? Well?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I can tell you if you have a cool spot
in your garage or someplace where you can put it,
go ahead and take it off now and leave it,
or take it with you on your vacation. Are you
driving or fine, if you're driving, take it with you
and enjoy it.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
Okay. So just and should I Should I cut into
it right away? Or do I know what? They don't ripen?
Do I let it sweeten? What do I do?
Speaker 6 (15:20):
So?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I would you know? It just depends when you planted it, okay,
because it's from the day of planting is when you
know the fruit. It should take about six to eight
weeks and it should be ripened. As the bottom of
it is white, that kind of indicates that it's got
it's ripe now, Okay, So the color on the bottom
is lighter than the top. And if it's really dark
(15:42):
green on top, thirty five to forty pounds, that's pretty ripe.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
Okay, I will update you when I get back.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Sure, Oh, I bet it's going to be great. What
variety is it?
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Uh, it's a jubilee, jubilee.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Thank you you did say that, jubilee. Thank you so much.
That's great. I can't wait to hear about your trip.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Thank you, and I love you. Take our calls, appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I welcome pinky bye bye, and yeah. So that's a
really it sounds delicious already.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I was going to offer to go over to her
house and cut it and eat it while she was
on her vacation, but I mean make care of it.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Don't know what it, don't know what happened.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Totally foiled my plans.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Things. Well, I want you to know that as we're
watching the FIFA Games Beat FIFA, FIFA, my my husband's cringing.
He's a soccer fan. FIFA. The golf course owners and
lawn maintenance people for golf courses and lawn maintenance people
throughout the state of Florida are just amazed at the
(16:44):
turf that's growing in all these stadiums, so they have
two in twenty twenty four, the opener in Atlanta that
the Copa America. They had a really hard issue with
the living grass performing consistently. So now they're going to
be sixteen venues for the soccer game and they have
(17:08):
to make sure the grass is the same in all
sixteen stadiums. So the videos that they've had already the
showing that they're really scrutinizing because it could affect the game.
Senegal training in New Jersey and an England and an
England team warming up in Tampa, Florida, so they are
really five years ago. They asked agronomists to create a
(17:34):
science based system so the ball and the player's feet
meet the ground consistently at every venue. I mean, this
is going to send lawn maintenance people really very crazy.
Eight of the sixteen stadiums normally use artificial turf, five
have roosts that reduce sunlight, and the venues are not
designed for natural grass. And all of these stadiums are
(17:57):
using natural grass, they must add a systems that a
grass stadium should have, so including irrigation, drainage, and in
some cases FIFA's standard vacuum ventilation below the surface. So
when you're looking at these stadiums and looking at the turf,
the stadium, the grass, the natural grass has ventilation underneath.
(18:19):
So their goal is simple. They had to ensure that
every field in the one hundred and four match forty
eighteen tournament meets FIFA's Elite standards. The surface must drain
heavy rain without drying out and stay fast without becoming
dangerously hard. And then some stadiums had to be renovated
so they could accommodate natural live grass. So Dallas liked
(18:43):
in a field level with Kansas City had to remove
ten roads of seats and Philadelphia removed their corner seating.
So when you're looking at it, they have chosen the
right grass for each venue. They use light, sawd and
reinforcement to keep the field stable. The crews are compensating
in the stadiums that have limited sunlight with artificial grow lights.
(19:06):
Dallas has eighteen ceiling mounted rigs that lower open over
the grass and fold away before matches. Other stadiums use
nine to twelve rig wheeled rigs to have the artificial turf.
I mean artificial lighting. I'm sorry, artificial lighting is early
a portable sawd. The two inches thick sod has grown
(19:28):
over plastic so it can be moved into stadiums without
rooting in place. And then synthetic fibers are stitched into
the surface, acting like rebar, and it is reinforced, helping
the field from breaking loose when players cut sharply or
goalkeepers churn up that six yard box. So it's all amazing.
We're going to be back with more of Better Lawns
(19:49):
and Gardens. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better
Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins, short US Talk and
Entertainment Network, and welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens.
If you'd like to read more about the turf that
(20:11):
is being grown and used in the FIFA Games, you
can go to Better Lawns and Gardens and I have
the article there that talks with the agronomous and what
they're having to do and what they're dealing with. So
if you're guys, we get a lot of guys. More
guys listen to the show than women. That's good. Yeah,
So you know, if you're interested in the soccer game,
(20:32):
go and read the Better Lawns and Gardens Facebook page. Uh,
and it'll be right there. Let's go to William in Melbourne.
Good morning, William, how are you?
Speaker 7 (20:43):
Good morning, Terrisha. I'm from the north and I'm blind
and I came down here and I have a hard
time growing in the ground. Okay, I'm not used to
the heat. So I want to grow containers five gallon buckets.
(21:03):
Maybe I thought I heard you talk about that a
while bag Sure, Now what do I do as far
as drainage when drilling holes in them? And what type
of plants could I put in them?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Well, you know, if you depends on how many five
gallon buckets you have, you want to drill holes in
the bottom, I would say three holes about an inch
to two inches wide, and then you want to fill
it with soil, potting Mixed soil is all right to use.
You don't want to use a dirt from the ground
(21:37):
in your buckets. You want to go ahead and use
light airy organic material in your soil. So a soilless mix,
a potting mix will be fine and you can fill
it up with that. Now, plants, you can grow, vegetables,
you can grow annual flowers, you can grow perennials. So
if you wanted to grow vegetables, it would depend on
(21:59):
the size of vegetab William, how many you can put
for bucket, okay, And so for like carrots, you could
put three to five carrots in a five gallon bucket.
You can put one to two lettuces, depending on what
size lettuce they get, you know, a little small buttercrunch
(22:20):
ones that are going to be a little bit tinier.
You could possibly get three annuals. You can plant Zenia's
and marrygolds, and you can put pentas, every kind of
flour you can put in into a five gallon bucket.
And then also too to.
