This episode is for those still subscribed. It is just a compilation of voiceovers I have done for KSL Newsradio and Utah Public Radio.

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Homegrown Horticulture podcast.

On today's episode we talk about what's wrong with Kwanzan Cherry. Then also we have two interviews from Savannah Peterson, a horticulturist with the Central Utah Water Conservancy District. She talks about irrigation and programs to get money back for re-landscaping your yard.

I was recently called to look at flowering Kwanzan Cherry at a neighbor's house. The tree was 78 years old and in the past has looked relatively healthy. And when it bloomed in the spring was quite pretty. But this spring, only about half the tree flowered. And once it was done flowering, it only had a couple of healthy branches. And so when I look at a tree or a shrub or another plant, I have a rough checklist I go through to help me narrow down what might be wrong with whatever I'm looking at. Oftentimes, just look at the yard in its entirety. How well is it maintained? How green is the grass? Are there weeds everywhere? This can give me some clues as to what might be going on. The first thing I noticed is that the grass is very green as compared to the neighbor's. It was recently fertilized but I don't think this has much to do with why the cherry is struggling. The next thing I noticed is that there's dandelions in the lawn, and so they haven't used a lawn weed killer. This can be important because a lot of times we see problems with trees and lawns where a weed and feed or another lawn weed killer has been applied. The next thing I checked was irrigation. The lawn is very green, and when I knelt down by the tree trunk, both of my knees were wet. This could indicate that the tree is getting too much water. When that happens, the water penetrates into the soil and drives oxygen and atmosphere out. This is bad for roots and can make the tree unhealthy and more susceptible to a number of root diseases. I next looked at the overall health of the trunk and branches. The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot of Southwest winter injury. This is where the sun heats the trunk up on the south and west side of the tree in the winter. As the bark heats up, it causes sap flow and at night the sap freezes and bursts the cells in the conductive tissue and over time the bark will start to slough off. Even though the bark hadn't fallen off yet, I noticed that when I cut some of the bark off that the conductive tissue underneath was in fact dead. I also cut some of the bark off at a very shallow angle on a couple of different spots in the tree. In both cases, the conductive tissue was either brown or light green, which wasn't a good indication that the tree was really healthy. With how many branches that had not leafed out, the Southwest winter injury, and the condition of the conductive tissue underneath the bark, I recommended to the homeowners that they might give it another couple of weeks to see if it forms any more leaves. I really don't think it will. But if it doesn't form any leaves, the silver lining is that fruit wood, especially cherry wood, makes great wood for smoking meat. And so the next best use for the tree will be smoking some meat for the summer so that the neighbors can enjoy it. I recommended to the homeowners that they dial back their irrigation a bit, especially since we're in a drought. Should they want to replant the tree, there are many species that would work. But some off the top of my head included many varieties and cultivars of crab apples because they're so adapted to our soils and they bloom so beautifully, and newer ones actually don't produce a lot of fruit. Or hawthorns because they have the same characteristics in being very strong trees. Thanks for listening, and I hope we do it again sometime.

And there's certain things you recommend that people do so that they can be successful. And the first one starts with the sprinkler clock.

Savannah 4:17

One term is...]]>Taun Beddes 0:01

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Homegrown Horticulture podcast.

On today's episode we talk about what's wrong with Kwanzan Cherry. Then also we have two interviews from Savannah Peterson, a horticulturist with the Central Utah Water Conservancy District. She talks about irrigation and programs to get money back for re-landscaping your yard.

I was recently called to look at flowering Kwanzan Cherry at a neighbor's house. The tree was 78 years old and in the past has looked relatively healthy. And when it bloomed in the spring was quite pretty. But this spring, only about half the tree flowered. And once it was done flowering, it only had a couple of healthy branches. And so when I look at a tree or a shrub or another plant, I have a rough checklist I go through to help me narrow down what might be wrong with whatever I'm looking at. Oftentimes, just look at the yard in its entirety. How well is it maintained? How green is the grass? Are there weeds everywhere? This can give me some clues as to what might be going on. The first thing I noticed is that the grass is very green as compared to the neighbor's. It was recently fertilized but I don't think this has much to do with why the cherry is struggling. The next thing I noticed is that there's dandelions in the lawn, and so they haven't used a lawn weed killer. This can be important because a lot of times we see problems with trees and lawns where a weed and feed or another lawn weed killer has been applied. The next thing I checked was irrigation. The lawn is very green, and when I knelt down by the tree trunk, both of my knees were wet. This could indicate that the tree is getting too much water. When that happens, the water penetrates into the soil and drives oxygen and atmosphere out. This is bad for roots and can make the tree unhealthy and more susceptible to a number of root diseases. I next looked at the overall health of the trunk and branches. The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot of Southwest winter injury. This is where the sun heats the trunk up on the south and west side of the tree in the winter. As the bark heats up, it causes sap flow and at night the sap freezes and bursts the cells in the conductive tissue and over time the bark will start to slough off. Even though the bark hadn't fallen off yet, I noticed that when I cut some of the bark off that the conductive tissue underneath was in fact dead. I also cut some of the bark off at a very shallow angle on a couple of different spots in the tree. In both cases, the conductive tissue was either brown or light green, which wasn't a good indication that the tree was really healthy. With how many branches that had not leafed out, the Southwest winter injury, and the condition of the conductive tissue underneath the bark, I recommended to the homeowners that they might give it another couple of weeks to see if it forms any more leaves. I really don't think it will. But if it doesn't form any leaves, the silver lining is that fruit wood, especially cherry wood, makes great wood for smoking meat. And so the next best use for the tree will be smoking some meat for the summer so that the neighbors can enjoy it. I recommended to the homeowners that they dial back their irrigation a bit, especially since we're in a drought. Should they want to replant the tree, there are many species that would work. But some off the top of my head included many varieties and cultivars of crab apples because they're so adapted to our soils and they bloom so beautifully, and newer ones actually don't produce a lot of fruit. Or hawthorns because they have the same characteristics in being very strong trees. Thanks for listening, and I hope we do it again sometime.

And there's certain things you recommend that people do so that they can be successful. And the first one starts with the sprinkler clock.

Savannah 4:17

One term is sprinkler clock. Another term that more people might be more familiar with is the smart controller. This is something to make sure, that you are not watering when you don't need to be, and that you're watering or irrigating different parts of your landscape in effective ways. So you don't want to be watering something that is drip for the same amount of time as you would water something with overhead spray. So a smart controller can help you have a little bit easier time managing those different areas.

Taun Beddes 4:45

One thing I like about them, at least the more modern ones is that you can actually download an app to your phone.

Savannah 4:53

Those are pretty nice too because there's some features with, say it rained yesterday, and you were scheduled to water today. Your Smart Controller might have access to weather data. And it'll know to delay that watering until it's actually needed in your landscape.

Taun Beddes 5:08

Next on here: Is a filter going to help people save water?

Savannah 5:12

Not necessarily, but it will help a ton on maintenance and installation. If you are using secondary water, it's likely that there will be some stuff in there that could clog your drip or your sprinkler system. So installing a filter is a pretty cheap way to make sure that you don't have to do a lot of repairs later.

Taun Beddes 5:29

After considering the filter, the next thing that you mentioned is drip irrigation. And there's actually a few different types.

Savannah 5:37

So we recommend point source or inline drip irrigation. Point source would be where you have individual emitters coming off of a drip hose that will go to specific plants. In line drip is a little drip hose that has holes in it that will disperse water along the hose, but close down to the ground. That's better for dense plantings. So if you're using something like a ground cover, maybe Creeping Thyme, using inline drip is maybe going to be easier than putting an emitter to each individual, teeny, tiny plant.

Taun Beddes 6:10

Do you have a preference? Or is it more just situational?

Savannah 6:14

I like Point Source drip a little better, where there's individual emitters, because the water is only going to exactly where it needs to be. Even for denser plantings using inline drip, there might be some patches of bare soil that are getting watered that don't need that water. But it is situational.

Taun Beddes 6:32

This isn't necessarily irrigation. The last thing I wanted to talk about was mulches and their importance in water conservation.

Savannah 6:39

We find that mulch is a great way to make sure that the water that makes it to the soil stays there for longer. It is great for water retention, and water is a little less likely to evaporate once it's under a mulch layer. So it's great for making sure that you get the most use out of the water that you're applying.

Taun Beddes 6:56

One thing I like about mulches also is that they're great for preventing weeds. And a lot of people like lawns because they choke weeds out, but with a couple of inches of mulch, that prevents most weeds from coming back.

Savannah 7:11

If you use three inches of mulch, whether that be bark, mulch, gravel, anything like that, you are pretty much being as effective as a weed barrier fabric. If you want to go a little overboard and put in four inches, that's great. Well, we'll take it and that just adds extra weight suppression.

Taun Beddes 7:27

Savannah, anything else?

Savannah 7:29

That's about it, try our programs.

Taun Beddes 7:32

Well, I appreciate that so much. And how do people locate your programs online?

Savannah 7:37

Go to utahwatersavers.com, and it will give you maps of the programs that are available in your area.

Taun Beddes 7:44

Savannah, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Savannah 7:47

Thank you.

I help friends for rebate programs. Two of them are landscaping related and those are the two that I work the most with, but they're called Flip your Strip and Local Scapes rewards.

Taun Beddes 8:07

And so on the Flip your Strip program, what does one need to do to qualify for the program?

Savannah 8:13

The first step is to go to utahwatersavers.com that has a list of all of the programs that we offer. If you go there, you can read up on Flip your Strip and the requirements. There's frequently asked questions (FAQs) and you can build your account there that you'll use to apply for the programs. The first step when you apply is to upload a photo of your park strip as is. We want to make sure that there's grass existing there and a measurement of the project area just so we can anticipate how much money you'll be getting for your rebate. The rebate amount is $1 per square foot of turf removed. If you attend our Waterwise Plant Strips class, you can get that bumped up to $1.25 which doesn't sound like a lot but it is significant. It bumps up the rebate quite a bit. But after you have submitted your application, we will schedule an initial visit to answer any questions when we come out and to take another measurement of the park strip. Once you are approved to get started, you do all the work and we will conduct another final visit. Some of the requirements that we will check during the final visit are that you have an appropriate drip irrigation system installed for your park strip because we don't want zones that are watering both turf and a drip system at the same time. The other thing we will check is that you are using three to four inches of mulch which is good for water retention and weed suppression. Another thing we check for is that there will be 50% plant coverage of the area at maturity. That requirement goes towards helping to mitigate the heat island effect. It is also required by a lot of cities and their municipal code. So we've designed our program to make sure that anybody doing this will not get in trouble with their city.

Taun Beddes 10:02

So your other program you have is the Local Scapes program.

Savannah 10:07

So this program is called Local Scapes Rewards. You can also find it on utahwatersavers.com, all of their requirements and instructions to apply. If you go to localscapes.com, you can also find a lot of information about the program. But this program is based on a set of design principles that are for designing your landscape to do well in Utah. We don't want to fully discourage grass like a xeriscape would. We want to make sure that any turf in the landscape is usable and functional and going to be watered efficiently. This program is just to help homeowners design something that is water efficient and usable and aesthetically pleasing.

Taun Beddes 10:50

So is this only for new homes? Or can anybody apply?

Savannah 10:55

This one is great because it is for anybody. It's not just specifically for people removing turf. If you're a new homeowner, this is a good spot to start.

Taun Beddes 11:03

So it sounds like it's fairly similar to Flip your Strip but it's more encompassing for an entire yard?

Savannah 11:07

Yes. And we recognize that it is expensive to landscape whole areas. So you can even apply for the program twice and do your front yard one year and your backyard another year. We just want this to be very accessible.

Taun Beddes 11:12

And there are rebates for this one too?

Savannah 11:16

Yes, this one is not per square foot. It's based on water savings which we calculate. One step in this program is to submit a designed plan that follows our local scapes principles, which will be reviewed by a technician. We have some one-on-one communication with homeowners to make sure that it fits our requirements and will qualify for a rebate and meets the homeowners' needs. Using that plan, we can quantify how much water will be saved by using this kind of landscape design.

Taun Beddes 11:52

Is there coverage across the entire Wasatch Front?

Savannah 11:55

For most of the Wasatch Front, yes. Using our coverage and Jordan Valley's coverage. Anybody in Salt Lake County I believe is eligible. Weber Basin I'm not sure offers the Localscapes program, but you can apply for Flip your Strip if your city is following their water-efficiency standards. That's another thing you can look up on their website.

Taun Beddes 12:14

For more information, what website should people access?

Savannah 12:18

utahwatersavers.com and localscapes.com

Taun Beddes 12:22

Thank you Savannah so much. I greatly appreciate it. I would like to thank Savannah Peterson for spending time with us. She authored and performed the intro and outro music and so thank you again to her for that. Today's show is a production of Utah State University Extension and is sponsored by the letters L the letter Q and pi, not apple pie but 3.14.

And by the way, if you're still listening, the show's over.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Hi all, there's been a lot of concerns about water restrictions coming this summer and I think most people are going to see them at least along the Wasatch Front. And if it's going to be possible to actually grow a garden with severe water restrictions. I know that Weber Basin water has announced you will only be watering once a week, and that includes both your lawn and your garden. In a garden situation, you can't just water once a week, once you put your vegetables in, because they need a month to six weeks to get established. What I would recommend doing is on the day of the week that you water, that's the day you plan to and you get some containers whether they're Rubbermaid containers, five gallon buckets, or even something bigger like a rain barrel, if you can find them, and fill those up on the day that it's your turn for irrigation. Those seeds a new plants that you just put in can be hand watered then on the days that is not your turn for irrigation. new plants actually don't require a lot of water to get established where something like a new pepper or a new tomato would be fine being watered three or maybe four days a week with around three or four cups of water. And over a period of a month or six weeks as the roots expand into the soil, you will need to water less often and things like tomatoes, and peppers, especially with use of some mulch of some sort will only need to be watered about once a week in most soils. I wanted to talk briefly about how to use mulch in the garden, you can put it around the plants and in between the rows and it not only helps hold water in the soil, but it actually does a great job of holding down weeds. Now the best free mulch I have ever seen are actually my grass clippings, I'll put two to three inches of fresh cut grass down on the soil and over a week or so at browns out and then it seems to compact just a bit. And it's a great barrier for most weeds. With the exception of something like maybe field bindweed which you're going to have to hand pull, the mulch that you put in will benefit the soil as it breaks down. And as I mentioned earlier, hold water in. And so with the use of mulch like grass clippings or bark, then you can get away with watering once or twice a week and your garden will actually be in really good shape. And that's assuming that it's established. I wanted to give a brief mention to what's called plastic mulch. And this is where you see gardeners putting down drip irrigation or drip hose stretching plastic over a row. And then they will go ahead and grow their plants up through the plastic by putting holes in it and then putting the seeds or transplants in there. The black plastic is very available from local hardware stores and box stores. You just want to make sure that is UV resistant. You also made need some landscape staples to help peg the hose down that you put under the plastic and to help hold the plastic in place. After I get the plastic placed. What I will do is then put soil on the sides of the plastic to hold it down. Now some concerns about plastic mulches.

There are a few concerns about plastic mulch one is is that the plastic is not recyclable, and so you do need to send it to the landfill at the end of the season. The other concern is irrigation. Let's say you have drip hose underneath your plastic mulch but you need to water more than once a week. In that situation, you'd have to have that saved water in your rain barrels or five gallon buckets or whatever. And you'd have to be able to water through the plastic and so you might need to make a bigger hole and even then make some sort of a basin around the plant. So as you carefully poured water in during the period, you can't irrigate, it's just a little bit more difficult to do. My other concern with plastic molter in the areas such as Sandy in the Leighton bench that have really sandy soils, this would include Clearfield and that little...]]>

Hi all, there's been a lot of concerns about water restrictions coming this summer and I think most people are going to see them at least along the Wasatch Front. And if it's going to be possible to actually grow a garden with severe water restrictions. I know that Weber Basin water has announced you will only be watering once a week, and that includes both your lawn and your garden. In a garden situation, you can't just water once a week, once you put your vegetables in, because they need a month to six weeks to get established. What I would recommend doing is on the day of the week that you water, that's the day you plan to and you get some containers whether they're Rubbermaid containers, five gallon buckets, or even something bigger like a rain barrel, if you can find them, and fill those up on the day that it's your turn for irrigation. Those seeds a new plants that you just put in can be hand watered then on the days that is not your turn for irrigation. new plants actually don't require a lot of water to get established where something like a new pepper or a new tomato would be fine being watered three or maybe four days a week with around three or four cups of water. And over a period of a month or six weeks as the roots expand into the soil, you will need to water less often and things like tomatoes, and peppers, especially with use of some mulch of some sort will only need to be watered about once a week in most soils. I wanted to talk briefly about how to use mulch in the garden, you can put it around the plants and in between the rows and it not only helps hold water in the soil, but it actually does a great job of holding down weeds. Now the best free mulch I have ever seen are actually my grass clippings, I'll put two to three inches of fresh cut grass down on the soil and over a week or so at browns out and then it seems to compact just a bit. And it's a great barrier for most weeds. With the exception of something like maybe field bindweed which you're going to have to hand pull, the mulch that you put in will benefit the soil as it breaks down. And as I mentioned earlier, hold water in. And so with the use of mulch like grass clippings or bark, then you can get away with watering once or twice a week and your garden will actually be in really good shape. And that's assuming that it's established. I wanted to give a brief mention to what's called plastic mulch. And this is where you see gardeners putting down drip irrigation or drip hose stretching plastic over a row. And then they will go ahead and grow their plants up through the plastic by putting holes in it and then putting the seeds or transplants in there. The black plastic is very available from local hardware stores and box stores. You just want to make sure that is UV resistant. You also made need some landscape staples to help peg the hose down that you put under the plastic and to help hold the plastic in place. After I get the plastic placed. What I will do is then put soil on the sides of the plastic to hold it down. Now some concerns about plastic mulches.

