July 11, 2026 • 39 mins
Landscape designer, garden expert, and host Teresa Watkins welcomes Dana Venrick, owner of Quality Green Specialist Nursery in DeLand, for tips on easing summer landscape stress and keeping plants healthy. Teresa also shares her Top Five heat-tolerant zinnia varieties—ideal for containers, landscapes, and meadows—answers summertime gardening questions, and explains what to plant in your landscape this July.
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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, Risa What because
I'm a landscape designer, garden author, horticulturess.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I love digging in.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
The dirt and i love helping people with their landscape.
So I'm so glad you're joining us this morning. It's
been a hot, hot week and we've seen some rain,
we've seen some lightning storms. Oh my goodness, good morning, Lizzie.
How is the lightning storms?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Lightning storms?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Oh my, cheese and crackers? That way we have had.
We've had a little bit of rain bent. The lightning
storms has been like hitting in our backyard to the
point of like everything jumped.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Everything jumped. It shook our house, a couple of them.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And so that you know what's causing that when that
shakes the house, that is the air that it's kind
of explodes where it comes out. It is a reverberation. Okay,
so the ground reverberates around there and that's what causes that.
That's incredible. The lightning has been incredible. That's kind of good.
You know when lightning, when we have lightning in the skies,
(01:14):
that collects that all the nitrogen ions stick together, and it's.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
The equivalent of like fertilizing your lawn. Oh, there you go,
we're being fertilized.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
We're airlines and didn't even know it. Good morning to
everyone out there. We have to say a big good
morning all around the world. We not only have some
great listeners here in Florida, but also to in Texas
and up northern Ohio, New York, California, and then across
the world. We've been big in Japan this week and
(01:44):
the Japan and Singapore. So just a good morning to
everybody out there. I have my cup of tea. I'm
excited to get going with the day. We got a
great show for you this morning, and we're going to
be taking your phone calls. At the bottom of the hour,
we have interviews and then we're gonna be going. But
I also want to announce that Peterson's Nursery in Lakeland
(02:05):
they have a workshop today at nine thirty and nine
thirty lecture. It's not a workshop, it's a lecture and
it's called the Sweet Smell of.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Gardening, And the most important part of that is to
b YOC, which means bring your own chair.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Exactly and that will you'll enjoy that. And it's just
a big good morning from Lakeland this morning too as well,
and we do appreciate them.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
We appreciate all our sponsors here.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So we did have lightning storms this week. We also
had a lot of rain. It came down. It didn't
seem like it rained every day or every other day,
but when it did, it rained hard.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
We received at the house about two inches of rain.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And North Florida this week you're going to see fifty
to seventy percent chance of rain every day through next weekend,
so we are going to be getting those afternoon thunderstorms,
so you want to be careful about that. Highs in
the mid nineties, nighttime loads in the seventies. There is
a great conditions for planting shrubs and trees and flowers,
So you just do it now while we're getting the
(03:12):
summer rain that will be great. West Coast, West Coast,
you had boomers last night Tampa and Naples, Venice, Cape Coral.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I'm so appreciate.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Mike sent me a videos and pictures of the storm
going through and he got it down.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Bursts.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, Peter at Peterson's Nursery, how he just texted me
and said they had fifty mile an hour ones, and
he's right. I was actually in Lakeland last night and
all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the sky was
clear and it turned black, and so in all the
debris in the parking lot where we were, everything was
spinning in circles. So I'm one of those I'll just
(03:47):
stand there and watch the sky and I'll watch the
clouds and see which way they're going to determine, you
know what, my next movie. And it was that scary wow,
and they came up all of a sudden out of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, everybody needs to be careful out there, because that
really really does happen.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
It dropped from like was it about ninety seven degrees
to eighty four just like that, and you know that
that's no, no, that's that's for y'all new to Florida.
Whenever that happens, you need to find the four Walls,
an interior inside of whatever buildings.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Could possibly turn into a tornado. Big shout out to
our listeners in Ormond Beach and Melbourne, you guys are
really good about an Ormond Beach listening. And then also
going to our Facebook page, we do appreciate that you're
going to see a good chance of rain this weekend,
sunshine early in the week, and then more rain chances
next weekend. So it's just it's gonna kind of be
(04:41):
late in the afternoon at night if we if we
do get it so, but the landscapes are going to
be fine. You want to be sure to check your
irrigation shut off devices all throughout the state.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
This is a great time to.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
See if your irrigation shut off devices are working. Your
irrigation should not come on if you get an inch
and a half of rain during the week, and we
have been getting that much, so if it does go on,
that means that your irrigation is either shut off or
not working, that it's not set to the proper level.
(05:14):
It should be set to one and a half inches
and then also to the cork. You know, this is
a piece of technology and it does need to be
checked on frequently, like every couple of months, and just
like any other technical piece of equipment that you have
and then replaced after you know, four or five years.
They have such great new models now they're only about
(05:37):
thirty to forty dollars, which I know is a lot
but it literally will save you hundreds of dollars in
irrigation bills. And that's the most important thing. You're not
only going to conserve water not waste it, but it's
going to save you economically. You're going to save that
money and not have to pay for the rainfall that
you're getting. So we will definitely be getting rain and
(06:02):
uh and we're glad to see it because we need
to get about thirty five inches of rain, Lizzie for
us to catch up with the drought deficit. And did
you see they cut back the number of hurricanes? Oh oh,
they reduced it that from April to now it went.
I think I'm thinking I should have had it in
(06:23):
front of me over the break. Yeah, ten hurricanes they've
reduced it to eight. Ooh, and tropical storms they've reduced.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So that's a good, good, good day. Keep coming back
to Bias later on July is summertime.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You can't fertilize your lawns, but were ways to make
your lawns healthier. We have Dana Bendrick from Quality Green
Specialist Nursery and DeLand coming up. He's going to tell
us exactly what we need to do this Saturday morning.
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens from the Summit.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Responsible Solution Studios.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
(07:17):
We have with us right now one of our sponsors,
Dana Benrick with Quality Green Specialist Nursery. Dana has so
much knowledge regarding growing plants and you know, extension background,
university background, and being just agriculture.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
We are so pleased that he is here today. Good morning, Dana.
How are you?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Oh good? How are you? Teresa?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I am great. Did you have a good fourth of July?
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I did? I?
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Did you know?
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Other than it was just a torrential rain up here
in Miland and we didn't really go up, but we
could enjoy. We could see the fireworks in the distance
from the patio.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Well, we were coming back from Daytona Beach and going
through de Land and the traffic was backed up, and
but what going through on the I four crossing the
Saint John's we could see all the other cities fireworks
going off at eleven o'clock at night.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
There was still fireworks going off. So you live in
a great part of Florida, and uh, it's just it's
just interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
So did you have anything from your garden to celebrate
the importing in July?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
We did, you know, sort of an unusual thing, you know,
I actually had some sweet potatoes from our garden and
our containers. They would grow them in here the nursery.
But wow, they're so good, rich and smooth and a
nice clean taste, so much better than store boards.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Okay, so how do you what's your recipe for cooking
sweet potatoes?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Danta?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Well, you know, it's cold microwaves.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
No, he's not lying, like like my father before he passed. Actually,
his big thing was potatoes and sweet potatoes and he
would put them.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
In the microwave and they actually turned out the best.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
But my favorite way is, you know, just steam them
or or boil them, you know, but you have to
be careful there get waterlogged.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Oh my goodness, well that's great.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
But anyway, we all also had some cucumbers from the garden,
and oh we have so much oakrop and my mother
had the best recipe for ochres. We like to follow
that with tomatoes. Tomato sauce. And we actually had some
tomatoes and peppers and a guava actually from the garden.
