January 24, 2026 • 39 mins
It's important to rotate your garden each year.
To water or not to water right now.
Teresa's Top Five: Materials for Pathways.
To water or not to water right now.
Teresa's Top Five: Materials for Pathways.
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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, Tsa Watkins. I
am so happy. We had a beautiful, beautiful week here
as we predicted last weekend, beautiful winter weather. It's full
sunshines and temperatures in the seventies. It's gonna probably break
(00:30):
records today in Central Florida for highs eighty six, eighty
seven degrees in Daytona Beach. And it's just going to
be one of these bipolar weather weeks. Good morning, Lizzie.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good morning. I know it's like a switch. So, yeah,
we're gonna go. We're gonna be like in a couple
of days in like the thirties and stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, thirties, but Tallahassee, Pensacola, the Panhandle, Gainesville, you're gonna
be in the twenties Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, possibly Thursday. So
that's the danger of these frost is that we're in
the high eighties. Uh, and then two or three days
later we're in the twenties and so and it's gonna
(01:10):
be extended. It's not just gonna be for one day, No,
it's gonna be a week it's gonna be yeah, through Thursday,
but then next weekend it's gonna be fine. We're gonna
anticipate rain for most of Florida Monday, Sunday, Monday. South Florida,
you're good, though. South Florida you're going to get glows
in the thirties and forties and so, Mike and Venice,
(01:31):
you got to bring those plants in. I think that's
in the containers.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
My I think I think my, uh my banana trees
gave up the ghosts because they are all yellow right now. Yeah,
I mean even the big gigantic one.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, the freeze is but they'll come back, I hope
so will they will just come off and on it.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
We haven't even got an even bananas off of a meal.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
You always get bananas a second winter. So if you've
had them one winter, this is the second winter.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
This is actually next year.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
When they come back up, they'll produce, they'll produce fruit
for you.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Like, not that I'm saying banana trees need a freeze,
but I mean we haven't really had cold weather as
a real winter for these banana trees, and I mean
this is their third year of us having them, so.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, oh, it is the third year no bananas. Do
you fertilize it? Yeah, yeah, kind.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Of, probably not properly, but I do fertilize them.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, okay, so yeah, you'll probably get bananas, hopefully off
of them this year.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So uh again, So we're gonna have some rain Sunday
Monday possibility with that cold front coming through, I just
wouldn't plant anything this week if you're gonna be planting outside,
No so Dallas South Lorda, you're good. The loads are
going to be in the forties now for most of Miami,
Key West fifties?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Have I heard? Have I heard you correctly? Like, maybe
if we if we aren't sure if we're gonna get water,
should we water our stuff now with the freeze coming
to maybe help give them some type of while your
plants to be hydrated because that cold front is gonna
whip the wind is going to cause them to get desicated,
the leaves to be desiccated. So yeah, you want to
(03:01):
make sure they're hydrated. So if you do not get
rain Sunday or Monday, go ahead and water them, but
do not water during a freeze. Water them for you know,
thirty minutes on Tuesday, morning and they'll be fine. Yeah, okay,
okay good because I had one of the grand brats
over yesterday and he was like, yeah yeah, He's like,
you're watering all your plants and I'm like, yeah, I said, well,
(03:22):
I said miss Teresa, as you know, she said that,
you know, we should probably water plants before we get
a freeze, so to give them some type of energy
and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So yeah, so that's gonna be good. We also too,
just again with the planting, I was supposed to put
in two different clients installation container installations. I'm holding off.
I'm gonna hold off until midweek the end of the
week to plant them just to just because they don't
(03:49):
want to stress them out. There you go and stress
me out, and.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
You know, so.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
That'll be good. But everything else looks good. I mean,
and I do enjoy our winters. And I know Floridians,
you know, in South Florida, it gives them an opportunity
to wear a nice sweater, but for.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
A very nice scarf that Teresa Antoni got me on
their last trip, So thank you for that. It's keeping
me nice and warm in the studio.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
There you go, that's oneerful. It looks good on you.
And so it's just this Today's show. Today's show, we're
going to be talking about crop rotation and why we
should do it. And then in the second hour we're
going to be talking about my bit of my existence
is crape murder, uh and hacking those crape myrtles back
(04:37):
and so it's popping up. I'm seeing it as we speak.
And uh. So we're going to talk about reasons why,
and it's all about everybody's gardening questions today. So if
you'd like to give me a gardening question, tell me
what kind of morning beverage you're drinking. You can give
us a call one triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text two three six
(05:00):
eight zero and just check in with us. We'll be
taking your garden calls all hour and then also too,
if you'd like to get the newsletter. The newsletter is
gonna be coming out uh next week, so we are,
you know, writing it now, and it's gonna be uh uh,
it's gonna be a good one.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
So I kind of get video cameras in here because
I'm gonna going wait, did I did I submit my stuff?
I don't think I'm.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Really easygoing, so just we've got time.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Her newsletter's run late because I'm Lizzie. So yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
But but it's, uh, it's something that I just love to, uh,
you know, explain and teach, you know, and and and
it's so important to understand why we do some of
the things we do, so that no matter where you
live in the country, you can follow best management practice.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
There you go. Now, if they wanted to get this newsletter,
how do they get this?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
They go to my website, which is the regular www.
She sh e hyphen Consulting dot com. And right there
on the landing page, right when you get to the homepage,
it'll say do you want to go to the newsletter? Now?
I do not spam. I do not sell the email addresses.
They are safe, perfectly safe with me, and you can
(06:20):
put in your email address and it will come out.
So yes, also too, for my art and bloom Garden tours,
you can also sign up for those newsletters. Those only
come out like four times a year, and so you
can go to artloomgardentours dot com. All the tours are up.
It's going to be a fabulous year. I hope you
come with me. We'll have a great time. It's Saturday morning.
(06:43):
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. This is Florida's Talk
and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. Today,
(07:12):
we're going to have a lovely day. In fact, we're
going to set record winter temperature highs. It's going to
be in the mid eighties here in Central Florida, lovely
throughout the rest of the state. But Sunday it's going
to go down drastically. We are expecting one of those
polar vortexas coming down, one of the worst winter storms
(07:33):
they said in years. It's going to affect electricity for
about two hundred and forty million people.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yes, if you have any family or or friends that
you're close with within that strip, you know, give them
a call up north there, because that's that's some crazy
weather happening right now.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
It is. And I was so proud because this morning
I saw all our utilility companies throughout the state are
heading up to South Carolina and thank you, and you know,
God speed everyone and to be safe. And we do
appreciate that because we they send people to help us
during hurricane.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Now, I got a question I keep seeing on the
social media, is the videos of exploding trees away the ice.
I guess the ice gets so heavy that it weighed
the chaste.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, they do, and they.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Literally are exploding.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It gets so full.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
That is crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
It is it is. We we won't see that here
in Florida, but the ice on the on the tree
limbs and the branches is that's what's going to be
really dangerous. And so we just wish everybody well. So
make sure you're all set. I called my cousin in
North Carolina because North Carolina's going to be getting yes, snow,
and he's all good. He's all good, he's set.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
If we get if we can get Gary Bakman and
check in with us, please.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yes, Gary Bakman. Yeah, we're looking at you and we're
thinking you're going to get a little bit of a
freezing temperatures. No snow though, I don't think there's going
to be snow, but he's gonna get freezing temperatures. So
we wish Gary and Katie, you know, uh, just to
stay nice and warm. And we're looking forward to that.
One triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven.
If you're listening, you'd like to give us a gardening question.
