Welcome to the 250th episode of the Just Grow Something podcast! 🎉
Whether you've been listening since the beginning or just found the show, thank you for being part of this growing community. In this special milestone episode, we're digging into listener-submitted questions on a variety of timely gardening topics.
In this episode:
When seedlings are ready to transplant (what to look for beyond just "true leaves")
How to properly plant using the Three Sisters method and why timing is key
What to do with sprouted or soft seed potatoes and how to plant them successfully
How to manage Colorado potato beetles while supporting beneficial insects like ladybugs
When and how to use insect netting effectively in your garden (and how to keep it from blowing away!)
Winter sowing tips for celeriac and strategies when you can’t start seeds indoors
Organic pest control tips for pill bugs, armyworms, grubs, and more
The role of beneficial nematodes in controlling Japanese beetles and other soil pests
These are all real questions from you, my gardening friends, submitted via email, social media, and our Facebook community. If one person is wondering, chances are others are too! Let's dig in!
References and Resources:
Save 20% on your new David Austin rose plant atHeirloomRoses.com with code JUSTGROW https://heirloomroses.com
How to Prepare Seedlings for Transplant into the Garden - Ep. 243: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/episode/how-to-prepare-seedlings-for-transplant-into-the-garden-ep-243
Ep. 131 - The Basics of Winter Sowing: Seed Starting Outdoors: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/episode/ep-131-the-basics-of-winter-sowing-seed-starting-outdoors
My favorite insect netting: https://amzn.to/3Fems6k
And the fabric staples: https://amzn.to/45jjzLT
Arbico Organics Neemaseek: https://www.arbico-organics.com/product/nemaseek-beneficial-nematodes-hb-heterorhabditis-bacteriophora/beneficial-nematodes
Milky Spore: https://www.arbico-organics.com/product/milky-spore-granular-bacillus-popillae/organic-lawn-care
Pyganic: https://amzn.to/4dsx9in
Spinosad: https://amzn.to/4mpkdhc
Just Grow Something: https://justgrowsomething.com
Just Grow Something Merch andDownloads: https://justgrowsomething.com/shop
Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18YgHveF5P/
Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JustGrowSomething
Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/justgrowsomething
Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething
Just Grow Something is a participant in the AmazonServices LLC Associates Program. Anytime you click on one of those links and proceed to make a purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the purchase price in the form of a commission directly from Amazon.
00:00:00
Welcome back, my gardening friends, to episode 250 of the
00:00:05
Just Grow Something podcast. Well, though this podcast
00:00:10
started back in February of 2021 and here we are 4 1/2 years
00:00:14
later, still rocking and rolling.
00:00:16
I am very appreciative of you being here.
00:00:19
And so for today's episode, I thought we would answer some of
00:00:23
the questions that I have gotten from you here recently.
00:00:26
I always figure if one person asks, there's likely the others
00:00:30
who have the same question. So today we're talking when
00:00:34
plants are the appropriate size for transplant.
00:00:38
Some clarification on the Three Sisters method, potatoes, celery
00:00:43
act, insect netting and more. All questions asked by you
00:00:47
through DM, e-mail, the Facebook group, and in person.
00:00:52
Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen and what started
00:00:54
as a small backyard garden 20 years ago turned into a lifelong
00:00:58
passion for growing food. Now as a market farmer and
00:01:01
horticulturist, I want to help you do the same.
00:01:04
On this podcast I am your friend in the garden, teaching evidence
00:01:07
based techniques to help you grow your favourites and build
00:01:10
confidence in your own garden space.
00:01:12
So grab your garden journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to
00:01:15
just grow something. So new designs, I guess this is
00:01:22
a great time to to say this because yay for 250 episodes,
00:01:27
but I've got some new designs live in the merch shop.
00:01:30
I may add a few more items or have a few more items to add
00:01:37
with those designs over the next few weeks.
00:01:39
So bear with me. If you see a design that you
00:01:42
like and you want to see it on something specific, just reach
00:01:46
out and let me know and I will put it together if I can.
00:01:49
All of the merch that Ioffer is printed on demand, so we're not
00:01:55
just buying a bunch of clothing and water bottles and stuff and
00:01:57
then having them end up in the landfill if they don't sell,
00:02:00
which is a much more sustainable way I think to do this.
00:02:03
Some of the older designs will be retired in the very near
00:02:07
future. So get in there soon if you have
00:02:09
been eyeing something but maybe haven't made the leap yet.