I'm looking at one now, I'm holding my hand. It's
(09:30):
so big. My wife said she had never used seen
one that big. By the way, I took her some
nice beautiful leaves from our guava plants out back. It's
like a pink guava. Well we have white too, And
she takes them and dries them and then she brings
them to a boil and lets it steep overnight in
(09:52):
that water, and she takes that. It's a delicious tea.
It brought her blood sugar right back down under two hundred.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Oh my goodness, so happy, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
You know, we get so many benefits medicinally from nature
that is just wonderful. So even though we have planted
summer vegetables in April and May, Dana, what kind of
vegetables can be planted right now?
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Well, we can plant oh crab all summer long, uh,
you know, like we can plant the little cherry tomato
they call the Everglades tomatoes, just intense. It's great for
sauces and marinating along with peppers and onions, and also
of course of sweet potatoes, right, plant all types of
(10:40):
fruiting plants right now that are containerized.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
What about watermelon? Corn?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
There's another one you don't think about, but we can
plant that also.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I'm sorry, what was the last one?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Kick them?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Come oh, yes, vegetable native of Mexico say yes.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
And so I have to tell everybody.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
You tell that J I C A M E. S.
So you say, hi, come up, what about watermelon and corn?
Can we still plant those?
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Absolutely? We have some corn that's already starting to tassel
and containers, along with some pole beans and some squash.
So we've got a demonstration here for the three sisters,
you know, originating with the eighties of Florida, where you
have the combination of the corn and then that's like
(11:29):
the salt that the vines of the bean climbs up.
And then the good companion is the squash. Of course,
we have the seminole pumpkins. We have those.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Those are delicious too as well.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And so with the heat of the summer were I mean,
we're seeing extreme heat. They're talking about over one hundred
degrees today and this weekend, and so what should we
not be doing in the landscape.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Oh, gosh, no, don't be putting regular fertilizer, any nitrogen
fertilizer or phosphorus fertilizer. You can use some minerals, you know,
particularly if you had a soil test. But we know
that the summer rains are going to leach a lot
of potassium and magnesium and certain minerals like that, and
plus the nitrogen. So but it's really helpful if you
(12:17):
can use something like that because the rains will leach
those out. I like to use potassium sulfate or magnesium sulfate.
Even better is potassium magnesium sulfate. It does wonders. It's
really great to sub disease. It's very the element potassium
is a mineral taking up most by plants, but you're
(12:37):
going to do a world is good if you do nothing,
but that even better, we've found to use azemite. The
volcanic palmis got all the trace minerals, very low amounts,
but they're there along with a little bit of the
all the major and secondary except there's no nitrogen it
so it complies with the best management practices.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Right, So what is so important about get these micro
or minor nutrients to plants? Why do they benefit from it,
like from asimite, which is really very good for your landscape.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Well, the micronutrients really give the disease protection and colors
of plants and the taste, and so basically a lot
of fungicizer based on those micronutrients, like copper, copper side right, Oh, yes,
that's right, manganese, ma manaed or mancozed with manganese and zinc.
(13:32):
I mean, they're all great for stopping disease, like for example,
manganese next to potassium is a mineral that's best at
stopping disease. But all these things together, you don't have
to worry about any of the trace mentals too much
during the summer because they don't leave. Except for boron.
You don't want to use that in the summer. Either
(13:53):
use boron early and late, very tiny amount.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
In spring and in fault not right now any trace mineral, right,
and so can soil testing.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And you do soil testing there at quality green specialists,
and so can you tell them what their soil has
and how to make it healthier.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Absolutely. I do a complete analysis of all the major
secondary and the trace minerals, the micronutrients, and then I
tell them exactly how much of each per thousand quare
feet each of those is needed to bring sufficiency and
good ratios to all your nutrients in the soil that
(14:35):
feeds the microbes, and the microbes of course and feed
the plants. But you know you don't want to put
all that, so I break it down. This is how
much you can put with each application. It might take
a year or two to bring everything up completely to efficiency,
but you don't want to put it all at once.
(14:56):
It's like giving a you know, a ton of hate
of one towel. You can't do it. You gradually build
the soil with a fraction based on how much the
soil will hold. So if you need fifty four pounds
of all these things together to bring the soil up,
decisions you don't want to put more than twenty pounds
or something like that at one time. And then you
(15:18):
gradually and helpfully bring the soil up to sufficiency and
all the microbes are super happy. They're all doing their job.
The minimalizing bacteria are working without being burned by too
much fertilizer. And give you all the minerals in about
available form.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
So I have a lot of people tell me, they
just throw the fertilizer down, or they'll put like three
little sticks around their plants. And how much fertilizer do
should they put down?
Speaker 4 (15:50):
You should never put more than twenty twenty five pounds
at most per thousand square feet of root area surface areas.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Of the ground.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
And spread it out uniformly, of course, not near the
trunk or the stem.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
You want to spread over the root.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
The sol can hold it and the microbes can handle it,
and then everything works like a beautiful symphony.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
So minor nutrients definitely. How do minor nutrients help fruit trees?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Well, specifically, you're going to get so much more retention
that's going to help hold the fruit on the tree.
For one thing, boron. It was excellently demonstrat RAI back
in nineteen forty nine by a professor with the Citrus
Research Station that if you if you low on boron,
you lose all your fruit. If you have sufficiency boron,
(16:42):
that alone will help the tree retain a lot more fruit.
It's going to give quality and taste to the fruit
and the color.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
The misconception is that nitrogen gives like green color to
the grass, pretty green. No, it's the vicidity of the
nitrogen that dissolves out helps dissolve out the micronutrients. The
micronutrients actually give that green color, like the magnesium and iron, right, and.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
So so you were saying, okay, so we just said
a few minutes ago not to put bor on down,
but you do recommend putting bre on down, but like
in the spring and in the fall.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Yeah, twice. I recommend twice early spring, like January or February,
not later than March, and then again September or October.
And you don't want to put very low rate because
borings only needed like one to four parts per million
in the soil compared to one hundred to two hundred
and fifty parts malling of irons. You can see you
(17:41):
use a thimbleful if you're using you know, yeah, half
an ounce of the metal does.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
A long way. So real quick, we're coming up to
the end we do anything.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
No, I appreciate that. So we're coming up to our
heartbreak data. But fullier feeding I wanted to get that
in is this time of the year, is full of
your feeding recommended?
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Well, we recommend at a very low rate. It helps
keep you in the ballgame. You know, especially with fruit trees,
because you know it gives you those nutrients to help
the trees sustain all the super stress of the hot weather.
And so make sure you reduced the rate. If you've
been using one ounce freagallen, cut it back not more
(18:25):
than half an ounce spera gallen during the summer, and
then do it early in the morning so you don't
have any dress too much stress on the plant.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Oh, excellent, datas, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Tell everybody where you're located and they can buy all
these wonderful plants, shrubs and trees.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Oh it's beautiful, beautiful. It's three thirty five West Michigan
Avenue right here in the land near the campus of
Setson and we're open nine to four every day and
we'll be very happy to see you.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Excellent, so much, Thank you very much, Data. We appreciate
coming on you too, and thank you. And if you'd
like to call Quality Green Specialist Nursery, the number is
three eight six seven three four eight thousand, seven three
four eight thousand, that's eight zero zero zero, and we
(19:17):
are now going to be taking your phone calls. If
you'd like to give us a phone call one triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero and let us
know what kind of gardening questions do you have? From
the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. It's Saturday morning. You're listening
to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this
(19:39):
is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. We'd like to thank
(20:01):
Dana Benrick with Quality Green Specialist Nursery for coming on
and sponsoring the program, but also helping us.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
With all the information we need for fertilizers. So we
do appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
You can get to Quality Green Specialist Nursery at three
three five West Michigan Street in DeLand. If you know,
if someone who loves to gardener has a question, please
let them know about Better Lads and Gardens. Tell them
to call in with their gardening questions so I can
help them too. You can call me at one Triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Like Scott and Mike, we do appreciate it. We're going
to get right to them.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Let's go first though, to Alan in Montverdy. Good morning, Alan,
how are you hey?
