Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:23):
You're at the Horticulture Agent here in Burley County, joined
in the Radio Access studio by my co host Tom Cobb,
NDSU Extension Horror Culturist. How's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Everything's good? Kelsey?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
April next week? Where did March go?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Here? Here comes spring? Ready or not? Here comes?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
We are in spring? It's cave right last week officially,
officially I could use a little more sunshine personally last
couple of days, but a little gloomy, but you know,
no snow. I could use moisture.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
But yeah, yeah, I heard we're gonna have a drought
this summer.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I believe it.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I didn't hear that Furst summer forecast. Is is there
forty seven chance of a drought?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
It's pretty high yep.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
But they don't know anything, so let's just there on
anything after you know, ten days in advance. So that's
true too, So who knows? But nothing I can do
about that, no, except for be knowledgeable and be prepared,
be a smart gardener. That's why I'm on the quota
growing right now to learn all I can. So what
(01:32):
are we going to talk about today?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
What do you got?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I got a fascinating story. Should I just get started.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, mis jump in and talk about.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Growing cucumbers in North Quota. I really want to help
everybody have a bumper crop this year. So we'll be
featuring all kinds of vegetables this spring. What don you
think about cucumbers?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Love them?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Do you really?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah? They're great. I love to have them cut them
up in salads of course. Like are you even a
North Coda person if you don't pickle? You know, I
don't personally, Yeah, I feel.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Like it is. It's quite interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
You do that over in Minnesota. Come on, you guys
have to be you gotta.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Know my life, my life? What do you what do?
What did my parents do? They had eleven kids.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
They had to feed, y'all.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, they said they got to keep us out of
trouble in summer. So how we get keep these kids
out of trouble? Well, let's go buy a farm. And
so then what do we do? Well, what are we
gonna grow on the farm? Well, how about let's go
three acres of pickling cucumbers? Three acres?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Your mom was busy in the fall.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
You can only pickle a little bit. No, this is
like we were like the kings of the Cucumber Court.
At the Minneapolis farmers Market.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
That was special.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You were like the number one cucumber seales group in Minneapolis, three.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Acres, you know, the best cucumbers for everybody.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Man. That is like torture. That was like, okay, here's
a hole. That was our present, like for Christmas, here's
a hole and uh, good luck, hold and weeds. Then
finally the harvest comes. But then we're picking. You're picking.
It's just like milk and cows. You gotta pick every day.
(03:31):
So like okay, we're gonna pick half the patch today,
we'll pick half the patch tomorrow. We just keep.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Rotating on repeats. Right.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, that was like amazing and like it was like
I was crouched over my whole summer going through vines.
Screw you know, opening up the vines. Where's those cucumbers?
Can't miss one? You know, and uh, you know, my hands,
We're got so much movement that saying with everybody in
my family are hands? Has changed? Do you know what
(04:02):
happened to grow? You know, like like when you go
to church and you go to communion, Well, it is
in a Catholic church where I was raised because we
had course, were you eleven kids? So that makes sense right, right,
And so like you raise your hand up, you know,
to get communion. And the priest knew that as soon
(04:22):
as it was our family in the line, they said, wow,
these hands are so big. He noticed our hands were
different than everybody else in the parish, and it was
because they were wider than everybody else. And I told
him that's because we picked pickles.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Not genetics.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It was not genetics, he said. In the old days,
when he used to take the community on the tongue,
he said sometimes that he could notice a family trade
like somebody some family said big, big tongue, some had
the little tongues. But he said, our family, we had
the whitest hands he ever saw. And that's from picking pickles.
That's my fun story.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So because of that, do you not grow cucumbers? H yes,
you got tired out.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I really hate pickling cucumbers, that is true, figured and
I like, but I grow slicing cucumbers.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Do you like pickles though, Like, you just don't pickle them,
but you like them.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
My mom's bread and butter pickles were great, but it's
not my My wife doesn't really go for pickles that much.
So to be honest, we just don't. Okay, Well it's
because I'm not North Dakota like you are North Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
North Dakota, we're all the same.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Old, the same as Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I mean a lot of type of people.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
People out here in the west North Dakota the same.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
No, not that, but you know people say you got
like the same accent.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I'm loving people, that is true. That's why I'm here.
No way am I going back to Minnesota. Sorry, Minnesota
went nuts. Okay, but you know what, your comments very
interesting about how you think it's part of our heritage.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I do. Yeah, So here we go.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Well history, huh So who brought cucumbers to North Kota.
The European settlers, the home settlers, they brought it, but
they brought all kinds of vegetables with them, and like
the Germans, they brought their cabbage and their sauer kraut.
Oh yeah, but some of our settlers just did not
appreciate that sour crap. Icelandic settlers says, I did not
(06:32):
come to America to eat grass, you know, but cucombers.
Everybody loved cucombers, doesn't matter what culture you're from. And
they did a survey about one hundred years ago with
the North Dkota State Hoart Society, and they found the
number one vegetable and gardens in North Dakota.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
There you go cucumbers.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
So you were so right. It's just part of our heritage.
So it was our heritage years ago and it's very
popular today. So I'm going to talk about how we
can be successful in growing cucumbers today. I start with
the varieties. Whenever I look for a variety, I want
to be early, I want to taste great, and I
(07:15):
want to resist diseases and that includes powdery mildew for cucumbers.
I want my cucumber vrieties to be productive and grow
well in North Dakota. So you can go to garden
center and maybe they'll be like five frietays, maybe up
to ten. But all those varieties are old fashioned varieties
(07:35):
that are not hybrid don't resist diseases very well. So ideally,
because since you're watching a garden show, I talked to
the viewer or the listener out there in the great
world of North Dakota. Since you're an avid gardener, you
want to take advantage of the best possible seeds and
(07:55):
for that you got to go to seed catalogs, because
instead of getting five every ten selections and a lot
of some old varieties, you can get the most modern varieties.
You can get variety, you can get seed. Cattogs at
have fifty cucumber varieties to choose from fifty to one catalog,
and the number one catalog I really strongly encourage everybody
to get. And it doesn't matter if you want to
(08:17):
buy seeds from them or not. Buy this catalog for
the information it has. That's Johnny's selected seeds and if
here's their first page of their cucumber section, and I
highlighted there. For every vegetable they have a description of
how to grow it successfully. So for Johnny's we talk
(08:37):
about here's how to grow the transplants. Here's how to
if you're want to sow the seed directly in the garden.
Here's the insects to worry about, here's the diseases to
worry about. Here's how you harvest, Here's how you store it.
So get this seed catalog. It's full of great information. Also,
get to know the North Dakota Home Garden Variety Trial.
(09:00):
Every year I work with hundreds of gardeners and we
test all kinds of cucumbers to try to find the
best ones for our state. And last year I got
results from three hundred and sixty five families testing all
kinds of cucumbers and other vegetables. Get to know the
North Dakota Home Garden Variety trials, you can google that
(09:25):
and from that information, I got a listing at our
website that has a list of all the recommended varieties.
So that's our website is NDSU dot ag slash Home
Garden Trials. Okay, NDSU dot ag slash Home Garden Trials, Okay,
(09:46):
And you see there's our list. You know the cucumber
ones that we recommend. But let's go into more detail
right now. First of all, for the standard varieties, I
think some of what I look for our varieties that
are productive fridays, that resist as dias. That's really the
most and tastes great. So Bristol generally and Raider are
(10:06):
really strong performers. Generally is sometimes now called the general
because you know how America has gone a little head, gone,
a little bit woke there for a while, and generally
was a man of the Confederacy. Some seed catalogs refused
(10:27):
to call that variety generally, so they call it the
general but it's the best tasting of the standard cubes. Okay,
but really, why don't you try a burpless seed, a
burpless variety. You probably won't go back to those standard ones.
Burpless varieties are early resist diseases and outstanding quality, just
(10:50):
tremendous quality. These long cucumbers, they're almost seedless and then
smooth skin, thin skin, and have no bitterness at all.
Try the burpless cucumbers. You'll really be delighted. I also
encourage you to try snack cucumbers, and this variety is
called green Light snack cucumbers. They grow about four to
(11:11):
six inches and you just eat them just like an ample.
You don't have to prepare them at all. You just
eat them, skin and all. They're crunchy and green Light
is a great Friday. It's very early fifty days you're
gonna be harvesting. And of course you say pickles are
part of the heritage here in North Dakota. The best
friety in our trials is called homemade pickles. That's the
(11:35):
best Friday. It's very productive, resist diseases and has blunt
shaped crisp fruits. Super Max is another good one. Okay.
You can sow your seat outdoors, but you gotta wait
until the temperatures warm up. Cucumbers cannot take frost. Okay,
so we're gonna wait till mid or even I wait
(11:57):
till last week of May to sol mine, and i
put my seeds about six inches apart, and I'll film
so the plants are about twelve inches apart. Down the road.
You can start your seeds indoors. But the thing about cucumbers,
don't start them too early. So I'm gonna put my
cucumbers out in the garden in late May. I'm gonna
(12:18):
sow the seed indoors only three weeks before that, Okay,
so early May is when I'm swelling my seeds. Cucumbers
do not take well to transplanting. They're very sensitive. Their
root systems are very sensitive. So I'm gonna really candle
them with care. I'm gonna grow them in a peat
pot or a two inch plastic cell. Put two seeds
(12:39):
in a cell, and then I'll thin to the strongest one,
and then I'll space the plants again twelve inches apart.
So we talked about starting seeds in previous episodes. Use
a seed starter or a potting saw mix. Do not
use garden soil. It's full disease. Give the seeds some
warm temps in the beginning, like tempts in the seventies
(13:00):
our best, so they Germany quickly. Give them lots of light.
I don't care about the quality the grow lights. I
care about the quantity. I want just flood dut plants
with light so they don't get leggy and don't over water.