00:02:16
So let's dive right into your questions that you've been
00:02:21
asking me over the past probably 6 or 8 weeks or so as we're
00:02:25
transitioning into this gardening season.
00:02:27
You guys have had a lot of questions.
00:02:29
So Katie Jones said, I listen to podcasters that say when the
00:02:34
plant is big enough to transplant.
00:02:38
What exactly does that mean? Two true leaves, Six true
00:02:42
leaves, a certain height. Thanks.
00:02:44
And I love the podcast. I'm so glad that you're
00:02:46
listening. Katie, thank you so much.
00:02:48
I love this question. The answer is it depends.
00:02:52
So the first thing to consider is, are you transplanting up
00:02:57
into larger containers? Generally speaking, you don't
00:03:00
want to pot up anything that doesn't already have at least
00:03:05
their first set of true leaves. After that, when to pot them up
00:03:10
is based on the plant and the container that it's in.
00:03:14
So we don't want plants getting root bound and we don't want
00:03:18
them struggling to get nutrients from a soil volume that is not
00:03:22
sufficient. So I always say to check the
00:03:25
root system of the plant and then potted up into something
00:03:29
bigger when the root ball is full but not wrapping around
00:03:35
itself yet, if that makes sense. We don't want it root bound
00:03:38
before we transplanted or before we pot them up.
00:03:42
The next consideration is when we're transplanting out into the
00:03:45
garden. And so this doesn't matter
00:03:47
whether it's in container or planter or an in ground bed.
00:03:50
There are a couple of things to consider.
00:03:53
The first thing is, think about would this little plant be able
00:03:57
to stand up to the wind and the rain and the other elements if I
00:04:03
were to put it outside right now?
00:04:06
The second thing is to figure out whether it's been properly
00:04:09
hardened off. So if you're hardening off your
00:04:13
plants and you've gone through the process that I detailed in
00:04:17
that last episode that we did about this, I will link to that
00:04:20
in the show notes. Then the plant is going to tell
00:04:24
you if it's not ready because it's going to short start to
00:04:27
show signs of stress. So in general, I look for a
00:04:32
plant to have several true sets of leaves or several sets of
00:04:37
true leaves before I put them outside.
00:04:40
I want to make sure they have a nice strong stem and I really
00:04:44
just want them to be like a minimum of three inches tall
00:04:48
before I put them outside. And this assumes that they all
00:04:52
look really healthy and that they have all been properly
00:04:55
hardened off. It really is a bit subjective.
00:04:59
And each plant has its own requirements.
00:05:02
So, you know, what I think a tomato plant should look like
00:05:06
when it's ready and the size it should be and the number of true
00:05:10
leaves it should have is going to differ dramatically than what
00:05:15
I think a zucchini plant should look like before you're
00:05:19
transplanting outside and how many leaves it should have, You
00:05:23
know, So it really depends on that gets the requirements for
00:05:28
that particular plant. For me, I really want a tomato
00:05:31
plant to have a nice thick stock.
00:05:33
I want it to be, you know, probably a good 4 to 6 inches
00:05:36
tall. I would like for it to have it.
00:05:38
Usually I've got three to four sets of true leaves on those
00:05:43
tomato plants before I'm transplanting them versus a
00:05:45
zucchini, which you really don't want to keep in their containers
00:05:50
for too long after they sprout because they don't love having
00:05:53
those roots disturbed. And it's going to tend to set
00:05:57
them back a little bit. So my zucchini plants might be,
00:06:01
you know, also 3 to 4 inches tall, but they're probably only
00:06:05
going to have like one set of true leaves when I'm
00:06:09
transplanting them. And I'm doing that.
00:06:12
I'm starting those in containers that have the largest volume of
00:06:15
soil possible so that there is no potting up that needs to
00:06:18
happen and there will be very little disturbance of those
00:06:22
roots when I transplant them. I want them to have that larger
00:06:25
soil volume versus the tomatoes which might be potted up, you
00:06:29
know, sometimes 2 times before I get them out into the garden.
00:06:33
So it is a bit subjective. Each plant has its own
00:06:36
requirements, but those would be my general guidelines.
00:06:40
Look to see if it's going to be able to stand up to the wind and
00:06:44
the rain and whatever else. If you put them out in the
00:06:46
ground, make sure that it's been properly hardened off first.
