July 25, 2026 • 39 mins
Teresa's Top Five Favorite Garden Art at the Buffalo Garden Tour. What to plant for August.
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Good morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host, Teresa Watkins. I'm
a landscape designer, garden author, horticulturist. I love to help
people with their yards, design their yards. Of a landscape designer,
I love to put plants in certain places and make
your home look beautiful. And we do that right here
(00:35):
on Better Lawns and Gardens. Good morning, Lizzie.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Good morning. I am so happy to have you back.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I mean, I love Tom, so don't you me roll,
but we always love to have Teresa back.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Thank you so much. Well, Tom did a great job.
You and him what a fantastic team. So I do
appreciate Tom covering for me and I love having him in.
And it is just the order right now. The weather
is hot, yes we know it's hot, but it's so
beautiful seeing all of these flowers blooming and just having
(01:09):
a just just driving down the road and seeing the
wildflowers the sky this morning, Lizzie.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
It was gore yes. And also you're talking about the
flowers blooming. I was, you know, doing some weed spraying
uh and uh out in my yard and then land
the uh the uh mosquito stuff, the mosquito dunks from
some responsible solution.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yes, they are a sponsored but I buy it myself.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
But I was laying all that out in the property
and I just happened to look at my I think
it's called the Texas basil boosh, Yes, and it has
got the little purple flowers, yes, blooming Texas and there's.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Texas age there. You go what I called basil.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, that's okay. It's got soft mint green leaves, yes, yes,
just beautiful and they have the teeny.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Little purple flowers and they're like a like a violet kind.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Of it's I looked at it.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I'm like, you were just so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yes, just appreciating the beauty out there. It's just wonderful.
We're lucky to live in Florida. So a big thank
you to Tom mccoven for hosting Better Lawns and Gardens
last week.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I had a great time, so I enjoy hearing it.
We had a tropical storm form in the Gulf and
it went towards Gary in you know, Louisiana, but it's
landed in Texas and it's no longer a tropical storm,
but it is dumping a lot of rain, and I'm
just wondering if the Red Skies were seeing us a
little bit of that this morning. But also we're we
(02:40):
are going to have a hot weekend, but next week
it's going to be rain every day. That's very throughout
the whole state of Florida. So we are going to
get about six inches over the next week, So good
chance of rain. So I would go ahead and turn
your sprinkler systems off, and even during the summer, just
turn them off. Let your plants get used to the
(03:03):
warm weather. This is a good time to wean your
grass off of irrigation when we do get rains like this.
So every place except key West. Key West is going
to have some rain the beginning of the week. But
key West, you're going to have a beautiful weekend next weekend,
so I'm really looking forward to it. And then July
(03:25):
twenty ninth, we have a full bat moon Florida. You know,
I changed all the Florida moon symbols, right, so Florida,
we're celebrating this, So I changed them, changed it to
July twenty ninth, at ten thirty six am. We're going
to experience the Florida full Batmon July is in. It's
(03:47):
in the North America when the batmon, I'm sorry, the batmoon.
The bat nurseries in July are at their busiest as
millions of young batpops start to take flow this month.
So the young bats have spent weeks clinging to their
mothers or huddled in crowded roosts, but they're finally mature
(04:09):
enough to go ahead and graduate to flying. So it's
going to be a great opportunity for you to watch
bats as they hunt for nocturnal insects and we need them.
So bats are wonderful. I love seeing bat moms. I
love seeing them nurse their babies. You know, bats are mammals,
(04:31):
and so the full Batmon July twenty ninth, ten thirty
six am. So that is really cool. I love doing that.
So we are going to be talking about a little
bit about art today, a little bit about gardening, and
or a lot about gardening, but a little bit about
(04:51):
what I saw this week. I just came back from
the garden Walk Buffalo in New York. It is an
incredible Now it doesn't happen until July twenty fifth and
twenty sixth today and tomorrow is when it happens. But
we went a week early and got to see the gardens,
the very best of the gardens without having to be
(05:15):
huddled in the masses because they're expecting seventy five thousand
people wow in two days.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Well that's why it's good if you know that's to
go on the Teresa's tours that she has her and
Tony because the fact that you do get this little one,
you get intimate and private and it's not a huge
crowd of people, right, but you also get some of
these little extras that a lot of people don't. And
so if they were interested in on any of these
that are coming up, well how they find out the
(05:43):
costs and to get on the list.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Our next tour is October the Ethereal Gardens of New Orleans,
and October is Halloween month. It's Tony's birthday Halloween. You know,
it explained so much, but it's just going to be
a wonderful tour. But then we have all our tours
for next year up and so you can go to
art and bloomgardentours dot com. We take small groups and
(06:09):
we get into places that you don't normally get into.
With my connections. We we do very well. The Chelsea
Flower Tour is always filled up. It's always popular and
next year we are going to be going to have
afternoon tea in High Grove House.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So if they're Charles's home, Oh, I love that. So
if so, if they are interested, one, they're going to
need a passport and it takes a while for you
to get your passport. Yes, So if you're interested, are
they able to go ahead and sign up now?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah? Okay, so if they can go to art and
bloom garden tours, some of the tours we do have
waitlists on. So, but go ahead and let us know
that you're interested and we will make sure you get
to go.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah, So this is one that's very important that you
need to do within the next week or two to
get on that list and then you get your passport.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, and so, and we're going to be right back
with your garden questions today one triple eight four five five,
two nine sixty seven, or you can text me two
three six eight zero the big announcement that's coming up next.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and
Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins
(07:19):
and this is Florida's talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
to Better Lawns and Gardens. Your garden questions are the
(07:42):
focus today one triple eight four five five, two nine
sixty seven, or you can text me two three six
eight zero. Remember to provide on your text messages your
first name or your nom de plume, and the city
you can you're in, so I can answer your questions correctly.
Because Matt, what part of Florida you are in? Yes,
(08:03):
let's go to Gordon in Plant City. Good morning, Gordon.
How can I help you?
Speaker 5 (08:09):
A long time ago to see? Well, I told your
call screener, I'm in Plant City, and not that it
makes a big difference, but I'm just a little east
of the city line. It's not going to reach over
the back of my fence because I'm west of that
trailer park that's in the city limits. Okay, and any
of them, though, I have the most unusual question. You
guys are normally all about helping plants live, and I'm
for that. I love the idea of helping things live.
(08:33):
But the idea that I have, Bason, is we have
over half an acre. I have a push mower that's
not self propelled, and I've resorted to killing sections of
grass that are high along the fence and over the
steps you tank to make my job easier. And I
had three choices. I don't want to run my three
choices by you and get your thoughts only on the
effectiveness of the choices. But the wisdom choice to see
(08:55):
nothing and just let the grass beat me up. The
second choice is to go and get the round up
and to use wisdom on applying it so that it
gets way deep down there and not overdo it so
that it burns the top and stops transport. I acidentally
overdid it, and it was a little bit less effective
than it should have been, and then the winner hit me.
The third choice is one that my AI friends AI
(09:16):
friends is pretty bad when those are only friends anymore.
But anyhow, Jim and Jim, and I says, now, Gordon,
go get you a gallon of vinegar, a cup of
of salt that you buy with the store. You can
put in the alcohol that's optional, and the soap. It's
very important to remove the like the dishow, to remove
the machine, the oily protection right, fact, I use like
(09:37):
a punt instead of I wonder, I use like a
double what what my buddy ai buddies were telling me?