So here's some cucumber seed wings. These were grown in
(13:20):
those Have you ever grown a peep pellet?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I've heard of them.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It's so fun, right, It's like a little wafer. Then
you give it water and it just blows up. And
so this one was this is that's what this example
is right here. And you see how healthy and grain
they are. There's about it looks like two seed wings
and a lot of these. And so what I would
do is I would get a scissors and I would
(13:47):
just trim off one out of so there's only one
per pot, okay, and make that. Don't pull it out
because you'll disturb the one the plant you keep. Just
cut it out, Just make a quick slice right near
the soil surface. So this is a successful gardener. I
see this is a disaster cucomber grower. You see how
(14:09):
the plants are so leggy and they're reaching. I bet
there's a window on the right hand side. The plants
are stretching, and it's so wet the soil. This guy,
this is going to be dead in a week. Okay,
don't do that. Give them lots of light. Okay. I'm
gonna plant my cucumbers in a sunny location eight hours
(14:30):
of direct sun and they can grow. And raised beds too.
Cucumbers like raised beds because they're generally warmer. Advantages of
raised beds is that they're very esthetic and they're easy
on the back. So when I'm picking my cucumbers, I
don't have to reach down so low.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Not crouching over like the young crouching over.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Now. I see now I got like a walking cane
just about so I can barely. So, hey, man, why
are you laughing?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Man?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
That's where I'm hitting. Where's my chile hu. The soil
doesn't get compacted in a raised bed. You get great
drainage and it warms up quickly. That really makes a
huge difference for the cues. I'm a big fan of
pressure treated lumber. The old pressure tree lumber days of
my childhood had arsenic in it. But today's pressure treated
(15:18):
lumber is called ACQ or alkaline copper quaternary. It has
no toxic materials, so they threw out the arsenic and
they just juiced it up with more copper. So I'm
a big fan of pressure tree lumber. But for cucumbers,
you know, on a raised bed, they can take up
a lot of the raised beds, so you may want
to think about going vertical and providing a trellis like
(15:41):
you see here in the photo with the It's like
some chicken ware trellis going up, or here are cattle
panel trells. These cues. I'll just crawl right up there
and the fruits that grow them will be drooping down.
They'll be easy to pick and perfectly straight. They won't
curve at all. It will just be beautiful. Okay, here's a
(16:01):
photo that I showed this. Actually it's a raised bed,
this one with the plastic on it. It's raised, but
it doesn't have the doesn't have the wooden supports. But
the big thing I'm showing here is mulching. Okay, this
is clear plastic molts can generate a lot of heat,
and clear plastic malts. You see the cucumber growing under
the mult is already blooming. It's like two weeks ahead
(16:25):
of schedule of the plant next to it that doesn't
have any malts. So again, cucumbers like the heat. Clear
plastic malts will generate the most heat. The one drawback
with clear plastic malts is if you got a lot
of weed seeds in your garden, you're gonna encourage them
to Germany. So in those cases I generally use black
plastic malts because the weed seeds can't grow underneath black plastic,
(16:49):
so plastic malting can really help. Another way that we
can generate heat is planting in low tunnels. These are
these hoops and then we put a floating rope cover
over it that can generate a lot of heat in
the spring, get our plants off to a strong start.
And then I take the tunnels off as soon as
I start seeing the flowers, because I've got to get
(17:11):
the honey what the honey bees do their thing, so
I have some fruits. So speaking of the flowers, got
to get to know the cucumbers have male and female flowers. Okay,
female flowers have a baby cucumber attached. The male flowers
do not have a fruit attack. Okay, they're so easy
(17:32):
to tell. Males cannot produce fruits. They just produce pollen
that the bees move to the female flower. So sometimes
people will say, wow, I just got so many flowers,
but I don't have any fruits. Well, you got to
look at the flowers. Maybe you just have a bunch
of male flowers and that can be caused by usually
temperature extremes can have short term deficiencies of female flowers
(17:57):
on the vine. Sometimes you just have to be patient,
but make sure check to see if it's female versus
male flower. There's always many more male flowers than female flowers,
So just be a little bit patient there. And if
you a female flower can only be receptive for one day. Okay,
(18:17):
So you gotta have a lot of honey bee activity
going on there. If you don't, then you'll get the fruits. Well,
if you don't get a lot of activity, a lot
of good pollination, you can have these deformed fruit shapes
like these curves and these knobby ones. So that's just
a sign that you had poor pollination that day. The
(18:37):
biggest disease of cucumbers and squash is powdery mildew. That's
that white powder that gets on the older leaves and
that can just engulf the plants. So how do we
stop that? You pick of variety that resists powdery mile?
Do you pick a modern variety that resists pottery mildew?
(18:58):
I don't don't to worry about it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Can you still eat the fruit? That's what I always
get it.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
It's got powdery milk? Uh yeah, well, of course, like
if the fruits covered butt, same with winter squashed that
often gets powdery milk. But you know it's the fruits themselves. Okay,
just use a common sense, like if it's mushy, or
(19:28):
if it's discolored, if it's misshapen.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know, just so it's more on the bind to
look for.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Just just pick it off. Powdery mildew is often caused
by overhead watering because pottery mildew and other diseases love humidity.
And so I've talked this story about before about here
are these flowers that would get overhead irrigation. These flowers
are they hate this gardener because this gardener is getting
(19:58):
their leaves wet and he's going to bring diseases to
this planting, So you know, don't do that. Don't keep
the leaves dry when you water. It's very important to
keep the leaves dry. Here's a cucumber leaf that's all wet.
If this gets at night, it's going to be so humid,
diseases are going to start getting active. So when your
(20:20):
water cucumbers, avoid overhead irrigation. Irrigate in the morning that way.
I mean, sometimes you just can't help getting the leaves wet.
But if you water in the morning, then the leaves
have a chance to dry off during the day. And
don't water every day. It's better to water deeply, not frequently.
(20:40):
The roots grow where the water is. If you water deep,
roots grow deep. So it's better to water once or
twice a week and water deeply keep the leaves dry. Okay.
The number one bug we worry about cucumbers are cucumber beetles.
They're spotted ones and striped ones, and they eat the
(21:01):
leaves and they spread bacterial diseases. And it occurs on
squash too. It's bacterial will This is a killer. It
plugs up the flow of water in the plant. The
bacteria does the plant just will to wave. So you
gotta kill those cucumber beetles as soon as you see them. Okay.
So in North Dakota we take our garden seriously. We
(21:25):
protect our crops, and so you can kill cucumber beetles
with synthetic chemicals like seven or eight. They kill nearly
on contact. Bye bye beetle. But these are very powerful
and they will kill bees too, So, especially if the
(21:45):
plants are blooming, you can only spray when the bees
are not in the planting, and that's in the evening. Okay,
you gotta spring in the evening. But I like to
take care of the beetles early, preferably even before the
blooms occur, and usually one spray will take care of
the beatles. I got the problems solved. If you want
(22:05):
to use natural insecticides, we got natural insecticides too that
are generally safer for us and safer for bees. Pyrethrin.
Pyrethrin is a chemical that will kill and piganic is
a common trade name of them that will paralyze the
bug nearly instantly, So there you go. If it's paralyzed,
(22:29):
you can't do any more damage. So some people like
to inflict pain on their pest immediately. Some people like
their bugs to suffer, and so that's why spine said
would be good for people who want their enemies to
suffer for a couple of days before they die. So
you you spray spine sad in the evening and what
(22:53):
happens is the cucumber beetle will start being going to
spasms and it will it will shake and shiver for
two days before it paralyzed and die. So that's a
great way to torture a beetle, and spindle said will
not harm bees if you spray it in the evening hours.
(23:15):
Neime is another interesting way to torture beetles. Meme is
very safe. It's harmless to bees. But the beatles, they'll
eat the meme and then this will cause them to
lose their appetite. And then also they won't physically mature anymore,
so they just become lifeless and won't reproduce, they won't eat,
(23:38):
they'll just slowly die a decrepit life. So they've got
a lot of choices here. What kind of person are you?
Do you like to kill? Watch them drop?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
You just don't care about Let nature be right?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Just sure we got it. But listen to us.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Okay, I'm not see that's the thing. I'm not a
large scale gardener.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
YEA, yeah, I can't.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
You can't risk that.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I can't. Yeah. That's my that's my childhood education, you know,
that's that's why I paid for college. So I mean, personally,
one shot, that's why you scout your garden. Kill him early,
devastate them. That's the end of them. There you go,
It feels good. Other the other predator you have to
(24:30):
worry about sometimes is wildlife like bunny rabbits can can
sometimes cause problems.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Been noticing a lot of those outside my office window.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
You got to take care of them now now before Easter.
Before Yeah, I don't worry that easter. Bunny's active in
the chocolate factory right now, so that's not outside your wing.
Don't worry about that. But what's happening like those easter,
those mother rabbits, they have bunnies often in free it's
(25:04):
like six litters a year, six at a time. That's
a lot of bunniest. So the key is got to
gi him now before they start getting active, if you
know what I'm talking about. So like live trapping could
be a good way to.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Go unless you live out of town.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Well then you just if you live out of town,
h then you just Okay, Well, what's the best way
to kill any past or manage any past? You know,
lead kill him? There you go. I'm hunting rabbits. That's
what Elmer Fudd would say.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
He wasn't a good hunter. Though he wasn't a good hunter.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Well, I know, but he's no comment. I'm not judging.
I'm not a good I'm not a good hunter either,
So I'm trying to make something funny. Okay, just trying
to make a joke about this. I'm going to show
a rabbit to head head burst open, full of blood.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
It's a family show, that's right.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
So we're talking to Elmer Fudd. So, but this is
the whole way to manage the past. Best days, kill it,
But it's not practical in many cases to kill it.
