Good Growing

On this week’s Good Growing podcast, we talk with Commercial Agriculture Educator Elizabeth Wahle about some of her favorite plants. In addition to some of her favorite plants, we discuss her process of selecting plants, how she handles wildlife in her garden, and more!

Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GMK4U0tKnvk

Plants we discuss: Crocus, Cornelian Cherry Dogwood (Cornus mas), Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), Hellebore (Helleborus), Dogtooth Violet (Erythronium), Herbaceous Peonies (Paeonia), Kentucky Lady Slipper (Cypripedium kentuckiense), Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica), Bee Balm 'Jacob Cline' (Monarda), Purple Coneflower 'Fragrant Angel' (Echinacea purpurea), Bottle Gentian (Gentiana andrewsii), Tatarian Aster 'Jin Dai' (Aster tataricus)

02:15 - Welcome Elizabeth

03:53 - Where do you find your plant material and how do you choose what to grow?

08:10 Favorite blooming plants in early spring

09:05 - Crocus

09:20 - Cornelian cherry dogwood

10:05 - Bloodroot

11:00 - Hellebore

12:03 - Do you have problems with wildlife? What do you do about them?

14:58 - When is the best time to plant spring blooming plants?

16:53 - How do you keep your peonies from flopping?

20:15 - Are lady slippers difficult to grow? Any tips?

24:45 - Thoughts on Indian Pink? Does it attract humming birds?

27:23 - Jacob Cline bee balm, whats so special?

29:15 - Fragrant angel coneflower, why did you pick it and does it stay true to form?

32:57 - Bottle gentian has unique flowers, how does it get pollinated?

34:24 - Saffron crocus, do you harvest saffron from yours?

36:10 - Tartarian aster 'Jin Dai'

38:22 - Wrap-up, thank yous, what's up next week, and goodbye

Mt. Cuba Center Garden Trials - https://mtcubacenter.org/research/trial-garden/

Chicago Botanic Garden Plant Evaluations - https://www.chicagobotanic.org/collections/ornamental_plant_research/plant_evaluation

Check out the Good Growing Blog extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing

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Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.

In this week's Good Growing podcast Chris remarks on the observation of dying ash trees and one final landscape use for a dead ash tree.

Check out the Good Growing Blog extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing

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Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.

In this week's episode of the Good Growing podcast, we talk with Illinois state climatologist Trent Ford. We ask Trent about our weather observations from 2021 starting with the weeks of rain this spring, a humid smokey summer, to the abnormally dry autumns we've seen for the past several years including this one. Trent looks at the data to see how our observations trend with recorded weather patterns and what that means for the overall Illinois climate.

Watch us on YouTube https://youtu.be/4IwiQJPveeA

02:20 Welcome Trent!

06:29 What does being the Illinois State Climatologist entail?

09:19 Knowing the difference between weather and climate

10:40 In Western Illinois, there were several weeks of non-stop rain spring of 2021. Was that significant?

13:00 2021 Drought in Northern Illinois

15:18 How humidity, wind, corn, and smoke from fires out west affected our summer weather.

20:05 How hot was the summer?

21:00 Are autumns getting drier in Illinois?

25:27 Are we losing spring? It seems to go from winter to summer.

29:06 If the days are longest in June why is it hottest in July and August?

29:45 When it comes to informing the public about climate and weather, are there resources or data online that you recommend Illinoisans check?

Some helpful resources on this week's topics:

National Weather Service https://www.weather.gov/

NOAA Climate at a Glance https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/

Illinois State Climatologist Office https://stateclimatologist.web.illinois.edu/

2021 Illinois Climate Assessment https://stateclimatologist.web.illinois.edu/illinois-climate-change-assessments/

Check out the Good Growing Blog extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing

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Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.

On this week’s Good Growing podcast, we talk with Local Foods and Small Farms Educator Grant McCarty about how things are going in northern Illinois and some of the different crops he's been trying in his garden, like day-neutral strawberries, grapes, and fall-planted blackberries. We also discuss an orchard crawl Grant did, and Ken gives updates on his rice and glass gem corn.

Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GPLfk0Mavp4

01:35 - Rice and glass gem corn update

03:45 - Welcome Grant

04:35 - Growing conditions this year in northern Illinois

07:18 - What is an orchard crawl? What did you see and do?

10:25 - How are commercial and backyard orchards looking?