There are a few concerns about plastic mulch one is is that the plastic is not recyclable, and so you do need to send it to the landfill at the end of the season. The other concern is irrigation. Let's say you have drip hose underneath your plastic mulch but you need to water more than once a week. In that situation, you'd have to have that saved water in your rain barrels or five gallon buckets or whatever. And you'd have to be able to water through the plastic and so you might need to make a bigger hole and even then make some sort of a basin around the plant. So as you carefully poured water in during the period, you can't irrigate, it's just a little bit more difficult to do. My other concern with plastic molter in the areas such as Sandy in the Leighton bench that have really sandy soils, this would include Clearfield and that little portion of West Point also, I would consider skipping the plastic mulch and sticking to something more like grass. Because your soil is so well drained. Another thing you can do is consider actually gardening in the bottom of the furrow. Normally we plant on top of the furrow. But in your situation because it's so hard for the soil to retain water. You would do your furrows and actually plant in the bottom of the furrow so that as water drains it stays at the bottom of the for a while longer than it will the top. And so in conclusion, I do think that we can still garden with us, even with restrictions of watering once a week as long as we're able to save some water for the in between time. And that's especially important for the first third of the season while you're getting your plants established and I hope we get a wetter spring than usual so that we don't have to actually deal with this

Taun Beddes 0:00

I'm with Gabi Murza, who is a Utah State University employee. Gabi, how are you doing?

Gabi Murza 0:05

I'm doing really well. Thank you.

Taun Beddes 0:07

So what is it you do for Utah State University?

Gabi Murza 0:10

I am one of the extension faculty. I work with the Heart Initiative, which is the health extension advocacy research and teaching initiative. And what we basically do is we do programming and events and other activities that address the opioid epidemic in the state of Utah, and other types of public health issues as well.

Taun Beddes 0:31

We know that opioids are a big problem. And I've read recently, there's been a lot of overdoses through COVID and even after and so in what ways are you specifically working to reduce opioid addiction,

Gabi Murza 0:47

there are a lot of different ways. And so the heart initiative does do you know, things like Naloxone training and community opioid education dinner's in more of the rural counties where there might not be a lot of education or resources. And then from the other side of things is more on the behavioral health aspect and physical activity aspect or when you think of injury prevention, so preventing injury preventing pain from occurring, so to avoid having to use opioids or using them for a longer amount of time. So that's kind of my approach in it that I bring into into this initiative.

Taun Beddes 1:25

So that leads us to the first main question is why is minimizing pain and preventing injury in the garden. So important.

Gabi Murza 1:32

there are a couple of reasons why I mean, when we think of gardening, and I'm thinking that your audience who's listening to this, a lot of them are gardeners or they enjoy gardening, but a lot of us when we when we think of gardening or when we have garden, we know what we may feel like at the end of the day, right? Our back hurts, our knees hurts, sometimes we overdid it. And so the the experience of pain and injury is sometimes can be a little too real for us. If we've experienced any of those things, and there are a lot of challenges to gardening, I mean, it is considered an exercise. So warming up, cooling down, taking breaks, hydrating, those kinds of things that you would consider when you're working out or when you're doing some kind of other physical activity. Sometimes our expectations so for example, I'll use myself as an example. Even though I teach most of my work, most of the things that I do is I sit in an office, I work on the computer, that's most of my day. And then on the weekends, or in the evenings, I go out and garden at home, I have a lot of stuff to do sometimes in the garden. And I feel like I have to do it all at the same time, because I only have the weekend. And so I try to do all of it. And that's just not realistic for myself or for anybody who's just who gardens for fun or relaxation versus someone who's in a landscaping business, you know, who does this more as a living. So our expectations of what our body can handle versus the reality of it can also lead to those injuries. And so those are some of those things that we have to consider. If we are trying to minimize that pain. Later on.

Taun Beddes 3:09

I don't know the number of times I've been outside, decide to even like mow the lawn or rake leaves. And while you're doing it, it's fine. But you come in and an hour later, it feels like you've been run over by a dump truck. Yes, exactly. Or you've been out working and all of a sudden you just a wrong move. And it's not necessarily if you know it's something really heavy, but you just turn wrong. And you can hardly walk back in because you've strained your back so badly. Yeah. And so it doesn't seem like it up front. But that jumping from injury working outside in the garden and doing horticultural related things, to going to the doctor for pain meds isn't that much of a leap.

Gabi Murza 3:51

It can also depend on a person's physical activity and physical strength and abilities and you know, things like that, that come into play as well.

Taun Beddes 4:01

So what are some of the most common ways people are injured working in the garden garden?

Gabi Murza 4:07

Well, we think of bodily injury. So of course, things can happen in the garden where we might get injured by tools that we use. So you know, like lawn mowers and weed whackers and things like that, like tremors those are things but what I'm really talking about is more of the repetitive strain injuries. So we call them RSI, and those are probably the most common so those are like the the pain that we feel in our muscles and our tendons and our nerves from either doing a repetitive activity or from over use or overdoing something. So for example, maybe you're holding something incorrectly and it pulls on your thumb and you don't realize it right and so you can develop an injury ligament injury in your thumb. Maybe you're weeding so you're pulling weeds for a long time and you're kneeling down on your knees and your back is arched and stuff. And so you're in that position. And you're doing that for a long time. And that can hurt your lower back. Those are examples of some of those RSI so those repetitive strain injuries.

Taun Beddes 5:13

what are some of your recommendations to help minimize the pain,

Gabi Murza 5:18

we can do three things so we can adapt to the garden, we can adapt the tools and or we can adapt ourselves. So for example, adapting the garden would be things that you would do structurally, or with the landscaping to help to help you be able to move around the garden and to make it a little more user friendly. So for the things like raised beds that help so you're not kneeling over so much. You can also do things that promote less weeding. So maybe the types of plants that you put in or the types of things that you can put in to minimize weeding. So that are to minimize the weeds coming up. If you're going to adapt your tools, there are ergonomic tools that are made to help make using those tools a little bit easier. You can also find tools that are better equipped for you as a person. So for example, finding if you're going to use a long handle tool, like a shovel or a rake or a hoe, find ones and you're a tall person find ones with a longer handle. I know some of this is easier said than done. But again, these are just kind of recommendations. But finding a long handle tool that is appropriate for your size and your height so that you're not hunching over. You can also find attachments to retro fit your tools that you have. I'm not talking about buying brand new tools. But there are attachments and things that you can put on your tools to make them a little bit easier to use. And then the last one about adapting yourself. So these are things like scheduling tasks. So for example, again, I'm gonna use myself is that this one weekend that I had, and I've done this so many times, but this one weekend, I had a bunch of stuff to do. I pulled weeds I planted flowers, I I took care of the dead stuff around you, I think I even put in like drip irrigation. I tried to do this in like a day and a half or something like that. And I was hurting for a couple of days. So I finally decided to schedule these tasks. And I work best in the morning, before I go to work. So I actually set time. I got up half an hour early. And I set my clock to 20 minutes. And I wrote down each day what task I was going to do put in drip irrigation next day I planted a flower. I consciously made that effort. So adapting yourself would be things like scheduling tasks. The other thing would be changing tasks more often, generally, you want to change tasks about every 20 to 25 minutes. So if you're pulling weeds, do that for about maybe 20 ish minutes, and then move to something where you're standing straight up, and you're not straining that back again, we want to change your tasks pretty often. Hydrating is really important. Sometimes we don't think about that. But make sure you always have a bottle with you dressing appropriately and then asking for help.

Taun Beddes 8:09

So when you say dressing appropriately, you're talking things that will prevent you from getting injury.

Gabi Murza 8:15

Oh, yeah, you know, sometimes we think of sun protection. So wearing a hat wearing sunglasses, but also wearing knee pads, I have gotten used to wearing knee pads because those those are stuck, right? Those will go with me everywhere I go. Also dressing appropriately, meaning wearing appropriate clothes to where you're not stifled, you're not overheating, your clothes are letting you breathe comfortably letting you move around comfortably, but also protecting you gloves and long pants and things like that that'll help protect you from other types of injuries that you can get either something doesn't hit your leg.

Taun Beddes 8:50

You have worked with multiple groups along the Wasatch Front in workshops with injury prevention. And so when you put on and facilitate one of these workshops, what sorts of activities do you teach your participants?

Gabi Murza 9:05

We talk about how to be realistic in your expectations. What are some of the common injuries that can happen? What are some ways that we handle those when we have injury when we have pain, and then we get into the best practices that come from orthopedic experts, the physical fitness realm, we also look at how to how to adapt the the garden, how to adapt your tools and how to prepare yourself but then the main part of it is being able to go to an outdoor setting like a garden, grab some tools, and practice these movements. So how to kneel correctly, how to bend down and pick something up correctly, and how to lift it correctly. How to carry it so you're kind of protecting your back. How do you use long handled tools and so being able to engage the correct muscles, the right muscles, to be able to help protect your things like your risk and your knees and your back in your shoulders. That's the biggest part of this is just having that hands on component.

Taun Beddes 10:07

IF somebody wants to contact you about maybe putting on a workshop for a community group or a group of volunteers. What's the best way to get a hold of you?

Gabi Murza 10:16

If you go to the Utah State University Extension in Utah County website? My information is there. My full name is actually Gabriela Murza, I just everyone calls me Gabby. But you can find my contact information there, you can call the Utah County Extension office. And there, you can be patched directly to my extension, or you can send me an email and that information is on the Utah County Extension website. So do you have any final thoughts? Gardening is an exercise so we kind of have to treat it as such, it's important to stretch, there's a lot of power and stretching, there's a lot of power and hydrating and you know, kind of preparing ourselves in being able to garden effectively and so we're not hurting ourselves. And essentially everything that we do we want to try to incorporate things that help promote healthy posture movements and kind of maintenance of those activities and the things that we love.

Taun Beddes 11:11

Well, thank you very much. We greatly appreciate you taking the time.

Unknown Speaker 11:15

Yeah, thanks again for having me.

08:43 Dr. Kelly Kopp on Lawn Watering

Elm Seed Bug

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/caps/files/elm-seed-bug-2017.pdf

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/ornamental-pest-guide/arthopods/scales/pine-needle-scale

See transcripts.

usual.usu.edu

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/ornamental-pest-guide/diseases/anthracnose

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/ornamental-pest-guide/arthopods/scales/sycamore-scale

Taun Beddes

0:00

I wanted to put out a quick apology for missing an episode last week. I've been extremely busy. And part of last week I was under the weather. So thank you again for your patience and thank you for listening.

TB

Taun Beddes

0:11

Hello and welcome back to the homegrown horticulture podcast. On this week's episode: lawn weed control.

TB

Taun Beddes

0:19

The homegrown horticultural podcast is specifically for the Intermountain West areas like Denver, Reno, Salt Lake City and Boise, and all points in between. We have unique soils and a unique climate like nowhere else in the United States.

TB

Taun Beddes

0:35

Several years ago, I worked for a large retail nursery, and one of my responsibilities was helping landscape contractors. One particular landscaper used his home as a showpiece where he would show them everything he could do as a landscape contractor in an effort to land the bid to install their landscape. One thing that this contractor really prided himself on, was his great looking lawn. For a long time when you looked at it, it was totally green, perfectly manicured and there wasn't a weed in sight. After a few years, the lawn started to turn yellow and have other problems and nothing that the contractor did seem to fix the problem. I was sent by the nursery to take a look at the lawn and I found that it was being mowed about an inch and a half high water daily and fertilize six or seven times a year. I told the landscaper to water a couple of times a week deeply raises more blades up to two and a half to three inches and to cut his fertilizer applications in half. I don't know if he ever did or not. He wasn't very pleased with my answer.

TB

Taun Beddes

1:43

But my reason for telling this story is to introduce the topic of reasonable lawn expectations contract contrary to the belief of many, it's just fine to have a few weeds in your lawn and a few brown spots, especially with our drought situation in many parts of the West. So very briefly, some things you can do to maintain a healthy lawn is to mow at a height of three inches. I know the grass can be a little bit more Shaggy, but it allows the roots to grow more deeply and allows the grass to become more drought tolerant. Additionally fertilize on an as needed basis and not on a calendar. Most lawns in the Intermountain West will survive just fine being fertilized two to three times a year. That would be once in the spring once in late summer and once in late fall, trying to time that last application with a rain or snow storm between mid October and early November. As far as irrigation and an average loamy soil. You should be irrigating once to twice a week over your lawn so that water penetrates into the soil about six inches to a foot deep, heavier clay soil should be watered more often but with less water because the water doesn't penetrate as deeply into the clay. Likewise with sandy soils, you should water more often but with less water because they're so well drained. Water easily penetrates to a depth of six inches to a foot and so add water three to four times a week. Just like keeping our own bodies healthy. Maintaining your lawns correctly, will maintain the lawn health and reduce the number of weeds that actually can invade the lawn. There will always be a few but these will be easily pulled by hand or popped out with a screwdriver or something. And it's usually the overly maintained lawns or under maintained lawns that are more susceptible to weeds which is going to be today's topic. Keep in mind also that healthy lawns that are mowed high, shade out weeds and crowd weeds out because the lawn is so thick.

TB

Taun Beddes

3:48

The first weed I want to talk about are dandelions. They are native to Europe and Asia but have...]]>Wed, 5/19 · 10:19 AM

Taun Beddes

0:00

I wanted to put out a quick apology for missing an episode last week. I've been extremely busy. And part of last week I was under the weather. So thank you again for your patience and thank you for listening.

TB

Taun Beddes

0:11

Hello and welcome back to the homegrown horticulture podcast. On this week's episode: lawn weed control.

TB

Taun Beddes

0:19

The homegrown horticultural podcast is specifically for the Intermountain West areas like Denver, Reno, Salt Lake City and Boise, and all points in between. We have unique soils and a unique climate like nowhere else in the United States.

TB

Taun Beddes

0:35

Several years ago, I worked for a large retail nursery, and one of my responsibilities was helping landscape contractors. One particular landscaper used his home as a showpiece where he would show them everything he could do as a landscape contractor in an effort to land the bid to install their landscape. One thing that this contractor really prided himself on, was his great looking lawn. For a long time when you looked at it, it was totally green, perfectly manicured and there wasn't a weed in sight. After a few years, the lawn started to turn yellow and have other problems and nothing that the contractor did seem to fix the problem. I was sent by the nursery to take a look at the lawn and I found that it was being mowed about an inch and a half high water daily and fertilize six or seven times a year. I told the landscaper to water a couple of times a week deeply raises more blades up to two and a half to three inches and to cut his fertilizer applications in half. I don't know if he ever did or not. He wasn't very pleased with my answer.