(09:11):
This is all about you this hour, or you can
text two three six eight zero and uh you know.
If you are thinking about what projects did you have
the New Year's resolutions? Are you going to be doing
something in your landscape? Let us know if you're going
to try a new plant or a new variety of
a plant. Are you doing a new project in your landscape.
(09:33):
I'd love to hear about it. Going to add a
sitting space in your garden that would be nice, or
you know, create an outdoor room. Text us two three
six eight zero. Let us know and we will, uh
you know, discuss it. I would love to discuss it.
So a crop rotation. I wanted to talk about crop
rotation because you know, when we think about our landscapes,
(09:56):
especially when we're doing edible landscapes or we're create we're
growing vegetables, Florida soil doesn't have a lot of organic
material in the soil. So we amend our soils, but
also too growing the same plants year after year. And
I'm talking about we grow the same tomatoes, we grow
the same peppers, the same egg plants, lettuce and you know, potatoes.
(10:21):
We want to make sure that we're rotating that those
vegetables out so that the soil becomes healthier. And you know,
you want to have a sequence for every year, every
four years. Actually, you plan your landscape, your vegetable growing
so that you're not growing a monoculture each year. Now,
(10:44):
when you grow a monoculture or you grow the same
plants year after year in your garden bed, you're going
to see more insects, you're going to see more disease issues,
maybe not as much productivity, you're not going to have
a lot of harvest, and so that soil is very important,
and so you want to make sure that changing the soil.
(11:09):
And doctor Bachmann he explains he doesn't change his soil
in his race beds, but he adds new soil when
it gets down and is depleted, he adds more soil
to his race beds. So that's about the same thing
when he's adding more nutrients to the soil. But changing
out crops and crop rotation has been around for a
long time. Near eastern farmers they started doing it in
(11:34):
their fields six thousand BC. They have actual records of that,
and so the farmers would alternately plant legomes and cereals
in two fields, and then in one field they would
leave fallow. Then the next year they would rotate the field,
so that the next lagoon field was fallow. And by fallow,
(11:56):
what I mean is that they just leave it set.
They don't plant anything in it. They let it relax
and chill out and then give it a rest. And
so what that's what fallow means f A L l
o W. The next year they rotates the field. So
the next lagoome field and lagoons are your your your
(12:17):
your beans, and your your your peanuts, peanuts and things
like that. The cereal field was planted with lagomes, and
then the previous year's fallow was planted with cereals, and
so they would alternate it. Now it's recommended even in
home gardens and edible landscapes. So the first year you
can raise bed in your raised bed vegetable garden, you
(12:41):
plant with nitrogen using plants. Now nitrogen using plants are
your vegetables such as tomatoes, corn, sunflowers in the spring
and summer, and then in the fall broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Cabbage,
lettuce and garlic. Even so those are what you would
would use up the nitrogen and then the next year
(13:05):
they you would go to nitrogen fixing plants. So you
would plant your logomes like peas and beans, lentils and clover,
and those are some of the most excuse me, popular
nitrogen fixers that's widely used in agriculture, alfalfa and peanuts.
They do not only produce food that is edible, but
(13:30):
they also add contribute to the soil nitrogen levels, so
that's important. Lupens, those of you up north, My mother
loved lupens if she could never grow them here. Loopens
are just gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And in Scotland and up north they grow them in
the spring and summer up north and they are really
good nitrogen fixers. They're not only for their beautiful flowers,
but they improve soil health. So you could add those clover.
We can plant clover here. White clover is excellent for
(14:05):
increasing the nitrogen in the soil. Now the third year
you can plant soil building cover crops like winter and cereal, ride, buckwheat, oats,
sorghum and up north harry vetch is really popular. And
then the fourth year, you let it go and just
take a break, take a vacation, let it go fallow
or empty, let it rest and you can spread it
(14:28):
with hay, or you can shredded mulch so that the
weeds don't grow in it. But then so you have
a regular rotation and that helps your soil. And here
in Florida, we need to take care of our soil.
It's very sandy. We add organic amendments to it, so
but that'll help fixate the nitrogen and that helps the plants.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah. See, I've always heard about that about the rotating
them so.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Right, and so if you have raised beds, again, not
necessarily ready to do it, because you just add more
potting soil, more organic soil, more organic material to it.
But in your landscape, if you have an edible landscape,
if you're on a farm, and farmers know to do this,
but if you're coming down from up north and you're
just and you want to start your first you know,
real garden and grow your own food crop rotation is
(15:21):
very important to know about. Nice and so one triple
eight four five, five two nine sixty seven, or you
can taxt two three six eight zero. Let's go to
Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, I, good morning.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
We have had fog every single morning.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You've had what fog? Oh it's really dense.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yes, yeah, it's horrible.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Are you going on a heartbreak soon?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Uh, I've got a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Okay, I want to know about Lizzy's turkey.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Okay, what about them?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
She was supposed to be on the radio with you.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
She is here, I'm here, I'm here. I uh.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Oh, Gerald's doing good. He's doing excellent. He uh He's
got the biggest feet that anybody's ever seen on a turkey.
So yeah, there's that. We ended up having to rehome
one of our turkeys on Sunday last week because our
two youngest toms, the males, I guess hit around that
(16:30):
eight month age. Now that's not guaranteed that that's whenever
they actually hit their huge testosterone, but that's when they
chose to do it the day that I was extending
the turkey runs and it was a battle to the death.
If I wouldn't have split them apart. Oh goodness, yeah,
I've got I've got a claw marks down my one
side exactly. I had puncture wounds, not I mean the
(16:52):
claws from one of them. But that's because they hit
your hand in the middle. Yeah, that's well, I mean
they were going, yeah, they were going. It's it's it's
pretty it's pretty aggressive. It's pretty close to a dog fight.
So so do they fight over over female turkeys? Yeah?
I think, you know, I'm pretty sure that that's exactly
what it was, is the fact that you know, I
(17:13):
extended the females uh into the uh male area, but
the fen sne because they needed more room. You know,
they're girls, and so yeah, that's that's what happened. Is
they just and it wasn't like normally I can break
them apart and they're just like la la la cay
we're friends again, you know. But no, this was like
blood math faces scarred. So I was just like, I
(17:34):
called up our friend who takes our turkeys from us
and they either eat them or they keep them. And yeah,
so they uh he got re homed and they're actually
going to keep them because he's a really he's really
he's a royal pomp, which is the black ones who
or the white ones with the black strips on their tails.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
It's going to be a pet.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
So that's good, and I have borne out of the question.
Go ahead, okay, the phenomenal lablnder.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
How tall does it get?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I would say about three feet?
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Okay, so they should both be.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Okay, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Okay, all right, Okay, send us pictures.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I'd love to see pictures.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I will. Okay, I have to cover everything up on
the porch because we're gonna have three freezes.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Three free Yeah, there's gonna that's what. That's what the
hard part about this this coming up week is is
that it's going to be back to back days. And
that's where we get the damage, is that it's not
just gonna be for a couple of hours. It's gonna
be for ten hours at a time at night and
possibly during the day.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
And I also see for all your newsletters, thank you well.
I sent you a comment when I got the one.
I always send you a comment.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You do comment, I do, I do, I do read ondez.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Oh okay, alrighty well, y'all have a good morning.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
All right, thank you so much for calling.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yes, definitely, that's yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I do. I do. I don't always respond, but I do.
I do read them all, So that's great. So one
triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven. If
you're in the garden area, we'd love to hear from
you two three six eight zero with your text messages.