Speaker 7 (22:38):
Order them from a nursery or I can't go shopping.
I don't drive, and I don't have internet or anything
like that.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Okay, but if you call any of the box stores.
If you call the box stores, they have five gallon buckets,
and you just call them and order it and have
them delivered, and that'll be they'll deliver.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Them to you.
Speaker 7 (23:00):
I'm talking about the plants.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Oh, the plants. I'm sorry, okay, No, I was not
sure either, so am I bad? Okay? And so the
plants call the nurseries and tell them what you want.
I would say, I have four five gallon buckets. I'd
like to plant perennials in them. I'd like to plant
flowers in them. So and have them delivered. Tell them
(23:24):
that you're you know, you're blind, and then and they'll
do that for you.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Would that be seeds or would that be plants?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I would go ahead and do a plants. Okay, that's
going to be the easiest. Okay, No, I would do plants,
because seeds are going to take too long, and you know,
unfortunately you might not be able to see if they
don't make it or when they coming up and they
may look like a weed. And pull them because I
you know, I pull weeds all the time, and sometimes
(23:55):
I pull my plants and I don't go.
Speaker 7 (23:57):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I enjoy your thank you so much, William, take care,
hon let us know how you do what you buy.
I will do that all right, then, thank you, bye bye.
And so if you'd like to have your questions answered
one triple eight four five, five, two nine sixty seven
or text two three six eight zero Brad and gains
(24:20):
still good morning, Brad, he texted. He says he has
Pensacola behea and he wants to spread Argentina beje on
top of it. Will it take over and less y
seed would be nice? Understand completely. If you're putting down
Behea seed, you definitely want to use Argentina behea because
it has less y seeds. The pensacola. You can mow
(24:43):
it and then three days later the y seeds are
back up again. It looks like you need to mow
it again. You don't really need to, it's just the
seeds are so prolific. So, Brad, my question is are
you doing sod or are you doing seed? If you're
doing seed, and it doesn't matter either either way, it's
not going to get rid of the pensacola. It's just
(25:06):
going to add more Argentina behea grass to your soil.
So it's not it will not take over or get
rid of the pensacola. It's just going to be there.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Now.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
If you wanted to use a herbicide and get rid
of all your pensacola and then put down your Argentina
behea seed, that would that would be less why seeds, okay,
but it's not going to completely eradicate them. If you
just put the seed on top of it all right
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
(25:41):
or you can text two three six eight zero at
an hoa. I am consulting and they're wondering why their
grass is declining. And the biggest reason is because of
the rain and their irrigation. They have a large community.
They have to water all night long sometime with all
the zones to get everybody irrigated in that time, and
(26:03):
their grass is wet, and so one of the best
turf advice I can give you is try not to
mow your grass when wet. There's many reasons for this.
I mean, the moisture on the grass blades weighs it
down so that when your behavior when your mower is
going over the grass, your grass isn't getting hit at
(26:25):
the right spot at the tips. It's getting hit in
the middle and it's kind of shredding it. You're going
to have raggedy, torn edges. That's going to stress your
grass out when it's being ripped instead of cut sharply
and nicely. It's going to make it more vulnerable to pests.
Also too, it's going to increase the likelihood of scalping
and leaving the lawn patchy and unsightly, and then also
(26:50):
to the wet grass, blades are more prone to tearing
and evenly cut, so that's going to reduce your density.
Over time, it's going to get to get sparse, which
means that some time landscapers will lower their blades even
more and that's not gonna be good either. It's also
too boeing with the wet grass is going to promote
fungal disease like brown patch and dollar spot, depending on
(27:13):
what time of the year it is. So what should
you do well When you have that heavy equipment on
your turf, the soil can get compacted and it's gonna
leave areas where it's gonna just get very sparse. You
want to mow when it is dry, if possible, and uh,
(27:35):
you want to make sure that you're doing it only
as necessary, so only taking off a third of the
grass at a time. So I'm gonna be back with
ways to do it. You can call one triple eight
four five five two nine sixty seven, or you can
text me two three six eight zero. This Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
(27:58):
and this is Florida's talk and entertainment.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Network, Welcome Back Up, Better Lawns and Gardens, sand now
Terresa's top five.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And my top five. This morning is my top five
summer loving beach plants if you would like to. If
you live on the coast and you have a salt
water to deal with, these are my top five favorite plants.
Bushy seaside oxi. It is a highly salt tolerant able
to withstand short periods of drought and occasional salt water inundation.
(28:48):
It's well suited to coastal restoration and landscaping, and works
effectively as a border plant in mixed wildflower gardens and
a long retention pond. Number two A beach morning glory
is a trailing evergreen vine with showy white flowers that
glooms summer and fall, and flowering may occur year round.
It's native to coastal dunes. It helps stabilize sand and
(29:11):
tolerate strout and low nutrients soils. Number three Hercules club.
It's an aromatic, heave, heavily thorned tree with a round crown,
spreading branches, yellow flowers, and fruit. It's used as landscaping,
especially in natural areas and restoration, and serves as a
host plant for the giant's swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. Number four
(29:35):
Sea oats tall spreading grasses that sway in coastal dunes
and provide valuable habitat. Their flowers supply pollen for many insects,
while their seeds feed beach beech, mice, rabbits, and birds.
Their deep dense roots can reach forty feet anchor sand
and help dunes habitats hold together. Number five Carolyn Jeff
(30:00):
Carolina Jessamine. It provides welcome winter color. It's among the
first flowers to bloom in Florida. It appears in early January.
Easy to grow on fences and walls and trellises, and
it has moderately fast growing and it can be controlled
with pruning. Caveat the Caroline Jessamine is toxic the children
(30:22):
and pets. Those are my five favorite beach summer loving
heat dune plants, So thank you very much for that.
Let's go to Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, Eileen.
Speaker 8 (30:35):
Good morning Teresa. How are you.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I am great, hunt, how are.
Speaker 8 (30:38):
You I'm doing okay?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Oh? I know I'm thinking of you all the time.