So that's why we use exclusion. The second best way
a fence, like a four foot tall fence buried six
inches of the ground. That will solve your problem. So
(26:23):
exclusion is a great way.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Or dogs.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Dogs will work too. Oh yeah, my neighbor's dogs would
be great for that.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Look at that sad little bud.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
You know what, I don't care about that bunny. The
bunny looks sad, but actually the bunny is evil. That
bunny is plotting his next track. How can I get
in to destroy Tom's cucumber patch? So I show no
merds to that guy, I will scoot him away. Or
if I had a dog, I would definitely sick the
dog in that sucker. Okay. Last thing to say is
(26:56):
that again I encourage you to try the different types
of cucumber. Go to our Go to our website and
YESU dot ag slash Home Garden Trials and you can
find our catalog. So that's what I got.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
That catalog is going to be available very soon. Right.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
You know what I can't I just can't wait till
I get out of this studio so I can just
get everything.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Well, if that's the cover, I like the photo you
chose this year, that's it. That's the cover. It's beautiful, and.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
We got zinias and sunflowers. Fifty different trials we've got
going on.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
So have you ever seen a humming bird in real life?
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yeah? Because in Minnesota they're very common.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Okay, so you've seen them in Minnesota, not since.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Your time here. They're not very common here. Ruby thrown
a hummingbird. It kind of along the Missouri River. It's
it's more common.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
One time, and I got a picture of it. But
when I was doing a youth garden over and wing,
so this was like ten plus years ago already. But
they came in and same thing on a zinya.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It was like, Yeah, when.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
You see them and you see those wings going as
fast as CONVENI, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It's a huge heartbeat rate. And I don't know, they
fluttered their wings a hundred times. It's just like unbelievable.
A hundred times a minute. Hundred times.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Is that what it is?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
It's really amazing fast to hover around like they do.
And yeah, you gotta they love They love open flowers
like that. Or you can put up a hummingbird feeder.
We had a hummingbird feeder on our farm that we
would mix like a sugar solution, and those hummingbirds that
go nuts for that. They would just encircle my mom
(28:44):
as she's filling up that feeder.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
They would just love that story like the cats on
the porch.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, yeah, they it's quite a marvel. You got that right, well.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Speaking of pollinators, you know, I'm going to talk about
creating a butterfly garden today.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
How about that attract butterflies.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
For pollinators. But today I'm just going to specifically focus
on butterflies. So why why do we want to create
my butterfly garden?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I don't know who cares?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Want those cucumbers?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Right? Why butterflies? Because butterflies are so beautiful because their
their wings are so fragile, and when they flutter around,
it's just like a it's just marvelous to see them.
And uh, you know some butterflies are very colorful, like
the monarchs and the swallow tails, and uh, I guess
(29:43):
you know they do what they do pollination, So I
guess yeah, they they help with pollination.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I think also it's great because then it gives like
when you're working with youth and kids, they're always don't
you ever see like people like young Yeah, talk about
insects with them. They always are like, oh, I love butterflies.
You know I remember growing up having little nets, a
little bug nets. Really, yeah, we don't have a.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Guard to destroy them.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, put them in a jar, see if they can
oh really? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
And then then did you like put some rubbing alcohol
in to kill them.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
And then what do you do with them?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Okay, first collection? Yeah for insect collections. Yeah, you gotta
get gotta get a bug, you catch it, and then
you gotta kill it. Like collection. So you get one
of those cotton balls soap was rubbing alcohol, just drop
it in, wrop it in there, and then you'll it's
like a torture chamber.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I think people are starting to see a theme with
you on the torture.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Then what you do? You say, Okay, like you ever
seen those ghost books like Python versus Mongoose. Oh, you're
gonna get adults books pretty soon. So like they say
what happens? Who would win a contest between a python?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
And ah, it's.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
A whole book about it and they describe how Well,
that's what you do with insects. You say, who's going
to win? An ant or a fly? And you put
him in the glass jar together and you see which
one survive. You see him attack each other.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh, you had a little fight going on there for
a while.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
And if they don't want to fight, then he just
kill it. You put some.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
So that's what you were doing when you weren't picking vegetables.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
That's right. That's it was my teacher made you know.
It was part of collections, inset collections.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Okay, we'll jump back. Butterfly guarden, so.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
They would lose. Butterfly would lose the competition against a
honey bee or something that would take the honey bee
cage match.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Well, the one thing about today and creating any type
of pollinator garden, not just a butterfly gardens, there's a
lot of concerns. So like you look at this picture,
how do you feel looking at this picture?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
It looks like a great yard.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Looks like a great yard. I agree.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
I know what you're saying, though, yea, it doesn't have
the pollen. It's a it's a food desert for butterflies.
Is that what you're trying to tell me.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I'm saying it's way too manicured with no problem. No, yeah,
me neither. But again I don't care. Green is green
for me, that's right. Whatever, So but no, a lot
of people would be like envious of this this house
in this neighborhood. They would probably be the top neighbor.
But really this is exactly what we see today for
(32:47):
creating those butterfly gardens. And pollinator gardens is especially in town.
We have a lot of people who strive for you know,
the talk of the neighborhood lawn. They want that manicured lawn.
Lot of people just aren't, like you said, planting for
food for them. So what do you need in order
(33:09):
to create a butterfly garden? You need a variety of
plants and flowers that bloom, spring, summer, and fall. So
during our growing season they got to have that food.
They got to have, you know, something to in the
next season have, So not anything that just blooms and
is done. You doesn't matter the size or shape of
(33:30):
the garden. That doesn't matter. Even if it's a little
patch that you're implementing in your yard, that can still
be a butterfly garden. Big thing is is you want
to plant those flowers in clusters. Again, that's just going
to be more attractive to the butterflies and stuff. They'll
Again I'm not an entomologist, but from what I've learned
(33:52):
over the years and stuff, you know, they see those
block colors and that's going to be more attractive. And
then if you have that same species can forage in
that area for a while. They also are going to
need a place to rest, so adding mulch within a
pollinator garden, even some of those flat top flowers are
going to be great. And then lastly you need to
(34:14):
have a water source, so IM talk a little bit
about our flowers and which ones would be great for
the different times for blooming. So to start off in
the spring, I know we've talked about it. To me,
the first sign of spring is when I see crocuses
out there. That's my first sign. So crocus is great.
I got pictures of each of these great hyacinth, Siberian squill,
(34:39):
American past flower, prairie smoke, and red columbine. Those are
all great blooming spring flowers. I also like prariy smoke
to me, is one of the most beautiful natural plants.
We get those out on our pasture and stuff, so
I always enjoy being able to see them. And you know,
(35:00):
there's always a light breeze, so it's fun to see
them just kind of wave in there.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Okay, Then if we kind of move into a later springtime,
you know, right before we get to summer, some of
those perennials could be a golden Alexander butterfly weed, which
I talked about last time with it being the year
of milk weeds, false indigo, camp cap mint, in selvia.
So again, these are perennials that are going to be
(35:29):
coming back. Got some good variety of colors there as well.
When we move into summer, you could look for something
like a purple prairie clover. Another milkweed would be swamp milkweed,
black eyed Susan, blazing prairie, blazing star, purple cone flower,
(35:50):
and beebalm. You got any of those in your yuard?
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And no, I'm not just not. I'm like that desert garden.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Yeah, that's it. That's that's you.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Not really, but I've had I've had black eyed Susan
and blazing Star and purple cone flower and beeball. I've
planted them before.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Yeah, they're all beautiful, colorful, have pretty long boom times.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
M h yep. Again, most of these two are going
to be native to North Dakota, so just that natural
environment for them is going to be great. Continuing some
of the summer ones. You could look at it. I'm
gonna Butcher saying that and and his hop Calver's Roots
(36:42):
Joe pie Weeed, I know that one like growing up
when I worked at a local nursery that was always
famous in a lot of the landscaping. Joe Pie weeed
was good fireworks, goling rod and then metal blazing star.
So again, a lot of these are going to look
very even like grasses and very calumner for them. So
(37:04):
good choices when we move into the fall. Stiff golden rods,
sneezewed tall seedum and New England aster. Those are going
to be some of your later ones that will keep
them around. So I think there's nothing better to see
than seed them in the fall. That is just outstanding.
It always puts on a good show. And that's a low,
(37:27):
low maintenance plant.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yeah. Take the drought, you bet, you bet?
Speaker 1 (37:32):
So what can we do for water? You know, you
talk about a potential of drought. Usually for us who
live out of town when we hear drought, seems like
the livestock waters are full of bees. They're they're thirsty
and they die because they can't get a drink out
of those water tanks. Well, yeah, there's nowhere for them.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
To stand a perch. You can a b perch.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Yeah. I also don't want my livestock getting stung up
or anything that's a problem. So that's a problem, definitely
a problem.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
But that is a conflict because so many pollinators, but
you're you don't want them to harm your livestock.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
No, that's why I put the pollinator garden up. Yeah,
but you need some sort of water source. So bird
baths are gonna work great if you have a higher budget. Ponds,
you know, installing one of those can be costly, but
another good source. The biggest thing is anything you can
fill with water. But you just got to make sure
(38:37):
to add rocks, something they can stand on while they drink,
not where they're just gonna jump in and drown. So
I always get the question of like where are good
places to go, especially locally and stuff. So just across
the river, Agazy Seed is going to be a really
good one. They have a wildflower mix that's gonna contain
(38:58):
a lot of our nor the Coda natives, so that'd
be a really good one. I know we've mentioned Prairie
Road Organic Seed. That's another North Dakota based seed resource. Uh,
there's Minnesota Native plant source and you can order off
of them. And then even Burley County Soil Conservation District
does now sell some pollinator plugs. So just locally. Of course,
(39:22):
you can check out any of the local nurseries. A
lot of them are gonna contain some of those perennials especially.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Yeah, there depends how much money I got, That's what
it's all about. Yeah, Like Prairie Nursery is outstanding out
of Wisconsin, Prairie Moon Nursery out of Winona, Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Oh yeah, we've talked about those in the past too.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
They're great and you just gotta, if possible, try to
buy something from the northern source.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, yep, we're going to have those plants that are
going to be hardy for up here. The other thing
is is you want to be able to make sure
that you're creating shelter in there. So one thing it
would be like incorporating like any type of bushes or
shrubs that's going to help with the wind. At the
end of the season. You don't want to just go
(40:15):
and clean out that plant debris. You want to leave
that that's going to be a good shelter for overwintering.
