Lifestyle Gardening 303

Brad Mills Author

01/18/2016 Added

170 Plays

Description

Backyard Farmer Presents: Lifestyle Gardening, Season 3 program 3

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:16.093](music)
[00:00:41.878]Good morning,
[00:00:43.407]and welcome to Lifestyle Gardening.
[00:00:44.951]I'm Kim Todd, and we've got another great program for you
[00:00:47.750]as we take a look at disease problems with roses,
[00:00:49.670]landscape plants with winter interests,
[00:00:51.853]and we'll talk to Jonathan Larson about spiders.
[00:00:56.375]But to start our show we're going to hear from
[00:00:58.373]Jeff Culbertson about repairing the weak spots
[00:01:00.613]in your lawn with sod.
[00:01:02.528]Here's Jeff to tell us more.
[00:01:04.292](music)
[00:01:20.871]Well, it's the middle of October,
[00:01:22.427]and we're kind of at the end of our
[00:01:24.133]turf establishment season.
[00:01:26.314]It's too late for seeding right now,
[00:01:28.487]we're worried about frost and cold weather and (inaudible),
[00:01:30.970]so we're doing some sodding to fix some turf repair areas,
[00:01:34.848]or fix some parts of campus here.
[00:01:36.532]So we've brought in sod from Hud Valley Farms
[00:01:39.770]near Yutan.
[00:01:41.825]And we're getting it established here.
[00:01:43.972]This is a fescue sod.
[00:01:45.551]So one thing you'll notice if you purchase sod,
[00:01:47.850]you generally have two choices, bluegrass and fescue.
[00:01:51.925]And the advantage to each is, one, with the bluegrass,
[00:01:56.325]because of its visoniminous natures,
[00:01:59.529]it holds together much better when you're laying the sod,
[00:02:02.327]and may be a little easier for those that put the sod in.
[00:02:06.691]With fescue, for us here, for our growing conditions,
[00:02:11.568]we find that it works very well for us.
[00:02:13.901]Again, it's a little bit more difficult to lay,
[00:02:16.083]but we don't seem to have too many problems with it.
[00:02:18.590]We're able to get this area laid pretty quickly here,
[00:02:21.447]just within a matter of 45 minutes or so,
[00:02:23.710]so it goes pretty fast.
[00:02:25.463]One of the things that we'll do,
[00:02:27.866]again when you're doing sod,
[00:02:29.863]especially along curbs or sidewalks,
[00:02:31.303]is you want to make sure that you've dropped the
[00:02:33.543]soil level down about the same level
[00:02:35.563]as the thickness of the sod.
[00:02:38.058]So depending on the sod that you purchased,
[00:02:39.522]and they should be able to tell you about how thick that
[00:02:41.089]they cut it, you'll be able to grade that area
[00:02:43.202]so you drop it down so you're at the right height when
[00:02:45.385]you lay the sod down.
[00:02:49.086]And then once we bring it in we'll fertilize this
[00:02:51.282]and then we'll make sure that we keep it watered.
[00:02:53.418]We don't want to overdo it, but we want to keep it moist
[00:02:55.183]as we go through the fall.
[00:02:57.388]You know our fall's can be pretty dry, so it's important
[00:03:00.859]that you continue to water as you go through the fall.
[00:03:03.506]If you have some warm days through the winter
[00:03:05.503]it wouldn't hurt to go out and give it a little bit of
[00:03:07.103]a drink, because especially if it's been a dry winter.
[00:03:10.564]One of the reasons that we decided to sod right now
[00:03:12.304]is the time of year.
[00:03:14.163]So seed works well probably before the middle of September.
[00:03:18.760]After that, depending on the weather conditions it gets
[00:03:22.336]a little sketchy as far as making sure that you get a good
[00:03:25.597]germination rate and that it's well-established before we
[00:03:30.078]go into cold weather.
[00:03:32.296]So one of the advantages to sod is we can get this
[00:03:34.340]established pretty quickly, we're less concerned about
[00:03:36.603]winter kill going into the winter.
[00:03:39.377]So when the sod comes it usually comes in a roll,
[00:03:42.837]it's gonna be about 4 feet high,
[00:03:45.275]and in the middle will be this plastic tube.
[00:03:48.700]We use a forklift to move it around and that way
[00:03:50.556]it keeps it together.
[00:03:52.402]And then when they cut it they have this netting that
[00:03:54.736]kind of knits the whole thing together, that holds it.
[00:03:57.279]As we roll up the slabs, it comes with the slab cut about
[00:04:01.922]twenty-one inches by 3 feet long, we roll it up,
[00:04:05.336]remove this plastic netting,
[00:04:07.437]you wouldn't have to remove it but we do,
[00:04:09.271]and then we unroll it as we take it out to the area.
