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This Week In the Garden - 2016

 2017 This Week In the Garden   2018 This Week In the Garden   2019 This Week In the Garden   2020 This Week In the Garden     2021 This Week in the Garden     2022 This Week in the Garden     2023 This Week in the Garden

Pruning Greenery For Winter

This week in the garden West Tennessee Research and Education Center Horticulturist Jason Reeves talks about pruning shrubs for use in winter greenery decorations. Prune by the trunk and reach into the plant, don’t just shear the surface.

Related Resources:
Pruning Shrubs
How To Prune Coniferous Evergreen Trees

Ladybug Larva

This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper identifies the larva of the lady bug. It can easily be mistaken for a harmful insect but should be left alone because it is a beneficial.

Related Resources:
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
Predators: Lady Bird Beetles

Composting Chicken Manure

This week in the Garden Master Gardener Patsy Cortright shows how she composts chicken poop. It composts into a rich amendment she can put into her raised beds in the spring.

Related Resources:
Composting and using backyard poultry waste in the home garden
Using Manure, Including Chicken Manure, as Compost

Bacterial Leaf Spot

This week in the garden UT extension agent Chris Cooper talks about bacterial leaf spot. He shows how to identify it and talks about some ways to prevent it.

Related Resources:
Management of leaf spot diseases of trees and shrubs
Bacterial Spot of Pepper and Tomato

Flowers for Butterflies

This week in the garden Mary Schmidt from Lichterman Nature Center talks about how butterflies feed and the flowers you can plant in different seasons of the year to attract them.

Related Resources:
Gardening for Butterflies
Butterfly Gardening

Watermelons In Raised Beds

This week in the garden UT Assistant Professor of Residential and Consumer Horticulture Natalie Bumgarner talks about growing watermelons in a raised bed. One of the problems is space and she talks about some solutions for the space problem.

Related Resources:
Watermelons
Raised Bed Gardening

Spraying Malathion

This week in the garden Retired UT Extension Agent shows how to spray Malathion on a plant to kill mealybugs.

Related Resources:
Pesticide Information Profile: Malathion
Insecticide suggestions to manage landscape tree and shrub insects

Mixing Pesticide

This week in the garden Retired UT Extension Agent Mike Dennison shows how to mix Malathion insecticide to control mealybugs. He shows how to do the math to determine how much insecticide to use.

Related Resources:
Pesticide and Fertilizer Math: Calculations for Mixing Small Amounts of Pesticides
Safe Handling of Pesticides - Mixing

Tomato Stake Extension

This week in the garden Master Gardener Tom Mashour shows how to make an extension for a tomato stake. Using a PVC pipe and some wire you can continue to support your tomato plants even if they grow ten feet tall.

Related Resources:
Tomatoes - Staking
Stake your Tomatoes

Tomato Hornworms

This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper goes looking for tomato hornworms. He talks about how to find them and how to use BT to kill them.

Related Resources:
Tomato hornworms in home gardens
Tobacco/Tomato Hornworm - Vegetables

Splitting Tomatoes

This week in the garden UT extension agent Chris Cooper talks about cracking tomatoes. This condition is often caused by uneven moisture. The tomato is still edible. It is only a cosmetic issue.

Related Resources:
What Causes Tomatoes to Crack?
Disorders of tomato

Killing Japanese Beetles

This week in the garden UT/TSU Extension Agent Joellen Dimond shows how to use soapy water to kill Japanese beetles. By putting them soapy water, where they drown, the beetles do not release the pheromone which attracts other beetles to their location.

Related Resources:
The Japanese Beetle
Japanese Beetles in the Urban Landscape

Stopping Tomato Blight

This week in the garden UT/TSU Extension Agent Joellen Dimond talks shows how to apply fungicide to tomatoes to stop blight. Blight is a result of fungus that gets on the leaves, usually by splashing up from the soil. Fungicide kills the spores before they have a chance to grow on the tomato leaves.

Related Videos:
Mixing and Applying Fungacide

Related Resources:
Tomato Diseases & Disorders
Control of Tomato Blights in the Home Garden

Pruning Flowering Annuals

This week in the garden Tipton County UT Extension Agent Joellen Dimond shows how to prune flowers. Pruning flowers reduces leggy-ness and helps them bush out. Flowers are pruned so the cut is just above a leaf or branch.