TB

Taun Beddes

1:43

But my reason for telling this story is to introduce the topic of reasonable lawn expectations contract contrary to the belief of many, it's just fine to have a few weeds in your lawn and a few brown spots, especially with our drought situation in many parts of the West. So very briefly, some things you can do to maintain a healthy lawn is to mow at a height of three inches. I know the grass can be a little bit more Shaggy, but it allows the roots to grow more deeply and allows the grass to become more drought tolerant. Additionally fertilize on an as needed basis and not on a calendar. Most lawns in the Intermountain West will survive just fine being fertilized two to three times a year. That would be once in the spring once in late summer and once in late fall, trying to time that last application with a rain or snow storm between mid October and early November. As far as irrigation and an average loamy soil. You should be irrigating once to twice a week over your lawn so that water penetrates into the soil about six inches to a foot deep, heavier clay soil should be watered more often but with less water because the water doesn't penetrate as deeply into the clay. Likewise with sandy soils, you should water more often but with less water because they're so well drained. Water easily penetrates to a depth of six inches to a foot and so add water three to four times a week. Just like keeping our own bodies healthy. Maintaining your lawns correctly, will maintain the lawn health and reduce the number of weeds that actually can invade the lawn. There will always be a few but these will be easily pulled by hand or popped out with a screwdriver or something. And it's usually the overly maintained lawns or under maintained lawns that are more susceptible to weeds which is going to be today's topic. Keep in mind also that healthy lawns that are mowed high, shade out weeds and crowd weeds out because the lawn is so thick.

TB

Taun Beddes

3:48

The first weed I want to talk about are dandelions. They are native to Europe and Asia but have become established worldwide. there either by annual or short lived perennial and mainly bloom in the spring. Although they can sporadically bloom through the summer as I watch social media. A lot of people actually do not consider these weeds because they're edible and they're utilized by pollinators, especially honey bees, and especially in the beekeeping crowd every time I see a post on Facebook about people saying how do I control dandelions. There's several people that comment. These aren't weeds, leave them alone, the pollinators are struggling, just put up with them. And then there's the other crowd that considers these a weed and has no problems removing them.

TB

Taun Beddes

4:39

Personally if I have a few in my lawn or a few in my garden space, I don't consider them weeds. My daughter likes to pick the flowers. And in a way I think they're kind of pretty, but when they start to get really excessive, I will go ahead and control them. Now my first defense against dandelions as we mentioned earlier is a healthy lawn Number two is just a simple dandelion digger, I can get from the hardware store for between three and $5. They work really effectively and you can pop a couple of dandelions a minute. And so if you only have 15 or 20 in your lawn, you can probably have them out in just a couple of hours. For extreme situations, I will use a lawn weed killer. There are several brands available and you don't need to spend a lot of money. We like to spray them in the spring, but they're actually best sprayed out in the fall because the poison goes down to the root and you get a better kill before they go to flower and spread more seeds.

TB

Taun Beddes

5:41

The next weed on the list is prostrate spurge. Prostrate spurge, is an annual that germinates when soil temperatures are between 50 and 60 degrees. We don't notice prostrate spurge as much in the spring because it focuses its energy and efforts on sending down a long taproot so that you can grow during the middle of the summer. And with this long taproot and other adaptations, it's quite drought tolerant. And so we really start to notice it in late June into July because these adaptations allow it to outcompete lawns that are not maintained correctly, that really starts to get aggressive and flowerbeds and gardens during the same period of time.

TB

Taun Beddes

6:23

Another reason you may see it show up unexpectedly is because a few plants can produce 1000s of seeds and within just a couple of years, it can take over an entire area. Out of fear of sounding like a broken record here. The best way to keep this out of your lawn is to maintain a healthy lawn. If it does get loose, then as quickly as possible try to fix the management problems with the lawn so you can suppress the weed from spreading further. And so if you found it in your lawn, one of the best methods of control includes herbicides in the spring if you apply a pre emergent for crabgrass. Most of these pre emergent products will also help suppress prostrate spurge. There is a particular preemergent is not as commonly used on lawns that's really good against broadleaf weeds like prostrate spurge. It is Isoxaben. I used to be sold under the brand gallery or Galleria. As far as the homeowner market, I currently see it sold by the company formerly known as Bayer who changed their name to BioAdvanced. Their product is called "Season Long Weed Control for Lawns.

TB

Taun Beddes

7:35

A problem that we often run into though with spurge is that we don't see it until July. And if you want to use what's called a post-emergent herbicide that would be something like a dandy lion killer in the middle of the summer it is just flat out too hot to use them. Temperature restrictions vary on these particular products from 80 to 90 degrees, where it is too hot to use them but in the middle of the summer. Even if you apply at night or early morning when it's below these restrictions, I still see that there's potential for them to vaporize and drift in the air and potentially damaged desirable plants that are adjacent to where you sprayed. There are potentially a few lawn weed killers that could be used in the middle of the summer, but I hesitate because they do have some restrictions that other more common lawn weed killers do not. If you have questions about these, contact me through the Homegrown Horticulture page on Facebook where we can answer questions.

TB

Taun Beddes

8:33

As I mentioned earlier, prostrate spurge is not exclusive to lawns but is also a common weed and flower beds and gardens. There are actually some expanded control options in these areas. The first pesticide free method I want to talk about is cultivation. This involves mechanically severing the roots from the top of the weeds using something like a gardening hoe. It needs to be done weekly but can be very effective.

TB

Taun Beddes

9:01

The next control method is mulching. Plant based mulches are the most common where they're usually made of something like ground up, chipped, or shredded bark. Especially in vegetable gardens, grass clippings are also very common. These should be applied before the weeds come up or just after you finish cleaning weeds out so that they can suppress any further germination.

TB

Taun Beddes

9:24

One caution with grass clippings is that you do not want to put them in your flower beds or your garden if they've recently had a pesticide applied to them especially something like weed and feed or a dandelion killer. If you have applied such things, consult the label of whatever was applied for specifics on this.

TB

Taun Beddes

9:41

One final method that does not involve use of pesticides I will mention but with a lot of caution is burning the weeds using a weed torch. Weed torches can be purchased for anywhere from about $50 to $100 from a local hardware store or online. A lot of people think that they might be fun to use and they can be, but you really have to be cautious with these. They're only really effective against weeds that are less than about an inch and a half tall. Much taller than that and you will burn the leaves off the tops of the weeds, but it doesn't get down into the crown, and the weeds just regenerate. Another caution about these is that because you're playing with fire, if you're spraying weeds in an area where there's a lot of dead undergrowth or dead weeds underneath, it will start those on fire too. And it's really common for these to get out of control. One of our major wildfires last year, it was actually started by somebody using a weed torch. Another precaution includes do not use a weed torch on top of bark mulch. The bark mulch, if it's extremely dry could also start on fire.

TB

Taun Beddes

10:49

If you choose to use chemical controls in your flowerbeds to prevent spurge, the best option includes pre emergent products. Pre emergent products control weeds as they germinate as they send their little root out before the leaves emerge on top. The active ingredient in the pre emergents prevents that root from growing and then the little seedling just dies. The pre immergent branded Preen is extremely common for both flower bed and garden use. But if you look at the label, prostrate spurge is not included in the weeds that preen controls. The off brand or oftentimes the storebrand version of Preen called treflan, tr e f l a n. It also does not include spurge as a weed that's controlled on the labeling. They're not as popular as Preen, but especially garden centers and farm stores carry other pre emergent products that are registered for use at least in flower beds. Oftentimes not gardens though. I f you choose to use these spurge is often listed as a weed that will at least be suppressed just make sure and follow the instructions on the label to avoid getting into trouble. If there's enough space in between plants and you choose to you might be able to use a glyphosate product such as roundup in your flowerbeds or garden to remove the newly germinated weeds. I don't really recommend it because you never know when you're going to mess up. But follow the label and you may have to cover the plants if you choose to. But I just wanted to put out there it is an option.

TB

Taun Beddes

12:21

The next weed on the list is crabgrass. There's lots of confusion about weedy grasses to where oftentimes we just call every weedy grass crabgrass or barnyard grass to where there's actually several species that infest our lawn that look quite similar, but control options for these grasses can sometimes be quite different. And so if you already have weedy grass in your lawn, it's most likely not crabgrass unless you live in the St. George area or other extremely warm areas.

TB

Taun Beddes

12:52

Crabgrass germinates when soil temperatures are between 50 and 60 degrees, and like spurge it doesn't really rear its ugly head until late June and July. And it's usually at its worst through August and September, and then it's killed out by hard frost. So crabgrass is what we would call a summer annual to where it germinates in the spring and dies in the fall. Knowing this lifecycle is very important because it helps us actually control the grass and our lawns. I'll repeat before I get into chemical controls that maintaining a healthy lawn will do a lot to fight against crabgrass, depending on your particular location. There are several brands of pre emergent weed killer, they're specifically branded for crabgrass. They include such brands as Pre M, Dimension and B arricade, but there are many others out there. They should be applied when the bush forsythia is in bloom. Those are the big yellow bushes you see in early spring and that's generally good timing to get that pre emergent applied. Follow the instructions on the bag. These pre emergent products are often bundled with a fertilizer, thus making it possible to multitask in early spring. Right now, most listeners are going to live in areas where forsythia has already bloomed. And it's too late to put down and pre emergent. It is still cool enough in most areas to apply a lawn weed killer. If you're going to there are some out there that will have some post emergent control of crabgrass. They will say something like Ortho Weed B Gone with crabgrass control, or weed and feed with crabgrass control. The active ingredient in these products is quinclorac, which is also quite effective against many other weeds. At this point, if you do suspect you have crabgrass germinating, then these would probably be effective at least at suppressing it.

TB

Taun Beddes

14:50

Well folks, I think I'm going to call this an episode I have some more weeds I want to talk about but it will have to wait. Thank you again for listening and I will talk with you next week.

TB

Taun Beddes

15:03

The homegrown horticulture Podcast is a production of Utah State University Extension show music was written by Savannah Peterson, a Utah State University horticulture assistant and talented artists. Thank you to her. Thank you again for listening

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0:03 Intro

Hello and welcome back to the homegrown horticulture podcast. Today we're going to be talking all things roses. The homegrown horticulture podcast is specifically for the Intermountain West, an area often forgotten about by national gardening companies. If you just found us or have been listening for a long time, welcome, and thank you again.

0:27 Roses Intro

In a former career, I worked at a garden center for nearly 15 years before being hired by Utah State University. While working at the nursery, one thing I always loved was when the roses came out for retail sale, we would have 1000s of roses and dozens of varieties and it was fun to just talk to people about them and ask them what they had grown. One thing that I noticed was that the customers were often confused by the sheer number and types of roses. And it was often confusing trying to figure out what to buy. I attempted to explain to the customers that roses can be classified on how tall they grow, and also how they flower.

1:07 Roses by how tall they grow

And so as far as how tall they grow, I'm going to start with the shortest, which would be miniature roses, which I'm not really going to focus on. They don't seem to do very well outdoors in the Intermountain West.

The next tallest would be ground cover roses, but they're not super common either. They survive just fine. They flower a lot of the summer, but I think it's just the nature of them being thorny, and trying to have to clean them out or if you lose a ball or something in them that sometimes prevents them from being more popular.

Going in ascending order. The next biggest are the bush roses. These can grow just a few feet high and wide to certain species that can grow up to 10 to 15 feet high and wide just depending on the genetics.

The final classification of roses includes the climbers, but these aren't really climbing plans in the true sense of the word. They more just grow really long and need to be supported with a trellising system. The next concept I want to talk about are flowering characteristics.

2:11 Classification of rose flowers

So the first classification are the floribunda roses. These have been bred to be very profuse where one bush can have hundreds of blossoms on it at any given time. Floribunda roses that only grow to three to four feet high and wide are very useful as hedge roses because you can just give them a light haircut and that will cause a new flush of blossoms to come out. They generally bloom from late spring until after the first hard frost in the fall.

Most knockout roses, which is a wildly popular series of hedge and bush roses would be considered floribunda roses. A few other popular floribunda types include Betty Boop, Monkey Business, Sexy Rexy, Hot Cocoa and Lagerfeld.

The next popular classification is called grandiflora rose. Plants classified as grandiflora will have larger showier your flowers but will have fewer flowers than the floribunda and these flowers are usually in clusters of three to five flowers. A couple of very popular grandiflora type flowers include Queen Elizabeth and fame.

The final flower type I want to mention include the hybrid tea roses. When the flowers appear on a rosebush, they appear on a long stem with a single flower. These are the kinds of roses that you find at the grocery store and at florists that you give to others. They're by far the most popular type of roses that we purchase at local garden centers to plant in our yards. Some of my favorite hybrid tea roses include double delight, Mr. Lincoln, Peace, Rio Samba, and Chrysler Imperial. There are so many others out there that will do quite well though. And don't just limit yourself to these that I've mentioned.

3:58 Climbing Roses

I wanted to briefly talk about climbing roses because the flowers can be several different styles, but I...]]>

0:03 Intro

Hello and welcome back to the homegrown horticulture podcast. Today we're going to be talking all things roses. The homegrown horticulture podcast is specifically for the Intermountain West, an area often forgotten about by national gardening companies. If you just found us or have been listening for a long time, welcome, and thank you again.

0:27 Roses Intro

In a former career, I worked at a garden center for nearly 15 years before being hired by Utah State University. While working at the nursery, one thing I always loved was when the roses came out for retail sale, we would have 1000s of roses and dozens of varieties and it was fun to just talk to people about them and ask them what they had grown. One thing that I noticed was that the customers were often confused by the sheer number and types of roses. And it was often confusing trying to figure out what to buy. I attempted to explain to the customers that roses can be classified on how tall they grow, and also how they flower.

1:07 Roses by how tall they grow

And so as far as how tall they grow, I'm going to start with the shortest, which would be miniature roses, which I'm not really going to focus on. They don't seem to do very well outdoors in the Intermountain West.

The next tallest would be ground cover roses, but they're not super common either. They survive just fine. They flower a lot of the summer, but I think it's just the nature of them being thorny, and trying to have to clean them out or if you lose a ball or something in them that sometimes prevents them from being more popular.

Going in ascending order. The next biggest are the bush roses. These can grow just a few feet high and wide to certain species that can grow up to 10 to 15 feet high and wide just depending on the genetics.

The final classification of roses includes the climbers, but these aren't really climbing plans in the true sense of the word. They more just grow really long and need to be supported with a trellising system. The next concept I want to talk about are flowering characteristics.

2:11 Classification of rose flowers

So the first classification are the floribunda roses. These have been bred to be very profuse where one bush can have hundreds of blossoms on it at any given time. Floribunda roses that only grow to three to four feet high and wide are very useful as hedge roses because you can just give them a light haircut and that will cause a new flush of blossoms to come out. They generally bloom from late spring until after the first hard frost in the fall.

Most knockout roses, which is a wildly popular series of hedge and bush roses would be considered floribunda roses. A few other popular floribunda types include Betty Boop, Monkey Business, Sexy Rexy, Hot Cocoa and Lagerfeld.

The next popular classification is called grandiflora rose. Plants classified as grandiflora will have larger showier your flowers but will have fewer flowers than the floribunda and these flowers are usually in clusters of three to five flowers. A couple of very popular grandiflora type flowers include Queen Elizabeth and fame.

The final flower type I want to mention include the hybrid tea roses. When the flowers appear on a rosebush, they appear on a long stem with a single flower. These are the kinds of roses that you find at the grocery store and at florists that you give to others. They're by far the most popular type of roses that we purchase at local garden centers to plant in our yards. Some of my favorite hybrid tea roses include double delight, Mr. Lincoln, Peace, Rio Samba, and Chrysler Imperial. There are so many others out there that will do quite well though. And don't just limit yourself to these that I've mentioned.

3:58 Climbing Roses

I wanted to briefly talk about climbing roses because the flowers can be several different styles, but I wanted to mention a few varieties that I am familiar with. And these include American Beauty, Cecil Brunner, Fourth of July, and Iceberg. Of these iceberg is well loved by many people.

4:19 Climatic Zones

Because this is the Intermountain West there are several concerns about growing roses because they are oftentimes not the best adapted plants and they actually can be quite wimpy. For example, most hybrid tea roses are zone six with some of them coming in zone five and almost none of them at zone four. Most of the Hardy roses or at least roses of the recover well from cold damage are going to be bush roses. And instead of going into dozens of varieties I have included a fact sheet in the show notes from the University of Idaho, detailing cold hardy roses and how to maintain them.

4:55 Iron Defficiency

Roses are also commonly susceptible to iron chlorosis and others. micronutrient deficiencies due to our alkaline soils, instead of going into great detail about how to remedy this the Homegrown Horticulture podcast from three weeks prior details on how to treat iron chlorosis, and I will also include a fact sheet from Utah State University Extension on how to treat it.

5:20 Pests and Diseases

There are several common pests of roses with the most common being aphids, spider mites and thrips. A great way to treat these includes horticultural soaps and oils. These are going to be more friendly to beneficial insects and predators that will eventually hopefully come in and take them out so that you don't have to use harsher chemicals.