Speaker 8 (30:44):
Okay, thank you. I think of you and Wishie all
the time. Okay. That plants that I have in the backyard. Yes,
you told me how to root it. I know that
of it now. It's b u dB l e j
(31:06):
a budlia. Yes, yes, okay, it went right over my head.
It lost my brain somehow on how to root it. Okay,
So can you tell me how to do it again?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yes, honey, I can very easy. Okay. So you want
to take so budlia is a woody ornamental okay. So
it's gonna get very woody on the bottom and the
branches can get wooty. I want you to take some
of the green, very flexible new stems eight to six
to eight ten inches long. You want to strip the
(31:45):
bottom three or four inches of leaves so you don't
want any leaves under the in the soil. Cut it okay,
diagonally on the bottom. Okay, Cut diagonally on the bottom,
and then you put it in less mix potting soil. Okay,
put it in the shade. You want to put some
plastic on it. I like to use the two gallon
(32:08):
or the laundry plastic laundry bags and put it in
there and seal it up so the moisture stays in there.
You want it to stay consistently moist I would say
for six to ten weeks, you know, through the summertime,
keeping it in the shade. And if you want one,
I would do three. If you want three, I would
do ten. Okay, okay, and you may get all ten.
Speaker 8 (32:32):
Okay, All right, well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
You're welcome on.
Speaker 8 (32:35):
Let me know how you do, okay, I sure will, all.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Right, appreciate you, Bye bye bye. And so if you
have a question, we have just a few minutes left
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
If you'd like to see my beach sunflower or my
summer loving beach plants, they're on the face book page
of Better Lawns and Gardens and you can follow us
there and like us, give us five stars. We really
really need it, don't we, Lizzy, how we absolutely love that.
And so what should you be doing in your yard
(33:13):
this month? Well, especially with the rain, you're going to
want to walk your yards on a regular basis. This
should be done all year round. It's good for you
to get outside it's good for you to walk, breathe
in that fresh air. It doesn't need to be for
a long time during the heat of the summertime. But
walk your yards, look at your shrubs, lift up the leaves,
(33:34):
look at the leaves, and just notice any spots, any
yellow areas in your turf, any areas starting to decline.
That's very, very important. Fertilizing time is over. Most of
the state of Florida has fertilizing restrictions now through October. First,
if you need your landscape to green up, use a
(33:58):
iron only product that is legal. You can use an
iron only product and it will green it up without
telling it to grow. You want to make sure that
if you have an irrigation system, in ground irrigation system,
that you check it monthly adjusted. If you're getting if
your irrigation systems going on. When we're getting this rain,
(34:19):
even if it's only rained one time or just a
couple hours in the morning, you want to check and
make sure your rain shut off device is working, whether
it needs to be you know, reinstalled, repaired, I don't.
You're not going to repair it, but a new one
will cost you forty dollars. It's literally going to save
you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year on
(34:42):
your water bills, So you want to make sure you
do that. Also too, chinchbugs are an issue and sod webworms.
I'm walking through yards and I'm seeing these moths come up.
It's very, very important that you again, when you're walking
through your yard, look down see these moths. If you
see them, you want to wait about two weeks and
(35:03):
here during the month of June, you can use a
product called Merit and it's an emitted cloprit and it
can be applied in June and it will take care
of those sod web worms and also chinchbugs. You want
to cut your turf at the right height three to
four inches high. Scalping is not good if you're going
(35:23):
away on vacation if you can't get somebody to mow
it while you're gone, if you're gone for a long
period of time, then just take off just a little
bit of it and then when you come back mow
it again. Do not scalp it low before you go
on vacation. Also, if you are taking care of your
container plants and gardens, especially William, you want to make
(35:47):
sure that you're getting water to your pot every day,
So William, when you're checking your plants for water, if
it needs to be watered, stick your finger in the pot,
go down to your second knuckle. If the potting soul oil.
If the ground is wet, cool, or damp, you do
not need to water it again. Okay. Overwatering containers may need,
(36:09):
especially if they're clay, watering every day during the summertime.
But they're clay and they're going to evaporate very quickly.
They're going to heat up very quickly. If it's plastic
five gallon buckets, it's not going to evaporate as quickly,
and you may not need to do it every day,
Especially if you're getting rain vegetables. You want to make
(36:31):
sure that you're fertilizing monthly with your vegetables. Slow release
product you can use every three to four weeks. Then,
Also to get your seeds now for August. If you
wait until August to buy your seeds, you may not
get what you want. So check the catalogs, check the online.
Order your seeds now for your fall vegetable garden. Sweet
(36:56):
potatoes if you love sweet potatoes and my dad loves
sweet potatoes, and I love them. I love them with
maple maple syrup. Oh my sweepstairs.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
They are vining like they're or have They've never vined
in their entire life. They are loving the fence line
that I.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Planted I'm on. So that's so good to hear. Very
interesting for sure, So oh excellent. You want to handpool
weeds now. You do not want to use it in
an herb side right now. It's very important that you know.
On the label it says do not use in temperatures
over eighty five degrees. Well that's all summer for Florida. Okay,
So using an herbicide, you're risking killing your grass and
(37:37):
not the weed. The weed may survive and come back
because the temperatures are too hot. So handpool weeds now
to prevent pest problems for fall. You don't want them
to go to uh to fruiting and you know flowering
that's gonna that's gonna spread more seeds. You want to
(37:58):
prune in your blueberries right now, and your blackberries. You
can prune those, reshape them if they have grown a
little too big, which is wonderful because you get more
blueberries that way. You want to feed your bananas monthly,
and you want to harvest the banana fruit which is
called the stocks, which are called the hand when they
(38:18):
start to turn yellow. Okay, so if you've got bananas
growing and they're starting to turn yellow, you can go
ahead and cut them off and just put them in
a cool corner for when to write them. You want
to feed your pineapples right now with slower leaves fertilizer,
and also your citrus trees right now. We're going to
(38:39):
be back with Heather Stickney. She's the national sales director
for Summit Responsible Solution Studios. She's got answers for us
and all the science behind mosquito bits. We're going to
be right back. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this is
Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. THETT is Distinct disappe
Good morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host, Teresa Watkins. Thank
you for joining Lizzie and I and being here this morning.
The sun was bright and shiny this morning. I can
tell that the longest day of the year is coming soon,
and I want to wish good morning to listen. Good morning,
(00:32):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Did you get some rain yesterday? Because what in the heck?
We got some rain? Okay, So June the average monthly
total rainfall is seven inches seven point three five inches,
and so I think some people this is already this month,
have gotten that.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I mean, I mean, I know, probably not yesterday with us,
but it seemed like it.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
We got i mean.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
One witches oh one in like like less than five minutes.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, so you had a little bit of flooding. Yes,
we had quite a bit of flooding.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So yeah, and I'm just like going, okay, this is
not fun.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I can understand that too, because you know, you're going
to be celebrating your thirtieth anniversary with Scheck, So happy anniversary.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thank you, thank you. Yep, yep, We're going to be
doing a hodown tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So we're in so mud.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, we're excited that you know, you and TONI are
going to join us.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So thank you for that. Oh no, we're looking forward
to it. It's just going to be great. H So
Peterson's Nursery at nine thirty. So I want you to
say this fast five times. Proper pruning program at Peterson's Nursery,
nine thirty am. There you go. They say that quick
five times. And so, yes, we're getting finally some rain.
It's we're back in the rainy season. It's hot, it's muggy,
(01:52):
it's going to rain this afternoon, and we're going to
do this through hopefully September October, and that's gonna be good.
We want to say glacias el Nino because that is,
you know, the reason we have the rainfall North Florida.
You have a forty to seventy percent chance of rain
(02:13):
every day this week except Thursday. Temperature is going to
be normal for June. Low nineties and high seventies at night.
That's normal. Central Florida's going to be a week to
stay home from the beach and attractions rain every day,
or you can go to the attraction. You can go
to the beach but you've got to stay out just
for parts of the day. You want to make sure
you're not getting a chance to, you know, experience those
(02:37):
lightning and thunders. So rain chances are a little bit
higher for Central Florida. Fifty to seventy again, low nineties
and seventies at night. I am going to love the rain.
I'm just going to my landscapers are not going to
love the rain. You should in mow wet grass and
some of you know, these guys only have a set
amount of days to get hundreds of homes, thousands, millions
(03:00):
of homes mode, and this is gonna damper. It's gonna
damp down those those goals, and so more of mowing
wet gress. In a bit, I'm gonna talk about that
West coast, Naples, you're the fortunate one on the West coast.
You're gonna get rain. Tampa and Venice. No rain this
week until the weekend. But that's okay. You've had some rain,
(03:22):
so it's good. The ground doesn't need it every day,
Your turf doesn't need it every day. Only one and
a half inches, okay, So if you get rain one
day a week, that is plenty. Don't worry about one
of the things I'm hearing. I'm working with an HOA
on what's wrong with their turfs, and a lot of
it is there's the homeowners are going, we need to
(03:45):
be watering more, and no, why not. Yeah, they're saying
we need water more, it's not that's actually the cause
of it. So all the way down to the East coast, Jacksonville,
Ormond Beach, Melbourne, lots of rain every day this week
and again are awkward for deeds that we are so blessed.
We need it. We've had a severe drought for two years.
(04:06):
We need this rainfall. South Florida, South Florida and Fort Lauderdale.
Rain's gonna you're gonna have it at the beginning of
the week. Then on the weekend you're going to not
have any It's gonna be a lovely weekend for you.
Port Saint Lucy and Miami. You're gonna be blessed with
rain every day this week. So this hour I would
love your gardening questions. I'm gonna be talking a little
(04:28):
bit about FIFA and turf and also too about mowing
wet grass. You're gonna want to get this and if
you don't know whether you should mow or not. I'm
gonna be telling you. You can call us one triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero. Remember if you're
texting us, to provide your name or your non de
(04:50):
plume and the city you're in so I can answer
you easier. Father's Day is June twenty first, so you're
gonna I want to make sure that you go to
your favorite nursery and that's Quality Green Specialists Nursery or
Peterson's in Lakeland. A Quality Green Specialist nursery in DeLand
(05:11):
has just the plants, shrubs and trees that your dad
is gonna love. So we want you to let them
know that you listen to them on Better Lawns and
Gardens and thank them for their sponsorship. Yes. Then in
our second hour, I've had a lot of interesting questions
about mosquito bits and dunks, Lisa or Lizzie, haven't we? Oh? Definitely,
(05:33):
And I got I got mine out.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I'm so glad that I got mine out this last week. So,
and it's working. It's working very well, it's doing its
job wonderful.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So Heather Stickney, she's the national sales director for some
Responsible Solutions. She's gonna join us in the second hour
and she's gonna explain the science of foamy mosquito bits.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And don't be scared off because she does a good
job of playing in the science side of it. So
you're just going.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
It's not gonna be boring, Is it over? Is it?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
No, it's not. It's not going to be boring at all.
And so June vegetables, you can still be planting. You
can still be planting amaranth and boneato, calabasa chiote, all
the Caribbean South American vegetables there. Not only that, but
you can be planting cherry tomatoes. Season for regular tomatoes
and uh is over with but cherry tomatoes and everglade
(06:30):
tomatoes will continue to produce all summer long. You're going
to want to uh, you know, growth doesn't taste delicious.
So from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. If it's Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens, I'm Teresa Watkins
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
(07:11):
to Better Lawns and Gardens. Taking your gardening questions early
this morning, so if you'd like to give a call
one triple eight four five five two nine six seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero. I'd
like to say good morning to Dom and Ireland, Ireland,
IRA and just lots of great listeners out there. We
have wonderful listeners. So one of our best listeners, wonderful
(07:36):
listeners is Bev from Tallahassee, and she's calling in. Good morning, Bev.