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Good morning, Teresa, enjoin the show as usual. I have
a not a CNA, a CNO, a comment and observation.
I need your opinion local pruning on shrubbery. People are
as you've mentioned so eloquently, are starting to tram back
all their dead So I as we involved most of
my life and citrus sixty two freeze the seventy freezes
(21:04):
in the eighties, we learned that when you trim a branch,
well it's green. You know, you trim it, and then
you see that a third or two thirds of it
is dead from the freeze damage. Well it's still green.
And I've seen people, you know, these trees and shrubs
will bounce back, but when they don't have a three
hundred and six my observation is a three hundred and
(21:26):
sixty degree green material. As they get older, then you
get into windy conditions and those branches will break and
people will say, oh it broke, it was just so beautiful,
loaded with fruit or whatever. Have you noticed that, because
I've been telling people go down and cut. I know
you want to, you want to get your trees looking better,
but bite the bullet for now and go down until
(21:48):
you have at least an eighty to one hundred percent green,
three sixty vegetative, candium and zile, and flowing the levels
around your tree because otherwise you're just kind of short yourself.
Have you observed that?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I do. I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
But when the branches are completely dead, so you know,
you want to cut back to live life.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Growth, so the live branches.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
So if there is stems that are completely dead and
they just snap right off, there's just no moisture in
it at all, no life in it at all, they
can take those back, they can.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Cut those off. But no, I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Pruning it too much or pruning it too much at
one time does cause a problem and the trees react
they go into immediate growth. But sometimes you don't need
that growth happening at certain times of the year. So
one it depends on when you're going to prune it
and what you're pruting.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Yeah, this has been to me, it's been like a
two year thing because you come back and you say, well,
it's all bushed out six inches below and where I
thought the vegetation died, Well, you need to go back
to where it's one hundred percent green, green, green, green green,
And then you're one and done kind of approach. Hey,
another quick question, two more quick questions, and I'll go.
I was talking to your screener. I've been really, really
(23:07):
potentially late getting my xenias, my cosmos, and mostly important,
my sunflowers in the ground. Is it this we're pushing
the end of the cycle or is it still viable
to get those in the ground.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Oh no, We're still in a wonderful, wonderful cycle. Especially
if you're doing seeds transplants you can do always, but
sunflowers and zenias. Wait till you hear my top five
coming up. You'll be so glad.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
But are some flowers you can go ahead and.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Plant now from now all the way into September. And
so I like to plant them where you plant ten
to twenty at a time, unless you're doing a whole
big meadow, but ten to twenty at a time, and
then a month later doing a ten to twenty more,
and then a month later doing that, and then that
way you continuously have flowers through into November and December.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Yeah, especially with the single bloom varieties that are multiple bloomers.
And your guests had a good comment on the azo.
Might I've used that and there seems to be a
big interest now in uh organic and non organic and
regentitive farming. And I've used azo mite, and I was
going to ask your guests about this. I don't put
(24:18):
it all out at once. I put a little bit.
I go a quarter half quarter is my regimen. I
put it out in the fall, and it starts because
it takes a while for that, as you know, for it, Yes,
it breaks down. Then in the early spring I put
out half of what I was going to do for
the year, and then late summer put out a quarter.
So it's quarter half quarter, and that kind of instead
(24:39):
of stoking it all at once, and it's laying there
on the surface and it leads itself.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Out right exactly.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Your approach is very good. It just it's wonderful. You
said you can come in and take over my job anytime.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
Alan. Oh no, no, no, no no. I'm a deer listener
than a talker.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Thank you so much for coming in. You've got a
lot of great information there. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Let's go to Bill. Good morning Bill, and he's in George.
Where's the Georgetown. Oh you're in Georgetown. That's okay, Good
morning Bill. How are you fine.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
You asked me to call back about the watermelon I
was growing, so I will give you an update.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Please do How is it?
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Oh, it's doing fantastic. First I need to explain that
it's in a fifteen gallon pot. This is not in
the ground, and it's up on the railing on my porch.
And I was going to try to do something I
did when I lived in Mount Dora, which was to
have them on the fence and then let him hang.
Let him hang is they will hang. But I've learned something.
When the vines grow down, the blooms will not set.
(25:40):
We have to be that time. I had to plant
it in the ground and the vines grew up and
it's set through. So anyways, I got another vine and
it's growing along the railing on the porch. And another
curious thing. It put out a bloom and I hand
pollinated it. It looked fine. It sat there, marked time,
put out another bloom in it sat there. I hand
(26:02):
pollinated it and finally put out the third bloom and
I hand pollinated it and the third one took off.
And I find it so amazing that the plant can
recognize that now it has a set fruit and the
other two atropheed and turn yellow and fell off.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 5 (26:18):
That is that's just I mean, how does the plant
know that? It's almost like it's got a brain.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
It does, you know? And and sometimes they're smarter than
we are. But that's what variety of watermelon is it?
Speaker 6 (26:29):
Bill?
Speaker 5 (26:31):
One that you got in a store? Okay, my ever
gave me a half a watermelon. It was a seedless one,
and of course the seedless watermelon always has a couple
of seeds.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Well, wonderful, Good for you.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I would love to see a photograph of it sitting
on your on your railing.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I would love to see that.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
That would that would be really nice, except you're dealing
with an ignoramus here who does not have a computer.
Now I got a phone. I've got a phone. I
probably could take a picture of it. I'd have to
have somebody else send it to you.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Okay, well, well do that.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
If you could do that, that would be great, Bill.
I would love to see it. And that's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Thank you so much. John.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
You realize I have the option I can grow it
sitting on the rail. I have the vine already tied down,
so that's that going the the watermelon doubled inside. Last
night it was the size of a walnut yesterday Today
it's at least three times that side.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
And I have the option. I can grow it on
the railing, or I could let it hang off the railing.
And I have found because I grew a thirty pound
squash one time and hanging by its own stem, I
found that the plant will increase its stem to support
the way we support the way we'll do that naturally.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I so agree with you, and it's just fascinating to watch,
and I would love to it. Sounds like you're doing
everything right. I'm so proud of you. Thank you so much,
Bill for calling in. We're going to take more of
your gardening questions one triple eight four five two nine
sixty seven, or you can text two three six eight
zero Scott and Mike. We're going to get to you
next after Better Lucks Gardens. It's Saturday morning.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
This is where you are.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I'm Teresa Watkins, and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Welcome back up Better Lawns in Gardens Sand Now Teresa's
top five.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
And my top five today are my top five zenias
that beat the heat. Zenias are a wonderful summer annual
that blooms continuously throughout the summer. They need full sun
and if you plant seeds, they will bloom or they
will emerge within seven to ten days, and we'll just
head to the races. Let me give you my top
(28:52):
five favorites that you can get from burpy dot com.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Macarena zenias.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
They bring vivid, spicy orange color to the garden. They
have three inch blooms that last all summer, wonderful for borders,
containers and cut flowers, and the colors deepen as they mature,
so those are wonderful.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Get thirty five seeds.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
For eight ninety five. Number two the raspberry lemonade xenias.