00:06:49
Make sure it has a nice strong stem and several sets of true
00:06:53
leaves. So Cassandra Wolf asked for the
00:06:59
three sisters method. Do you plant the corn, beans,
00:07:02
and squash all at the same time? I want to try it out but I'm not
00:07:07
sure how to do it. I found your podcast and love
00:07:10
it. Thank you, Cassandra.
00:07:12
I'm so glad that you're listening for the Three Sisters
00:07:16
method. Ideally, you are planting the
00:07:19
corn 1st and you are letting it come up and you want it at least
00:07:24
12 inches tall before you plant anything else.
00:07:28
And let's be clear, in general, we're usually talking about dent
00:07:33
corn because dent corn or popcorn dries and stays on the
00:07:39
stock much later into the season.
00:07:42
And so you're not going to be traipsing over things to get to
00:07:46
harvest those corn before the very end of the season.
00:07:51
So you're not worried about stepping on the plants that you
00:07:53
might be inter planting. You can do this with sweet corn
00:07:58
and just leave the stalks up after you harvest the sweet
00:08:02
corn. But just know that you're going
00:08:04
to have to step carefully in and around your squash plants to get
00:08:09
to the sweet corn. So keep that in mind.
00:08:11
We want the corn to be about 12 inches tall and then we want to
00:08:15
plant the bean seeds at the base of those stalks.
00:08:19
So the beans are going to use the stalks of the corn while the
00:08:24
corn is growing as a trellis and they're going to climb up.
00:08:29
So we're talking about pole beans here.
00:08:32
We're not talking about Bush green beans.
00:08:34
These are pole beans. So you've got your corn.
00:08:36
Corn comes up 12 inches. You plant your bean seeds.
00:08:40
As the corn continues to grow up, now the beans are growing up
00:08:42
with it and it's wrapping around the stalks.
00:08:45
And so you can go in and you can harvest the beans off of there.
00:08:48
And then once the soil is warm enough, then we interplant those
00:08:53
vining squash and just let them take off.
00:08:56
And ideally, those vining squashes are going to act as a
00:09:00
ground cover in and around the corn and amongst the, you know,
00:09:06
the base of the beans to kind of help keep the soil shaded #1
00:09:11
it's keeping it a little bit cooler #2 it's shading out or
00:09:14
choking out any weeds that might be trying to compete with what
00:09:17
it is that we're growing in the beans and the corn.
00:09:20
And so the corn is acting as a support for the bean.
00:09:23
The bean is fixing nitrogen into the soil, which is helping the
00:09:27
corn. And then of course, we have the
00:09:29
benefits of the squash vining in amongst it.
00:09:32
And if you're using a vining squash that is particularly sort
00:09:35
of thorny, you know how squashes can get the spikes on them
00:09:40
sometimes that can help keep the raccoons out of your corn and
00:09:44
keep them from climbing the corn to get to the to the corn.
00:09:46
So, you know, there's a little bonus offshoot there as well,
00:09:52
Heather Ghosh said, Or maybe it's Gesh.
00:09:55
I know in my brain I've always pronounced this Ghosh, but maybe
00:09:58
it's Gesh. Heather, reach out and tell me.
00:10:00
I'm not sure. No, she said.
00:10:02
Good morning. I see in your latest e-mail
00:10:05
newsletter that the new podcast episode covers seed starting
00:10:09
indoor versus outdoor. I had hoped to try sowing some
00:10:12
celeryac seeds into a milk jug for winter growing outside here
00:10:18
in southeast Wisconsin, but wonder if it's better to wait
00:10:22
and sow directly into the garden once more warmth is on offer
00:10:26
from Mother Nature. What would you advise?
00:10:28
I have no means or sunny spots to start seeds indoors.
00:10:33
Thanks. And I love this question because
00:10:35
a lot of people don't have, you know, a way to start seeds
00:10:39
indoors or just don't want to mess with it, honestly.
00:10:43
And so winter sowing is a really good way to get things started
00:10:49
at their own pace while still being protected.
00:10:54
So I did an episode on winter sowing.
00:10:57
I will link to that in the show notes.
00:10:59
And essentially you are taking either milk jugs or plastic
00:11:04
containers of some sort and you are poking holes in the bottom
00:11:07
for drainage. And then you're creating a sort
00:11:09
of lid essentially of on this container to where it can act
00:11:14
like a little mini greenhouse. You're putting at least 4 inches
00:11:18
of soil in there and you're planting your seeds.
00:11:21
You're closing it up, leaving the top open so that you can get
00:11:25
some some rain and some moisture in there.