And so in any case, I put this stuff generously
and it seems to be pretty effective. But number one
between the two effective choices the round up, which is
is industry standard, I believe it is in my concoction,
which would be better long term. And secondly, what about
(09:59):
the wisdom? Had Ai, which is a little bit you know,
finicky and kind of looty, was saying, oh no, you're
going to kill them in subjectaint means bacteria and shim
and I and Grock were saying, oh meta, Ai is
just going off on a tangent. Didn't think this through. Okay, Okay,
you think about both the effectiveness and the wisdom.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Okay, So my dilemma. So, so Gordon, you have enough
energy you can get out and pull all those weeks.
I'm just telling you you're you're you're wearing me out here.
But here's the thing, Gordon. So when the thing is
is that you want to make sure they don't come back,
and when you're using vinegar and all the home remedies
(10:40):
and and and it's going to come back. It's only
burning the top, it's not killing the roots, whereas the
glycopate will kill the roots. Okay. My suggestion I got
two Okay. One is that you take and you put
five to seven inches and you can just do it
(11:02):
in a little bit, set a time of mulch, pine
bark chips down. That's going to block the sunlight. It's
gonna smother the weeds, and it's going to add organic
amendments as it decomposes into your soil. Okay, and so Gordon,
that's gonna be I think your most effective. Okay, the chemicals,
(11:23):
it's just going to be as time consuming for the
vinegar and you know, the alcohol to put down as
it is the glyco faith. The glyco faith is more expensive,
but it's going to do the job and you're not
gonna have any weeds at all. The vinegar is a
homemade recipe. It doesn't work as well or even at all.
(11:46):
And so then the other thing is is you can
ask for a writing lawnmower for Santa, and then you
could do you could do that and you can just
ride around and drink the alcohol.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Well, not the rubbing alcohol.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Not the rubbing alcohol. No, no a beer? Uh and
what do you think about that?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Well?
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Okay, your your faith is strong. I have one question
about the salt, Jim, and I pointed out that the
salt would long term make this soil uninhabitable. And I
think that that actually might be more effective long term.
But if I ever wanted to grow anything there, grass
or otherwise, it would be real hard to get it back.
It was, but what was what was your?
Speaker 4 (12:29):
What was?
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Would the most that you suggested? Yes, would kills the grass,
but it would it would make it where you could
grow stuff later? Yes, yes, it would keep the soul habitable.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
It's I kind of like my plan.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
You ever heard of the dead sea equals to salt sea? Right,
because kills off things.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
But I'm going to tell you, tell you, Gordon, this
is going to be so expensive. You're gonna have to
put so much salt down on a half acre that
it's just you might as well just buy the glass of.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Faith, right.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
The salt flip, Yeah, with the salt. So here's the experiment. Okay,
So here's the experiment. I want you to take a
twenty by twenty area, okay, because you got that or
ten by ten area. I want you to put salt
down on all of that, okay, and then do another
twenty by twenty area put mulch down on that portion,
(13:24):
and then do a ten by ten or twenty by
twenty of the glass of phaeton. See which one works best.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Which I want to lasts long as yes, h a
few months. I might check back if I'm back from
stress overall of this, But I love it all the
same anyhow, though I run out of questions. If you
can add anything, that's fine, But your experiment Gemini does
the same thing. Won't you do this and report back?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Right? Well, So the thing about Gemini is I found
it to be wrong on many occasions, and even as
I'm reading it, I'm going no, no, no, no, no, no,
that is totally wrong. And so it just takes what's
on the Internet and condenses it in a summary form
and gives it to you. So it takes all the
right answers, and it takes all the bad answers, the
(14:12):
incorrect answers, and puts it all and says here, try this.
So that's where you need to have a little bit
of knowledge to know what you're reading on metaia. And
so I'm just going to tell you the vinegar is
not a long term solution. It is. It's not a
good solution. It's going to burn, it's going to damage it.
(14:33):
It's maybe sick, but they're just going to come back
in full force. It's not going to kill the reader.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Can I give you a tip on how to interact
with Gemini that'll help him be more accurate. First you
want to put him in three point one pro with
extended thinking. Then you want to get Grok and that AI,
and you want to have each of the two cross
exam and the third and go back and forth and
back and forth five or six times, and at the
end of the day they're going to sessh out the truth.
Now it will be difficult, but when you have three
(15:00):
in one caffeinated sugar injejected person all, aren't union crossing
down to each other at the end of the day.
Put them on full mood to not just flashlight.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right, So let me tell you give you a better solution. Gordon, Okay,
called Teresa, Yeah, no, you can call me. But you
just put in get rid of weeds permanently and then
put the letters EDU. And that's going to put you
in with every university article on getting rid of weeds.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
Where you're smart. Okay, the the ais have a challenge. Well, listen,
you're totally right. When you go to Google, put a
side pull coal and e du and then put in
get rid of the weeds permanently, and it'll restrict it
to edu websites. Yes, so that's exactly I know what
you're talking about, and that I wanted to clarify it
for your readers that didn't know that trick that you're
(15:50):
talking about. In any event, we're so smart, we're the
smartest cats.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
In the world.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
But I'm still just a cat, so I need the
help for my human counterpart.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
There you go. I still think putting down mulch, and
if you do it a little bit at a time,
you can do it over the next year and that
and then you when you put down three to four,
that's going to keep the sunlight out. But if you
put five to seven, that's really going to Uh. You
can put mulch or wood chips down and that that's
(16:19):
gonna be a good way to get rid of the weeds.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
If I can get some mult I'm not check it out,
that would be that's a good experiment. I'll definitely put
on a thing to do list. Thanks a lot, Teresa.
We love you, Oh.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Gordon, we love you listening. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
That that was definitely very interesting and that was actually
some good advice.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
So wow, I like a debate. Debate.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yes, now, Teresa, you had something very interesting that you
learned this week.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
What did you learn?
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Well, I'm very very excited, Lizzie. I learned this week
that Better Lawns and Gardens has one, not one, but
two Silver Laurel Awards.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Okay, now for those that don't understand that, what does
that mean?
Speaker 1 (17:05):
These are professional garden garden Communicators International. It's an association
of professional association of garden writers and uh TV radio personalities,
all kinds of landscape designers, everyone who communicates about gardening.
Uh It's a professional association. And in the category of
(17:27):
Speaking and Broadcasting, I won one Silver Laurel Award for
the show how to Grow Kalladiums UH and then I
won another one for Best Radio Series or Radio Program
for how to prep for Fall in the winter Time.
(17:47):
I love this. So this is this is I mean,
how to how to prep for Winter?
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I'm sorry, So this basically these these two awards are
for your knowledge over the years that you have had
and you getting the information out to people through all
of your works that you've done, whether it's been here
in the station or if it's been out at conferences
or any.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Politicians regarding better laans and gardens. So that's I'm just
really honored to receive it. And this puts me in
running for the Gold. I don't know if I'll win
the Gold award in August, but that's coming up. So
I'm very very proud. Oh you Sho and so and
you know what, Lizzie, I couldn't do it without you.