13:20 - Growing day-neutral strawberries

20:02 - Growing table and wine grapes

26:40 - Planting blackberries in the fall

30:39 - Thank you, what's up next week, and goodbye

Some helpful resources on this week's topics:

Iowa State Grape Cultivars - https://www.extension.iastate.edu/viticulture/cold-climate-cultivars

Day-Neutral Strawberries in Minnesota - https://extension.umn.edu/strawberry-farming/day-neutral-strawberries

Impact of Heat on Vegetables - https://blog-fruit-vegetable-ipm.extension.umn.edu/2021/07/vegetables-not-yielding-well-blame-heat.html

Check out the Good Growing Blog extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing

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Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.

On this week’s Good Growing podcast, we talk with Eliana Brown, Water Resources Outreach Specialist, and Layne Knoche, Extension Outreach Associate, about the Red Oak Rain Garden. We go into detail on their process for redesigning the rain garden while remaining sensitive to the site two massive existing trees a red oak and a sycamore. Learn about how they graded the soils so carefully using an air knife to gently expose the tree roots. Learn about Layne’s design inspiration and how he applied his style of design to the site. Eliana and Layne also work on a statewide initiative to teach homeowners how to build their own rain gardens with the Rainscaping program plus they have been publishing guides for different native garden types. Listen and get inspired and then check out the Rainscaping program to learn how to build your very own rain garden.

Watch us on YouTube https://youtu.be/m62-KWJFL0o

Red Oak Rain Garden (RORG) Website https://redoakraingarden.org/

RORG Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/RainGardenUIUC/photos/?ref=page_internal

RORG Twitter https://twitter.com/RainGardenUIUC

RORG Instagram https://www.instagram.com/raingardenUIUC/

Rainscaping Education Program https://extension.purdue.edu/rainscaping/

Native Plant Garden Guides – includes woodland, full sun, rain garden, spring ephemerals, and more! https://iiseagrant.org/resources/publications-products/results/?_sft_creator=c-eliana-brown

Why a rain garden on campus?

At what stage did Eliana bring in Layne to work on the RORG?

Layne’s feelings about designing a rain garden on University of Illinois campus

Layne’s approach and inspiration to designing the RORG? Does it look different now than you had originally envisioned?

What was it like working U of I campus?

This likely is a sensitive location near two large trees. When it came to the construction of the rain garden was earthwork involved? Was any special consideration taken for the root system?

What type of plant material was sourced? What were your methods for installing?

Did all the plants establish easily?

Every spring the RORG group does Mulch Madness. Who came up with this amazing idea?

What resources do you have for people to design and build their own rain gardens?

Check out the Good Growing Blog extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing

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Any products mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion of these products.

On this week's Good Growing Podcast Illinois Extension horticulture educators Ken Johnson and Chris Enroth talk about designing the pollinator display gardens for the upcoming Farm Progress show (August 31 - Sept 2). Including the struggle with finding late-season blooming plants in the nursery and some of our favorite late-season bloomers. Plus we talk about dividing iris, poorly developed apple fruit, squash bugs, and lilac problems.

Watch us on YouTube https://youtu.be/vNy592LYdO0

Check out Ken's video on dividing iris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBzSHT9Sc44

I-Pollinate Pollinator Garden Information https://ipollinate.illinois.edu/i-pollinate-research-garden/

Indiana/Illinois Sea Grant Pollinator Garden Brochure https://iiseagrant.org/publications/full_sun_pollinator_garden/

Pollinator Pocket Brochure https://extension.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/plantapollinatorpocket_brochure_2021_logo.pdf

Katie's Good Growing blog post celebrating national peach month https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2021-08-13-celebrate-national-peach-month

Chris' Good Growing blog on lilac problems https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2021-08-05-whats-wrong-my-lilac-summer-foliar-diseases-lilac

Join Illinois Extension's Horticulture Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/ILextensionHorticulture

On this week's Good Growing podcast, we talk with horticulture educator Richard Hentschel about fall lawn care. We discuss why fall is a great time to do various activities in our lawns like seeding, fertilizing, and aerating. Plus, we answer some of your lawn questions!

Watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/QCWX2HzFpY8

03:10 - Lawns are often vilified, what are they good for?

08:05 - Seeding your lawn in the fall

13:00 - Fertilizing your lawn

19:15 - Aeration, what is it and how to do it

23:25 - Dethatching, what is it, and is it necessary?

29:40 - Maintaining lawns without chemicals

36:40 - Growing grass under trees

41:20 - Dealing with moss in lawns

45:40 - Dealing with fall leaves on lawns

50:00 - Lawn Talk website

Lawn Talk website - https://web.extension.illinois.edu/lawntalk/index.cfm

Check out the Good Growing Blog https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowing

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Any products mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion of these products.

On this week's Good Growing podcast, we talk with Phillip Alberti, commercial ag educator and one of Illinois' leading hemp experts. Now that hemp is legal to grow in Illinois we have some questions about what we're seeing in the farm fields and hearing about in the news. Growing hemp comes with lots of oversight, investment, and risk!

Watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/RRiCa9ySTRE

3:19 What is hemp? Cannabis? Marijuana? Is this all the same? What is being grown here in Illinois?

7:02 Is it common for a hemp plant to start producing more THC?

8:04 Is growing hemp similar to growing marijuana?

9:04 Is hemp only grown for CBD? What else can you do with hemp?

12:30 How is hemp grown? What are the inputs?

16:04 Does a hemp field need to be inspected?

18:02 What happens if the field develops too high of THC?

19:57 Does Illinois use the USDA threshold for THC delta-9 when growing hemp?

21:11 The word is farmers are spraying their hemp with delta-8. What is that? Is it legal?

25:17 What causes THC to increase in hemp?

27:49 How do you harvest hemp? Who is the buyer?

32:54 Can someone process their own hemp for CBD?

35:29 There are so many wild claims about CBD. Is CBD regulated? How do you know you’re getting what’s listed when buying CBD.

41:33 It seems like the novelty of growing hemp may have worn off in Illinois. Is there still much interest among farmers to grow hemp in Illinois?

44:30 Can you grow hemp in a backyard? What are the base requirements?

46:27 Can hemp be covered under crop insurance?

47:27 Does hemp have any pests?

49:55 What should I do if I find a hemp/marijuana-looking plant in nature?

Check out the Good Growing Blog https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing

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Any products mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion of these products.

On this week's Good Growing podcast, we are talking sweet corn. As we enter the later part of the season what are some things we need to know about growing sweet corn? Perhaps you've seen some unwanted pests or some fertility issues. What about harvesting and storing for a wintertime sweet corn treat?

Watch us on YouTube https://youtu.be/6FIKy7H86Ms

2:11 Isn't it all corn just corn? What is sweet corn versus field corn?

3:31 What is the "milk stage?" And the different stages of pollination.

5:45 Does sweet corn benefit from pollinators?

6:49 Katie shares how she deals with weeds in sweet corn

9:43 Planting groundcover (cover crops) such as clover under corn

11:24 Should we fertilize once the corn's ears start to form?

13:22 What is corn "lodging?"

15:20 What can be done to ensure good pollination?

16:35 When do you know when sweet corn is ready to pick?

17:25 Can you eat sweet corn raw?

18:15 How do you store sweet corn?

19:33 How can you preserve corn for use in the winter?

20:23 Issues with sweet corn - squirrels

21:17 Issues with sweet corn - Japanese beetles

21:50 Issues with sweet corn - raccoons

24:43 Controlling Japanese beetles

26:00 What is corn earworm and does it ruin the corn ear?

27:30 Corn smut fungus - a delicacy or pest?

Read about growing sweet corn on our Good Growing blog https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2020-05-15-how-grow-sweet-corn

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Any products mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion of these products.

On this week's Good Growing podcast Ken and Chris chat about growing in containers. They discuss some unique plants they grow and cover why a soil-free mix is important, how they fertilize, some watering tips, and more!

Watch us on YouTube https://youtu.be/-shjyu_ChKQ

1:01 What do we grow in containers? Ornamentals, veggies, and some unique plants.

8:44 Soil-free mix - why do we use it? Plus specialty mixes.

12:50 Benefits of soil-free potting mix

14:38 Selecting containers - material (plastic, clay, ceramic)

17:51 Selecting containers - Color

18:39 Some things to know when using fabric containers

20:41 Figuring out pot sizes

23:13 Improving drainage with gravel in the bottom. Does it work?

26:36 Fertilizing containers

30:49 Watering containers

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Any products mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion of these products.