00:11:27
And then you're setting it outside, and then you're just
00:11:29
letting it do its thing. And the idea is that when that
00:11:33
soil temperature inside that jug is conducive to those plants
00:11:39
sprouting, they will sprout at the time when it's appropriate
00:11:42
for them to do that. And then you can just transplant
00:11:45
that whole mess of seeds or now seedlings out into your garden.
00:11:51
So what I had told Heather with the Celery Act was that I would
00:11:55
try both. I would plant half of the seeds
00:11:59
in the winter sowing jugs, and then I would hold back the other
00:12:03
half just in case the jugs didn't work out.
00:12:05
I mean, I like this technique anytime you're trying something
00:12:08
new, you know, and especially like winter sowing when you're
00:12:12
figuring out how to how to use it.
00:12:15
I love winter sowing because the seeds sprout when the conditions
00:12:19
are ideal, but celery act just like celery can take like 3
00:12:24
weeks to germinate even under perfect conditions and so I
00:12:27
would be worried about the soil temperatures really fluctuating
00:12:31
widely in those jugs. So at least if I held seeds back
00:12:35
I would have a backup and I could direct sew those out into
00:12:38
the garden after the last frost. I had heard of David Austin but
00:12:43
never really paid attention to who he was or what was so
00:12:46
special about a David Austin rose.
00:12:48
Turns out he was a British rose breeder and writer who set out
00:12:52
to combine the charm of old garden roses with the repeat
00:12:55
blooming of modern varieties. He released his very first rose
00:12:59
variety, Constance Spry, back in 1961.
00:13:03
Today, his English roses are world renowned for their full
00:13:07
cupped blooms, soft fragrance and ability to thrive in a
00:13:11
modern garden. Which is why it should be no
00:13:14
surprise that heirloomroses.com offers a curated collection of
00:13:18
40 different David Austin varieties, grown on their own
00:13:22
roots and ready to bring elegance and exceptional
00:13:25
performance to your garden, whether you're drawn to Lady of
00:13:28
Charlotte, Princess Alexandra of Kent or Charles Darwin.
00:13:33
Yes, these are all David Austin rose varieties.
00:13:36
You can save 20% on your choice at heirloomroses.com.
00:13:40
Use code Just Grow at checkout and you will be on your way to
00:13:43
enjoying your own beautiful David Austin rose
00:13:47
heirloomroses.com with code Just grow at checkout.
00:13:50
The link is in the show notes. Next up is Jill Stephenson.
00:13:55
She said I got the insect netting that you recommended.
00:13:58
Do you put it down as soon as you plant?
00:14:02
How do you secure it so it doesn't fly away?
00:14:04
I got some hoops. I just don't know how I'm going
00:14:06
to keep it from blowing. Should I direct seed or start
00:14:10
plugs or does it matter? My first round of transplants
00:14:13
are looking good, but they are exposed and it's only a matter
00:14:17
of time. And Jill is referring here to
00:14:20
squash plants. And so she is in the same area I
00:14:24
am in, West Central Missouri. And she's also a market farmer.
00:14:27
And she was concerned about squash bugs and vine bores and
00:14:31
all that kinds of fun stuff. And so she is using one of my
00:14:33
techniques, which I recommend, and that is using insect netting
00:14:37
to cover the zucchini plants before they start to flower to
00:14:41
help at least delay the onset of the squash bugs.
00:14:44
And so I told her I use landscape fabric staples to hold
00:14:49
them in the soil. You can also use sandbags or you
00:14:53
can just bury the edges in the soil, but that's kind of a pain
00:14:55
when you actually have to get into it because then you have to
00:14:57
re bury it. So I just use those landscape
00:14:59
fabric staples. They are.
00:15:01
They're the easiest thing to remove and put back again.
00:15:04
I put the insect netting on immediately after planting.
00:15:10
I am not taking any chances and I do both direct seating and
00:15:17
transplants. So with squashes I usually start
00:15:21
with a round of transplants early on and they immediately
00:15:25
get covered with the insect netting.
00:15:27
And then about a week or so later I will direct sew another
00:15:32
bed so that it's a few weeks behind the 1st and I also cover
00:15:36
those. I mean, I'll cover the bed
00:15:39
immediately after sowing the seeds, right, just to make sure
00:15:42
I don't miss them sprouting and, and miss, you know, an
00:15:46
opportunity to protect them. So that way I have one
00:15:49
succession already going with minimal work involved.
00:15:53
I don't have time to be starting a whole bunch of seeds indoors
00:15:57
and keeping track of them in order to transplant.
00:15:59
And transplanting takes forever. And when we're in the middle of
00:16:02
harvest, I don't want to also be doing a ton of transplanting,
00:16:05
which of course we're already doing right now.
00:16:07
But so I just do the the the next section as, as seeds
00:16:12
directly sown in the ground. Now my strategy this year, and I
00:16:17
think I've talked about this already, but I'm really going
00:16:20
like full tilt on trying to protect these plants this year.
00:16:23
So I have blue Hubbard squash already planted on the opposite
00:16:28
side of the garden from where I am planting the rest of all of
00:16:32
my summer squashes and my zucchinis and that sort of
00:16:34
thing. And they're out there.
00:16:37
They are exposed. I have marigolds in there.
00:16:41
And what do we say about marigolds?
00:16:43
They attract squash bugs. So the blue Hubbard squash are
00:16:47
uncovered. There are marigolds interplanted
00:16:50
around them. And I'm going to be putting
00:16:53
squash vine bore pheromone traps in that bed as well.
00:17:00
And then I have the next bed over will be sunflowers.
00:17:04
And the idea is hopefully the squash bugs will be attracted to
00:17:10
the blue Hubbard squash because they are unprotected and they
00:17:14
also tend to be a preferential sort of trap crop in terms of
00:17:18
squash bugs. They tend to like the blue
00:17:22
Hubbard squash over any other squash for whatever reason.
00:17:25
Those and red Curry squash, if you've ever seen those at the
00:17:28
same time. Now I'm getting ready to start
00:17:31
transplanting my zucchinis and they are going to immediately be
00:17:36
covered. They're going to be interplanted
00:17:38
with nasturtium. And so that will hopefully, you
00:17:41
know, mess up that chemical signal and confuse the insects
00:17:45
that are trying to come after the squashes.
00:17:48
So I'm going to keep those plants completely covered until
00:17:50
they start to flower. And so hopefully the bugs will
00:17:54
be attracted to the blue Hubbard squash.
00:17:58
The vine borers will also be more heavily attracted over
00:18:02
there in addition to, you know, just seeing the squash.
00:18:04
But also we've got the pheromone traps over there and then the
00:18:08
the sunflowers will hopefully attract the birds who will also
00:18:12
come in and predate on those insects that are over there.
00:18:14
And so by the time I need to uncover the other ones that I
00:18:19
actually want as my cash crop, then hopefully they will be left
00:18:24
alone at least for an extended period of time so I can start to
00:18:27
get a harvest off of them. And then I'm just going to see
00:18:30
how things are going. If I start to see immediate
00:18:33
infestations, then obviously I'm going to go ahead and continue
00:18:36
with my usual succession plantings.
00:18:38
But when we can do squashes really well here, they do
00:18:41
phenomenally well. And you know they'll go all
00:18:45
season long and I will just have tons and tons of zucchini.
00:18:49
But that hasn't happened here in probably 10 years.
00:18:53
I mean, it's probably been at least 10 years since I had those
00:18:56
giant squash and zucchini plants out there that were three foot
00:19:00
tall and just as wide. And I didn't have to worry about
00:19:04
all these squash bugs and stuff. So that's my that's my plan this
00:19:07
year. Fingers crossed.
00:19:09
I will absolutely update you as it goes because if I can crack
00:19:12
the code on this, believe me, I'm going to share, OK?
00:19:16
Shelley Roscoe says, Hey, Karen, I have a question.
00:19:20
I bought some seed potatoes last fall but didn't get them in the
00:19:23
ground. So I stored them in a dark
00:19:26
closet in the box. When I pulled them out, they
00:19:29
looked like this. And the potatoes are a little
00:19:31
soft but not mushy. Can I still plant these?
00:19:35
And should that growth go above ground or below?
00:19:38
And so she sent an image of some very sprouted potatoes.
00:19:43
And of course, this was back in March.
00:19:45
But this is good info for future use for everybody.
00:19:47
So you can totally plant those. If your potatoes, your seed
00:19:52
potatoes sprout, you absolutely can put those in the ground.
00:19:56
The growth can be buried face up right?
00:19:59
So get them down as deep as you normally would plant your
00:20:01
potatoes. Cover them up with a good 4 to 6
00:20:05
inches of soil. It's OK if those sprouts break
00:20:08
off when you handle them because they will sprout again so long
00:20:12
as they still have those eyes on them.