We are such a great team. So I'm very honored
(18:31):
to work with you and I enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I love it, so thank you as have.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Fun doing this.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
We really do it, And be honest with you, we
couldn't do without our listeners.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
We could not do it without our listenings.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I got sharing is caring so that you don't tell.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Others about Teresa and better gardens. Yes, so I'm very
very excited. So today is all about you. We're going
to get to the garden message. I'm going to sneak
in a little bit of what to do in August.
It's at the end of the month here and so
we'll be doing that in the next hour. But we're
going to be taking your phone calls one triple eight
four five five two nine sixty seven, or you can
(19:07):
text two three six eight zero. Gordon wasn't He was
just an energizing buddy.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
I just don't understand why he has a problem with
the getting the weeds and stuff out of his yard,
because I'm like.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
This man has gotten so much energy.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, I had a lot of energy, but I understand
it's hot and I do appreciate that, and so hopefully
Santa will bring him a lawnmower for Christmas. If it's
Saturday morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios, you're listening
to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this
is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better
(20:03):
Lawns and Gardens. Do you have a gardening question? You
can call me one triple eight four five five two
nine six seven, or you can text two three six
eight zero. You know someone who loves to garden or
has a gardening question, please let them know about Better
Lawns and Gardens. The Award winning better lawns and gardens.
Tell them to call in with their gardening questions. We'd
(20:25):
love to help them too as well. Let's go to Eileen,
one of our favorite callers. Good morning, Eileen, how are you?
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Hey? Good morning? I'm doing you just wouldn't believe it.
I'm trop to a large jar of relish. My foot, Oh,
brop my coas.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Your poorest thing. I am so sorry.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
No, still I'm still getting around. Still no rest for me?
Speaker 1 (20:59):
No? No, Oh my goodness. Oh are you in a cast?
Are you in a cast?
Speaker 4 (21:04):
No? Noses, they don't do anything, Oh.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
My goodness, gracious. Okay, So how can I help you?
All right?
Speaker 4 (21:12):
My phenomenal lavender. Yes, it looks crispy.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I am so sorry.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Some of it looks some of it looks okay, m hmm,
some of it. I got a couple of stalks that
looks crispy. Okay, Now, Lizzie said she cut her back. Okay,
do I want to cut mine back?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I would cut the crispy off, yes, okay, okay, I
would cut the crispy off.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
But so so.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Now, when you're looking at a shrub or a tree
and a portion of it dies, that's part we could
possibly kind of look to a root problem, okay, so
that that root portion of that plant possibly die. You
said it's crispy, so it's not getting any water. Okay,
(22:05):
you haven't fertilized it, right.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
No, it's still in the black how okay?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Still black cow? Okay? So so I really I would
love to see it. Okay, so send Lizzie a picture
of it.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I will.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
But how often does it get watered?
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Well?
Speaker 4 (22:25):
I watered it uestyesterday morning. I stuck my finger down
in the dirt and it was dry.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Okay, So how often does it get.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Watered whenever I think it needs to?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Okay, that might be a little bit. Not that might
be not enough because when you see the symptoms, when
you see the crispiness, it should have been watered a
few weeks ago, so that it doesn't so lavender, probably,
depending on the size of it, would need water twice
a week. And if you're getting rain or you're handwatering, right,
(23:03):
tell me you don't have irrigation, right.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
No, okay, so that I am the irrigation.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
You are the irrigation. So that may mean that it
needs a little bit more water. And when you're hand watering.
It's difficult for you to know how much to put down, okay,
So I would just for your own frame of mind,
I would do get a milk gallon jug, a gallon jug,
and time how long it takes to fill that jug up,
(23:33):
and that how many seconds, whether it takes a minute,
takes forty five seconds, you know, or two minutes to
fill it up. Should only with your irrigation system, take
it less than a minute to fill it up. Then
that's how long you water for. I would do three
gallons of water per watering, okay, okay, on a three
(23:53):
gallon plant, okay, okay, And that way so you'll so
you'll time how long it takes to water by by
filling a gallon jug up. Then multiply that time by three,
and then that's how long you water your plant for
twice a week if you don't get rain.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Okay, okay, No, we have not had any.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Rain, right, so, and with these temperatures, the heat has
been phenomenal, no pun intended, it's been very hot. And
so you know, I would just check it every couple
of days. Now, how is everything else doing in your yard?
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Fine? Okay, so fine. And so this is a new plant.
You got it? What about six months ago?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Yeah, okay, roughly, I can't remember, Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
I think it's been Yeah, it's about six months. So
it's still not fully established, okay, because lavender grows in Spain,
it grows in Italy, and you know we do have
Mexican lavender. Uh. But you just it can take the heat, eat,
but it needs to be watered, and it needs to
(25:04):
be in soil. The black cow may be a little
too much for it as far as the nitrogen goes, okay, okay,
so you may want to add a little bit more
organic amendments to it, as far as adding some some
some pine bark, maybe some a little bit of top
(25:24):
soil to it. Okay, But it definitely can take the heat.
It's just got to make sure it gets enough water, gotcha. Okay.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
See I was afraid to water it because Karen told
me not to water it too much.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
So as to.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Who's caring, who's carrying? Oh okay, yeah, Well that's the
thing where it doesn't need water every day.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
No, I'm taking every day.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Right, but twice a week. But make sure you're putting
down enough each time you water. You don't want to
do a little splash. Okay, So I would do the
three gallons of water, you know, twice a week, and
that will be fine. Go ahead and cut the crispy off, okay,
get rid of that, and you can cut it down
at the bottom where it's where it's dying. Okay.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
I also have some.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Potting mix, sure, yes, And just to make sure you're
not covering the top of the of the plant, you know,
whereas right there at the crotch there area there you
want to see. You want to see a little bit
of the bass, okay, So don't cover it up all
the way.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
When I cut back the crispy part, yes, will that
grow back or not?
Speaker 1 (26:42):
No? That probably if you cut it down to the base,
it won't grow back. So it doesn't grow back, but
it will send up more new shoots. Okay. So you're
going to get more more stems okay, but just not
from that from those two crispy parts.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Okay, Okay, I understand. And congratulations, Oh, thank you so much.
Let me tell you deserve the gold store.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Oh, I'm both we do. Thank you so Muchileen.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
And I missed you last week. I know Tom was there,
but I missed you. Oh, I like talking to you.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Thank you so much, Eileen. Hope your toe feels better soon.
Let me know what happens in a couple of weeks.
Let me know how your phenomenal lavender does. 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
(28:10):
up Better Lawns and Gardens. S now Terresan's top five.
My top five this week are from all the beautiful
gardens I visited in Buffalo, New York, and it's the
top five offbeat and wacky art I saw so Number five,
a twelve foot tall totem pole constructed with black bowling
(28:34):
balls with white pins in a radius around the top bowl.
It was wonderful. Number four a work of art created
out of garden tools that was all connected by pipe
structure into two water features. This entire piece of art
was painted matt black and an homage to the Russian
(28:55):
immigrant artist Louise Nevilson, whose work is on display at
the most famous museums around the world, the Guggenheims, Smithsonian
Museum of Modern Art, the Center of Pompadou In France
all over the world. It was wonderful and it's in
Jim Charliet's garden in Buffalo, so he's very famous. Number
(29:16):
three a hair salon, painted styrofoam head filled with setams
and succulents as the hair. The colors were brilliant blues, yellows, greens, oranges.
