This Week In the Garden - 2022
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2020 This Week In the Garden 2021 This Week In the Garden 2023 This Week in the Garden
2020 This Week In the Garden 2021 This Week In the Garden 2023 This Week in the Garden
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Encouraging Tree Feeder Root Growth
This week in the garden certified arborist Wes Hopper shows how to use a trowel or shovel to loosen the soil under a small tree to encourage feeder root growth.
Related Videos: Planting a Tree Effects of High Wind on Small Trees Fertilizing Trees Related Resources: Tree Root Systems Healthy Roots and Healthy Trees |
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Spring Tree Pruning
This week in the garden University of Memphis Director of Landscape Joellen Dimond shows how to prune a tree. She removes rubbing branches, branches that are growing into the center of the tree, and watershoots.
Related Videos: How to Prune Shrubs Tools for Pruning Trees Disinfecting and Cleaning Garden Tools Related Resources: Tree Pruning Essentials Pruning Landscape Trees |
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Refreshing Winter Annuals
This week in the Garden Kim Rucker, the greenhouse manager at Dixon Gallery and Gardens shows how to make annuals, in this case dusty miller look better after a long winter. She trims ragged looking branches at the base of the plant revealing new growth underneath.
Related Videos: Planting the Dusty Millers Pruning Flowering Annuals Related Video: Pruning Herbaceous Plant |
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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 Videos: Mixing and Applying Fungicide Herbicide Basics Pre-Emergent Herbicides Related Resources: Using Your Handheld Lawn and Garden Sprayer Calibrating Hand-Held and Backpack Sprayers for Applying Pesticides Calibrating Hand-Held Sprayers |
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Vole Proofing and Planting Hostas
Hosta expert Jim Crowder from Memphis Botanic Garden shows how plant a hosta and prevent vole damage. After preparing the soil Jim adds soil perfecter (crushed rock) to the planting hole and presses it against the side. He then plants the hosta on the rock bed and puts more perfecter over the root ball. The crushed rock keeps the voles from getting to the hosta pip.
Related Video: Dividing and Potting Hostas Hostas Kinds of Mulch Related Resources: Hosta Voles |
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Fertilizer Blends
This week in the garden Master Gardener Tom Mashour talks about fertilizer. He talks about which fertilizer to use on which vegetable. Leafy greens require a high nitrogen content fertilizer while root crops require more phosphorus and potassium.
Related Videos: Fertilizer Basics Garden Fertilizer Math Related Resources: Fertilizers Fertilizing Your Vegetable Garden Steps in Fertilizing Your Garden: Vegetables and Annual Flowers |
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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 Videos: Horticulture Oils Crape Myrtles Treating Crape Myrtle Bark Scale Related Resources: Pest and Disease Control Using Horticultural Oils Horticultural Oils – What a Gardener Needs to Know |
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Dividing Ogon
This week in the garden University of Memphis Director of Landscape Joellen Dimond shoes how to divide ogon “sweet flag.” Using a shovel, she digs up half the existing plant and replants it in a different place.
Related Videos: Planting Shrubs in Wet Heavy Soils Related Resources: Discover Ogon shining among sweet flag grasses Japanese Sweet Flag |
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How Did the Corn Do?
This week in the garden Retired UT Extension Agent Mike Dennison looks at how the corn did. He notes there was minimal insect damage, mainly from corn borers. Also, there was some pollination problems due to heat.
Related Videos: Planting Corn Corn Related Resources: Growing Sweet Corn in Home Gardens Growing Home Garden Sweet Corn |
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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 Videos: Build a Holiday Evergreen Display Homegrown Greenery for Flower Arranging Related Resources: Pruning Shrubs How To Prune Coniferous Evergreen Trees |
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Replanting Pansies the Deer Dug Up
This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Celeste Scott shows how to replant pansies that deer tried to eat and pulled out of the ground. As long as there are leaves left you can replant them and they should grow.
Related Videos: Nuisance Wildlife: Deer Planting Pansies for Fall and Winter How do I care for my winter pansies? My pansies had blooms when I planted them. Now they don’t. Why? Related Resources: Reduce Deer Damage in Your Yard Growing Pansies |
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Pruning a Water Sprout
This week in the garden certified arborist Wes Hopper shows how to remove a watersprout from a magnolia tree. Watersprouts grow when the tree is under stress. He shows how to remove the growth over two years or all at once.