00:20:14
They're going to continue to sprout as long as those potatoes
00:20:17
aren't like mushy. Once they're mushy there is no
00:20:20
energy left in them anymore and so they're don't have any energy
00:20:23
to draw off of in order to push those sprouts up while with
00:20:28
their waiting to root. So, but if they're just soft and
00:20:32
wrinkly, but they're still, you know, they're still decent
00:20:34
potatoes, you know, in terms of firmness, then by all means go
00:20:37
ahead and plant them. And in fact, I did that this
00:20:41
year. I had some that I had saved from
00:20:44
last season that I was planting and a few of them had sprouted
00:20:47
already. And you know, some of them were
00:20:49
were a little bit long and they are growing out there
00:20:52
beautifully right now with absolutely no problem.
00:20:55
So sticking with the potato theme, this one comes from
00:21:00
Rachel Russell. She says I am looking at my
00:21:03
potatoes and there is a pretty significant crop of potato
00:21:07
beetles in one section of my potatoes.
00:21:10
They do not appear to have spread very far, but they are
00:21:13
prolific in the spot where I am seeing them.
00:21:15
I'm also seeing ladybugs. So I don't know if that natural
00:21:18
predator will handle it or if I should get on it right now with
00:21:22
more aggressive tactics. We did purchase some pigantic
00:21:26
organic pesticide. We have not used it yet as we
00:21:29
really want that to be a last resort, but we do have it on
00:21:32
hand. Any thoughts?
00:21:35
So fun fact here, Rachel and her husband Michael are my mentees.
00:21:40
I am their mentor, their farm mentor through a USDA grant
00:21:44
program for beginning farmers and ranchers.
00:21:46
And so I get to talk with them all the time and I get to go out
00:21:49
to their place and sort of hands on, teach them things that, you
00:21:53
know, they might have questions on.
00:21:54
And so this was a question that she had sent me.
00:21:56
And what I told her was that I would monitor the situation very
00:22:02
closely. If you're seeing lots of
00:22:05
ladybugs, they may take care of the problem for you.
00:22:08
And I always want to give those natural predators a chance
00:22:12
before resorting to anything else.
00:22:14
And obviously that was the same, you know, sentiment that Rachel
00:22:17
was expressing. They also have chickens.
00:22:19
And so I told her maybe they could let the chickens into that
00:22:22
area too, if they wouldn't destroy anything else in the
00:22:24
process because chickens are very good at eating, you know,
00:22:27
these, these types of beetles. The good news is that Rachel was
00:22:33
only seeing them in sporadic clusters on individual plants
00:22:38
and what that means is that the diversification in their gardens
00:22:42
is working. They have been working really
00:22:44
hard on trying to inter plant things and also growing a lot
00:22:48
of, you know, pollinator friendly plants and things that
00:22:53
attract those insect predators into the garden.
00:22:56
So that, you know, it's the fact that they're not overrun and
00:22:59
already and they're just kind of sporadic is good news.
00:23:03
But that being said, I would check the volume of the potato
00:23:08
beetles daily and handpick the adults right now to keep them
00:23:12
from mating. And of course, you can just toss
00:23:14
those to the chickens, right? And also advised her to check
00:23:17
the leaves for egg clusters and remove those.
00:23:21
So just like squash bugs, potato beetles also overwinter as
00:23:27
adults. And generally they're in kind of
00:23:29
wooded areas and some of these debris fields that are in and
00:23:33
around our garden areas. And it just so happens that, you
00:23:36
know, Rachel and Michael, they're their gardens kind of
00:23:39
back up to a wooded area. So it's very likely that that's
00:23:42
where those potato beetles came from.
00:23:45
And they slowly make their way over to wherever the potatoes
00:23:49
are and they will climb, you know, up the potato to start
00:23:54
immediately mating and laying their eggs.
00:23:56
So very similar to the squash bugs, but they don't move as
00:23:59
quickly. So a prevention is to mulch your
00:24:05
your potatoes with straw and that will actually slow them
00:24:10
down. They fall into the crevices of
00:24:12
the straw and that's where some of the bugs can start to predate
00:24:16
on them. So it makes it, you know, a
00:24:18
little bit more treacherous for them to be able to get to their
00:24:20
intended target. You can also dig a trench around
00:24:26
where you got your potatoes planted, and then you can line
00:24:30
that trench with black plastic. And so it's very easy to see
00:24:35
them in there. And you can fill that trench
00:24:39
with water, almost like a Moat. And so as they're trying to
00:24:42
crawl to get over to where the potato field is or your potato
00:24:46
beds or whatever, they're falling in there and they're
00:24:48
drowning. Or you can very easily see them
00:24:51
on the black plastic and you can scoop them out.