Some had sunglasses. They were very creative. Number two eclectic
artwork made from ceramic, glass, metal, porcelain, and other very
(29:39):
strange materials. Just walking through the gardens looking at all
of these different pieces of art was amazing. And then
number one Buffalo has statues of buffaloes in every garden
practically made of every material, color, shape, and size imaginable,
from six inches tall to to real life size one
(30:02):
ton buffaloes in the garden. Oh wow, And so it
was just wonderful. You can go onto our better Lawns
and Gardens page in our Facebook and you can see
all of the pieces that I'm talking about right now
for my top five. And I just love art in
the garden. I think every garden should display something of
(30:25):
your personality, whether it's a little sign, whether it's floating
butterflies or actually having an actual piece of art. Being
creative in the garden is wonderful.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I agree one hundred percent, because it stands out and
just when it makes it your own and then just
it's there.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It showcases art should be everywhere. And I love the big,
huge sculptures in all the famous botanical gardens. I love
to see chihuli in the garden, and I just love
art in the garden. And I think everybody should have
a little a little piece somewhere that's in homage to
the culture of art one triple eight four five five
(31:05):
two nine sixty seven, or you can text two three
six eight zero like Linda in Zone eight B. So
Linda's got two questions, she said in regards to July
be in July twenty ninth, full bat moon, and yesterday
at an office in Lake City, they had a box
over a bat on their porch, afraid of it, as
(31:27):
they described an action. I told them I thought it
was a baby. They wouldn't let me take a look.
I attended a bat seminar on Halloween Day years ago
in Texas and it was very interesting. We got to
hold and pet them and it definitely changed our great
our rabbit attitude about them and I agree. Once you
see bats up close, they're not as scary and they're
(31:49):
quite gentle creatures. You do not want to go near them.
But if you have a bat that's hanging around your
house or is just it's in your yard, stay away
from it. But you can call animal control and they
will come and get it. Also, any of the Audubon
or you know rescue animal rescue numbers will will come
(32:13):
and get them. So you want to be very careful.
But rabies you can get from all kinds of creatures.
You can get them from cats and dogs and raccoons
and you know, all kinds of wild animals, so you
want to be very careful. If you have a wild
animal that lets you get close to them, that's not
normal and so they may be six. So we just
(32:35):
had some raby alerts last month. I think it was
in a Lake County so, uh, you want it, you
want to be very careful. But bats usually aren't a problem.
I remember when I worked for Belck Lindsay's in Lake
County at the mall when it just opened up and
there was a bat by the by the back door
(32:55):
employee entrance door, and I can understand being scared. You
don't want it to lay on you or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Oh yeah, because I mean if it does have rabies
and it does scratch you, yeah, or even potentially could
bite you and you don't realize it. I mean, I
know that there was a young man who died a
few years ago, a young young child who ended up
picking one up and it bit it.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
And so yeah, so you want to be very careful.
But that's as a rule. Are you know, are are
very good and they're very necessary. They help us rid
the environment of those pesky mosquitoes. So wonderful story, Linda.
Hopefully they got someone to remove it. So your other
(33:38):
question is, she has five acres of cactus and she's
trying to remove them. She's tried to spray individually, she
has the acreage sprayed professionally. She says she has a
young man pulling them up by pitchfork, but it's too
hot for him to be out there. Now, all suggestions
greatly appreciated. Well, the prickly pair is a Florida native.
(34:00):
We do find it in pasture grasses or large acreages.
You do need to get the pads, so each individual
cactus pad out of the ground. It can it can
once it hits sunlight, it can grow over again. So
it's just gonna be a long, painstaking process. But once
(34:22):
you do it, you should be completely rid of them.
So stick to it and have the young man drink
lots of water do it, you know, take them out
early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and
just do a little piece of a time, you know,
and just be very careful. Drink lots of water. I
have to tell you, I have to tell Linda I
love her text messages because she decorates them with all
(34:44):
kinds of creative emojis and symbols, and I love reading them.
So Linda, I love that. Thank you so much. She's
been a loyal listener for a long time. If you
have not, gone to our Facebook page Better Lands and Gardens,
and if you'll like it, we I really would appreciate that.
Give us some support and then tell all your friends
about better lawns and Gardens. That will be great. You
(35:08):
could also sign up for the free app for to
listen on a high Heart because we have Sometimes people
say I can't hear you, or station's down or something,
and it happens, Lizzie. Sometimes stations go down, Yes, and
so how do they get the app?
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Basically they just search iHeartRadio and then they download the app.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
It is for free.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
And then the best way if you want to listen
to actual live live at that moment, if you search
w f l F and you'll be able to find
us listening to us live. But if you want to
do a recap and you're not able to listen to
a live you can always go to Better Lawns dot
com and you can listen to all the podcasts there exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
That's it too. So we are going to have a
wonderful second hour. We can't wait to talk to you.
What can you be doing this time? I'm gonna sneak
in a little bit of August. Okay, so right now
you should have your seeds started for your ach plants
and your peppers and your tomatoes. You can also start
(36:11):
your seeds for end diving kale, your tomatillos, and tropical spinaches.
Tropical spinaches take the heat. I'm going to be talking
a little bit about that in the next hour. But
then you can also plant seeds your bush beans, your
lima beans, your pole beans, your carrots. You can start.
This is a time to get your seeds because the
(36:32):
fall guard and you're going to be planting at the
end of August, first part of September into September, and
if you start your seeds now, you're going to be
ahead of the game. Plus it's less expensive than buying
the four inch or one gallon pots to transplant in September,
so you want to save money. And if you have
extra seeds, you can always share them with your neighbors,
(36:56):
your church groups, your garden clubs will love them. I
had one of the garden club members give me some
of their okra seeds, so I'm excited about that. And
so they're sharing that and we can grow okra all
the way through into the fall. So I am thrilled
with that. So this is time to get your seeds.
(37:17):
If you wait longer, you wait till everything's you know,
ready to go into the ground, you might not be
able to get the exact seeds you want. So now
is the time to do that. My favorite plant catalogs
are rare, rare seeds, and then the Burpies catalog also
to the American Meadows has great seeds as well.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
So and this time of year, I mean some people
laugh at me I've had people tell me they think
it's silly, but if you have the opportunity, you need
to go online. You need to purchase your frost cloths. Yes, yes, now,
I'm telling you, by the time September rolls around, it
still is gonna be but they're not there to run out.
(38:02):
And then when, yeah, when it does actually get cold,
it's gonna be crickets.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Yeah, it's gonna be crickets. It's gonna have time delay
getting new new cloth in and so it is a
good time to go ahead and buy it and purchase
it and have it ready. Because last year we got really,
really cold. I'm hoping it's not gonna be the same
this year, and with the lon or the El Nino,
I don't think it will get as cold. Knock on wood.
(38:27):
I hope I didn't jinx it. But we should have
a good winter this year, which means it'll be nice
and it'll feel good. We're just not gonna have the
extreme freezes. So hopefully we'll check back on our New
Year's show and see if that that really happened. Tom
and I will discuss that. If it's Saturday morning, you're
listening to Better Lawns and gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and
(38:49):
this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment network.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
To retect the
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Din
Good morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host, Teresa Watkins. I'm
a landscape designer, garden author, horticulturist. I love to help
people with their yards, design their yards. Of a landscape designer,
I love to put plants in certain places and make
your home look beautiful. And we do that right here
(00:35):
on Better Lawns and Gardens. Good morning, Lizzie.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Good morning. I am so happy to have you back.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I mean, I love Tom, so don't you me roll,
but we always love to have Teresa back.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Thank you so much. Well, Tom did a great job.
You and him what a fantastic team. So I do
appreciate Tom covering for me and I love having him in.
And it is just the order right now. The weather
is hot, yes we know it's hot, but it's so
beautiful seeing all of these flowers blooming and just having
(01:09):
a just just driving down the road and seeing the
wildflowers the sky this morning, Lizzie.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
It was gore yes. And also you're talking about the
flowers blooming. I was, you know, doing some weed spraying
uh and uh out in my yard and then land
the uh the uh mosquito stuff, the mosquito dunks from
some responsible solution.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yes, they are a sponsored but I buy it myself.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
But I was laying all that out in the property
and I just happened to look at my I think
it's called the Texas basil boosh, Yes, and it has
got the little purple flowers, yes, blooming Texas and there's.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Texas age there. You go what I called basil.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, that's okay. It's got soft mint green leaves, yes, yes,
just beautiful and they have the teeny.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Little purple flowers and they're like a like a violet kind.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Of it's I looked at it.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I'm like, you were just so beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yes, just appreciating the beauty out there. It's just wonderful.
We're lucky to live in Florida. So a big thank
you to Tom mccoven for hosting Better Lawns and Gardens
last week.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I had a great time, so I enjoy hearing it.
We had a tropical storm form in the Gulf and
it went towards Gary in you know, Louisiana, but it's
landed in Texas and it's no longer a tropical storm,
but it is dumping a lot of rain, and I'm
just wondering if the Red Skies were seeing us a
little bit of that this morning. But also we're we
(02:40):
are going to have a hot weekend, but next week
it's going to be rain every day. That's very throughout
the whole state of Florida. So we are going to
get about six inches over the next week, So good
chance of rain. So I would go ahead and turn
your sprinkler systems off, and even during the summer, just
turn them off. Let your plants get used to the
(03:03):
warm weather. This is a good time to wean your
grass off of irrigation when we do get rains like this.
So every place except key West. Key West is going
to have some rain the beginning of the week. But
key West, you're going to have a beautiful weekend next weekend,
so I'm really looking forward to it. And then July
(03:25):
twenty ninth, we have a full bat moon Florida. You know,
I changed all the Florida moon symbols, right, so Florida,
we're celebrating this, So I changed them, changed it to
July twenty ninth, at ten thirty six am. We're going
to experience the Florida full Batmon July is in. It's
(03:47):
in the North America when the batmon, I'm sorry, the batmoon.
The bat nurseries in July are at their busiest as
millions of young batpops start to take flow this month.
So the young bats have spent weeks clinging to their
mothers or huddled in crowded roosts, but they're finally mature
(04:09):
enough to go ahead and graduate to flying. So it's
going to be a great opportunity for you to watch
bats as they hunt for nocturnal insects and we need them.
So bats are wonderful. I love seeing bat moms. I
love seeing them nurse their babies. You know, bats are mammals,
(04:31):
and so the full Batmon July twenty ninth, ten thirty
six am. So that is really cool. I love doing that.
So we are going to be talking about a little
bit about art today, a little bit about gardening, and
or a lot about gardening, but a little bit about
(04:51):
what I saw this week. I just came back from
the garden Walk Buffalo in New York. It is an
incredible Now it doesn't happen until July twenty fifth and
twenty sixth today and tomorrow is when it happens. But
we went a week early and got to see the gardens,
the very best of the gardens without having to be
(05:15):
huddled in the masses because they're expecting seventy five thousand
people wow in two days.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Well that's why it's good if you know that's to
go on the Teresa's tours that she has her and
Tony because the fact that you do get this little one,
you get intimate and private and it's not a huge
crowd of people, right, but you also get some of
these little extras that a lot of people don't. And
so if they were interested in on any of these
that are coming up, well how they find out the
(05:43):
costs and to get on the list.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Our next tour is October the Ethereal Gardens of New Orleans,
and October is Halloween month. It's Tony's birthday Halloween. You know,
it explained so much, but it's just going to be
a wonderful tour. But then we have all our tours
for next year up and so you can go to
art and bloomgardentours dot com. We take small groups and
(06:09):
we get into places that you don't normally get into.
With my connections. We we do very well. The Chelsea
Flower Tour is always filled up. It's always popular and
next year we are going to be going to have
afternoon tea in High Grove House.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So if they're Charles's home, Oh, I love that. So
if so, if they are interested, one, they're going to
need a passport and it takes a while for you
to get your passport. Yes, So if you're interested, are
they able to go ahead and sign up now?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah? Okay, so if they can go to art and
bloom garden tours, some of the tours we do have
waitlists on. So, but go ahead and let us know
that you're interested and we will make sure you get
to go.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah, So this is one that's very important that you
need to do within the next week or two to
get on that list and then you get your passport.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, and so, and we're going to be right back
with your garden questions today one triple eight four five five,
two nine sixty seven, or you can text me two
three six eight zero the big announcement that's coming up next.
If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and
Gardens from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. I'm Teresa Watkins
(07:19):
and this is Florida's talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
to Better Lawns and Gardens. Your garden questions are the
(07:42):
focus today one triple eight four five five, two nine
sixty seven, or you can text me two three six
eight zero. Remember to provide on your text messages your
first name or your nom de plume, and the city
you can you're in, so I can answer your questions correctly.
Because Matt, what part of Florida you are in? Yes,
(08:03):
let's go to Gordon in Plant City. Good morning, Gordon.
How can I help you?
Speaker 5 (08:09):
A long time ago to see? Well, I told your
call screener, I'm in Plant City, and not that it
makes a big difference, but I'm just a little east
of the city line. It's not going to reach over
the back of my fence because I'm west of that
trailer park that's in the city limits. Okay, and any
of them, though, I have the most unusual question. You
guys are normally all about helping plants live, and I'm
for that. I love the idea of helping things live.
(08:33):
But the idea that I have, Bason, is we have
over half an acre. I have a push mower that's
not self propelled, and I've resorted to killing sections of
grass that are high along the fence and over the
steps you tank to make my job easier. And I
had three choices. I don't want to run my three
choices by you and get your thoughts only on the
effectiveness of the choices. But the wisdom choice to see
(08:55):
nothing and just let the grass beat me up. The
second choice is to go and get the round up
and to use wisdom on applying it so that it
gets way deep down there and not overdo it so
that it burns the top and stops transport. I acidentally
overdid it, and it was a little bit less effective
than it should have been, and then the winner hit me.
The third choice is one that my AI friends AI
(09:16):
friends is pretty bad when those are only friends anymore.
But anyhow, Jim and Jim, and I says, now, Gordon,
go get you a gallon of vinegar, a cup of
of salt that you buy with the store. You can
put in the alcohol that's optional, and the soap. It's
very important to remove the like the dishow, to remove
the machine, the oily protection right, fact, I use like
(09:37):
a punt instead of I wonder, I use like a
double what what my buddy ai buddies were telling me?
