August 8, 2026 • 39 mins
Teresa’s Top Five Purple Carrot Varieties. Landscape designer and Award winning garden expert Teresa Watkins covers weed killer problems with the high temperatures, Fertilizer recommendations and answering listeners’ gardening questions.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Good morning from the summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host tweets, so Watkins,
thank you for joining us this morning. I have my
delicious cup of tea with me. Lizzie, good morning. How
are you.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I thought you were gonna say I was delicious for
a second.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
You are. You're just yummy. You're just yummy. What are
you drinking this?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I am drinking three shots of espresso accompanied by some
hot chocolate.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Okay, but did I see that you said something about
eggnog this week?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh my cheese and crackers. Okay, So Publics thank you.
Public's not a sponsor, but I love you. They had
their annual August. They brought in their eggnog ice cream.
So I made me an egg nog milkshake.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
So here you go. You got a little touch of
fall in the air.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, you have another few weeks this in September. Then
they'll release all the eggdi Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So if you're not following Lizzie on on Facebook, Lizzie,
where are you on Facebook? You find me?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Most social media is Lizzie. That's l I z z
I E said what not says said, what, So Lizzie said,
what you can find me.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
There you go. That's wonderful. Well, we had some rain
this week. Finally. Orlando seemed to be like the wicked
redheaded stepchild and we were not getting the rain. It
would split, you know, right as the two coasts would
meet together, and it would we would not get rain
in Orlando, just little scattered drizzles here and there. But
(01:42):
this week we have gotten over three inches of rain
at my house. Yes, and so that is great. So Orlando,
it says officially for the for the month of August,
the first week that we've gotten two and a half
inches of rain. That's still down fourteen inches, but I
think we're gonna to catch up. And Melbourne, you didn't
even get an inch of rain this week, but you've
(02:04):
had a little bit so far, so you're still good.
You're only down point four tenths of an inch for
the for the year, so you're you're doing okay. Sanford
got over three inches of rain and they're down just
about two inches for the year. Daytona Beach got nearly
three inches and they're not even down an inch for
(02:25):
the year. So you've gotten enough rain this year and
then Leesburg, Poor Leedsburg, you didn't even get an inch
of rain this week and you're down five inches. So
that's the local central Florida area. Those of you up north,
I think you've gotten a little bit more rain. You
are doing well. South Florida. You are still in a
little bit of a drought area there. But this week
(02:47):
it's gonna change a little bit. We're gonna have rain
this weekend, thunderstorms today, we've had some good thunderstorms for
the last two days. I love lightning, I love thunder yes,
and so it's going to continue. But then starting the
beginning of the week, we're getting that dried Saharan desert
sand bag yeap which is going to dry up, dry
(03:10):
up the rainfall. It's going to keep that under control.
So we have lower rain chances next week twenty to
forty percent chance, which means you're not going to get
any and the temperatures are going to be low to
mid nineties, so that's not too bad. That that's not
too bad. Mostly sunny all week, so we can catch
up with what we need to do out in the garden.
Just make sure you're drinking lots of water and you've
(03:32):
got that hat on so that you can stay yes, hydrated,
because that really can hit you very quickly.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And that's crazy because so our one turkey, who she's
a broad breasted and so she's a big girl, and
she started molting.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Well when she molts, she.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Like loses, like like it looks like someone went in
to snatch all of her feathers off the back of
her neck.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Don't you feel so sorry for it? Does she feel bad?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Is that? Oh she's comfortable? Oh she she You might
as well be that time of month for her. But
she is sassy as can be. Okay, she's normally sassy.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Don't look at me. Don't look at me. You know
when children do that. Don't look at me.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I'll have to send you to the video of her
this morning. She had her head buried in what a
little bit of feather she had on the back of her.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Back, and she goes hmmm hm.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And I was like, Geraldine, big mama, and she is,
and I'm just like, okay, but yes, so you're talking
about the sun. So I let them go out, and
they like to graze through the yard in the back
and the pasture and stuff, and but I had to
keep an eye on her and like do like the
counting time because I'm like, she's gonna get sunburned.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Oh my goodness. So yeah, so I
got like, how do you rub lotion on a tul Okay,
there you go, We use butter. Oh that would be that,
that would be that's very mean. Okay, they wouldn't know,
they wouldn't know, Oh my goodness. So so again, so
the weather's gonna be good this week for gardening and
(04:56):
planting because the ground has If you've gotten a few
days of rainfall, that's good for the ground and it's
not going to suck all the water out of your
root ball when you plant it. So that's a good thing.
And so we are going to be talking today about carrots,
so we're coming up next month is a good time
(05:17):
September for planting carrots. But we're gonna be talking about carrots.
So I'm going to give you a chance to you know,
have time to get seeds for it. And seeds are
a really they're getting to be premium now because everybody's
ordering them, and so you want to make sure that
(05:37):
you get the ones you want. So ordering early, well
that's a little bit over because everybody's getting their fall seeds,
but you still have a chance to get what you want.
And I was looking last night and the seeds I'm
going to be talking about you can still get. So
give you a chance to do that. And I'm just
telling you to buying seeds. You can plant acres of
(05:58):
vegetables if you have property. Oh it's crazy how you
can buy. You can buy fifty thousand seeds for two
hundred dollars. Yes, can you imagine planting fifty thousand carrots?
You know what I'll pass? So that's uh.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I can't get my sunflowers and I'm like, I'm still working.
I just plowed an area to put all my sunflowers
in and do like photo shoots this fall, and I
just I still haven't coind of in I was just like,
what is going on?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So I need to see pictures of Lizzie plowing. So
we're going to be taking your phone calls today, Gardening Show.
It's all about you this morning. You can call us
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero catch up.
We've got some text messages from last week. I'll be
following up on. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to
(06:48):
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this is
Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network, and welcome back to Better
(07:08):
Lines than Gardens. You have a guardian question, I'd love
to help you with it. One triple eight four five
five two nine sixty seven where you can text two
three six eighth zero and I will respond. And sometimes
I have to follow up because when you give me information,
I need to find out more information. So when you text,
(07:29):
go ahead and give me your name and your location.
You can just give a city and a nom de
plume if you don't want us to know your name,
but we definitely want to make sure that we have
the right information. Uh, Peterson's Nursery this morning is going
to have a weed let me see. It's going to
be a seasonal weed control class this morning at nine
(07:52):
thirty and you definitely need to take it. So they're
going to do the workshop. And I will tell you
last week, not last week. Last month. I was testing
a product and I sprayed the herbicide on my driveway
and I left it for five days. Nothing happened. Nothing
(08:14):
happened at all, this is a strong potent herbicide and
weave killer, and it didn't happen. And you know, during
the summertime, when temperatures are ninety degrees and above, weave
killers don't work like they should, and with all the
rain you're getting, that could dilute it a little bit.