There are a number of fungal diseases that can get to roses including powdery mildew. Oftentimes something like neem oil, which is also fairly earth friendly and has low toxicity does a pretty good job at preventing, and maybe even curing powdery mildew infections that are fairly new.

If you go to a local garden center, nursery or farm store, they're probably going to have multiple rose care products on hand. They're oftentimes a combination fertilizer, systemic fungicide, and systemic insecticide. Unless you have roses that you're emotionally attached to just because they might have been grandma's rose the brought from another yard or one that you especially like, these combo products with the fungicides and insecticides are oftentimes not needed. And if you're specifically purchasing them to try to cure a rose, remember that once you buy two or three bottles, that's the cost of a new rose plant. And if you've had problems with this, what I would recommend doing is getting online and finding disease resistant roses so that you're less likely to have to use these products in the future. I have included a fact sheet from the University of Illinois on controlling rose pests and diseases. It is in the show notes.

6:58 Deadheading for Increased Flowers

Modern roses have been bred to continually bloom throughout the summer, but keeping them blooming in the local climate can sometimes be difficult due to our excessively hot and dry weather. To keep roses blooming, it's critical to deadhead them after a flush of blooms have started to fade. To do this on hybrid tea and grandiflora roses, follow the flower stems back along the branch until you start running into leaves. When you find the first set of leaves with five leaflets, you will prune right above those five leaflets. What this will do is cause the rose to send out new growth and this new growth will form new flowers. For warmer areas with the Wasatch friend and the Intermountain West you would stop doing this deadheading sometime in late August. For cooler areas early to mid August would be fine.

In shrub roses, some popular varieties are self cleaning, and so you do not need to deadhead them. A prime example of self cleaning roses includes the knockout series and some of the older but still very useful simplicity series.

8:06 Fertilizer and Irrigation

Some final thoughts on roses as far as fertilization and watering. Once a rose is established, it shouldn't really be allowed to dry out too much although they can be at least moderately drought hardy. What I like to do in an average soil is to water them to a depth of six inches to a foot at least weekly. In sandy soil. You may need to do this more often and in clay soil, you may need to do this a little less often.

As far as fertilization. There are several ways to do this and several options. What I like to do is to just get a bag of 10-10-10 or 16-16-16 or similar and give each rose during the growing season a heaping tablespoon of fertilizer spread under the base of the plant. There are several slow release fertilizers that are very usable such as osmocote and several liquid feed fertilizers from companies like Miracle Gro and others that are also just fine. If you have repeat blooming roses, you don't want to use a lot of fertilizer, it's just more key that they get small doses throughout the season to keep them healthy. And remember the over fertilization will make the roses grow lots of green growth but they will have fewer flowers.

9:21 Planting Warm season Veggies

That's going to wrap it up for roses for this week. But I also quickly wanted to mention that you can probably start getting your warm season crops in if you are in warmer areas of the Intermountain West. I have posted a hyperlink to a website from the USU climate center that gives information on average first and last frost. So you would enter your state and then it will be populated with everywhere that there has been records kept by weather station. warm season crops are generally planted after your average last frost.

9:56 Outro

Thank you so much for listening and for those that celebrate have Happy Mother's Day. I'm deeply appreciative of my mother and my wife and I'm grateful that they are in my life. Have a great day. The homegrown horticulture Podcast is a production of Utah State University Extension. Show music is written by Savannah Peterson, a Utah State University Extension horticulture assistant

Fertilizing Roses

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/roses/water.cfm#:~:text=Spread%20the%20fertilizer%20in%20a,of%20the%20spring%20bloom%20period.

Pests and Diseases of Roses

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/roses/disease.cfm

Roses For Cold Mountain Valleys

https://www.extension.uidaho.edu/publishing/pdf/bul/bul0874.pdf

Average Last Frost Dates

https://climate.usu.edu/reports/freezeDates.php

Iron Chlorosis

https://forestry.usu.edu/trees-cities-towns/tree-care/preventing-iron-chlorosis

Hello everyone and welcome back to the homegrown

horticulture podcast. Today I'm going to be answering questions I've received

through social media and over the phone about yards and gardens.

0:16 

The homegrown horticulture podcast is specifically for the

Intermountain West, an area with a very unique climate and very unique soils

that's oftentimes forgotten about by national horticulture companies. Because

of this, there's a need for local information, and the homegrown horticulture

podcast is a source for you to gain that information.

0:38 

Our first question is When can I plant warm season crops.

These would include things like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, green beans,

corn, eggplants, muskmelons, and watermelon. The first thing I would recommend

because this is a regional podcast and average frost dates can vary wildly just

within a few miles is to contact a local experienced gardener or farmer.

They'll know right when it's time to get those warm season crops in for your

specific area. Some other things to monitor are when your average last and

first frost dates are, because all of the warm season crops should be planted

after the average last frost. For the Wasatch Front in Utah, this is generally

early to mid-May. But for our mountain valleys. This is usually two to three

weeks later, oftentimes in late May or early June. Along these lines I had

somebody ask about a week ago, if they could just go ahead and put all of their

flowers and crops in because they checked the weather and we were going to be

above freezing daily. And my response to them as sure yeah, you can plan but

the temperatures are still too cold for those to actually thrive. And many

crops such as tomatoes can actually be damaged if they're regularly exposed to

temperatures below about 45 to 50 degrees. So if you're going to plant warm

season crops when it's too cool, even if they don't freeze, they generally will

just sit there, oftentimes they can get nutrient deficiencies, because the cool

weather makes it harder for them to uptake nutrients. If you're going to put

them out early, you'll need to use season extending methods that warm the soil

up and warm the air temperature up so that they can actually thrive. You need

to remember that many of these flowers and crops are native to Mediterranean

climate areas, and oftentimes tropical areas where they're never exposed to

temperatures near freezing. And so we need to mimic those conditions for those

plants to actually thrive in our yards and gardens.

3:30

Our next question is, last spring, we bought some grassy to

ove rseed her lawn to thicken the grass up? We never did it. Can we go ahead

and put that same seed down. Now, the answer to this is yes, you can go ahead

and put that seed down. It will hold for a couple of years and still germinate

quite well. I think the more important thing though, is going to be preparing

your turf grass so that you can get good germination from that seed you're

putting over the top. To do this, you're going to want to ask yourself, why is

my lawn struggling? You know, if you're just moving in and it was neglected for

a year or two, that's understandable. But if you've lived there and been doing

your best to take care of the lawn, and that lawn is still thinning out, then

what's going on people oftentimes are sprinkling system is the culprit because

it doesn't water very efficiently to where some areas get excessive water and

other areas don't get enough. So checking the sprinkling system to make sure

that it's irrigating evenly improperly is going to be imperative. After

checking this sprinkling system, the next thing I would look at...]]>0:03 

Hello everyone and welcome back to the homegrown

horticulture podcast. Today I'm going to be answering questions I've received

through social media and over the phone about yards and gardens.

0:16 

The homegrown horticulture podcast is specifically for the

Intermountain West, an area with a very unique climate and very unique soils

that's oftentimes forgotten about by national horticulture companies. Because

of this, there's a need for local information, and the homegrown horticulture

podcast is a source for you to gain that information.

0:38 

Our first question is When can I plant warm season crops.

These would include things like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, green beans,

corn, eggplants, muskmelons, and watermelon. The first thing I would recommend

because this is a regional podcast and average frost dates can vary wildly just

within a few miles is to contact a local experienced gardener or farmer.

They'll know right when it's time to get those warm season crops in for your

specific area. Some other things to monitor are when your average last and

first frost dates are, because all of the warm season crops should be planted

after the average last frost. For the Wasatch Front in Utah, this is generally

early to mid-May. But for our mountain valleys. This is usually two to three

weeks later, oftentimes in late May or early June. Along these lines I had

somebody ask about a week ago, if they could just go ahead and put all of their

flowers and crops in because they checked the weather and we were going to be

above freezing daily. And my response to them as sure yeah, you can plan but

the temperatures are still too cold for those to actually thrive. And many

crops such as tomatoes can actually be damaged if they're regularly exposed to

temperatures below about 45 to 50 degrees. So if you're going to plant warm

season crops when it's too cool, even if they don't freeze, they generally will

just sit there, oftentimes they can get nutrient deficiencies, because the cool

weather makes it harder for them to uptake nutrients. If you're going to put

them out early, you'll need to use season extending methods that warm the soil

up and warm the air temperature up so that they can actually thrive. You need

to remember that many of these flowers and crops are native to Mediterranean

climate areas, and oftentimes tropical areas where they're never exposed to

temperatures near freezing. And so we need to mimic those conditions for those

plants to actually thrive in our yards and gardens.

3:30

Our next question is, last spring, we bought some grassy to

ove rseed her lawn to thicken the grass up? We never did it. Can we go ahead

and put that same seed down. Now, the answer to this is yes, you can go ahead

and put that seed down. It will hold for a couple of years and still germinate

quite well. I think the more important thing though, is going to be preparing

your turf grass so that you can get good germination from that seed you're

putting over the top. To do this, you're going to want to ask yourself, why is

my lawn struggling? You know, if you're just moving in and it was neglected for

a year or two, that's understandable. But if you've lived there and been doing

your best to take care of the lawn, and that lawn is still thinning out, then

what's going on people oftentimes are sprinkling system is the culprit because

it doesn't water very efficiently to where some areas get excessive water and

other areas don't get enough. So checking the sprinkling system to make sure

that it's irrigating evenly improperly is going to be imperative. After

checking this sprinkling system, the next thing I would look at is the soil

itself. Oftentimes if the grass has done well on the soil and all the sudden

started to fade, it's not going to be a soil problem. But if it never really

thrive, then you definitely want to do some soil testing. In this case, the

store-bought soil test you can pick up for 10 or $15 are probably not going to

be sufficient. You are going to want your state's land grant university which

should have a soil lab to test that soil for salinity for pH level four the

amount of phosphorus which may be reported as P2O5. And the amount of potassium

which would be reported sometimes as K2O. Another factor that needs to be

considered is soil compaction. soil compaction commonly causes lawn problems

because the roots don't penetrate very deeply into the soil. Because of this is

really common to develop a very thick thatch layer and just really unhealthy

turf that might green not that never really good.  If you have extremely clay soil where you

live, then the same thing can happen where the roots of the grass don't really

penetrate into the soil that well or that deeply and they can develop lots of

thatch. As mentioned earlier use hollow core aeration. To remedy this, leave

the plugs on top of your lawn and let them disintegrate back into the thatch.

The soil that's introduced will help break the thatch down more quickly by

introducing more micro organisms into the thatch layer for lawns that are grown

in clay soil, compacted soil or lawns that receive a lot of foot traffic, it is

beneficial to areate both in the spring and fall. And so to get back to the

question of Can I use my one year old grass seed  to top dress my lawn? Absolutely yes. But just

go through the procedures and see if you can figure out why is then if you

already have not and then you'll have better success. To top dress I would use

about one to two pounds per 1000 square feet of whatever grass seed you chose.

If the grass is super thin, you could actually kick that up to three to four

pounds per 1000 square feet.

6:50

Our next question is also lawn related. It is we are

building a home and we want to grow a lawn from seed not sod and you tell us

how to prepare. I purposely did not list the city in this question, but I am

familiar with our growing conditions and the soil has a lot of clay in it. And

many areas in this city also has salt problems. And so, I thought this was

quite an appropriate question. I mentioned previously soil testing and it would

really be good to get a soil sample collected and submitted to your land grant

university that test soil for Utah State University you would access the

website usual.usu.edu  u s u a l.usu.edu. You would want what Utah State University calls the routine test. That's where

you get your soil texture, the pH, the salinity, phosphorus and potassium

levels all measured to know if you need to add any into the soil. It also lets

you know if your salt levels are too high. I will include some fact sheets in

the show notes on how to potentially reduce your salinity levels in your soil.

The next step after soil testing is to decide where you're actually going to

need turf. This involves looking at your plot map and mapping on there where

you're actually going to need grass just like you would plan a garden or where

you would put a shed. These areas could include where children and

grandchildren might play, where kids might practice for sports, or you may hold

garden parties or you need some turf because of frequent traffic between two

spots. In general, if you're confused about how to plan where to put turf and

how to plan your landscapes, the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy district

through their Conservation Garden Park and public outreach has a series of free

online classes on how to plan a landscape to be beautiful functional and reduce

water use by up to 50%. Their methods involve no sagebrush, no cattle skulls,

and you oftentimes wouldn't notice the difference between a local scape yard is

compared to a traditional yard because they're so well planned. I've included

the hyperlink to the Localscapes courses in the show notes. Once you've decided

where you're going to put turf in your yard, the next step is to make sure that

your sprinkling system is sufficient to actually water the grass. One of the

biggest water wasters we have our sprinkler inefficiencies, and a recommended

visit online would be to slowtheflow.org if you live in Utah and in a

qualifying area to have a water audit performed for you where to find

instructions on how to do your own water audit so that you can make sure that

your sprinkling system is working as well as possible. Once this is out of the

way. The next step is to prepare your soil. The soil should be tilled to a

depth the 6 inches and as you do this, it's always a good idea to incorporate

two to three inches of compost into the soil if you can afford it. You don't

need the most expensive compost to where stuff from your local green-waste

facility or even your local sewer plant would be fine because you're not going

to use this for your vegetable garden is going toward prepping the soil for

your lawn. Once the soil has been tilled to a depth of six inches, the next

step is to level the soil. It's just easier to do this with a landscape rake if

you're doing it on your own landscape rake can cost upwards of 30 to $40. But

as compared to rake you used to say rake thatch out of your lawn or rake garden

soil. The landscape rakes are nice because they get the soil a lot more even.

Once you're done with this, you should be able to put about a half inch

footprint in the soil. One other thing you may consider if you have your

sprinkling system done is running the sprinkling system for 15 minutes to

settle the soil. Because oftentimes as you're raking the soil gets so fluffy

that you have everything nice and level but as soon as you get water on it, it

will sink up to a couple of inches in spots. And running your irrigation system

prior to seeding will tell you if you have any the spots that need to be fixed.

We're finally going to get to what grass seed I would actually use because I

know this soil is probably clay and potentially slightly salty. In this

situation, I'm going to recommend a turf type tall fescue. These are grasses

that look like Kentucky Blue Grass they mow like Kentucky blue grass and are

just as our green. The turf type tall fescue varieties also grow a little bit

better in clay soil and tolerate much more salt than Kentucky blue grass.

They're also potentially somewhat more drought hardy because they route much

more deeply into the soil. I have included a fact sheet in the show notes

explaining common turf grass mixes, including turf type tall fescue, Kentucky

blue grass and others that will be more drought Hardy, but have some other

considerations. Spread the seed at a rate of about six pounds per 1000 square

feet to have quicker establishment, you would use an inexpensive fertilizer

spreader to spread your seed over the soil. What I would recommend doing is

just applying it lightly and going in a different direction two or three times

to make sure you at least cut some seed everywhere to minimize the chance that

you accidentally missed a few spots where you're trying to get seed. Once the

seed is down, I personally do not like to rake it in. I'm just not good enough

and what will happen as I rake is you can see spots where I raked all of us eat

away and then there's a clump where the seed is growing really thickly where I

accidentally drag too much. Instead of raking the seed into the soil. I like to

get compost usually from my local green waste facility. I make sure that it's

fairly finely ground, I will use a feed scoop or a dust pan and put the compost

in there. And then just very gently sprinkle it over the seed so that it's

about a quarter to a third of an inch thick. After the grass seed is down and

you start watering  it will usually

germinate within about 10 days to two weeks and finished germinating after

about three to four weeks.

13:26

The final question is about Japanese maples. And it's kind

of a compilation of several questions I've had many people call asking why

their Japanese maple either died or has several branches that are dead from

over the last winter. As the name implies, Japanese maples are native to Japan.

and Japan has a fairly humid moist climate somewhat similar, at least in the

northern part of the country to Seattle and Portland. And so do you plan

Japanese maples in a very arid climate like the Wasatch Front or the Front

Range over toward Reno or Boise. The trees just aren't adapted to the lack of

humidity that they would normally experience and also are very hot sun. And so

when Japanese maples are planted in the Intermountain West, they oftentimes

struggle and they need to be planted on the east or North sides of buildings or

where they're going to get consistent afternoon shade. Additionally, the lazier

the leaves on the Japanese maples, the harder they are to take care of Japanese

maples are also susceptible to iron chlorosis. For more about iron chlorosis

you can reference our previous episode from two weeks ago. But I'm often asked

is there a way to salvage them or to make them survive better? And my answer is

usually to just not plant them and if you have to be willing to take the risk

of them being damaged or dying. It often happens that they're healthy for five

or 10 years and then all of a sudden, they have a hard winter and they decline.