[00:04:12.939]So this makes it very handy,
[00:04:16.050]while it's connected to the roll it's very stable.
[00:04:19.010]We might have a roll that we're gonna keep overnight,
[00:04:22.098]we just wet it down and hold it 'til the morning
[00:04:23.817]and prep another site.
[00:04:25.859]So we usually get a good 24 hours out of a roll before we
[00:04:28.715]have to have it all out.
[00:04:30.109]Especially this time of year when it's a little cooler.
[00:04:32.059]In the summertime when it's warmer
[00:04:33.615]you worry about mildew, and that sort of issue it'd
[00:04:36.912]drain out too quickly.
[00:04:38.618]So if it is warmer weather you want to make sure that you
[00:04:40.452]have enough square footage prepped to be able to lay the
[00:04:43.075]sod all at one time and not hold it overnight.
[00:04:45.328]So after we have it all established we do have,
[00:04:49.228]you can rent a large, metal roller,
[00:04:51.736]you fill it full of water, and you can take that out.
[00:04:53.490]And that'll help with the seams, help level things up and
[00:04:56.530]even things up and knit those seams together.
[00:04:58.295]It's important when you're laying the sod that you kind of
[00:05:01.570]pull it together and make sure the seams are touching.
[00:05:03.648]I like to walk the seams after I'm done to make sure
[00:05:06.305]that we have a good connection.
[00:05:08.175]Again, as you go through the winter, if it's dry,
[00:05:11.529]make sure you go out and give it a drink through the winter.
[00:05:14.270]In the spring you should pretty quickly
[00:05:16.451]see this knit together.
[00:05:18.832]It really should be very solid, well-established,
[00:05:21.955]by the first part of April.
[00:05:24.846]As things warm up in the spring
[00:05:26.552]this turf will start growing, the roots are growing,
[00:05:28.468]through the winter especially in
[00:05:29.605]sunnier, warmer spots.
[00:05:31.231]So it would get itself established really
[00:05:32.810]as we go through the winter.
[00:05:35.375]As Jeff said, the benefits of sodding
[00:05:38.009]over seeding include the quick establishment
[00:05:41.063]and weed problems aren't quite as prominent.
[00:05:43.791]As long as you choose one of the improved varieties
[00:05:45.903]and you get it installed correctly,
[00:05:47.645]you should be enjoying a nice green lawn
[00:05:50.107]in no time.
[00:05:52.532]Earlier this year we gave you an introduction
[00:05:54.726]to roses, and we featured how to control insect
[00:05:57.385]pests as well.
[00:05:59.348]Of course, bugs aren't the only problem you'd be faced with
[00:06:01.948]in your rosebeds.
[00:06:03.468]You're also likely to have some issues with diseases.
[00:06:06.428]Here to help us identify rose diseases and give us some
[00:06:08.763]practical solutions is Kevin Korus.
[00:06:11.386](pleasant guitar music)
[00:06:29.251]Today we're gonna be talking about
[00:06:30.722]4 common diseases of roses,
[00:06:33.544]3 of which are fungi and one of which is a virus.
[00:06:35.715]These diseases are common in Nebraska
[00:06:39.523]and most of the United States where we can grow roses
[00:06:43.238]unfortunately we can find these diseases.
[00:06:46.059]The first disease I'd like to talk about today is called
[00:06:48.520]Black Spot of rose.
[00:06:50.597]And as the name implies, the symptoms of this disease
[00:06:53.036]occur as black spots on the leaves
[00:06:56.042]and sometimes on the stems.
[00:06:57.714]The black spots can start either on the lower leaves
[00:07:01.174]or on the upper leaves.
[00:07:02.613]This disease is favored by really moist conditions,
[00:07:06.037]so high humidity and a lot of rainfall.
[00:07:09.219]The fungus needs standing water on the leaves
[00:07:11.819]to be able to infect.
[00:07:14.152]It's a residue-borne disease, which means that it's gonna
[00:07:16.579]survive our winters in plant debris, so one of our best
[00:07:18.936]control methods for this particular disease is sanitation.
[00:07:22.313]So if you do see those black spots on your leaves or on your
[00:07:25.099]canes, you wanna go ahead and remove them
[00:07:27.259]so that that fungus isn't present again.
[00:07:29.441]It's the wintertime, so it's a good time to go out there
[00:07:31.380]right now and do some of this sanitation and remove these
[00:07:33.550]diseased canes and some of the foliage that may have fallen
[00:07:35.896]to the ground to prevent those fungi from infecting again
[00:07:38.601]the next year.