So you want to make sure that you're one that
(08:38):
if you're using an herbicide that it says that you
can use it when temperatures are over ninety degrees because
during the summertime, you know, up north, eighty five ninety
degrees is a little bit different than eighty five ninety
degrees here in Florida, and when the temperature can feel
like one hundred and eight, you know, and I know
they've been having warm temperatures up north to this year,
(09:00):
but it's just a little bit different than the climate
is there than it is here. So you know, chemicals
may not work as they should when the temperatures are
over eighty five degrees. So you want to be careful
because if you're using it, and we don't recommend using
a weed killer on turf in the summertime, that's a
good way to kill your grass. The turf isn't as
(09:23):
strong as the weeds, and the weeds will just laugh
at you and your turf will decline. So you don't
want to do that, and so taking a weed control
seasonal weed control from Peterson's Nursery will be good. So
let Howie and Karen know that you are listening to
better lanes and gardens and we appreciate them so that
(09:43):
they'll be really good. What should you be doing this
time of the year in August, Well, the temperatures are
going to be a little bit lower this week because
of the Saharan desert coming over. The temperatures can be
in the low nineties, maybe a couple of days of
ninety five ninety s. But right now, mango trees, you
can prune them and your light chi trees after you've
(10:06):
harvested the fruit. And I laugh at harvesting the fruit
of mangoes and light cheese this year because they were
frozen out. So if you've got mangoes this year, you're
either lucky, You're very lucky. You're either in South Florida
or your tree was small and you were able to
protect it, take it indoors and keep it in the garage.
But there's a big mango tree on my street and
(10:29):
it still has all, I mean, a huge canopy of
dead leaves. It's huge, I mean looks like an oak tree.
That's how huge the leaves are, and the canopy and
inside all on the inside. Once you get underneath, you
can look up and all you have are wonderful, beautiful
fresh mango leaves. So if you haven't trimmed back your
(10:51):
mango tree yet from cutting off all the dead wood,
this is the time to do it. And especially if
you've gotten any fruit after harvesting any fruit tree is
a good time to cut it. Common sense. So you
want to catch it before it starts producing new new branches,
new stems, and new flowers, so that you don't cut
(11:12):
the flowers off. You have some fruit. Also, right now,
you can check your pineapples, so when they're fragrant, so
just be aware when you're down there and you see
them start to turn yellow, starting to turn orange, you've
got a limited time there to get them before the
raccoons do. And so if it's very fragrant, go ahead
(11:33):
and cut it off, take it inside and put it
on your counter and let it ripen. Indoors. Feeding bananas
is very important. You want to you want to feed
your fruit fertilize every three months. You want to give
it a consistent fertilizer regimen. Even if you have good soil,
fruit trees need to have really nutrients, a good amount
(11:56):
of nutrients, especially if they've been in the ground a
few years. Okay, and so we have one of our
text messages says, good morning ladies, this is from Tony
in Melbourne. I have a peach tree that is four
years old and doing wonderful. We've never fed it before.
When's the best time and what kind of food? So
peach trees need a little bit of everything. You want
(12:18):
to make sure that they have enough leaves so that
means the nitrogen is necessary. You want to have enough
flowers to produce the fruit. That's where the phosphorus comes in.
And then potassium is the overall health of the plant.
It creates more stable cells that the plant can grow
mature and so at twelve four to eight Tony in
(12:42):
Melbourne twelve four eight twelve four eight fertilizer for peach
trees is what's recommended. And then you want to fertilize
it every three months starting in January. Then March, and
then also then in May, and then in a subtle
and even I'm sorry not September, August one, two, three, Yeah,
(13:04):
I've got all the months there. So January, March, May
and August are good times to fertilize your peach tree.
And how much do you need to put down? I
would say three to four pounds each time you fertilize.
So that sounds like a lot, but you have to
realize that those root systems you need to make sure
(13:25):
that they get the proper amount. You just can't take
your hand and sprinkle it down underneath the outside edge
of the tree and think it's getting enough. So Tony,
you want to do three to four pounds each time
you fertilize. And then you want to fertilize after a rainstorm,
never before. That way you don't lose your fertilizer to
(13:50):
stormwater runoff but also to the rainfall. Makes the plants
hydrated so that they can handle the fertilizer, which added space.
All fertilizer, it's basically salt, you know that nitrogen, and
so you want to make sure that your plants are hydrated,
especially during the heat of the summer and especially with
(14:13):
the temperatures that they are, so the heat and the
rainfall is going to be what you want to look for.
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I never really thought about that about it, you know, potentially,
just it needs to be well watered in so before and.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Well you want to make it sure the plant's hydrated
so you can go ahead and you know, fertilized. So
you know, I have done that. I learned the hard way.
And so when you see a house plant or something,
go oh, look, I haven't watered it in so long. Well,
I'm just going to be so good to you. I
Am going to put some liquid fertilizer in the water
(14:52):
and fertilize you at the same time. And the roots
are desiccated. And when you put that put that would
fertilizer down, then you know, you kind of give it
a base, you know, just giving it salt water, and
that's not good for a dried plant. So you want
to make sure your plants are hydrated inside and outside
before your fertilize. Okay, let's oops there you go. Can
(15:16):
you hear me my yeah, you can hear me. My
head said just went so I have I don't know
who this is from, but it says thirty year old
azalea beds have thirty percent sick plants in patches, and
it's happening more and more each season. In addition, potato
(15:39):
vines are becoming an unmanageable burden. Best to rip out
all the azaleas or do you have a suggestion root
rot any products kill the vine? Okay? So a couple
of questions there. One is when was are the azaleas
on an irrigation system? Okay? So that's important to know
(16:00):
because if they've been getting adequate water, then the drought
shouldn't have affected them. But if they're just azaleas that
have been in thirty years and you're not watering them
or they don't have an irrigation system, the drought for
the last two years has affected them and that's they're
slowly going to decline, and so that may be the issue.
(16:21):
Then have you fertilized it so again, especially thirty year
old azaleas in that thirty year old soil that they've
been in, they've used up all the nutrients in the ground.
So you want to make sure that you're fertilizing again
every you know, on a regular basis. And then with
the potato vines coming up tells me that that it
(16:41):
needs to have some mulch there and also some just
a little bit of maintenance to catch the potato vines.
And so one, you can't use a nerboside for vines
in weeds that are in shrubs because you're going to
damage your shrubs too as well. So you're going to
probably have to handpull those potato vines for a little
(17:03):
while and make sure you get them all out. And
so I would dig around your azale beds, find those
potato tubers and go ahead and remove them all and
it may just take you know, one day, do it
underneath your azaleas, get it done and over with, and
then you won't have to worry about it so much.
And then you want to make sure that they're getting watered,
(17:26):
that they are getting fertilizer on a regular basis, and
that you are just looking after them. So anything that's dead,
you want to clip off and don't be cutting it
in the same area each time because they can get
died back, and so you don't want to do that. Okay,
great question. So if it's older than thirty years, so here, okay,
(17:48):
So let me give you my fertilizer recommendations. Okay, if
you have a plant that is younger then uh seven years,
that it is deciduous, that it loses its sleeves, that
it has doesn't it has flowers and fruit. You need
(18:11):
flowers to have fruit, and that it is not doing well,
it's getting sick, it's dying back, it's got insect issues.
You want to fertilize them on a regular basis. Younger
than seven years deciduous, it loses its sleeves, has flowers
and fruit, and maybe it's not doing so well. It's sickly,
it's not giving you fruit, it's not giving you flowers,
(18:34):
or it's getting insect and disease issues. You want to
fertilize on a regular basis. But if you have a
plant that is older than seven years, okay, a shrub
tree flower older than seven years has no no disease issues,
(18:54):
no insect isssues, it's evergreen, and it doesn't have flowers
or fruit, your gades per se, then you don't need
to fertilize it. Okay, it's just not necessary. So look
at your plants and decide which ones you need to
fertilize on a basis and which ones you don't put
(19:15):
it on your calendar to do it, and your plants
will be healthier and you'll have a nicer yard. 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.