And so in any case, I put this stuff generously
and it seems to be pretty effective. But number one
between the two effective choices the round up, which is
is industry standard, I believe it is in my concoction,
which would be better long term. And secondly, what about
(09:59):
the wisdom? Had Ai, which is a little bit you know,
finicky and kind of looty, was saying, oh no, you're
going to kill them in subjectaint means bacteria and shim
and I and Grock were saying, oh meta, Ai is
just going off on a tangent. Didn't think this through. Okay, Okay,
you think about both the effectiveness and the wisdom.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Okay, So my dilemma. So, so Gordon, you have enough
energy you can get out and pull all those weeks.
I'm just telling you you're you're you're wearing me out here.
But here's the thing, Gordon. So when the thing is
is that you want to make sure they don't come back,
and when you're using vinegar and all the home remedies
(10:40):
and and and it's going to come back. It's only
burning the top, it's not killing the roots, whereas the
glycopate will kill the roots. Okay. My suggestion I got
two Okay. One is that you take and you put
five to seven inches and you can just do it
(11:02):
in a little bit, set a time of mulch, pine
bark chips down. That's going to block the sunlight. It's
gonna smother the weeds, and it's going to add organic
amendments as it decomposes into your soil. Okay, and so Gordon,
that's gonna be I think your most effective. Okay, the chemicals,
(11:23):
it's just going to be as time consuming for the
vinegar and you know, the alcohol to put down as
it is the glyco faith. The glyco faith is more expensive,
but it's going to do the job and you're not
gonna have any weeds at all. The vinegar is a
homemade recipe. It doesn't work as well or even at all.
(11:46):
And so then the other thing is is you can
ask for a writing lawnmower for Santa, and then you
could do you could do that and you can just
ride around and drink the alcohol.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Well, not the rubbing alcohol.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Not the rubbing alcohol. No, no a beer? Uh and
what do you think about that?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Well?
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Okay, your your faith is strong. I have one question
about the salt, Jim, and I pointed out that the
salt would long term make this soil uninhabitable. And I
think that that actually might be more effective long term.
But if I ever wanted to grow anything there, grass
or otherwise, it would be real hard to get it back.
It was, but what was what was your?
Speaker 4 (12:29):
What was?
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Would the most that you suggested? Yes, would kills the grass,
but it would it would make it where you could
grow stuff later? Yes, yes, it would keep the soul habitable.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
It's I kind of like my plan.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
You ever heard of the dead sea equals to salt sea? Right,
because kills off things.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
But I'm going to tell you, tell you, Gordon, this
is going to be so expensive. You're gonna have to
put so much salt down on a half acre that
it's just you might as well just buy the glass of.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Faith, right.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
The salt flip, Yeah, with the salt. So here's the experiment. Okay,
So here's the experiment. I want you to take a
twenty by twenty area, okay, because you got that or
ten by ten area. I want you to put salt
down on all of that, okay, and then do another
twenty by twenty area put mulch down on that portion,
(13:24):
and then do a ten by ten or twenty by
twenty of the glass of phaeton. See which one works best.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Which I want to lasts long as yes, h a
few months. I might check back if I'm back from
stress overall of this, But I love it all the
same anyhow, though I run out of questions. If you
can add anything, that's fine, But your experiment Gemini does
the same thing. Won't you do this and report back?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Right? Well, So the thing about Gemini is I found
it to be wrong on many occasions, and even as
I'm reading it, I'm going no, no, no, no, no, no,
that is totally wrong. And so it just takes what's
on the Internet and condenses it in a summary form
and gives it to you. So it takes all the
right answers, and it takes all the bad answers, the
(14:12):
incorrect answers, and puts it all and says here, try this.
So that's where you need to have a little bit
of knowledge to know what you're reading on metaia. And
so I'm just going to tell you the vinegar is
not a long term solution. It is. It's not a
good solution. It's going to burn, it's going to damage it.
(14:33):
It's maybe sick, but they're just going to come back
in full force. It's not going to kill the reader.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Can I give you a tip on how to interact
with Gemini that'll help him be more accurate. First you
want to put him in three point one pro with
extended thinking. Then you want to get Grok and that AI,
and you want to have each of the two cross
exam and the third and go back and forth and
back and forth five or six times, and at the
end of the day they're going to sessh out the truth.
Now it will be difficult, but when you have three
(15:00):
in one caffeinated sugar injejected person all, aren't union crossing
down to each other at the end of the day.
Put them on full mood to not just flashlight.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right, So let me tell you give you a better solution. Gordon, Okay,
called Teresa, Yeah, no, you can call me. But you
just put in get rid of weeds permanently and then
put the letters EDU. And that's going to put you
in with every university article on getting rid of weeds.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
Where you're smart. Okay, the the ais have a challenge. Well, listen,
you're totally right. When you go to Google, put a
side pull coal and e du and then put in
get rid of the weeds permanently, and it'll restrict it
to edu websites. Yes, so that's exactly I know what
you're talking about, and that I wanted to clarify it
for your readers that didn't know that trick that you're
(15:50):
talking about. In any event, we're so smart, we're the
smartest cats.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
In the world.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
But I'm still just a cat, so I need the
help for my human counterpart.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
There you go. I still think putting down mulch, and
if you do it a little bit at a time,
you can do it over the next year and that
and then you when you put down three to four,
that's going to keep the sunlight out. But if you
put five to seven, that's really going to Uh. You
can put mulch or wood chips down and that that's
(16:19):
gonna be a good way to get rid of the weeds.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
If I can get some mult I'm not check it out,
that would be that's a good experiment. I'll definitely put
on a thing to do list. Thanks a lot, Teresa.
We love you, Oh.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Gordon, we love you listening. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
That that was definitely very interesting and that was actually
some good advice.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
So wow, I like a debate. Debate.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yes, now, Teresa, you had something very interesting that you
learned this week.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
What did you learn?
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Well, I'm very very excited, Lizzie. I learned this week
that Better Lawns and Gardens has one, not one, but
two Silver Laurel Awards.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Okay, now for those that don't understand that, what does
that mean?
Speaker 1 (17:05):
These are professional garden garden Communicators International. It's an association
of professional association of garden writers and uh TV radio personalities,
all kinds of landscape designers, everyone who communicates about gardening.
Uh It's a professional association. And in the category of
(17:27):
Speaking and Broadcasting, I won one Silver Laurel Award for
the show how to Grow Kalladiums UH and then I
won another one for Best Radio Series or Radio Program
for how to prep for Fall in the winter Time.
(17:47):
I love this. So this is this is I mean,
how to how to prep for Winter?
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I'm sorry, So this basically these these two awards are
for your knowledge over the years that you have had
and you getting the information out to people through all
of your works that you've done, whether it's been here
in the station or if it's been out at conferences
or any.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Politicians regarding better laans and gardens. So that's I'm just
really honored to receive it. And this puts me in
running for the Gold. I don't know if I'll win
the Gold award in August, but that's coming up. So
I'm very very proud. Oh you Sho and so and
you know what, Lizzie, I couldn't do it without you.