Watch Joellen plant these flowers

Related Resources:
Pruning Herbaceous Plants
Pruning Flowers and Other July Gardening Tips

Blossom End Rot

This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper takes a look at a watermelon that has blossom end rot. Blossom end rot is caused by a lack of calcium in the plant. This is often caused by too much or not enough water. Also, a soil test can determine if the soil needs more calcium.

Related Resources:
Blossom-End Rot of Tomato, Pepper, and Watermelon
Blossom End Rot

Squash Vine Borer

This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper finds a squash plant that is infected with squash vine borer. He tries unsuccessfully to find the borer and then talks about how to prevent squash vine borers.

Related Resources:
Squash Vine Borer
Squash vine borer management in home gardens

Killing Poison Ivy

This week in the Garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper talks about how to kill poison ivy. Poison ivy contains  an oil called urushiol which will irritate your skin. To kill it: while wearing long sleeved clothing and gloves cut the vine just above the ground and apply glyphosate concentrate to the wound.

Related Resources:
Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy Weed Management​

How To Wipe On Herbicide

This week in the garden UT Extension agent Chris Cooper shows how to apply a herbicide to kill grass around a plant without getting any on the plant. He wipes herbicide concentrate on the grass. He also shows how to use a small paintbrush to paint herbicide onto a sedge plant in the grass.

Related Resources:
Safe Herbicide Use
Herbicide Injury to Yard and Garden Plants

Nutrient-Deficient (Yellowing Leaves) Pepper Fix

This week in the garden our peppers have yellowing leaves. This is probably caused by a nutrient deficiency of nitrogen. Chris Cooper recommends side dressing with a nitrogen fertilizer. The leaves should green up soon.

Related Resources:
Fertilizing Vegetables
Lack of Nutrients - Vegetables
Soil Management and Fertilization

Applying Pre-Emergent In a Flower Bed

This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Joellen Dimond spreads a pre-emergent herbicide on a flower bed.  Coverage and rate is important, any spot you miss may have a weed sprout. After spreading the pre-emergent it needs to be activated by watering it in.

Related Resources:
Weed Management in Annual Color Beds
Weed Control in Landscape & Gardens
Weed Control Options in Landscape Beds and Groundcovers 

Tying up Tomato Plants

This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper shows how to tie up a tomato plant. Tomatoes are very susceptible to blights which live in the soil. Tying up the plant with a soft piece of cloth gets the leaves and fruits off the ground, makes the plant easier to take care of, and reduces blight.

Related Resources:
Staking and Training Tomatoes
Pruning and Staking Tomatoes

Removing Thatch

This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Booker T. Leigh demonstrates how to de-thatch a lawn using a garden rake. The rake pulls all the dead grass off of the soil surface allowing nutrients and water to reach the surface.

Related Resources:
Managing Thatch in Home Lawns
Controlling Thatch in Lawns

Thinning Vegetables

This week in the garden Retired UT Extension Agent Mike Dennison shows how to thin vegetable seedlings. Two weeks ago he planted several seeds in each hole to make sure there was a plant at each spot. To thin Mike carefully pulls out the extra plants leaving the healthiest looking seedlings.  This will allow each new plant to develop without competition from close plants.

Related Videos:
Planting Vegetable Seeds

Related Resources:
Thinning Plants in the Garden
Thinning makes more productive gardens

Sidedressing Vegetables

This week in the garden Extension Agent Chris Cooper shows how to use fertilizer to sidedress vegetable plants. He sprinkles the fertilizer on the ground around the base of the plant. Side dressing vegetables gives them the nitrogen they need to grow.

Related Resources:
Vegetable Gardening – Nitrogen Recommendations
Fertilizing Vegetables

Killing Grass

This week in the garden Extension Agent Chris Cooper shows how to use Round-Up to clean up the gravel area around our raised beds. Round-up (glyphosate) is a broad spectrum herbicide meaning it kills all plants. As a result, you need to be careful that it does not get on desirable plants. Be especially careful on windy days when the wind can carry the mist from your sprayer. The weeds will start dying immediately but you may not see results for a week or more.

Related Resources:
Killing weeds in the garden with glyphosate
Use of Roundup and Similar Products in the Home Landscape

Turning a Compost Pile

Tipton County Extension agent Joellen Dimond shows how to turn a compost pile. In compost piles bacteria break down organic matter. Those bacteria require oxygen to work. Turning compost piles prevents them from becoming matted and blocking air flow into the pile which speeds the composting process. Compost piles should be turned every two weeks.