So good to hear from you.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Good morning. It's early for me to get going, so
if I stumble over my words, you'll just have to
forgive me.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
But we will. We will really.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Really dry up here. I had to laugh when you
were talking about all the rain we were gonna get.
I was from the Weather Channel. It's like, Nope, not
up here.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
A little bit more further to the east, Jacksonville, Saint Augustine,
that area is going to get it. But hopefully you'll
get some. And that's that's hopefully. Did you get any
last week at all?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Uh? A couple of hours one morning, I want to say,
maybe Monday morning we had sort of a drizzle, not
really a rain, but anything we get I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I'm sure. How have you been pretty.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Well pretty well. Been trying to get out there early
to water. Everything's so dry. I have to completely fill
my bird baths every morning there complete the water dehydrates
out of it. And I'm watering my thirty five year
old ginko tree that it's so dry. You know, a
(08:47):
month couple of months back, I looked at it and
I thought, you're not supposed to be turning brown yet. No, No,
it's really dry.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
How tall is it?
Speaker 4 (08:57):
It's about thirty feet.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I bet it. It's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
It's especially in the fall when it's those gold you know.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Oh, I'm sure so. For those of you who don't know,
Ginkgo trees have these beautiful fan shaped circular fan shaped
leaves that are just gorgeous. They're an Asian tree and
they have they turned beautiful yellow in the fall.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Yeah, gold and gold, and I took I've taken pictures
of it. Maybe I'll send some pictures.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
To lie, wouldn't you're there?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
You know, it's supposed to be the oldest known tree,
and it's so dry up here this summer. I'm thinking
they must have found it in a low spot.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
They must have had water that during that time.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I'm watering a thirty foot tree because it's just it's
it's in bad shape. It's desperate. I can understand that
a couple of pruning questions. So I planted my Regno
out in my flower gardens and it quit growing tall.
(10:08):
It's just spread out, you know, it's like this three
foot dome out in the middle of the garden. And
of course it's flowering. So do I just snip off
the flowers or do I want to cut it back further?
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Well, are you going to use it? So, if you're
not going to use it as an herb, I would
just snip it all the way back. Okay, okay, But
if you're going to take it for herbs or you know,
kind of freeze it or dry it out, I would
cut the flowers off and then just wait a few
days and then cut your uh, you know, your herbs.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Yeah, I've got plenty of a red snow. It's a
very uh. I don't want to say voracious, but it is.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
It is. It's a very. It loves to grow.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
So it's inn immnt family it is. Okay. So my
second question regards my amarillist yes, which I've had in
the ground for at least twenty five years, and I
dug them up to give to my neighbor, and she
put them in the garage till last paul Mine has
(11:11):
quit blooming in hers are blooming like crazy, and I
remembered that you're supposed to occasionally like put them in hibernation.
So my question is when do I dig them up?
I mean, they don't have flowers, they didn't flower this year,
So do I dig them up while there's still green
stuff before it gets too hot?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Well, I don't think they need hibernation, okay, so not
here in Florida. They just put them in the ground.
What I think they need, though, is dividing up. So
when you divide it up that batch for your neighbor
or your friend, then that encouraged the growing the flowering.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Okay, so it's now a good time to do that.
Or should I wait till it's cooler.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
No, No, I would go ahead and do it right now.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Okay, Okay, great, that Thank.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
You so much for colleague. I think of you often.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
So well, and I do. I usually am slow to
get going, but I just had to get going with
my watering, so I thought i'd call first.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Okay, you're welcome, and take care bye bye. Let's go
to Jerry and Citrus. Good morning Jerry, how can I
help you?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Good morning Theresa. I have a question about moss rose
and growing them in that I planted some seeds in
the pod. Okay, they came up in a few weeks
and started blooming all colors of flowers.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
How wonderful.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And I was wondering how long do they last or
or and what should I plan them? And okay, that
type of thing. Okay, well, it takes them, you know,
for best for them.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Wonderful. Well you've had really good luck. They're an easy
plant to grow. They take full sun, don't need a
lot of water, but they actually love that sun. They're
really wonderful. Succulents don't need a lot of water because
they will kind of rot if they get too much water,
but they will grow there. They're considered a you know,
annual up north, but they're considered perennial here in Florida.
(13:06):
They are spread that they do well. They're not going
to spread by seeds, They're going to spread. Each one
of those leaves will grow a new one. Oh okay, yeah,
the suculent leaves. So if you if you if you
take a little clipping of it and plant it. It
will it will start to grow its own shrub so
and and there are some seeds that will germinate, but
(13:29):
it's not really the easiest way to propagate it. So
they do lovely.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
And that naturally when it drops its leaves, it will
they will grow it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Into Yes, yes, yes they will.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I know how to plant it. Now you you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
You're welcome. I enjoy them. And they're such beautiful colors.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, they are surprised me. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
You're welcome to take care Jerry. Let's go to Pinky
and Port Orange. Good morning, Pinky. How are you doing.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
I'm wonderful. Thank you for using Teresa. I am going
to take a road trip for three weeks leaving tomorrow.
I have the most beautiful jubilee watermelon out on my
yard growing. That is probably thirty five to forty pounds.
See yeah, and it's one hundred and fifteen days. I
don't the vine is I don't know if you count
(14:20):
the days from you know the size of the fruit
when it starts that anyhow, that the stripes are dark
green and light green. When I turned it over, though,
first the tundril and the stem are not brown. I
do have it on a plate to prevent insects, but
when I turn it over it's still white. My fear
(14:40):
is if if I leave it with the summer rains coming, Yeah,
it's going to rot by the time I get back.
But I fail terribly at the self test. I cannot do.
I cannot I'm not that smart. Well, what can I do? Well?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I can tell you if you have a cool spot
in your garage or someplace where you can put it,
go ahead and take it off now and leave it,
or take it with you on your vacation. Are you
driving or fine, if you're driving, take it with you
and enjoy it.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
Okay. So just and should I Should I cut into
it right away? Or do I know what? They don't ripen?