Related Videos: Pruning Tools Overview Should I prune the Y in my tree Related Resources: Pruning Basics A Guide to Successful Pruning Pruning Deciduous Trees |
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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 Videos: Notes - Volunteer Plants Planting Summer Flowers Related Resources: Plants Grown in Containers Container Gardening Container Gardens |
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Planting Garlic
This week in the garden Peter Richards shows how to plant garlic. Garlic is planted in the fall for an early summer harvest.
Related Videos: Garlic Cleaning Garlic Related Resources: Growing garlic in home gardens Garlic Garlic Production for the Gardener |
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When to Compost and When to Trash
This week in the garden Peter Richards shows when you can compost plants out of your garden and when you should just throw them away. Healthy plants can be composted, but diseased or insect infested plant debris should be thrown in the trash.
Related Videos: Composting Black Spot on Peppers Related Resources: Compost and Composting Resources Home Composting: A Guide for Home Gardeners |
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Harvesting Sweet Potatoes
This week in the garden Peter Richards harvests sweet potatoes from the square foot garden. It is best to harvest sweet potatoes before the temperatures get too cold. Freezing temperatures can damage sweet potatoes in the ground. Left the potatoes up from the bottom to avoid damage.
Related Videos: Planting Sweet Potatoes What has been eating my sweet potatoes? Related Resources: Growing Sweet Potatoes at Home Sweet Potato |
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Protecting the Square Foot Garden from an Early Freeze
This week in the garden Peter Richards shows how he protected the square foot garden from an early freeze. He covered it with drop cloths and plastic. He also used water to release heat overnight. The garden survived the cold temperatures without any problems.
Related Videos: Winter Garden Vegetables Starting a Square Foot Garden Related Resources: Protecting Your Garden from Frost Brrrr! How to Protect Plants from Frost or Freeze |
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When to Pick Eggplant
This week in the garden Peter Richards shows when to pick eggplant. Unlike other vegetables you want to pick it when it is still unripe. Once it looses its shine it is too late.
Related Videos: Planting Eggplant Starting a Square Foot Garden Related Resources: Growing eggplant in home gardens Home Garden Eggplant |
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Cleaning out the Cucumber BedThis Week in the Garden retired MSU Extension Horticulture Specialist
Lelia Kelly shows how to clean out the cucumber plot. She removes all
the plants and then rakes the ground to collect all the leaves that have
fallen off the plants over the growing season. Getting rid of the
plants and leaves removes places for insects and disease to overwinter.
Related Videos: Growing Cucumbers Training Cucumbers: String and Trellis When to Pick Cucumbers Related Resources: Cucumber Cucumber Production Cucumbers |
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Late Season Canna Pruning
This week in the garden University of Memphis Director of Landscape Joellen Dimond shows how to prune cannas to improve their look late in the year. By late summer cannas look bad because the leaves have been growing all year and they have been eaten by bugs.
Related Videos: Dividing Cannas Canna Insect Pests Related Resources: Cannas for the Home Landscape Cannas in the Garden |
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Protecting Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower from Hungry WormsThis week in the garden Peter Richards shows how to apply the organic insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) on brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) to protect them from the imported cabbage worm and the cabbage looper.
Related Videos: BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) Should I use BT preventatively or wait until I see caterpillars? Related Resources: Imported Cabbageworm Cabbage Looper on Vegetables Bacillus Thuringiensis Home and Garden: Bacillus Thuringiensis |
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Preparing Blueberry Plants for 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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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 Videos: Should I use a pruning sealer TWIG–Pruning Tools Overview Related Resources: Pruning Trees and Shrubs Pruning and Care of Tree wounds Pruning Trees |
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Collecting Milkweed Seeds
In the fall milkweed seeds are easy to collect to plant for next year. University of Memphis Director of Landscape Joellen Dimond shows how to remove the seeds from the plant and clean them for storage for next year.
Related Videos: Aphids on Milkweed Planting a Butterfly Garden Related Resources: Growing Potatoes in Home Gardens Home Garden Potatoes |
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Hilling Potatoes
This week in the garden Peter Richards shows how to hill potatoes in the Family Plot square foot garden. It is a simple process where you just cover the small growing plant with soil. The potatoes will grow in the mound. Peter says to continue mounding as the plant grows until the hill is 10-12 inches high.