We are such a great team. So I'm very honored
(18:31):
to work with you and I enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I love it, so thank you as have.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Fun doing this.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
We really do it, And be honest with you, we
couldn't do without our listeners.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
We could not do it without our listenings.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
I got sharing is caring so that you don't tell.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Others about Teresa and better gardens. Yes, so I'm very
very excited. So today is all about you. We're going
to get to the garden message. I'm going to sneak
in a little bit of what to do in August.
It's at the end of the month here and so
we'll be doing that in the next hour. But we're
going to be taking your phone calls one triple eight
four five five two nine sixty seven, or you can
(19:07):
text two three six eight zero. Gordon wasn't He was
just an energizing buddy.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
I just don't understand why he has a problem with
the getting the weeds and stuff out of his yard,
because I'm like.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
This man has gotten so much energy.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, I had a lot of energy, but I understand
it's hot and I do appreciate that, and so hopefully
Santa will bring him a lawnmower for Christmas. If it's
Saturday morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios, you're listening
to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this
is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better
(20:03):
Lawns and Gardens. Do you have a gardening question? You
can call me one triple eight four five five two
nine six seven, or you can text two three six
eight zero. You know someone who loves to garden or
has a gardening question, please let them know about Better
Lawns and Gardens. The Award winning better lawns and gardens.
Tell them to call in with their gardening questions. We'd
(20:25):
love to help them too as well. Let's go to Eileen,
one of our favorite callers. Good morning, Eileen, how are you?
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Hey? Good morning? I'm doing you just wouldn't believe it.
I'm trop to a large jar of relish. My foot, Oh,
brop my coas.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Your poorest thing. I am so sorry.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
No, still I'm still getting around. Still no rest for me?
Speaker 1 (20:59):
No? No, Oh my goodness. Oh are you in a cast?
Are you in a cast?
Speaker 4 (21:04):
No? Noses, they don't do anything, Oh.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
My goodness, gracious. Okay, So how can I help you?
All right?
Speaker 4 (21:12):
My phenomenal lavender. Yes, it looks crispy.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I am so sorry.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Some of it looks some of it looks okay, m hmm,
some of it. I got a couple of stalks that
looks crispy. Okay, Now, Lizzie said she cut her back. Okay,
do I want to cut mine back?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I would cut the crispy off, yes, okay, okay, I
would cut the crispy off.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
But so so.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Now, when you're looking at a shrub or a tree
and a portion of it dies, that's part we could
possibly kind of look to a root problem, okay, so
that that root portion of that plant possibly die. You
said it's crispy, so it's not getting any water. Okay,
(22:05):
you haven't fertilized it, right.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
No, it's still in the black how okay?
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Still black cow? Okay? So so I really I would
love to see it. Okay, so send Lizzie a picture
of it.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I will.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
But how often does it get watered?
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Well?
Speaker 4 (22:25):
I watered it uestyesterday morning. I stuck my finger down
in the dirt and it was dry.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Okay, So how often does it get.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Watered whenever I think it needs to?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Okay, that might be a little bit. Not that might
be not enough because when you see the symptoms, when
you see the crispiness, it should have been watered a
few weeks ago, so that it doesn't so lavender, probably,
depending on the size of it, would need water twice
a week. And if you're getting rain or you're handwatering, right,
(23:03):
tell me you don't have irrigation, right.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
No, okay, so that I am the irrigation.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
You are the irrigation. So that may mean that it
needs a little bit more water. And when you're hand watering.
It's difficult for you to know how much to put down, okay,
So I would just for your own frame of mind,
I would do get a milk gallon jug, a gallon jug,
and time how long it takes to fill that jug up,
(23:33):
and that how many seconds, whether it takes a minute,
takes forty five seconds, you know, or two minutes to
fill it up. Should only with your irrigation system, take
it less than a minute to fill it up. Then
that's how long you water for. I would do three
gallons of water per watering, okay, okay, on a three
(23:53):
gallon plant, okay, okay, And that way so you'll so
you'll time how long it takes to water by by
filling a gallon jug up. Then multiply that time by three,
and then that's how long you water your plant for
twice a week if you don't get rain.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Okay, okay, No, we have not had any.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Rain, right, so, and with these temperatures, the heat has
been phenomenal, no pun intended, it's been very hot. And
so you know, I would just check it every couple
of days. Now, how is everything else doing in your yard?
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Fine? Okay, so fine. And so this is a new plant.
You got it? What about six months ago?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Yeah, okay, roughly, I can't remember, Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
I think it's been Yeah, it's about six months. So
it's still not fully established, okay, because lavender grows in Spain,
it grows in Italy, and you know we do have
Mexican lavender. Uh. But you just it can take the heat, eat,
but it needs to be watered, and it needs to
(25:04):
be in soil. The black cow may be a little
too much for it as far as the nitrogen goes, okay, okay,
so you may want to add a little bit more
organic amendments to it, as far as adding some some
some pine bark, maybe some a little bit of top
(25:24):
soil to it. Okay, But it definitely can take the heat.
It's just got to make sure it gets enough water, gotcha. Okay.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
See I was afraid to water it because Karen told
me not to water it too much.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
So as to.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Who's caring, who's carrying? Oh okay, yeah, Well that's the
thing where it doesn't need water every day.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
No, I'm taking every day.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Right, but twice a week. But make sure you're putting
down enough each time you water. You don't want to
do a little splash. Okay, So I would do the
three gallons of water, you know, twice a week, and
that will be fine. Go ahead and cut the crispy off, okay,
get rid of that, and you can cut it down
at the bottom where it's where it's dying. Okay.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
I also have some.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Potting mix, sure, yes, And just to make sure you're
not covering the top of the of the plant, you know,
whereas right there at the crotch there area there you
want to see. You want to see a little bit
of the bass, okay, So don't cover it up all
the way.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
When I cut back the crispy part, yes, will that
grow back or not?
Speaker 1 (26:42):
No? That probably if you cut it down to the base,
it won't grow back. So it doesn't grow back, but
it will send up more new shoots. Okay. So you're
going to get more more stems okay, but just not
from that from those two crispy parts.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Okay, Okay, I understand. And congratulations, Oh, thank you so much.
Let me tell you deserve the gold store.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Oh, I'm both we do. Thank you so Muchileen.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
And I missed you last week. I know Tom was there,
but I missed you. Oh, I like talking to you.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Thank you so much, Eileen. Hope your toe feels better soon.
Let me know what happens in a couple of weeks.
Let me know how your phenomenal lavender does. 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
(28:10):
up Better Lawns and Gardens. S now Terresan's top five.
My top five this week are from all the beautiful
gardens I visited in Buffalo, New York, and it's the
top five offbeat and wacky art I saw so Number five,
a twelve foot tall totem pole constructed with black bowling
(28:34):
balls with white pins in a radius around the top bowl.
It was wonderful. Number four a work of art created
out of garden tools that was all connected by pipe
structure into two water features. This entire piece of art
was painted matt black and an homage to the Russian
(28:55):
immigrant artist Louise Nevilson, whose work is on display at
the most famous museums around the world, the Guggenheims, Smithsonian
Museum of Modern Art, the Center of Pompadou In France
all over the world. It was wonderful and it's in
Jim Charliet's garden in Buffalo, so he's very famous. Number
(29:16):
three a hair salon, painted styrofoam head filled with setams
and succulents as the hair. The colors were brilliant blues, yellows, greens, oranges.