[00:07:40.353]So that's Black Spot of rose.
[00:07:42.038]The second disease that I'd like to talk about is Rose Rust.
[00:07:45.613]And Rose Rust is a very vivid disease,
[00:07:48.619]it's very easy to diagnose because it creates these bright
[00:07:52.532]orange pustules on the leaves, on the petals,
[00:07:55.574]and on the stems.
[00:07:57.536]This again is a fungal disease,
[00:07:59.716]and can overwinter here in Nebraska in the leaves
[00:08:03.015]and infected debris.
[00:08:05.475]So again, when thinking about management of Rose Rust,
[00:08:07.473]sanitation is key.
[00:08:11.072]So remove those diseased canes in the winter
[00:08:13.718]and early spring before the temperatures rise
[00:08:15.935]and we get a lot of moisture.
[00:08:17.909]The third disease I'd like to talk about is Powdery Mildew.
[00:08:21.066]And again, this is a fungal disease.
[00:08:23.133]And as the name implies,
[00:08:24.526]the symptoms are a powdery mildew that's formed on the
[00:08:27.149]leaf surface, on the upper leaf surface.
[00:08:29.866]And that powdery mildew is white in color.
[00:08:34.135]This disease is, again, favored by high humidity
[00:08:37.389]and can start anywhere on the plant, the upper leaves
[00:08:40.008]or the lower leaves, as long as there's high humidity
[00:08:43.495]the fungus can form, unfortunately.
[00:08:45.094]So for all 3 of these diseases which are fungal
[00:08:47.833]and attack the foliage, management is removal of the residue
[00:08:51.943]in the winter and in the spring before the weather
[00:08:55.287]increases in temperature and we get a lot of moisture.
[00:08:59.291]Also, for all 3 of these diseases there are preventative
[00:09:02.403]fungicides that can be applied before the onset of the
[00:09:05.503]disease to help prevent it.
[00:09:06.815]So if you are in a situation where you have had history
[00:09:08.929]of this disease, you may want to think about a foliar
[00:09:11.389]fungicide application for Black Spot, Rose Rust,
[00:09:13.772]or Powdery Mildew.
[00:09:15.498]The fourth disease I'd like to talk about is
[00:09:17.740]Rose Rosette.
[00:09:19.538]And Rose Rosette is actually caused by a virus
[00:09:21.489]that's vectored around by a tiny little insect
[00:09:24.671]called the eriophyid mite.
[00:09:26.203]Rose Rosette is defined, or the symptoms are defined
[00:09:29.489]by tiny bunches of red leaves that never expand into a
[00:09:35.166]fully-developed leaf and never turn green.
[00:09:37.544]Also you might see a random cane here or there that has
[00:09:40.830]prolific thorning, more thorning than you would normally see
[00:09:44.522]on a rose plant.
[00:09:46.322]And those are all good indications of Rose Rosette virus.
[00:09:50.246]There isn't a whole lot you can do if you have Rose Rosette,
[00:09:53.889]what you need to do is just remove that entire plant
[00:09:57.780]from the area.
[00:09:59.207]The thing with Rose Rosette, however, is that if you want to
[00:10:01.123]plant another rosebush in that same location that's fine,
[00:10:04.687]the virus will not survive in those conditions,
[00:10:07.253]but it may come in on another eriophyid mite
[00:10:10.235]later on in the lifetime of that rosebush.
[00:10:13.138]So the best way to manage these diseases is to be on
[00:10:15.935]the lookout, to make sure that you don't have any
[00:10:18.932]of the Black Spot postules or the Rose Rust postules
[00:10:23.169]or white, powdery substance,
[00:10:25.455]or profuse caning with profuse thorning on your bushes.
[00:10:29.135]Be out there, scout, make sure you don't have any of these
[00:10:31.388]diseases, and if you do, some of our best management
[00:10:34.093]strategies are just to go ahead and remove that material
[00:10:36.356]from the environment to help reduce the amount of disease.
[00:10:38.527]There are also resistant rose varieties out there for all 4
[00:10:43.193]of these diseases.
[00:10:44.415](pleasant guitar music)
[00:10:46.354]Your best bet to control rose diseases
[00:10:48.675]is to not start with the problem in the first place.
[00:10:51.229]If you make the extra effort to select and plant
[00:10:53.956]disease-resistant varieties, you'll spend more time enjoying
[00:10:56.858]your roses, less time fixing the problems.
[00:11:00.272]That's true no matter what you plant in your garden.
[00:11:03.569]Although many of us would like to deny it,
[00:11:05.868]spiders are a part of our everyday lives.
