This Week In the Garden - 2017
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Late Fall Lawn Fertilization
This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Booker T. Leigh talks about when to fertilize and not fertilize the lawn in late fall. If you have warm season turf like Bermuda or Zoysia you should not use a nitrogen fertilizer or just not fertilize. If you have a cool season grass like fescue, fall is a good time to fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer because the grass is actively growing.
Related Videos: Fall Lawn Care Lawn Aeration Related Resources: Soil Compaction Soil Compaction: Causes, Concerns, and Cures |
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Mowing When Wet Causes Compact Soil
This week in the garden, UT Extension Agent, Booker T. Leigh, shows how mowing your lawn when the ground is wet compacts the soil blocking water and nutrients. He talks about how aeration can help loosen soil if it is compacted.
Related Videos: Fall Lawn Care Lawn Aeration Related Resources: Soil Compaction Soil Compaction: Causes, Concerns, and Cures |
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Armadillo Damage
This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper finds armadillo damage. Armadillos will often root up plants looking for grubs and earthworms to eat. While they are not directly eating plants, their digging can harm them. Chris tells how to trap them.
Related Videos: Live Animal Traps Garden Rodent Control Related Resources: Baiting the Nine Banded Armadillo Armadillos in Missouri: Techniques to Prevent and Control Damage |
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Inexpensive Zoysia Lawn
UT Extension Agent Booker T. Leigh shows how zoysia grass can spread and displace Bermuda grass in a lawn. This means you can place only a few pieces of zoysia sod in your Bermuda lawn and in a few years, have a zoysia yard. No need to kill the Bermuda and lay sod over the whole lawn, you just have to be patient.
Related Videos: Turf Grass Varieties Killing Grass Related Resources: Zoysiagrass Establishment and Care of Zoysiagrass Lawns |
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Preparing Blackberry Plants for the Winter
This week in the garden retired UT Extension Agent Mike Dennison gives our blackberry plants a fall check-up. Some of the leaves have spots and some of the canes are dead. The leaf spots are okay and will not affect the plant. Mike cuts off the dead canes and trims the ends of some canes that were hit with a lawnmower. He does not fertilize because fertilizer would encourage new growth which would be killed by winter frost.
Related Videos: Planting Blackberries Blackberry Pruning and Fertilizing Related Resources: Pruning and Training Cranberries, Blackberries and Raspberries Growing Blackberries in Your Home Garden |
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Preparing Blueberry Plants for the Winter
This week in the garden Retired UT Extension, Agent Mike Dennison, gives some blueberry plants a fall check-up. To get them ready for winter he prunes off any dead branches. He does not fertilize. Fertilizer encourages new growth that would be killed by winter frosts.
Related Videos: Planting Blueberries Keeping Blueberry Plants Small Enough Related Resources: Blueberries in Home Gardens Growing Blueberries in Your Home Garden |
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Volunteer Plants
This week in the garden, UT Assistant Professor of Residential and Consumer Horticulture, Natalie Bumgarner, shows a volunteer gourd growing in the Family Plot garden and talks about the genetics of volunteer plants.
Related Videos: Making a Fall Pumpkin Display How do I Get Female Flowers on My Zucchini Plant Related Resources: Gourds Gourd Production in Kentucky |
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Summer Flower Garden Check-Up
This week in the garden UT/TSU Extension Agent Joellen Dimond takes a look at the summer flowers planted in April. The salvia has not done well. The petunias did well but need more fertilizer. The vinca started slow but have done very well later in the summer.
Watch Joellen plant these flowers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU3nCIOao5g Related Resources: Vegetable Gardening and Season Extension Selecting and Growing Perennials |
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When To Pick Okra
This week in the garden UT Assistant Professor of Residential and Consumer Horticulture, Natalie Bumgarner, shows when is the best time to pick okra. Don’t let the pods get too long or they will be tough.
Related Videos: Planting Vegetable Seeds Thinning Fall Garden Problems Related Resources: Okra Home Garden Okra |
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Cucumber Bacterial Wilt
This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper examines a cucumber in the Family Plot garden that is suffering
from bacterial wilt. Related Videos: Growing Cucumbers Fungicides Related Resources: Cucumbers Container Grown Cucumbers, Zucchini and Squash |
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Black Spot on Peppers
This week in the garden, UT Extension Agent, Chris Cooper, looks at a pepper that has a black sunken spot. It is pepper anthracnose which is a fungal disease. The pepper is not ruined but you will need to harvest it earlier than usual. You can control pepper anthracnose by mulching, planting resistant varieties or using a copper based fungicide.