Related Videos: Growing Potatoes Potatoes Planting Potatoes Related Resources: Growing Potatoes in Home Gardens Home Garden Potatoes |
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Pollinating tomatoes with an Electric Toothbrush
This week in the garden Alainia Hagerty, owner of tomatobaby.com, shows how to pollinate a tomato flower with an electric toothbrush. When temperatures get hot tomato pollen is less viable and flowers tend to not get pollinated. The vibration of an electric toothbrush moves the pollen within the flower. Vibrating the flowers every other day will keep your tomatoes loaded with fruit even when it is hot.
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When to Pick Cucumbers
This week in the garden Peter Richards shows how cucumbers should be picked based on size. He explains that if you let cucumbers get too large, they will taste bitter had have large seeds. Experiment early in the season to find the ideal size to pick your cucumbers.
Related Videos: Cucumbers Training Cucumbers: String and Trellis – Family Plot Related Resources: Harvesting Cucumbers Growing Cucumbers in the Home Garden |
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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 Videos: Where do tomato hornworms come from? What are the white growths on hornworms? Will tomato hornworms infect the soil? Related Resources: Tomato hornworms in home gardens Tobacco/Tomato Hornworm - Vegetables |
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Identifying Spider MitesThis week in the garden UT Extension Agent Celeste Scott identifies spider mites on a baptisia plant. She shows how to use a piece of paper to identify them. She also talks about treatment options for a large shrub.
Related Videos: Systemic Insecticides Horticultural Oils Related Resources: What is a systemic insecticide? Spider Mites on Ornamentals |
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Unclogging Oscillating Sprinkler Nozzles
This week in the garden Horticulturist Jason Reeves shows how to unclog the nozzles in an oscillating sprinkler. Better quality sprinklers have a tool included, If your sprinkler does not have a clean out tool, you can use a pin.
Related Videos: Summer Lawn Watering Hoses and Hot Water Related Resources: Watering Lawns Home Lawn Watering Guide Summer Lawn Management: Watering the Lawn |
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Mulching Tomato Plants
This week in the Garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper mulches a tomato plant. A few inches of mulch will help to even out soil moisture and even out soil temperatures for the roots. This will help stop tomato cracking.
Related Videos: Splitting Tomatoes Can I use pine needle mulch on tomatoes? Kinds of Mulch Related Resources: Mulches for the Vegetable Garden Mulches What Causes Tomatoes to Crack? |
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Pulling Carrots
This week in the garden UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper shows how to tell if your carrots are ready to pull and shows how to pull them.
Check out our square foot gardening blog to see what is happening to these plants and others: https://www.familyplotgarden.com/square-foot-garden-blog Related Videos: Harvesting Seed Heads from the Carrot Family Will corn gluten control weeds in carrots? Starting a Square Foot Garden Related Resources: Carrots in the Garden How to Grow Carrots |
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Side-Dressing Corn
This week in the garden Retired UT Extension Agent Mike Dennison shows how to side-dress corn with nitrogen fertilizer. Corn requires a lot of nitrogen, but one side-dressing is enough for the growing season.
Related Videos: Sidedressing Vegetables What should you consider before starting a vegetable garden? Related Resource: Aphids in home yards and gardens Tomato Insect IPM Guidelines |
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Spraying Bt on Cauliflower
This week in the garden Peter Richards shows how to spray Bt or bacillus thuringiensis on a cauliflower plant to kill the worms feeding on it. Bt will kill cabbage loopers and imported cabbage worms on cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli.
Related Videos: BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) Cabbage Related Resources: Bt Basics for Vegetable Integrated Pest Management Cabbage, Broccoli & Other Cole Crop Insect Pests |
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Planting Cantaloupe in the Square Foot Garden
This week in the garden UT Assistant Professor of Residential and
Consumer Horticulture Natalie Bumgarner shows how to plant cantaloupe in
a square foot garden.
Check out our square foot gardening blog to see what is happening to these plants and others: https://www.familyplotgarden.com/square-foot-garden-blog Related Videos: When can I start cantaloupe and watermelons? Watermelons In Raised Beds Related Resources: Cantaloupe (Muskmelon) in the Garden Cantaloupe & Honeydew Melons |
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Nutrient-Deficient (Yellowing Leaves)
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Planting Eggplant
This week in the garden UT Assistant Professor of Residential and Consumer Horticulture Natalie Bumgarner shows how to plant eggplant in the Family Plot square foot garden. Egg plant is planted one plant per square. Natalie plants it at the same depth it was growing in the container.