(19:51):
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
Let's go to Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, Eileen.
How are you?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I'm good? How are you?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I am great. It's so nice to hear your voice.
Thank you for calling in what's going on in your.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Neighborhood and every Saturday.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
And we appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Okay, my phenomenal lavender, uh huh has decided to resurrect itself. Okay,
that's started news dead. But yeah, I've got some greenery
coming up and it's coming up on the top of it. Okay,
(20:34):
So I guess I don't need to do anything to it.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Do I No, there's nothing you need to do. I
would just let it continue to grow, just make sure
it gets watered. And then what I would do is
then in October and the September first part of October,
I would go ahead and very lightly fertilize it. Okay, okay,
and that'll give you putting the fertilizer down, then we'll
(20:58):
give you about two to three mins before the winter hits,
which won't affect your lavender. It'll do fine, but it'll
get it in time so that it can grow so
before the winter season hits. Yeah, well that's great news.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yes it is. And I hate to tell you this,
oh no, but we have had rain every single day
and I'm telling you it came down like you wouldn't believe.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I'm so jealous because we've just gotten rained the last
two days, but for the last two to three weeks,
barely a drizzle or a drop. So that's good.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
It's been like eight days worth of rain.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Well, we definitely need it hanging there. It's going to
be a little dryer this week, but we do need
the rainfall, especially since we're not getting any tropical storms
or hurricanes, which they definitely depend on for our you know,
replenishing our aquifer. But no, that's good.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yeah, but if it gets like one hundred and three
degrees on the porch again, is my lavender going to
take another hit?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Okay, So let me help me again, refresh my memory.
Is it in a pot or is it in the ground?
Speaker 3 (22:18):
No, it's in a pot.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Okay, No, I would actually kind of I would decide
whether I wanted to move it out into underneath a
tree canopy, a tree area and take it away from
the heat of your house and your porch with the
full sun.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Okay, well we have worlder lines.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
So what I what I'm doing now is I'm shielding
it from the sun.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Okay, good, okay, Okay, that shouldn't be necessary. But you know,
we're in crazy times right now with the weather.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, I know we are, so, but I've been doing
that because it's sometimes it's warm on the porch. Yeah,
and if I have to buy an air conditioner for it,
I will.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Oh, well, we don't want you to do that. Okay,
that's a little extreme, but but you know some of
your other plants might.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Need the air condition morning.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Okay, well, thank you so much. How are your African
Violet's doing?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
One looks dead, the other one has all these new
leaves coming up, okay, and how about yours?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Mine are looking great. I'm going to tell you they're
in the west on the west side they're getting the
western sun, but it's below the windows, so they're getting
the you know, the light, but not the heat and everything.
And they're putting on new leaves like crazy. They've really grown.
They've kind of doubled in size since I put them there.
So I'm doing good. I just wanted to bloom. Okay,
(24:05):
So we'll be jealous of each other. I'm jealous of
your phenomenal and you can be jealous of my African violence.
All right, Eileen, have a good day, Hun thank you
for calling.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Bye bye, You're welcome, Bye bye.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
So Bill and Orlando. Bill, Bill, he texted last week,
and I'm just getting it now. Sometimes when you text,
it doesn't come until the show's afterwards, yes, and or
if you hear it on Sunday, then we're not here.
So always text. We will get them the following week.
So if I don't respond to them, just know that
I will respond. And So Bill says, let's see here
(24:42):
we continue to lose our Italian Cyprus. We like to
keep them in pots. What do you suggest we do
for maintenance and the potting mix? Bill and Norlan, thank you, okay. Bill,
We just talking about lavender, and you know Italy and
Mediterranean hot, but it's a different kind of heat. Italian
cypresses do not live in Florida. Well, they do not
(25:05):
like it, okay. They have to be extremely dry and
they have to have good air circulation, so they get
mites a lot, they get disease issues a lot, and
they it's really really hard to keep an Italian cypress
alive in Florida. So I'm just telling you that now here,
I've got some different choices for you so that you
(25:25):
can get the look of the Italian cypress. But they
can handle the heat, they can handle the humidity, which
Italian cypresses cannot handle the humidity, and they don't get
disease issues. Okay. So number one, if you're going to
plant it in your yard and you'd like an Italian
cypress kind of look to your yard, then you want
(25:46):
to use a sky rocket cedar skyrocket cedar okay. And
also they also are called junipers too as well. But
then if what I like for a really small one,
especially for pots in a garden in the backyard, I
love to use the blue arrow. This is a blue
(26:08):
arrow juniper, Okay, blue arrow juniper. It gets twelve to
fifteen feet tall. It only gets two feet wide. Bill
only two feet wide. So it's a great container plant.
And you can just go online and find where they're
selling them. You might have to go outside of Florida
(26:29):
to have it shipped to you, but I know they'll
ship really well. Nursery companies are doing it so well
these days. Blue arrow, and it is gorgeous. And it's
just really really skinny, Lizzie, Oh, really skinny, and it
is blue. I love that. Oh, it is gorgeous. I'm
putting in yards and they're doing great. But they can
handle the humidity, they can handle the heat. Italian cypresses
(26:52):
do not. And I see people putting them right up
against there are houses where there's the no air circulation
and they'll live, you know, two to three years. And
there are places and I do see commercial properties with
Italian cypresses in them, and they look fantastic. But if
you will notice they are in the full sun, they
(27:16):
are separate, they're not near any buildings, and that they
they have good air circulation there.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
And if you and if you love in your trees
or anything that you plant, stop planting them underneath electrical
lines up against your defence. Please, because I'm telling you
what that has become. Is it a burr in my side?
I guess you would say with cars. Yeah, because the
electrical company comes through and totally massacres my cedar trees
around our property because they were that's how they were planted,
(27:45):
you know, in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
So yeah, just to listen to what trees is saying.
She knows what she's talking about. Thank you, Lizzie. There
you go. We're going to be back with my top five.
What is it going to be this week? If it's
Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens from
the Summit Responsible Solution Studios, We'll be right back with
your gardening questions. And this is Floridace Talk and Entertainment Network.
(28:32):
Welcome back up Better Lawns and Gardens. Sand Now Theresa's
top five. My top five this morning are my top
five purple carrot varieties. Purple carrots they are. Did you know,
Lizzie the carrots were purple before they were orange?
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (28:50):
That I did not know. Yes, So carrots were purple
always so. Number five Cosmic Purple. This features a deep
purple exterior with bright orange core, slightly sweet and nutty flavor,
matures in seventy seventy five days. It's great in raw,
in salads and relicious. You can get them at Gurney's
(29:11):
Seeds number four Purple Haze. This is an All American
Selection winner, deep purple skin with an orange core, known
for its sweetness and slightly spicy kick. It matures in
roughly ninety days. Ideal for salads and fresh eating. You
can get that at Johnny's Selected Seeds number three, Purple
Dragon develop for the Danvers type carrots. It's deep purple exterior,
(29:35):
slightly sweet, and it's great for raw or cooked dishes.
And it's considered a specialty cultivar for home gardens and
farmers markets. And you can get that at Baker Creek
Heirloom Seeds number two. Deep Purple Hybrid purple inside and
inside the carrot purple both inside and outside. Grows up
(29:56):
to eight inches long, matures in about eighty days. Best
at s used fresh and cooking as cooking condul its color.