[00:11:08.875]We understand there are a lot of people who are
[00:11:10.894]deathly afraid of spiders,
[00:11:12.799]but it's a good thing they're here because they prey upon
[00:11:14.888]a lot of the insect pests we talk about that cause problems
[00:11:18.070]elsewhere in our homes and gardens.
[00:11:20.414]We recently sat down with extension entomologist
[00:11:23.108]Jonathan Larson to talk about the good, the bad,
[00:11:25.802]and the ugly spiders.
[00:11:28.692](upbeat music)
[00:11:45.525]It's my pleasure to have Jonathan Larson on air today
[00:11:48.288]to talk about a subject that is not my pleasure
[00:11:51.829]but it was my idea, and that is spiders.
[00:11:54.255]Jonathan, welcome.
[00:11:56.032]I think our viewing audience for Backyard Farmer knows
[00:11:59.514]that spiders are just not my deal.
[00:12:01.778]So, to have you talk about them,
[00:12:03.356]maybe that will also help some of our other audience members
[00:12:06.434]get over a little bit of the fear of spiders.
[00:12:09.486]Okay Jonathan, so what really is the difference between
[00:12:13.410]spiders and all sorts of other insects - bugs, cockroaches,
[00:12:18.646]whatever - what's the difference?
[00:12:20.086]Sure, absolutely.
[00:12:21.594]So they're all part of a big group that we call
[00:12:23.731]arthropods, or arthropoda.
[00:12:25.324]And this is sort of the big group that they all dwell in,
[00:12:28.351]things like insects and spiders.
[00:12:30.092]Insects are off in their own little nook and cranny
[00:12:32.426]that we call insecta, while arachnids - the spiders,
[00:12:36.187]the scorpions, the tics and mites -
[00:12:38.037]they're over in their own little group.
[00:12:39.797]And the main difference in terms of body plan
[00:12:42.601]is gonna be that arthropods that are arachnids
[00:12:44.685]are gonna have 2 body segments,
[00:12:46.450]they have a cephalothorax in the front,
[00:12:48.852]and then an abdomen in the back.
[00:12:50.652]And they have 8 legs, they have 4 pairs of legs,
[00:12:54.229]4 on each side.
[00:12:55.692]There are people, Jonathan, myself among them,
[00:12:58.989]who have something called arachnophobia.
[00:13:02.610]Why is that?
[00:13:03.528]What is it about spiders that just sends people
[00:13:06.152]over the roof?
[00:13:07.672]That's a really great question, and one that I've always
[00:13:09.449]been fascinated by.
[00:13:11.072]I do a lot of talks about spiders,
[00:13:13.023]I chat with a lot of folks about spiders,
[00:13:15.323]and I always get that reaction,
[00:13:16.703]there's always a very visceral first reaction of
[00:13:18.608]gross, or eww, or let me run away from you right now
[00:13:22.311]while we talk about this.
[00:13:24.052]And I always try to ask people what it is about spiders
[00:13:26.524]that bothers them.
[00:13:28.011]And arachnophobia, that's a true psychological syndrome.
[00:13:30.530]I mean that's something you need to
[00:13:32.144]get some help with probably.
[00:13:33.886]But for other folks it's just a creepy thing, right,
[00:13:36.428]they talk about spiders move too quickly for them,
[00:13:39.864]they pop up out of weird spots, it's the fact that
[00:13:42.731]they have too many eyes or too many legs
[00:13:45.390]that freaks them out, they're hairy,
[00:13:47.120]and then really the venom,
[00:13:48.664]that's the thing that gets to a lot of people,
[00:13:50.289]is this idea that spiders are somehow inherently dangerous,
[00:13:53.469]that they're looking to bite you
[00:13:54.805]and that they'll inject you with this powerful poison
[00:13:57.022]that's going to harm you in some way.
[00:13:59.227]But the truth is that spiders are really keystone predators
[00:14:02.444]out in our ecosystems, we want spiders around.
[00:14:05.300]I know that's hard for you to agree with possibly,
[00:14:07.748]but they do so many good things out in the environment.
[00:14:10.186]Without spiders you'd see a huge upswing in things like
[00:14:12.764]mosquitoes that are biting you,
[00:14:15.143]other pests, maybe things that are attacking your garden,
[00:14:17.988]if you don't have these keystone predators around
[00:14:20.101]things can really fall apart.
[00:14:21.807]So we need to sing their praises a little more,
[00:14:23.920]give them a little more confidence.
[00:14:25.801]We get a lot of questions during the season,
[00:14:28.285]Jonathan, about especially brown recluse spiders in the
[00:14:31.420]southeastern corner of the state,
[00:14:34.136]people are pretty wigged out about the idea that a
[00:14:37.282]dinky little thing like that could bite them
[00:14:39.639]and potentially kill them.
[00:14:41.299]What are the poisonous spider issues in Nebraska?
[00:14:43.840]There's really just 2 spiders here in
[00:14:45.965]North America that we worry about.
[00:14:47.823]And that's the brown recluse and the black widow,
[00:14:50.261]the 2 famous spiders.
[00:14:51.921]The black widow, very classic-looking spider,
[00:14:54.557]everybody knows what she looks like,
[00:14:55.984]she's dark jet-black with that red hourglass on her abdomen,
[00:14:59.541]about an inch and a half in length,
[00:15:01.191]and they have a neuro toxin,
[00:15:03.082]it plays on your neurons, it plays tap dance up there.
[00:15:06.807]And it can kind of give you these nasty, flu-like symptoms.
[00:15:09.687]But in terms of fatalities,
[00:15:11.230]the studies that I've read about have shown that
[00:15:13.505]we really haven't seen anybody die from a black widow bite
[00:15:17.046]in the last decade or so.
[00:15:18.845]It's happened in the past, but only with the very young,
[00:15:21.063]and the old, and the infirm.
[00:15:23.443]The other one, the brown recluse,
[00:15:25.011]that's one that really scares a lot of people.
[00:15:27.470]People think about that as the spider that's gonna
[00:15:29.931]melt off part of their flesh,
[00:15:32.009]and it does have a necrotic venom,
[00:15:33.780]it usually results in a small divet in your skin,
[00:15:36.310]and you start to itch that and you introduce things like
[00:15:39.758]mercer or other bacteria or fungal pathogens into the wound,
[00:15:43.775]and then that's when things can get really gross.
[00:15:46.317]But the fact of the matter is brown recluse bites are
[00:15:48.697]really rare, the brown recluse is not a nation-wide insect
[00:15:51.842]here in the U.S., it only dwells in sort of a central
[00:15:54.954]corridor of the United States,
[00:15:57.137]up until about southern Nebraska, doesn't get much further
[00:16:00.399]north than that.
[00:16:01.734]It doesn't live in places like California, or the East Coast.
[00:16:04.938]And if you encounter it, it's more likely to run away from
[00:16:08.060]you than it is to bite you.
[00:16:10.139]But if it does bite you, you can seek medical help,
[00:16:12.577]and they'll be able to clean that wound out for you
[00:16:14.921]and you won't have to worry about it.
[00:16:16.639]Okay, so those of us who would really prefer
[00:16:19.321]to not share our domain with spiders,
[00:16:22.618]the control methods that come to mind are
[00:16:25.718]a good boot, a nice fly swatter,
[00:16:28.623]running, screaming, or a sticky trap.
[00:16:31.027]What do you recommend in terms of people getting rid of them
[00:16:34.207]or maybe even keeping them out to begin with?
[00:16:36.565]Well, I think you talked a little bit about them.
[00:16:38.253]We've got fly swatters, and your boot, your shoe.
[00:16:40.935]You can just squish these organisms,
[00:16:42.734]they're not gonna get away from you very quickly.
[00:16:45.056]If you really want to prevent them from coming in
[00:16:46.995]or you want to prevent them from moving around,
[00:16:49.015]things like glue traps that you can buy
[00:16:50.535]in a gardening store, they do crawl up on those commonly,
[00:16:53.438]particularly if you put them near the wall,
[00:16:56.270]near the baseboard, they like to follow those lines.
[00:16:58.982]And so if you get up close to those areas,
[00:17:01.200]you'll see that you capture most of them.
[00:17:03.092]If you wanted to spray something,
[00:17:05.042]you can use exterior insecticides,
[00:17:07.039]things like Ortho Home Defense,
[00:17:09.082]that is registered for use against spiders,
[00:17:11.438]a 3-foot band of that around your home would prevent them
[00:17:14.318]from entering for a few weeks in the fall
[00:17:16.779]if you were really worried about it.
[00:17:18.658]But mostly, you don't really have to worry about
[00:17:20.192]them too much trying to get in.
[00:17:22.212]They don't last too long once they're inside,
[00:17:24.418]they usually run out of food and water
[00:17:26.415]and they die elsewhere.
[00:17:27.773]But if you do want to prevent them,
[00:17:28.853]those are the tactics I would use.
[00:17:30.455]Okay, Jonathan,
[00:17:31.477]thanks for giving us that information.
[00:17:33.171]I'm sure that gardeners who are not afraid of spiders,
[00:17:36.131]or the ones who are a little bit afraid,
[00:17:38.117]will be looking at them a bit differently
[00:17:39.579]in their gardens this season.
[00:17:41.472]Hopefully so.