Do I let it sweeten? What do I do?
Speaker 6 (15:20):
So?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I would you know? It just depends when you planted it, okay,
because it's from the day of planting is when you
know the fruit. It should take about six to eight
weeks and it should be ripened. As the bottom of
it is white, that kind of indicates that it's got
it's ripe now, Okay, So the color on the bottom
is lighter than the top. And if it's really dark
(15:42):
green on top, thirty five to forty pounds, that's pretty ripe.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
Okay, I will update you when I get back.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Sure, Oh, I bet it's going to be great. What
variety is it?
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Uh, it's a jubilee, jubilee.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Thank you you did say that, jubilee. Thank you so much.
That's great. I can't wait to hear about your trip.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Thank you, and I love you. Take our calls, appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I welcome pinky bye bye, and yeah. So that's a
really it sounds delicious already.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I was going to offer to go over to her
house and cut it and eat it while she was
on her vacation, but I mean make care of it.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Don't know what it, don't know what happened.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Totally foiled my plans.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Things. Well, I want you to know that as we're
watching the FIFA Games Beat FIFA, FIFA, my my husband's cringing.
He's a soccer fan. FIFA. The golf course owners and
lawn maintenance people for golf courses and lawn maintenance people
throughout the state of Florida are just amazed at the
(16:44):
turf that's growing in all these stadiums, so they have
two in twenty twenty four, the opener in Atlanta that
the Copa America. They had a really hard issue with
the living grass performing consistently. So now they're going to
be sixteen venues for the soccer game and they have
(17:08):
to make sure the grass is the same in all
sixteen stadiums. So the videos that they've had already the
showing that they're really scrutinizing because it could affect the game.
Senegal training in New Jersey and an England and an
England team warming up in Tampa, Florida, so they are
really five years ago. They asked agronomists to create a
(17:34):
science based system so the ball and the player's feet
meet the ground consistently at every venue. I mean, this
is going to send lawn maintenance people really very crazy.
Eight of the sixteen stadiums normally use artificial turf, five
have roosts that reduce sunlight, and the venues are not
designed for natural grass. And all of these stadiums are
(17:57):
using natural grass, they must add a systems that a
grass stadium should have, so including irrigation, drainage, and in
some cases FIFA's standard vacuum ventilation below the surface. So
when you're looking at these stadiums and looking at the turf,
the stadium, the grass, the natural grass has ventilation underneath.
(18:19):
So their goal is simple. They had to ensure that
every field in the one hundred and four match forty
eighteen tournament meets FIFA's Elite standards. The surface must drain
heavy rain without drying out and stay fast without becoming
dangerously hard. And then some stadiums had to be renovated
so they could accommodate natural live grass. So Dallas liked
(18:43):
in a field level with Kansas City had to remove
ten roads of seats and Philadelphia removed their corner seating.
So when you're looking at it, they have chosen the
right grass for each venue. They use light, sawd and
reinforcement to keep the field stable. The crews are compensating
in the stadiums that have limited sunlight with artificial grow lights.
(19:06):
Dallas has eighteen ceiling mounted rigs that lower open over
the grass and fold away before matches. Other stadiums use
nine to twelve rig wheeled rigs to have the artificial turf.
I mean artificial lighting. I'm sorry, artificial lighting is early
a portable sawd. The two inches thick sod has grown
(19:28):
over plastic so it can be moved into stadiums without
rooting in place. And then synthetic fibers are stitched into
the surface, acting like rebar, and it is reinforced, helping
the field from breaking loose when players cut sharply or
goalkeepers churn up that six yard box. So it's all amazing.
We're going to be back with more of Better Lawns
(19:49):
and Gardens. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better
Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins, short US Talk and
Entertainment Network, and welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens.
If you'd like to read more about the turf that
(20:11):
is being grown and used in the FIFA Games, you
can go to Better Lawns and Gardens and I have
the article there that talks with the agronomous and what
they're having to do and what they're dealing with. So
if you're guys, we get a lot of guys. More
guys listen to the show than women. That's good. Yeah,
So you know, if you're interested in the soccer game,
(20:32):
go and read the Better Lawns and Gardens Facebook page. Uh,
and it'll be right there. Let's go to William in Melbourne.
Good morning, William, how are you?
Speaker 7 (20:43):
Good morning, Terrisha. I'm from the north and I'm blind
and I came down here and I have a hard
time growing in the ground. Okay, I'm not used to
the heat. So I want to grow containers five gallon buckets.
(21:03):
Maybe I thought I heard you talk about that a
while bag Sure, Now what do I do as far
as drainage when drilling holes in them? And what type
of plants could I put in them?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Well, you know, if you depends on how many five
gallon buckets you have, you want to drill holes in
the bottom, I would say three holes about an inch
to two inches wide, and then you want to fill
it with soil, potting Mixed soil is all right to use.
You don't want to use a dirt from the ground
(21:37):
in your buckets. You want to go ahead and use
light airy organic material in your soil. So a soilless mix,
a potting mix will be fine and you can fill
it up with that. Now, plants, you can grow, vegetables,
you can grow annual flowers, you can grow perennials. So
if you wanted to grow vegetables, it would depend on
(21:59):
the size of vegetab William, how many you can put
for bucket, okay, And so for like carrots, you could
put three to five carrots in a five gallon bucket.
You can put one to two lettuces, depending on what
size lettuce they get, you know, a little small buttercrunch
(22:20):
ones that are going to be a little bit tinier.
You could possibly get three annuals. You can plant Zenia's
and marrygolds, and you can put pentas, every kind of
flour you can put in into a five gallon bucket.
And then also too to.
Speaker 7 (22:38):
Order them from a nursery or I can't go shopping.
I don't drive, and I don't have internet or anything
like that.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Okay, but if you call any of the box stores.
If you call the box stores, they have five gallon buckets,
and you just call them and order it and have
them delivered, and that'll be they'll deliver.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Them to you.
Speaker 7 (23:00):
I'm talking about the plants.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Oh, the plants. I'm sorry, okay, No, I was not
sure either, so am I bad? Okay? And so the
plants call the nurseries and tell them what you want.
I would say, I have four five gallon buckets. I'd
like to plant perennials in them. I'd like to plant
flowers in them. So and have them delivered. Tell them
(23:24):
that you're you know, you're blind, and then and they'll
do that for you.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Would that be seeds or would that be plants?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I would go ahead and do a plants. Okay, that's
going to be the easiest. Okay, No, I would do plants,
because seeds are going to take too long, and you know,
unfortunately you might not be able to see if they
don't make it or when they coming up and they
may look like a weed. And pull them because I
you know, I pull weeds all the time, and sometimes
(23:55):
I pull my plants and I don't go.
Speaker 7 (23:57):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I enjoy your thank you so much, William, take care,
hon let us know how you do what you buy.
I will do that all right, then, thank you, bye bye.
And so if you'd like to have your questions answered
one triple eight four five, five, two nine sixty seven
or text two three six eight zero Brad and gains
(24:20):
still good morning, Brad, he texted. He says he has
Pensacola behea and he wants to spread Argentina beje on
top of it. Will it take over and less y
seed would be nice? Understand completely. If you're putting down
Behea seed, you definitely want to use Argentina behea because
it has less y seeds. The pensacola. You can mow
(24:43):
it and then three days later the y seeds are
back up again. It looks like you need to mow
it again. You don't really need to, it's just the
seeds are so prolific. So, Brad, my question is are
you doing sod or are you doing seed? If you're
doing seed, and it doesn't matter either either way, it's
not going to get rid of the pensacola. It's just
(25:06):
going to add more Argentina behea grass to your soil.
So it's not it will not take over or get
rid of the pensacola. It's just going to be there.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Now.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
If you wanted to use a herbicide and get rid
of all your pensacola and then put down your Argentina
behea seed, that would that would be less why seeds, okay,
but it's not going to completely eradicate them. If you
just put the seed on top of it all right
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
(25:41):
or you can text two three six eight zero at
an hoa. I am consulting and they're wondering why their
grass is declining. And the biggest reason is because of
the rain and their irrigation. They have a large community.
They have to water all night long sometime with all
the zones to get everybody irrigated in that time, and
(26:03):
their grass is wet, and so one of the best
turf advice I can give you is try not to
mow your grass when wet. There's many reasons for this.
I mean, the moisture on the grass blades weighs it
down so that when your behavior when your mower is
going over the grass, your grass isn't getting hit at
(26:25):
the right spot at the tips. It's getting hit in
the middle and it's kind of shredding it. You're going
to have raggedy, torn edges. That's going to stress your
grass out when it's being ripped instead of cut sharply
and nicely. It's going to make it more vulnerable to pests.
Also too, it's going to increase the likelihood of scalping
and leaving the lawn patchy and unsightly, and then also
(26:50):
to the wet grass, blades are more prone to tearing
and evenly cut, so that's going to reduce your density.
Over time, it's going to get to get sparse, which
means that some time landscapers will lower their blades even
more and that's not gonna be good either. It's also
too boeing with the wet grass is going to promote
fungal disease like brown patch and dollar spot, depending on
(27:13):
what time of the year it is. So what should
you do well When you have that heavy equipment on
your turf, the soil can get compacted and it's gonna
leave areas where it's gonna just get very sparse. You
want to mow when it is dry, if possible, and uh,
(27:35):
you want to make sure that you're doing it only
as necessary, so only taking off a third of the
grass at a time. So I'm gonna be back with
ways to do it. You can call one triple eight
four five five two nine sixty seven, or you can
text me two three six eight zero. This Saturday morning,
you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
(27:58):
and this is Florida's talk and entertainment.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Network, Welcome Back Up, Better Lawns and Gardens, sand now
Terresa's top five.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And my top five. This morning is my top five
summer loving beach plants if you would like to. If
you live on the coast and you have a salt
water to deal with, these are my top five favorite plants.
Bushy seaside oxi. It is a highly salt tolerant able
to withstand short periods of drought and occasional salt water inundation.
(28:48):
It's well suited to coastal restoration and landscaping, and works
effectively as a border plant in mixed wildflower gardens and
a long retention pond. Number two A beach morning glory
is a trailing evergreen vine with showy white flowers that
glooms summer and fall, and flowering may occur year round.
It's native to coastal dunes. It helps stabilize sand and
(29:11):
tolerate strout and low nutrients soils. Number three Hercules club.
It's an aromatic, heave, heavily thorned tree with a round crown,
spreading branches, yellow flowers, and fruit. It's used as landscaping,
especially in natural areas and restoration, and serves as a
host plant for the giant's swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. Number four
(29:35):
Sea oats tall spreading grasses that sway in coastal dunes
and provide valuable habitat. Their flowers supply pollen for many insects,
while their seeds feed beach beech, mice, rabbits, and birds.
Their deep dense roots can reach forty feet anchor sand
and help dunes habitats hold together. Number five Carolyn Jeff
(30:00):
Carolina Jessamine. It provides welcome winter color. It's among the
first flowers to bloom in Florida. It appears in early January.
Easy to grow on fences and walls and trellises, and
it has moderately fast growing and it can be controlled
with pruning. Caveat the Caroline Jessamine is toxic the children
(30:22):
and pets. Those are my five favorite beach summer loving
heat dune plants, So thank you very much for that.
Let's go to Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, Eileen.
Speaker 8 (30:35):
Good morning Teresa. How are you.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I am great, hunt, how are.
Speaker 8 (30:38):
You I'm doing okay?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Oh? I know I'm thinking of you all the time.
Speaker 8 (30:44):
Okay, thank you. I think of you and Wishie all
the time. Okay. That plants that I have in the backyard. Yes,
you told me how to root it. I know that
of it now. It's b u dB l e j
(31:06):
a budlia. Yes, yes, okay, it went right over my head.
It lost my brain somehow on how to root it. Okay,
So can you tell me how to do it again?
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yes, honey, I can very easy. Okay. So you want
to take so budlia is a woody ornamental okay. So
it's gonna get very woody on the bottom and the
branches can get wooty. I want you to take some
of the green, very flexible new stems eight to six
to eight ten inches long. You want to strip the
(31:45):
bottom three or four inches of leaves so you don't
want any leaves under the in the soil. Cut it okay,
diagonally on the bottom. Okay, Cut diagonally on the bottom,
and then you put it in less mix potting soil. Okay,
put it in the shade. You want to put some
plastic on it. I like to use the two gallon
(32:08):
or the laundry plastic laundry bags and put it in
there and seal it up so the moisture stays in there.
You want it to stay consistently moist I would say
for six to ten weeks, you know, through the summertime,
keeping it in the shade. And if you want one,
I would do three. If you want three, I would
do ten. Okay, okay, and you may get all ten.
Speaker 8 (32:32):
Okay, All right, well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
You're welcome on.
Speaker 8 (32:35):
Let me know how you do, okay, I sure will, all.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Right, appreciate you, Bye bye bye. And so if you
have a question, we have just a few minutes left
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
If you'd like to see my beach sunflower or my
summer loving beach plants, they're on the face book page
of Better Lawns and Gardens and you can follow us
there and like us, give us five stars. We really
really need it, don't we, Lizzy, how we absolutely love that.
And so what should you be doing in your yard
(33:13):
this month? Well, especially with the rain, you're going to
want to walk your yards on a regular basis. This
should be done all year round. It's good for you
to get outside it's good for you to walk, breathe
in that fresh air. It doesn't need to be for
a long time during the heat of the summertime. But
walk your yards, look at your shrubs, lift up the leaves,
(33:34):
look at the leaves, and just notice any spots, any
yellow areas in your turf, any areas starting to decline.
That's very, very important. Fertilizing time is over. Most of
the state of Florida has fertilizing restrictions now through October. First,
if you need your landscape to green up, use a
(33:58):
iron only product that is legal. You can use an
iron only product and it will green it up without
telling it to grow. You want to make sure that
if you have an irrigation system, in ground irrigation system,
that you check it monthly adjusted. If you're getting if
your irrigation systems going on. When we're getting this rain,
(34:19):
even if it's only rained one time or just a
couple hours in the morning, you want to check and
make sure your rain shut off device is working, whether
it needs to be you know, reinstalled, repaired, I don't.
You're not going to repair it, but a new one
will cost you forty dollars. It's literally going to save
you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year on
(34:42):
your water bills, So you want to make sure you
do that. Also too, chinchbugs are an issue and sod webworms.
I'm walking through yards and I'm seeing these moths come up.
It's very, very important that you again, when you're walking
through your yard, look down see these moths. If you
see them, you want to wait about two weeks and
(35:03):
here during the month of June, you can use a
product called Merit and it's an emitted cloprit and it
can be applied in June and it will take care
of those sod web worms and also chinchbugs. You want
to cut your turf at the right height three to
four inches high. Scalping is not good if you're going
(35:23):
away on vacation if you can't get somebody to mow
it while you're gone, if you're gone for a long
period of time, then just take off just a little
bit of it and then when you come back mow
it again. Do not scalp it low before you go
on vacation. Also, if you are taking care of your
container plants and gardens, especially William, you want to make
(35:47):
sure that you're getting water to your pot every day,
So William, when you're checking your plants for water, if
it needs to be watered, stick your finger in the pot,
go down to your second knuckle. If the potting soul oil.
If the ground is wet, cool, or damp, you do
not need to water it again. Okay. Overwatering containers may need,
(36:09):
especially if they're clay, watering every day during the summertime.
But they're clay and they're going to evaporate very quickly.
They're going to heat up very quickly. If it's plastic
five gallon buckets, it's not going to evaporate as quickly,
and you may not need to do it every day,
Especially if you're getting rain vegetables. You want to make
(36:31):
sure that you're fertilizing monthly with your vegetables. Slow release
product you can use every three to four weeks. Then,
Also to get your seeds now for August. If you
wait until August to buy your seeds, you may not
get what you want. So check the catalogs, check the online.
Order your seeds now for your fall vegetable garden. Sweet
(36:56):
potatoes if you love sweet potatoes and my dad loves
sweet potatoes, and I love them. I love them with
maple maple syrup. Oh my sweepstairs.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
They are vining like they're or have They've never vined
in their entire life. They are loving the fence line
that I.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Planted I'm on. So that's so good to hear. Very
interesting for sure, So oh excellent. You want to handpool
weeds now. You do not want to use it in
an herb side right now. It's very important that you know.
On the label it says do not use in temperatures
over eighty five degrees. Well that's all summer for Florida. Okay,
So using an herbicide, you're risking killing your grass and
(37:37):
not the weed. The weed may survive and come back
because the temperatures are too hot. So handpool weeds now
to prevent pest problems for fall. You don't want them
to go to uh to fruiting and you know flowering
that's gonna that's gonna spread more seeds. You want to
(37:58):
prune in your blueberries right now, and your blackberries. You
can prune those, reshape them if they have grown a
little too big, which is wonderful because you get more
blueberries that way. You want to feed your bananas monthly,
and you want to harvest the banana fruit which is
called the stocks, which are called the hand when they
(38:18):
start to turn yellow. Okay, so if you've got bananas
growing and they're starting to turn yellow, you can go
ahead and cut them off and just put them in
a cool corner for when to write them. You want
to feed your pineapples right now with slower leaves fertilizer,
and also your citrus trees right now. We're going to
(38:39):
be back with Heather Stickney. She's the national sales director
for Summit Responsible Solution Studios. She's got answers for us
and all the science behind mosquito bits. We're going to
be right back. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this is
Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. THETT is Distinct disappe
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