Johnny Selected Seeds number one Purple Elite, another vibrant purple
variety with elegant yellow interior, often used for colorful salads
and decorative culinary presentations. But you'res in seventy two to
(30:17):
seventy five days, that is two and a half months.
Johnny's selected seeds. You can find those and I will
have them. They're going to post on our Facebook page
so you can see them and you can go to
the link and buy the seeds. So that is my
top five this week.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I'm excited because i keep staring at my my carrot seeds.
I'm like, what am I supposed to put on the ground.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Well, you put them in the ground anytime late September,
first part of October, so this gives you a chance
to do them. And carrots do well here in Florida.
So carrots are one of the easiest to grow, Lizzie,
So you can grow them. They're perfect for Florida gardeners.
They're ideal for containers or raised beds, and they come
from Asia. Carrots have been cultivated for centuries and they're
(31:02):
prized for their flavor and for being an excellent source
of vitamin A. No, they don't really correct your eyesight
or help your eyesight as much. That was a myth
that was used during World War two, and so they
did that as a propaganda for their pilots were so good.
The British pilots were so good that they because they
(31:26):
ate carrots, and so the part we eat is the root,
usually bright orange, though the original colors were purple, white, red, yellow,
and even black. So those rainbow carrots like purple haze,
yellow bunch, and white satin are making a comeback. The
sizes range from short, chunky chateinnaise to long imperiators with
(31:50):
many varieties perfect four pots. They thrived in the cool season,
so in North Florida you want to plant them from
September through February in zones eight, and then in Central
Florida Zone nine you want to plant them October through February,
and those of you in South Florida Zone ten and
(32:11):
eleven you can plant them November through March. Carrots are
by anials, which means that they come up the first year,
and they produce their flowers the second year and the
flowers and seeds in their second year. But you just
most of the time you will pull them before it
goes to flower in bolts, so they're pretty flowers. So
(32:32):
they're kind of like the queens Ann's lace. So because
of the heat in Florida, they will bowlt earlier. So
but if you do want to have the flowers, go
ahead and just leave them in the ground and keep
watering them. They will be just fine. They get the
soil needs to be loose and crumbly. If there's soil
is compacted or you have rocks in the soil or clay,
(32:55):
the shape of the carrot can get stunted. They need oyster.
So they're going to need to be watered on a
regular basis, whether it's in a pot, which maybe every
day during the heat of the summer, or you need
to you know, have an irrigation system and water them
when they're in the ground. You want to space the
seeds two inches by twelve inches, and the seeds are
(33:18):
really really really tiny. They will take one to two
weeks to germinate. And you want to fertilize with a
five ten ten, so not a lot on the nitrogen
that's going to give them more leaves. You don't want
the leaves, you want the roots and the flowers, and
so five ten ten is the fertilizer you need. So
(33:38):
that's going to be putting all the energy into the
room and then depending on the varieties seventy to one
hundred and twenty days to mature, and then like sunflowers,
you can stagger them so you can plant maybe, you know,
twenty carrots one week, then the next week you plant
twenty more, than the next week you plant twenty more,
(33:59):
and you'll have carrots all through the wintertime. Very important
when you plant carrots the root system. You want to
rotate your crops, so you don't want to plant carrots
over and over again because the possibility of disease and
insects is a big deal. And we have an issue
in the state of Florida with wireworms, and I'll talk
(34:19):
about wireworms in just a minute. But you want to
rotate your crops, so you don't want to plant carrots
there the following year, you want to either do beans
or lettuces, leafy greens, cabbages and kale, and you don't
want to do a root crop. Okay, that's very very important.
So carrots are easy.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Okay, were we not supposed to plant our green beans already?
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Then you can plant your beans, okay, yeah, because I like, I.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Just planted like three packs of my green beans two
weeks ago. No one thing, So then I dug down
there's nothing, so I don't I don't know what happened.
So I just went and bought more green beans seeds
and put them.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Do you remember last year when you said, I don't
know what happened to my seeds and I don't know
where they went, and you planted more? What was that?
What was you know? Then you started having more and
more and more.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
You know, in my life is just chaos with the garden.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I need a hire gardener. Okay, So are you checking
in the right place? Did you checked the place you
planted them? That's why signs and labels are good.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Oh god, that's such a good idea.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
That way you can say, no, I know, I definitely
planted it here. Okay. So sometimes you may have thought
you planted it there and you didn't. It was over
on the other side of the art, tacked right now.
I'm so sorry. I'm just sorry. Let's take. Let's take
Jerry and Citrus County.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Good morning, Jerry, Good morning, Foresa.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (35:46):
Yes, I would like to know what you think of
the Louisiana purple and gold figs. I've had the brown
turkey for years and that's been pretty good. And I
had less, but it seems to be very shy and
not very good. And what you thought of the Louisiana ones,
because I want to get something better.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Okay, Well, the celeste and the brown turkeys are the
ones recommended that do the best in Florida, so I
would have to know, you know, a little bit why
the other ones didn't work. But so do you buy
the shrubs or do you buy them as one gallon
plants or.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
Yeah, yeah, I had them as plants and I plant
them in the ground. And the brown turkey does good.
Uh huh, I've had that for years. The Celeste doesn't
seem to make it very well on there, and I
was just wondering if I could do better with Louisiana
excuse me, purple or gold.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
But I would try them. I mean, you're always if
you find them, So here's here's the thing. And so
if they're sold in the area, I would try them
and see how they do for you, because new new
varieties are always coming on the market. And so if
if it says Louisiana there, we're close to Louisiana, and
Louisiana has the same kind of humidity and rainfall, they
(36:59):
just may not be as hot in certain areas as
what you get there in Citrus County. So so, but
I would try them and then you can come back
and you can tell.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Me, oh, okay, I love. And the other question I
had is there's quite new development. Sure, they're playing quite
a few. Uh well queen palms, uh huh, and they
don't look too good? Do they come back? And is
there something better out there? Of is there a hybrid
one or something?
Speaker 1 (37:30):
No, the palm trees really took a hit this year.
How long have they been the development? How long have
they been in the development? Were they there this winter? Okay?
So yeah the winter time really queen palms will freeze
out very easily. We don't recommend them, you know, this
far north.
Speaker 4 (37:47):
Yeah, what happens? Does it stop growing something like that?
Speaker 1 (37:51):
No, No, it just actually freezes. It dies, you know, or
it gets damporged. Yeah, the whole the whole palm tree.
But also too, when it goes through free like that,
then they become more susceptible to disease and insects. And
there are palm diseases that are wiping out the state.
And when we get these freezes, then they're just not
strong enough to to to you know, handle the cold.
(38:15):
So uh, I don't recommend queen Palms for this area.
You know you can do. There's other palms that are
that are much more stronger and uh, you know, foxtails
and Queen palms are just really to to timper. Wow,
that hour went by quick. Thank you, Jerry, I appreciate it. Lizzie.
We're going to be back with more phone calls and
(38:35):
your gardening questions one triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text me two three
six eight zero if it's Saturday morning from the Summit
Responsible Solution Studios. You're listening to Better Lawnes and Gardens.