[00:17:42.353]Thank for having me on.
[00:17:44.637]Arachnaphobia isn't a laughing matter
[00:17:46.771]for people who are truly afraid of spiders.
[00:17:49.128]But for the most part in Nebraska,
[00:17:51.171]they are harmless, and with what we just heard,
[00:17:53.411]we hope you'll come to the understanding
[00:17:55.153]that they are actually a beneficial part
[00:17:56.917]of nature's wondrous pageantry.
[00:18:00.029]We know our audience loves growing things.
[00:18:03.151]There's a lot of satisfaction watching something
[00:18:05.333]you've planted and cared for produce fruit,
[00:18:07.435]vegetables, or bloom into flowers.
[00:18:10.012]During the cold winter months,
[00:18:11.533]we usually are encouraging you to make plans
[00:18:13.471]for the next growing season or purchasing your seeds.
[00:18:17.268]Well, you can make looking out of your windows in the winter
[00:18:19.485]a little less dreary when you consider what plants
[00:18:22.213]give us the gift of a little winter interest.
[00:18:24.349]That's the topic of this week's landscape lesson.
[00:18:28.389](music)
[00:18:37.293]The incredible colors of late fall might seem like a funny
[00:18:40.265]time to talk about winter interest in the landscape,
[00:18:43.028]but it is exactly perfect timing.
[00:18:45.570]As those leaves drop, one of the most important aspects
[00:18:48.647]of winter interest in the landscape reveals itself,
[00:18:51.329]and that is the form and the texture of many of our plants.
[00:18:55.171]Some of the trees become skeletal,
[00:18:57.365]and you can see what was a plant that disappeared
[00:19:00.767]into green foliage, you can see the twigs,
[00:19:03.704]you can see the buds, you can see the remaining seed pods
[00:19:06.664]on the trees and shrubs.
[00:19:08.464]Of course, we always think about evergreens
[00:19:10.368]when we think about winter interest,
[00:19:12.050]and they certainly have a great place to play.
[00:19:14.721]They're sort of that stable element,
[00:19:16.729]really changing not at all during the growing season,
[00:19:19.446]unless of course they're dead,
[00:19:20.862]and nobody wants a dead evergreen.
[00:19:22.685]Well you get forms, you get shapes,
[00:19:24.101]and against those, the changing of the season allows
[00:19:27.827]such things as the grasses of the winter to stand.
[00:19:30.817]You can leave the seed's head standing,
[00:19:32.930]you can take a look at some of the perennials
[00:19:35.113]that actually have what we call evergrey foliage.
[00:19:38.375]Or perhaps the seed heads of cone flowers,
[00:19:40.557]or the deep, deep dark blackish pods of our native baptisia
[00:19:45.038]will be plants that will give you interest throughout
[00:19:47.894]almost all of the entire winter.
[00:19:49.797]Of course, we think about color as well.
[00:19:52.236]Red stands out starkly, whether it's red twig dogwood,
[00:19:56.229]perhaps you have the bud of a red rose that just
[00:19:59.398]couldn't quite let go for the winter months.
[00:20:02.312]Maybe it's the berries on certain trees or shrubs
[00:20:05.714]that will stay through the winter months.
[00:20:07.931]So one of the things for you to think about in planning for
[00:20:10.427]winter interest, is take a look at the landscape,
[00:20:13.317]not during the winter itself, but look at it during
[00:20:16.069]the spring, during the summer, as you're choosing plants,
[00:20:19.250]if you're replacing plants or you're starting a new
[00:20:21.514]winter landscape, think about what you're actually after.
[00:20:25.229]Do you want to be able to see winter landscapes
[00:20:27.527]out your window?
[00:20:29.094]Do you want to be able to walk through them on your way
[00:20:31.010]from one point on your property to another?
[00:20:33.494]Do you want to be able to attract the birds,
[00:20:35.328]and watch them as they pluck away at those berries?
[00:20:38.591]As importantly as any of that,
[00:20:40.611]you want to think about which seed heads you want to allow
[00:20:43.454]to stand during the winter months.
[00:20:45.730]One of the problems with winter interest can be you get all
[00:20:48.992]those marauding critters that will come in, dig, burrow,
[00:20:52.545]bury and make their nests and their homes
[00:20:54.843]under those seed heads.
[00:20:56.724]So, take a look at it.
[00:20:57.989]Decide what gets to stay and what gets to go.
[00:21:00.113]Think a little bit messier than typical
[00:21:02.632]and don't be quite so tidy in your fall landscape
[00:21:06.185]if you really want to see beautiful winter interest.
[00:21:09.122](music)
[00:21:13.368]It takes a little extra planning and a lot less cleanup
[00:21:16.493]in the fall to create something worth looking at
[00:21:18.571]when the snows come.