Related Resources:
Backyard Composting of Yard, Garden, and Food Discards
Backyard Composting

Spray Patterns

This week in the garden Extension Agent Celeste Scott talks about spray patterns in home pump-up sprayers. The stream setting is useful for perimeter application or spraying high in trees. The mist setting is good for applying chemicals to plants where good coverage is necessary especially in dense foliage.

Related Resources:
Using Your Handheld Lawn and Garden Sprayer
Calibrating Hand-Held and Backpack Sprayers for Applying Pesticides
Calibrating Hand-Held Sprayers

Killing Fire Ants

This week in the garden Chris Cooper shows how to use ant bait to eliminate a fire ant mound. The bait should be spread around the mound. The worker ants will find the bait and take it back to the mound. The bait will either sterilize the queen –no new ants- or kill her. This is the first step of the “Texas Two-Step” for eliminating fire ants. This step will eliminate the mound but you have to wait for all the ants to die which could take up to two months. If you want to get rid of the mound more quickly, go back after several weeks and kill the remaining ants with a contact insecticide.

Related Resources:
Imported Fire Ants
Managing Fire Ants in Vegetable Gardens

Taking a Soil Sample

This week in the garden Haywood County Extension Director Walter Battle shows how to take a soil sample in a small garden. He collects several samples of soil from the top 6-8 inches and mixes them together and puts them into a soil sample box. This box can then be mailed to the soil lab. To reduce postage fees you can leave the soil out to dry before packaging.

Related Resources:
Tennessee Soil Testing Information
Mississippi Soil Testing Information
Arkansas Soil Testing Information

Spraying Dormant Oil

This week in the garden retired UT extension agent Mike Dennison demonstrates how to apply dormant oil to a crape myrtle tree. This procedure is also applicable to other ornamentals and shrubs. Spray to the point of runoff. Dormant oil will tend to separate from the water in the sprayer tank so make sure you shake it regularly to keep it in suspension.  Do not spray less than 48 hours before a hard freeze. The water in the spray may freeze injuring the plant. As always read and follow label instructions for mixing and applying dormant oil.

Related Resources:
Pest and Disease Control Using Horticultural Oils
Horticultural Oils – What a Gardener Needs to Know

Cleaning Out Garden Beds

This week Haywood County Extension Director Walter Battle talks about cleaning out the garden getting it ready for planting. Old plants that do not have disease problems like cabbage or cauliflower can be composted. Plants that have disease problems or blights like tomatoes should be thrown away to help reduce the disease in your garden this year.  It is best to clean up your garden in the fall.

Related Resources:
Tips for garden clean-up to reduce pests, diseases
Cleaning Up after Plant Disease

Removing Mistletoe

UT Extension agent Chris Cooper shows how to cut mistletoe out of tree. It takes a pair of pruners and a little time. Try to cut off as much of the mistletoe as possible.  The mistletoe may not die but will not be able to produce seeds for several years. Be careful when climbing in trees or on ladders.

Related Resources:
Mistletoe in Landscape Trees
Mistletoe

Pansy Fertilizer Experiment

Chris takes a look at the difference in two plantings of pansies. Before one group was planted manure and fertilizer were added to the soil. The other group did not have any soil amendments or fertilizer. There is a big difference in the results.

Related Resources:
Fertilizers
Growing Pansies


2016 This Week In the Garden   2017 This Week In the Garden   2018 This Week In the Garden   2019 This Week In the Garden  
2020 This Week In the Garden      2021 This Week in the Garden     2022 This Week in the Garden     2023 This Week in the Garden
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  • Home
  • Watch
    • TV Schedule
    • Full Episodes Online
    • How-to and Informational
    • Questions and Answers
    • This Week in the Garden
    • Garden Notes
  • Garden Topic Collections
    • Apple Trees: How-to and Information
    • Peach Trees: How-to and Information
    • Tomatoes: How-to and Information
    • Square Foot Garden Blog
  • Resources
    • Soil Testing
    • Extension Publications
    • Gardening Resources
    • Blogs
    • Organic Gardening
    • Articles
    • Privacy
  • Guests
  • Contact Us
    • Ask a Gardening Gardening Question
  • Search