And so like right now too, you don't need to
get in there and get crazy happy to clean out
because the weather's being nice. You kind of want to
wait till you know those temperatures are consistently at like
fifty degrees or you start to see insect Insect activity
(40:38):
is going to be a good way. So some of
the butterflies that we have out there, we have skippers,
and so that's one category. They're going to be those
small orange they kind of look like just little triangles
on flowers. There's at least forty two species in North Dakota.
You talked about swallow tails. I think those are one
of the most beautiful butterflies out there. They're gonna be
(41:00):
really large, they're gonna have that blue band and row
of spots on the hind wings for the female, and
then the male is going to have a black band
on them. Sulfurs and whites, they're gonna be whiter yellow
in color, have that velvety appearance. There's at least fourteen
species in North Dakota of those gossamer wings. Those are
(41:22):
gonna be small to medium size. They're going to have
like hairlike tails on their hind wing. Got twenty nine
species in North Dakota. And then brush brush footed are
broken into seven smaller categories that I'll show in the
next couple sides, and there's at least fifty four species
in North Dakota. So we have a lot of butterfly species.
(41:44):
Here's kind of the different categories that you can see.
You know, again, you have a favorite you when you
were doing your insect collection, did you collect out of
any of these?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Well, monarchs were everywhere.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
So that's usually people's top favorite, right right, Yeah, I
don't know. I like a lot of these two just
seeing like especially the checkered spots and crescents. You actually
get kind of that checkered appearance, which is really cool
to see. And the tortoiseshell to me, always stands out
to a little bit more. You mentioned monarch, so those
(42:21):
are going to fall under our milkweed butterflies in that category,
but we do have thistle butterflies, admirals, and then satires
as well, so different, a lot of different ones, a
lot of different species that are active in North Dakota.
So I feel like the biggest thing that we talk
about is monarchs. Why is that? Tom? Why are we.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Talking Because they're so showy.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
That you know, they're so showy, they're so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Star you know so, but also you gotta gotta just
you know, you know, I'm beautiful. They do have an
amazing life story and talk about that.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
OK, so you can share what you know too. I
think they are probably most talked about just because in
news media in the last few years they've gained a
lot of traction. In like twenty twenty they were put
on the Dangerless but US Wildlife, Game and Fish whatever
(43:21):
you want to say, has just moved them to a
threatened species.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
In today, their populations.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Are the windling Oh worse, Well they've gotten better. Sorry,
but to be threatened, you're on a thewindling species. But yes,
they've gotten better. I feel like people talk about the
monarch movement, right, yeah, yeah, it's so showy.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
They just people like it.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
They do. And I've briefly talked about this last time again,
but you know, they are a species that rely solely
on milkweed for survivle. The females are going to lay
their eggs on that milk weed. The caterpillars are going
to be hungry, hungry, hungry, and just go eat, eat, eat,
And then that milk weed is going to contain that
(44:11):
sap that has toxins in it, that is going to
keep the prey away. So if you are very into monarchs,
gets milkweed established and hopefully yeah that's all. Yeah, love it.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
It's like my Kevin All eats pizza. You would die
without pizza, and monarchs would die without milk weed.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Just the way it is, that is right. So I
like to show this map of the migration, and what
I think is very fascinated is fascinating to me is
that in the fall, one generation can make it all
the way down to Mexico, which is like twenty five
hundred miles. And they say that like it is in
(44:57):
their DNA that where they're a great great great great
great great grandparents. They come back to the same village
every year and then in the springtime, so like right
now they would be starting to already make their way
up north. It takes about four to six generations in
the spring to get up in these northern areas, so
(45:19):
pretty interesting that those generations live so much shorter. But
then our generation in the fall can make that whole
trick down.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Yeah. They just get an air current. Yeah, they can
file it over twenty miles a day.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Yeah, average about twenty five to thirty.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
And the ones in North Dakota that's that's they're at
the extreme as far as their trek, like how far
that is compared to other places. It's like it's a
long trek. They got it there.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Have you ever been to Mexico let's see here, I'd
be surprised if you have it.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
I have. I've been to Texas that's the closest, and
Nicaragua so for a couple of times in Honduras, but
I never made it to Mexico. Interesting, I don't know
what you.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Seem like you as much as the world travels.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Well, that's because nobody, nobody from Mexico is asking me
how to do anything, so I can't volunteer. You know,
nobody needs my help in Mexico. I don't know what
they grow there, so a tequila is what they grow there.
No tequila farmer asks for my help.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
So yeah, yeah, it's a long.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
I don't want to go there now, forget about it.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
Yeah, I wouldn't either.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, man, I don't South America, man, no, no, no, stay away. No,
I don't want to be away.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
Randsome, that's right.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
Because my my wife would say keep them. I ain't
paying you a nickel for my husband, that's right, so
I'm not going there.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Yeah, well, I think, like I said, it is interesting
and to me, reading more and more about monarchs are
always kind of fascinating just to hear that, especially that
journey they make.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
And yeah, it's amazing that they go to the same village.
How the heck And we think we're all the winds
and everything on that long trek, but they still naturally
drawn to the same village.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
And then I think of my family members who are
directly challenged. It would never make it.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Oh yeah, I mean I get lost out of the
driveway sometimes, so yeah, there's no way. But yeah, it's amazing.
Nature's amazing.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Yeah, And I would say if you like this summer,
if you really want to see an abundance of monarchs
and butterflies, the zoo has some great gardens to go
see those in the later summertime when they're up here inactive.
Very cool. So just a few tips for creating that
butterfly garden. You want to find kind of a sheltered area,
(47:51):
but a sunny area. Like I said, you can create
some shelter. You can also add in butterfly feeders out there,
kind of like we talked about for humming birds, avoid insecticides.
You talked about that too for the cucumbers and what
they could do for bees, make sure to incorporate some annuals.
(48:11):
Zinias are going to be very popular for them, and
as are cosmos. And then also don't forget about like
our ornamental grasses and grasses again native grasses, so like
Indian grass, little and big blue stem switch grass is
going to be good, and even side outs gamma is
(48:33):
going to be really good as well, So think about those.
There are a ton of additional resources out there. I
know on our website we have a whole section dedicated
to pollinators. The Xeroxes Society is really good, and even
North Dakota Game and Fish has a lot of resources.
So with that, I just got a lot of photo
(48:55):
credits today, but that's all I got.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Well that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
It's a lot. Maybe something to think about this spring.
If you're looking out a way to expand your garden
or try something.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
New, put in a pollinator garden.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Put in a pollinator garden, get an abundance of veggies,
give them.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
Their flowers all growing season. And I like the sheltered
area I like to get. I think it's nice to
have like a dark rock or something that they can
just opposite. They want to warm up, warm up, They
just what do you call it when you're soaking the sun?
(49:38):
That's because it couldn't.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Just get it.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
It's basking, basking us because you know they're not warm blooded.
How does the monarch get the energy to fly? It's
got to get some heat, so it just it's just
lays on that rock absorbs the heat and like solar
(50:03):
it's true. And also the other things that sometimes it
helps to get like a muddy patch. Yes you hear
about that. I have so like puddling. They like a
puddle so that they get their water and their minerals,
just like your livestock need minerals and they need minerals too.
So there's a lot of once you get to once
(50:25):
you get to those websites, you know you covered everything.
You got everybody now inspired, So now let's let's get
girl's websites and get some details.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
Well, and if I didn't our spring Fever forum this
last Monday, we had our Polynesia pollinator technician talk.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
That's right, We've got we've got.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
A nice recording of it.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
Yep on the North Dkota spring Fever garden forums and
so anybody's welcome to join those. Also the recordings, and
we talk about moths in a couple weeks Night five
moss in case you like to go outside and watch
moss at night.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Not really, no mosquitos, Yeah, anything else.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
Today, I got nothing to say. I got nothing to say.
It was good.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
How well, we want to invite everybody to the CODA
Garden Expo next month.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
That's a good idea. Yeah, April twenty five, twenty six,
free admission at the Bismarck Event Center, got twenty workshops
and like one hundred vendors.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
It's going to be great, Like over.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Seven thousand people, seven thousand, five hundred we last year,
biggest event in the Dakotas for gardeners.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
And I know we can't trust the weather, but the
extended weather for April says above average temperatures. So god,
what great data come.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
April twenty six. Are you worried about that?
Speaker 1 (51:56):
Oh? The one?
Speaker 2 (51:57):
What are you worrying about the one years? But this
week we're having We got a better time now like later,
so there's no frost, We're not going to have anywhere.
It's gonna be perfect weather.
Speaker 1 (52:09):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
We got her act together, you know, and work with
that town Square Media and the Quota Media Access and
we got her act together. We know we're not doing
After you do things about you know, ten times, you
finally get it right.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
So that's right.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
So yeah, it's a grand show. Got a lot of
great programs going on, a.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
Lot of variety of topics for presentations over those two days,
along with a variety of different people speaking, Master Gardner's agents,
all specialists. It'll be great. So yes, we hope to
see you April twenty fifth and twenty six at the
Bismarck Event Center. And with that, I just want to
(52:52):
thank everybody for joining us on today's episode of Dacoda Growing.
Dakoda Growing is the gardening show brought to you by
Dakota Media Access and NDSU Extension. We discuss a variety
of timely topics pertaining to your landscape, along with giving
you tips and advice for your lawn, garden and trees.