00:24:54
The reason that this is important is, you know, the life
00:24:58
cycle of these guys is only about 30 to 45 days from the
00:25:02
time that you see them. And so if you, if they're
00:25:06
getting to your potatoes and you're not picking those adults
00:25:09
off and checking for those egg clusters, by the time you know,
00:25:13
the potatoes are really in the midst of their full growth, you
00:25:19
can have a full blown infestation on your hands and
00:25:23
they can very easily just demolish the leaves of the
00:25:27
potato plants if they go unchecked.
00:25:30
So if the population doesn't seem controlled after a couple
00:25:35
days of going out there and, you know, hand picking and seeing if
00:25:39
the ladybugs are kind of doing their work and maybe getting
00:25:41
chickens in there to see if they're doing the work, then we
00:25:44
might want to turn to a spray. But what I recommended to Rachel
00:25:48
was that I would use spinosad instead of pigantic.
00:25:53
Pigantic is a pyrethrum. It is derived from
00:25:56
chrysanthemums. It is very effective in terms of
00:26:01
it's fast acting right. It acts very quickly once the
00:26:05
once the insects are hit with it, but it also doesn't last
00:26:08
very long. It is photosensitive.
00:26:10
So once it kind of is is in the open air and it's exposed to the
00:26:14
sun, then it starts to degrade and it doesn't last very long.
00:26:18
The spinosid or the spinosad, I always pronounced that wrong.
00:26:22
The spinosad is much more effective because it's last
00:26:26
longer and it's not photosensitive like the
00:26:28
pyrethrums are, and it's just better overall for things like
00:26:32
beetles. So that would be my
00:26:34
recommendation, all of the things that you can do to
00:26:36
prevent it. Also, you would want to check to
00:26:40
to make sure that those potato beetles aren't also ending up in
00:26:45
your tomato plants and in your eggplants because anything
00:26:49
that's in the nightshade family they are going to be attracted
00:26:53
to. So if you've got them in your
00:26:54
potatoes, you might double check and make sure you don't have
00:26:57
them in your tomatoes. Next one is from Chrissy Roof
00:27:03
Pill bugs. I have a million of them.
00:27:05
I don't recall them being this prevalent last year.
00:27:08
I noticed them munching on my cabbage.
00:27:11
I spread DE last evening but also wondering about beer traps.
00:27:16
So we have had a ton of pill bugs here also this year.
00:27:21
And it's not necessarily a bad thing to have pill bugs in your
00:27:25
garden. They do a great job of breaking
00:27:29
down plant matter and debris into this beautiful humus that
00:27:34
adds to our soil, right? They're great for that.
00:27:37
They are dertritivores, That's their whole job.
00:27:40
But when they start to accumulate in mass, they
00:27:45
actually will start to eat on your plants if there's too many
00:27:50
of them and there is not enough of sort of, you know, dead and
00:27:53
dying plant tissue around for them to eat on.
00:27:56
Beer traps do work, but I use potato slices.
00:28:02
So I cut potato slice or potatoes in half and then I
00:28:05
place them face down in the bed and I just put them all over the
00:28:09
place. They love the moisture of those
00:28:11
potatoes and they like that decaying tissue.
00:28:14
And so it's super easy just to walk out with a container and
00:28:18
flip the potatoes up and look at them.
00:28:19
Find your pill bugs that have gathered underneath it, tap them
00:28:23
off into a container and then relocate them.
00:28:26
Put them someplace else in your yard where you know you might
00:28:30
need them to be breaking down some, that maybe there's fallen
00:28:33
leaves somewhere. They would love to go live in
00:28:34
some fallen leaves. I hate to destroy them because
00:28:37
they're so beneficial. So I just moved them to a spot
00:28:40
that has, you know, that other debris that they can tackle.
00:28:43
And by doing this, just going out a couple of times a day or
00:28:47
at least once a day to, you know, flip up those potatoes,
00:28:50
tap off the bugs, put the potato back, the potato slice back down
00:28:54
into the soil again. You can really remove a large
00:28:57
number of those pill bugs with very little effort.
00:29:00
And you don't have to, you know, destroy them.
00:29:03
So another question that Chrissy had asked also, and this was in
00:29:07
the Facebook group, so she asked the group, has anyone used
00:29:11
nematodes to control grubs? Japanese beetles were awful last
00:29:15
year for us. I also found a few army worms
00:29:19
and I responded with yes, we had a horrible Japanese beetle
00:29:24
problem around our fruit trees and we had major die off of the
00:29:28
grasses in that area. So we treated multiple times
00:29:32
with nematodes. We did spring and then we did
00:29:34
fall and then we did the spring again and we have had almost
00:29:38
zero problem with them since. We're also still waiting for
00:29:42
that grass to recover, which is you know what I told Chrissy and
00:29:45
she responded that you know, she would take the dead grass over
00:29:48
the Japanese beetles. They destroyed the leaves on her
00:29:50
green beans last year. Her poor Buckeye trees which
00:29:53
aren't very old. She did end up getting a
00:29:55
Japanese beetle trap and placed it further away from the garden
00:29:59
and that definitely helped. So she asked me what brand I
00:30:02
use. I use Orbico Organics Nemeseek
00:30:06
and I will leave that link in the show notes.
00:30:08
Inger Zuruka had responded to that and said yes it works but
00:30:12
it isn't foolproof. Best if you can use Milky spore
00:30:16
as well and she is absolutely correct with that.
00:30:19
So if you can get the Milky spore and use those in addition
00:30:23
to the nematodes and just follow the instructions with that you
00:30:27
know when to apply it, then you're doing double whammies and
00:30:30
beautifully getting rid of those grubs.
00:30:32
Tammy Ingles said after listening to Just Grow Something
00:30:36
podcast episode on companion planting.
00:30:39
I'm wondering if I could plant hot Peppers in with my garlic
00:30:43
since they are small and will be harvesting garlic in June before
00:30:47
the Peppers have put on Peppers. What about green beans?
00:30:51
Trying to maximize space as well as separate hot Peppers from
00:30:54
bell Peppers. Anyone experienced these
00:30:56
combinations before? I wouldn't recommend the green
00:31:00
beans, but I routinely plant Peppers into my garlic and my
00:31:06
onions. I'm doing it this season.
00:31:08
And that's exactly the reason why what she described is that,
00:31:13
you know, your Peppers don't start to put on a lot of fruit
00:31:15
until later on in the season. Even my garden homing Cody had
00:31:19
replied to this and said, you know, in her experience, Peppers
00:31:22
start to really get big in the later months of summer.
00:31:25
So it sounded like a solid plan to her.
00:31:27
And I absolutely agree. So, and I do this with my, my
00:31:31
onions as I'm harvesting like the outer edges of the onions
00:31:34
because I will harvest a few of those early as like spring
00:31:38
onions. And then I just replace them
00:31:41
with my Peppers all on the outside with the garlic.
00:31:44
I'm doing it in and amongst the garlic.
00:31:46
And I'm just making sure that I'm not disturbing the root
00:31:49
system of those pepper plants as I harvest the garlic.
00:31:52
It's a really good way to not just save space, but also you're
00:31:57
using the garlic and the onions to help confuse those pests that
00:32:00
are wanting to maybe go after your pepper plants.
00:32:06
And then finally, this isn't a question.
00:32:07
It was a tip. So Cole Bodie, I'm hoping I'm
00:32:11
pronouncing it right. If I'm doing like the German
00:32:14
pronunciation, I guess Cole, it might be Coel.
00:32:16
But Cole had a tip to share after the tomato episode.
00:32:21
She said I'm on the Oregon coast where temps can dip at night and
00:32:25
wind can blow cold. I sink bottomless black pots
00:32:30
around my tomatoes, squash and cucumbers when I set them out.
00:32:35
Seems to give a bit of protection as they get started.
00:32:39
Karen, that was a brilliant and thorough presentation on
00:32:42
tomatoes. Thanks so much for sharing your
00:32:45
enthusiasm, education, and experience.
00:32:49
And I appreciate that tip. I appreciate the the thank yous
00:32:54
on that. And I think that is the perfect
00:32:56
note to end this 250th episode on.
00:33:00
I truly appreciate you being here each and every week with
00:33:03
me. I love sharing this information
00:33:05
with you and I hope that it's helping you to become a better
00:33:09
gardener and to truly enjoy your garden even more.
00:33:13
Until next time, my gardening friends, keep on cultivating
00:33:16
that dream garden, and we'll talk again soon.