I'm Teresa Watkins. We're going to be right back. This
is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
If you miss any of the shower I want to
recap any other shows, you can go to Better Lawns
dot com. That is a Better Lawns dot com
Good morning from the summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host tweets, so Watkins,
thank you for joining us this morning. I have my
delicious cup of tea with me. Lizzie, good morning. How
are you.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I thought you were gonna say I was delicious for
a second.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
You are. You're just yummy. You're just yummy. What are
you drinking this?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I am drinking three shots of espresso accompanied by some
hot chocolate.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Okay, but did I see that you said something about
eggnog this week?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh my cheese and crackers. Okay, So Publics thank you.
Public's not a sponsor, but I love you. They had
their annual August. They brought in their eggnog ice cream.
So I made me an egg nog milkshake.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
So here you go. You got a little touch of
fall in the air.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, you have another few weeks this in September. Then
they'll release all the eggdi Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So if you're not following Lizzie on on Facebook, Lizzie,
where are you on Facebook? You find me?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Most social media is Lizzie. That's l I z z
I E said what not says said, what, So Lizzie said,
what you can find me.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
There you go. That's wonderful. Well, we had some rain
this week. Finally. Orlando seemed to be like the wicked
redheaded stepchild and we were not getting the rain. It
would split, you know, right as the two coasts would
meet together, and it would we would not get rain
in Orlando, just little scattered drizzles here and there. But
(01:42):
this week we have gotten over three inches of rain
at my house. Yes, and so that is great. So Orlando,
it says officially for the for the month of August,
the first week that we've gotten two and a half
inches of rain. That's still down fourteen inches, but I
think we're gonna to catch up. And Melbourne, you didn't
even get an inch of rain this week, but you've
(02:04):
had a little bit so far, so you're still good.
You're only down point four tenths of an inch for
the for the year, so you're you're doing okay. Sanford
got over three inches of rain and they're down just
about two inches for the year. Daytona Beach got nearly
three inches and they're not even down an inch for
(02:25):
the year. So you've gotten enough rain this year and
then Leesburg, Poor Leedsburg, you didn't even get an inch
of rain this week and you're down five inches. So
that's the local central Florida area. Those of you up north,
I think you've gotten a little bit more rain. You
are doing well. South Florida. You are still in a
little bit of a drought area there. But this week
(02:47):
it's gonna change a little bit. We're gonna have rain
this weekend, thunderstorms today, we've had some good thunderstorms for
the last two days. I love lightning, I love thunder yes,
and so it's going to continue. But then starting the
beginning of the week, we're getting that dried Saharan desert
sand bag yeap which is going to dry up, dry
(03:10):
up the rainfall. It's going to keep that under control.
So we have lower rain chances next week twenty to
forty percent chance, which means you're not going to get
any and the temperatures are going to be low to
mid nineties, so that's not too bad. That that's not
too bad. Mostly sunny all week, so we can catch
up with what we need to do out in the garden.
Just make sure you're drinking lots of water and you've
(03:32):
got that hat on so that you can stay yes, hydrated,
because that really can hit you very quickly.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And that's crazy because so our one turkey, who she's
a broad breasted and so she's a big girl, and
she started molting.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Well when she molts, she.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Like loses, like like it looks like someone went in
to snatch all of her feathers off the back of
her neck.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Don't you feel so sorry for it? Does she feel bad?
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Is that? Oh she's comfortable? Oh she she You might
as well be that time of month for her. But
she is sassy as can be. Okay, she's normally sassy.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Don't look at me. Don't look at me. You know
when children do that. Don't look at me.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I'll have to send you to the video of her
this morning. She had her head buried in what a
little bit of feather she had on the back of her.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Back, and she goes hmmm hm.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And I was like, Geraldine, big mama, and she is,
and I'm just like, okay, but yes, so you're talking
about the sun. So I let them go out, and
they like to graze through the yard in the back
and the pasture and stuff, and but I had to
keep an eye on her and like do like the
counting time because I'm like, she's gonna get sunburned.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Oh my goodness. So yeah, so I
got like, how do you rub lotion on a tul Okay,
there you go, We use butter. Oh that would be that,
that would be that's very mean. Okay, they wouldn't know,
they wouldn't know, Oh my goodness. So so again, so
the weather's gonna be good this week for gardening and
(04:56):
planting because the ground has If you've gotten a few
days of rainfall, that's good for the ground and it's
not going to suck all the water out of your
root ball when you plant it. So that's a good thing.
And so we are going to be talking today about carrots,
so we're coming up next month is a good time
(05:17):
September for planting carrots. But we're gonna be talking about carrots.
So I'm going to give you a chance to you know,
have time to get seeds for it. And seeds are
a really they're getting to be premium now because everybody's
ordering them, and so you want to make sure that
(05:37):
you get the ones you want. So ordering early, well
that's a little bit over because everybody's getting their fall seeds,
but you still have a chance to get what you want.
And I was looking last night and the seeds I'm
going to be talking about you can still get. So
give you a chance to do that. And I'm just
telling you to buying seeds. You can plant acres of
(05:58):
vegetables if you have property. Oh it's crazy how you
can buy. You can buy fifty thousand seeds for two
hundred dollars. Yes, can you imagine planting fifty thousand carrots?
You know what I'll pass? So that's uh.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I can't get my sunflowers and I'm like, I'm still working.
I just plowed an area to put all my sunflowers
in and do like photo shoots this fall, and I
just I still haven't coind of in I was just like,
what is going on?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So I need to see pictures of Lizzie plowing. So
we're going to be taking your phone calls today, Gardening Show.
It's all about you this morning. You can call us
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero catch up.
We've got some text messages from last week. I'll be
following up on. If it's Saturday morning, you're listening to
(06:48):
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this is
Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network, and welcome back to Better
(07:08):
Lines than Gardens. You have a guardian question, I'd love
to help you with it. One triple eight four five
five two nine sixty seven where you can text two
three six eighth zero and I will respond. And sometimes
I have to follow up because when you give me information,
I need to find out more information. So when you text,
(07:29):
go ahead and give me your name and your location.
You can just give a city and a nom de
plume if you don't want us to know your name,
but we definitely want to make sure that we have
the right information. Uh, Peterson's Nursery this morning is going
to have a weed let me see. It's going to
be a seasonal weed control class this morning at nine
(07:52):
thirty and you definitely need to take it. So they're
going to do the workshop. And I will tell you
last week, not last week. Last month. I was testing
a product and I sprayed the herbicide on my driveway
and I left it for five days. Nothing happened. Nothing
(08:14):
happened at all, this is a strong potent herbicide and
weave killer, and it didn't happen. And you know, during
the summertime, when temperatures are ninety degrees and above, weave
killers don't work like they should, and with all the
rain you're getting, that could dilute it a little bit.
So you want to make sure that you're one that
(08:38):
if you're using an herbicide that it says that you
can use it when temperatures are over ninety degrees because
during the summertime, you know, up north, eighty five ninety
degrees is a little bit different than eighty five ninety
degrees here in Florida, and when the temperature can feel
like one hundred and eight, you know, and I know
they've been having warm temperatures up north to this year,
(09:00):
but it's just a little bit different than the climate
is there than it is here. So you know, chemicals
may not work as they should when the temperatures are
over eighty five degrees. So you want to be careful
because if you're using it, and we don't recommend using
a weed killer on turf in the summertime, that's a
good way to kill your grass. The turf isn't as
(09:23):
strong as the weeds, and the weeds will just laugh
at you and your turf will decline. So you don't
want to do that, and so taking a weed control
seasonal weed control from Peterson's Nursery will be good. So
let Howie and Karen know that you are listening to
better lanes and gardens and we appreciate them so that
(09:43):
they'll be really good. What should you be doing this
time of the year in August, Well, the temperatures are
going to be a little bit lower this week because
of the Saharan desert coming over. The temperatures can be
in the low nineties, maybe a couple of days of
ninety five ninety s. But right now, mango trees, you
can prune them and your light chi trees after you've
(10:06):
harvested the fruit. And I laugh at harvesting the fruit
of mangoes and light cheese this year because they were
frozen out. So if you've got mangoes this year, you're
either lucky, You're very lucky. You're either in South Florida
or your tree was small and you were able to
protect it, take it indoors and keep it in the garage.
But there's a big mango tree on my street and
(10:29):
it still has all, I mean, a huge canopy of
dead leaves. It's huge, I mean looks like an oak tree.
That's how huge the leaves are, and the canopy and
inside all on the inside. Once you get underneath, you
can look up and all you have are wonderful, beautiful
fresh mango leaves. So if you haven't trimmed back your
(10:51):
mango tree yet from cutting off all the dead wood,
this is the time to do it. And especially if
you've gotten any fruit after harvesting any fruit tree is
a good time to cut it. Common sense. So you
want to catch it before it starts producing new new branches,
new stems, and new flowers, so that you don't cut
(11:12):
the flowers off. You have some fruit. Also, right now,
you can check your pineapples, so when they're fragrant, so
just be aware when you're down there and you see
them start to turn yellow, starting to turn orange, you've
got a limited time there to get them before the
raccoons do. And so if it's very fragrant, go ahead
(11:33):
and cut it off, take it inside and put it
on your counter and let it ripen. Indoors. Feeding bananas
is very important. You want to you want to feed
your fruit fertilize every three months. You want to give
it a consistent fertilizer regimen. Even if you have good soil,
fruit trees need to have really nutrients, a good amount
(11:56):
of nutrients, especially if they've been in the ground a
few years. Okay, and so we have one of our
text messages says, good morning ladies, this is from Tony
in Melbourne. I have a peach tree that is four
years old and doing wonderful. We've never fed it before.
When's the best time and what kind of food? So
peach trees need a little bit of everything. You want
(12:18):
to make sure that they have enough leaves so that
means the nitrogen is necessary. You want to have enough
flowers to produce the fruit. That's where the phosphorus comes in.
And then potassium is the overall health of the plant.
It creates more stable cells that the plant can grow
mature and so at twelve four to eight Tony in
(12:42):
Melbourne twelve four eight twelve four eight fertilizer for peach
trees is what's recommended. And then you want to fertilize
it every three months starting in January. Then March, and
then also then in May, and then in a subtle
and even I'm sorry not September, August one, two, three, Yeah,
(13:04):
I've got all the months there. So January, March, May
and August are good times to fertilize your peach tree.
And how much do you need to put down? I
would say three to four pounds each time you fertilize.
So that sounds like a lot, but you have to
realize that those root systems you need to make sure
(13:25):
that they get the proper amount. You just can't take
your hand and sprinkle it down underneath the outside edge
of the tree and think it's getting enough. So Tony,
you want to do three to four pounds each time
you fertilize. And then you want to fertilize after a rainstorm,
never before. That way you don't lose your fertilizer to
(13:50):
stormwater runoff but also to the rainfall. Makes the plants
hydrated so that they can handle the fertilizer, which added space.
All fertilizer, it's basically salt, you know that nitrogen, and
so you want to make sure that your plants are hydrated,
especially during the heat of the summer and especially with
(14:13):
the temperatures that they are, so the heat and the
rainfall is going to be what you want to look for.
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I never really thought about that about it, you know, potentially,
just it needs to be well watered in so before and.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Well you want to make it sure the plant's hydrated
so you can go ahead and you know, fertilized. So
you know, I have done that. I learned the hard way.
And so when you see a house plant or something,
go oh, look, I haven't watered it in so long. Well,
I'm just going to be so good to you. I
Am going to put some liquid fertilizer in the water
(14:52):
and fertilize you at the same time. And the roots
are desiccated. And when you put that put that would
fertilizer down, then you know, you kind of give it
a base, you know, just giving it salt water, and
that's not good for a dried plant. So you want
to make sure your plants are hydrated inside and outside
before your fertilize. Okay, let's oops there you go. Can
(15:16):
you hear me my yeah, you can hear me. My
head said just went so I have I don't know
who this is from, but it says thirty year old
azalea beds have thirty percent sick plants in patches, and
it's happening more and more each season. In addition, potato
(15:39):
vines are becoming an unmanageable burden. Best to rip out
all the azaleas or do you have a suggestion root
rot any products kill the vine? Okay? So a couple
of questions there. One is when was are the azaleas
on an irrigation system? Okay? So that's important to know
(16:00):
because if they've been getting adequate water, then the drought
shouldn't have affected them. But if they're just azaleas that
have been in thirty years and you're not watering them
or they don't have an irrigation system, the drought for
the last two years has affected them and that's they're
slowly going to decline, and so that may be the issue.
(16:21):
Then have you fertilized it so again, especially thirty year
old azaleas in that thirty year old soil that they've
been in, they've used up all the nutrients in the ground.
So you want to make sure that you're fertilizing again
every you know, on a regular basis. And then with
the potato vines coming up tells me that that it
(16:41):
needs to have some mulch there and also some just
a little bit of maintenance to catch the potato vines.
And so one, you can't use a nerboside for vines
in weeds that are in shrubs because you're going to
damage your shrubs too as well. So you're going to
probably have to handpull those potato vines for a little
(17:03):
while and make sure you get them all out. And
so I would dig around your azale beds, find those
potato tubers and go ahead and remove them all and
it may just take you know, one day, do it
underneath your azaleas, get it done and over with, and
then you won't have to worry about it so much.
And then you want to make sure that they're getting watered,
(17:26):
that they are getting fertilizer on a regular basis, and
that you are just looking after them. So anything that's dead,
you want to clip off and don't be cutting it
in the same area each time because they can get
died back, and so you don't want to do that. Okay,
great question. So if it's older than thirty years, so here, okay,
(17:48):
So let me give you my fertilizer recommendations. Okay, if
you have a plant that is younger then uh seven years,
that it is deciduous, that it loses its sleeves, that
it has doesn't it has flowers and fruit. You need
(18:11):
flowers to have fruit, and that it is not doing well,
it's getting sick, it's dying back, it's got insect issues.
You want to fertilize them on a regular basis. Younger
than seven years deciduous, it loses its sleeves, has flowers
and fruit, and maybe it's not doing so well. It's sickly,
it's not giving you fruit, it's not giving you flowers,
(18:34):
or it's getting insect and disease issues. You want to
fertilize on a regular basis. But if you have a
plant that is older than seven years, okay, a shrub
tree flower older than seven years has no no disease issues,
(18:54):
no insect isssues, it's evergreen, and it doesn't have flowers
or fruit, your gades per se, then you don't need
to fertilize it. Okay, it's just not necessary. So look
at your plants and decide which ones you need to
fertilize on a basis and which ones you don't put
(19:15):
it on your calendar to do it, and your plants
will be healthier and you'll have a nicer yard. 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.
(19:51):
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
Let's go to Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, Eileen.
How are you?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I'm good? How are you?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I am great. It's so nice to hear your voice.
Thank you for calling in what's going on in your.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Neighborhood and every Saturday.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
And we appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Okay, my phenomenal lavender, uh huh has decided to resurrect itself. Okay,
that's started news dead. But yeah, I've got some greenery
coming up and it's coming up on the top of it. Okay,
(20:34):
So I guess I don't need to do anything to it.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Do I No, there's nothing you need to do. I
would just let it continue to grow, just make sure
it gets watered. And then what I would do is
then in October and the September first part of October,
I would go ahead and very lightly fertilize it. Okay, okay,
and that'll give you putting the fertilizer down, then we'll
(20:58):
give you about two to three mins before the winter hits,
which won't affect your lavender. It'll do fine, but it'll
get it in time so that it can grow so
before the winter season hits. Yeah, well that's great news.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yes it is. And I hate to tell you this,
oh no, but we have had rain every single day
and I'm telling you it came down like you wouldn't believe.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
I'm so jealous because we've just gotten rained the last
two days, but for the last two to three weeks,
barely a drizzle or a drop. So that's good.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
It's been like eight days worth of rain.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Well, we definitely need it hanging there. It's going to
be a little dryer this week, but we do need
the rainfall, especially since we're not getting any tropical storms
or hurricanes, which they definitely depend on for our you know,
replenishing our aquifer. But no, that's good.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yeah, but if it gets like one hundred and three
degrees on the porch again, is my lavender going to
take another hit?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Okay, So let me help me again, refresh my memory.
Is it in a pot or is it in the ground?
Speaker 3 (22:18):
No, it's in a pot.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Okay, No, I would actually kind of I would decide
whether I wanted to move it out into underneath a
tree canopy, a tree area and take it away from
the heat of your house and your porch with the
full sun.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Okay, well we have worlder lines.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
So what I what I'm doing now is I'm shielding
it from the sun.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Okay, good, okay, Okay, that shouldn't be necessary. But you know,
we're in crazy times right now with the weather.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, I know we are, so, but I've been doing
that because it's sometimes it's warm on the porch. Yeah,
and if I have to buy an air conditioner for it,
I will.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Oh, well, we don't want you to do that. Okay,
that's a little extreme, but but you know some of
your other plants might.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Need the air condition morning.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Okay, well, thank you so much. How are your African
Violet's doing?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
One looks dead, the other one has all these new
leaves coming up, okay, and how about yours?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Mine are looking great. I'm going to tell you they're
in the west on the west side they're getting the
western sun, but it's below the windows, so they're getting
the you know, the light, but not the heat and everything.
And they're putting on new leaves like crazy. They've really grown.
They've kind of doubled in size since I put them there.
So I'm doing good. I just wanted to bloom. Okay,
(24:05):
So we'll be jealous of each other. I'm jealous of
your phenomenal and you can be jealous of my African violence.
All right, Eileen, have a good day, Hun thank you
for calling.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Bye bye, You're welcome, Bye bye.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
So Bill and Orlando. Bill, Bill, he texted last week,
and I'm just getting it now. Sometimes when you text,
it doesn't come until the show's afterwards, yes, and or
if you hear it on Sunday, then we're not here.
So always text. We will get them the following week.
So if I don't respond to them, just know that
I will respond. And So Bill says, let's see here
(24:42):
we continue to lose our Italian Cyprus. We like to
keep them in pots. What do you suggest we do
for maintenance and the potting mix? Bill and Norlan, thank you, okay. Bill,
We just talking about lavender, and you know Italy and
Mediterranean hot, but it's a different kind of heat. Italian
cypresses do not live in Florida. Well, they do not
(25:05):
like it, okay. They have to be extremely dry and
they have to have good air circulation, so they get
mites a lot, they get disease issues a lot, and
they it's really really hard to keep an Italian cypress
alive in Florida. So I'm just telling you that now here,
I've got some different choices for you so that you
(25:25):
can get the look of the Italian cypress. But they
can handle the heat, they can handle the humidity, which
Italian cypresses cannot handle the humidity, and they don't get
disease issues. Okay. So number one, if you're going to
plant it in your yard and you'd like an Italian
cypress kind of look to your yard, then you want
(25:46):
to use a sky rocket cedar skyrocket cedar okay. And
also they also are called junipers too as well. But
then if what I like for a really small one,
especially for pots in a garden in the backyard, I
love to use the blue arrow. This is a blue
(26:08):
arrow juniper, Okay, blue arrow juniper. It gets twelve to
fifteen feet tall. It only gets two feet wide. Bill
only two feet wide. So it's a great container plant.
And you can just go online and find where they're
selling them. You might have to go outside of Florida
(26:29):
to have it shipped to you, but I know they'll
ship really well. Nursery companies are doing it so well
these days. Blue arrow, and it is gorgeous. And it's
just really really skinny, Lizzie, Oh, really skinny, and it
is blue. I love that. Oh, it is gorgeous. I'm
putting in yards and they're doing great. But they can
handle the humidity, they can handle the heat. Italian cypresses
(26:52):
do not. And I see people putting them right up
against there are houses where there's the no air circulation
and they'll live, you know, two to three years. And
there are places and I do see commercial properties with
Italian cypresses in them, and they look fantastic. But if
you will notice they are in the full sun, they
(27:16):
are separate, they're not near any buildings, and that they
they have good air circulation there.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
And if you and if you love in your trees
or anything that you plant, stop planting them underneath electrical
lines up against your defence. Please, because I'm telling you
what that has become. Is it a burr in my side?
I guess you would say with cars. Yeah, because the
electrical company comes through and totally massacres my cedar trees
around our property because they were that's how they were planted,
(27:45):
you know, in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
So yeah, just to listen to what trees is saying.
She knows what she's talking about. Thank you, Lizzie. There
you go. We're going to be back with my top five.
What is it going to be this week? If it's
Saturday morning, you're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens from
the Summit Responsible Solution Studios, We'll be right back with
your gardening questions. And this is Floridace Talk and Entertainment Network.
(28:32):
Welcome back up Better Lawns and Gardens. Sand Now Theresa's
top five. My top five this morning are my top
five purple carrot varieties. Purple carrots they are. Did you know,
Lizzie the carrots were purple before they were orange?
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (28:50):
That I did not know. Yes, So carrots were purple
always so. Number five Cosmic Purple. This features a deep
purple exterior with bright orange core, slightly sweet and nutty flavor,
matures in seventy seventy five days. It's great in raw,
in salads and relicious. You can get them at Gurney's
(29:11):
Seeds number four Purple Haze. This is an All American
Selection winner, deep purple skin with an orange core, known
for its sweetness and slightly spicy kick. It matures in
roughly ninety days. Ideal for salads and fresh eating. You
can get that at Johnny's Selected Seeds number three, Purple
Dragon develop for the Danvers type carrots. It's deep purple exterior,
(29:35):
slightly sweet, and it's great for raw or cooked dishes.
And it's considered a specialty cultivar for home gardens and
farmers markets. And you can get that at Baker Creek
Heirloom Seeds number two. Deep Purple Hybrid purple inside and
inside the carrot purple both inside and outside. Grows up
(29:56):
to eight inches long, matures in about eighty days. Best
at s used fresh and cooking as cooking condul its color.