Most Japanese maples are hardy down to zone five or six and so if you live in

zone four location they should not be planted in these areas. I am often asked

what I'm often asked what kind of replacement tree or shrub can be used for

Japanese maple and there's really and there's really not that many out there.

One that is often suggested includes elderberry there are several newer lately

forums out in various colors including yellow, green and red. These will

tolerate high. locations then Japanese maple and are more cold hardy than

Japanese maple. They are somewhat susceptible to iron chlorosis. But at least

as far as survivability are a more shore option than what Japanese maples are.

15:57 

Well, that is going to wrap it up for this week. I greatly

appreciate you listening. The homegrown horticulture Podcast is a production of

Utah State University Extension. Show music was composed and performed by

Savannah Peterson, a Utah State University horticulture assistant contributions

to the podcast were also made behind the scenes by Michaela McGuire and Heather

Thompson. Thank you again for listening

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Wasatch Front Veggie Planting Dates

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1719&context=extension_curall

Preparing Soil For Healthy Turf

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2823&context=extension_curall#:~:text=The%20soil%20should%20be%20moist,clay%20soils%20compost%20improves%20drainage.

Turf Grasses For The Inter Mountain West

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2083&context=extension_curall#:~:text=Kentucky%20Bluegrass%20is%20best%20suited,recovers%20well%20from%20frequent%20use.&text=Tall%20Fescue%20is%20a%20good,more%20shade%20than%20Kentucky%20bluegrass.

LocalScapes

https://localscapes.com/classes?gclid=Cj0KCQjwyZmEBhCpARIsALIzmnIfXbxEoQNKzpy9dSmkFdHNzgeinesg9c5jRPimZ0_EieZIu-sLDpUaAv_qEALw_wcB

Managing Soil Salinity

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=extension_histall

Hello and welcome back to the Homegrown Horticulture podcast. On today's show we talk about five great plants very adapted to the Intermountain West. The Homegrown Horticulture podcast is for those living in the Intermountain West. These areas have rapidly-growing populations, but they're often times forgotten about by national gardening companies because of our unique climate and traditionally low populations.

00:37 Survey & Prize-Entry

Before getting started, I want to mention that I'm including a brief Google Docs survey in the show notes. I would greatly appreciate it if you would follow the hyperlink because it will tell me how I'm doing, and how we can improve the show. I attempt to keep this show quite succinct without a lot of banter. My time's valuable. It takes probably four to six hours to put together a 15-minute episode, and so it's just not worth my time to have a lot of extra junk in this podcast. But if you would go ahead and fill out that survey I would so much appreciate it. Thank you again.

01:15 Hummingbird Mint

I have three perennials on my list, and the first one is called Hummingbird Mint. It is also referred to as Anise hyssop or Agastache. Agastache is actually the Latin name. Anise hyssops came onto the market 15 or 20 years ago in force. There are many species native to the United States, especially the western United States. A few of them grow in quite moist areas in partial-shade, but there are a number of them native to the American Southwest that do wonderfully in full sun that are actually quite drought-hardy. Hummingbird mints bloom generally from late June or July until frost, and they have a wonderful licoricey-minty smell to them. Not only that, but they are very beneficial for pollinators and beneficial insects, and so planting them in your yard will draw them in. Another thing with them is that hummingbirds sometimes will visit them hence the name. Most cultivated Hummingbird mints grow to anywhere from 18 inches to two feet high and wide. Many of them have a dusty gray-green appearance to them, though not all of them. Especially if you live in a colder mountain valley you need to check their cold hardiness. Many of the species and cultivars are only hardy to USDA zone six. However, several of them are zone five and actually several of them will be into zone four, you just need to be sure and check. Flower color on the Anise hyssops will usually be yellow, orange, pink, or red, or combinations of these are quite beautiful. The other consideration is they love full-blast sun, so they do really well on the south or west sides of homes or anywhere else that they get at least eight hours of sun a day. Now one drawback, if you can call it a drawback, to Anise hyssop is that they really don't like wet feet. And so as you get them established, you need to let the ground dry out between irrigations. In a sandy soil you can get away with watering them probably three times a week, and in a clay soil or a clay-textured soil maybe once or twice. When they're well established, they will survive just fine if you irrigate them every couple of weeks, maybe even every three to four weeks in a heavier soil. I know that along the Wasatch Front that many of the areas that homes are now being built are on marginal soils that are oftentimes slightly salty. Hummingbird mints are actually somewhat salty-soil tolerant and so these areas are someplace that Hummingbird mint might be an option. There are many cultivars of Hummingbird mint available. They include: Sunset, Coronado, Coronado Red, Sonoran Sunset, Poquito Orange, Crazy Fortune, and Apache Sunset. Crazy Fortune and Apache Sunset or actually hardy to zone four.

04:15 Catmint

The next perennial I want to talk about is called Catmint. A lot of times it's referred to as Nuh-peeta or Neh-pi-ta. There's a few different pronunciations. I don't speak Latin, so...]]>00:04 Introduction

Hello and welcome back to the Homegrown Horticulture podcast. On today's show we talk about five great plants very adapted to the Intermountain West. The Homegrown Horticulture podcast is for those living in the Intermountain West. These areas have rapidly-growing populations, but they're often times forgotten about by national gardening companies because of our unique climate and traditionally low populations.

00:37 Survey & Prize-Entry

Before getting started, I want to mention that I'm including a brief Google Docs survey in the show notes. I would greatly appreciate it if you would follow the hyperlink because it will tell me how I'm doing, and how we can improve the show. I attempt to keep this show quite succinct without a lot of banter. My time's valuable. It takes probably four to six hours to put together a 15-minute episode, and so it's just not worth my time to have a lot of extra junk in this podcast. But if you would go ahead and fill out that survey I would so much appreciate it. Thank you again.

01:15 Hummingbird Mint

I have three perennials on my list, and the first one is called Hummingbird Mint. It is also referred to as Anise hyssop or Agastache. Agastache is actually the Latin name. Anise hyssops came onto the market 15 or 20 years ago in force. There are many species native to the United States, especially the western United States. A few of them grow in quite moist areas in partial-shade, but there are a number of them native to the American Southwest that do wonderfully in full sun that are actually quite drought-hardy. Hummingbird mints bloom generally from late June or July until frost, and they have a wonderful licoricey-minty smell to them. Not only that, but they are very beneficial for pollinators and beneficial insects, and so planting them in your yard will draw them in. Another thing with them is that hummingbirds sometimes will visit them hence the name. Most cultivated Hummingbird mints grow to anywhere from 18 inches to two feet high and wide. Many of them have a dusty gray-green appearance to them, though not all of them. Especially if you live in a colder mountain valley you need to check their cold hardiness. Many of the species and cultivars are only hardy to USDA zone six. However, several of them are zone five and actually several of them will be into zone four, you just need to be sure and check. Flower color on the Anise hyssops will usually be yellow, orange, pink, or red, or combinations of these are quite beautiful. The other consideration is they love full-blast sun, so they do really well on the south or west sides of homes or anywhere else that they get at least eight hours of sun a day. Now one drawback, if you can call it a drawback, to Anise hyssop is that they really don't like wet feet. And so as you get them established, you need to let the ground dry out between irrigations. In a sandy soil you can get away with watering them probably three times a week, and in a clay soil or a clay-textured soil maybe once or twice. When they're well established, they will survive just fine if you irrigate them every couple of weeks, maybe even every three to four weeks in a heavier soil. I know that along the Wasatch Front that many of the areas that homes are now being built are on marginal soils that are oftentimes slightly salty. Hummingbird mints are actually somewhat salty-soil tolerant and so these areas are someplace that Hummingbird mint might be an option. There are many cultivars of Hummingbird mint available. They include: Sunset, Coronado, Coronado Red, Sonoran Sunset, Poquito Orange, Crazy Fortune, and Apache Sunset. Crazy Fortune and Apache Sunset or actually hardy to zone four.

04:15 Catmint

The next perennial I want to talk about is called Catmint. A lot of times it's referred to as Nuh-peeta or Neh-pi-ta. There's a few different pronunciations. I don't speak Latin, so take your best shot. Catmints are extremely drought-hardy once they're established, similarly to the Anise hyssop, or the Hummingbird Mints that we spoke of previously. To get them established, you'll also use the same technique of letting the soil dry out between irrigations for at least the first year, and then tapering back to every few weeks. Catmints until recently, were not among my favorite plants to put in my yard because older cultivars got quite big, and quite wide, and they would get really floppy, and oftentimes you'd have to stake them up so that they didn't fall over. Newer cultivars such as Walker's Low actually stay down to about 18 inches to two feet wide, and usually don't need staking, but they still are quite drought-hardy. And in addition to that, they bloom from June until almost frost depending on the particular cultivar. The flower color is purple, but they're quite nice because they're also quite fragrant in a pleasant way. Some more common cultivars of Catmint include: Junior Walker, Kitten Around, Persian Blue, Neptune (which is quite a small one and about one by one foot), Little Trudy, and Walker's Low. The other thing about Catmint is that it's oftentimes referred to as "catnip", and it can be dried down, and it makes about two thirds of cats out there stoned out of their minds when they play with it. It's quite fun to watch and actually doesn't do any harm to them, but they seem to really enjoy it. As mentioned previously, catmints are quite drought-hardy, and they can be killed with over-watering. And all cultivars are cold-hardy down to USDA zones three or four.

06:10 Stella D'Oro Daylily

The next perennial on my list is Stella D'oro Daylily. In the trade it's just commonly called Stella Daylily. Now I could be accused of putting in a perennial that's as common as mud, and I will readily admit that it is, but the reason I list it is because the Stella daylily stays in place where it gets about 18 inches high and wide. It's deer-resistant, and especially if we're having a cooler summer, it can bloom for several weeks. Stella Daylily has yellow flowers, and will get about 18 inches high and wide. As bloom-time is from late spring into mid summer, and it's extremely cold-hardy down to USDA zone two. It is not particularly drought-hardy to where it will need to be irrigated probably at least weekly once it's established down to about 12 inches, but it is tolerant of somewhat salty soil and it is not deer-resistant. Deer actually quite like it. So if you have problems with them, this is one that you might need to keep sectioned off or not plant. The next plant I want to talk about is Rose of Sharon. This is another one that's been around for a long time, and in warmer areas of the Intermountain West, it's also really common. And so I can be accused of promoting another common plant, but that commonality also shows its durability. Rose of Sharon is actually native to Korea and China. Many people assume it's native to the Middle East. It's a member of the hibiscus family and it blooms from mid-July until frost in warmer areas of the Wasatch Front. If it's planted in places like Las Vegas, it will oftentimes start blooming in late May or early June. Standard Rose of Sharon bushes can get 10 to 12 feet high and wide. That's quite big for a modern landscape. But there are newer dwarf cultivars. The main one that you'll find is called the Lil Kim Series, like the rapper "Lil Kim". Left unpruned, they grow to about four or five feet high and wide, and with some pruning, you can keep them down to about three or four feet. To prune them, you would use a technique called "renewal pruning", where you're taking about 20% of the branches out from the middle of the shrub every year. Flowers are produced on new growth, and so "renewal pruning" keeps the plants down-to-size and keeps the flowers coming in profusion. Rose of Sharon are not susceptible to many pests and diseases in the Intermountain West. They're quite tolerant of alkaline soils and somewhat salt-tolerant. I think their biggest drawback is for people that live in colder mountain valleys because the Rose of Sharon is only hardy down to about zone five. The last thing I want to mention about Rose of Sharon is the main way that I see them killed is by over-watering to where they really do not like wet feet. They do grow fine in clay soil as long as they're not over-watered.

09:04 Bosnian Pine

The last plant I've selected for this podcast is Bosnian Pine. It's native to Central and Eastern Europe, and in the landscape only reaches about 30 to 35 feet tall and about 15 to 20 feet wide, which is a great option for today's smaller yards. I've also noticed that it's quite disease and pest resistant. The only time I really see it infested with too much is when it's being over-watered or it's extremely drought-stressed. And so once it's established, if it gets watered to a depth of about 18 inches to two feet every couple of weeks, it seems to be quite happy. Although they are not super common, there are two pests of concern that are closely related, and they are White and Black Pine Needle Scale. I'll include a fact sheet about Pine Needle Scale to tell more about its control. But in pine trees that have it, if you're trying to keep things more organic, you can resort to horticultural soaps such as Safer Soap or many others, and those will suppress Pine Needle Scale, especially if you can catch the scale in its crawler stage when the little babies are crawling out to infest new branches. Otherwise, you may need to use a systemic, containing an active ingredient called dinotefuran. It can be a little bit expensive, but Ortho makes a homeowner version of their systemic. It's, I believe, a season-long tree and shrub insect-control containing dinotefuran, and generally an application of this product in the spring will keep the Pine Needle Scale under control, and you should not have to reapply very often. Bosnian pines can be effective if you're trying to create kind of a woodsy look in your yard. They can be used as a screen, or en masse planted with other trees. Even though it's not super showy in and of itself, as far as conifers go, it's super low-maintenance and quiet pretty, at least in my opinion.

11:08 Outro

That is what I have for this week. Before signing off, I do encourage you again to go to the show notes and take that survey to the Google Docs link. It should take you about five to 10 minutes. It will help me greatly improve the show. The Homegrown Horticulture podcast is a production of Utah State University Extension. Intro and outro music was composed by Savannah Peterson, a Utah State University horticulture assistant, and actually quite a talented musician. Thank you again for listening.

Survey and Prize-Entry Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5l_s3HHSZDlTOmGSqU5EchyfgiPU4E7WO-Bsdd76uBDln6Q/viewform

Pine Needle Scale

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/ornamental-pest-guide/arthopods/scales/pine-needle-scale

Stella Daylily

https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=d160

Bosnian Pine

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=285051

Lil Kim Rose of Sharon

https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/hibiscus/lil-kim-rose-sharon-hibiscus-syriacus

Humming Bird Mint

https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/agastache#:~:text=Agastache%2C%20also%20called%20Hummingbird%20Mint,fragrant%2C%20long%2Dblooming%20perennials.&text=5%22%20Deep%20Pot-,Agastache%20rupestris%20(Licorice%20Mint%20Hyssop)%20is%20one%20of%20the%20best,scented%20like%20licorice%20and%20mint.

Cat Mint

https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/nepeta

Music composed by Savannah Petersen and used by permission.

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/uppdl/files/factsheet/home-orchard-pest-mgmt-guide.pdf

00:53 Why do some lawns green up before others

02:20 Should I apply lawn pre-emergent

06:00 How to control existing lawn weeds

09:25 Should I aerate my lawn

11:48 Reseeding my lawn

13:59 When and how often to fertilize

Lawn Fertilizers:https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/lawn-fertilizers-for-cool-season-turf

Preparing soil for new grass seed: https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/preparing-soil-for-turfgrass-establishment-northern-utah

USU Extension Lawn Care Calendar: https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/northern-utah-turfgrass-management-calendar

Hello and welcome back to the Homegrown Horticulture podcast. My name is Taun Beddes, a horticulturist with Utah State University Extension based in Orem, Utah. On today's episode we're going to be talking about all things Lawns. I've been getting a lot of questions on (things such as) when should I fertilize, should I use pre-emergent, and because of the sheer number of lawn questions, that's this week's topic.

The Homegrown Horticulture podcast offers detailed gardening information for the Intermountain West, an area of the United States oftentimes neglected or forgotten about by national Horticultural companies. Where recommendations about our climate and our soils made by national gardening companies just aren't valid. And so we need a podcast source of information detailing how to garden in the Intermountain West.

Our first question comes from a gentleman named Chad. He asks why do some green up before others? The reason some Lawns green up before others is because of when they were fertilized. Utah State University recommends fertilizing in late fall. For the Wasatch Front (and other areas with a similar climate) that would be late October into early November. A lot of nitrogen from fertilizer is stored in the roots of the grass before it goes dormant for the winter, and lawns can utilize this nitrogen in early spring. And so you will often see a lawn that was fertilized in late fall green up two to three weeks earlier than a lawn that was not. 

Some other factors also play into this. Some species of Turfgrass will green up before others. If you have a Kentucky Bluegrass lawn, these will generally green up a week or so later than if you have a turf type tall Fescue lawn or a perennial ryegrass lawn. These two kinds of lawns are far less common but, you sometimes do see them. Another thing that will cause at least some areas of the lawn to green up before others is the amount of heat that the lawn is exposed to. In the spring, you will often see your lawn greening up long sidewalks, along the driveway, and on the south side of your home before other areas. This is totally normal, and within a few weeks, the lawn should be evenly green.

Alright, the next question is from Jill. she asks, “When should I apply pre-emergent to my lawn.” Before I answer this question, I should offer some explanation, Pre-emergent is a general term for a type of herbicide that will control newly germinating seeds. It doesn't do anything against seeds until they start to germinate. It also cannot discriminate between weed seeds and desirable seeds, and so you really do need to be careful with how you apply pre-emergent in your yard and garden. 

And so my first question is why are you using pre-emergent? It's not a bad thing, and they can be a powerful tool at getting the lawn into shape. But the ultimate goal should be not to use pre-emergent (for an extended number of years), and you should use proper management techniques as far as your lawn goes, to make sure that the lawn stays healthy. A healthy and properly maintained lawn does not allow a lot of weeds to invade or germinate. So when you're applying a pre-emergent, you actually need to know what weed you're going after. 

On the Wasatch Front the major three...]]>00:00 Intro

00:53 Why do some lawns green up before others

02:20 Should I apply lawn pre-emergent

06:00 How to control existing lawn weeds

09:25 Should I aerate my lawn

11:48 Reseeding my lawn

13:59 When and how often to fertilize

Lawn Fertilizers:https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/lawn-fertilizers-for-cool-season-turf

Preparing soil for new grass seed: https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/preparing-soil-for-turfgrass-establishment-northern-utah

USU Extension Lawn Care Calendar: https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/northern-utah-turfgrass-management-calendar

Hello and welcome back to the Homegrown Horticulture podcast. My name is Taun Beddes, a horticulturist with Utah State University Extension based in Orem, Utah. On today's episode we're going to be talking about all things Lawns. I've been getting a lot of questions on (things such as) when should I fertilize, should I use pre-emergent, and because of the sheer number of lawn questions, that's this week's topic.

The Homegrown Horticulture podcast offers detailed gardening information for the Intermountain West, an area of the United States oftentimes neglected or forgotten about by national Horticultural companies. Where recommendations about our climate and our soils made by national gardening companies just aren't valid. And so we need a podcast source of information detailing how to garden in the Intermountain West.

Our first question comes from a gentleman named Chad. He asks why do some green up before others? The reason some Lawns green up before others is because of when they were fertilized. Utah State University recommends fertilizing in late fall. For the Wasatch Front (and other areas with a similar climate) that would be late October into early November. A lot of nitrogen from fertilizer is stored in the roots of the grass before it goes dormant for the winter, and lawns can utilize this nitrogen in early spring. And so you will often see a lawn that was fertilized in late fall green up two to three weeks earlier than a lawn that was not. 

Some other factors also play into this. Some species of Turfgrass will green up before others. If you have a Kentucky Bluegrass lawn, these will generally green up a week or so later than if you have a turf type tall Fescue lawn or a perennial ryegrass lawn. These two kinds of lawns are far less common but, you sometimes do see them. Another thing that will cause at least some areas of the lawn to green up before others is the amount of heat that the lawn is exposed to. In the spring, you will often see your lawn greening up long sidewalks, along the driveway, and on the south side of your home before other areas. This is totally normal, and within a few weeks, the lawn should be evenly green.

Alright, the next question is from Jill. she asks, “When should I apply pre-emergent to my lawn.” Before I answer this question, I should offer some explanation, Pre-emergent is a general term for a type of herbicide that will control newly germinating seeds. It doesn't do anything against seeds until they start to germinate. It also cannot discriminate between weed seeds and desirable seeds, and so you really do need to be careful with how you apply pre-emergent in your yard and garden. 

And so my first question is why are you using pre-emergent? It's not a bad thing, and they can be a powerful tool at getting the lawn into shape. But the ultimate goal should be not to use pre-emergent (for an extended number of years), and you should use proper management techniques as far as your lawn goes, to make sure that the lawn stays healthy. A healthy and properly maintained lawn does not allow a lot of weeds to invade or germinate. So when you're applying a pre-emergent, you actually need to know what weed you're going after. 

On the Wasatch Front the major three weeds that folks use pre-emergent for include spurge, black medic, and crabgrass. It is important to know how to differentiate between these weeds, because a pre-emergent that you would use for crabgrass may not be as effective as one that you would use for spurge. 

So if you hire a lawn care professional, the type of pre-emergent they're generally applying goes after crabgrass and other annual weedy grass is quite well but, if you're having problems with spurge or black medic, or other broadleaf weeds, then the particular pre-emergent (products) for Crabgrass maybe less effective. And you would need to veer toward one meant for broadleaf weeds. 

Three types of pre-emergent weed control that lawn professionals generally use include Pre-M Dimension, and Barricade. These are all very effective against crabgrass and other annual weedy grasses. They can offer effective control for a number of broadleaf weeds, but you would need to check the label or have your lawn care company look at the label to see if they actually control the weed that you have in your lawn. 

If you are applying on your own, all of these products are available from the local garden centers, farm stores and box stores. Also if you have a lot of broadleaf weeds that you're trying to control, you need to know what they (the weeds) are. There are some options for you that are more specific for broadleaf weed problems. One of them is a product called isoxaben. It has been sold in the past as Gallery or Galleria. Right now it is currently available for homeowners from Bioadvance (the company formerly known as Bayer), and the product is called Bioadvance Broadleaf Weed Control for Lawns. I'm not giving a specific endorsement of this, but it's the only homeowner type of product I know of that has isoxaben that's widely available.

There is also an organic pre-emergent that is made from corn gluten meal. Corn gluten meal is oftentimes also used as a fertilizer. So you get a double benefit. I know people that really like it, but I've talked to others that say that it's not really effective. I think it is in some situations it can be. But if you're trying to stay organic, it may be worth a shot.

The next question comes from Jack. He asks, “how do I control weeds in my lawn.” I'm assuming that he's talking about existing weeds. I do want to refer back to the other question on pre-emergent. We state that keeping a healthy lawn is so important. Mowing at 2 and 1/2 to 3 inches, and when you mow don't cut more than a third of the total grass blade off. Fertilizing on an as-needed basis instead of a set calendar (package) that you got from the store, watering a couple of times a week so that water penetrates 6 inches to a foot into the soil is also imperative because that encourages stronger roots that are better able to crowd out weeds. 

Oftentimes weedy plants are more common in certain parts of the yard than others. And you need to do some investigation as to why. Things like crabgrass and spurge often grow in compacted soil or areas where it is a little bit drier than the rest of the lawn. And so figuring out why a particular weed is growing in an area of your yard is actually going to be much more important than just spraying those weeds out with a chemical. Because when you know what the problem is, you can begin to remedy it, and this allows the lawn to thicken up. As the lawn thickens up, it will crowd weeds out or make it easier for you to control them. 

So let's focus a little bit further. Let's say that you figured out why that weed is there, and you began to remedy the problem. If you choose to use them, herbicides can be a useful tool. And so there are many herbicides out on the market. They are referred to as weed and feeds or dandy-lion killers or broadleaf weed killers. They actually do a pretty good job of controlling most broadly weeds. 

And now if you have weedy grasses in your lawn, that's a different problem. There aren't really any sprays available to homeowners that will eliminate a weedy grass out of your lawn because those weedy grasses are so closely related to your lawn grass. Pretty much, spray will kill both (the lawn and weedy grass). 

If you cannot identify grassy weeds but you can find a seed head, you can oftentimes get online and identify weedy grasses according to their seed head or send pictures to your local extension office. They’re usually pretty good about knowing what it is. There are many many weedy grasses, and knowing what they are and knowing their life cycle is important to actually controlling them.

One of the most common is pasture type fescue. This is a broadleaf grass that grows in a circle, and it'll expand about 6 inches to a foot every year. This is one that the only control for it is to either smother it and leave it smothered for a couple of weeks. The other is to spray it out. You want to kill it first before you dig it, because if you leave roots in there, it'll just come back. I bring this particular grass up because that just killing the weedy grass out of your lawn is oftentimes all you can do, because if there's a lack of sprays that have the ability to pick weedy grasses out of your lawn.

Our next question is from Mary and she asks if she should aerate her lawn.This is actually a very common question that I get. I should first explain what areating is. When you drive around in the spring or sometimes the fall and you see the little plugs all over people's lawns that look like little dog poops, that's aerating. 

It's a machine that actually drives a hollow tube into the soil and pulls out a plug anywhere from an inch to 2 inches long. The reason people do this is to open up the soil. I don't really like that term, and what it does is actually allows more oxygen to be able to penetrate into the soil and water to penetrate the soil more easily. This can be important to your lawn. This does not mean that you need to aerate though, because if you have sandy soils, it is rarely needed. And if your lawn is rarely used, it is probably not needed. 

It is more (needed) on lawns that receive a lot of foot traffic or lawns grown on clay soil or lawns that have the potential for a lot of soil compaction due to lots of traffic from vehicles or people. 

You always want to use hollow core aeration so you're pulling out the plugs. The best time to aerate is in the spring after you've mowed a couple of times or in late summer into fall, because these are the two times of the year that the lawn can recover quite quickly from the aeration. 

Another situation where hollow core aeration can be very useful is if you have too much thatch on your lawn. The (thatch exists between) the border between the soil and the actively growing lawn crowns, where the grass blades grow up through. It looks like a layer of dead grass blades, but it's actually not grass blades. They usually decompose where these (in the thatch) are more crowns and roots.

 Kentucky Bluegrass is prone to producing a thatch layer, but if there is actually about a half inch or less, that's considered normal and healthy for the lawn. If the thatch layer is greater than half of an inch, then there's something wrong. Excessive thatch can come from over-fertilization, over-watering, compacted soil, and also clay soil. Hollow-core aerating will definitely help reduce the thatch layer, but it's also important to find out why you have excessive thatch.

Our second to last question comes from Angie. She asks, “can I reseed my lawn over the top of my existing grass to thicken my lawn.” The short answer is yes you definitely can, but one of the themes in this episode of the podcast has been why is my lawn not healthy. and why am I needing to fix it. And so if you're going to use grass seed to fix your lawn, you need to know why the grass thinned out in the first place. So if this goes back to proper mowing; goes back to proper watering; improper fertilization. 

Another reason the lawn thins out is too much shade. You may be able to temporarily thicken the lawn up with Kentucky Bluegrass seed, but it will eventually thin back out. Shady grass seed mixes are available at manyi garden centers and farm stores. They actually carry what they would call Shady grass mix or something similar, and you can try those. But you may need to turn to a particular kind of grass called red fescue. Red fescue is going to be the most shade tolerant grass that will grow in the Intermountain West. Otherwise, if you have figured out why your lawn thinned out, and it was due to shade, you are absolutely fine to reseed.

Early spring is among the best times of the year to do that because of the cooler temperatures and rain that we regularly get, and if you do need to irrigate, you do so less often because of the cooler weather. Late summer is also an excellent time to reseed because weed seed is less likely to germinate then do to it needing a cold period during the winter to germinate. Also as temperatures cool down, you need to irrigate less often, and there's still plenty of time for the seed to get established before winter. 

Aerating before you reseed can help increase germination rates by helping the seed come into better contact with a soil. Additionally, you may cover the area that you reseeded. A quarter of an inch of compost spread over the new seed would help keep moisture in the soil and increase the number of seeds that germinate.

The final question is from Carl. He asks “when should I start fertilizing my lawn.” Utah State University recommends fertilizing your lawn according to how your lawn is used. Additionally, we always recommend composting your grass clippings back onto your lawn. Sometimes in the spring you get too many clippings, and you need to bag them. When you have to bag your clipping then the recommendation is to put them in your garden or flower beds. And use them as mulch to reduce the number of times you need to irrigate and also to help hold weeds down. When you mulch your grass clippings back into your lawn, it actually reduces the number of times you need to fertilize to the point that you can skip one fertilization a year. And so for a little used lawn that pretty much the only time it sees traffic is when it's mowed, fertilizing in April and September at recommended rates on whatever you buy is absolutely fine, and it will keep your lawn green.

If you have a moderately used lawn, then fertilizing three times a year in mid-April to early May, again in early September, and then your final fertilization would be in late October to early November.

 For heavily used lawns, and this would include situations where you're having lots of garden parties, or having kids playing on your lawn quite often, I recommend up to four fertilization to your lawn. And in these situations, you can actually just purchase a 4 or 5 step program from a local garden center or box store and follow it. It will help your lawn stay healthy if it is very heavily used.

Thank you so much for listening. I greatly appreciate it. I'll talk to you again next week.

The Homegrown Horticulture podcast is a production of Utah State University Extension. intro and outro music is composed by Savanna Peterson Utah State University Horticulture assistant and talented musician it is used by permission 

https://forms.gle/J75bZQoWJA9TH53F9

Hyperlinks

Brunnera: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/brunnera-macrophylla-jack-frost/

Corydalis: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/yellow-corydalis-corydalis-lutea/

Anemone: https://hgic.clemson.edu/fall-flowering-japanese-anemone/

Leopard’s Bane: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/doronicum/

Hashtags

#utahgardener #garden #gardening #perennials #shadedareas #plants #shadelovingperennials #shade #corydalis #brunnera #leopardsbane #CoralBells #hosta #perennialgeraniums #Larkspur #monkshood #springanemones #Columbine #forgetmenots #homegrownhorticulture #horticulture #gardeningpodcast #flowers #flowerbed #spring #springplanting #blooming #easytogrow #shadetolerant #easyperennials

Transcript

And welcome back to the Homegrown Horticulture podcast my name is Taun Beddes, I am a horticulturist with Utah State University Extension. Before starting with extension, I spent 15 years in the nursery industry. I spent much of this time selling plants to the general public and one of the more common questions I got was, “we have shaded areas around our yard and nothing thrives. What can we plant that will actually do well in the shade?” And so that's what we're going to talk about today.

Additionally, before I get into the main topic, I'm going to include a brief survey. The survey helps me know how to provide the best podcast I can. It asks basic questions on how we're doing and how we can improve. If you would be so kind to fill out the survey I would greatly appreciate it.

 I was thinking about the topic for this week's podcast, and then the shade perennial theme came up, I took a few minutes just to list some shade tolerant perennials that I could think of just off the top of my head. The ones that came up with were Corydalis, fall blooming anemone, brunnera, leopard’s Bane, Coral Bells, hosta, perennial geraniums, Larkspur, monkshood, spring anemones, Columbine and forget-me-nots. There are many more, but these are ones that are very commonly available at local garden centers. 

Of these, I'm going to talk about three or four of them that I just especially like. The first of these is a very pretty and called corydalis. Sometimes is referred to as fumitory. It's spelled c-o-r-y-d-a-l-i-s. Corydalis has never been terribly popular, but it's relatively reliable and especially in the spring through early summer, it is quite pretty. The species you usually find is corydalis lutea. I believe in Latin means yellow and so this is a yellow flowering corydalis. It can be a little difficult to find sometimes at local garden centers, but you can find it, or order it online. Corydalis loves cool weather. It thrives April through June and then oftentimes especially in hotter areas, it goes dormant (for the summer) and will partially come back in the fall. It is somewhat shorter lived. You can expect three to five years (out of it), but it's also self-sowing. And so, as it gets established you may not even notice that the original plant died, because those seeds will come back. It isn't terribly aggressive, and as you see the seedlings come up in the spring, you can just gently dig them and move them or rogue them out if you don't need them. 

There are...]]>Link to Survey

https://forms.gle/J75bZQoWJA9TH53F9

Hyperlinks

Brunnera: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/brunnera-macrophylla-jack-frost/

Corydalis: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/yellow-corydalis-corydalis-lutea/

Anemone: https://hgic.clemson.edu/fall-flowering-japanese-anemone/

Leopard’s Bane: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/doronicum/

Hashtags

#utahgardener #garden #gardening #perennials #shadedareas #plants #shadelovingperennials #shade #corydalis #brunnera #leopardsbane #CoralBells #hosta #perennialgeraniums #Larkspur #monkshood #springanemones #Columbine #forgetmenots #homegrownhorticulture #horticulture #gardeningpodcast #flowers #flowerbed #spring #springplanting #blooming #easytogrow #shadetolerant #easyperennials

Transcript

And welcome back to the Homegrown Horticulture podcast my name is Taun Beddes, I am a horticulturist with Utah State University Extension. Before starting with extension, I spent 15 years in the nursery industry. I spent much of this time selling plants to the general public and one of the more common questions I got was, “we have shaded areas around our yard and nothing thrives. What can we plant that will actually do well in the shade?” And so that's what we're going to talk about today.

Additionally, before I get into the main topic, I'm going to include a brief survey. The survey helps me know how to provide the best podcast I can. It asks basic questions on how we're doing and how we can improve. If you would be so kind to fill out the survey I would greatly appreciate it.

 I was thinking about the topic for this week's podcast, and then the shade perennial theme came up, I took a few minutes just to list some shade tolerant perennials that I could think of just off the top of my head. The ones that came up with were Corydalis, fall blooming anemone, brunnera, leopard’s Bane, Coral Bells, hosta, perennial geraniums, Larkspur, monkshood, spring anemones, Columbine and forget-me-nots. There are many more, but these are ones that are very commonly available at local garden centers. 

Of these, I'm going to talk about three or four of them that I just especially like. The first of these is a very pretty and called corydalis. Sometimes is referred to as fumitory. It's spelled c-o-r-y-d-a-l-i-s. Corydalis has never been terribly popular, but it's relatively reliable and especially in the spring through early summer, it is quite pretty. The species you usually find is corydalis lutea. I believe in Latin means yellow and so this is a yellow flowering corydalis. It can be a little difficult to find sometimes at local garden centers, but you can find it, or order it online. Corydalis loves cool weather. It thrives April through June and then oftentimes especially in hotter areas, it goes dormant (for the summer) and will partially come back in the fall. It is somewhat shorter lived. You can expect three to five years (out of it), but it's also self-sowing. And so, as it gets established you may not even notice that the original plant died, because those seeds will come back. It isn't terribly aggressive, and as you see the seedlings come up in the spring, you can just gently dig them and move them or rogue them out if you don't need them. 

There are many kinds of corydalis available. Even though I am very partial to the yellow species, there are many hybrids and other species that are oftentimes blue in color. They're actually quite pretty.

My next shade tolerant perennial is called Brunnera. Brunnera goes by a number of other names such as heartleaf alkanet, Siberian bugloss and also false forget-me-not is another one. It grows to 18 in high and wide. It can be placed in the back of a flower bed as a foundation plant. Cultivars of Brunnera are available. A lot of them have very beautiful variegated leaves with combinations of silver and green. There's also several yellow leaf varieties available. Another great feature of Brunnera is that it has beautiful blue flowers in mid-spring. They're very small, but the plants can produce hundreds of them. They mix very well with other spring-flowering bulbs and perennials, especially with daffodils or other yellow plants such as leopard's bane. 

It has a relatively long life, and is very durable as far as plants go, especially if they're planted on an east exposure. They're perfectly happy but usually do well even on the north side of a building or home. 

Sometimes, because they do like that shade, some of the older foliage can look just a little bit tired by midseason. If you have a few leaves that are a little bit scorched, it is perfectly fine to take some shears and individually cut those leaves off of the plant following the stem back in toward the middle so you're not cutting that plant Morticia Addams style, with a bunch of bear stems.

The next set of shade perennials I want to talk about are called anemones. Anemone when you look at how it is spelled, looks like a anemone, but it's actually pronounced anemone. Anemones have a couple of flowering groups. Certain species bloom in the spring while others bloom in late summer and fall. There's a multitude of flower colors ranging from purple, pink, white, and red.

Spring blooming anemones are planted in the fall when you plant other bulbs like the Tulips and daffodils. The foliage (on spring blooming anemones) looks beautiful in the spring as well as the flowers. They generally die back as temperatures warm up like other bulbs do. Once the foliage is yellow and brown is fine to cut them back.

Fall blooming anemones are often called Japanese anemones, even though they are native to China. They will emerge in the spring and keep their foliage all summer long and then depending on the cultivar, you will start to see flowers show up in August through September and some of them bloom through early October. 

One of the concerns I've heard from folks about fall-blooming anemones is that they can get big. I mentioned earlier they can reach 2 to 3 feet high and wide. It's not really a problem, but you just need to be careful not to put them too close to other plants, because oftentimes as the anemone grows it wins and chokes out other things that you want in your flowerbed. 

One of the reasons I've included these pretty perennials in my list is that they are some I would grow in my own yard because I think they're beautiful. But also, they are low maintenance. And so, the last one here I want to talk about is called Leopard’s bane. It's spelled d o r o n i c u m. The most common cultivar that you'll find local at garden centers is called the Little Leo, and it gets about a foot high and wide. 

The reason I really like this perennial is that it is spring blooming, and it is a yellow Daisy. It is the only yellow Daisy I know of that blooms in the spring and also tolerates shade. It mixes well with other spring blooming perennials and is pretty low-maintenance. 

Like other spring blooming flowers it can go dormant when the weather gets hot, and, if it does, it's not a problem. It'll come back next spring. It generally grows in your flower bed for around four or five years before they fade out and need to be replanted or replaced with something else. I feel like it is worth growing.

 With few exceptions, these perennials I've listed will be hardy to at least USDA zone 5; many of them Zone 4. But just be careful and always check the included plant tag to be sure that the particular plant you're interested in is cold hardy for your area. 

There's so many more perennials that we could talk about we could just go on and on about. Thank you so much for listening. I greatly appreciate your time. If you do have the time, I'd appreciate you going to the show notes and finding the hyperlink to the survey. Please go through it. It's only going to be five or six questions. It will greatly help us improve the quality of the podcast.

Thank you again. The Homegrown Horticulture podcast is a production of Utah State University extension. The intro and outro music was written by Savannah Peterson, a Utah State University extension horticulturist and talented musician. It is used by permission. 

00:04 Intro

00:24 Today we'll be talking about raspberries

00:44 What should be my first consideration for growing raspberries?

01:10 How much sunlight do raspberries need?

01:34 Weed control

04:01 Soil Testing

05:45 Preparing soil for planting

07:31 Planting and establishing your raspberries

08:38 Where you get your raspberry plants

09:53 What variety should I grow?

11:55 How to prune summer-bearing raspberries

13:04 Ever-bearing raspberries

13:55 Pruning ever-bearing or "fall-bearing" raspberries

14:18 "Double-cropping" ever-bearing raspberries

14:41 Using a trellis system

14:57 What's wrong with my raspberries?

19:55 See links in show notes for more information on raspberries

20:07 Outro

Music composed by Savannah Peterson and used by permission.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1700&context=extension_curall

Comparison of 16 Raspberry Cultivars

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1692&context=extension_curall

A Comparison of 10 Fall Bearing Raspberry Cultivars

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1670&context=extension_curall

Ras[berry Pests and Diseases

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-list-raspberry

00:45 Dewberries

01:26 Strawberry patch is underperforming

03:46 What to plant and what to do in the yard in late winter

Veggie planting dates for the Wasatch Front

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1719&context=extension_curall

Show Transcript:

Hello everyone my name is Taun Beddes, and this is the Homegrown Horticulture podcast. Today I thought we would take some questions from folks about horticulture and gardening from social media.

This podcast is intended for those that live in the Intermountain West an area that's often neglected and forgotten about by the national green industry and plant breeders due to our unique climate and lower population than much of the rest of the country.

So, let's go ahead and get to our first question from Kathy. She asks, my mother fed us what she called dewberries but they had a firm core inside. Do you know what variety they may have been?

Well, dewberries are related to blackberries but they're generally smaller but less seedy, and they also have a more tart flavor to them, and so you can buy dewberries online. I do not know what particular species I don't know what your grandmother had, but they're definitely out there (for purchase) and the flavor is very similar to blackberries but just more tart.

The next question is from Brad and Deborah. They write, could you address revamping a strawberry patch. My particular strawberries are June bearer, but over the last several years they are very small. Should I replace half the patch this year and half next year in order to keep having berries? When's the best time to plant strawberries?

As to why your strawberries are declining in productivity: strawberries have different pests and diseases and especially the diseases build over the years. And so, strawberries are at their most productive when they are between about 3 and 6 or 3 and 7 years old, and then after that they can just gradually decline (as far as fruit production). Because there's a buildup of diseases, especially viruses, that often times are not visible in the leaves. The result is declining production.

I would recommend actually starting a brand-new strawberry patch with brand new strawberries that are verified virus free. When you purchase strawberries online or from local garden centers there should be a sign or a tag with the berries (plants) saying that they are certified virus indexed or virus free. The strawberry producer actually hires a lab to test their strawberries to make sure that they're disease-free when you purchase them. The reason you want to put them into a brand-new patch is because there's a buildup in the soil of diseases. If you put new plants right back there again there they will be overwhelmed much more quickly than if you would put them in new soil: somewhere else s a where you've not been growing strawberries. I would recommend turning (the former patch) into a flower bed or a vegetable patch so that it remains productive and pretty. Additionally, strawberries are usually available in late winter to early spring or as established plants through May through early June. The bare-root strawberries are fine and easy to plant and they usually establish well, but if you would prefer, you can wait for strawberries established in flats and these usually do all right. Thank you again for that question.

The final question of the week is from Teresa. She asks, I'm new to Utah, and I wonder what we can be planting now besides pansies. Also, what yard and garden prep should we be doing.

I think that's a relevant question, and there's been lots of people out wanting to get their gardens going. So it is now March 8th when I'm recording this particular question, and we're still maybe a week or so early before you really want to start putting out cool-season vegetable crops. And now for the garden planting dates as far as...]]>00:10 Intro

00:45 Dewberries

01:26 Strawberry patch is underperforming

03:46 What to plant and what to do in the yard in late winter

Veggie planting dates for the Wasatch Front

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1719&context=extension_curall

Show Transcript:

Hello everyone my name is Taun Beddes, and this is the Homegrown Horticulture podcast. Today I thought we would take some questions from folks about horticulture and gardening from social media.

This podcast is intended for those that live in the Intermountain West an area that's often neglected and forgotten about by the national green industry and plant breeders due to our unique climate and lower population than much of the rest of the country.

So, let's go ahead and get to our first question from Kathy. She asks, my mother fed us what she called dewberries but they had a firm core inside. Do you know what variety they may have been?

Well, dewberries are related to blackberries but they're generally smaller but less seedy, and they also have a more tart flavor to them, and so you can buy dewberries online. I do not know what particular species I don't know what your grandmother had, but they're definitely out there (for purchase) and the flavor is very similar to blackberries but just more tart.

The next question is from Brad and Deborah. They write, could you address revamping a strawberry patch. My particular strawberries are June bearer, but over the last several years they are very small. Should I replace half the patch this year and half next year in order to keep having berries? When's the best time to plant strawberries?

As to why your strawberries are declining in productivity: strawberries have different pests and diseases and especially the diseases build over the years. And so, strawberries are at their most productive when they are between about 3 and 6 or 3 and 7 years old, and then after that they can just gradually decline (as far as fruit production). Because there's a buildup of diseases, especially viruses, that often times are not visible in the leaves. The result is declining production.

I would recommend actually starting a brand-new strawberry patch with brand new strawberries that are verified virus free. When you purchase strawberries online or from local garden centers there should be a sign or a tag with the berries (plants) saying that they are certified virus indexed or virus free. The strawberry producer actually hires a lab to test their strawberries to make sure that they're disease-free when you purchase them. The reason you want to put them into a brand-new patch is because there's a buildup in the soil of diseases. If you put new plants right back there again there they will be overwhelmed much more quickly than if you would put them in new soil: somewhere else s a where you've not been growing strawberries. I would recommend turning (the former patch) into a flower bed or a vegetable patch so that it remains productive and pretty. Additionally, strawberries are usually available in late winter to early spring or as established plants through May through early June. The bare-root strawberries are fine and easy to plant and they usually establish well, but if you would prefer, you can wait for strawberries established in flats and these usually do all right. Thank you again for that question.

The final question of the week is from Teresa. She asks, I'm new to Utah, and I wonder what we can be planting now besides pansies. Also, what yard and garden prep should we be doing.

I think that's a relevant question, and there's been lots of people out wanting to get their gardens going. So it is now March 8th when I'm recording this particular question, and we're still maybe a week or so early before you really want to start putting out cool-season vegetable crops. And now for the garden planting dates as far as vegetables, I want to put out there that the planting times I'm giving is for an average last frost date of around May 10th to May 15^th, and so if you live in a colder Mountain Valley or an area colder than this, you can adjust accordingly. And so, if you are average last frost was around the first of June then you would push these dates back about two weeks as far as planting now, but mean more toward the middle of the month. Artichokes asparagus broccoli, Brussels sprouts, are some things with cabbage, onions, peas, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, and turnips can all be started around mid-March, given the weather is acceptable. I would suggest getting a cheap kitchen thermometer, the kind that you kind you put into meat to check the temperature, that has a probe on the end. and stick it into the soil where you're going to be planting. This is because the soil needs to be around 50° F minimally so that you can get those (cool season) vegetables up. Many garden centers are getting in trees and shrubs right now. They're dormant. A lot of these come out of the Pacific Northwest, and so if you live someplace like Boise the Colorado Front Range or the Wasatch Front, you can go to your local garden centers and pick those up and plant them. Those same plants and trees should be becoming available and colder mountain valleys also.  And as they become available, as long as they're dormant you can plant. I should caution (you) that if garden centers are getting plant material that is actively growing, you generally want to wait on planting those until your danger of frost is gone, or it's warmed up enough that, if we do get a sudden frost, that you can reasonably cover those things. And so that's what we can be planting now. It's still a bit too early for pre-emergent on lawns, and it is too early to fertilize. Will hit that in the next week or two.

So, thank you again for listening. This is the home-grown Horticulture podcast. The Homegrown Horticulture podcast is a production of Utah State University Extension. The show music was composed and performed by Savannah Peterson, a USU student horticulturist, and it is used by permission. Have a great week

00:31 Today we are going to be talking about blackberries!

08:09 Outro

Music composed by Savannah Petersen and used by permission.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2859&context=extension_curall

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2657&context=extension_curall

00:39 A history of plums, varieties and differences, diseases, and more!

05:48 Outro

Music composed by Savannah Petersen and used by permission.

Coryneum Blight (Shothole)

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-coryneum-blight

Greater Peachtree Borer

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-gptb

San Jose Scale

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-sjs

Aphids

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-aphids

Plums in the Home Garden

https://extension.usu.edu/dev/yardandgarden/research/plums-in-the-home-garden

00:31 What you need to know about growing apricots in the intermountain west

06:58 Outro

Music composed by Savannah Petersen and used by permission.

https://extension.usu.edu/dev/yardandgarden/research/apricots-in-the-home-garden

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-coryneum-blight

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-gptb

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/extension_curall/1637/

Coryneum Blight

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-coryneum-blight

Greater Peach Tree Borer

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-gptb

Pruning Peaches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xzl-OaUKbE

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1661&context=extension_curall

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-coryneum-blight

https://extension.usu.edu/dev/yardandgarden/research/apple-production-and-variety-recommendations-for-the-utah-home-garden

Pears

https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/fruits/pears

Codling Moth

https://pestadvisories.usu.edu/2018/05/07/cm/

Woolly Apple Aphid

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_ag/fruit-woolly-apple-aphid

San Jose Scale

https://climate.usu.edu/includes/pestFactSheets/San-Jose-Scale.pdf

Fire Blight

https://extension.usu.edu/pests/ipm/notes_orn/list-treeshrubs/fire-blight

Music composed by Savannah Petersen and used by permission.

00:34 So you want to grow fruit trees

06:46 Outro

Music composed by Savannah Petersen and used by permission.

Potted Christmas Trees 00:32

Outro 05:46

USU's Factsheet on Christmas Tree care included potted trees.

https://forestry.usu.edu/forest-products/christmas-tree-selection

00:30 Christmas tree Care

03:16 Holiday (Christmas Cactus)

Holiday Cactus Care

https://extension.umn.edu/houseplants/holiday-cacti

Selecting and Caring For Christmas Trees

https://forestry.usu.edu/forest-products/christmas-tree-selection

00:27 Managing Spiders Indoors

07:08 Outro

Music Credit: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition.

A Fact Sheet on Poinsettia Care

https://extension.usu.edu/news_sections/gardening/poinsettia-care#:~:text=Protect%20the%20plants%20from%20freezing,to%20temperatures%20below%2050%20F.

https://extension.usu.edu/archive/beware-of-the-abominable-snow-mold

Intro and Outro music: Savannah Petersen

Follow us on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Homegrown-Horticulture-107042497737121

00:59 Diane Alston Talks Box Elder Bugs

06:20 Putting The Garden To Bed For Winter

10:31 Outro

Winterizing The Garden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2T_i4vNKic

USU Extension Factsheet on Box Elder Bugs

http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1863&context=extension_curall

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

Follow us on Facebook @ extension.usu.edu/utah

00:38 Fall Leaves

04:10 What to do with pumpkin seeds

09:26 Two years of growing sweet potatoes and peanuts

University of Illinois Extension Recipe for Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

• 1 quart water
• 2 Tablespoons salt
• 2 cups pumpkin seeds
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil or melted, unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 250°F.
2. Pick through seeds and remove any cut seeds. Remove as much of the stringy fibers as possible.
3. Bring the water and salt to a boil. Add the seeds and boil for 10 minutes. Drain, spread on kitchen towel or paper towel and pat dry.
4. Place the seeds in a bowl and toss with oil or melted butter.
5. Spread evenly on a large cookie sheet or roasting pan.
6. Place pan in a preheated oven and roast the seeds for 30 to 40 minutes. Stir about every 10 minutes, until crisp and golden brown.
7. Cool the seeds, then shell and eat or pack in air-tight containers or zip closure bags and refrigerate until ready to eat.
8. Yield 2 cups

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

Follow us on Facebook @ extension.usu.edu/utah

10:40 Some things to do in the yard before it gets cold

18:35 Outro

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

Follow us on Facebook @ extension.usu.edu/utah

00:50 Ripening Tomatoes Off Of The Vine

05:54 What To Do With Leaves In The Fall

08:25 What To Do With Damaged Trees

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

https://www.instagram.com/homegrownhorticulturepodcast/

Follow us on Facebook at Extension.usu.edu/utah

Intor and Outro music Composed by Savannah Peterson

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

https://www.instagram.com/homegrownhorticulturepodcast/

00:51 JayDee Gunnell Discuses potential causes of a brown lawn and aspens

07:51 Michael Caron talks about why fall is a great time to plant trees

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

https://www.instagram.com/homegrownhorticulturepodcast/

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2626&context=extension_curall

Growing and harvetsing potatoes

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1246&context=extension_curall#:~:text=Tubers%20should%20be%20planted%20in,soils%20are%20at%20least%2050%C2%BAF.

Powdery Mildew

https://utahpests.usu.edu/ipm/notes_orn/list-flowers/powdery-mildew

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

https://www.instagram.com/homegrownhorticulturepodcast/

Music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

https://www.instagram.com/homegrownhorticulturepodcast/

https://extension.usu.edu/saltlake/home-family-food/food-safety-preservation

USU Extension How To Tell If My Veggies Are Ripe and How To Store Them

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1721&context=extension_curall

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

https://www.instagram.com/homegrownhorticulturepodcast/

https://www.jfschmidt.com/articles/pacsun/

Norwegian Sunset Maple

https://www.jfschmidt.com/introductions/norwegiansunset/index.html

Crimson Sunset MAple

https://www.jfschmidt.com/introductions/crimsonsunset/index.html

00:44 Five Great Perennials for Sunny Areas

09:24 How To Tell If Pears Are Ripe

12:24 Pear Pie

USU Youtube Video on How To Tell If Pears Are Ripe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Deq906nGX4

Pear Hand Pie

Pear hand pies

Dough:

2 ½ c flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter

6-8 tbsp cold water

Filling

4 cups cubed pears

½ c sugar

3 tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

Egg wash

1 egg

2 tbsp water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper

Peel and cube 4 pears and mix with the rest of the filling ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until the dough has a pebble consistency. Add in water a tablespoon at a time until a smooth dough forms.

Roll out the dough about 1/8 in. thick and cut out 4-5 inch circles.

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition

music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

https://www.instagram.com/homegrownhorticulturepodcast/

https://www.jfschmidt.com/articles/sensation_boxelder/#:~:text=Frank%20Schmidt%20%26%20Son%20Co.,%2D%20Sensation%20Box%20Elder&text=Sensation%20Box%20Elder%20(Acer%20negundo,the%20nursery%20industry%20this%20year.

07:01 How To Tell If Watermelon is Ripe

12:27 Hawthorns, Underused Trees

15:55 Tomato Bisque Soup

More info on puncture vine: https://extension.usu.edu/archive/how-to-take-the-bite-out-of-puncturvine

Tomato Bisque

6 medium to large tomatoes (about 28 oz.)

1 large yellow onion

4 cloves garlic (minced)

3 stalks celery

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp Italian seasoning

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp black pepper

¼ - ½ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp brown sugar

½ c parmesan cheese

1 c heavy cream

2 c chicken broth

1. In a medium sized pot, bring water to a boil (enough water for tomatoes to float in once in the pot.) Once the water is boiling, put in the whole tomatoes and boil until the skins crack then quickly place them in a bowl of ice water. The skins should peel off easily. Set peeled tomatoes aside.

2. Chop onion and celery and mince garlic. Put them into a pan to simmer with the butter, Italian seasoning, thyme, salt, and pepper until the onion and celery soften.

3. Add in brown sugar, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese and stir until cheese has melted.

4. Put entire mixture into a blender and blend until smooth,

5. Transfer back to pot and add in chicken broth. Stir until evenly combined.

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition

music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

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00:37    Rugged Charm and Hot Wings Maples: Great trees for smaller yards

04:41    Easy to care for and beautiful perennials for shade

10:54    Cantaloupe Peach Cobbler

Rugged Charm Maple

https://www.jfschmidt.com/introductions/ruggedcharm/index.html

Hot Wings Maple

https://plantselect.org/plantstories/hot-wings-tatarian-maple-a-tree-for-all-seasons/

Cantaloupe Peach Cobbler

1 ripe cantaloupe, seeded, peeled, cubed (about 3-4 cups)

2 ripe peaches or nectarines, seeded, peeled, and cubed

½ c sugar

¼ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

½ stick Unsalted butter

1 pinch salt

TOPPING

3 Tbsp shortening

1 c all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

½ c milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine all filling ingredients in a large saucepan and stir. Simmer until the mixture starts to thicken and starts to boil then take off the heat. Transfer the mixture to a 9 x 11 baking dish.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in shortening until the dough looks like small crumbs and then mix in milk.

Once a dough forms, scoop spoonfuls of the dough onto the hot fruit mixture.

Bake the cobbler for 25-28 minutes or until the dough turns golden brown.

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition

music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

Follow us on Instagram @homegrownhorticulturepodcast

https://www.instagram.com/homegrownhorticulturepodcast/

Any mention or discussion of products in the episode are not an endorsement from USU Extension of the particular product.

Podcast outro music by Savannah Petersen. Used by permission.

00:07 Intro

00:30 Hydrangeas for Northern Utah

07:28 Necrotic Ring Spot

14:14 Mexican Cornbread

Mexican Cornbread Recipe

1/4 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons honey

1 cup yellow cornmeal 

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 eggs 

1 cup low-fat buttermilk 

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar-jack cheese

1 can Mexican Style Corn (drained)     (3/4 cups fresh sweet corn kernels + ¼ C red or green sweet peppers, pinch of salt, pinch of sugar)

1 can drained green chilis

·   Preheat the oven to 350℉.

·   Line an 8x8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, leaving overhang on two opposite sides like handles. Lightly coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.

·   Melt butter and set aside.

·   In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

·   In a separate bowl, add eggs and butter and mix until blended. Stir in the buttermilk and honey.

·    Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be lumpy. Gently stir in 1 cup of the cheese, corn, chilis, and half of the green onions. Pour the batter into the lined baking tray. (Optional: Sprinkle the batter with cheese and finely chopped scallions.)

·   Bake the cornbread for 30 minutes, or until center is set, the top is golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan.

https://utahpests.usu.edu/uppdl/files-ou/factsheet/necrotic-ring-spot08.pdf

USU Pest Lab Sample Submission Page

https://utahpests.usu.edu/uppdl/submission-form

Proven Winners Hydrangea page. Remember the big leaf hydrangeas do not do well in the Intermountain West.

https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/search?hardiness_zone=All&duration=All&flower-color=All&light_requirement=All&available_online=All

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition

music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-6pJfPJNO4

00:00    Intro

00:36    Is fertilizer a miracle cure for all for unhealthy fertilizer a miracle cure for all for unhealthy plants

09:17    All about summer apples

13:28    Spice apple coffee cake

Spiced Apple Cake Recipe

Cake Ingredients:

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 egg

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

¼ teaspoon almond extract

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

One pinch cardamom

One pinch ground cloves

1 ½ cups chopped apples (chopped small)

Cream Cheese Layer Ingredients:

8 oz. softened cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons white sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Streusel Ingredients:

¾ cup white sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt 

6 tablespoons cold butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease an 8x8 inch square pan. 

Combine the butter and sugars for the cake and mix until fluffy. Add the egg, oil, almond extract, and vanilla then mix until combined. 

Stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon and stir into the butter mixture, mixing just until combined. Stir in the chopped apples. Spread into the prepared pan. 

Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla for the cream cheese layer and spread over the cake batter in the pan. 

Combine all the streusel ingredients using your hands or a pastry blender until well combined. Sprinkle over the cream cheese mixture. 

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the topping is browned. 

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition

music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

00:40 JayDee Gunnell: what makes trees and shrubs scorch in the summer

13:17 Yummy zucchini chicken enchaladas

16:57 Getting rid of lawn weeds during the summer

Chicken Enchilada Casserole with Zucchini

2 medium zucchini

1 large can chunked chicken (drained and shredded with a fork)

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup chopped white onion

1 teaspoon paprika

1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon chili powder

1 can diced green chilis

2 Tablespoons green enchilada sauce or salsa

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Wash zucchini, chop off the top and bottom, and use a vegetable peeler to slice off thin strips of zucchini about 1 ½ -2 in wide the length of the zucchini. Set aside

3. In a bowl, mix all other ingredients until well combined.

4. Lay 2-3 zucchini strips side by side, overlapping and place a large spoonful of the chicken mixture at one end of the strips. Roll the zucchini and chicken mixture to the end of the strip (like a tube), place in an 8x8 glass baking dish.

5. Repeat step 4 until the dish is filled.

6. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes

7. Uncover the dish and top generously with more Monterey Jack cheese and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until cheese starts to lightly brown.

What does leaf anthracnose look like and how to treat it.

https://utahpests.usu.edu/ipm/notes_orn/list-treeshrubs/anthracnose

A fact sheet on summer leaf scorch

https://utahpests.usu.edu/ipm/ornamental-pest-guide/abiotic/leaf-scorch

A fact sheet on how to deal with lawn weeds.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1774&context=extension_curall

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition

music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission.

https://utahpests.usu.edu/uppdl/files-ou/factsheet/European%20Earwig.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlgpfCT0wYo

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

1:15        Casey Finlinson lead horticulturist for the Central Utah Water Conservancy District discusses great landscape plants for the yard that will save water.

9:57        Taun discusses four perennials: two great flowering species for summer and two for fall.

20:13     Lawns can struggle during July and August. Why are they turning brown?

25:42     USU Extension Intern Annie Smith cooks Apricot Chicken, a delicious yet easy recipe. 

Music Credit intro and outro: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Transition music: Savannah Peterson, unnamed composition. Used by permission and under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

0:46 Mike Caron discusses some less common fruit options for home food production

27:18 USU Intern Annie Smith shares a recipe for Beet based Brownies

32:05 I talk what to do about field bindweed during the summer.

Beet Brownie Recipe

1 cup red beet, peeled and chopped (roughly the size of one medium beet)

1 can white beans (cannellini beans) rinsed and drained

½ cup maple syrup or honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

1 egg

½ cup all-purpose flour (add one tablespoon of flour for high elevation)

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons cacao powder

1/3 cup your choice of chocolate chips

¼ cup raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper

2. Steam chopped red beet until fork tender, about 8-10 minutes

3. In a high-speed blender or powerful food processor, add steamed beets, beans, maple syrup, vanilla extract, egg, and coconut oil. Blend until smooth and no beet or bean clumps remain. Add in the remainder of the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, sea salt, and cacao powder. Blend for about 30 seconds or until smooth and incorporated.

4. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour brownie batter into lined baking tray and dot with fresh raspberries.

5. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of brownies comes out clean.

1:47 JayDee Gunnell talks his five favorite small trees and the USU Tree Browser App.    

17:05 Dean Miner discusses growing peanuts in Northern Utah.   

28:36 I answer the question “Can you plant landscape plants in the middle of the summer?”  

35:06 USU Intern Annie Smith shares a recipe for Peshwari Naan that uses locally grown dried tart cherries.

Peshwari Naan Recipe  

2 ½ Cups all-purpose or bread flour   

7g sachet easy-bake or fast action dried yeast   

1tsp salt   2/3 Cup (150ml) plain Greek yogurt   Approx.

2/3 Cup hand-hot water  

Melted butter or ghee, to serve   

1/3 Cup dried tart cherries or raisins   

1/3 Cup desiccated coconut   

1/3 Cup flaked almonds or pistachios   

In a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, salt, and yogurt. Add in water as needed to form a dough. Cover dough and place somewhere warm to rise for 1.5 to 2 hours. Preheat oven to 450ºF and put a cookie sheet into the oven to heat. Roughly blend cherries, coconut, and almonds. Separate risen dough into 8 balls. On a well-floured surface, roll out each dough ball into a thin circle. Evenly divide the filling between each piece of dough and spread the filling onto one half of the circle leaving a ½ in margin on the edges. Fold the dough over to form a pocket over the filling and pinch the edges to seal them. Roll until thin again. Put two naan at a time onto the heated cookie sheet for approximately 4 minutes a side or until it starts to turn golden brown. When finished baking, spread lightly with butter or ghee and serve warm.

USU Tree Browser Website https://treebrowser.org/

Music Credit: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

The Homegrown Horticulture Podcast is a production and financially supported by USU Extension.

1:07 Justin Wyker discusses five of his favorite trees.

10:32 Intern Annie Smith discusses using locally ripe tart cherries in a “Fresh Sweet Cherry Cream Cheese Pastry”

15:02 Cathy Merrill, a former USU Extension Family and Consumer Science faculty member, discusses grill safety, handling meat safely and introduces a great, but simple teriyaki marinade.

27:28 And finally, I discuss iron chlorosis. A common cause of yellowing leaves in maples and other trees.

Fresh Sweet Cherry Cream Cheese Pastry

8 Oz softened cream cheese

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 ½ cups pitted sweet or Montmorency tart cherries

1 egg beaten for egg wash

Powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F

Beat cream cheese, granulated sugar, flour, almond extract, and egg yolk together until smooth and spreadable. Set aside.

Unfold a sheet of puff pastry onto a large piece of parchment paper. Along the edges of the puff pastry sheet, cut strips ½ inch wide 1/3 of the way into the center. Transfer the pastry and parchment paper to a large baking sheet.

Spread the cream cheese down the center of the puff pastry being careful to keep it away from the cut edges. Top the cream cheese mixture with chopped cherries, pushing them down slightly into the mixture.

Rotate the pan so that the cut strips are on your left and right. Starting at the top, bring the cut strips towards the center at a slight right angle over the filling. Alternate the left and right sides. Overlap the strips and press down gently as you go. When all of the strips have been folded down, brush the entire pastry with egg wash.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Let it cool slightly and dust with powdered sugar.

Cathy’s Deliciously Simple Teriyaki Marinade

½ cup oil

¼ cup soy

½ onion finely minced

½ cup brown sugar

Music Credit: The Joy Drops. Not Drunk Mix Full Band No Vocal. Used under creative commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Heirloom tomato discussion 0:43

Blossom end rot: 13:09

Roasted radishes: 27:08

Sheriden Hansen is an extension assistant professor of horticulture based in northern Davis County, UT. She is expert in many things and one is growing heirloom tomatoes. Additionally, she is great at troubleshooting plant problems. We further local causes and solutions for the dreaded blossom end rot. Finally, Annie Smith, USU Extension Horticulture Intern tells about the delicious roasted radish recipe she made.

Ingredients

1 lb. Radishes

1 1/2 Tbs. Butter

1.2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Pepper

3 minced Garlic Cloves

2-3 Tbs. Finely Chopped Scallions

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 F. Halve or quarter clean radishes depending on their size. Melt butter or ghee. In a bowl combine all ingredients. Mix until radishes are evenly   coated. Spread radishes out evenly in a 9x 13 inch baking dish and roast at 10 minute intervals, tossing between, until they are golden brown. (About 20-30 minutes.) Garnish with more dried parsley or finely chopped fres parsley.

1/4 tsp. Dried Dill

1/2 tsp. Dried Parsley

 Music Credit: The Joy Drops, Not Drunk Mix, full band, no vocals. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode