October 3, 2024 • 19 mins
Janey is excited to welcome back Sean and Allison McManus from Spoken Garden to talk fall gardening tips! In this episode, they share some helpful insights to get you set up for success this season, from the importance of mulching (with a clever tip that even surprised Janey) to practical advice for your fall gardening list. Sean and Allison also break down the different types of bulbs and classifications, plus share what they are excited to get in the ground this season!
About Sean and Allison:
Sean and Allison McManus, owners of Spoken Garden, love teaching about all kinds of plants and flowers, including plant care, pruning, and bulb care. They garden in Washington state (zone 8b/9a) and teach gardeners through their YouTube channel, Instagram account, their quick “DIY Garden Minute” podcast, their Spoken Garden website, & their first book “The First-time Gardener: Growing Plants and Flowers." Inventors of The Little Dibby and The Dibby XL (winner of the 2023 NGB 'Green Thumb Award') dual-purpose seed-sowing and transplanting tools. Sean is an Environmental Horticulturist and Allison is a former National Board-Certified Science teacher.
For more from Sean and Allison:
Their Book
YouTube
Instagram
Website
Love what you’re hearing?
Make sure to check out more from Janey:
Store
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Dig, Plant, Water, Repeat is produced in association with Caloroga Shark Media. Hear other shows from Caloroga Shark along with subscription info and Merch with free shipping here!
About Sean and Allison:
Sean and Allison McManus, owners of Spoken Garden, love teaching about all kinds of plants and flowers, including plant care, pruning, and bulb care. They garden in Washington state (zone 8b/9a) and teach gardeners through their YouTube channel, Instagram account, their quick “DIY Garden Minute” podcast, their Spoken Garden website, & their first book “The First-time Gardener: Growing Plants and Flowers." Inventors of The Little Dibby and The Dibby XL (winner of the 2023 NGB 'Green Thumb Award') dual-purpose seed-sowing and transplanting tools. Sean is an Environmental Horticulturist and Allison is a former National Board-Certified Science teacher.
For more from Sean and Allison:
Their Book
YouTube
Website
Love what you’re hearing?
Make sure to check out more from Janey:
Store
YouTube
Dig, Plant, Water, Repeat is produced in association with Caloroga Shark Media. Hear other shows from Caloroga Shark along with subscription info and Merch with free shipping here!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Support for this podcast comes from Proven Winners, the plant
brand that gardeners of all experienced levels trust the most,
and the brand that I have personally trusted in my
own gardening journey since twenty twenty. Proven Winners selections, including annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs,
and even houseplants are simply amazing and all are trialed, tested,
(00:22):
and specifically chosen for one purpose and one purpose only
to ensure gardener success. Visit Provenwinners dot com and find
your next favorite plant today.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Callarogashawk Media.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hi everyone, Jane here, Welcome to my garden and welcome
to the Dig Plant Water Repeat Podcast. I am on
episode two with my friends Sean and Alison McManus from
the Spoken Garden. We're talking about all things fall in
the Pacific Northwest. Hi you guys, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Hi? Janne?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Really good? How are you good? Good?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We had so much to talk about. First episode ran
out of time, so I talked them intown to staying
on for one more episode. So Spoken Garden is I mean,
you guys are a dynamic duo. I would have to say.
You guys have YouTube channel, you have Instagram, you have
a website. You have a podcast, DIY Garden Minute, which
(01:36):
is so great and then also a fabulous book, So
congratulations to.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
All of that.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I so, last episode we were talking about gardening in
the Pacific Northwest and some of the things that you
guys were doing in your garden this season this episode,
do you have any tips for gardeners maybe things that
they should be thinking about in their garden for this fault?
Do you guys have any tips?
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Sure, we do, we have so many. How should we
break this down? Let's see mulching. Yes, mulching is something.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
That we highly recommend.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
A lot of your audience is probably already mulching, but
follows a great time to mulch, and there's so many
reasons why.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
There's so many benefits, right, yeah, I mean a couple
of different things. For mulching is not always a great
wead suppressor, but it's a great insulator, so insulate those
plane s. Especially here in the Pacific Northwest, we get
some a little bit of extreme cold, especially from our
neighbors up north to Canada, and we'll for about a
week or two sometimes, especially the last couple of years,
(02:37):
it'll get down to maybe zero ten degrees to zero
are even negative for a couple of weeks. Yeah, and
so a lot of our plants they're not exactly used
to it. A lot of them will are hardy to it.
But if you want to head your bets, especially protecting
the root systems, mulch is a great way to do that.
And so you know, two to four inches a mulch
your set well.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
And there's if we could offer a tip that we
would recommend to if you're please jump inchhot it.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
If your area, if your soil is.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Kind of dry, maybe you haven't had a lot of
moisture lately, we highly recommend watering first before you lay
your mulch down.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It just helps really or keep the moisture in.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Oh that's a great tip thing to do that, right,
but yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yeah, yeah, So what happens is, I mean, we've all
been going through a lot of drought. Our weather patterns
are kind of goofy right now. So if it's been drought,
if it's been really dry and you want to mulch
but it's been really dry, make sure to water because
you don't want to lock out the moisture. You want
to lock in the moisture because if you put this.
If you put the mulch down before you're putting the
(03:40):
moisture in there, you're creating another barrier for the water
to penetrate through, to percolate through, to get to the soil,
and then move through that soil profile. So if you
water first, then you put the mulch over, you're locking
that moisture and you're still insulating the plants. And actually
the moisture helps regulate the temperature a lot better. If
there's more moisture down there the road area, it helps
(04:01):
regulate that temperture level.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You guys, I feel so silly because I use mulch
all the time and I always talk about how important
it is.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
But we don't ever.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I never water before I put it down.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I don't think about I'm still going to work though,
right you know, I mean, I mean the benefits of
vulture still there. This is one of those little extra
you know.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, yeah, but you know I want to I want
all the extra stuff. And this is a real I've
never heard this step. This is really good. Thank you guys,
Thank you for all. Yeah, that's great. So mulch I
think is absolutely huge for fall gardening.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Definitely, Well it's gonna say, falls a great time to plant, too,
especially perennials. Definitely bulbs, but perennials, because the plants trying
to slow down, but you want them to get established
sooner for the next season. So planning now is a
great way to get a jump on next year's growth.
Get them established sooner, they'll they'll start growing sooner. They'll
(04:53):
still start flowering sooner. If you plant your perennials in
the spring, it's perfectly okay, but it's going to take
them a little bit longer to get established, establish that
root system, and then also start getting those flower buds ready,
so you'll be later in the season usually for flowering
if you plant in the spring.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, Plus we're so busy in the spring too, it's
nice to get some things done in the fall. I say,
for sure. Are you guys planting bulbs?
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Oh yeah, yes, Oh.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
We love bulbs. Oh my gosh, we could talk about
bulbs for love.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah. You have a is it a book or is
it a a course on bulbs? Don't you guys have
that on your Etsy shop?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
We do.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
We have a little just like a little fun e
book kind of.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Guys them actually on the inspiration Yeah, yeah, thanks for
bringing that up with you. So, you know, there's an
inspirational twenty one bowl and then there's a fall of
seven bulbs to add your garden this fall.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, that's fun. I don't know that we love one.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Well, we produced we actually created those back in twenty
twenty and so yeah, so and they're we made them
perennials so you can keep using me. That's so. But yeah,
we kind of sometimes we forget about all the different things.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
You know, you try, and so one thing we love
teaching others about wolves. That's that's a passion for us,
I guess, kind of a mini passion so different.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
They're just it's such a cool.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Plant form, you know, and there's just a lot to
know about bulbs, and that's something we kind of got
into with speaking engagements and whatnot, like in the Northwest
Hour and Garden Show and Tone and Garden Show and
some other online festivals. We just we found that we
love teaching about bulbs. It's such a random thing.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah, bolls are bolts are really unique. I mean you
probably those, but maybe some people don't. Bolts are so
unique because there are these tiny little things that are
maybe they're not so small, but they can be each
one can be hold in your hand. Some are the
size of small melons, but all the energy that they
need to survive, you know, be dormant and then grow
in the next year. It's right there, it's writing your hand.
(07:00):
It's amazing to you know, to start growing, develop the
roots and then pop up out of the soil, develop
those the leaves and the flowers. It has all of
that right there in that little structure. And you know,
in the in the plant world, that's pretty unique because
obviously not all plants are like that, you know, our perennials,
herbaceous or hard with the trees, the annuals, all these
different plants we have out there. Bulbs are very unique.
(07:22):
And there's actually five different kinds of bulbs for those
you know, those structures with all that energy. So I mean,
it's it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
We kind of geek out, sorry, which I love.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
I'm obsessed. Can I mean this, we're totally off topic,
but can you talk about the five different type of
bulbs because I always get so confused. I mean, you're
talking about like corms and and I don't I can't
even think of another.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
And it's like It's also varies depending on what source
you're talking to. There's different agencies out there that only
classify maybe well they just say there were either bulbs
or their corms or the rhizomes or whatever. There's three types,
some say four, some say five. We've with our research
five seems to be the average kind of that we
have found that that scientifically.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Works, right, So what are the what are they?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
So the five bulbs are based on a structure, and
so there's true bulbs, which are like aliens or daffodil. Yeah,
and so then there's the corns, which are like Chrocosmiam
glabior rembless. Then there's your rhizomes, which are basically, instead
(08:31):
of this ball, this mass of energy that stored up
rhizome is a horizontal stem and that's your irises.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So yeah, so if you ever look at.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
An iris, it's horizontal. It's this stem, this this structure,
and it goes across this way and then on one end,
one specific end, is your growing point. And then there's
always the roots are always on the bottom, they're not
everywhere all over the place like potato, which is a tuber.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
And then the fifth type would be a two root,
which is actually a dahlia that would be the most
a lot of people call dahia's tubers. Yeah, it's technically
not correct, but it's not a bad thing that I mean,
it really doesn't matter, right, I mean, it's just like
you're planting this beautiful thing.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
So the tuur, so a tuber will grow from like
a potato, the roots and the shoots, they'll grow anywhere
anywhere on that structure. Where for a tuberous root, it
has a central point that then radiates out all of
these you know, these underground storage structures, and the central
point has the that's where the area where the shoots
(09:35):
come out. So on these so if you think of
a tuberous rift like a dhia, the shoots aren't coming
from the radially attached structure. They're coming from the central point.
But then from a tuber, you know all those growing points,
roots and shoots from everywhere all over the surface of
that structure.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
So that's how what's an example of an like a
true tuber can you?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
I think on potato a potato.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
That's the funny thing. People don't think of potatoes as
an ornamental, but they do flower. We just think of
them as just a food. But if you lets want
to go, yeah right, but if you let them go,
they have a beautiful flower. I mean that's gorgeous, it's vibrant.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I don't think I've ever seen a potato flower.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, there's a couple of different kinds of potato flowers
out there, and people just don't think about it.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I would not even have thought we would be talking
about potatoes.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And that's what well. I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I love it, you guys. We got to take a
quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. We'll
be back in one second. All right, we are back
with the Dig Plant Water Repeat podcast, and we're here
with Sean and Alison McManus from the Spoking Garden. We
(10:50):
started this podcast talking about fall planting, and now we
somehow got on on bulbs, the five different kind of bulbs,
which are so interesting. I had no idea you guys
were so geeky about bulbs. I loved this. Yeah, I know,
I love it. So Sean, just go over real quick
the five different kinds of bulbs that we're talking about.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Tuobol, yeah, rhizome, tuber's root and a tuber.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Okay, all right, and do most of those. Do you
guys fall plant What zone are you in up in Washington?
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Well, we're kind of we have been eight B forever
in Takoma area. It's recently bumped up to nine A,
but we're still kind of I just say eight slash
nine A because it's kind of yeah, not everything in
nine A over winters that well.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So yeah, especially because you guys get so cold those
cold snaps, Like I feel like here because I'm nine B.
The coldest I ever get is like twenty five. I
think we've gotten down lower than that one, but it's
been like twenty years or something like that.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
So it's probably like one night, maybe a couple nights.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Right, exactly, exactly exactly. So you guys, what kind of
what kind of bulbs are you guys planting? You said
you have ranunculous Yes, right, tell me about yeah, tell
me where do you get your Where do you get
your bulbs? Anyway?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Good question. This is a little we we love. We
always work with Eden Brothers.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
We love them that we do a lot of video
for them, and they're just such an amazing company.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
We've had it.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
We have been growing their stuff for years and have
had like just amazing results or stuff is.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
High quality, beautiful?
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Yeah, good stuff, Yeah, highly recommend So we got this
cute little box of nunculous bulbs. We had no I
wouldn't even remember what we had ordered. This Q low
box shows up and we're like what is this? Open
it up and all these little squidty looking bulbs.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
They're so cute.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
There's like little rows of them, and we're like, oh,
they're just like tiny, like the size of a quarter maybe,
So we're.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Excited about that.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
So you guys are fall planting your ranunculous.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Yes we can't.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yes, you can.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
Then also tulips and daffodils, the basics. You know, everything
else is just over winners years. Sometimes we move bulbs around.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Don't forget about the aliums.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Oh aliums. I love alums.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
They're so fun.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Do you guys have to pre chill any bulbs up there?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
So, yeah, that's a great question because a lot of
times people have to do that because they live in
such a warm climate. We have enough cold even when
the bolts are buried in the ground. If they overwin
her there, if we don't dig them up, they get
that that chill requirement to then grow and flower the
next year.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, yeah, see I have there's I don't have to
pre chill my daffodils, but I do have to pre
chill my tulips and crocus and hyacinths. I think I
can never remember the ones. But yeah, that's so lucky
because that's such a pain in the such a pain.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
But but I saw your picture.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
You've got that awesome like bulb fridge, which is like,
that's so cool, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
That's bolts for us right there.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
We'll have I know, well that was I mean that
that fridge was on its way to the dump and
I told my husband. I was like, no, no, no, no, no,
just go put it in.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
What a great use for that. You can preach.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
You could get some seeds, you know, you're cool, like
some seeds in there, and it does sprouted.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And yeah. So we started this podcast talking about fall
gardening and then got on a complete tangent, which I
have to say, I love because you guys are such
wonderful plant nerds, and I love talking to plant nerds
because I'm right there with you. Do you guys have
any other tips for success with fall gardening, Like say,
say someone listening as a beginner gardener, what what are
(14:31):
a couple of things that we need to know for
fall gardening to have success?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Good question to be successful fall gardening, just just understand
you're climbing enough to know when your last or your
first fall frostate is going to be, because that's going
to give you an indication of not only which plants
you need to plant at certain times before that frostate,
but also when your ground will actually start to freeze.
That's a good indication of good measure because you don't
(14:57):
want to be planning plants out in your garden when
you're rounds frozen, right. You know, it's it's just not
a good experience for anybody litt alone the plant, but
for you too, it's hard digging, you know, it's not fun.
So yeah, so make sure to understand your first fall
frost rate and we usually go to almanac dot com
to check that out. That's pretty accurate for us. I mean,
there's a lot of different tools out there for a
(15:20):
fall two. I mean, understand your soils that you have
in your garden. If you're planting, make sure that most
plants like to have a well draining soil. Most plants
don't do well in standing waters. So yeah, if you
don't have great drainage or the soil, you can't do
much of the soil. Something you can do is try
and get the flow of the water away from the plants.
Do some different drain you know, some drain ditches with
(15:43):
rocks or different ways of taking care of that to
channel it away. So, yeah, we think about a lot
up here about water because.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
It's a big issue for you guys.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Consider.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, I mean it is for us here in California too,
because we get zero rain, zero point zero rain during
the summer, but we get it all like in two months,
so it's kind of the same thing. You got to
think about it too. So sorry, Alison, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
But I was just I was thinking of another tip
that we get asked a lot, and this might be
helpful to just.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Now.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Going into fall, you're not going to want to fertilize
your plants, most of you, especially like you're you know,
the top dress type fertilizer right, because you don't want
to stimulate that growth for that plant going into like
the cooler seasons.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
We always when we plant new plants.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
We plant like we use like a biotone at planting time,
you know in the you know, in the planting hole.
And that's okay, that works for us here anyway. But
we don't do any surface fertilizing.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
To promote new growth, right. Yeah, when do you guys
get your first fall frost?
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Oh we are slay mid November, like the fifteen for
this year, it's it's about mid November.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, okay, yeah, do they sean do they do it
year to year? Do they change it year to year?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, oh they do what?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Like so for the almanac, Yeah, it just does this
like anywhere. And I mean, you know, some years it
gets colder sooner. Some years it stays warmer longer, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
So okay, I need to go check my first I
don't love me right back. Well, you guys are so awesome.
I love listening to you talk. You guys, are you
do that? You give the best talks. They're just so
informed of and interesting. And I set to say thank
you so much for being on the podcast. I'm really
(17:37):
I really really appreciate it, so thank you so much. Yeah.
I will link all of Spoken Gardens links in the
description down below. We've got their website. We've got their Instagram,
their YouTube, and even their Etsy shop where you can
get the book on the five different bolts which I'm
interested in now. Huge thank you to Sean and Allison,
(17:57):
and a huge thank you to all of you listening.
I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you have
a chance to get in your garden today. Thank you
so much to my podcast sponsor, Proven Winners. Visit your
local garden center today and look for the white containers
featuring the Proven Winner's logo. There's a reason they're the
number one plant brand that gardeners like me trust the most.
(18:21):
Visit Proven Winners dot com for tips, ideas, and so
much more. Dig Plant Water Repeat is produced in association
with Calaroga Shark Media. It was written and hosted by
me Janie Santos, with marketing and production assistance from Courtney Clark.
Please consider subscribing and watch us on YouTube or follow
(18:41):
us on your favorite podcast app of choice to get
alerts on all new episodes. And hey, if you liked
the show, give us a review and hit those five
stars on Apple. Executive producers are Mark Francis, John McDermott
and Janie Santos
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Calaruga shark Media,
Support for this podcast comes from Proven Winners, the plant
brand that gardeners of all experienced levels trust the most,
and the brand that I have personally trusted in my
own gardening journey since twenty twenty. Proven Winners selections, including annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs,
and even houseplants are simply amazing and all are trialed, tested,
(00:22):
and specifically chosen for one purpose and one purpose only
to ensure gardener success. Visit Provenwinners dot com and find
your next favorite plant today.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Callarogashawk Media.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hi everyone, Jane here, Welcome to my garden and welcome
to the Dig Plant Water Repeat Podcast. I am on
episode two with my friends Sean and Alison McManus from
the Spoken Garden. We're talking about all things fall in
the Pacific Northwest. Hi you guys, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Hi? Janne?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Really good? How are you good? Good?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We had so much to talk about. First episode ran
out of time, so I talked them intown to staying
on for one more episode. So Spoken Garden is I mean,
you guys are a dynamic duo. I would have to say.
You guys have YouTube channel, you have Instagram, you have
a website. You have a podcast, DIY Garden Minute, which
(01:36):
is so great and then also a fabulous book, So
congratulations to.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
All of that.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I so, last episode we were talking about gardening in
the Pacific Northwest and some of the things that you
guys were doing in your garden this season this episode,
do you have any tips for gardeners maybe things that
they should be thinking about in their garden for this fault?
Do you guys have any tips?
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Sure, we do, we have so many. How should we
break this down? Let's see mulching. Yes, mulching is something.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
That we highly recommend.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
A lot of your audience is probably already mulching, but
follows a great time to mulch, and there's so many
reasons why.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
There's so many benefits, right, yeah, I mean a couple
of different things. For mulching is not always a great
wead suppressor, but it's a great insulator, so insulate those
plane s. Especially here in the Pacific Northwest, we get
some a little bit of extreme cold, especially from our
neighbors up north to Canada, and we'll for about a
week or two sometimes, especially the last couple of years,
(02:37):
it'll get down to maybe zero ten degrees to zero
are even negative for a couple of weeks. Yeah, and
so a lot of our plants they're not exactly used
to it. A lot of them will are hardy to it.
But if you want to head your bets, especially protecting
the root systems, mulch is a great way to do that.
And so you know, two to four inches a mulch
your set well.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
And there's if we could offer a tip that we
would recommend to if you're please jump inchhot it.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
If your area, if your soil is.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Kind of dry, maybe you haven't had a lot of
moisture lately, we highly recommend watering first before you lay
your mulch down.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It just helps really or keep the moisture in.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Oh that's a great tip thing to do that, right,
but yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yeah, yeah, So what happens is, I mean, we've all
been going through a lot of drought. Our weather patterns
are kind of goofy right now. So if it's been drought,
if it's been really dry and you want to mulch
but it's been really dry, make sure to water because
you don't want to lock out the moisture. You want
to lock in the moisture because if you put this.
If you put the mulch down before you're putting the
(03:40):
moisture in there, you're creating another barrier for the water
to penetrate through, to percolate through, to get to the soil,
and then move through that soil profile. So if you
water first, then you put the mulch over, you're locking
that moisture and you're still insulating the plants. And actually
the moisture helps regulate the temperature a lot better. If
there's more moisture down there the road area, it helps
(04:01):
regulate that temperture level.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You guys, I feel so silly because I use mulch
all the time and I always talk about how important
it is.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
But we don't ever.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I never water before I put it down.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I don't think about I'm still going to work though,
right you know, I mean, I mean the benefits of
vulture still there. This is one of those little extra
you know.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, yeah, but you know I want to I want
all the extra stuff. And this is a real I've
never heard this step. This is really good. Thank you guys,
Thank you for all. Yeah, that's great. So mulch I
think is absolutely huge for fall gardening.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Definitely, Well it's gonna say, falls a great time to plant, too,
especially perennials. Definitely bulbs, but perennials, because the plants trying
to slow down, but you want them to get established
sooner for the next season. So planning now is a
great way to get a jump on next year's growth.
Get them established sooner, they'll they'll start growing sooner. They'll
(04:53):
still start flowering sooner. If you plant your perennials in
the spring, it's perfectly okay, but it's going to take
them a little bit longer to get established, establish that
root system, and then also start getting those flower buds ready,
so you'll be later in the season usually for flowering
if you plant in the spring.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, Plus we're so busy in the spring too, it's
nice to get some things done in the fall. I say,
for sure. Are you guys planting bulbs?
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Oh yeah, yes, Oh.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
We love bulbs. Oh my gosh, we could talk about
bulbs for love.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah. You have a is it a book or is
it a a course on bulbs? Don't you guys have
that on your Etsy shop?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
We do.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
We have a little just like a little fun e
book kind of.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Guys them actually on the inspiration Yeah, yeah, thanks for
bringing that up with you. So, you know, there's an
inspirational twenty one bowl and then there's a fall of
seven bulbs to add your garden this fall.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, that's fun. I don't know that we love one.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Well, we produced we actually created those back in twenty
twenty and so yeah, so and they're we made them
perennials so you can keep using me. That's so. But yeah,
we kind of sometimes we forget about all the different things.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
You know, you try, and so one thing we love
teaching others about wolves. That's that's a passion for us,
I guess, kind of a mini passion so different.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
They're just it's such a cool.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Plant form, you know, and there's just a lot to
know about bulbs, and that's something we kind of got
into with speaking engagements and whatnot, like in the Northwest
Hour and Garden Show and Tone and Garden Show and
some other online festivals. We just we found that we
love teaching about bulbs. It's such a random thing.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah, bolls are bolts are really unique. I mean you
probably those, but maybe some people don't. Bolts are so
unique because there are these tiny little things that are
maybe they're not so small, but they can be each
one can be hold in your hand. Some are the
size of small melons, but all the energy that they
need to survive, you know, be dormant and then grow
in the next year. It's right there, it's writing your hand.
(07:00):
It's amazing to you know, to start growing, develop the
roots and then pop up out of the soil, develop
those the leaves and the flowers. It has all of
that right there in that little structure. And you know,
in the in the plant world, that's pretty unique because
obviously not all plants are like that, you know, our perennials,
herbaceous or hard with the trees, the annuals, all these
different plants we have out there. Bulbs are very unique.
(07:22):
And there's actually five different kinds of bulbs for those
you know, those structures with all that energy. So I mean,
it's it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
We kind of geek out, sorry, which I love.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
I'm obsessed. Can I mean this, we're totally off topic,
but can you talk about the five different type of
bulbs because I always get so confused. I mean, you're
talking about like corms and and I don't I can't
even think of another.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
And it's like It's also varies depending on what source
you're talking to. There's different agencies out there that only
classify maybe well they just say there were either bulbs
or their corms or the rhizomes or whatever. There's three types,
some say four, some say five. We've with our research
five seems to be the average kind of that we
have found that that scientifically.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Works, right, So what are the what are they?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
So the five bulbs are based on a structure, and
so there's true bulbs, which are like aliens or daffodil. Yeah,
and so then there's the corns, which are like Chrocosmiam
glabior rembless. Then there's your rhizomes, which are basically, instead
(08:31):
of this ball, this mass of energy that stored up
rhizome is a horizontal stem and that's your irises.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So yeah, so if you ever look at.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
An iris, it's horizontal. It's this stem, this this structure,
and it goes across this way and then on one end,
one specific end, is your growing point. And then there's
always the roots are always on the bottom, they're not
everywhere all over the place like potato, which is a tuber.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
And then the fifth type would be a two root,
which is actually a dahlia that would be the most
a lot of people call dahia's tubers. Yeah, it's technically
not correct, but it's not a bad thing that I mean,
it really doesn't matter, right, I mean, it's just like
you're planting this beautiful thing.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
So the tuur, so a tuber will grow from like
a potato, the roots and the shoots, they'll grow anywhere
anywhere on that structure. Where for a tuberous root, it
has a central point that then radiates out all of
these you know, these underground storage structures, and the central
point has the that's where the area where the shoots
(09:35):
come out. So on these so if you think of
a tuberous rift like a dhia, the shoots aren't coming
from the radially attached structure. They're coming from the central point.
But then from a tuber, you know all those growing points,
roots and shoots from everywhere all over the surface of
that structure.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
So that's how what's an example of an like a
true tuber can you?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
I think on potato a potato.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
That's the funny thing. People don't think of potatoes as
an ornamental, but they do flower. We just think of
them as just a food. But if you lets want
to go, yeah right, but if you let them go,
they have a beautiful flower. I mean that's gorgeous, it's vibrant.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I don't think I've ever seen a potato flower.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, there's a couple of different kinds of potato flowers
out there, and people just don't think about it.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I would not even have thought we would be talking
about potatoes.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And that's what well. I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I love it, you guys. We got to take a
quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. We'll
be back in one second. All right, we are back
with the Dig Plant Water Repeat podcast, and we're here
with Sean and Alison McManus from the Spoking Garden. We
(10:50):
started this podcast talking about fall planting, and now we
somehow got on on bulbs, the five different kind of bulbs,
which are so interesting. I had no idea you guys
were so geeky about bulbs. I loved this. Yeah, I know,
I love it. So Sean, just go over real quick
the five different kinds of bulbs that we're talking about.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Tuobol, yeah, rhizome, tuber's root and a tuber.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Okay, all right, and do most of those. Do you
guys fall plant What zone are you in up in Washington?
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Well, we're kind of we have been eight B forever
in Takoma area. It's recently bumped up to nine A,
but we're still kind of I just say eight slash
nine A because it's kind of yeah, not everything in
nine A over winters that well.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So yeah, especially because you guys get so cold those
cold snaps, Like I feel like here because I'm nine B.
The coldest I ever get is like twenty five. I
think we've gotten down lower than that one, but it's
been like twenty years or something like that.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
So it's probably like one night, maybe a couple nights.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Right, exactly, exactly exactly. So you guys, what kind of
what kind of bulbs are you guys planting? You said
you have ranunculous Yes, right, tell me about yeah, tell
me where do you get your Where do you get
your bulbs? Anyway?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Good question. This is a little we we love. We
always work with Eden Brothers.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
We love them that we do a lot of video
for them, and they're just such an amazing company.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
We've had it.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
We have been growing their stuff for years and have
had like just amazing results or stuff is.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
High quality, beautiful?
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Yeah, good stuff, Yeah, highly recommend So we got this
cute little box of nunculous bulbs. We had no I
wouldn't even remember what we had ordered. This Q low
box shows up and we're like what is this? Open
it up and all these little squidty looking bulbs.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
They're so cute.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
There's like little rows of them, and we're like, oh,
they're just like tiny, like the size of a quarter maybe,
So we're.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Excited about that.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
So you guys are fall planting your ranunculous.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Yes we can't.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yes, you can.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
Then also tulips and daffodils, the basics. You know, everything
else is just over winners years. Sometimes we move bulbs around.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Don't forget about the aliums.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Oh aliums. I love alums.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
They're so fun.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Do you guys have to pre chill any bulbs up there?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
So, yeah, that's a great question because a lot of
times people have to do that because they live in
such a warm climate. We have enough cold even when
the bolts are buried in the ground. If they overwin
her there, if we don't dig them up, they get
that that chill requirement to then grow and flower the
next year.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, yeah, see I have there's I don't have to
pre chill my daffodils, but I do have to pre
chill my tulips and crocus and hyacinths. I think I
can never remember the ones. But yeah, that's so lucky
because that's such a pain in the such a pain.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
But but I saw your picture.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
You've got that awesome like bulb fridge, which is like,
that's so cool, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
That's bolts for us right there.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
We'll have I know, well that was I mean that
that fridge was on its way to the dump and
I told my husband. I was like, no, no, no, no, no,
just go put it in.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
What a great use for that. You can preach.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
You could get some seeds, you know, you're cool, like
some seeds in there, and it does sprouted.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And yeah. So we started this podcast talking about fall
gardening and then got on a complete tangent, which I
have to say, I love because you guys are such
wonderful plant nerds, and I love talking to plant nerds
because I'm right there with you. Do you guys have
any other tips for success with fall gardening, Like say,
say someone listening as a beginner gardener, what what are
(14:31):
a couple of things that we need to know for
fall gardening to have success?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Good question to be successful fall gardening, just just understand
you're climbing enough to know when your last or your
first fall frostate is going to be, because that's going
to give you an indication of not only which plants
you need to plant at certain times before that frostate,
but also when your ground will actually start to freeze.
That's a good indication of good measure because you don't
(14:57):
want to be planning plants out in your garden when
you're rounds frozen, right. You know, it's it's just not
a good experience for anybody litt alone the plant, but
for you too, it's hard digging, you know, it's not fun.
So yeah, so make sure to understand your first fall
frost rate and we usually go to almanac dot com
to check that out. That's pretty accurate for us. I mean,
there's a lot of different tools out there for a
(15:20):
fall two. I mean, understand your soils that you have
in your garden. If you're planting, make sure that most
plants like to have a well draining soil. Most plants
don't do well in standing waters. So yeah, if you
don't have great drainage or the soil, you can't do
much of the soil. Something you can do is try
and get the flow of the water away from the plants.
Do some different drain you know, some drain ditches with
(15:43):
rocks or different ways of taking care of that to
channel it away. So, yeah, we think about a lot
up here about water because.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
It's a big issue for you guys.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Consider.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, I mean it is for us here in California too,
because we get zero rain, zero point zero rain during
the summer, but we get it all like in two months,
so it's kind of the same thing. You got to
think about it too. So sorry, Alison, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
But I was just I was thinking of another tip
that we get asked a lot, and this might be
helpful to just.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Now.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Going into fall, you're not going to want to fertilize
your plants, most of you, especially like you're you know,
the top dress type fertilizer right, because you don't want
to stimulate that growth for that plant going into like
the cooler seasons.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
We always when we plant new plants.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
We plant like we use like a biotone at planting time,
you know in the you know, in the planting hole.
And that's okay, that works for us here anyway. But
we don't do any surface fertilizing.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
To promote new growth, right. Yeah, when do you guys
get your first fall frost?
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Oh we are slay mid November, like the fifteen for
this year, it's it's about mid November.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, okay, yeah, do they sean do they do it
year to year? Do they change it year to year?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, oh they do what?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Like so for the almanac, Yeah, it just does this
like anywhere. And I mean, you know, some years it
gets colder sooner. Some years it stays warmer longer, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
So okay, I need to go check my first I
don't love me right back. Well, you guys are so awesome.
I love listening to you talk. You guys, are you
do that? You give the best talks. They're just so
informed of and interesting. And I set to say thank
you so much for being on the podcast. I'm really
(17:37):
I really really appreciate it, so thank you so much. Yeah.
I will link all of Spoken Gardens links in the
description down below. We've got their website. We've got their Instagram,
their YouTube, and even their Etsy shop where you can
get the book on the five different bolts which I'm
interested in now. Huge thank you to Sean and Allison,
(17:57):
and a huge thank you to all of you listening.
I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you have
a chance to get in your garden today. Thank you
so much to my podcast sponsor, Proven Winners. Visit your
local garden center today and look for the white containers
featuring the Proven Winner's logo. There's a reason they're the
number one plant brand that gardeners like me trust the most.
(18:21):
Visit Proven Winners dot com for tips, ideas, and so
much more. Dig Plant Water Repeat is produced in association
with Calaroga Shark Media. It was written and hosted by
me Janie Santos, with marketing and production assistance from Courtney Clark.
Please consider subscribing and watch us on YouTube or follow
(18:41):
us on your favorite podcast app of choice to get
alerts on all new episodes. And hey, if you liked
the show, give us a review and hit those five
stars on Apple. Executive producers are Mark Francis, John McDermott
and Janie Santos
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Calaruga shark Media,
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