Johnny Selected Seeds number one Purple Elite, another vibrant purple
variety with elegant yellow interior, often used for colorful salads
and decorative culinary presentations. But you'res in seventy two to
(30:17):
seventy five days, that is two and a half months.
Johnny's selected seeds. You can find those and I will
have them. They're going to post on our Facebook page
so you can see them and you can go to
the link and buy the seeds. So that is my
top five this week.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I'm excited because i keep staring at my my carrot seeds.
I'm like, what am I supposed to put on the ground.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Well, you put them in the ground anytime late September,
first part of October, so this gives you a chance
to do them. And carrots do well here in Florida.
So carrots are one of the easiest to grow, Lizzie,
So you can grow them. They're perfect for Florida gardeners.
They're ideal for containers or raised beds, and they come
from Asia. Carrots have been cultivated for centuries and they're
(31:02):
prized for their flavor and for being an excellent source
of vitamin A. No, they don't really correct your eyesight
or help your eyesight as much. That was a myth
that was used during World War two, and so they
did that as a propaganda for their pilots were so good.
The British pilots were so good that they because they
(31:26):
ate carrots, and so the part we eat is the root,
usually bright orange, though the original colors were purple, white, red, yellow,
and even black. So those rainbow carrots like purple haze,
yellow bunch, and white satin are making a comeback. The
sizes range from short, chunky chateinnaise to long imperiators with
(31:50):
many varieties perfect four pots. They thrived in the cool season,
so in North Florida you want to plant them from
September through February in zones eight, and then in Central
Florida Zone nine you want to plant them October through February,
and those of you in South Florida Zone ten and
(32:11):
eleven you can plant them November through March. Carrots are
by anials, which means that they come up the first year,
and they produce their flowers the second year and the
flowers and seeds in their second year. But you just
most of the time you will pull them before it
goes to flower in bolts, so they're pretty flowers. So
(32:32):
they're kind of like the queens Ann's lace. So because
of the heat in Florida, they will bowlt earlier. So
but if you do want to have the flowers, go
ahead and just leave them in the ground and keep
watering them. They will be just fine. They get the
soil needs to be loose and crumbly. If there's soil
is compacted or you have rocks in the soil or clay,
(32:55):
the shape of the carrot can get stunted. They need oyster.
So they're going to need to be watered on a
regular basis, whether it's in a pot, which maybe every
day during the heat of the summer, or you need
to you know, have an irrigation system and water them
when they're in the ground. You want to space the
seeds two inches by twelve inches, and the seeds are
(33:18):
really really really tiny. They will take one to two
weeks to germinate. And you want to fertilize with a
five ten ten, so not a lot on the nitrogen
that's going to give them more leaves. You don't want
the leaves, you want the roots and the flowers, and
so five ten ten is the fertilizer you need. So
(33:38):
that's going to be putting all the energy into the
room and then depending on the varieties seventy to one
hundred and twenty days to mature, and then like sunflowers,
you can stagger them so you can plant maybe, you know,
twenty carrots one week, then the next week you plant
twenty more, than the next week you plant twenty more,
(33:59):
and you'll have carrots all through the wintertime. Very important
when you plant carrots the root system. You want to
rotate your crops, so you don't want to plant carrots
over and over again because the possibility of disease and
insects is a big deal. And we have an issue
in the state of Florida with wireworms, and I'll talk
(34:19):
about wireworms in just a minute. But you want to
rotate your crops, so you don't want to plant carrots
there the following year, you want to either do beans
or lettuces, leafy greens, cabbages and kale, and you don't
want to do a root crop. Okay, that's very very important.
So carrots are easy.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Okay, were we not supposed to plant our green beans already?
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Then you can plant your beans, okay, yeah, because I like, I.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Just planted like three packs of my green beans two
weeks ago. No one thing, So then I dug down
there's nothing, so I don't I don't know what happened.
So I just went and bought more green beans seeds
and put them.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Do you remember last year when you said, I don't
know what happened to my seeds and I don't know
where they went, and you planted more? What was that?
What was you know? Then you started having more and
more and more.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
You know, in my life is just chaos with the garden.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I need a hire gardener. Okay, So are you checking
in the right place? Did you checked the place you
planted them? That's why signs and labels are good.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Oh god, that's such a good idea.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
That way you can say, no, I know, I definitely
planted it here. Okay. So sometimes you may have thought
you planted it there and you didn't. It was over
on the other side of the art, tacked right now.
I'm so sorry. I'm just sorry. Let's take. Let's take
Jerry and Citrus County.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Good morning, Jerry, Good morning, Foresa.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (35:46):
Yes, I would like to know what you think of
the Louisiana purple and gold figs. I've had the brown
turkey for years and that's been pretty good. And I
had less, but it seems to be very shy and
not very good. And what you thought of the Louisiana ones,
because I want to get something better.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Okay, Well, the celeste and the brown turkeys are the
ones recommended that do the best in Florida, so I
would have to know, you know, a little bit why
the other ones didn't work. But so do you buy
the shrubs or do you buy them as one gallon
plants or.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
Yeah, yeah, I had them as plants and I plant
them in the ground. And the brown turkey does good.
Uh huh, I've had that for years. The Celeste doesn't
seem to make it very well on there, and I
was just wondering if I could do better with Louisiana
excuse me, purple or gold.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
But I would try them. I mean, you're always if
you find them, So here's here's the thing. And so
if they're sold in the area, I would try them
and see how they do for you, because new new
varieties are always coming on the market. And so if
if it says Louisiana there, we're close to Louisiana, and
Louisiana has the same kind of humidity and rainfall, they
(36:59):
just may not be as hot in certain areas as
what you get there in Citrus County. So so, but
I would try them and then you can come back
and you can tell.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Me, oh, okay, I love. And the other question I
had is there's quite new development. Sure, they're playing quite
a few. Uh well queen palms, uh huh, and they
don't look too good? Do they come back? And is
there something better out there? Of is there a hybrid
one or something?
Speaker 1 (37:30):
No, the palm trees really took a hit this year.
How long have they been the development? How long have
they been in the development? Were they there this winter? Okay?
So yeah the winter time really queen palms will freeze
out very easily. We don't recommend them, you know, this
far north.
Speaker 4 (37:47):
Yeah, what happens? Does it stop growing something like that?
Speaker 1 (37:51):
No, No, it just actually freezes. It dies, you know, or
it gets damporged. Yeah, the whole the whole palm tree.
But also too, when it goes through free like that,
then they become more susceptible to disease and insects. And
there are palm diseases that are wiping out the state.
And when we get these freezes, then they're just not
strong enough to to to you know, handle the cold.
(38:15):
So uh, I don't recommend queen Palms for this area.
You know you can do. There's other palms that are
that are much more stronger and uh, you know, foxtails
and Queen palms are just really to to timper. Wow,
that hour went by quick. Thank you, Jerry, I appreciate it. Lizzie.
We're going to be back with more phone calls and
(38:35):
your gardening questions one triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text me two three
six eight zero if it's Saturday morning from the Summit
Responsible Solution Studios. You're listening to Better Lawnes and Gardens.
I'm Teresa Watkins. We're going to be right back. This
is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
If you miss any of the shower I want to
recap any other shows, you can go to Better Lawns
dot com. That is a Better Lawns dot com
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