Learn all about gardening in Illinois! The Illinois Extension Horticulture RU-vid channel is home to the Four Seasons Gardening Series, Good Growing, and gardening how-to videos.
Four Seasons is a seasonal series of gardening topics offered virtually throughout the state of Illinois. Members of the University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Team collaborate to offer a variety of expertise to this series. Each session is recorded live and then uploaded here in order to offer this program to others. Please be aware that the recommendations in this series are specific to Illinois and may not apply to other gardening zones.
Good Growing is a weekly video podcast hosted by horticulture educators Chris Enroth and Ken Johnson. Each week the duo tackles gardening topics, answers viewer questions, or interviews experts in the horticultural field.
Yayyyyy!!!! You are going to do it again! I found that my lemon cucumbers are dying off BUT my cute little cucamelons are still looking healthy and are a small tidbit of cucumberish flavor. Flowers would be fun!
Grew runner beans for the first time this year. Tried them young as green beans and was not impressed. Seeing your reactions, now I'm really excited to try the dry beans I've been collecting. I will have to try the lemon cucumber next year! My kids are cucumber fiends and nine plants wasn't enough to keep up with their fresh consumption, never mind having any left for pickles.
Many of us are burned out and I couldn’t think of bringing in plants to babysit. Matter of fact I’m hoping to start all seedlings in the greenhouse next spring. The mess inside is too much and the bugs. The only pepper that is too slow is Tabasco and you don’t need very many 😅. I will probably harvest everything today as we will be close to frost tonight in WI Z5.
I had to pause for a minute. BLESS YOU for mentioning the PTSD aspect. (Just bug related ... like previously existing PTSD wasn't enough.) I probably still have bedbugs (very recently discovered - while finding out I'm anemic with a symptomatic fibroid on my uterus --> I am too exhausted to really clean) and am sleeping elsewhere. The only thing that's keeping me from scratching the hell out of myself is "You didn't feel that when you were sleeping with the fuckers. IT'S NOT REAL." But I still check multiple times a day - my clothes, my hair, my island of safety ... not to mention my eyes are constantly roaming. And I still feel like I'm living squalor. But based on what I've seen, I think I caught it before they really took hold ... so ... fingers crossed. Apologies in advance if there are more lengthy comments. I've told almost no one about them.
Wow, this video was absolutely amazing! The production quality was top-notch, and the content was just perfect. I especially loved watching this because I had a rough season-most of my crops didn’t make it. This really helps wrap up the growing season and helps those of us that had failed crops enjoy visually what we were missing out on😆. My cucumbers were nearly all male, and when the few finally did grow at the end of the season, they were completely infested with pickle worms, so I ended up with nothing. And the 'Dark Knight' was flowering beautifully, but locusts or grasshoppers ate all the flowers off at night. I planted three seeds and ended up with exactly three seeds due to the bugs! This video was such a relief and inspiration. You all have great chemistry, and it's so much fun to see you together in the same room. I think it would be fantastic to do a future grow along with a 50/50 split between vegetables and flowers. For the flowers, it would be awesome to see some herbal or medicinal plants like Hyssop or the toothache plant. Something that has multi uses, pretty but usable. There's so much to learn from those! Keep up the amazing work-this was pure perfection!
I started European varieties last year and lost one so got a replacement as it needs a pollinator. I think it will take a few years as they sleep, creep and leap. I have them in a fenced in home orchard and can’t wait for hazelnuts! Good to know they can take late frost. I wonder if Surround clay would ward off diseases/pests?
It could. Here some information on it's use to manage leafrollers: cropprotectionhub.omafra.gov.on.ca/control-solutions/tree-nut-crop-protection?cs=421d7717-256e-430e-8ca5-c3dc51fb40b5&pr=4415322e-2da3-492c-8489-245ffed80a04&vw=cardGrid
😂😂Too Funny! I have grown it for 2 years and never tried it 😬. I grow the eyeball variety and the seeds are prolific and grows very easy. It does not like to be dried out in hot sun. Just a fun low growing plant.
Here in Houston we get tons of Monarchs. I found this video because we get the other insects, too. I was wandering if the large and small milkweed bugs were good because this was the first year we've seen them. Thanks for the knowledgeable video. I'll continue to squach the yellow aphids with my fingers. 😂 This year, we've released about a hundred Monarchs with only six plants and two cages.
That was rather poetic ;) I grow styrian pumpkins for one purpose(besides the seeds). They keep the rabbits and deer at bay with their spiky stems. The difference between canned and fresh pumpkin is not enough to grow them. The difference between a fresh picked and store bought year-old, cold-storage, mealy apple is a universe a difference.
Is it possible to purchase the slides from your presentation? I would love to be able to lay them out as they would fit in my garden, particularly by height, habit (mounding/spreading), and bloom season.
Totally Team APPLE! And what about try using cinnamon and native spiceberry bush berries to spice up the apples! 😉 The only thing I want to do with pumpkins is carve them for Halloween or feed them to my chickens!
Awesome, it was so great to see a live taste test of the toothache plant! I actually grew it for the first time this year too, and while it's an amazing plant, it definitely needs constant watering and didn’t handle the dry conditions too well. Watching everyone's reactions was both hilarious and insightful-it's awesome to see real feedback on how these plants we grow taste, feel, and look. It’s something that's often missing in gardening videos. I totally relate to thinking I was having an allergic reaction when I first tried it-nothing bad happened, but it was pretty scary at first! I found that the bugs in my area did like to eat the leaves so had to use slug control too. They grow really fast once established and the bullseye variety I got looks great. I now have a bunch of seeds so looking forward to growing more next year. I’d love to try making a tincture from it too with an alcohol base. Then you can use it year-round to treat mouth sores. Yes, please would love to see more videos like this! It is the unique plants that really keep me hooked on gardening so seeing unusual things like this is brilliant. LOL love the bloopers' best part 😁
In Indian stores in Dallas they sell two different types of ginger. One bigger which is usually conventional. Another smaller yellow root which is usually sold organic. The smaller root with yellower inside has sharp taste with intense flavor. It has less water content too. If you are replacing that with bigger root in your recipe, you have up less of it.
Looks like there are two types of galangal. Thai cooking needs greater galangal. How do you identify the greater galangal plant? I bought one plant this year. I want to know if it is greater galangal or lesser galangal ?
Great question. It can be difficult to distinguish between the multitude of named plants related to ginger when lumping in turmeric, and galangal. I am pretty much at the mercy of the companies selling the rhizomes pieces. Hopefully, the following is fairly accurate: I have grown greater galangal (Alpinia galanga) for a few years now. It has a red rhizome sold as "Red Thai galangal." Mine has purple coloration along the mid-vein of the leaf. The plants are much larger, resembling more of a turmeric or canna-sized leaf/shape. Recently I bought "black ginger" but upon receiving it, it turned out to be greater galangal, but a darker (blue to light purple) colored rhizome. Lesser galangal is Alpinia officinarum. Similar to greater galangal, but more diminutive. Leaves are shorter and more akin to typical ginger plant. Light galangal is Alpinia speciosa. Source www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/galangal
I live in Dallas suburbs. I tried planting turmeric bulbs indoors in December, January in pots indoors. But they sprouted only when warmed up a lot in may after moving the pots outdoors. If I bring them in November and leave them in pots for two or three more months I am able to get better yield. I grow just 4 to 6 plants in backyard.
It would be helpful if you talk about a particular weed to show us a picture of it. That way we can ID them in the garden and take your advice when it applies to our garden. Thanks!
I planted American hazelnuts as bare roots a few years ago. Hoping there are a few nuts in next couple years. The deer have tried their pruning techniques the last couple years 🤷
As an fyi I bought the bare root seedlings from the Mason State Nursery along with black chokeberry and elderberry. It's a great sale (very inexpensive) each spring for anyone adding natives and want to get them from an Illinois state nursery.
Thanks for the info. My American Hazelnut bushes produce small, but taste nuts. I hope that the research done by the University of Missouri Forestery develops a larger nut. mid-Missouri
Roger Cook was the best. I bought bare root hazelnut seedlings last winter/spring, they were incredibly big and the price is very reasonable, this is the place to get them dnr.illinois.gov/conservation/forestry/tree-nurseries.html
As a man who has been a landscaper for 50 years with 2 acres of many flowers during the time. This man needs to leave his office and come to rural Ohio. I see many less monarchs than 40 years ago even though I have 4 caterpillars right now in my garden.
Great information. However, the speaker came off as nervous by saying the wrong words, longer pauses, and staggering words. I'm sure she was nervous. In the future, perhaps she could rehearse saying the information out loud before presenting. That might boost confidence and help the presentation move smoother preventing listener confusion. We had to rewind a few times. Again, great information.
It is August in WNY. My milk weed has been covered with flies, regular house sort, and yellow jackets to the point that I can’t even walk past. The flies are overwhelming. Black mold is prevalent on my big plants. I tried hosing several times to no avail. I ended up cutting my largest plants down, rescuing the one monarch caterpillar to a tank with young milkweed. How can I avoid this for the future? I am wondering if I need to thin my plants. They grow in a thin strip along my driveway. They do get plenty of sun. Thank you.
Sounds like you may have had a lot of aphids on your plants. Scouting your plants and addressing any pest problems early can help prevent outbreaks. Often times, natural enemies will take care of the problem on their own though.
Cleaning vinegar is 10% and that is all you need to kill most weeds. Even 5% table vinegar will work. Add some dish soap for a surfactant but no salt. It isn't systemic with or without salt, it burns the foliage only so repeat applications may be necessary, adding salt only poisons the soil.
@@IllinoisExtensionHorticulture I don't use it as a pesticide, I use it as a herbicide. Vinegar is a ferment which is an organic solution that is beneficial in soil. If it is safe to put on my food, it is safe to use in my garden. The crap that says pesticide likely has chemicals added that I wouldn't put on my food or use in my garden. But you do you.
Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests, for example herbicides (weeds), insecticides (insects), fungicides (fungi), etc. Herbicides account for approximately 50% of pesticide use globally. Just because something is "natural" doesn't mean it's safe.
@@IllinoisExtensionHorticulture It is safer without added chemicals. You could probably replace the vinegar with pickle brine and it would work just as well to kill weeds while still being beneficial in the soil. I think I'm going to try diluting some to spray my roses to lower the ph, in that case I will be using it as a pesticide and a soil amendment.
epsom salts does not get into skin (let alone into muscles) in any appreciable quantity, and thus doesnt do much of anything as a bath soak. it's as good as a bath with nothing added or a bubble bath. you can have magnesium deficiency in plants without soil being magnesium deficient. cold and wet will do it. most fettilizers do not contain calcium, as it tends to fall out of solution when mixed with NPK. exception is calcium nitrate, mostly only available from agricultural supplies. hydrated lime is what farmers use and i use myself as a very cheap and effective calcium source that opens soil. garden lime is quite expensive and actually contains 2:1 calcium to magnesium, which is too high magnesium. btw acids, including vinegar, dissolve calcium, not boiling water. calcium citrate is an effective foliar. anyhow, you guys are as informed as the next plant hacks pseudo-expert. calcium is never toxic to plants, and you certainly dont build up calcium with general fertilizers. try reading a label, instead of spouting mostly mis-information.
Thanks for your feedback! We may have generalized a little too much when it comes fertilizers containing calcium, which is why as you pointed out, you should always read the label, but they are still available. While hydrated lime can be used in a garden setting, it is typically not recommended because it is caustic and can be difficult to handle Boiling eggshells in water may not release significant amounts of calcium but it will release some. "When excessive Ca is present in the rhizosphere solution, plants may suffer Ca toxicity. This may prevent the germination of seeds and reduce plant growth rates. In cultivated tomato, one symptom of excess calcium is the development of tiny yellowish flecks or ‘gold spot’ in the cell walls around the calyx and shoulders of the fruit." - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4243668/
@@IllinoisExtensionHorticulture : as long as you dont get it in your eyes or get it wet onto skin for prolonged time, hydrated lime is fine to handle. it's no worse than handling concrete with bare hands. i've walked on spread hydrated lime with bare feet with zero ill effect. i wouldnt do that with 30% vinegar though. as always, use appropriate protection. far far safer than 80% phosphoric acid, which is available to hydroponic growers. i prefer sulfuric acid myself, to lower ph of nutrient solution for my orchids etc. you still insist that fertilizers may contain too much calcium. please go ahead an provide examples of actual fertilizers (in general garden/box stores) that will end up overdosing calcium.
@@Chris-op7yt Looks like this is when it was described using these fertilizers in controlled growing area like a greenhouse or high tunnel where something like the water soluble calcium nitrate is injected into the irrigation system. Over time calcium builds up to levels that can impair the uptake of other minerals. Irrigation water high in calcium is also at play.
@@IllinoisExtensionHorticulture : that was my point. in the video you state that many fertilizers contain levels of calcium that build up. it's not the case. quite the opposite is true. people apply general fertilizers, which contain almost no calcium, and over time you have calcium deficiency, especially when using growing mediums and not soil.
@@Chris-op7yt I admittedly and unintentionally over-stated the idea of calcium being in most fertilizers. You are correct, in a soil open to the environment calcium build up is not often a concern. But as I said in the video, in a greenhouse or high tunnel calcium can build up to excessive levels. The soil test example at the following link can occur in fruit and vegetables grower situations when growing in a controlled environment. That's why many will uncover their tunnels or move them to expose the soil to rainfall to flush out calcium and salts. extension.psu.edu/high-tunnel-soil-test-report-soil-nutrient-levels Yes that is more of a commercial grower example and not commonly seen in the backyard garden.
My house was built in 1964. When I moved in, I discovered that they wrapped up all the roots of all trees and bushes in plastic films. Layers and layers of thick, heavy-duty plastic, covering the soil at the base of all shrubs around the perimeter of the house and everywhere else. To make things worse, they poured a layer of gravel on the plastic film, and covered it with a layer of soil that turned into thick sod over the decades. I spent hours and hours digging up and getting rid of that plastic. The soil beneath the plastic looked dead, probably didn’t get much water and oxygen in many decades. No roots underneath it. The big tree roots were wrapped in plastic too, different kind, black in color, but not landscape fabric, they used some plastic that did not allow much oxygen through, so the big tree roots were most likely suffocating too. I removed the plastic film where I could, some places it was too much work to remove it, and many trees and bushes suddenly regrew leaves vigorously and look revitalized. Walking around the neighborhood, I see some big trees in neighbor homes, built around the same time, also having roots wrapped in similar kind of black plastic film, probably it was common back then.
I don't understand "burning the prairie" in March. So many of the Natvive Plant channels recommend not touching the garden for "clean-up" until late Spring, since many beneficial bugs are living on the downed plants at this time, and leave nearing Summer.
Great question! When it comes to prairie burns it needs to be on a case-by-case basis. Many invasive plants are knocked back by spring burns, and others are stimulated by it. The same goes for particular native plants. A land manager has to plan for what they are trying to promote/control in their prairie. Also in many cases, it depends on weather and ideal burning conditions. Sometimes, that just doesn't happen in the fall. Plus, coordinating with others to help in the burn might only work in the spring. Whether a prairie is burned in the fall, winter, spring, and (on rare occasions) summer, we typically recommend burning only a portion to reduce the impact on wildlife that may be using that prairie at that time of the burn. And then rotate which sections are burned on a year-to-year basis
Thanks for the information on the oak leaf gall mites. We received our first bites on August 14. We’re trying to avoid the great outdoors, but new bites continue to appear and the itching is enough to wake us up at night. We don’t have oaks in our yard, but we do have plenty of deciduous trees and shrubs, and we had plenty of periodical cicadas earlier this season. The cicada singing peaked on June 7 at about 90 decibels, which was nearly 10 weeks before the itchy mite bites. #BroodXIII
I have read that you can use aspirin water for Plant Health. It is said that if you dissolve an aspirin in water and spray on plants to boost their immune systems against diseases. No idea if this is factual or another bad idea. Sounds bogus. Salt would have been a fun one 😉Definitely bad idea and I know they used to salt the enemy's lands to prevent them growing crops.