[00:21:20.568]Hearty, woody shrubs make wonderful mounds of drifted snow,
[00:21:23.656]tall, ornamental grasses can offer those panicles
[00:21:26.267]blowing in the wind, and even some tall, wildflower
[00:21:28.984]seed heads are really nice when they're popping
[00:21:31.131]out of the snow drifts.
[00:21:32.664]It's up to your imagination as to what you clean up
[00:21:35.090]or save for those snowy days.
[00:21:37.816]Let's take a few minutes now to answer our viewer e-mails.
[00:21:41.312]We'd love to hear from you and perhaps you can share
[00:21:43.692]a picture or 2 with us.
[00:21:45.273]Just send those to byf@unl.edu as an email,
[00:21:49.451]with an attachment for the picture.
[00:21:51.611]Our first question actually comes from way south.
[00:21:54.732]This is a viewer from Texas,
[00:21:56.843]and it is a question about pecans.
[00:22:00.144]We can grow pecans here in Nebraska,
[00:22:02.987]in fact we have on East Campus the
[00:22:05.506]Northern Pecan Research, which is pretty cool.
[00:22:08.026]We also have Heartland Nuts and More,
[00:22:10.162]which actually takes care of those nuts
[00:22:12.507]and offers them up to us to eat.
[00:22:14.481]But they are a tree that in the southern parts
[00:22:16.640]of the country is pretty rapidly growing
[00:22:20.877]and very well-known, it's actually the state tree in Texas.
[00:22:24.280]She has about 3- to 4-year old pecan trees
[00:22:28.225]and is very disappointed in how they are producing.
[00:22:31.963]First off, we're thinking that they are probably pretty
[00:22:35.563]young, sometimes you might get a little bit of production
[00:22:39.602]of nuts to begin with, and then the trees just don't
[00:22:43.944]have enough oomph left to be able to do much
[00:22:46.602]every single year.
[00:22:48.739]The other thing that we're really wondering about is
[00:22:50.724]whether they need to be cross-pollinated.
[00:22:53.638]And pecans are self-fruitful, and there probably are likely
[00:22:57.863]some native trees in that particular area,
[00:23:00.615]but depending on the variety or the cultivar,
[00:23:03.657]the possibility of them flowering at the same time
[00:23:07.244]may or may not be happening.
[00:23:09.044]So you could be catching the tail end
[00:23:11.459]of pollination with one variety and the beginning
[00:23:15.801]with another one and that's resulting in a crop
[00:23:19.121]that is really not very long-lasting.
[00:23:21.095]So, we would say a couple of things.
[00:23:23.404]First off, make sure that you're taking care of those
[00:23:25.935]trees properly.
[00:23:27.665]Second, have a little bit of patience with them.
[00:23:30.115]And third, do test the varieties, or take a look
[00:23:34.444]at the varieties you've chosen and see if you can figure out
[00:23:36.824]if they're flowering at the right time to be able
[00:23:39.262]to pollinate one another.
[00:23:40.934]And then enjoy those pecans,
[00:23:42.176]especially if you don't have squirrels that are going
[00:23:44.301]to be getting them.
[00:23:45.833]We are quickly running out of time for today's show.
[00:23:48.619]Before we go we want to highlight the new
[00:23:50.674]turf research plots on UNL's East Campus.
[00:23:53.019]This past season our turf grass specialist
[00:23:55.946]Bill Kreuser was busy setting up these plots on campus
[00:23:58.999]to study turf varieties, water requirements,
[00:24:02.017]and disease and insect pests.
[00:24:04.478]It's a great example of what your University is doing
[00:24:07.647]to help improve the lawns of Nebraska gardeners
[00:24:10.387]by researching water conservation,
[00:24:12.258]and looking for ways to decrease pesticide usage.
[00:24:15.472]Here's Bill to tell us more.
[00:24:17.458](upbeat guitar music)
[00:24:34.396]Welcome to the new Backyard Farmer
[00:24:36.254]Turf Grass Garden and Turf Research Center here on
[00:24:38.854]East Campus in Lincoln, Nebraska.
[00:24:40.270]We're really excited to have this new facility
[00:24:42.858]right here on campus.
[00:24:44.436]It's a great way to do turf grass reasearch,
[00:24:46.608]engage our students in teaching,
[00:24:49.197]and to engage the community with extension activities.
[00:24:52.994]This is a new research and extension site for us.
[00:24:56.488]It was installed in the Fall of 2014,
[00:24:59.727]and we're continuing to expand.