Some had sunglasses. They were very creative. Number two eclectic
artwork made from ceramic, glass, metal, porcelain, and other very
(29:39):
strange materials. Just walking through the gardens looking at all
of these different pieces of art was amazing. And then
number one Buffalo has statues of buffaloes in every garden
practically made of every material, color, shape, and size imaginable,
from six inches tall to to real life size one
(30:02):
ton buffaloes in the garden. Oh wow, And so it
was just wonderful. You can go onto our better Lawns
and Gardens page in our Facebook and you can see
all of the pieces that I'm talking about right now
for my top five. And I just love art in
the garden. I think every garden should display something of
(30:25):
your personality, whether it's a little sign, whether it's floating
butterflies or actually having an actual piece of art. Being
creative in the garden is wonderful.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I agree one hundred percent, because it stands out and
just when it makes it your own and then just
it's there.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It showcases art should be everywhere. And I love the big,
huge sculptures in all the famous botanical gardens. I love
to see chihuli in the garden, and I just love
art in the garden. And I think everybody should have
a little a little piece somewhere that's in homage to
the culture of art one triple eight four five five
(31:05):
two nine sixty seven, or you can text two three
six eight zero like Linda in Zone eight B. So
Linda's got two questions, she said in regards to July
be in July twenty ninth, full bat moon, and yesterday
at an office in Lake City, they had a box
over a bat on their porch, afraid of it, as
(31:27):
they described an action. I told them I thought it
was a baby. They wouldn't let me take a look.
I attended a bat seminar on Halloween Day years ago
in Texas and it was very interesting. We got to
hold and pet them and it definitely changed our great
our rabbit attitude about them and I agree. Once you
see bats up close, they're not as scary and they're
(31:49):
quite gentle creatures. You do not want to go near them.
But if you have a bat that's hanging around your
house or is just it's in your yard, stay away
from it. But you can call animal control and they
will come and get it. Also, any of the Audubon
or you know rescue animal rescue numbers will will come
(32:13):
and get them. So you want to be very careful.
But rabies you can get from all kinds of creatures.
You can get them from cats and dogs and raccoons
and you know, all kinds of wild animals, so you
want to be very careful. If you have a wild
animal that lets you get close to them, that's not
normal and so they may be six. So we just
(32:35):
had some raby alerts last month. I think it was
in a Lake County so, uh, you want it, you
want to be very careful. But bats usually aren't a problem.
I remember when I worked for Belck Lindsay's in Lake
County at the mall when it just opened up and
there was a bat by the by the back door
(32:55):
employee entrance door, and I can understand being scared. You
don't want it to lay on you or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Oh yeah, because I mean if it does have rabies
and it does scratch you, yeah, or even potentially could
bite you and you don't realize it. I mean, I
know that there was a young man who died a
few years ago, a young young child who ended up
picking one up and it bit it.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
And so yeah, so you want to be very careful.
But that's as a rule. Are you know, are are
very good and they're very necessary. They help us rid
the environment of those pesky mosquitoes. So wonderful story, Linda.
Hopefully they got someone to remove it. So your other
(33:38):
question is, she has five acres of cactus and she's
trying to remove them. She's tried to spray individually, she
has the acreage sprayed professionally. She says she has a
young man pulling them up by pitchfork, but it's too
hot for him to be out there. Now, all suggestions
greatly appreciated. Well, the prickly pair is a Florida native.
(34:00):
We do find it in pasture grasses or large acreages.
You do need to get the pads, so each individual
cactus pad out of the ground. It can it can
once it hits sunlight, it can grow over again. So
it's just gonna be a long, painstaking process. But once
(34:22):
you do it, you should be completely rid of them.
So stick to it and have the young man drink
lots of water do it, you know, take them out
early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and
just do a little piece of a time, you know,
and just be very careful. Drink lots of water. I
have to tell you, I have to tell Linda I
love her text messages because she decorates them with all
(34:44):
kinds of creative emojis and symbols, and I love reading them.
So Linda, I love that. Thank you so much. She's
been a loyal listener for a long time. If you
have not, gone to our Facebook page Better Lands and Gardens,
and if you'll like it, we I really would appreciate that.
Give us some support and then tell all your friends
about better lawns and Gardens. That will be great. You
(35:08):
could also sign up for the free app for to
listen on a high Heart because we have Sometimes people
say I can't hear you, or station's down or something,
and it happens, Lizzie. Sometimes stations go down, Yes, and
so how do they get the app?
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Basically they just search iHeartRadio and then they download the app.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
It is for free.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
And then the best way if you want to listen
to actual live live at that moment, if you search
w f l F and you'll be able to find
us listening to us live. But if you want to
do a recap and you're not able to listen to
a live you can always go to Better Lawns dot
com and you can listen to all the podcasts there exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
That's it too. So we are going to have a
wonderful second hour. We can't wait to talk to you.
What can you be doing this time? I'm gonna sneak
in a little bit of August. Okay, so right now
you should have your seeds started for your ach plants
and your peppers and your tomatoes. You can also start
(36:11):
your seeds for end diving kale, your tomatillos, and tropical spinaches.
Tropical spinaches take the heat. I'm going to be talking
a little bit about that in the next hour. But
then you can also plant seeds your bush beans, your
lima beans, your pole beans, your carrots. You can start.
This is a time to get your seeds because the
(36:32):
fall guard and you're going to be planting at the
end of August, first part of September into September, and
if you start your seeds now, you're going to be
ahead of the game. Plus it's less expensive than buying
the four inch or one gallon pots to transplant in September,
so you want to save money. And if you have
extra seeds, you can always share them with your neighbors,
(36:56):
your church groups, your garden clubs will love them. I
had one of the garden club members give me some
of their okra seeds, so I'm excited about that. And
so they're sharing that and we can grow okra all
the way through into the fall. So I am thrilled
with that. So this is time to get your seeds.
(37:17):
If you wait longer, you wait till everything's you know,
ready to go into the ground, you might not be
able to get the exact seeds you want. So now
is the time to do that. My favorite plant catalogs
are rare, rare seeds, and then the Burpies catalog also
to the American Meadows has great seeds as well.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
So and this time of year, I mean some people
laugh at me I've had people tell me they think
it's silly, but if you have the opportunity, you need
to go online. You need to purchase your frost cloths. Yes, yes, now,
I'm telling you, by the time September rolls around, it
still is gonna be but they're not there to run out.
(38:02):
And then when, yeah, when it does actually get cold,
it's gonna be crickets.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Yeah, it's gonna be crickets. It's gonna have time delay
getting new new cloth in and so it is a
good time to go ahead and buy it and purchase
it and have it ready. Because last year we got really,
really cold. I'm hoping it's not gonna be the same
this year, and with the lon or the El Nino,
I don't think it will get as cold. Knock on wood.
(38:27):
I hope I didn't jinx it. But we should have
a good winter this year, which means it'll be nice
and it'll feel good. We're just not gonna have the
extreme freezes. So hopefully we'll check back on our New
Year's show and see if that that really happened. Tom
and I will discuss that. If it's Saturday morning, you're
listening to Better Lawns and gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and
(38:49):
this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment network.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
To retect the
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Din
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