Check out our square foot gardening blog to see what is happening to these plants and others: https://www.familyplotgarden.com/square-foot-garden-blog Related Videos: Starting a Square Foot Garden Planting Peppers Related Resources: Growing eggplant in home gardens Home Garden Eggplant |
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Reducing the Height of a Shrub
This week in the garden University of Memphis Director of Landscape Joellen Dimond shows how she reduces the height of a shrub with pruning. She also talks about how she selects the location of her cuts to encourage the plant to grow in certain directions.
Related Videos: How to Prune Shrubs Apical Dominance Related Resources: Pruning Shrubs and Hedges Basic Principles of Pruning Woody Plants |
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Planting Bush Beans in the Square Foot Garden
This week in the garden Peter Richards plants two varieties of bush beans in the square foot garden. In square foot gardening bush beans are planted nine plants to a square. He plants two varieties ‘Antigua’ and ‘Dulcina.’ These are part of this year’s University of Tennessee Home Vegetable Trials. At two week intervals he will plant additional squares to space out the harvest.
Check out our square foot gardening blog to see what is happening to these plants and others: https://www.familyplotgarden.com/square-foot-garden-blog Related Videos: Beans Planting Bush Beans Related Resources: Home Garden Green Beans Beans Growing Green Beans |
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Harvesting Radishes in the Square Foot Garden
This week in the garden Peter Richards harvests radishes. Radishes are fast growing and are one of the first vegetables you can pick in the garden.
Check out our square foot gardening blog to see what is happening to these plants and others: https://www.familyplotgarden.com/square-foot-garden-blog Related Videos: When to Harvest Radishes Thinning Radish in the Square Foot Garden Related Resources: Radishes in the Garden Carrot, Beet, Radish & Parsnip Vegetable Harvest and Storage |
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Pinching Coleus
This week in the garden Jill Maybry from Memphis Botanic Garden shows how to pinch off a coleus plant. Pinching coleus will make it bush out and fill in. You can also take the part you have pinched off and root it for another plant.
Related Videos: Landscape Flowers for the Heat How to Prune Shrubs Related Resources: Coleus Coleus |
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Fertilizing Onions
This week in the garden Peter Richards shows how to fertilize onions. Regular nitrogen fertilizer application will give the plants the nutrients they need to grow large and healthy tops. When it is time to bulb, the plants will pull the nutrients and sugars from the tops down into the bulbs.
Check out our square foot gardening blog to see what is happening to these plants and others: https://www.familyplotgarden.com/square-foot-garden-blog Related Videos: Growing Onions Starting a Square Foot Garden Related Resources: My Ash Tree Didn’t Leaf Out! Diagnosing Poor Plant Health |
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How to Tell if a Plant is Dead if There are No Leaves
This week in the garden retired UT Extension Agent Mike Dennison shows how to see if a plant is dead by scraping off a small piece of bark.
Related Videos: How to Tell if Your Plant is Dead Pruning Dead Floricanes from Blackberries Related Resources: My Ash Tree Didn’t Leaf Out! Diagnosing Poor Plant Health |
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Thinning Radish in the Square Foot Garden
Peter Richards shows how to radishes square foot garden. The plants were planted with 2 seeds in each space so they need to be thinned. peter used scissors so he does not disturb the plan that is being allowed to grow.
Check out our square foot gardening blog to see what is happening to these plants and others: https://www.familyplotgarden.com/square-foot-garden-blog Related Videos: When to Harvest Radishes Starting a Square Foot Garden Related Resources: Radishes in the Home Garden Growing Radishes |
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Planting Cauliflower in the Square Foot Garden
UT Extension Agent Chris Cooper shows how to transplant cauliflower in the square foot garden.
Check out our square foot gardening blog to see what is happening to these plants and others: https://www.familyplotgarden.com/square-foot-garden-blog Related Videos: Starting a Square Foot Garden Planting Cabbage, Broccoli and Cauliflower Related Resources: Growing Cauliflower How to Grow Cauliflower |