Related Resources: Peppers Growing Peppers in Home Gardens |
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Summer Hanging Basket Care
UT Extension Horticultural Specialist, Carol Reese, shows how to tell when a hanging basket needs water and talks about how to water it. She also gives some other tips on summer hanging basket care.
Related Resources: Hanging Baskets and Window Boxes Greenhouse Production of Flowering Hanging Baskets Hanging Baskets |
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Moving Volunteer Flowers
This week in the garden UT Extension agent Joellen Dimond shows how to move some flowers that grew from seed from last year’s flowers. She moves them back into the container they came from.
Related Resources: Plants Grown in Containers Container Gardening Container Gardens |
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Begonias and Full Sun
This week in the garden UT Horticultural Specialist Carol Reese looks at some begonias. Some are full and bushy while others are small. She talks about how begonias like to get some shade during the day which will improve their performance in your flower bed.
Related Resources: Begonia Tuberous Begonias Growing Begonias Indoors |
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Nutrient Deficient (Yellowing Leaves) Bean Fix
This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper takes a look at some bush beans with yellowing leaves. Beans are legumes and can fix nitrogen. But, in this case they need more than they can make. With a side dress of nitrogen fertilizer, they will green back up.
Related Resources: Steps in Fertilizing Garden Soil: Vegetables and Annual Flowers |
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Mulching Tomato Plants
This week in the garden Master Gardener Tom Mashour shows how to mulch tomatoes. Mulching tomatoes helps keep the soil moist and reduces soil-born diseases like blight.
Related Resources: Mulching Vegetables Controlling Weeds by Cultivating and Mulching |
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Cutting a Tree Branch
This week in the garden retired UT Extension Agent Mike Dennison shows how to correctly cut a branch off a tree. He shows how using two cuts at the right location keeps the bark from peeling and helps the tree heal.
Related Resources: Pruning Trees and Shrubs Pruning Trees |
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Bird Feeders
This week in the garden Debbie Bruce from Wild Birds Unlimited talks about which birds you can attract to your yard with seed birdfeeders and suet feeders.
Related Resources: Feeding Wild Birds Attracting Backyard Birds: Bird Feeder Selection Bird Feeding - Tips for Beginners & Veterans |
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Making a Seed Planter for Fine Seeds
This week in the garden Master Gardener Tom Mashour shows how to make a seeder for planting small seeds. He uses an empty spice container and some scotch tape. It is inexpensive and easy.
Related Resources: Success with Very Small Seeds |
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Removing Tree Suckers
This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Joellen Dimond shows how to remove suckers from a magnolia tree. Removing suckers keeps the tree looking like a tree and not like a bush.
Related Resources: Pruning Basics |
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Transplant Shock
This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Joellen Dimond looks at a shrub planted recently that looks wilted. It has transplant shock. Once the roots get a chance to grow into the new soil and start absorbing water and nutrients it should perk up and do well.
Related Resources: Transplant Shock: Disease or Cultural Problem Transplant Shock... Making the Case for Smaller Trees Transplanting Established Trees or Shrubs |
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When to Harvest Radishes
This week in the garden Master Gardener Tom Mashour shows how to tell if a radish is ready to pull or if it past its prime.
Related Resources: Radishes in the Garden Carrot, Beet, Radish & Parsnip Vegetable Harvest and Storage |
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Removing Dead Tree Branches
This week in the garden Retired UT Extension Agent Mike Dennison shows how to remove dead branches from peach trees during the growing season. The dead branches can harbor diseases so they should be cut off and removed from the orchard.
Related Resources: Pruning - A Special Case - Renovating Old Fruit Trees Best Management Practices for Pruning Landscape Trees, Shrubs and Ground Covers |
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Peach Tree Borer
This week in the garden Retired Extension Agent Mike Dennison identifies damage from peach borers and talks about how to spray to prevent them.
Related Resources: Peach Tree Borer Peach Tree Borer Peachtree Borer |
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Rope Around a Tree
This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper shows how some rope is starting to cut into the bark of a tree. The rope is holding up a bird house and Chris loosens the rope to allow the tree to grow.
Related Resources: Embedded Wires or Collars - Trees and Shrubs |
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Fixing Volcano Mulch
This week in the garden Extension Agent Chris Cooper shows how to fix volcano mulch around a tree. Landscapers often pile mulch too deep around trees. Mulch should not be up against the tree. You should be able to see the root flairs. Move the mulch away from the tree and spread it out.
Related Resources: Mulches Mulches for Home Grounds |