It's going to be an interesting week. It's Saturday morning.
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
(19:32):
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
(19:58):
to Better Lawns and Go I'm Teresa Watkins. So this
is a good week to go ahead and wean your
landscape off of irrigation. Right now, we only need to
be watering one time a week. But with the rainfall
that we should be getting, there may not be any
need to water at all. So if you get a
(20:19):
good rainfall, of those of you up in North Florida,
no reason to turn your irrigation system on. In fact,
your irrigation system should not come on if you have
your rain gage set properly. But if you depending on
what you have and how new your landscape is. For
an established lawn, if it's not established, you're going to
(20:41):
need to water once a week and then in the
summertime twice a week if no rainfall. But if you
have an established lawn and a lawn that's been in two, three, four, five, six, ten,
twenty years, then once a week watering all year long
is just fine. You do not need to add extra
(21:03):
watering days. Okay, So your landscape, if it is planted correctly,
plant right place, should only need about an inch to
two inches of water a week, that's all. And when
you're watering two times a week but you're putting down
three to four inches, that increases your plant's need for
(21:24):
water and it becomes spoiled. Okay, your lawn needs it.
And then when it doesn't get it, you say, oh,
look see it's going brown because I'm not watering enough.
But it's only because you created a short root system
on your landscape. And then that lawn is going to
go through withdrawal symptoms and it is going to look bad.
(21:46):
So right now, when we have these cooler temperatures, we
don't have the extreme stress of summer heat, then this
is the time to go ahead. And this week, if
you get rain, don't turn your sprinkler systems on. And
then next week, if you get rain, don't turn your
sprinkler systems on. What that's going to do is it's
going to force the plant to push the roots down deeper, okay,
(22:11):
And then that way your lawn doesn't need the water,
and then when it goes through a drought period, it's
going to not have as much stress. When we go
through droughts like we have the last two years, lawns
that are over watered are going to be the first
ones to die. And they're gonna be the first ones
(22:33):
to get the disease issues, get the fungal issues, and
the weeds, the excessive weeds. So what are some ways
you can tell if you're overwatering right now? If I
can go out into your lawn and find dollar weed
then and it's not right down at the lake shore,
then you're watering too much. If your turf is really
(22:56):
dense and thick, uh and too dense and thicks that
you're going to have to get a de thatched, you
may be overwatering and overfertilizing. So it's only our landscape
shouldn't be such high maintenance. We make them high maintenance,
and so you want to have correct practices, only fertilizing
(23:18):
twice a year and then get a soil test before
you fertilize to see what you need Okay, that's very important,
but then not overwatering. Overwatering, I think is just one
of our main problems here in Florida. And there's just
no reason to do that. If your lawa is turning
yellow because we've had a lot of water, or let's
(23:38):
say we've had the normal hurricane season and we get
storms coming through and our lawna is yellowing, you don't
need to put down nitrogen. You can just put down
a regreening with iron only product minor nutrient application, and
that will help green it up without telling it grow.
(24:00):
And so when we keep putting down excessive fertilizing, we
water a lot, then we're more likely to get chinch
bugs and all the other you know, disease issues like
brown patch, which we're seeing a little bit now.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yes, you could be so proud of me. So if
you've got the newsletter, you saw that I moved my
tomatoes and bell peppers into the porch and did made
my own that took the big buckets, rectangle buckets, and
did the soil and the black cow. And I am
the queen of overwatering stuff. I have only added altine
(24:34):
a little bit of water after I made sure everything
was soaked my first planet at that hour. Sure, and
that was what three weeks ago maybe, And I've only
did I did a light misting spray because I put
my finger down and it felt a little dry at
the top because it has gotten warm on our porch. Okay,
but so I did a little bit of a misting
and that's it.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
And how do they look?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
They look amazing?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
They look except for I've got to figure out I
think I need to do its own pollination because there's
no bugs too well exactly, Yeah, you probably have to
just take a little paint brush and paint them.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
That would be good. So uh wonderful. I'm so proud
of you. So, so when we do water, you want
to look at your water bill and look at the
gallons you use. Okay, So it's not how much it costs,
because water is basically free. And I know I cause
stress with utility companies for saying that, But what you're
(25:25):
paying for is the services to obtain the water, clean it,
and then process it and send it to your home
to use. That's where the costs are gonna be. And
why it goes up so expensively is that we want
to make sure that we're not over using the water,
that you're not abusing the water. And then also too,
(25:49):
as we run out of potable water, which we could.
We could run out of potable water if we don't
conserve it, we're gonna have to go to other water sources.
It's not like we're gonna run out of water, but
we're going to have to go to more expensive water
like desalinization. Yes uh, and you know reclaimed and recycled water,
(26:11):
which we are doing now, but during a drought, we
don't have a lot of reclaimed water and we're having
to use the potable water during our drought periods. So
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero right now.
This is a good time with this winter freezes coming up.
(26:32):
And then one we just had a few weeks ago
that you can see the dead spots in your area
where you have the winter weeds that have died or
the summer weeds that have died, and you can go
ahead and take a photograph of those areas so that
when you want to resawed and it's all greened up
(26:52):
again and the weeds have come back, you can see
the areas where you need to resawd and so the
areas that are dying, now, that are the weeds that
are dying, take a picture of them and then that
way you'll you'll know exactly where you need ter saw it.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
And that or maybe if you do the like the
little flags, Yes you can do the little flags, the
little flags from like the different box stores.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, sure you can do that too as well. You
want to make sure when we're talking about fertilizing, we
don't need to fertilize our turf, but you do need
to fertilize your vegetables. So you make sure that you're
doing that every three to four weeks. That's going to
give you a good winter harvest. And so we'll you'll
you'll be right on top. Saturday morning, you're listening to
(27:35):
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this is
Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back up Better Lawns
(28:06):
in Gardens and now Teresa's top five and this week's
top five is my favorite materials for garden Pathways. Number
five is Coquina shell pathways. I love them. I love
the way they look. It is recycling and it just
(28:27):
looks great in the garden. Number four pebbles versus various
sizes of pebbles and colors in a mosaic pattern that's
held together with mortar. It looks fantastic. It's great with
Mediterranean Spanish style homes or even a cottage garden. Number
three large oak or cedar trunk round circles. Let's say
(28:50):
you have a tree that's needing to be cut down,
or your neighbor have the arborous slice that trunk so
that you have large three foot two foot size slices
so that you can put them down as wooden round circles.
It looks great. Number two hard scape pavers. You want
to leave spaces for the area around the hard pavers
(29:15):
to be previous soils so that the waterfall gets through.
But hard scape pavers look great, especially with grass or
pebbles in between. And my top favorite material for garden
pathways pea gravel. I love most palatial states. I love
visiting them and seeing those in the castles and cottage
(29:38):
gardens that have small pea gravel for driveways and walkways.
You want to use the size of pea gravel is
three eighths of an inch, so three eighths and it
looks amazing and it's fun to walk on.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Oh and also okay, so and also I've seen this
thing and you need you can tell me this. They
have like a almost like a glue or a spray
when you put that pea pebble down to keep it
from constantly going all over the place.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
There is I don't like it, okay, so I'll tell
you why. Yeah I don't. So, yes, you can do it.
And it depends on where it is, okay, so that
it doesn't move around, but it prevents the water from
getting in and percolating. Ope, so you know, so it
kind of seals it and glues it. Now for the
(30:25):
mosaic pebbles, and you know that in the mortar that
doesn't allow it to get through either. So it just
depends on where you are and what so I kind
of I also don't want the spray or the sealer
to discolor the pebbles. So it just depends on what
it is, what the product is, and I would have
to make a decision on seeing that. But it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, is that right? Yeah? No, I think it's great.
I just know that I just want to throw myself
on some sharp one of our pebbles get all over
the place and the lawnmewwer catches it.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Oh yeah, no, no, no, definitely. So that's why, you know,
when you have a pathway garden pathway and it has
pebbles in it, you put the rocks on the side
and you put or you put edging. I like to
use edging to keep it all in. So this doesn't flow.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
It's just almost like your professional I really didn't think
about buddy.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
One triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero. We'd
love to hear from you. I know it's it's gonna
be a beautiful day today. Uh, but everybody I think
is kind of worried about this. Uh uh the upcoming freezing. Yeah,
so uh you know you just want to I don't.
(31:34):
I don't have it hunt So.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Okay, all right, So our text message is it's being
a little wonky today. So Brenda from Occoy said, good morning.
I am drinking a detox tea my sister bought me
for Christmas. My question is can I use my pressure
treated wood to build my vegetable garden or do I
still have to be careful what I buy Brenda from ocoe.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Okay, Brenda, that's a really great question. And so what
I would do is line your raised beds. So I
would use your your pressure treated wood and then line
the inside with a heavy plastic or poly vinyl material
and then that'll keep the soil. And you want to
put some holes in down at the bottom so it
drains out nicely. But then then the pressure treated wood
(32:19):
won't affect your vegetable garden. So yeah, I would use it.
I make raised beds all the time out of pressure
treated wood, but we line them and so you can
do that. All right, great question, thank you. Detox Tea.
I'm just wondering does she compost her tea leaves?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Oh? I mean if she does, how should she do that?
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, well she just did. Just go and put them
out in the compost pile.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
You know, I appreciate you know, recycling, but you don't
want to put your coffee grounds and your teas right
into the garden. You want to make sure you just
put them into a compost spin and recycle them and
let them become dirt before you spread them out. Yes,
that's just a little bit easier sometimes, you know, when
we put the coffee grounds on, especially if we do
(33:02):
it a lot, it can it can bind up the nitrogen,
and so you know, it's just one of those things
that there's a lot of ways to do things. Yes, yes,
so one triple eight four or five five, two, nine
sixty seven, or you can text two three six eight
zero if you're in the area. We would love to
hear from you. What vegetables can you be planting now? Well, seriously,
(33:26):
there are vegetables you can be planting right now. One,
you want to make sure that you're starting your tomato seeds,
your peppers and your egg plants. Starting them now so
that you can plant them in March. Is uh get
you ahead of the game. But vegetables you can plant
beets and broccoli and brussels sprouts and cabbages and carrots, cauliflowers,
(33:48):
celery and collars and dive in horseradish, kale and col
robbie and lettuce, mustard and onion sets, peas and potatoes, ridicio,
radishes and roquette, ruda vegas and spin it swiss chart
and turnips. We still have a few more months of
cooler temperatures not supposed to be too warm. But these
vegetables right now, especially if you're using transplants, that's what
(34:11):
I would do. I would not plant seeds. I would
do transplants and you'll be able to harvest them before
the heat of the springtime comes.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
That's crazy because I finally, finally, two weeks ago, maybe
three weeks ago, maybe two weeks ago, got my garlic
and my onions, and there you go. I know, but
it's crazy because the garlic took right off. It's already
it's doing its thing. I'm just like, it's so cool, excited.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Look at my baby's growing up. You know that. It's
wonderful to see. And it's a good good thing to
teach children to as well, is to see a plant
and put it in the ground and where it comes from. Yes,
and so I love doing that and showing the children
how to do that. One triple eight four or five five,
(34:59):
two nine sixty seven, or you can text two three
six eight zero and you can also Oh, this is
what I wanted to say. Let's see the Florida scrubj trail.
Have you ever heard of that? The Florida scrub jay trail?
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yes, half.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
It is a wonderful walking trail and it's dedicated to
increase the awareness of the need to restore habitat. That's
very very important planting natives to restore habitat for our
scrub jays, our gopher, tortoises, and native plant species. The
Florida SCRUBJ Trail has free guided tours on the first
(35:35):
Saturday of each month from eight o'clock until ten And
if you'd like to go, that's coming up in two weeks.
It's not next week, but the following week, so I
want to give you enough time to do that. And
you can reserve your spot by calling three five two
four two nine five five six six, or you can
email info at SCRUBJ Trail all one. We're and it's
(36:02):
you know what they I loved it. I received their
emails and I get their newsletter. But that way you
get your full supply of vitamin N. Do you know
what vitamin N is? No nature?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I love that? Isn't that cool?
Speaker 1 (36:17):
So the Florida scrub j Trail is open to the
public Saturday through Wednesdays from eight am to five pm
and the physical address is UH eleven four ninety one
one four nine zero Monte Vista Road and Clearmont, Florida.
And so they have guided tours they have you can
(36:38):
walk it all I mean Saturday through Wednesdays. And they
do have volunteer possibilities for planting and making sure that
the habitat is cleaned.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
And what's the website that they can go to. It's
probably at the end of the email.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
It's scrubjtrail dot org.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Okay there you can get all the information there.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Sure, and I'll post it on Better Lands and Gardens
on our Facebook. If you're listening and you have not
liked our Facebook page, Better Lawns and Gardens, please do
and say hello, and we do appreciate it. If you
know someone who is new to Florida that doesn't know
how to garden or needs help, let them know about
Better Lawns and Gardens. Yes, so we can and we
(37:17):
can take care of them. So we appreciate everyone listening
this morning, everyone drinking. Thank you Brenda for texting. I
just think everyone's panicked about the storm coming up.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
You know, even though I mean it's going to affect us,
it really is going to affect us, and it may
not affect us like it's going to affect them up north. However,
you just thinking about three days of freezers. I'm just like, Okay,
I'm trying to be very positive.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Right, I'm hoping it's not going to be as bad.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yes, and but I mean, I mean, I just hope
it isn't bad as in you know, yes.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
But I want the bugs to all be like the
fleet would.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
That's kind of focus on.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
You are so right, and so that that is very important.
And so we do want appreciate our sponsors, and please
let them know that you appreciate them for sponsoring and
bringing supporting better Lawns and Gardens that summit responsible solutions.
Black Cow Quality Green Specialists into Land and Peterson's Nursery
(38:15):
in Lakeland. When you go there, please let them know
or you can just drop them a line, send them
a letter and tell them thank you for sponsoring better
laans and gongs, because we do appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Close to that time of year where we should be
seeing some roses coming up for sale.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Isn't good. Yes, we're definitely gonna have to do a
rose run. Hey, there you go, a rose run. So
that's great, Thank you so much, Lizzie. We're gonna be back,
we're gonna be talking about great murder and how you
should be cutting your crepe myrtles. In the next hour,
we're gonna be taking your gardening questions one triple eight
four five five, two nine sixty seven, or you can
text two three six eight zero. But Saturday morning from
(38:53):
the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios, you're listening to Better Lawns
and Gardens and this is Florida's talk and entertainment network.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
If you missed any of the show, you can go
to better Lawns dot com. Better Lawns dot com and
listen to that. There, along with you can catch little
articles from Teresa Watkins newsletter is posted on that page too.
It's better Lawns dot com.
Good morning from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. Welcome to
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm your host, Tsa Watkins. I
am so happy. We had a beautiful, beautiful week here
as we predicted last weekend, beautiful winter weather. It's full
sunshines and temperatures in the seventies. It's gonna probably break
(00:30):
records today in Central Florida for highs eighty six, eighty
seven degrees in Daytona Beach. And it's just going to
be one of these bipolar weather weeks. Good morning, Lizzie.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good morning. I know it's like a switch. So, yeah,
we're gonna go. We're gonna be like in a couple
of days in like the thirties and stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, thirties, but Tallahassee, Pensacola, the Panhandle, Gainesville, you're gonna
be in the twenties Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, possibly Thursday. So
that's the danger of these frost is that we're in
the high eighties. Uh, and then two or three days
later we're in the twenties and so and it's gonna
(01:10):
be extended. It's not just gonna be for one day, No,
it's gonna be a week it's gonna be yeah, through Thursday,
but then next weekend it's gonna be fine. We're gonna
anticipate rain for most of Florida Monday, Sunday, Monday. South Florida,
you're good, though. South Florida you're going to get glows
in the thirties and forties and so, Mike and Venice,
(01:31):
you got to bring those plants in. I think that's
in the containers.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
My I think I think my, uh my banana trees
gave up the ghosts because they are all yellow right now. Yeah,
I mean even the big gigantic one.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, the freeze is but they'll come back, I hope
so will they will just come off and on it.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
We haven't even got an even bananas off of a meal.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
You always get bananas a second winter. So if you've
had them one winter, this is the second winter.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
This is actually next year.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
When they come back up, they'll produce, they'll produce fruit
for you.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Like, not that I'm saying banana trees need a freeze,
but I mean we haven't really had cold weather as
a real winter for these banana trees, and I mean
this is their third year of us having them, so.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, oh, it is the third year no bananas. Do
you fertilize it? Yeah, yeah, kind.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Of, probably not properly, but I do fertilize them.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, okay, so yeah, you'll probably get bananas, hopefully off
of them this year.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So uh again, So we're gonna have some rain Sunday
Monday possibility with that cold front coming through, I just
wouldn't plant anything this week if you're gonna be planting outside,
No so Dallas South Lorda, you're good. The loads are
going to be in the forties now for most of Miami,
Key West fifties?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Have I heard? Have I heard you correctly? Like, maybe
if we if we aren't sure if we're gonna get water,
should we water our stuff now with the freeze coming
to maybe help give them some type of while your
plants to be hydrated because that cold front is gonna
whip the wind is going to cause them to get desicated,
the leaves to be desiccated. So yeah, you want to
(03:01):
make sure they're hydrated. So if you do not get
rain Sunday or Monday, go ahead and water them, but
do not water during a freeze. Water them for you know,
thirty minutes on Tuesday, morning and they'll be fine. Yeah, okay,
okay good because I had one of the grand brats
over yesterday and he was like, yeah yeah, He's like,
you're watering all your plants and I'm like, yeah, I said, well,
(03:22):
I said miss Teresa, as you know, she said that,
you know, we should probably water plants before we get
a freeze, so to give them some type of energy
and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So yeah, so that's gonna be good. We also too,
just again with the planting, I was supposed to put
in two different clients installation container installations. I'm holding off.
I'm gonna hold off until midweek the end of the
week to plant them just to just because they don't
(03:49):
want to stress them out. There you go and stress
me out, and.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
You know, so.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
That'll be good. But everything else looks good. I mean,
and I do enjoy our winters. And I know Floridians,
you know, in South Florida, it gives them an opportunity
to wear a nice sweater, but for.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
A very nice scarf that Teresa Antoni got me on
their last trip, So thank you for that. It's keeping
me nice and warm in the studio.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
There you go, that's oneerful. It looks good on you.
And so it's just this Today's show. Today's show, we're
going to be talking about crop rotation and why we
should do it. And then in the second hour we're
going to be talking about my bit of my existence
is crape murder, uh and hacking those crape myrtles back
(04:37):
and so it's popping up. I'm seeing it as we speak.
And uh. So we're going to talk about reasons why,
and it's all about everybody's gardening questions today. So if
you'd like to give me a gardening question, tell me
what kind of morning beverage you're drinking. You can give
us a call one triple eight four five five two
nine sixty seven, or you can text two three six
(05:00):
eight zero and just check in with us. We'll be
taking your garden calls all hour and then also too,
if you'd like to get the newsletter. The newsletter is
gonna be coming out uh next week, so we are,
you know, writing it now, and it's gonna be uh uh,
it's gonna be a good one.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
So I kind of get video cameras in here because
I'm gonna going wait, did I did I submit my stuff?
I don't think I'm.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Really easygoing, so just we've got time.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Her newsletter's run late because I'm Lizzie. So yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
But but it's, uh, it's something that I just love to, uh,
you know, explain and teach, you know, and and and
it's so important to understand why we do some of
the things we do, so that no matter where you
live in the country, you can follow best management practice.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
There you go. Now, if they wanted to get this newsletter,
how do they get this?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
They go to my website, which is the regular www.
She sh e hyphen Consulting dot com. And right there
on the landing page, right when you get to the homepage,
it'll say do you want to go to the newsletter? Now?
I do not spam. I do not sell the email addresses.
They are safe, perfectly safe with me, and you can
(06:20):
put in your email address and it will come out.
So yes, also too, for my art and bloom Garden tours,
you can also sign up for those newsletters. Those only
come out like four times a year, and so you
can go to artloomgardentours dot com. All the tours are up.
It's going to be a fabulous year. I hope you
come with me. We'll have a great time. It's Saturday morning.
(06:43):
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
from the Summit Responsible Solution Studios. This is Florida's Talk
and Entertainment Network. Welcome back to Better Lawns and Gardens. Today,
(07:12):
we're going to have a lovely day. In fact, we're
going to set record winter temperature highs. It's going to
be in the mid eighties here in Central Florida, lovely
throughout the rest of the state. But Sunday it's going
to go down drastically. We are expecting one of those
polar vortexas coming down, one of the worst winter storms
(07:33):
they said in years. It's going to affect electricity for
about two hundred and forty million people.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yes, if you have any family or or friends that
you're close with within that strip, you know, give them
a call up north there, because that's that's some crazy
weather happening right now.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
It is. And I was so proud because this morning
I saw all our utilility companies throughout the state are
heading up to South Carolina and thank you, and you know,
God speed everyone and to be safe. And we do
appreciate that because we they send people to help us
during hurricane.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Now, I got a question I keep seeing on the
social media, is the videos of exploding trees away the ice.
I guess the ice gets so heavy that it weighed
the chaste.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, they do, and they.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Literally are exploding.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It gets so full.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
That is crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
It is it is. We we won't see that here
in Florida, but the ice on the on the tree
limbs and the branches is that's what's going to be
really dangerous. And so we just wish everybody well. So
make sure you're all set. I called my cousin in
North Carolina because North Carolina's going to be getting yes, snow,
and he's all good. He's all good, he's set.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
If we get if we can get Gary Bakman and
check in with us, please.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yes, Gary Bakman. Yeah, we're looking at you and we're
thinking you're going to get a little bit of a
freezing temperatures. No snow though, I don't think there's going
to be snow, but he's gonna get freezing temperatures. So
we wish Gary and Katie, you know, uh, just to
stay nice and warm. And we're looking forward to that.
One triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven.
If you're listening, you'd like to give us a gardening question.
(09:11):
This is all about you this hour, or you can
text two three six eight zero and uh you know.
If you are thinking about what projects did you have
the New Year's resolutions? Are you going to be doing
something in your landscape? Let us know if you're going
to try a new plant or a new variety of
a plant. Are you doing a new project in your landscape.
(09:33):
I'd love to hear about it. Going to add a
sitting space in your garden that would be nice, or
you know, create an outdoor room. Text us two three
six eight zero. Let us know and we will, uh
you know, discuss it. I would love to discuss it.
So a crop rotation. I wanted to talk about crop
rotation because you know, when we think about our landscapes,
(09:56):
especially when we're doing edible landscapes or we're create we're
growing vegetables, Florida soil doesn't have a lot of organic
material in the soil. So we amend our soils, but
also too growing the same plants year after year. And
I'm talking about we grow the same tomatoes, we grow
the same peppers, the same egg plants, lettuce and you know, potatoes.
(10:21):
We want to make sure that we're rotating that those
vegetables out so that the soil becomes healthier. And you know,
you want to have a sequence for every year, every
four years. Actually, you plan your landscape, your vegetable growing
so that you're not growing a monoculture each year. Now,
(10:44):
when you grow a monoculture or you grow the same
plants year after year in your garden bed, you're going
to see more insects, you're going to see more disease issues,
maybe not as much productivity, you're not going to have
a lot of harvest, and so that soil is very important,
and so you want to make sure that changing the soil.
(11:09):
And doctor Bachmann he explains he doesn't change his soil
in his race beds, but he adds new soil when
it gets down and is depleted, he adds more soil
to his race beds. So that's about the same thing
when he's adding more nutrients to the soil. But changing
out crops and crop rotation has been around for a
long time. Near eastern farmers they started doing it in
(11:34):
their fields six thousand BC. They have actual records of that,
and so the farmers would alternately plant legomes and cereals
in two fields, and then in one field they would
leave fallow. Then the next year they would rotate the field,
so that the next lagoon field was fallow. And by fallow,
(11:56):
what I mean is that they just leave it set.
They don't plant anything in it. They let it relax
and chill out and then give it a rest. And
so what that's what fallow means f A L l
o W. The next year they rotates the field. So
the next lagoome field and lagoons are your your your
(12:17):
your beans, and your your your peanuts, peanuts and things
like that. The cereal field was planted with lagomes, and
then the previous year's fallow was planted with cereals, and
so they would alternate it. Now it's recommended even in
home gardens and edible landscapes. So the first year you
can raise bed in your raised bed vegetable garden, you
(12:41):
plant with nitrogen using plants. Now nitrogen using plants are
your vegetables such as tomatoes, corn, sunflowers in the spring
and summer, and then in the fall broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Cabbage,
lettuce and garlic. Even so those are what you would
would use up the nitrogen and then the next year
(13:05):
they you would go to nitrogen fixing plants. So you
would plant your logomes like peas and beans, lentils and clover,
and those are some of the most excuse me, popular
nitrogen fixers that's widely used in agriculture, alfalfa and peanuts.
They do not only produce food that is edible, but
(13:30):
they also add contribute to the soil nitrogen levels, so
that's important. Lupens, those of you up north, My mother
loved lupens if she could never grow them here. Loopens
are just gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And in Scotland and up north they grow them in
the spring and summer up north and they are really
good nitrogen fixers. They're not only for their beautiful flowers,
but they improve soil health. So you could add those clover.
We can plant clover here. White clover is excellent for
(14:05):
increasing the nitrogen in the soil. Now the third year
you can plant soil building cover crops like winter and cereal, ride, buckwheat, oats,
sorghum and up north harry vetch is really popular. And
then the fourth year, you let it go and just
take a break, take a vacation, let it go fallow
or empty, let it rest and you can spread it
(14:28):
with hay, or you can shredded mulch so that the
weeds don't grow in it. But then so you have
a regular rotation and that helps your soil. And here
in Florida, we need to take care of our soil.
It's very sandy. We add organic amendments to it, so
but that'll help fixate the nitrogen and that helps the plants.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah. See, I've always heard about that about the rotating
them so.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Right, and so if you have raised beds, again, not
necessarily ready to do it, because you just add more
potting soil, more organic soil, more organic material to it.
But in your landscape, if you have an edible landscape,
if you're on a farm, and farmers know to do this,
but if you're coming down from up north and you're
just and you want to start your first you know,
real garden and grow your own food crop rotation is
(15:21):
very important to know about. Nice and so one triple
eight four five, five two nine sixty seven, or you
can taxt two three six eight zero. Let's go to
Eileen in Polk City. Good morning, I, good morning.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
We have had fog every single morning.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You've had what fog? Oh it's really dense.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yes, yeah, it's horrible.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Are you going on a heartbreak soon?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Uh, I've got a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Okay, I want to know about Lizzy's turkey.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Okay, what about them?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
She was supposed to be on the radio with you.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
She is here, I'm here, I'm here. I uh.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Oh, Gerald's doing good. He's doing excellent. He uh He's
got the biggest feet that anybody's ever seen on a turkey.
So yeah, there's that. We ended up having to rehome
one of our turkeys on Sunday last week because our
two youngest toms, the males, I guess hit around that
(16:30):
eight month age. Now that's not guaranteed that that's whenever
they actually hit their huge testosterone, but that's when they
chose to do it the day that I was extending
the turkey runs and it was a battle to the death.
If I wouldn't have split them apart. Oh goodness, yeah,
I've got I've got a claw marks down my one
side exactly. I had puncture wounds, not I mean the
(16:52):
claws from one of them. But that's because they hit
your hand in the middle. Yeah, that's well, I mean
they were going, yeah, they were going. It's it's it's
pretty it's pretty aggressive. It's pretty close to a dog fight.
So so do they fight over over female turkeys? Yeah?
I think, you know, I'm pretty sure that that's exactly
what it was, is the fact that you know, I
(17:13):
extended the females uh into the uh male area, but
the fen sne because they needed more room. You know,
they're girls, and so yeah, that's that's what happened. Is
they just and it wasn't like normally I can break
them apart and they're just like la la la cay
we're friends again, you know. But no, this was like
blood math faces scarred. So I was just like, I
(17:34):
called up our friend who takes our turkeys from us
and they either eat them or they keep them. And yeah,
so they uh he got re homed and they're actually
going to keep them because he's a really he's really
he's a royal pomp, which is the black ones who
or the white ones with the black strips on their tails.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
It's going to be a pet.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
So that's good, and I have borne out of the question.
Go ahead, okay, the phenomenal lablnder.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
How tall does it get?
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I would say about three feet?
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Okay, so they should both be.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Okay, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Okay, all right, Okay, send us pictures.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
I'd love to see pictures.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I will. Okay, I have to cover everything up on
the porch because we're gonna have three freezes.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Three free Yeah, there's gonna that's what. That's what the
hard part about this this coming up week is is
that it's going to be back to back days. And
that's where we get the damage, is that it's not
just gonna be for a couple of hours. It's gonna
be for ten hours at a time at night and
possibly during the day.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
And I also see for all your newsletters, thank you well.
I sent you a comment when I got the one.
I always send you a comment.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You do comment, I do, I do, I do read ondez.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Oh okay, alrighty well, y'all have a good morning.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
All right, thank you so much for calling.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yes, definitely, that's yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I do. I do. I don't always respond, but I do.
I do read them all, So that's great. So one
triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven. If
you're in the garden area, we'd love to hear from
you two three six eight zero with your text messages.
It's going to be an interesting week. It's Saturday morning.
You're listening to Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins
(19:32):
and this is Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back
(19:58):
to Better Lawns and Go I'm Teresa Watkins. So this
is a good week to go ahead and wean your
landscape off of irrigation. Right now, we only need to
be watering one time a week. But with the rainfall
that we should be getting, there may not be any
need to water at all. So if you get a
(20:19):
good rainfall, of those of you up in North Florida,
no reason to turn your irrigation system on. In fact,
your irrigation system should not come on if you have
your rain gage set properly. But if you depending on
what you have and how new your landscape is. For
an established lawn, if it's not established, you're going to
(20:41):
need to water once a week and then in the
summertime twice a week if no rainfall. But if you
have an established lawn and a lawn that's been in two, three, four, five, six, ten,
twenty years, then once a week watering all year long
is just fine. You do not need to add extra
(21:03):
watering days. Okay, So your landscape, if it is planted correctly,
plant right place, should only need about an inch to
two inches of water a week, that's all. And when
you're watering two times a week but you're putting down
three to four inches, that increases your plant's need for
(21:24):
water and it becomes spoiled. Okay, your lawn needs it.
And then when it doesn't get it, you say, oh,
look see it's going brown because I'm not watering enough.
But it's only because you created a short root system
on your landscape. And then that lawn is going to
go through withdrawal symptoms and it is going to look bad.
(21:46):
So right now, when we have these cooler temperatures, we
don't have the extreme stress of summer heat, then this
is the time to go ahead. And this week, if
you get rain, don't turn your sprinkler systems on. And
then next week, if you get rain, don't turn your
sprinkler systems on. What that's going to do is it's
going to force the plant to push the roots down deeper, okay,
(22:11):
And then that way your lawn doesn't need the water,
and then when it goes through a drought period, it's
going to not have as much stress. When we go
through droughts like we have the last two years, lawns
that are over watered are going to be the first
ones to die. And they're gonna be the first ones
(22:33):
to get the disease issues, get the fungal issues, and
the weeds, the excessive weeds. So what are some ways
you can tell if you're overwatering right now? If I
can go out into your lawn and find dollar weed
then and it's not right down at the lake shore,
then you're watering too much. If your turf is really
(22:56):
dense and thick, uh and too dense and thicks that
you're going to have to get a de thatched, you
may be overwatering and overfertilizing. So it's only our landscape
shouldn't be such high maintenance. We make them high maintenance,
and so you want to have correct practices, only fertilizing
(23:18):
twice a year and then get a soil test before
you fertilize to see what you need Okay, that's very important,
but then not overwatering. Overwatering, I think is just one
of our main problems here in Florida. And there's just
no reason to do that. If your lawa is turning
yellow because we've had a lot of water, or let's
(23:38):
say we've had the normal hurricane season and we get
storms coming through and our lawna is yellowing, you don't
need to put down nitrogen. You can just put down
a regreening with iron only product minor nutrient application, and
that will help green it up without telling it grow.
(24:00):
And so when we keep putting down excessive fertilizing, we
water a lot, then we're more likely to get chinch
bugs and all the other you know, disease issues like
brown patch, which we're seeing a little bit now.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yes, you could be so proud of me. So if
you've got the newsletter, you saw that I moved my
tomatoes and bell peppers into the porch and did made
my own that took the big buckets, rectangle buckets, and
did the soil and the black cow. And I am
the queen of overwatering stuff. I have only added altine
(24:34):
a little bit of water after I made sure everything
was soaked my first planet at that hour. Sure, and
that was what three weeks ago maybe, And I've only
did I did a light misting spray because I put
my finger down and it felt a little dry at
the top because it has gotten warm on our porch. Okay,
but so I did a little bit of a misting
and that's it.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
And how do they look?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
They look amazing?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
They look except for I've got to figure out I
think I need to do its own pollination because there's
no bugs too well exactly, Yeah, you probably have to
just take a little paint brush and paint them.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
That would be good. So uh wonderful. I'm so proud
of you. So, so when we do water, you want
to look at your water bill and look at the
gallons you use. Okay, So it's not how much it costs,
because water is basically free. And I know I cause
stress with utility companies for saying that, But what you're
(25:25):
paying for is the services to obtain the water, clean it,
and then process it and send it to your home
to use. That's where the costs are gonna be. And
why it goes up so expensively is that we want
to make sure that we're not over using the water,
that you're not abusing the water. And then also too,
(25:49):
as we run out of potable water, which we could.
We could run out of potable water if we don't
conserve it, we're gonna have to go to other water sources.
It's not like we're gonna run out of water, but
we're going to have to go to more expensive water
like desalinization. Yes uh, and you know reclaimed and recycled water,
(26:11):
which we are doing now, but during a drought, we
don't have a lot of reclaimed water and we're having
to use the potable water during our drought periods. So
one triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero right now.
This is a good time with this winter freezes coming up.
(26:32):
And then one we just had a few weeks ago
that you can see the dead spots in your area
where you have the winter weeds that have died or
the summer weeds that have died, and you can go
ahead and take a photograph of those areas so that
when you want to resawed and it's all greened up
(26:52):
again and the weeds have come back, you can see
the areas where you need to resawd and so the
areas that are dying, now, that are the weeds that
are dying, take a picture of them and then that
way you'll you'll know exactly where you need ter saw it.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
And that or maybe if you do the like the
little flags, Yes you can do the little flags, the
little flags from like the different box stores.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, sure you can do that too as well. You
want to make sure when we're talking about fertilizing, we
don't need to fertilize our turf, but you do need
to fertilize your vegetables. So you make sure that you're
doing that every three to four weeks. That's going to
give you a good winter harvest. And so we'll you'll
you'll be right on top. Saturday morning, you're listening to
(27:35):
Better Lawns and Gardens. I'm Teresa Watkins and this is
Florida's Talk and Entertainment Network. Welcome back up Better Lawns
(28:06):
in Gardens and now Teresa's top five and this week's
top five is my favorite materials for garden Pathways. Number
five is Coquina shell pathways. I love them. I love
the way they look. It is recycling and it just
(28:27):
looks great in the garden. Number four pebbles versus various
sizes of pebbles and colors in a mosaic pattern that's
held together with mortar. It looks fantastic. It's great with
Mediterranean Spanish style homes or even a cottage garden. Number
three large oak or cedar trunk round circles. Let's say
(28:50):
you have a tree that's needing to be cut down,
or your neighbor have the arborous slice that trunk so
that you have large three foot two foot size slices
so that you can put them down as wooden round circles.
It looks great. Number two hard scape pavers. You want
to leave spaces for the area around the hard pavers
(29:15):
to be previous soils so that the waterfall gets through.
But hard scape pavers look great, especially with grass or
pebbles in between. And my top favorite material for garden
pathways pea gravel. I love most palatial states. I love
visiting them and seeing those in the castles and cottage
(29:38):
gardens that have small pea gravel for driveways and walkways.
You want to use the size of pea gravel is
three eighths of an inch, so three eighths and it
looks amazing and it's fun to walk on.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Oh and also okay, so and also I've seen this
thing and you need you can tell me this. They
have like a almost like a glue or a spray
when you put that pea pebble down to keep it
from constantly going all over the place.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
There is I don't like it, okay, so I'll tell
you why. Yeah I don't. So, yes, you can do it.
And it depends on where it is, okay, so that
it doesn't move around, but it prevents the water from
getting in and percolating. Ope, so you know, so it
kind of seals it and glues it. Now for the
(30:25):
mosaic pebbles, and you know that in the mortar that
doesn't allow it to get through either. So it just
depends on where you are and what so I kind
of I also don't want the spray or the sealer
to discolor the pebbles. So it just depends on what
it is, what the product is, and I would have
to make a decision on seeing that. But it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, is that right? Yeah? No, I think it's great.
I just know that I just want to throw myself
on some sharp one of our pebbles get all over
the place and the lawnmewwer catches it.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Oh yeah, no, no, no, definitely. So that's why, you know,
when you have a pathway garden pathway and it has
pebbles in it, you put the rocks on the side
and you put or you put edging. I like to
use edging to keep it all in. So this doesn't flow.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
It's just almost like your professional I really didn't think
about buddy.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
One triple eight four five five two nine sixty seven,
or you can text two three six eight zero. We'd
love to hear from you. I know it's it's gonna
be a beautiful day today. Uh, but everybody I think
is kind of worried about this. Uh uh the upcoming freezing. Yeah,
so uh you know you just want to I don't.
(31:34):
I don't have it hunt So.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Okay, all right, So our text message is it's being
a little wonky today. So Brenda from Occoy said, good morning.
I am drinking a detox tea my sister bought me
for Christmas. My question is can I use my pressure
treated wood to build my vegetable garden or do I
still have to be careful what I buy Brenda from ocoe.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Okay, Brenda, that's a really great question. And so what
I would do is line your raised beds. So I
would use your your pressure treated wood and then line
the inside with a heavy plastic or poly vinyl material
and then that'll keep the soil. And you want to
put some holes in down at the bottom so it
drains out nicely. But then then the pressure treated wood
(32:19):
won't affect your vegetable garden. So yeah, I would use it.
I make raised beds all the time out of pressure
treated wood, but we line them and so you can
do that. All right, great question, thank you. Detox Tea.
I'm just wondering does she compost her tea leaves?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Oh? I mean if she does, how should she do that?
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, well she just did. Just go and put them
out in the compost pile.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
You know, I appreciate you know, recycling, but you don't
want to put your coffee grounds and your teas right
into the garden. You want to make sure you just
put them into a compost spin and recycle them and
let them become dirt before you spread them out. Yes,
that's just a little bit easier sometimes, you know, when
we put the coffee grounds on, especially if we do
(33:02):
it a lot, it can it can bind up the nitrogen,
and so you know, it's just one of those things
that there's a lot of ways to do things. Yes, yes,
so one triple eight four or five five, two, nine
sixty seven, or you can text two three six eight
zero if you're in the area. We would love to
hear from you. What vegetables can you be planting now? Well, seriously,
(33:26):
there are vegetables you can be planting right now. One,
you want to make sure that you're starting your tomato seeds,
your peppers and your egg plants. Starting them now so
that you can plant them in March. Is uh get
you ahead of the game. But vegetables you can plant
beets and broccoli and brussels sprouts and cabbages and carrots, cauliflowers,
(33:48):
celery and collars and dive in horseradish, kale and col
robbie and lettuce, mustard and onion sets, peas and potatoes, ridicio,
radishes and roquette, ruda vegas and spin it swiss chart
and turnips. We still have a few more months of
cooler temperatures not supposed to be too warm. But these
vegetables right now, especially if you're using transplants, that's what
(34:11):
I would do. I would not plant seeds. I would
do transplants and you'll be able to harvest them before
the heat of the springtime comes.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
That's crazy because I finally, finally, two weeks ago, maybe
three weeks ago, maybe two weeks ago, got my garlic
and my onions, and there you go. I know, but
it's crazy because the garlic took right off. It's already
it's doing its thing. I'm just like, it's so cool, excited.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Look at my baby's growing up. You know that. It's
wonderful to see. And it's a good good thing to
teach children to as well, is to see a plant
and put it in the ground and where it comes from. Yes,
and so I love doing that and showing the children
how to do that. One triple eight four or five five,
(34:59):
two nine sixty seven, or you can text two three
six eight zero and you can also Oh, this is
what I wanted to say. Let's see the Florida scrubj trail.
Have you ever heard of that? The Florida scrub jay trail?
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yes, half.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
It is a wonderful walking trail and it's dedicated to
increase the awareness of the need to restore habitat. That's
very very important planting natives to restore habitat for our
scrub jays, our gopher, tortoises, and native plant species. The
Florida SCRUBJ Trail has free guided tours on the first
(35:35):
Saturday of each month from eight o'clock until ten And
if you'd like to go, that's coming up in two weeks.
It's not next week, but the following week, so I
want to give you enough time to do that. And
you can reserve your spot by calling three five two
four two nine five five six six, or you can
email info at SCRUBJ Trail all one. We're and it's
(36:02):
you know what they I loved it. I received their
emails and I get their newsletter. But that way you
get your full supply of vitamin N. Do you know
what vitamin N is? No nature?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I love that? Isn't that cool?
Speaker 1 (36:17):
So the Florida scrub j Trail is open to the
public Saturday through Wednesdays from eight am to five pm
and the physical address is UH eleven four ninety one
one four nine zero Monte Vista Road and Clearmont, Florida.
And so they have guided tours they have you can
(36:38):
walk it all I mean Saturday through Wednesdays. And they
do have volunteer possibilities for planting and making sure that
the habitat is cleaned.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
And what's the website that they can go to. It's
probably at the end of the email.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
It's scrubjtrail dot org.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Okay there you can get all the information there.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Sure, and I'll post it on Better Lands and Gardens
on our Facebook. If you're listening and you have not
liked our Facebook page, Better Lawns and Gardens, please do
and say hello, and we do appreciate it. If you
know someone who is new to Florida that doesn't know
how to garden or needs help, let them know about
Better Lawns and Gardens. Yes, so we can and we
(37:17):
can take care of them. So we appreciate everyone listening
this morning, everyone drinking. Thank you Brenda for texting. I
just think everyone's panicked about the storm coming up.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
You know, even though I mean it's going to affect us,
it really is going to affect us, and it may
not affect us like it's going to affect them up north. However,
you just thinking about three days of freezers. I'm just like, Okay,
I'm trying to be very positive.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Right, I'm hoping it's not going to be as bad.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yes, and but I mean, I mean, I just hope
it isn't bad as in you know, yes.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
But I want the bugs to all be like the
fleet would.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
That's kind of focus on.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
You are so right, and so that that is very important.
And so we do want appreciate our sponsors, and please
let them know that you appreciate them for sponsoring and
bringing supporting better Lawns and Gardens that summit responsible solutions.
Black Cow Quality Green Specialists into Land and Peterson's Nursery
(38:15):
in Lakeland. When you go there, please let them know
or you can just drop them a line, send them
a letter and tell them thank you for sponsoring better
laans and gongs, because we do appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Close to that time of year where we should be
seeing some roses coming up for sale.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Isn't good. Yes, we're definitely gonna have to do a
rose run. Hey, there you go, a rose run. So
that's great, Thank you so much, Lizzie. We're gonna be back,
we're gonna be talking about great murder and how you
should be cutting your crepe myrtles. In the next hour,
we're gonna be taking your gardening questions one triple eight
four five five, two nine sixty seven, or you can
text two three six eight zero. But Saturday morning from
(38:53):
the Summit Responsible Solutions Studios, you're listening to Better Lawns
and Gardens and this is Florida's talk and entertainment network.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
If you missed any of the show, you can go
to better Lawns dot com. Better Lawns dot com and
listen to that. There, along with you can catch little
articles from Teresa Watkins newsletter is posted on that page too.
It's better Lawns dot com.
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