If you have questions, call seven oh one two two
(53:14):
one six eight sixty five or email NDSU dot Burley
dot Extension at NDSU dot com. Dakota Growing airs on
Radio Access one oh two point five FM, Community Access
Channel twelve or six twelve HD, or online at FreeTV
dot org
You're at the Horticulture Agent here in Burley County, joined
in the Radio Access studio by my co host Tom Cobb,
NDSU Extension Horror Culturist. How's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Everything's good? Kelsey?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
April next week? Where did March go?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Here? Here comes spring? Ready or not? Here comes?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
We are in spring? It's cave right last week officially,
officially I could use a little more sunshine personally last
couple of days, but a little gloomy, but you know,
no snow. I could use moisture.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
But yeah, yeah, I heard we're gonna have a drought
this summer.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I believe it.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I didn't hear that Furst summer forecast. Is is there
forty seven chance of a drought?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
It's pretty high yep.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
But they don't know anything, so let's just there on
anything after you know, ten days in advance. So that's
true too, So who knows? But nothing I can do
about that, no, except for be knowledgeable and be prepared,
be a smart gardener. That's why I'm on the quota
growing right now to learn all I can. So what
(01:32):
are we going to talk about today?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
What do you got?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I got a fascinating story. Should I just get started.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, mis jump in and talk about.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Growing cucumbers in North Quota. I really want to help
everybody have a bumper crop this year. So we'll be
featuring all kinds of vegetables this spring. What don you
think about cucumbers?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Love them?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Do you really?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah? They're great. I love to have them cut them
up in salads of course. Like are you even a
North Coda person if you don't pickle? You know, I
don't personally, Yeah, I feel.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Like it is. It's quite interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
You do that over in Minnesota. Come on, you guys
have to be you gotta.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Know my life, my life? What do you what do?
What did my parents do? They had eleven kids.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
They had to feed, y'all.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, they said they got to keep us out of
trouble in summer. So how we get keep these kids
out of trouble? Well, let's go buy a farm. And
so then what do we do? Well, what are we
gonna grow on the farm? Well, how about let's go
three acres of pickling cucumbers? Three acres?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Your mom was busy in the fall.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
You can only pickle a little bit. No, this is
like we were like the kings of the Cucumber Court.
At the Minneapolis farmers Market.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
That was special.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You were like the number one cucumber seales group in Minneapolis, three.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Acres, you know, the best cucumbers for everybody.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Man. That is like torture. That was like, okay, here's
a hole. That was our present, like for Christmas, here's
a hole and uh, good luck, hold and weeds. Then
finally the harvest comes. But then we're picking. You're picking.
It's just like milk and cows. You gotta pick every day.
(03:31):
So like okay, we're gonna pick half the patch today,
we'll pick half the patch tomorrow. We just keep.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Rotating on repeats. Right.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, that was like amazing and like it was like
I was crouched over my whole summer going through vines.
Screw you know, opening up the vines. Where's those cucumbers?
Can't miss one? You know, and uh, you know, my hands,
We're got so much movement that saying with everybody in
my family are hands? Has changed? Do you know what
(04:02):
happened to grow? You know, like like when you go
to church and you go to communion, Well, it is
in a Catholic church where I was raised because we
had course, were you eleven kids? So that makes sense right, right,
And so like you raise your hand up, you know,
to get communion. And the priest knew that as soon
(04:22):
as it was our family in the line, they said, wow,
these hands are so big. He noticed our hands were
different than everybody else in the parish, and it was
because they were wider than everybody else. And I told
him that's because we picked pickles.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Not genetics.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It was not genetics, he said. In the old days,
when he used to take the community on the tongue,
he said sometimes that he could notice a family trade
like somebody some family said big, big tongue, some had
the little tongues. But he said, our family, we had
the whitest hands he ever saw. And that's from picking pickles.
That's my fun story.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So because of that, do you not grow cucumbers? H yes,
you got tired out.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I really hate pickling cucumbers, that is true, figured and
I like, but I grow slicing cucumbers.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Do you like pickles though, Like, you just don't pickle them,
but you like them.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
My mom's bread and butter pickles were great, but it's
not my My wife doesn't really go for pickles that much.
So to be honest, we just don't. Okay, Well it's
because I'm not North Dakota like you are North Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
North Dakota, we're all the same.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Old, the same as Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I mean a lot of type of people.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
People out here in the west North Dakota the same.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
No, not that, but you know people say you got
like the same accent.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I'm loving people, that is true. That's why I'm here.
No way am I going back to Minnesota. Sorry, Minnesota
went nuts. Okay, but you know what, your comments very
interesting about how you think it's part of our heritage.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I do. Yeah, So here we go.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Well history, huh So who brought cucumbers to North Kota.
The European settlers, the home settlers, they brought it, but
they brought all kinds of vegetables with them, and like
the Germans, they brought their cabbage and their sauer kraut.
Oh yeah, but some of our settlers just did not
appreciate that sour crap. Icelandic settlers says, I did not
(06:32):
come to America to eat grass, you know, but cucombers.
Everybody loved cucombers, doesn't matter what culture you're from. And
they did a survey about one hundred years ago with
the North Dkota State Hoart Society, and they found the
number one vegetable and gardens in North Dakota.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
There you go cucumbers.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
So you were so right. It's just part of our heritage.
So it was our heritage years ago and it's very
popular today. So I'm going to talk about how we
can be successful in growing cucumbers today. I start with
the varieties. Whenever I look for a variety, I want
to be early, I want to taste great, and I
(07:15):
want to resist diseases and that includes powdery mildew for cucumbers.
I want my cucumber vrieties to be productive and grow
well in North Dakota. So you can go to garden
center and maybe they'll be like five frietays, maybe up
to ten. But all those varieties are old fashioned varieties
(07:35):
that are not hybrid don't resist diseases very well. So ideally,
because since you're watching a garden show, I talked to
the viewer or the listener out there in the great
world of North Dakota. Since you're an avid gardener, you
want to take advantage of the best possible seeds and
(07:55):
for that you got to go to seed catalogs, because
instead of getting five every ten selections and a lot
of some old varieties, you can get the most modern varieties.
You can get variety, you can get seed. Cattogs at
have fifty cucumber varieties to choose from fifty to one catalog,
and the number one catalog I really strongly encourage everybody
to get. And it doesn't matter if you want to
(08:17):
buy seeds from them or not. Buy this catalog for
the information it has. That's Johnny's selected seeds and if
here's their first page of their cucumber section, and I
highlighted there. For every vegetable they have a description of
how to grow it successfully. So for Johnny's we talk
(08:37):
about here's how to grow the transplants. Here's how to
if you're want to sow the seed directly in the garden.
Here's the insects to worry about, here's the diseases to
worry about. Here's how you harvest, Here's how you store it.
So get this seed catalog. It's full of great information. Also,
get to know the North Dakota Home Garden Variety Trial.
(09:00):
Every year I work with hundreds of gardeners and we
test all kinds of cucumbers to try to find the
best ones for our state. And last year I got
results from three hundred and sixty five families testing all
kinds of cucumbers and other vegetables. Get to know the
North Dakota Home Garden Variety trials, you can google that
(09:25):
and from that information, I got a listing at our
website that has a list of all the recommended varieties.
So that's our website is NDSU dot ag slash Home
Garden Trials. Okay, NDSU dot ag slash Home Garden Trials, Okay,
(09:46):
And you see there's our list. You know the cucumber
ones that we recommend. But let's go into more detail
right now. First of all, for the standard varieties, I
think some of what I look for our varieties that
are productive fridays, that resist as dias. That's really the
most and tastes great. So Bristol generally and Raider are
(10:06):
really strong performers. Generally is sometimes now called the general
because you know how America has gone a little head, gone,
a little bit woke there for a while, and generally
was a man of the Confederacy. Some seed catalogs refused
(10:27):
to call that variety generally, so they call it the
general but it's the best tasting of the standard cubes. Okay,
but really, why don't you try a burpless seed, a
burpless variety. You probably won't go back to those standard ones.
Burpless varieties are early resist diseases and outstanding quality, just
(10:50):
tremendous quality. These long cucumbers, they're almost seedless and then
smooth skin, thin skin, and have no bitterness at all.
Try the burpless cucumbers. You'll really be delighted. I also
encourage you to try snack cucumbers, and this variety is
called green Light snack cucumbers. They grow about four to
(11:11):
six inches and you just eat them just like an ample.
You don't have to prepare them at all. You just
eat them, skin and all. They're crunchy and green Light
is a great Friday. It's very early fifty days you're
gonna be harvesting. And of course you say pickles are
part of the heritage here in North Dakota. The best
friety in our trials is called homemade pickles. That's the
(11:35):
best Friday. It's very productive, resist diseases and has blunt
shaped crisp fruits. Super Max is another good one. Okay.
You can sow your seat outdoors, but you gotta wait
until the temperatures warm up. Cucumbers cannot take frost. Okay,
so we're gonna wait till mid or even I wait
(11:57):
till last week of May to sol mine, and i
put my seeds about six inches apart, and I'll film
so the plants are about twelve inches apart. Down the road.
You can start your seeds indoors. But the thing about cucumbers,
don't start them too early. So I'm gonna put my
cucumbers out in the garden in late May. I'm gonna
(12:18):
sow the seed indoors only three weeks before that, Okay,
so early May is when I'm swelling my seeds. Cucumbers
do not take well to transplanting. They're very sensitive. Their
root systems are very sensitive. So I'm gonna really candle
them with care. I'm gonna grow them in a peat
pot or a two inch plastic cell. Put two seeds
(12:39):
in a cell, and then I'll thin to the strongest one,
and then I'll space the plants again twelve inches apart.
So we talked about starting seeds in previous episodes. Use
a seed starter or a potting saw mix. Do not
use garden soil. It's full disease. Give the seeds some
warm temps in the beginning, like tempts in the seventies
(13:00):
our best, so they Germany quickly. Give them lots of light.
I don't care about the quality the grow lights. I
care about the quantity. I want just flood dut plants
with light so they don't get leggy and don't over water.
So here's some cucumber seed wings. These were grown in
(13:20):
those Have you ever grown a peep pellet?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I've heard of them.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It's so fun, right, It's like a little wafer. Then
you give it water and it just blows up. And
so this one was this is that's what this example
is right here. And you see how healthy and grain
they are. There's about it looks like two seed wings
and a lot of these. And so what I would
do is I would get a scissors and I would
(13:47):
just trim off one out of so there's only one
per pot, okay, and make that. Don't pull it out
because you'll disturb the one the plant you keep. Just
cut it out, Just make a quick slice right near
the soil surface. So this is a successful gardener. I
see this is a disaster cucomber grower. You see how
(14:09):
the plants are so leggy and they're reaching. I bet
there's a window on the right hand side. The plants
are stretching, and it's so wet the soil. This guy,
this is going to be dead in a week. Okay,
don't do that. Give them lots of light. Okay. I'm
gonna plant my cucumbers in a sunny location eight hours
(14:30):
of direct sun and they can grow. And raised beds too.
Cucumbers like raised beds because they're generally warmer. Advantages of
raised beds is that they're very esthetic and they're easy
on the back. So when I'm picking my cucumbers, I
don't have to reach down so low.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Not crouching over like the young crouching over.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Now. I see now I got like a walking cane
just about so I can barely. So, hey, man, why
are you laughing?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Man?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
That's where I'm hitting. Where's my chile hu. The soil
doesn't get compacted in a raised bed. You get great
drainage and it warms up quickly. That really makes a
huge difference for the cues. I'm a big fan of
pressure treated lumber. The old pressure tree lumber days of
my childhood had arsenic in it. But today's pressure treated
(15:18):
lumber is called ACQ or alkaline copper quaternary. It has
no toxic materials, so they threw out the arsenic and
they just juiced it up with more copper. So I'm
a big fan of pressure tree lumber. But for cucumbers,
you know, on a raised bed, they can take up
a lot of the raised beds, so you may want
to think about going vertical and providing a trellis like
(15:41):
you see here in the photo with the It's like
some chicken ware trellis going up, or here are cattle
panel trells. These cues. I'll just crawl right up there
and the fruits that grow them will be drooping down.
They'll be easy to pick and perfectly straight. They won't
curve at all. It will just be beautiful. Okay, here's a
(16:01):
photo that I showed this. Actually it's a raised bed,
this one with the plastic on it. It's raised, but
it doesn't have the doesn't have the wooden supports. But
the big thing I'm showing here is mulching. Okay, this
is clear plastic molts can generate a lot of heat,
and clear plastic malts. You see the cucumber growing under
the mult is already blooming. It's like two weeks ahead
(16:25):
of schedule of the plant next to it that doesn't
have any malts. So again, cucumbers like the heat. Clear
plastic malts will generate the most heat. The one drawback
with clear plastic malts is if you got a lot
of weed seeds in your garden, you're gonna encourage them
to Germany. So in those cases I generally use black
plastic malts because the weed seeds can't grow underneath black plastic,
(16:49):
so plastic malting can really help. Another way that we
can generate heat is planting in low tunnels. These are
these hoops and then we put a floating rope cover
over it that can generate a lot of heat in
the spring, get our plants off to a strong start.
And then I take the tunnels off as soon as
I start seeing the flowers, because I've got to get
(17:11):
the honey what the honey bees do their thing, so
I have some fruits. So speaking of the flowers, got
to get to know the cucumbers have male and female flowers. Okay,
female flowers have a baby cucumber attached. The male flowers
do not have a fruit attack. Okay, they're so easy
(17:32):
to tell. Males cannot produce fruits. They just produce pollen
that the bees move to the female flower. So sometimes
people will say, wow, I just got so many flowers,
but I don't have any fruits. Well, you got to
look at the flowers. Maybe you just have a bunch
of male flowers and that can be caused by usually
temperature extremes can have short term deficiencies of female flowers
(17:57):
on the vine. Sometimes you just have to be patient,
but make sure check to see if it's female versus
male flower. There's always many more male flowers than female flowers,
So just be a little bit patient there. And if
you a female flower can only be receptive for one day. Okay,
(18:17):
So you gotta have a lot of honey bee activity
going on there. If you don't, then you'll get the fruits. Well,
if you don't get a lot of activity, a lot
of good pollination, you can have these deformed fruit shapes
like these curves and these knobby ones. So that's just
a sign that you had poor pollination that day. The
(18:37):
biggest disease of cucumbers and squash is powdery mildew. That's
that white powder that gets on the older leaves and
that can just engulf the plants. So how do we
stop that? You pick of variety that resists powdery mile?
Do you pick a modern variety that resists pottery mildew?
(18:58):
I don't don't to worry about it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Can you still eat the fruit? That's what I always
get it.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
It's got powdery milk? Uh yeah, well, of course, like
if the fruits covered butt, same with winter squashed that
often gets powdery milk. But you know it's the fruits themselves. Okay,
just use a common sense, like if it's mushy, or
(19:28):
if it's discolored, if it's misshapen.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know, just so it's more on the bind to
look for.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Just just pick it off. Powdery mildew is often caused
by overhead watering because pottery mildew and other diseases love humidity.
And so I've talked this story about before about here
are these flowers that would get overhead irrigation. These flowers
are they hate this gardener because this gardener is getting
(19:58):
their leaves wet and he's going to bring diseases to
this planting, So you know, don't do that. Don't keep
the leaves dry when you water. It's very important to
keep the leaves dry. Here's a cucumber leaf that's all wet.
If this gets at night, it's going to be so humid,
diseases are going to start getting active. So when your
(20:20):
water cucumbers, avoid overhead irrigation. Irrigate in the morning that way.
I mean, sometimes you just can't help getting the leaves wet.
But if you water in the morning, then the leaves
have a chance to dry off during the day. And
don't water every day. It's better to water deeply, not frequently.
(20:40):
The roots grow where the water is. If you water deep,
roots grow deep. So it's better to water once or
twice a week and water deeply keep the leaves dry. Okay.
The number one bug we worry about cucumbers are cucumber beetles.
They're spotted ones and striped ones, and they eat the
(21:01):
leaves and they spread bacterial diseases. And it occurs on
squash too. It's bacterial will This is a killer. It
plugs up the flow of water in the plant. The
bacteria does the plant just will to wave. So you
gotta kill those cucumber beetles as soon as you see them. Okay.
So in North Dakota we take our garden seriously. We
(21:25):
protect our crops, and so you can kill cucumber beetles
with synthetic chemicals like seven or eight. They kill nearly
on contact. Bye bye beetle. But these are very powerful
and they will kill bees too, So, especially if the
(21:45):
plants are blooming, you can only spray when the bees
are not in the planting, and that's in the evening. Okay,
you gotta spring in the evening. But I like to
take care of the beetles early, preferably even before the
blooms occur, and usually one spray will take care of
the beatles. I got the problems solved. If you want
(22:05):
to use natural insecticides, we got natural insecticides too that
are generally safer for us and safer for bees. Pyrethrin.
Pyrethrin is a chemical that will kill and piganic is
a common trade name of them that will paralyze the
bug nearly instantly, So there you go. If it's paralyzed,
(22:29):
you can't do any more damage. So some people like
to inflict pain on their pest immediately. Some people like
their bugs to suffer, and so that's why spine said
would be good for people who want their enemies to
suffer for a couple of days before they die. So
you you spray spine sad in the evening and what
(22:53):
happens is the cucumber beetle will start being going to
spasms and it will it will shake and shiver for
two days before it paralyzed and die. So that's a
great way to torture a beetle, and spindle said will
not harm bees if you spray it in the evening hours.
(23:15):
Neime is another interesting way to torture beetles. Meme is
very safe. It's harmless to bees. But the beatles, they'll
eat the meme and then this will cause them to
lose their appetite. And then also they won't physically mature anymore,
so they just become lifeless and won't reproduce, they won't eat,
(23:38):
they'll just slowly die a decrepit life. So they've got
a lot of choices here. What kind of person are you?
Do you like to kill? Watch them drop?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
You just don't care about Let nature be right?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Just sure we got it. But listen to us.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Okay, I'm not see that's the thing. I'm not a
large scale gardener.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
YEA, yeah, I can't.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
You can't risk that.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I can't. Yeah. That's my that's my childhood education, you know,
that's that's why I paid for college. So I mean, personally,
one shot, that's why you scout your garden. Kill him early,
devastate them. That's the end of them. There you go,
It feels good. Other the other predator you have to
(24:30):
worry about sometimes is wildlife like bunny rabbits can can
sometimes cause problems.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Been noticing a lot of those outside my office window.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
You got to take care of them now now before Easter.
Before Yeah, I don't worry that easter. Bunny's active in
the chocolate factory right now, so that's not outside your wing.
Don't worry about that. But what's happening like those easter,
those mother rabbits, they have bunnies often in free it's
(25:04):
like six litters a year, six at a time. That's
a lot of bunniest. So the key is got to
gi him now before they start getting active, if you
know what I'm talking about. So like live trapping could
be a good way to.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Go unless you live out of town.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Well then you just if you live out of town,
h then you just Okay, Well, what's the best way
to kill any past or manage any past? You know,
lead kill him? There you go. I'm hunting rabbits. That's
what Elmer Fudd would say.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
He wasn't a good hunter. Though he wasn't a good hunter.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Well, I know, but he's no comment. I'm not judging.
I'm not a good I'm not a good hunter either,
So I'm trying to make something funny. Okay, just trying
to make a joke about this. I'm going to show
a rabbit to head head burst open, full of blood.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
It's a family show, that's right.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
So we're talking to Elmer Fudd. So, but this is
the whole way to manage the past. Best days, kill it,
But it's not practical in many cases to kill it.
So that's why we use exclusion. The second best way
a fence, like a four foot tall fence buried six
inches of the ground. That will solve your problem. So
(26:23):
exclusion is a great way.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Or dogs.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Dogs will work too. Oh yeah, my neighbor's dogs would
be great for that.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Look at that sad little bud.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
You know what, I don't care about that bunny. The
bunny looks sad, but actually the bunny is evil. That
bunny is plotting his next track. How can I get
in to destroy Tom's cucumber patch? So I show no
merds to that guy, I will scoot him away. Or
if I had a dog, I would definitely sick the
dog in that sucker. Okay. Last thing to say is
(26:56):
that again I encourage you to try the different types
of cucumber. Go to our Go to our website and
YESU dot ag slash Home Garden Trials and you can
find our catalog. So that's what I got.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
That catalog is going to be available very soon. Right.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
You know what I can't I just can't wait till
I get out of this studio so I can just
get everything.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Well, if that's the cover, I like the photo you
chose this year, that's it. That's the cover. It's beautiful, and.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
We got zinias and sunflowers. Fifty different trials we've got
going on.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
So have you ever seen a humming bird in real life?
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yeah? Because in Minnesota they're very common.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Okay, so you've seen them in Minnesota, not since.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Your time here. They're not very common here. Ruby thrown
a hummingbird. It kind of along the Missouri River. It's
it's more common.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
One time, and I got a picture of it. But
when I was doing a youth garden over and wing,
so this was like ten plus years ago already. But
they came in and same thing on a zinya.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It was like, Yeah, when.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
You see them and you see those wings going as
fast as CONVENI, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It's a huge heartbeat rate. And I don't know, they
fluttered their wings a hundred times. It's just like unbelievable.
A hundred times a minute. Hundred times.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Is that what it is?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
It's really amazing fast to hover around like they do.
And yeah, you gotta they love They love open flowers
like that. Or you can put up a hummingbird feeder.
We had a hummingbird feeder on our farm that we
would mix like a sugar solution, and those hummingbirds that
go nuts for that. They would just encircle my mom
(28:44):
as she's filling up that feeder.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
They would just love that story like the cats on
the porch.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, yeah, they it's quite a marvel. You got that right, well.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Speaking of pollinators, you know, I'm going to talk about
creating a butterfly garden today.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
How about that attract butterflies.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
For pollinators. But today I'm just going to specifically focus
on butterflies. So why why do we want to create
my butterfly garden?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I don't know who cares?
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Want those cucumbers?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Right? Why butterflies? Because butterflies are so beautiful because their
their wings are so fragile, and when they flutter around,
it's just like a it's just marvelous to see them.
And uh, you know some butterflies are very colorful, like
the monarchs and the swallow tails, and uh, I guess
(29:43):
you know they do what they do pollination, So I
guess yeah, they they help with pollination.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
I think also it's great because then it gives like
when you're working with youth and kids, they're always don't
you ever see like people like young Yeah, talk about
insects with them. They always are like, oh, I love butterflies.
You know I remember growing up having little nets, a
little bug nets. Really, yeah, we don't have a.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Guard to destroy them.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, put them in a jar, see if they can
oh really? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
And then then did you like put some rubbing alcohol
in to kill them.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
And then what do you do with them?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Okay, first collection? Yeah for insect collections. Yeah, you gotta
get gotta get a bug, you catch it, and then
you gotta kill it. Like collection. So you get one
of those cotton balls soap was rubbing alcohol, just drop
it in, wrop it in there, and then you'll it's
like a torture chamber.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I think people are starting to see a theme with
you on the torture.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Then what you do? You say, Okay, like you ever
seen those ghost books like Python versus Mongoose. Oh, you're
gonna get adults books pretty soon. So like they say
what happens? Who would win a contest between a python?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
And ah, it's.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
A whole book about it and they describe how Well,
that's what you do with insects. You say, who's going
to win? An ant or a fly? And you put
him in the glass jar together and you see which
one survive. You see him attack each other.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Oh, you had a little fight going on there for
a while.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
And if they don't want to fight, then he just
kill it. You put some.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
So that's what you were doing when you weren't picking vegetables.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
That's right. That's it was my teacher made you know.
It was part of collections, inset collections.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Okay, we'll jump back. Butterfly guarden, so.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
They would lose. Butterfly would lose the competition against a
honey bee or something that would take the honey bee
cage match.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Well, the one thing about today and creating any type
of pollinator garden, not just a butterfly gardens, there's a
lot of concerns. So like you look at this picture,
how do you feel looking at this picture?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
It looks like a great yard.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Looks like a great yard. I agree.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
I know what you're saying, though, yea, it doesn't have
the pollen. It's a it's a food desert for butterflies.
Is that what you're trying to tell me.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I'm saying it's way too manicured with no problem. No, yeah,
me neither. But again I don't care. Green is green
for me, that's right. Whatever, So but no, a lot
of people would be like envious of this this house
in this neighborhood. They would probably be the top neighbor.
But really this is exactly what we see today for
(32:47):
creating those butterfly gardens. And pollinator gardens is especially in town.
We have a lot of people who strive for you know,
the talk of the neighborhood lawn. They want that manicured lawn.
Lot of people just aren't, like you said, planting for
food for them. So what do you need in order
(33:09):
to create a butterfly garden? You need a variety of
plants and flowers that bloom, spring, summer, and fall. So
during our growing season they got to have that food.
They got to have, you know, something to in the
next season have, So not anything that just blooms and
is done. You doesn't matter the size or shape of
(33:30):
the garden. That doesn't matter. Even if it's a little
patch that you're implementing in your yard, that can still
be a butterfly garden. Big thing is is you want
to plant those flowers in clusters. Again, that's just going
to be more attractive to the butterflies and stuff. They'll
Again I'm not an entomologist, but from what I've learned
(33:52):
over the years and stuff, you know, they see those
block colors and that's going to be more attractive. And
then if you have that same species can forage in
that area for a while. They also are going to
need a place to rest, so adding mulch within a
pollinator garden, even some of those flat top flowers are
going to be great. And then lastly you need to
(34:14):
have a water source, so IM talk a little bit
about our flowers and which ones would be great for
the different times for blooming. So to start off in
the spring, I know we've talked about it. To me,
the first sign of spring is when I see crocuses
out there. That's my first sign. So crocus is great.
I got pictures of each of these great hyacinth, Siberian squill,
(34:39):
American past flower, prairie smoke, and red columbine. Those are
all great blooming spring flowers. I also like prariy smoke
to me, is one of the most beautiful natural plants.
We get those out on our pasture and stuff, so
I always enjoy being able to see them. And you know,
(35:00):
there's always a light breeze, so it's fun to see
them just kind of wave in there.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Okay, Then if we kind of move into a later springtime,
you know, right before we get to summer, some of
those perennials could be a golden Alexander butterfly weed, which
I talked about last time with it being the year
of milk weeds, false indigo, camp cap mint, in selvia.
So again, these are perennials that are going to be
(35:29):
coming back. Got some good variety of colors there as well.
When we move into summer, you could look for something
like a purple prairie clover. Another milkweed would be swamp milkweed,
black eyed Susan, blazing prairie, blazing star, purple cone flower,
(35:50):
and beebalm. You got any of those in your yuard?
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And no, I'm not just not. I'm like that desert garden.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Yeah, that's it. That's that's you.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Not really, but I've had I've had black eyed Susan
and blazing Star and purple cone flower and beeball. I've
planted them before.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Yeah, they're all beautiful, colorful, have pretty long boom times.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
M h yep. Again, most of these two are going
to be native to North Dakota, so just that natural
environment for them is going to be great. Continuing some
of the summer ones. You could look at it. I'm
gonna Butcher saying that and and his hop Calver's Roots
(36:42):
Joe pie Weeed, I know that one like growing up
when I worked at a local nursery that was always
famous in a lot of the landscaping. Joe Pie weeed
was good fireworks, goling rod and then metal blazing star.
So again, a lot of these are going to look
very even like grasses and very calumner for them. So
(37:04):
good choices when we move into the fall. Stiff golden rods,
sneezewed tall seedum and New England aster. Those are going
to be some of your later ones that will keep
them around. So I think there's nothing better to see
than seed them in the fall. That is just outstanding.
It always puts on a good show. And that's a low,
(37:27):
low maintenance plant.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yeah. Take the drought, you bet, you bet?
Speaker 1 (37:32):
So what can we do for water? You know, you
talk about a potential of drought. Usually for us who
live out of town when we hear drought, seems like
the livestock waters are full of bees. They're they're thirsty
and they die because they can't get a drink out
of those water tanks. Well, yeah, there's nowhere for them.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
To stand a perch. You can a b perch.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Yeah. I also don't want my livestock getting stung up
or anything that's a problem. So that's a problem, definitely
a problem.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
But that is a conflict because so many pollinators, but
you're you don't want them to harm your livestock.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
No, that's why I put the pollinator garden up. Yeah,
but you need some sort of water source. So bird
baths are gonna work great if you have a higher budget. Ponds,
you know, installing one of those can be costly, but
another good source. The biggest thing is anything you can
fill with water. But you just got to make sure
(38:37):
to add rocks, something they can stand on while they drink,
not where they're just gonna jump in and drown. So
I always get the question of like where are good
places to go, especially locally and stuff. So just across
the river, Agazy Seed is going to be a really
good one. They have a wildflower mix that's gonna contain
(38:58):
a lot of our nor the Coda natives, so that'd
be a really good one. I know we've mentioned Prairie
Road Organic Seed. That's another North Dakota based seed resource. Uh,
there's Minnesota Native plant source and you can order off
of them. And then even Burley County Soil Conservation District
does now sell some pollinator plugs. So just locally. Of course,
(39:22):
you can check out any of the local nurseries. A
lot of them are gonna contain some of those perennials especially.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Yeah, there depends how much money I got, That's what
it's all about. Yeah, Like Prairie Nursery is outstanding out
of Wisconsin, Prairie Moon Nursery out of Winona, Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Oh yeah, we've talked about those in the past too.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
They're great and you just gotta, if possible, try to
buy something from the northern source.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, yep, we're going to have those plants that are
going to be hardy for up here. The other thing
is is you want to be able to make sure
that you're creating shelter in there. So one thing it
would be like incorporating like any type of bushes or
shrubs that's going to help with the wind. At the
end of the season. You don't want to just go
(40:15):
and clean out that plant debris. You want to leave
that that's going to be a good shelter for overwintering.
And so like right now too, you don't need to
get in there and get crazy happy to clean out
because the weather's being nice. You kind of want to
wait till you know those temperatures are consistently at like
fifty degrees or you start to see insect Insect activity
(40:38):
is going to be a good way. So some of
the butterflies that we have out there, we have skippers,
and so that's one category. They're going to be those
small orange they kind of look like just little triangles
on flowers. There's at least forty two species in North Dakota.
You talked about swallow tails. I think those are one
of the most beautiful butterflies out there. They're gonna be
(41:00):
really large, they're gonna have that blue band and row
of spots on the hind wings for the female, and
then the male is going to have a black band
on them. Sulfurs and whites, they're gonna be whiter yellow
in color, have that velvety appearance. There's at least fourteen
species in North Dakota of those gossamer wings. Those are
(41:22):
gonna be small to medium size. They're going to have
like hairlike tails on their hind wing. Got twenty nine
species in North Dakota. And then brush brush footed are
broken into seven smaller categories that I'll show in the
next couple sides, and there's at least fifty four species
in North Dakota. So we have a lot of butterfly species.
(41:44):
Here's kind of the different categories that you can see.
You know, again, you have a favorite you when you
were doing your insect collection, did you collect out of
any of these?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Well, monarchs were everywhere.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
So that's usually people's top favorite, right right, Yeah, I
don't know. I like a lot of these two just
seeing like especially the checkered spots and crescents. You actually
get kind of that checkered appearance, which is really cool
to see. And the tortoiseshell to me, always stands out
to a little bit more. You mentioned monarch, so those
(42:21):
are going to fall under our milkweed butterflies in that category,
but we do have thistle butterflies, admirals, and then satires
as well, so different, a lot of different ones, a
lot of different species that are active in North Dakota.
So I feel like the biggest thing that we talk
about is monarchs. Why is that? Tom? Why are we.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Talking Because they're so showy.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
That you know, they're so showy, they're so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Star you know so, but also you gotta gotta just
you know, you know, I'm beautiful. They do have an
amazing life story and talk about that.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
OK, so you can share what you know too. I
think they are probably most talked about just because in
news media in the last few years they've gained a
lot of traction. In like twenty twenty they were put
on the Dangerless but US Wildlife, Game and Fish whatever
(43:21):
you want to say, has just moved them to a
threatened species.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
In today, their populations.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Are the windling Oh worse, Well they've gotten better. Sorry,
but to be threatened, you're on a thewindling species. But yes,
they've gotten better. I feel like people talk about the
monarch movement, right, yeah, yeah, it's so showy.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
They just people like it.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
They do. And I've briefly talked about this last time again,
but you know, they are a species that rely solely
on milkweed for survivle. The females are going to lay
their eggs on that milk weed. The caterpillars are going
to be hungry, hungry, hungry, and just go eat, eat, eat,
And then that milk weed is going to contain that
(44:11):
sap that has toxins in it, that is going to
keep the prey away. So if you are very into monarchs,
gets milkweed established and hopefully yeah that's all. Yeah, love it.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
It's like my Kevin All eats pizza. You would die
without pizza, and monarchs would die without milk weed.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Just the way it is, that is right. So I
like to show this map of the migration, and what
I think is very fascinated is fascinating to me is
that in the fall, one generation can make it all
the way down to Mexico, which is like twenty five
hundred miles. And they say that like it is in
(44:57):
their DNA that where they're a great great great great
great great grandparents. They come back to the same village
every year and then in the springtime, so like right
now they would be starting to already make their way
up north. It takes about four to six generations in
the spring to get up in these northern areas, so
(45:19):
pretty interesting that those generations live so much shorter. But
then our generation in the fall can make that whole
trick down.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Yeah. They just get an air current. Yeah, they can
file it over twenty miles a day.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Yeah, average about twenty five to thirty.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
And the ones in North Dakota that's that's they're at
the extreme as far as their trek, like how far
that is compared to other places. It's like it's a
long trek. They got it there.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
Have you ever been to Mexico let's see here, I'd
be surprised if you have it.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
I have. I've been to Texas that's the closest, and
Nicaragua so for a couple of times in Honduras, but
I never made it to Mexico. Interesting, I don't know
what you.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Seem like you as much as the world travels.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Well, that's because nobody, nobody from Mexico is asking me
how to do anything, so I can't volunteer. You know,
nobody needs my help in Mexico. I don't know what
they grow there, so a tequila is what they grow there.
No tequila farmer asks for my help.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
So yeah, yeah, it's a long.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
I don't want to go there now, forget about it.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
Yeah, I wouldn't either.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, man, I don't South America, man, no, no, no, stay away. No,
I don't want to be away.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
Randsome, that's right.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
Because my my wife would say keep them. I ain't
paying you a nickel for my husband, that's right, so
I'm not going there.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Yeah, well, I think, like I said, it is interesting
and to me, reading more and more about monarchs are
always kind of fascinating just to hear that, especially that
journey they make.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
And yeah, it's amazing that they go to the same village.
How the heck And we think we're all the winds
and everything on that long trek, but they still naturally
drawn to the same village.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
And then I think of my family members who are
directly challenged. It would never make it.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Oh yeah, I mean I get lost out of the
driveway sometimes, so yeah, there's no way. But yeah, it's amazing.
Nature's amazing.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Yeah, And I would say if you like this summer,
if you really want to see an abundance of monarchs
and butterflies, the zoo has some great gardens to go
see those in the later summertime when they're up here inactive.
Very cool. So just a few tips for creating that
butterfly garden. You want to find kind of a sheltered area,
(47:51):
but a sunny area. Like I said, you can create
some shelter. You can also add in butterfly feeders out there,
kind of like we talked about for humming birds, avoid insecticides.
You talked about that too for the cucumbers and what
they could do for bees, make sure to incorporate some annuals.
(48:11):
Zinias are going to be very popular for them, and
as are cosmos. And then also don't forget about like
our ornamental grasses and grasses again native grasses, so like
Indian grass, little and big blue stem switch grass is
going to be good, and even side outs gamma is
(48:33):
going to be really good as well, So think about those.
There are a ton of additional resources out there. I
know on our website we have a whole section dedicated
to pollinators. The Xeroxes Society is really good, and even
North Dakota Game and Fish has a lot of resources.
So with that, I just got a lot of photo
(48:55):
credits today, but that's all I got.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Well that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
It's a lot. Maybe something to think about this spring.
If you're looking out a way to expand your garden
or try something.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
New, put in a pollinator garden.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
Put in a pollinator garden, get an abundance of veggies,
give them.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
Their flowers all growing season. And I like the sheltered
area I like to get. I think it's nice to
have like a dark rock or something that they can
just opposite. They want to warm up, warm up, They
just what do you call it when you're soaking the sun?
(49:38):
That's because it couldn't.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
Just get it.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
It's basking, basking us because you know they're not warm blooded.
How does the monarch get the energy to fly? It's
got to get some heat, so it just it's just
lays on that rock absorbs the heat and like solar
(50:03):
it's true. And also the other things that sometimes it
helps to get like a muddy patch. Yes you hear
about that. I have so like puddling. They like a
puddle so that they get their water and their minerals,
just like your livestock need minerals and they need minerals too.
So there's a lot of once you get to once
(50:25):
you get to those websites, you know you covered everything.
You got everybody now inspired, So now let's let's get
girl's websites and get some details.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
Well, and if I didn't our spring Fever forum this
last Monday, we had our Polynesia pollinator technician talk.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
That's right, We've got we've got.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
A nice recording of it.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
Yep on the North Dkota spring Fever garden forums and
so anybody's welcome to join those. Also the recordings, and
we talk about moths in a couple weeks Night five
moss in case you like to go outside and watch
moss at night.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Not really, no mosquitos, Yeah, anything else.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
Today, I got nothing to say. I got nothing to say.
It was good.
Speaker 1 (51:13):
How well, we want to invite everybody to the CODA
Garden Expo next month.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
That's a good idea. Yeah, April twenty five, twenty six,
free admission at the Bismarck Event Center, got twenty workshops
and like one hundred vendors.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
It's going to be great, Like over.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Seven thousand people, seven thousand, five hundred we last year,
biggest event in the Dakotas for gardeners.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
And I know we can't trust the weather, but the
extended weather for April says above average temperatures. So god,
what great data come.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
April twenty six. Are you worried about that?
Speaker 1 (51:56):
Oh? The one?
Speaker 2 (51:57):
What are you worrying about the one years? But this
week we're having We got a better time now like later,
so there's no frost, We're not going to have anywhere.
It's gonna be perfect weather.
Speaker 1 (52:09):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
We got her act together, you know, and work with
that town Square Media and the Quota Media Access and
we got her act together. We know we're not doing
After you do things about you know, ten times, you
finally get it right.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
So that's right.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
So yeah, it's a grand show. Got a lot of
great programs going on, a.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
Lot of variety of topics for presentations over those two days,
along with a variety of different people speaking, Master Gardner's agents,
all specialists. It'll be great. So yes, we hope to
see you April twenty fifth and twenty six at the
Bismarck Event Center. And with that, I just want to
(52:52):
thank everybody for joining us on today's episode of Dacoda Growing.
Dakoda Growing is the gardening show brought to you by
Dakota Media Access and NDSU Extension. We discuss a variety
of timely topics pertaining to your landscape, along with giving
you tips and advice for your lawn, garden and trees.
If you have questions, call seven oh one two two
(53:14):
one six eight sixty five or email NDSU dot Burley
dot Extension at NDSU dot com. Dakota Growing airs on
Radio Access one oh two point five FM, Community Access
Channel twelve or six twelve HD, or online at FreeTV
dot org
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