These are bold two to three inch blooms and they
have a colorful display. They look amazing together all the
color combinations together. It's a vibrant mix of coral yellow
and starlight rose. Twenty five seeds six ninety five. The
giant flowered zenias. These are sturdy, bushy flowers. They produce
(29:36):
a huge five inch double bloom that look like dahlias,
and they add bold, vibrant color to the garden.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
He love the heat. They easy to grow.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And you can get one hundred and fifty seeds for
five dollars and forty five cents for three hundred and
seventy five seeds for seven dollars and ninety five cents.
Number four, the Tequila line zenias are wonderful.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
They're incredible color. They just look like lime.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
They feature crispsitrus green blooms up to three inches and
you can get fifty seeds.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
For six ninety five.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And my number five is the cactus flowers Genius. They're
an enduring airloom variety. Burpie has grown these. They had
to break through xenia in the nineteen twenties. This mix
produces double and semi double blooms up to five inches
in scarlet rose, orange, white, and yellow, and it's exceptional
for cut flowers. You can get one hundred seeds for
(30:33):
four dollars and ninety five cents. That's at burpie dot com.
They're genius my top five. Hopefully that helps you out Allen.
You can plant zenias and some flowers all the way
through August late August, and now's the time to get
those seeds, get your tomatoes and eggplant and your pepper
seeds right now, kind of order them.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
If you wait until August, they are not going to
be any left. So let's go through the text messages.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
In Clearmont, we had someone text that said that they
had boogain villas that froze during the wintertime, but they're
coming back.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
It was a braided boogain villa. And what can they
do now.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Well, you can take the new green growth that's coming
up out of the bottom of the of the plant
the trunk, and you can rebraid it as it comes up.
And what you do is you wait till it's like
six to eight to a foot long, and then you
braid them while they're still green and very flexible, and
(31:36):
you just keep continuing and letting it grow until they
will eventually get to be six to eight feet tall.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
But the braid will you got to do it.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
When the stems are newly green, okay, And I would
cut off any of the.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Brown trunks, dead trunks.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Or dead wood, Go ahead and cut those off so
it's easier to braid. Great question, Thank you so much
for sending it so I have. This is Mike from
Palm Bay. He also has two book and villas and
raised beds.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
That are not flowering. I've already applied fertilizer with phosphorus
four weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
What can I do to increase flowers on these two? Well, Mike,
you need to stop taking care of them so nice.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
They are just loving what you are doing.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And they will grow green leaves and they will get
lots of leaves, but they will not produce flowers. So
bookom villa loves to be just kind of neglected. You
want to make sure you're not overwatering it when you
get when you fertilize them with nitrogen, they're going to
grow the leaves and they're not going to produce the blooms.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
So I would just go.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Ahead and let it get a little you know dry.
Then also to don't fertilize it except maybe once every
couple of years, okay if necessary, especially if it's in
a pot. You can do it in the springtime. But
just ignore them and let them kind of suffer on
(33:03):
their own. When plants, some species, when they think that
they're dying or being neglected and they need to, you know,
to keep the species going, that's when they produce the
flowers and the seeds. And did you know that boogam
villas are all white flowers. Every boogom villa has white flowers.
The bracts that you see all the different ones in
(33:25):
the coral, the white, the peach, the fuchsia colors, all
of those different vibrant colors on booga and villas are the.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Modified leaves, the bracts. It's not really the flower.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
So if you want to see those modified bracts, go
ahead and stop fertilizing it. Make sure it's in full
sun and water, maybe once every week or every couple
of weeks, and it'll be just fine.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
They have facts. I mean that is like one like
a cactus.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Almost not saying that you should treat it, but I'm
saying you just ignore it. And it's like it's because
isn't being gorgeous and big and it just takes over
everything and yeah, and then it stabs you and it's
the best plant ever.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And so it does really well when it's stressed.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
So Scott says, my Exora plants survived the big freeze
on your fine advice, thank you very much. However, they
could no longer be called tight bushes. The branches have
um slightly sprawled. Is there a way to make them bushy.
And this goes back to what Alan was saying about pruning.
So you want to you can cut off all of
(34:30):
the dead portions of the branch, and by that I
mean the ones that are completely dead.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You can cut it back. You can put it back
till you find the.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Stems that are still having some life in them, cut diagonally,
let them emerge, flushback out again, and then it's going
to be a one to two year process. You want
to take them back very carefully and just cut back
about one to two inches, then let that flush out again,
(35:01):
and then wait about six months, wait till the new
growth starts happening again, and then you take it back again.
So it's not a one time pruning project. You have
to when it was recovering from wintertime freezes. You have
to do it in stages, and so that's you need
to be patient and cut it back. I would say
(35:23):
probably twice a year. And so for right now, I'd
let it, you know, just take off all the dead,
but go ahead and let it grow through the springtime,
keeping it hopefully through the wintertime, and then going ahead
and you can cut it again next spring, just by
a little bit and let it keep flushing out. So
(35:44):
thank you very much for the text. I really do
appreciate it. And then we have Oh, let me just
go ahead, make sure I give you this. What can
you be planting right now? This is very important. Boniatos,
calabasas and cherry tomatoes, oakras, southern peas, seminole pumpkins, just
like Dana Venrick was mentioning from quality green specialists, sweet cassabas,
(36:07):
Roselle that's for all of our listeners who like Roselle tea,
Liberty tea, sweet potato, and yard long beans.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
And again, this is the time.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
To start your seeds for eggplants and peppers and tomatoes.
You want to do them now so that they're ready
to go into your containers, your raised beds, or into
the ground mid August and that will be an important
time for that.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
So we do the highs right now.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
We're averaging about ninety degrees ninety four to ninety five.
It's going to feel like it's over one hundred. Lows
are in the mid seventies to low eighties, depending on
where you are.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
South Miami.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
You guys are going to get some lovely weather. Chamber
of Commerce beach weather this week, and you're going to
be lows are going to be in the eighties. But
it's just important to know that you need to water,
but not too much. Okay, we're going to get this rainfall,
and if you get one and a half inches of
rain a week, you do not need to turn your
(37:11):
irrigation system on. So in the month of July, we
average about seven and a quarter inches of rain, and
when you think about it, that's one and a half inches,
you know.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
A week. So we definitely have seen.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Areas, some areas of Florida have already gotten those seven
to eight inches already, so that you have to not irrigate.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
No, just feel the ground. If the ground is cool.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Moisture, damp, sticking your finger in the ground, you do
not need to water. Just make sure that you are
not using heavy chemicals as far as pesticides right now.
It will increase the need the plant's need for water
and doing it during the middle of the day stress
(38:00):
the plant out even more.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Do not use herbicides right now.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
No weed killers right now unless you're killing an entire
area and you're using a non selective herbicide that will
kill everything because then it will really die. But if
you are wanting to just take out weeds out of
your lawn, this is not the time to do it.
The weeds are stronger than your turf and the heat
(38:26):
is going to stress it out, and it means that
you're going to probably hurt your grass more than the
weeds and you won't get rid of the weeds. Wait
until the fall, Okay, first part of October, and then
you can use your herbicide. Then using it when the
temperatures are under eighty five degrees. We're going to be
back with the second hour of Better Lawns and Gardens.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
F's Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Tuck and Entertainment Network.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
The distance is direct at the dist
Good morning from the summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host, Risa What because
I'm a landscape designer, garden author, horticulturess.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I love digging in.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
The dirt and i love helping people with their landscape.
So I'm so glad you're joining us this morning. It's
been a hot, hot week and we've seen some rain,
we've seen some lightning storms. Oh my goodness, good morning, Lizzie.
How is the lightning storms?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Lightning storms?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Oh my, cheese and crackers? That way we have had.
We've had a little bit of rain bent. The lightning
storms has been like hitting in our backyard to the
point of like everything jumped.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Everything jumped. It shook our house, a couple of them.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And so that you know what's causing that when that
shakes the house, that is the air that it's kind
of explodes where it comes out. It is a reverberation. Okay,
so the ground reverberates around there and that's what causes that.
That's incredible. The lightning has been incredible. That's kind of good.
You know when lightning, when we have lightning in the skies,
(01:14):
that collects that all the nitrogen ions stick together, and it's.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
The equivalent of like fertilizing your lawn. Oh, there you go,
we're being fertilized.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
We're airlines and didn't even know it. Good morning to
everyone out there. We have to say a big good
morning all around the world. We not only have some
great listeners here in Florida, but also to in Texas
and up northern Ohio, New York, California, and then across
the world. We've been big in Japan this week and
(01:44):
the Japan and Singapore. So just a good morning to
everybody out there. I have my cup of tea. I'm
excited to get going with the day. We got a
great show for you this morning, and we're going to
be taking your phone calls. At the bottom of the hour,
we have interviews and then we're gonna be going. But
I also want to announce that Peterson's Nursery in Lakeland
(02:05):
they have a workshop today at nine thirty and nine
thirty lecture. It's not a workshop, it's a lecture and
it's called the Sweet Smell of.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Gardening, And the most important part of that is to
b YOC, which means bring your own chair.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Exactly and that will you'll enjoy that. And it's just
a big good morning from Lakeland this morning too as well,
and we do appreciate them.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
We appreciate all our sponsors here.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So we did have lightning storms this week. We also
had a lot of rain. It came down. It didn't
seem like it rained every day or every other day,
but when it did, it rained hard.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
We received at the house about two inches of rain.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And North Florida this week you're going to see fifty
to seventy percent chance of rain every day through next weekend,
so we are going to be getting those afternoon thunderstorms,
so you want to be careful about that. Highs in
the mid nineties, nighttime loads in the seventies. There is
a great conditions for planting shrubs and trees and flowers,
So you just do it now while we're getting the
(03:12):
summer rain that will be great. West Coast, West Coast,
you had boomers last night Tampa and Naples, Venice, Cape Coral.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I'm so appreciate.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Mike sent me a videos and pictures of the storm
going through and he got it down.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Bursts.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, Peter at Peterson's Nursery, how he just texted me
and said they had fifty mile an hour ones, and
he's right. I was actually in Lakeland last night and
all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the sky was
clear and it turned black, and so in all the
debris in the parking lot where we were, everything was
spinning in circles. So I'm one of those I'll just
(03:47):
stand there and watch the sky and I'll watch the
clouds and see which way they're going to determine, you
know what, my next movie. And it was that scary wow,
and they came up all of a sudden out of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, everybody needs to be careful out there, because that
really really does happen.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
It dropped from like was it about ninety seven degrees
to eighty four just like that, and you know that
that's no, no, that's that's for y'all new to Florida.
Whenever that happens, you need to find the four Walls,
an interior inside of whatever buildings.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Could possibly turn into a tornado. Big shout out to
our listeners in Ormond Beach and Melbourne, you guys are
really good about an Ormond Beach listening. And then also
going to our Facebook page, we do appreciate that you're
going to see a good chance of rain this weekend,
sunshine early in the week, and then more rain chances
next weekend. So it's just it's gonna kind of be
(04:41):
late in the afternoon at night if we if we
do get it so, but the landscapes are going to
be fine. You want to be sure to check your
irrigation shut off devices all throughout the state.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
This is a great time to.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
See if your irrigation shut off devices are working. Your
irrigation should not come on if you get an inch
and a half of rain during the week, and we
have been getting that much, so if it does go on,
that means that your irrigation is either shut off or
not working, that it's not set to the proper level.
(05:14):
It should be set to one and a half inches
and then also to the cork. You know, this is
a piece of technology and it does need to be
checked on frequently, like every couple of months, and just
like any other technical piece of equipment that you have
and then replaced after you know, four or five years.
They have such great new models now they're only about
(05:37):
thirty to forty dollars, which I know is a lot
but it literally will save you hundreds of dollars in
irrigation bills. And that's the most important thing. You're not
only going to conserve water not waste it, but it's
going to save you economically. You're going to save that
money and not have to pay for the rainfall that
you're getting. So we will definitely be getting rain and
(06:02):
uh and we're glad to see it because we need
to get about thirty five inches of rain, Lizzie for
us to catch up with the drought deficit. And did
you see they cut back the number of hurricanes? Oh oh,
they reduced it that from April to now it went.
I think I'm thinking I should have had it in
(06:23):
front of me over the break. Yeah, ten hurricanes they've
reduced it to eight. Ooh, and tropical storms they've reduced.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So that's a good, good, good day. Keep coming back
to Bias later on July is summertime.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You can't fertilize your lawns, but were ways to make
your lawns healthier. We have Dana Bendrick from Quality Green
Specialist Nursery and DeLand coming up. He's going to tell
us exactly what we need to do this Saturday morning.
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens from the Summit.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Responsible Solution Studios.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins.
(07:17):
We have with us right now one of our sponsors,
Dana Benrick with Quality Green Specialist Nursery. Dana has so
much knowledge regarding growing plants and you know, extension background,
university background, and being just agriculture.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
We are so pleased that he is here today. Good morning, Dana.
How are you?
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Oh good? How are you? Teresa?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I am great. Did you have a good fourth of July?
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I did? I?
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Did you know?
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Other than it was just a torrential rain up here
in Miland and we didn't really go up, but we
could enjoy. We could see the fireworks in the distance
from the patio.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Well, we were coming back from Daytona Beach and going
through de Land and the traffic was backed up, and
but what going through on the I four crossing the
Saint John's we could see all the other cities fireworks
going off at eleven o'clock at night.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
There was still fireworks going off. So you live in
a great part of Florida, and uh, it's just it's
just interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
So did you have anything from your garden to celebrate
the importing in July?
Speaker 4 (08:23):
We did, you know, sort of an unusual thing, you know,
I actually had some sweet potatoes from our garden and
our containers. They would grow them in here the nursery.
But wow, they're so good, rich and smooth and a
nice clean taste, so much better than store boards.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Okay, so how do you what's your recipe for cooking
sweet potatoes?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Danta?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Well, you know, it's cold microwaves.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
No, he's not lying, like like my father before he passed. Actually,
his big thing was potatoes and sweet potatoes and he
would put them.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
In the microwave and they actually turned out the best.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
But my favorite way is, you know, just steam them
or or boil them, you know, but you have to
be careful there get waterlogged.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Oh my goodness, well that's great.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
But anyway, we all also had some cucumbers from the garden,
and oh we have so much oakrop and my mother
had the best recipe for ochres. We like to follow
that with tomatoes. Tomato sauce. And we actually had some
tomatoes and peppers and a guava actually from the garden.
I'm looking at one now, I'm holding my hand. It's
(09:30):
so big. My wife said she had never used seen
one that big. By the way, I took her some
nice beautiful leaves from our guava plants out back. It's
like a pink guava. Well we have white too, And
she takes them and dries them and then she brings
them to a boil and lets it steep overnight in
(09:52):
that water, and she takes that. It's a delicious tea.
It brought her blood sugar right back down under two hundred.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Oh my goodness, so happy, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
You know, we get so many benefits medicinally from nature
that is just wonderful. So even though we have planted
summer vegetables in April and May, Dana, what kind of
vegetables can be planted right now?
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Well, we can plant oh crab all summer long, uh,
you know, like we can plant the little cherry tomato
they call the Everglades tomatoes, just intense. It's great for
sauces and marinating along with peppers and onions, and also
of course of sweet potatoes, right, plant all types of
(10:40):
fruiting plants right now that are containerized.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
What about watermelon? Corn?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
There's another one you don't think about, but we can
plant that also.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I'm sorry, what was the last one?
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Kick them?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Come oh, yes, vegetable native of Mexico say yes.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
And so I have to tell everybody.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
You tell that J I C A M E. S.
So you say, hi, come up, what about watermelon and corn?
Can we still plant those?
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Absolutely? We have some corn that's already starting to tassel
and containers, along with some pole beans and some squash.
So we've got a demonstration here for the three sisters,
you know, originating with the eighties of Florida, where you
have the combination of the corn and then that's like
(11:29):
the salt that the vines of the bean climbs up.
And then the good companion is the squash. Of course,
we have the seminole pumpkins. We have those.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Those are delicious too as well.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And so with the heat of the summer were I mean,
we're seeing extreme heat. They're talking about over one hundred
degrees today and this weekend, and so what should we
not be doing in the landscape.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Oh, gosh, no, don't be putting regular fertilizer, any nitrogen
fertilizer or phosphorus fertilizer. You can use some minerals, you know,
particularly if you had a soil test. But we know
that the summer rains are going to leach a lot
of potassium and magnesium and certain minerals like that, and
plus the nitrogen. So but it's really helpful if you
(12:17):
can use something like that because the rains will leach
those out. I like to use potassium sulfate or magnesium sulfate.
Even better is potassium magnesium sulfate. It does wonders. It's
really great to sub disease. It's very the element potassium
is a mineral taking up most by plants, but you're
(12:37):
going to do a world is good if you do nothing,
but that even better, we've found to use azemite. The
volcanic palmis got all the trace minerals, very low amounts,
but they're there along with a little bit of the
all the major and secondary except there's no nitrogen it
so it complies with the best management practices.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Right, So what is so important about get these micro
or minor nutrients to plants? Why do they benefit from it,
like from asimite, which is really very good for your landscape.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Well, the micronutrients really give the disease protection and colors
of plants and the taste, and so basically a lot
of fungicizer based on those micronutrients, like copper, copper side right, Oh, yes,
that's right, manganese, ma manaed or mancozed with manganese and zinc.
(13:32):
I mean, they're all great for stopping disease, like for example,
manganese next to potassium is a mineral that's best at
stopping disease. But all these things together, you don't have
to worry about any of the trace mentals too much
during the summer because they don't leave. Except for boron.
You don't want to use that in the summer. Either
(13:53):
use boron early and late, very tiny amount.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
In spring and in fault not right now any trace mineral, right,
and so can soil testing.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And you do soil testing there at quality green specialists,
and so can you tell them what their soil has
and how to make it healthier.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Absolutely. I do a complete analysis of all the major
secondary and the trace minerals, the micronutrients, and then I
tell them exactly how much of each per thousand quare
feet each of those is needed to bring sufficiency and
good ratios to all your nutrients in the soil that
(14:35):
feeds the microbes, and the microbes of course and feed
the plants. But you know you don't want to put
all that, so I break it down. This is how
much you can put with each application. It might take
a year or two to bring everything up completely to efficiency,
but you don't want to put it all at once.
(14:56):
It's like giving a you know, a ton of hate
of one towel. You can't do it. You gradually build
the soil with a fraction based on how much the
soil will hold. So if you need fifty four pounds
of all these things together to bring the soil up,
decisions you don't want to put more than twenty pounds
or something like that at one time. And then you
(15:18):
gradually and helpfully bring the soil up to sufficiency and
all the microbes are super happy. They're all doing their job.
The minimalizing bacteria are working without being burned by too
much fertilizer. And give you all the minerals in about
available form.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
So I have a lot of people tell me, they
just throw the fertilizer down, or they'll put like three
little sticks around their plants. And how much fertilizer do
should they put down?
Speaker 4 (15:50):
You should never put more than twenty twenty five pounds
at most per thousand square feet of root area surface areas.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Of the ground.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
And spread it out uniformly, of course, not near the
trunk or the stem.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
You want to spread over the root.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
The sol can hold it and the microbes can handle it,
and then everything works like a beautiful symphony.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
So minor nutrients definitely. How do minor nutrients help fruit trees?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Well, specifically, you're going to get so much more retention
that's going to help hold the fruit on the tree.
For one thing, boron. It was excellently demonstrat RAI back
in nineteen forty nine by a professor with the Citrus
Research Station that if you if you low on boron,
you lose all your fruit. If you have sufficiency boron,
(16:42):
that alone will help the tree retain a lot more fruit.
It's going to give quality and taste to the fruit
and the color.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
The misconception is that nitrogen gives like green color to
the grass, pretty green. No, it's the vicidity of the
nitrogen that dissolves out helps dissolve out the micronutrients. The
micronutrients actually give that green color, like the magnesium and iron, right, and.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
So so you were saying, okay, so we just said
a few minutes ago not to put bor on down,
but you do recommend putting bre on down, but like
in the spring and in the fall.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Yeah, twice. I recommend twice early spring, like January or February,
not later than March, and then again September or October.
And you don't want to put very low rate because
borings only needed like one to four parts per million
in the soil compared to one hundred to two hundred
and fifty parts malling of irons. You can see you
(17:41):
use a thimbleful if you're using you know, yeah, half
an ounce of the metal does.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
A long way. So real quick, we're coming up to
the end we do anything.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
No, I appreciate that. So we're coming up to our
heartbreak data. But fullier feeding I wanted to get that
in is this time of the year, is full of
your feeding recommended?
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Well, we recommend at a very low rate. It helps
keep you in the ballgame. You know, especially with fruit trees,
because you know it gives you those nutrients to help
the trees sustain all the super stress of the hot weather.
And so make sure you reduced the rate. If you've
been using one ounce freagallen, cut it back not more
(18:25):
than half an ounce spera gallen during the summer, and
then do it early in the morning so you don't
have any dress too much stress on the plant.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Oh, excellent, datas, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Tell everybody where you're located and they can buy all
these wonderful plants, shrubs and trees.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Oh it's beautiful, beautiful. It's three thirty five West Michigan
Avenue right here in the land near the campus of
Setson and we're open nine to four every day and
we'll be very happy to see you.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Excellent, so much, Thank you very much, Data. We appreciate
coming on you too, and thank you. And if you'd
like to call Quality Green Specialist Nursery, the number is
three eight six seven three four eight thousand, seven three
four eight thousand, that's eight zero zero zero, and we
(19:17):
are now going to be taking your phone calls. If
you'd like to give us a phone call one triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero and let us
know what kind of gardening questions do you have? From
the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. It's Saturday morning. You're listening
to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this
(19:39):
is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. We'd like to thank
(20:01):
Dana Benrick with Quality Green Specialist Nursery for coming on
and sponsoring the program, but also helping us.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
With all the information we need for fertilizers. So we
do appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
You can get to Quality Green Specialist Nursery at three
three five West Michigan Street in DeLand. If you know,
if someone who loves to gardener has a question, please
let them know about Better Lads and Gardens. Tell them
to call in with their gardening questions so I can
help them too. You can call me at one Triple
eight four five five two nine sixty seven, or you
can text two three six eight zero.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Like Scott and Mike, we do appreciate it. We're going
to get right to them.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Let's go first though, to Alan in Montverdy. Good morning, Alan,
how are you hey?
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Good morning, Teresa, enjoin the show as usual. I have
a not a CNA, a CNO, a comment and observation.
I need your opinion local pruning on shrubbery. People are
as you've mentioned so eloquently, are starting to tram back
all their dead So I as we involved most of
my life and citrus sixty two freeze the seventy freezes
(21:04):
in the eighties, we learned that when you trim a branch,
well it's green. You know, you trim it, and then
you see that a third or two thirds of it
is dead from the freeze damage. Well it's still green.
And I've seen people, you know, these trees and shrubs
will bounce back, but when they don't have a three
hundred and six my observation is a three hundred and
(21:26):
sixty degree green material. As they get older, then you
get into windy conditions and those branches will break and
people will say, oh it broke, it was just so beautiful,
loaded with fruit or whatever. Have you noticed that, because
I've been telling people go down and cut. I know
you want to, you want to get your trees looking better,
but bite the bullet for now and go down until
(21:48):
you have at least an eighty to one hundred percent green,
three sixty vegetative, candium and zile, and flowing the levels
around your tree because otherwise you're just kind of short yourself.
Have you observed that?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I do. I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
But when the branches are completely dead, so you know,
you want to cut back to live life.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Growth, so the live branches.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
So if there is stems that are completely dead and
they just snap right off, there's just no moisture in
it at all, no life in it at all, they
can take those back, they can.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Cut those off. But no, I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Pruning it too much or pruning it too much at
one time does cause a problem and the trees react
they go into immediate growth. But sometimes you don't need
that growth happening at certain times of the year. So
one it depends on when you're going to prune it
and what you're pruting.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Yeah, this has been to me, it's been like a
two year thing because you come back and you say, well,
it's all bushed out six inches below and where I
thought the vegetation died, Well, you need to go back
to where it's one hundred percent green, green, green, green green,
And then you're one and done kind of approach. Hey,
another quick question, two more quick questions, and I'll go.
I was talking to your screener. I've been really, really
(23:07):
potentially late getting my xenias, my cosmos, and mostly important,
my sunflowers in the ground. Is it this we're pushing
the end of the cycle or is it still viable
to get those in the ground.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Oh no, We're still in a wonderful, wonderful cycle. Especially
if you're doing seeds transplants you can do always, but
sunflowers and zenias. Wait till you hear my top five
coming up. You'll be so glad.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
But are some flowers you can go ahead and.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Plant now from now all the way into September. And
so I like to plant them where you plant ten
to twenty at a time, unless you're doing a whole
big meadow, but ten to twenty at a time, and
then a month later doing a ten to twenty more,
and then a month later doing that, and then that
way you continuously have flowers through into November and December.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Yeah, especially with the single bloom varieties that are multiple bloomers.
And your guests had a good comment on the azo.
Might I've used that and there seems to be a
big interest now in uh organic and non organic and
regentitive farming. And I've used azo mite, and I was
going to ask your guests about this. I don't put
(24:18):
it all out at once. I put a little bit.
I go a quarter half quarter is my regimen. I
put it out in the fall, and it starts because
it takes a while for that, as you know, for it, Yes,
it breaks down. Then in the early spring I put
out half of what I was going to do for
the year, and then late summer put out a quarter.
So it's quarter half quarter, and that kind of instead
(24:39):
of stoking it all at once, and it's laying there
on the surface and it leads itself.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Out right exactly.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Your approach is very good. It just it's wonderful. You
said you can come in and take over my job anytime.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
Alan. Oh no, no, no, no no. I'm a deer listener
than a talker.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Thank you so much for coming in. You've got a
lot of great information there. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Let's go to Bill. Good morning Bill, and he's in George.
Where's the Georgetown. Oh you're in Georgetown. That's okay, Good
morning Bill. How are you fine.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
You asked me to call back about the watermelon I
was growing, so I will give you an update.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Please do How is it?
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Oh, it's doing fantastic. First I need to explain that
it's in a fifteen gallon pot. This is not in
the ground, and it's up on the railing on my porch.
And I was going to try to do something I
did when I lived in Mount Dora, which was to
have them on the fence and then let him hang.
Let him hang is they will hang. But I've learned something.
When the vines grow down, the blooms will not set.
(25:40):
We have to be that time. I had to plant
it in the ground and the vines grew up and
it's set through. So anyways, I got another vine and
it's growing along the railing on the porch. And another
curious thing. It put out a bloom and I hand
pollinated it. It looked fine. It sat there, marked time,
put out another bloom in it sat there. I hand
(26:02):
pollinated it and finally put out the third bloom and
I hand pollinated it and the third one took off.
And I find it so amazing that the plant can
recognize that now it has a set fruit and the
other two atropheed and turn yellow and fell off.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 5 (26:18):
That is that's just I mean, how does the plant
know that? It's almost like it's got a brain.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
It does, you know? And and sometimes they're smarter than
we are. But that's what variety of watermelon is it?
Speaker 6 (26:29):
Bill?
Speaker 5 (26:31):
One that you got in a store? Okay, my ever
gave me a half a watermelon. It was a seedless one,
and of course the seedless watermelon always has a couple
of seeds.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Well, wonderful, Good for you.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I would love to see a photograph of it sitting
on your on your railing.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I would love to see that.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
That would that would be really nice, except you're dealing
with an ignoramus here who does not have a computer.
Now I got a phone. I've got a phone. I
probably could take a picture of it. I'd have to
have somebody else send it to you.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Okay, well, well do that.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
If you could do that, that would be great, Bill.
I would love to see it. And that's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Thank you so much. John.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
You realize I have the option I can grow it
sitting on the rail. I have the vine already tied down,
so that's that going the the watermelon doubled inside. Last
night it was the size of a walnut yesterday Today
it's at least three times that side.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
And I have the option. I can grow it on
the railing, or I could let it hang off the railing.
And I have found because I grew a thirty pound
squash one time and hanging by its own stem, I
found that the plant will increase its stem to support
the way we support the way we'll do that naturally.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I so agree with you, and it's just fascinating to watch,
and I would love to it. Sounds like you're doing
everything right. I'm so proud of you. Thank you so much,
Bill for calling in. We're going to take more of
your gardening questions one triple eight four five two nine
sixty seven, or you can text two three six eight
zero Scott and Mike. We're going to get to you
next after Better Lucks Gardens. It's Saturday morning.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
This is where you are.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I'm Teresa Watkins, and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Welcome back up Better Lawns in Gardens Sand Now Teresa's
top five.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
And my top five today are my top five zenias
that beat the heat. Zenias are a wonderful summer annual
that blooms continuously throughout the summer. They need full sun
and if you plant seeds, they will bloom or they
will emerge within seven to ten days, and we'll just
head to the races. Let me give you my top
(28:52):
five favorites that you can get from burpy dot com.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Macarena zenias.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
They bring vivid, spicy orange color to the garden. They
have three inch blooms that last all summer, wonderful for borders,
containers and cut flowers, and the colors deepen as they mature,
so those are wonderful.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Get thirty five seeds.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
For eight ninety five. Number two the raspberry lemonade xenias.
These are bold two to three inch blooms and they
have a colorful display. They look amazing together all the
color combinations together. It's a vibrant mix of coral yellow
and starlight rose. Twenty five seeds six ninety five. The
giant flowered zenias. These are sturdy, bushy flowers. They produce
(29:36):
a huge five inch double bloom that look like dahlias,
and they add bold, vibrant color to the garden.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
He love the heat. They easy to grow.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And you can get one hundred and fifty seeds for
five dollars and forty five cents for three hundred and
seventy five seeds for seven dollars and ninety five cents.
Number four, the Tequila line zenias are wonderful.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
They're incredible color. They just look like lime.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
They feature crispsitrus green blooms up to three inches and
you can get fifty seeds.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
For six ninety five.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And my number five is the cactus flowers Genius. They're
an enduring airloom variety. Burpie has grown these. They had
to break through xenia in the nineteen twenties. This mix
produces double and semi double blooms up to five inches
in scarlet rose, orange, white, and yellow, and it's exceptional
for cut flowers. You can get one hundred seeds for
(30:33):
four dollars and ninety five cents. That's at burpie dot com.
They're genius my top five. Hopefully that helps you out Allen.
You can plant zenias and some flowers all the way
through August late August, and now's the time to get
those seeds, get your tomatoes and eggplant and your pepper
seeds right now, kind of order them.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
If you wait until August, they are not going to
be any left. So let's go through the text messages.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
In Clearmont, we had someone text that said that they
had boogain villas that froze during the wintertime, but they're
coming back.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
It was a braided boogain villa. And what can they
do now.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Well, you can take the new green growth that's coming
up out of the bottom of the of the plant
the trunk, and you can rebraid it as it comes up.
And what you do is you wait till it's like
six to eight to a foot long, and then you
braid them while they're still green and very flexible, and
(31:36):
you just keep continuing and letting it grow until they
will eventually get to be six to eight feet tall.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
But the braid will you got to do it.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
When the stems are newly green, okay, And I would
cut off any of the.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Brown trunks, dead trunks.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Or dead wood, Go ahead and cut those off so
it's easier to braid. Great question, Thank you so much
for sending it so I have. This is Mike from
Palm Bay. He also has two book and villas and
raised beds.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
That are not flowering. I've already applied fertilizer with phosphorus
four weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
What can I do to increase flowers on these two? Well, Mike,
you need to stop taking care of them so nice.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
They are just loving what you are doing.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And they will grow green leaves and they will get
lots of leaves, but they will not produce flowers. So
bookom villa loves to be just kind of neglected. You
want to make sure you're not overwatering it when you
get when you fertilize them with nitrogen, they're going to
grow the leaves and they're not going to produce the blooms.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
So I would just go.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Ahead and let it get a little you know dry.
Then also to don't fertilize it except maybe once every
couple of years, okay if necessary, especially if it's in
a pot. You can do it in the springtime. But
just ignore them and let them kind of suffer on
(33:03):
their own. When plants, some species, when they think that
they're dying or being neglected and they need to, you know,
to keep the species going, that's when they produce the
flowers and the seeds. And did you know that boogam
villas are all white flowers. Every boogom villa has white flowers.
The bracts that you see all the different ones in
(33:25):
the coral, the white, the peach, the fuchsia colors, all
of those different vibrant colors on booga and villas are the.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Modified leaves, the bracts. It's not really the flower.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
So if you want to see those modified bracts, go
ahead and stop fertilizing it. Make sure it's in full
sun and water, maybe once every week or every couple
of weeks, and it'll be just fine.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
They have facts. I mean that is like one like
a cactus.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Almost not saying that you should treat it, but I'm
saying you just ignore it. And it's like it's because
isn't being gorgeous and big and it just takes over
everything and yeah, and then it stabs you and it's
the best plant ever.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And so it does really well when it's stressed.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
So Scott says, my Exora plants survived the big freeze
on your fine advice, thank you very much. However, they
could no longer be called tight bushes. The branches have
um slightly sprawled. Is there a way to make them bushy.
And this goes back to what Alan was saying about pruning.
So you want to you can cut off all of
(34:30):
the dead portions of the branch, and by that I
mean the ones that are completely dead.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You can cut it back. You can put it back
till you find the.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Stems that are still having some life in them, cut diagonally,
let them emerge, flushback out again, and then it's going
to be a one to two year process. You want
to take them back very carefully and just cut back
about one to two inches, then let that flush out again,
(35:01):
and then wait about six months, wait till the new
growth starts happening again, and then you take it back again.
So it's not a one time pruning project. You have
to when it was recovering from wintertime freezes. You have
to do it in stages, and so that's you need
to be patient and cut it back. I would say
(35:23):
probably twice a year. And so for right now, I'd
let it, you know, just take off all the dead,
but go ahead and let it grow through the springtime,
keeping it hopefully through the wintertime, and then going ahead
and you can cut it again next spring, just by
a little bit and let it keep flushing out. So
(35:44):
thank you very much for the text. I really do
appreciate it. And then we have Oh, let me just
go ahead, make sure I give you this. What can
you be planting right now? This is very important. Boniatos,
calabasas and cherry tomatoes, oakras, southern peas, seminole pumpkins, just
like Dana Venrick was mentioning from quality green specialists, sweet cassabas,
(36:07):
Roselle that's for all of our listeners who like Roselle tea,
Liberty tea, sweet potato, and yard long beans.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
And again, this is the time.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
To start your seeds for eggplants and peppers and tomatoes.
You want to do them now so that they're ready
to go into your containers, your raised beds, or into
the ground mid August and that will be an important
time for that.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
So we do the highs right now.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
We're averaging about ninety degrees ninety four to ninety five.
It's going to feel like it's over one hundred. Lows
are in the mid seventies to low eighties, depending on
where you are.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
South Miami.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
You guys are going to get some lovely weather. Chamber
of Commerce beach weather this week, and you're going to
be lows are going to be in the eighties. But
it's just important to know that you need to water,
but not too much. Okay, we're going to get this rainfall,
and if you get one and a half inches of
rain a week, you do not need to turn your
(37:11):
irrigation system on. So in the month of July, we
average about seven and a quarter inches of rain, and
when you think about it, that's one and a half inches,
you know.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
A week. So we definitely have seen.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Areas, some areas of Florida have already gotten those seven
to eight inches already, so that you have to not irrigate.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
No, just feel the ground. If the ground is cool.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Moisture, damp, sticking your finger in the ground, you do
not need to water. Just make sure that you are
not using heavy chemicals as far as pesticides right now.
It will increase the need the plant's need for water
and doing it during the middle of the day stress
(38:00):
the plant out even more.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Do not use herbicides right now.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
No weed killers right now unless you're killing an entire
area and you're using a non selective herbicide that will
kill everything because then it will really die. But if
you are wanting to just take out weeds out of
your lawn, this is not the time to do it.
The weeds are stronger than your turf and the heat
(38:26):
is going to stress it out, and it means that
you're going to probably hurt your grass more than the
weeds and you won't get rid of the weeds. Wait
until the fall, Okay, first part of October, and then
you can use your herbicide. Then using it when the
temperatures are under eighty five degrees. We're going to be
back with the second hour of Better Lawns and Gardens.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
F's Saturday morning. You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
I'm Teresa Watkins and this is Florida's Tuck and Entertainment Network.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
The distance is direct at the dist
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