[00:25:01.875]And we have a bunch of different displays here,
[00:25:04.011]Looking at different weeds, different lawn varieties,
[00:25:07.308]informational signs.
[00:25:09.571]And then we also have research plots.
[00:25:12.706]We're studying things like when's the optimal time to
[00:25:15.688]put fertilizer down on a lawn,
[00:25:17.825]and how should we maintain a creeping bentgrass
[00:25:20.554]golf fairway or golf green.
[00:25:22.493]We have some sports turf research,
[00:25:24.304]and then as part of the University's efforts to improve
[00:25:27.231]water use efficiency and reduce water requirements,
[00:25:30.051]we have a big acre of small irrigation plots so that we can
[00:25:34.543]do some drought research across a variety
[00:25:36.785]of turf grass species to really achieve
[00:25:39.489]the University's mission.
[00:25:40.790]It's really exciting to have this new facility here,
[00:25:42.867]and we have a research facility up in Mead, Nebraska,
[00:25:45.585]and we're moving things on here.
[00:25:47.511]One benefit is it's nice and close to the campus,
[00:25:50.169]so we can engage our students and the community
[00:25:52.073]in the latest turf grass research, and also from a
[00:25:56.171]research perspective, we have now moved to really small
[00:25:59.049]irrigation zones, and so we can have a lot more control
[00:26:02.847]on our different irrigation treatments out here
[00:26:06.433]to really understand and figure out how to irrigate
[00:26:10.427]our turf grass.
[00:26:11.831]Some other things we're doing out here is looking
[00:26:13.887]at management of buffalo grass at golf fairway height,
[00:26:18.031]but then also how do we manage buffalo grass mowing,
[00:26:21.444]and fertility and shade tolerance at a lawn height.
[00:26:24.904]So that's interesting to us.
[00:26:27.063]We have a lot of amenity grasses and grasses you may not use
[00:26:30.070]frequently from a lawn, and we're testing out those type of
[00:26:33.123]grass species under lawn-type of environments.
[00:26:37.081]So the Backyard Farmer Turf Garden is open to the public.
[00:26:40.065]We have informational signs where they can learn about
[00:26:43.687]weed ID and control, how to fertilize and irrigate properly,
[00:26:48.284]how they should do mowing, they can learn about some of the
[00:26:51.348]different grass species and then see them on 10x10 plots.
[00:26:55.308]So you can really look at an older variety of tall fescue
[00:26:58.361]versus a newer variety of tall fescue.
[00:27:00.627]And zoysia grass, it might look really great
[00:27:02.611]in the summertime, and then see how it goes dormant
[00:27:04.991]and struggles through the winter.
[00:27:06.327]So, a lot of things that we talk about on Backyard Farmer,
[00:27:08.730]the public can come anytime and look at those plots
[00:27:13.651]and really see what we're talking about on the show.
[00:27:16.287]So in the future, now that we're located in Lincoln,
[00:27:19.944]we'd like to really have homeowner field days,
[00:27:22.788]where we'll invite the general public in on a weekend,
[00:27:25.202]and they can come and interact with the turf scientists
[00:27:28.662]and our graduate students and see some interesting
[00:27:31.970]research that they can bring back to their lawns
[00:27:34.943]to do a better job of managing their turf grass.
[00:27:37.810]And so, looking forward to being able to host those
[00:27:40.549]in 2016, in addition to our normal professional
[00:27:44.242]turf grass manager field day that we'll host in July.
[00:27:47.480]So, we're moving things from Mead right down to where our
[00:27:51.161]clientele is, and that's right here in Lincoln.
[00:27:53.064](music)
[00:27:55.584]In addition to going to the dairy store,
[00:27:57.441]that's another good reason to come out to
[00:27:59.322]East Campus for a visit.
[00:28:00.946]You can look at all the beautiful trees and shrubs
[00:28:02.781]in Maxwell Arboretum,
[00:28:04.685]the Yeutter Garden with all it's great wildflowers,
[00:28:07.285]you can stop by the Backyard Farmer Garden,
[00:28:09.282]and now the Backyard Farmer Turf Research plots.
[00:28:12.579]Make it a point to visit us when the weather warms up.
[00:28:16.662]Thank you so much for joining us again
[00:28:18.826]for Lifestyle Gardening.
[00:28:20.301]Next time we'll be featuring a few segments
[00:28:22.321]on raised bed construction and installation,
[00:28:25.129]and we'll also be hearing about peppers
[00:28:27.046]and dry, edible beans.
[00:28:28.822]So good morning, good gardening, thanks for watching.
[00:28:32.165]We'll see you all next time on Lifestyle Gardening.
[00:28:35.242](upbeat guitar music)

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

Lifestyle Gardening 303

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments