Narration>> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, certified South Carolina grown helps consumers identify, find and buy South Carolina products.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 22 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by International Paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance.

♪ Amanda>> Well, good evening, and welcome to Making it Grow.

We are so glad that you can join us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty, a Clemson horticulture agent, and I am so happy tonight to be joined by a great panel.

Terasa Lott is the Master Gardener coordinator for Clemson.

And Terasa.

That's a lot of coordinators and volunteers to work with.

Terasa>> It is been a tremendous resource for Clemson Cooperative Extension, helping us to reach more people to share that research based information.

Amanda>> and then you and Shawn and Vicki and some other people try to keep making it goes Facebook page up.

Terasa>> That's right, we try to be as accessible as possible.

So people send us questions and we try our best to get them the answers they're looking for.

>> Well, we really appreciate everything you do for us.

Paul Thompson is up in York county.

And York office is not in Rock Hill.

You're actually in York, I think.

>> Correct.

>> Okay, and you've got you've come in and showed us some pictures of gardens y'all have that you'll have raised bed gardens that are kind of demonstration gardens.

Paul>> Well, we have some behind the office, but they've been kind of fallow when COVID started and we weren't going in.

I just - and they need a lot of weeding done, but I am heavily involved with a community garden in Chester.

Amanda>> Okay.

Paul>> where we've got a large number of beds and most of the produce goes to a food pantry.

So, folks can have fresh food instead of just relying on canned vegetables.

Amanda>> That's pretty great.

Good for you, Paul.

Yeah, and I think some of the ways you've figured out how to expand space has been fun too... Paul>> It's fun to be able to go someplace and get out of the office and try new things.

Amanda>> Yeah.

Paul>> experiment with things.

Amanda>> Okay, and Rob Last.

This is your first time with us in person.

>> Absolutely.

Amanda>>...we are so happy to have you here and you are a small fruits and vegetable person, and what area are you serving?

Rob Last>> That's right, Amanda.

I take care of Barnwell, Bamberg, Hampton and Allendale counters.

Amanda>> Can they understand you down there?

>> Oh, yes.

Yeah.

>> and you can understand them.

I'm glad to hear it, because obviously, you are not born and bred in South Carolina.

>> That's correct, Amanda.

>> We're so happy to have you here.

>> Thank you.

Amanda>> Hope you'll come back.

John Nelson is the... Well he was my wonderful teacher.

Dr. John>> Oh, Amanda.

Those are the good old days.

Amanda>> They were the good old days, ...because I took botany with you, field botany, and in addition to you teaching, you were the curator at the AC Moore Herbarium.

And I'm just going to say, I use that herbarium website, the plant list to look things up a lot, if I want to know what plants are found in South Carolina, and where.

It's a good resource.

Dr. John>> You know, there's about I guess it's eight herbaria in the state that have all contributed to the array of geographical information.

So.. Amanda>> It's pretty, I mean, we have such a strange, not strange state, but I mean, so many different zones, I mean, growing areas.

So we have a pretty diverse group of plants here.

Dr. John>> Oh, sure.

>> Makes it hard to learn all of them.

But you can - you learned about?

Well, Terasa starts us off with something happy every week.

And that is gardens of the week.

Terasa: Yes, happy and it's sort of like our virtual field trip across the state.

Sometimes we go outside of our borders to North Carolina or Georgia and get to see what you're doing in your yards, gardens or perhaps in places that you visited.

So let's take a look, beginning with Eddie Rivers.

He shared a photograph taken by his wife a close up of an insect visiting a Camellia flower.

Camellias can be a valuable source of pollen and nectar since they flower when other things, not many other things are flowering.

Amanda>> And you know the Rufous hummingbird, which over-winters here sometimes goes into them.

>> Oh, fascinating.

>> Yeah, >> I have never seen one.

Amanda>.

Yeah, you will.

Courtney Myers shared a raised bed of brussel sprouts accented with some yellow daffodils in front.

From Rachel Nash, we have an upcycled trellis made from discarded tree branches.

Nancy Burfield shared a pot of Gerbera daisies was such a contrast between the flowers and the foliage.

Gabrielle Hunt shared Thermopsis, also known as Southern Lubin, or lupine, if you prefer picking up from the ground cover.

And finally, we wrap up with Danielle Peeples who shared a bed of cabbage grown under some netting.

Thanks to everyone who shared their photos.

We appreciate them.

Remember, this is just a sampling of everything that's submitted.

Don't be afraid to share your photos when we call for gardens of the week.

Amanda>> And thanks to everybody who sends them in.

And I think sometimes you even put more pictures on the Facebook page if people want to see other things that are happening.

Terasa>> Oh, yes.

So we encourage people to visit our page frequently.

Amanda>> And if we didn't pick your garden, don't get upset, because it's just done randomly.

So no, don't get you nose out of joint.

Well, Terasa, have you got a question for one of our panelists?

Terasa>> We sure do.

The first question comes in from Melvin in New York Melvin says, I have webbing in my flowering cherry tree.

What is it?

And what should I do?

Amanda>> My goodness?

Well, Paul, um.

Paul>> Well, >> What do you think is going on?

Paul>> You know, when you're driving around, you're always looking for something.

And on the way down here, I happen to come off what I think he probably has in his cherry tree.

But, this is called the eastern tent caterpillar.

And their favorite hosts are the wild cherry trees that's their serve native host They've had that arrangement with that tree forever, and they certainly don't kill those wild cherries.

But they - a moth actually lays the egg mass on the stem in the late summer, fall time, and you can actually still see the egg mass gave birth to all these >> - goodness >> caterpillars, and you know, in the wintertime, and they're no foliage on the tree, it's not all that difficult to actually be able to spot that bulge on a smaller twig, and you can go up there and flip it right out and not have the caterpillars.

That's your... logical way of control is just to do a winter inspection.

And, but once you have them in the tree, you can certainly just physically remove them.

They actually go back into the webbing in the evening.

In the daytime, they're crawling out the branches, and they're feeding on the new leaves, and the hatching is always in tune with when the bugs pop and the young leaves start growing.

Amanda>> Do they do much damage?

Paul>> Well, not to this host, they don't.

Now, they certainly you know, anything that defoliates or that kind of thing in the spring is usually a problem.

But you know, they're not like the fall cankerworm that becomes kind of epidemic.

These are random.

A tree will have some this year, it might not have it.

the next.

It's just all where the moth chooses the land, lay the eggs, but you could physically remove it, you could aggravate the heck out of them and keep stirring them up with a stick or, you know, you certainly could go out there and just spot spray the area if you had to do something.

But.. Amanda>> ...if you take about put them on the ground, I think they just...up the tree >> Yeah, don't.

>> some people put it in a bucket of soapy water.

Paul>> Or if it's on a limb that you know, in this case, it was a small branch on the tree and I could just prune it out, and not have to worry about spraying anything.

Amanda>> Well and I believe it's a favorite food of the Eastern - some cuckoo bird.

I mean, I can't remember which one.

Terasa's probably going to look it up and they're very little caterpillars.

Not ones that hurt like some, those stinging.

They're not really hairs, and they say that somehow the cuckoo gets the hairs off and that eats and it'll eat like a 100 at a time so which is pretty good natural control.

Paul>>: have to use a claw...

Right into the bill.

Amanda>> There you go.

Well, that's fascinating.

Thank you so very, very much.

Oh.

All right, Terasa, what else have you got for us?

Terasa>> You know, we never have a shortage of questions.

This one comes from Ruth in Williston.

Ruth says, I know I need to wait to fertilize my lawn until after it greens up.

Does the same apply to trees and shrubs?

Amanda>> Aha, well, I think a lot of our southern I mean, the turf grasses that grow on the southern part of the state are like kind of semi- tropical and so they really don't get going until pretty late, but how about things like pecan trees and dogwoods and azaleas and things?

Rob Last>> That's a really good question, Amanda, when we're looking at fertilizer applications, we want to be looking for active growth, particularly where we're putting nitrogen on.

We all know that nitrogen is responsible for leaf expansion of the trees and shrubs.

So we want that notion taken up by the plant and utilized and not allowed to leach out of the soil.

Amanda>> which it does pretty, Rob>> Absolutely, it's really quick to do.

So in the commercial world, we have what we call the four R's, and that is the right rate of the right product applied at the right time to the right location.

So with nitrogen, the right rate will be determined by soil test, or through published data.

The right product is often - can be calcium nitrate, it can be ammonium nitrate, or it could be a blend, such as 10-10-10 applied at the right time is when we're getting active growth and greening up now what we don't want to do is be applying too early with nitrogen, because that's going to encourage that really soft growth, which could be damaged by any late freeze, and so always check out your last frost date, or potential last frost at Clemson website, and that will give you a really good key as to when to start fertilizing trees and shrubs.

Amanda>> Okay.

And so that way, because we want them to get a nice new green canopy, and if we wait until we do the turf grass, the trees, May, they've already tried to do all the flushing they could do for a while.

Rob Last>> Absolutely.

But that's certainly the case.

Yeah, and obviously split dosing for trees really does help so you don't apply all the nitrogen in one go.

Ah, so the initial applications to help that first flush of trees like pecan trees would come back in June, July time.

And we're really looking to get that additional flush of summer growth to promote good yield.

Amanda>> Pecans are kind of late to come out.

>> Absolutely.

Yes, >> My Aunt Lil who grew up in St. Matthews with pecans in the yard every year would say, the pecan trees are dead.

They're not leafing out yet.

I was going to say, Aunt Lil, just chill.

I promise they will.

Rob Last>> It's just a little bit of patience.

Amanda>> Okay.

Thanks so much.

Okay, John, do you have a mystery plant for us?

Are you going to stump the panel?

Dr. John>.

I'm not sure that I would stump this learning panel, but I have a really pretty mystery plant this week, a wildflower, which is early spring blooming.

So, it's very timely, and this is a plant that is most often seen in the upstate, but it sometimes in cool ravines and north facing slopes on the coastal plain, and this is a flower that a lot of people have seen.

And many times they don't know what it is, like a lot of the stuff that's in our state.

But this is a plant that usually has blue flowers, and the really cool thing about it is that there aren't any petals.

These are sepals, actually, that it's showing us.

It's got plenty of stamens and this is a plant that comes up, produces its flowers early in the spring.

Amanda>> So, it looks like the petals are actually sepals, which are on some plants the first layer, Dr. John>> right, yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

And they're like, as I said, they like to grow in woodlands.

The leaves are really interesting, because they're sort of modeled sort of green and brown, which is a funny variation.

Some people think that the leaves look a little bit like a liver, Amanda>> A liver.

Ahhh!

That must be a clue.

Dr. John>> I reckon it is.

Amanda>> You reckon it is.

Okay.

Anybody have any ideas?

Paul>> Well, I know, but I'm not telling.

(laughs) Amanda>> Paul, you're not supposed to be grumpy when you come down here.

Paul>> Just actually was on a field trip on Friday and took a picture of some of these just starting to bloom.

And the liver wort is a common name.

And, you know, a long time ago, people named common names of plants thinking that the shape of the leaf or something had to do with maybe some medicinal qualities.

So, we have things like lung worts and liver worts, blood, spleen worts, those kinds of things.

But anyway, with just a common name, liver wort.

But...it's just a neat little very diminutive, very showy plant when it's in flower.

Amanda>> ...these spring ephemerals, do they have to, like get a head start on things so they can get some sunshine and do their business before the canopy leaves out.

Dr. John>> That's the strategy that we think we see in nature, a lot of these plants, they spring ephemerals, ephemeral just suggesting that they're not in bloom for a long time, and the idea is that they can put their flowers up early in the spring, when they're to take advantage of whatever pollinators might be around before the canopy really fills out and makes everything shady down below.

Amanda>> Are they usually a little bit tolerant of cold weather, because they have to start early?

Dr. John>> They got to start early.

I would think that they are a bit tolerant.

Yes, yes.

And of course, since this does look like a liver, we have to use the Latin name, for another one of its common name.

So it could be called hepatica.

Okay, there's actually two species that grow around here.

This is the American hepatica.

Amanda>> and what's the other one?

Dr. John>> The sharp leaved Hepatica.

Amanda>> Is that one that's been brought in or is that?

Dr. John>> No, no, they're both native.

Okay, so Hepatica americana?

Or?

Dr. John>> Right.

Okay.

Okay, and Paul, some people go out and think these things are so beautiful, and they want to bring them home, and we are never supposed to collect?

Paul>> No, I mean, you shouldn't.

I mean, maybe under special circumstances where there's about to be Amanda>>-a road to come through.

Paul>> Yeah, something's coming in, where it's more of a rescue effort, but no, we don't go out to the heritage, preserve and collect plants.

Dr. John>> ...there are actually scheduled times for plant rescues, say if a local native plant society has come up with a schedule for going out to a place that is doomed effectively.

...then I guess it would be reasonable that interesting plants... Paul>> helping to prolong the species, >>Yeah.

Sure.

Fortunately, Terasa, we've got a lot of native plant nurseries now who do things appropriately, Terasa>> a decent amount, depending on where you're located in the state, but if you're willing to travel, certainly.

Amanda>> A lot of them will mail things to you.

Terasa>> This is true.

>> Okay, Rob, have you gotten interested in our beautiful native plants yet?

Rob Last>> Absolutely.

I find native plants very useful in my yard because they are much more drought tolerant, and I can also reduce my fertilizer applications, as well.

Amanda>> Because they're not.

They didn't grow up depending on people coming out and fertilizing.

>> Absolutely.

Amanda>> Okay.

Pretty cool.

Okay, Terasa.

What you got?

Terasa>> Well, you were talking about the tent caterpillars and I did have time to look up on Cornell's All About Birds website.

Amanda>> That's a great website.

>> Oh, it's fascinating.

So if you want to know anything about birds, their range, things that they like to eat nesting habitats, migration, you can find it there.

Bird sounds if you're interested in learning birds by their calls, but they do say the yellow billed cuckoo, they are among the few bird species able to eat hairy caterpillars, and eat large numbers as many as 100 in a sitting.

So, I guess, you should put a sign in your yard if you have tent caterpillars.

Yellow billed cuckoos, come up eat here, right?

>> or learn the call.

Paul>> I've never seen a yellow billed cuckoo.

(laughs) Amanda>> I don't know that I have.

Dr. John>> I think a lot of times we hear them before we see them.

And they're very, in my experience, and I'm not a bird guy.

They tend to be pretty secretive.

Amanda>> Well, I think one of the things they do is that they lay eggs and other birds nests, which you're not supposed to do, but if they eat these tent caterpillars I guess Dr. John>> Otherwise there are a lot of cuckoos among us.

(laughs) Terasa>> We best not elaborate on that.

>> All right, Terasa.

Let's try to go onto something else.

Terasa>> Well, since that was sort of a mystery, Dr. John's mystery point, we have another mystery sent in from Adam in Denmark That says what's going on with my strawberry it looks like the seeds have started growing on the outside.

Amanda>> Rob, you are small fruits and vegetables.

Strawberry is a relatively small fruit.

Rob>> It's a really cool processes that's going on.

It's called by Vivipary.

Amanda>> Vivipary Rob>> Vivipary.

And what's actually happening Amanda>> Now, viviparous snakes are like all the pit vipers are by viviparous, and they give birth to live young, Rob>> Correct, yes.

That's correct, Amanda.

So, what's actually going on with the strawberry, is each of those little black arkings are the true seed of the strawberry, and they're starting to germinate before the either before the strawberry is completely ripe or at that point had been ripe.

It is a process that doesn't happen very often in strawberries, but you, we may also find it in tomatoes and it's usually associated with the seed being overripe, and in tomato, you cut it open and find all those seeds have just started to germinate.

Amanda>> Ha!

So, that is what was going on.

Yeah.

Now, how about if you have, sometimes any kind of pepper plant open?

There's like a little pepper plant inside it.

Absolutely, a green pepper.

Yeah, yes.

Rob>> It's the same.

It's the same process coming on with that germination of the seed and development of the plant before it's been harvested.

Amanda>> Oh, I always think it's kind of fun to find that extra little pepper... Paul>> Actually, in just the southern peas.

You know, >> Really?

>> They stayed on the plant too long, and probably the pod got a little soft and leathery and wet, and... Amanda>> Yeah.

>> You know.

>> The right conditions for germination.

Rob>> Absolutely.

Amanda>> Rob, thank you so much.

Vivipary Rob>>: Absolutely.

My pleasure, Amanda.

>> Yeah.

Cool.

Terasa, what's up next?

Terasa>> Well, Emily, in Clover is hoping that we can provide some recommendations.

I have a small patio with a fence that wraps around two sides and a bed in front that is only about a foot wide.

What is something that flowers with some height that will grow in narrow beds?

Amanda>> Goodness.

That is an unusual kind of type situation.

Paul, have you got something Paul>> Probably, one of those, ...high density neighborhoods, you got a little bit of space.

>> Yeah.

>> Well, you know, a very overlooked plant, group of plants in often binds.

So aside from maybe planting, you know, a flowering shrub or something like that, that you might spend time pruning to turn it into an espalier, with.. you know, it's not an easy thing to do.

It takes a lot of time to do that.

You know, vines are pretty trouble free and you plant them, they grow.

They grow very vigorously.

And anyway, you know, we've got things like our South Carolina Terasa>> Our State flower, Paul>> Native state flower.

Excuse me.

Amanda>> Gracious.

Paul>> So, the Carolina Yellow Jessamine.

It, when you...look at vines, you have to pay attention now.

How, what do they use to help them climb?

With this particular vine, it's a twining vine.

So there has to be something small enough in diameter, that the vine that can just revolve around, Amanda>> So, a brick wall wouldn't' work?

Paul>> Right, so it's not going to grow up a brick wall, it probably wouldn't grow up, you know, like a... wooden fence too well.

So you might have to a lot of times, you'll see people will just, you know, put in a few screws along and use some string, which would be temporary, just to get it up.

And once it's up to the top, then it's fine.

You don't have to worry about it's support anymore.

So, this is a great vine.

And one thing I've noticed about Carolina Yellow Jessamine.

Once it gets up to the top of something, it tends to start thinning out at the bottom.

Amanda>> Down at the bottom.

Paul>> I know at my house, I've planted one of the large flowering clematis on the same trellis.

And so it helps fill in the bottom area and they just kind of intermingle a little bit and you see a Carolina Yellow Jasmine with a big purple flower in the middle of it.

It's just a way of utilizing the same space and growing something that's going to be blooming in a different time.

So some other ones to think about are got the Evergreen clematis.

It's a large, very shiny leaves.

It also has to kind of find something small to twist around because it's petiole actually kind of acts like a tendril.

And so the little leaflet stalk will kind of wrap around thing.

And then you have the one.

The one I have growing in front of the New York office is a variety called Apple Blossom.

So the buds are pink, and the bottom of the petals are pink, but then when the flowers fully opened, the top is white, Amanda>> That sounds real... Paul>> but it's a real... Amanda>> That's a vigorous vine.

Paul>> It's a fairly vigorous vine, but it won't get out of hand because there's only going to climb on things that you provide it to climb on.

Amanda>> Okay.

>> Another one that's a really good one as a native Hummingbirds go to it.

You know a lot of the bees will go to it and that's our native cross vine.

It has tendrils but the tendrils don't have to wrap around things, They can actually dig into cracks and crevices and that thing will go straight up a wall of any type.

Amanda>> -up a pine tree?

Paul>> and up a pine tree.

and so that's where you commonly see them is growing up tree trunk, and you probably never even notice them flower because a flower is going to be way up in the top of the canopy of the tree.

But...that's probably one of the more vigorous vines that we can grow.

And so you really need to have it where it can't start growing places you don't want it to grow, or else you've got to pay a lot of attention to it.

Amanda>> I've been on a bicycle ride with a friend, when she's, we went down to Kiawah one time.

and we passed, went by a place and it was like a whole blot was covered with begonia Because...yeah, and... Paul>> They're beautiful in flowers.

And they'll big bloom in April, and then you'll get some sporadic flowering through the rest of the growing season.

But the main show is April.

Amanda>> That's pretty showy.

Paul>> And one more that is one of my favorite vines, mainly because it's such a good vine for hummingbirds is our native coral honeysuckle or evergreen honeysuckle?

Lonicera sempervirens, and it's unlike the introduced Japanese honeysuckle that grows wild and you know seems to always be kudzu like.

This one is just not as going to take over like that one does, but it has clusters, terminal clusters, these red tubular flowers, and it's just like it's a perfect, it just like it fits a hummingbird's beak just perfectly.

Amanda>> Yeah.

So you don't really see a lot of other insects or anything going to that for a source.

But I have one grown on my back just kind of growing up on the deck railing from...and I can see it out the kitchen window and the windows in the living area, and you know, I don't put out my hummingbirds until they're already beginning to bloom.

Flower buds are forming.

Some of them have already opened, but it's just I don't put out my feeders until I see.

Amanda>> until Nature gives you the signal.

Paul>> Right, and the other thing about that vine, if you will deadhead it.

Okay, it blooms on every new every new growth, the ends of all new growth.

So once the flowers have dropped off, and the berries begin to form, you can just cut it above a pair of leaves, it'll grow new sprouts, and you'll have flowers, you can keep that vine blooming, all growing season.

Amanda>> That is really a treat.

And so if you design the structure that it's on, so that you can reach it.

You could Paul>> - even if you can't reach all of it, yeah, what you can read you can continue to produce flowers.

Amanda>> And I guess we should remind people that this is a native vine...is toxic.

Paul>> Yes...You don't want to eat, you don't want to eat, you don't want to eat a lot of plants.

Put it that way There's a lot of plants that have alkaloids and they have these issues and if people looked all that stuff up there, their yard would be barren.

Because you know, we just Amanda>> Unfortunately we don't usually go and get lunch out of the garden.

Okay, Paul>> and eat your vegetables.

Don't go around tasting all the plants in landscape.. Dr. John>> Amanda, one other thing about our state flower there.

Not only does it smell great, but if you have some that's established in your yard now you might look at its fruits that makes little drop pods and they're dropping their seeds now, little winged seeds it'll fall on the ground and I'm not much of a seed germinator but I would think that now's the time to be collecting the seeds and start the new plants.

Amanda>> Well, it is just beautiful when you see it up in the trees and all over the highways.

It's a magnificent vine.

Paul>> Yeah, I mean that pod's about that long, and it's got two compartments with a rib in the middle.

Kind of looks like a funny looking little lima beans.

Terasa>> And you know you can get there is a variety that is a combination of the Yellow Jessamine and the swamp Jessamine, so you'll get a lot more flour you get flowering twice instead of just once.

Paul>> The Swamp Jasmine will start blooming in November.

You cannot tell them apart.

Just visually looking at a them is just impossible, but their bloom time.

You know, if you plant both of them on the same trellis, you'll have flowers from November through probably early April.

Amanda>> That's pretty cool.

Well, I'm so glad we had that question and had you here to answer it.

I learned a lot.

Thank you.

Mary Vargo is one of our extension agents, and she's a lot of fun and came down and did some things with me, and she's interested in Ikebana style arrangements.

And then you know, me, I have to have everything just jammed in together.

So now you get to watch me make one of my jams and everything together arrangements.

-- Well, I am here still with my friend Mary Vargo, who is the Horticulture Agent in the Clemson Extension Office in Greenville.

So my favorite thing in life is a rice scoop, first of all, because I love to eat rice, and I have two different rice steamers, and we eat rice all the time, and this is how they used to measure rice in Asia, and it's great because it's got this handle in it, and you can wire things to the handles.

If you ever run into a rice scoop, do get one.

I just think it's the coolest thing in the world.

But instead of using floral foam, I'm going to pack this with plants that are living in potting soil, and so in the bottom, so I wouldn't have to use so much soil, I found some Styrofoam that was leftover here.

And we're going to put that there.

And then this, of course, is wood and wood leaks, but everything in the world leaks.

I don't care if it's metal and somebody promises you it doesn't leak, unless it's a bathtub, and even then it might leak in the drain.

So I live for these heavy, heavy heavy duty black plastic bags, because I put it in whatever it is I'm working in, and I pull it out to the edges so that I've got a scoop inside the scoop, basically.

And that way, I know that I'm not going to have water coming through.

And also this way, I'm going to now start putting in potting soil.

So Mary, I went and got some potting soil that I had, and I added in some perlite and whatever it was I had.

You can see it's pretty, it's not heavy at all.

<Mary> Yeah, not heavy.

<Amanda> And if you don't want to do that, you can even go to the store.

And this one that I found felt pretty lightweight in the bag.

You can just kind of feel them.

<Mary> Yeah, it's not heavy.

Yeah, perfect.

<Amanda> And then vermiculite, you can add to your regular if you've got a giant wad of potting soil at home, you could add some vermiculite to it, and that will lighten it up a lot.

So what I'm first going to do is just pour some of this in here.

And then we'll start seeing where we go right here.

So I went to my friend, visit my friend, Jackie at Jarrett's Jungle over there by Lexington County Hospital, and we thought this was pretty cool looking.

I took a good bit of the soil off the roots, because I'm going to pack this up.

And these Bromeliads don't need that much soil on the roots anyway.

So I'm going to dig him down and try to keep him kind of low and leaning.

And then some of the other things that I have are a little taller, and so I can't quite figure it out.

Do you think I should pack the African Violets up high first and then put these on the edge?

<Mary> Even your begonias are brought up on there.

Yeah, I think so, 'cause it'll give it... <Amanda> So they could then have these... <Mary> Oh, yeah, I like that.

<Amanda> That color there?

<Mary> Yeah, since those colors are echoing too much off each other, and there's a break right there in the middle.

Yeah, like that.

<Amanda> Okay, let's see if we can make that work.

<Mary> Have you planted in this specific container before?

I like it.

It's great.

I love it.

<Amanda> I guess it originated in Japan.

And if you want to help me.

<Mary> Yeah!

<Amanda> We'll take a little bit of soil off because we don't need all of this.

We don't want to jam this thing up.

So I'll put these here, and then I'm going to just go ahead and put a lot more soil in, because I can always take it out.

And if we're going to get those African Violets up kind of close... <Mary> We want it kind of built up.

<Amanda> Don't you think so?

<Mary> Yeah.

<Amanda> ...because it's going to, when I water it, it's going to sink some too, don't you think?

<Mary> I think so as well, yeah.

<Amanda> I think it might even need a little bit more.

<Mary> This bag... <Amanda> So I'm going to...I had three blues and three pinks when I got over here.

<Mary> One disappeared and we don't know what happened to it.

<Amanda> And the flowers are full of metal.

That's just part of life, so...

But I think this pink is pretty, so we're going to use it anyway.

<Mary> Is that enough soil for you?

<Amanda> I think it is, don't you?

<Mary> Yeah!

<Amanda> So, and then we've got two more, let's see, so then this one we're going to put out here towards the edge, and I've got some other things we can use for filler too if we need to.

<Mary> You can either use this to sort of echo some of that green that's apart from that silver or bring in more of the silver.

What do you think?

Do you think it's overkill?

Or do you think it's refreshing to have that?

I think it's kind of refreshing to have something else.

<Amanda> Don't be afraid to tear things up.

That's just part of the planting process.

So we're going to... <Mary> That looks great.

<Amanda> Tuck him in back here.

We probably needed to put one of these in the front, didn't we?

Let's do that.

<Amanda> Thanks.

I think we'll go a little lower.

There we go!

And then build this guy back up.

Okay, and I think this is...

I think I'm just going to cut this one some, because I think it's too much.

<Mary> Some trimming.

<Amanda> You have to... <Mary> ...get to know when to yeah, pull back and go a little crazy with plants.

<Amanda> And then these were some air plants I got, and I thought they would add a different texture.

So what do you think?

<Mary> I love that idea.

I think that's great.

I've never seen that.

Tucked into a Bromeliad like that, but it makes sense too.

Yeah, why not.

So it looks great.

<Amanda> And now I'm at the point where if I can find my scissors... Of course, if I had my hair cutting scissors... <Mary> We would be zipping along right away, right?

You'd be gliding through that stuff.

<Amanda> I know, but it is good to have, and especially if you're having a party, when you have a lot of flowers and you need to clean up they're pretty well waterproof.

You can put a good bit of stuff in 'em.

Anyway, um, that's beautiful, what we end up with, and Mary, I have some Spanish moss and, and when I take it home, I just hang it on a tree limb, you know, and let it stay there till I need it again, and that way, first of all, it picks up these gray colors again, which I think repetition is always good.

<Mary> Yes, it's beautiful.

Then if anybody looks in there, it keeps them from just seeing all potting soil.

<Mary> Awkward area, bare soil.

<Amanda> A little bit of the plastic bag.

<Mary> Yeah, I brought some of this Tillandsia back - that's the genus of the Spanish moss - but back to the Upstate in Greenville, and I've got it growing on a tree and I'm hoping that it'll keep growing there, but we'll see, you know.

You never know until you try, and it's so warmer now that hopefully it'll stick around.

<Amanda> I've got some sticks.

And this is a my friend Hank Stallworth, whose wife Ann Nolte is always giving me things for my hat.

This is winged elm.

Ulmus?

<Mary> Ulmus alata.

<Amanda> Alata?

Okay.

And you see it's got these corky projections on it, which I think are fun.

So I'm gonna find a way to put a couple of those down in there because that just extends it.

And it makes it more interesting.

So if you get stuck, I'm the person when they have parties or bridal luncheons, that they always put next to the aunt that nobody can talk to.

<laughter> I always think it's nice if you've got in your flower arrangements, something that... <Mary> Lots of talking points.

Yes, yeah, 'cause a lot of people wouldn't know, you know, what exactly that was.

<Amanda> So if you have some, you know, differences in your family over certain things... <Mary> Just start talking about plants.

<Amanda> Just start talking about winged elm.

And have you ever seen this fascinating flower before?

And then, Mary, a lot of times I like to raise things up, and so this is not gonna scratch anything, so if I lift that up, can you put that under there for me?

And then I have, you know, a bunch of scarves.

And I thought if you could help me kind of just, we're just kind of do that loose - whatever way people like to do.

That looks pretty good.

I like that blue color, don't you?

<Mary> I like the blue.

I think it just accentuates all of the blue.

<Amanda> And it makes it look like we really wanted to have something for a party or a holiday.

<Mary> It's just refreshing, It's a refreshing take on that.

<Amanda> I'm so glad you approve.

<Mary> Yeah, I love it.

Amanda>> As you see there are lots of different approaches to flower arrangements, and I was just lucky to have a whole lot of flowers to use.

I hope you enjoyed that.

I was out trying to think of what to do for a hat and had a lot going on at my house and just didn't have time to do much.

So we had some of these, I like to get these little peppers because you know, if you get if you have a great big green pepper and you cut it then you got half the time I don't finish it before it goes bad.

So I just put some of these little peppers on it and this is one of those lighter colored anise that's coming out now I think they usually have banana in the common, in the name and they really can bright they like shade, but they can brighten a shady spot of your yard tremendously and they still have that wonderful foot that's wonderful fragrance if you crush the leaves.

My mama used to take us out in the summer and always do that and whenever I do that, it makes me think of my mama.

At any rate, John you have something you've given us to try to identify?

Dr. John>> A mystery taste, taste, okay, and it is a perfectly potable juice with pulp in it.

Okay, so it is tropical so let's everybody.

>> - It smells wonderful.

>> - give it a try.

Amanda>> Mmmm Mmmm Gosh!

Dr. John>> Now, it's known for having a very complex fruity taste.

Amanda>> This is just one fruit that was squeezed.

This isn't a mixture?

Dr. John>> No, no.

This is a one thing.

This is a and a lot of people when they drink it they, they try to describe what kinds of fruit tastes are involved.

Amanda>> It's wonderfully sweet and not citrusy.

Dr. John>> Kinda tastes sort of banana, a little bit.

Terasa>> It doesn't have a kind of a distinct... Amanda>> No.

>> I'm identifying it as something.

Amanda>> It really seems like a blend of things.

I mean, it's rather complex to me.

Paul>> I don't.

I can't recall anything now.

Amanda>> Beautiful color.

Beautiful color.

Rob>>: Sort of a mango texture and silkiness.

Terasa>> Yeah, my guess was something like a guava, but Dr. John>> that's maybe bubble gum.

(laughs) Amanda>> Maybe you better tell us what it is.

...there's mangoes that are sweet in that kind of unusual way?

Rob>> Absolutely.

>> Yeah.

Dr. John>> Well, I got this thing, and it came out of a can and I want to show you the can.

Amanda>> Please do.

>> Here it is.

It's a tall can.

And it has a picture of the fruit that this stuff comes from, and this is actually a tropical plant that's native to a large, large part of South America up to Mexico, and it's very popular to make all sorts of tasty things out of.

it's very sweet.

And with the pulp, that's part of the fun, I think is once you get the pulp, but the fruit is a fairly large, oblong shaped sort of soft berry, and it has one or two large seeds on the inside, and this is turned into juices and then they make desserts.

Amanda>> Something called tamarind.

Dr. John>> That's different.

So this is...actually a plant in the family called Sapotaceae, which is mostly tropical, and they apparently can grow this in South Florida and places in California.

Amanda>> And what is it called?

Dr. John>> Well, it's called Mamey.

Amanda>> Mamey, >>Mamey.

Amanda>> And how do you spell it?

John>> M-A-M-E-Y Amanda>> Mamey.

Well it's delicious.

John>> and you can buy this and I guess the specialty section of your well equipped supermarket or one of the Latin American tiendas.

Amanda>> Oh, you go to different neighborhoods.

Amanda>> You go to different places to find those things.

Have you ever had the fruit?

Dr. John>> I have not fully had the pulpy juice, but I'd love to try the fruit too.

Amanda>> Yeah.

>> Well, Mamey, Amanda>> Mamey.

Well, thank you so much for a new experience on Dr. John>> Bon apetit.

Amanda>> Thank you so much.

Terasa>> The first time we've had a mystery taste, maybe that should become a regular part for John's repertoire.

Amanda>> I think that'd be great.

Paul>> Maybe that would be a good use for paw paws.

Since they don't.

you know, I think they're kind of ripe and then bad.

Amanda>> Yeah that's a good idea.

Yeah.

Terasa have you got something else for us?

Terasa>> Sure thing.

This one comes in from Pawleys Island from Camden.

Camden says I'm moving to a house with a smaller yard in need to reduce my gardening tools.

Do you have suggestions for a couple of your favorites?

Amanda>> Goodness.

Paul... Paul>> Well.

Amanda>> You have a storage shed I'm sure, full of things.

Paul>> You know, there are certainly a lot of tools to choose from.

But you know, you always have to have a shovel.

Okay.

And if there is one shovel to have, above all others.

Oops, it's a nursery spade.

Now, these came about, you know, and I can still remember the first containerized plants in the nursery.

They were grown in number 10 recycled cans, you know, the big that you get a bunch of tomatoes.

Yeah, yeah, a big can of beans or that kind of thing.

That was way before the plastic pots.

But prior to growing plants in containers, everything was field grown.

They didn't have the big nursery spades that are now you know, hydraulic diggers.

They had shovels like this.

And so it's a small bladed shovel, but instead of a typical shovel, this pointed and kind of rounded, it's got a flat cutting edge.

And the reason why this is so great is with a round point shovel if you've got a root of any size, Amanda>> Yeah.

Paul>> and you go to push the shovel to cut a root.

Well, because that tip is round, and it's got a point on it, it just slides on one side or the other.

So the nurseries spade is designed to be able to just, you know, with some force cut through the roots, and we had to transplant some blueberry bushes, and I had one of the Master Gardeners filming me using this.

Just to show you how quick it was that I dug up a blueberry plant in one minute.

Amanda>> Come on.. Paul>>...it's just, you make short work, the smaller blade means more force can go into a smaller area when you're using your foot.

Amanda>> And I think a lot of people try to keep a sharp edge on them with a file.

Paul>> And, you know, I mean, the soil usually keeps the edge very sharp, just the abrasiveness of you know, always plunging down the dirt, and they do make long handle varieties.

But I like the short handle, D handle, because it allows you to actually use your hand for things.

And another great use for this, which is why I like it, it's so versatile, is if you're say you've got some lawn area, and you're wanting to create a flowerbed, you can rent a side cutter, Okay, but with this, you get down on one knee, you get it started under the sod, and then you just, you're doing this back and forth.

And you can cut up like a square yard of sod in a minute land, then you just go through the top and cut it into pieces where you can pick it up, and that kind of thing.

So it's, to me just the most useful tool I've ever had, and if I only could have one shovel, it would be a nursery spade.

Amanda>> Terasa, that would be interesting to you because you are trying to reduce the size of your lawn and put in more flowering plants for pollinators and things.

And that'd be a great way to get rid of, I mean, to get Paul>> This is really Terasa>> I should bring it to my husband, right?

I have the ideas and he does all the work.

Paul>> It's really quick.

>> Okay, what is this?

Paul>> Well, this is a long reach pruner.

So you know, Amanda>> Oh!

>> They have these available at different, you know, places that sell garden tools and stuff like that, and so usually it's intended, you know, to be able to stand with your feet on the ground and be able to prune them, maybe something small but it's basically a hand pruner type cutter.

So there's not a lot of power there.

<Amanda> Yeah.

Paul>> You are using, you know, trigger down here.

But I don't know about you, but I've found it harder and harder to get down on my knees and my knees start hurting when I stand up and my back starts hurting when I've got to do things close to the ground.

So, I've actually started using this when I have to cut back low things like the Lantana that I have growing and I've got all the old growth off about this time of the year, and instead of having to bend down like that I can stand up and you know prune and you can actually gently pick up what you prune it over in your bed.

Amanda>> And lantana is not so thick that it would easily go through it.

Paul>> It would cut something like that.

So cutting back your perennials, you know, this time of the year before they flush out Dr. John>> - or maybe for trimming blackberries.

Paul>> Yeah, you don't have to get thorns all over it.

You can reach into the middle of the cluster.

So yeah, I find them highly useful, not just reaching things that are high over your head, but other places where you can access.

Amanda>> Well, thank you.

I think a lot of us are trying to find ways to let the tools do more of the work, instead of our joints.

You can replace the tool far more easily than you can, an elbow.

Okay.

All right, Terasa.

Terasa>> Cheryl in Goose Creek has a problem growing tomatoes, and this is not Cheryl.

A lot of people experienced this it says, how can I prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes?

Amanda>> Uh huh.

Well, unfortunately, tomatoes are probably a small vegetable for a lot of people because I just grow cherry tomatoes now, because they're just easier.

But, for the wonderful people who can still grow tomatoes, blossom end rot, describe what that is, and then what we could do to avoid it.

Rob>> Certainly, Amanda.

So what you're seeing with blossom end rot is where the flower was attached to the fruit, you'll start to see blackening and it will rot down into there and into the fruit.

A lot of the times it can be caused by calcium, or calcium deficiency.

<Amanda> Oh, deficiency.

So, what we're looking to try and do is make sure that we've taken the soil test and get the pH of our soil Correct.

For a start, that's going to help.

Step two, calcium tends to not be very soluble within the soil.

So it can be quite difficult for the plants to take off if it's not in solution.

So keep the soil moist to wet, which is going to really help to increase that potassium, that sorry, calcium uptake.

And that will help to prevent blossom end rot.

Amanda>> So calcium, you saying it needs to be almost in solution for the plant to take it up.

Rob>> That's right, any nutrient that the plant is taking up is taken up in, in water or in solution.

So the more we can do to get that nutrient into solution, the better chance for it.

Amanda>> and calcium is just a little harder to get into solution and some other things.

Rob>> Absolutely.

Amanda>> whereas we often say, you know, oh, you know, let everything dry out completely before you re-water, maybe tomatoes need a slightly different treatment than some other things in our vegetables.

Rob>> That's absolutely correct, Amanda.

Keeping the soil moist, not saturated, but moist, is the key to helping prevent loss of mineral.

Amanda>> So if you, I'm wondering, I don't know, I've sometimes taken a small plastic, you know, bucket from the store and put a very small hole in it, and put that near a plant that I wanted to keep the soil moist on that, I wonder if you could do something Rob>> That's certainly going to work.

And if you're looking at growing tomatoes, in pots or in the grow bag type environment, the top cut off a soda bottle.

So you've actually got the spout where you screw the cap on, insert that into the soil, cut the bottom off, and you've got one of those automatic type of waters, as well.

Amanda>> Okay, so you don't have to go do something super fancy.

>> Absolutely.

>> Now, how about mulching?

Rob>> mulching, certainly going to help because that's going to keep that soil moist around the base of the plant, or certainly help to and control the temperature of the soil as well, which affects the moisture content as well.

Okay.

So that those are some really good ways of keeping that soil moist.

If you still got a problem, and it's likely to be seen more in the first fruit that are set, just take those off.

And subsequent crops to the fruit of the tomato will be less subject to blossom end rot.

Amanda>> Is that just because it's gotten a bigger root system by then, you think?

Rob>> the bigger root system and you've also got recycling of nutrients within the plant, as well.

Amanda>> You do?

Yeah, Rob>> You'll find plants.

Any yellowing or discoloration is seeing is actually the plant moving nutrients into the new growth.

Amanda>> Well, that was really something now usually but it does get better generally, Rob>> As the season progresses.

Amanda>> Don't...go buy something and spray it or something.

Rob>> I certainly don't ever recommend that one >> Okay, just do what you've suggested.

>> There's a lot of things that we can do culturally that aren't going to cost us additional rot.

Amanda>> Alright.

Well, I want to thank everybody Terasa, as always all that you do for us.

Paul, thanks for making the trip down.

>> Oh, my pleasure.

>> I was happy to hear that you're going to 40 acre...

I hope that you will come back and join us again.

Rob>> I'd be delighted to.

>> John, as always, I'm no longer afraid of getting a bad grade so I can just be completely relaxed when you are here with us.

>> Well, it's been fun to be here.

>> To all of you at home, thank you so much.

Night, night.

♪ closing music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Narration>> Making It Grow is brought to you in part by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

Certified South Carolina grown helps consumers identify, find and buy South Carolina products.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 22 varieties of peaches.

Additional funding provided by International Paper and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance