076 Sprinklers, Grapes, Shovels 29:56
SPEAKERS
Debbie Flower, Julie Barbour, Phil Pursel, Farmer Fred
Farmer Fred 00:03
Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, well, you've come to the right spot.
Farmer Fred 00:15
It may be February, but it's not too late for a New Year's Garden Resolution: Don't let your overhead sprinklers hit your vegetable and flower gardens. Our favorite retired college horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, will tell us why. We have tips for planting and caring for raspberries and grapes. Are you confused about all those shovel and pruner choices that are out there? We'll unearth the best shovel choices for your outdoor tasks and will prune out those shears that you really don't want to use in your garden. Finally, we'll narrow the gap about dealing with physical and social distancing with your loved ones who need a hug. How about caressing them with your garden? We will tell you how! it's Episode 76 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. And we'll do it all in under 30 minutes. Let's go.
Farmer Fred 01:07
Here's a quick tip. Debbie Flower, our favorite college horticultural Professor, joins us. And if you could change one aspect of your backyard garden, it might be eliminating overhead watering. Don't rely on your lawn sprinklers to hit the garden and take care of your vegetables. Because that might not be the best thing for those vegetables.
Debbie Flower 01:31
Yeah, there are some diseases that can be easily spread by water and splashing water in particular. So water that comes from high in the air like rain, or like your oscillating lawn sprinkler, lands on the ground and splashes the soil up into the plant. And when that happens, if there are fungal diseases in your soil, they can get up into the plant and cause infection. And that's not a good thing. So if possible, a soaker hose is a better choice. Other problems with water coming from above are when it happens late in the day and the plants can't dry off. And then the water gets trapped between let's say a couple of leaves. And that allows fungus and bacteria that are sitting on the leaves of that plant to germinate and infect the plant and so you're allowing disease into the plant. So again, a soaker hose might be the better choice for irrigating vegetable garden.
Farmer Fred 02:27
A soaker hose, or drip irrigation, but I guess if you must use overhead watering for your vegetable garden, then probably do it early in the day.
Debbie Flower 02:36
When I first gardened and didn't have a lot of money for a lot of supplies, I would use the overhead irrigation and just make sure that I did it early in the day. And then I had my plants in raised beds. They weren't fancy raised beds. I didn't have the money for that. But I would just dig the paths out and throw it up on the bed and so they were a few inches raised but that raised bed can help drainage. It won't stop splashing necessarily, but it can help water drain away from the plant. And, water around the stem of the plant can also be a problem.
Farmer Fred 03:10
And whatever you do, do not employ the Farmer Fred first drip irrigation methodology. I believe it was the second year of my backyard garden and I thought okay, I don't need to buy a drip irrigation system, I'll just make one myself. So I took a 20 foot long PVC pipe and drilled holes in it.
Debbie Flower 03:31
Clever.
Farmer Fred 03:31
I hooked it up to a hose on one end, put an end cap on the other and turned the water on. Well, the problem was...water, as you know, follows gravity. It went to the end of the pipe and most of the water came out of the holes at the far end and not much was dribbling out the holes closer to the source of the hose. I guess if you want to try something like that you would put bigger holes towards where the hose end is and smaller holes at the end or the downhill portion of that pipe.
Debbie Flower 04:05
Or you use a level. That is a problem with a soaker hose that you buy. Soaker hoses that just are made from porous material and the water oozes out. There are other soaker hoses that have slits in them and the water goes out the slits. But if that hose is either of those types of hoses on any kind of a slope, the water all goes to the bottom of the slope. So you have to dig a ditch or be very level to get water at all the places you want. So the easier kind to build is using drip irrigation parts. I love those hoses. I use the quarter inch. It has a shorter run to it but my vegetable garden is never so big that I need the longer run. Quarter inch drip tubing with torturous path emitters in them and they're pressure regulated. So the emitter is buried right in The tube and you can buy it with emitters that are spaced every six inches or emitters at every foot. And when you turn on the system you it's like, it's like I don't know, Lincoln Logs or something, Legos or something you you, you attach that to a supply line and you attach the supply line to your faucet and you have a backflow preventer and a filter. And you can put a timer in there. But the benefit of having those tubes with the torturous path emitters in them is that water will come out of every hole, not just the one at the end of the line.
Farmer Fred 05:32
And they will come out equally because they are also pressure compensating emitters.
Debbie Flower 05:36
Yes, right.
Farmer Fred 05:38
Now, the unfortunate part is a lot of the quarter inch tubing is sold in rolls of 25 feet, 50 feet, or 100 feet. Yes, if you read the fine print very carefully on those packages, it'll tell you that the maximum run for a single line off of a main line for a quarter inch line hooked into a half inch line, that run may only be 17 feet or so.
Debbie Flower 06:04
Right? Right. And so what I do, and I did this in my front yard, which is not vegetables, is put a supply line around the periphery. So down one side, across the bottom, and then for those 15 or 17 feet, and then up the other side. And across the top, so the supply line is a square, and it's connected. And then I ran the quarter inch tubing from one supply line across the other one. Hmm. So I have just a whole lot of parallel lines of drip irrigation. So the whole bed is will get wet at the same time.
Farmer Fred 06:43
Yeah, now we're going to get into the weeds of drip irrigation. And that has to do with the porosity of your soil. If you have a sandy soil and especially in a raised bed, you will need to place those parallel lines closer together to make sure that all areas of the garden bed get water.
Debbie Flower 07:02
Yes, yes. And for my vegetables and annuals, I don't I actually use spray emitters. The bed, my raised bed, I do have an official raised bed now is only four by eight. So it's a small bed. And I have a supply line going all the way around and down the middle as well. So two feet, and then I put the spray, there are micro sprayer. So there's still small amounts of water, the sprayers in the corners, and then periodically down the side and down the middle so that the whole bed gets sprayed, because it is better drained soil. And when water hits better drained soil, it will soak in like the shape of a carrot. And if I'm starting seeds, and that seed is not right where the water hits, it will never get wet, it will never germinate. So I want water all across the bed. So I want to spray it across the bed and get all of those seeds wet, it can become an issue as the plants get bigger because the leaves of the plants can get in the way of the spray. So that's something I have to watch for.
Farmer Fred 08:09
Gardening is kind of like chess, it's such a simple game to understand. But the more you learn about it, the more complex it gets.
Debbie Flower 08:18
Yeah, but you know, there are no mistakes in gardening. They're, they're just experiments. So we experiment every time we try something, and we learn from it.
Farmer Fred 08:35
We're talking with Phil Pursel from Dave Wilson Nursery, we're getting your berry patch planted. Berry plants are already arriving at area nurseries, and they'll be coming to nurseries throughout the United States in the coming months. Phil, let's talk about raspberries. We've talked about blueberries and blackberries, raspberries also are very popular. They're a bit more tender. They don't last as long in the refrigerator. But man, are they ever tasty?
Phil Pursel 09:00
Yeah, absolutely. Raspberries are not quite as easy to grow as, let's say a blackberry, especially kind of they're a little bit more sensitive to heat than let's say a blackberry is. So kind of depending on your location, they might need a little bit of shade help in the summertime as opposed to blackberries, which would you know, thrive in full sun.
Farmer Fred 09:23
Yeah, you know, that's something we should talk about regarding blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, what sort of exposure they require. So raspberries, if you live in a hot sun, summer area, maybe give them some afternoon shade. But blackberries get full sun. What about blueberries?
Phil Pursel 09:39
Blueberries, they're one of those where if you're in a hot area once again, I would put him more towards the location of a raspberry we get you know, morning to noon sun and then afternoon shade. If you're in a very hot area, give it a little bit of shade just to protect it.
Farmer Fred 09:57
Exactly. This argument has been going on for as long as I can recall about where to plant blueberries, and it seems like the blueberry doesn't care very much from full sun in cooler summer climates to part shade in hot summer climates, they seem to do well. You could even try it in a lot of shade. You may not get the production but I think you'll get some.
Phil Pursel 10:19
Yeah, absolutely. In fact, I have blueberries underneath my oak trees, they're under shade almost all the time. They give us plenty of fruit, you know, for our morning cereals and such. Up in Oregon, they're grown in full sun. If you grow them in full sun in the Central Valley of California, it's mostly the intense heat that will burn a blueberry plant or even a raspberry plant.
Farmer Fred 10:44
Let's talk about some different raspberries. Now when people think raspberries, they think red. But there are some very tasty yellow varieties of raspberries. Like the Anne raspberry.
Phil Pursel 10:55
The Anne and the Fall Gold. So those are the golden raspberries that you don't see as prolific as your regular red raspberries. But they tend to be a little sweeter, a little higher in sugar content. And just a nice little different look than your typical red raspberries. There aren't that many varieties we grow and we grow Fall Gold, whereas with red raspberries, we grow a lot of different varieties.
Farmer Fred 11:25
What are the favorite varieties among the staff there at Dave Wilson nursery and among your customers?
Phil Pursel 11:31
Well we really like Canby. And the reason why we like Canby it because it's thornless. I is the only thornless variety that we grow. Staff favorites would be like the Willamette and Heritage. Those are classic varieties of raspberries that are very adaptable to a lot of different locations. A new one that is out there is known as Raspberry Shortcake. Kind of like its sister plant, the Baby Cakes Blackberry. This raspberry is meant for the container garden. So once again, you know, you can have blueberries, blackberries, and this Raspberry Shortcake in a container out on your patio if you don't have room for a vine.
Farmer Fred 12:13
Let's talk about another berry variety and this one requires more of a permanent home and we're talking grapes, both table grapes and wine grapes. Dave Wilson nursery has plenty of varieties of those, including some American grapes as well.
Phil Pursel 12:28
Yes, so the American grape varieties are probably the most adaptable. They do very well in cold climates. The European varieties, you know your Red Globe, your Ruby, your Flame, your Thompson, those European varieties. In colder climates, they'll freeze back whereas the American varieties, Concord, Interlaken and some of these varieties. They're developed up in New York, but like you said, grapes are not for the container garden. They really do need a trellis type of structure to grow on and get established. There's been at this real big trend for people wanting to plant winegrapes, whether Cabernet, Merlot or such. And that's where we're seeing a lot of demand now is the homeowner wanting to do their own little vineyard or if nothing else, it's kind of the novelty of having Cabernet grapes along with your you know, your regular table eating grapes.
Farmer Fred 13:31
Exactly. And grapes do need a bit of chill hours. I don't think it's not much. It's like 100 hours or so.
Phil Pursel 13:38
They do. The Europeans are really low chill. American grapes require a little bit more. Nothing really substantial. Grapes are another one. Just make sure you give a lot of sun full sun. You don't want to be putting that grapes in an area where they can get too much shade. It can develop powdery mildew, if you keep the ground a little too moist underneath and it's in a shady area.
Farmer Fred 14:02
If you want to find out more about growing grapes, I bet you can just go to Dave wilson.com check out their fruit Tube videos and I bet there are some great videos there.
Phil Pursel 14:12
Yeah, and you know, we give instructions on how to prune grapes and how to care for them and you know how to trellis on them and how to have success with the grapes.
Farmer Fred 14:22
And you again just go to the Fruit Tube video section at Dave Wilson.com and you can find everything you need to know about berries and grapes and fruit trees and nut trees. It's all there at Dave wilson.com Phil Pursel, Dave Wilson Nursery. Thanks for spending the morning with us talking berries.
Phil Pursel 14:41
Yep, thanks for having me on.
Farmer Fred 14:46
The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast has a lot of information posted at each episode: transcripts, links to any products or books mentioned during the show, and other helpful links for even more information. Plus, you can listen to just the portions of the show that interest you, it’s been divided into easily accessible chapters. Plus you’ll find more information about how to get in touch with us. Leave an audio question without making a phone call via Speakpipe, at speak pipe dot com. it’s easy, give it a try. And you just might hear your voice on the Garden Basics podcast! If you’re listening to us via Apple podcasts, put your question in the Ratings and Reviews section. Text us the question and pictures, or leave us your question at: 916-292-8964.916-292-8964. E-mail: fred@farmerfred.com . If you tell us where you’re from, that will help us greatly to accurately answer your garden questions. Because all gardening is local. In the show notes you’ll find links to all our social media outlets, including facebook, instagram, twitter, and youtube. Also, a link to the farmerfred.com website. And thanks for listening.
Farmer Fred 16:21
I guess we're gonna call this segment of Garden Basics, "Can you dig it?" We are standing at the shovels section here at the Green Acres nursery store. And Julie Barbour is with us. She's a Master Gardener, also works at Green Acres. But Julie, let's talk about shovels. Because if people are starting a first garden, or maybe they're not used to buying shovels, all of a sudden they're looking at a row of different shaped shovels, different handled shovels. So let's do something about shoveling basics. So they want to dig. Yeah, what's a good shovel for digging?
Julie Barbour 16:57
So it's easy to be a little bit too excited and get a shovel that's very large, that can pick up a whole lot all at once. The downside to that is you might find that you wear out sooner. So pick a shovel that has a medium sized head if you see one that's meant for a horse pooper scooper or shoveling snow, it might be too much material, and you can wear out a lot sooner. So picking one that's going to just be kind of standard, and you get a choice between one that has a flat top, straight across, and one that is curved, and has a point on it. And often they have a little curved bit also where you can put your feet so you can shovel down. Picking the right kind of handle for longevity can also matter. But it's really that head, that part, that's going to be digging in the soil that matters the most. I usually get along best with the one with the curved top because I can get a little bit deeper. And the one with the flat top is more for moving a lot of material but not in a super confined area.
Farmer Fred 17:55
The round heads for digging; the flat heads is for shoveling. if you want to move mulch, you'll want a flat headed shovel.
Julie Barbour 18:02
Yeah, otherwise, it's just too much work and annoying.
Farmer Fred 18:05
Then you have different sized heads. You've got smaller heads that are meant for digging. And that would be for like little plants or bulbs.
Julie Barbour 18:13
Right. They're ideal for bulbs, some of these are actually marked on them 1-2-3-4 inches, so you can find out how deep you're going and get the right planting depth for what you purchased.
Farmer Fred 18:25
Maybe you're putting in a fence. For that, you want a posthole digger. And what I like about the posthole diggers here, it's actually got depth markings on it. So you know how deep you have gone digging for that post. Because generally when you're sinking a wooden post or a metal post, you want to go about one third the length of that total post, maybe one fourth or one third the length, of that total post. So if you've got an eight foot post, and you want a six foot tall fence, and then you're gonna sink two feet of that into the ground, this one will let you know when you're at two feet.
Julie Barbour 18:56
And it's helpful for me. It keeps me from cheating. I'm like, gosh, that hole looks good. Yeah, no, no, you got to measure it. Let's find out. So it keeps me honest so that the post really lasts.
Farmer Fred 19:07
Then you've got these really narrow head shovels and we're looking at this Corona shovel that's bright orange, too, so you'll never lose it. I like that. The fact that it's very colorful.
Julie Barbour 19:19
This one is a trench shovel, and this it is about four inches, and then we've got one that's even smaller, I think.
Farmer Fred 19:24
Yeah, now the trench shovel has a long narrow head. It looks it's four inches wide. And the head itself looks to be about 12 inches long. And there's a point on the end. And yeah, if you're going to put in an irrigation system, you want to trench up.
Julie Barbour 19:39
Exactly. You don't want to move more dirt than you have to get the smaller head. Yes.
Farmer Fred 19:44
And if you're digging bigger trenches, there are bigger shovels that are meant for that purpose. Here's one that's 16 inches and that says it's for a drain pipe. So it's nice that they're labeled. So they give you a good idea of what the purpose is.
Julie Barbour 19:58
Yeah, it's always kind of cool. When you go to a new section and you just look at some of the labels and you realize, oh, there are differences, because most of us have just inherited one or two shovels from our previous homes, and we're not sure why we had that thing, you can get the right tool and you'll find that your back and the job is much healthier for it.
Farmer Fred 20:17
And then moving down this aisle, here is one of my favorite devices, a spading fork. A spading fork is not a pitchfork. A spading fork actually has wider tines, are about three quarters of an inch wide, there are four tines. The tines are about 12 inches long. Handle size varies. But if you have heavy clay soil, I would rather dig heavy clay soil with a spading fork than a shovel. It's a lot easier,
Julie Barbour 20:41
it's a lot easier. And as a reminder, when the soil is super soggy, you might want to hold off a little bit too. It's just heavy and it's wet and it's hard to do. But when you've got those prongs going in it, the force is a lot easier on you and you get to use it to your advantage.
Farmer Fred 20:56
Exactly. And you're not going to bend the head like you would a shovel in heavy clay soil because the tines will help break up the soil as it brings it up. That's very nice. And of course, you've got little hand devices too. You've got trowels that are different sizes, different shapes, different purposes. Some even have a serrated edge, which would be great for cutting roots.
Julie Barbour 21:16
Exactly. So when you start digging in the soil, you find out that there are some roots in the way and rather than just hacking at it, you might be able to saw right there in the soil and take those roots out.
Farmer Fred 21:27
Yeah, exactly. That's the benefit of things like this. I'm not sure I know what this is called. This one is called a Roots Slayer soil knife. I used to know this as a Hori Hori knife. But it it's a great universal tool. It's a hand tool. The head is about 12 inches long. It's serrated on one side, it's smooth on the other. And it's really meant for you digging holes, breaking up soil and cutting roots.
Julie Barbour 21:57
Yeah, exactly right. And that that's super helpful.
Farmer Fred 22:01
You can even pick up dog poop with it.
Julie Barbour 22:03
I'm not gonna.
Farmer Fred 22:04
Alright. If you're out there and that's all you had... Yeah, you would.
Julie Barbour 22:08
I still got one child at home. I'm off the hook so far.
Farmer Fred 22:11
All right. Good luck with that. Maybe one piece of advice about hand pruners. Since we're standing in front of the pruners, I noticed that this display of pruners here and I'm so glad to see this. I think all of them are bypass pruners that are not any anvil pruners here. Explain the difference.
Julie Barbour 22:29
So bypass, think of a pair of scissors, the two blades pass by each other and it makes a very clean, decent cut without making the plant raggedy. Kind of like when you get a haircut, you don't want split ends. The same thing with a plant. We want a nice clean cut. And bypass does that for us. The drawback to bypass is it can require a lot of hand strength. So when you come in looking for some hand tools, actually pick them up and try them. See what the weight is. See how far apart the hands are, and if you can actually use it. But bypass is almost always the way to go.
Farmer Fred 23:03
Yeah, the only thing I can think of using an anvil pruner for, and, by the way, anvil pruners is where the blade actually strikes a plate on the opposite arm. And that's great for removing dead wood, or maybe if you're into a cut flower garden.
Julie Barbour 23:18
Yeah, but the bigger the material is and the wetter the material is, the more trouble you're going to have with the anvil type. So it's particularly useful and then just making sure that you know that the part that opens, the actual cutting part, it'll say as little as a half of an inch, and then it'll go up maybe to one in three quarters inches. That makes it a heavier item and might wear out your hand sooner. So again, try all of them see if the mid-size one works for you and you can find that you can prune for hours, as opposed to just a few minutes.
Farmer Fred 23:50
Exactly. And while you're shopping for pruners, get yourself a holster, get yourself a sharpener, maybe even pick up different size pruners that are meant for flowers, like the little narrow snippers.
Julie Barbour 24:02
Yeah, so out on the patio here they use the small little snippers they don't have a lot of strength, but it's for deadheading and keeping the plants really a nice trim. Then there are the bigger items where you're taking off bigger pieces of the plant. And then of course there are the biggest items of all for when you're taking out all the winter stuff. You're doing a lot of deadheading, you're doing a lot of taking plants down by many feet. And then of course you can go up to loppers and hand saws.
Farmer Fred 24:27
There you go. We learned a lot on this quick tip. Julie Barbour, thank you.
Julie Barbour 24:31
Thank you very much.
Farmer Fred 24:36
In a not famous song of nearly 40 years ago, performance artist Laurie Anderson sang, “Language is a Virus”. Before that, novelist William S Burroughs used the line “Language is a Virus from outer space” in the book, The Ticket that exploded. The words we use in everyday conversation mutate over the years into colloquialisms (for sure!), popular slang, abbreviations, new terminology based on modern technology. And one of those virus-like terms, which, appropriately enough, is associated with the coronavirus, is social distancing. In a recent Poynter newsletter for journalism professionals, write Deborah Lynn Blumberg made a rather astute observation. Deborah wrote: I was speaking with a psychologist today for a story I’m working on. I can’t remember, but have you discussed the distinction between social distancing and physical distancing? I still see so many news stories talk about “social distancing” while psychologists I talk to in my reporting keep stressing that we should be saying “physical distancing” instead. Why? because we shouldn’t be socially distant from people right now since that's a negative for our mental health — we need to connect with other people in safe ways. This could be something good for journalists to think about/remember as they're writing, especially as we get into winter months and many people grapple with SAD, seasonal affective disorder, which therapists believe will be worse for people this year. Deborah is exactly right. Social distancing can, according to researchers, even have a physical impact on people, particularly seniors. If you have friends or relatives in an assisted living facility, nursing home or convalescent hospital, you may have noticed a decline in their mental and physical health this year. What changed? The lack of physical contact with you, because you are not allowed a face to face visit, in person. They, as you, miss that physical contact of the touch of a hand, a hug, a kiss. For many of these people, they can’t even assemble with their peers in the facility’s dining room, because of fear of the spread of coronavirus. So, all of us may feel that seasonal affective disorder even more than usual, because of coronavirus and “social distancing”. For us muddling through our daily lives right now, we do need that physical space for our own safety. But that doesn’t mean you can’t share a kind word with your masked compatriots while standing on your assigned, well-spaced square in the supermarket checkout line. Nor does it mean that you have to give up gardening. If anything, we need more contact with our plants. Touch them, smell them, and yes, talk to them. Talk to the birds, the bees, the cabbage worms, too. You don’t have to talk nicely to them, though. When it comes to interacting with people, you can still maintain a physical distance, but be social. Learn how to smile through a mask! The AARP offers these tips: Use body language. Waving, thumbs up, virtual hugs or clapping are all good ways to convey emotion. She also recommends clasping your hands high on your chest to signal pleasure. Use untapped resources. We don't often think about using the shoulders, the posture of the neck or the eyebrows to convey emotions, but they can transmit subtle signals about how we feel. Smile under your mask. People can't see your smile, but they can see the raise of your cheeks and a little lift below your eyes, smiling sends a message to your brain to release chemicals to give you a mood boost. Focus on articulation. Without the ability to see lips during exchanges, it's important to speak clearly and articulate. Name your emotions. If you're feeling sad, upset or happy, give voice to those sentiments. “People can't read it on your face now,”. “It's incumbent on us to describe how we feel." And to stave off SAD, make time for the garden, maybe early in the morning. Spending any time in your garden, is going to bring a smile to your face.
Farmer Fred 29:32
Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday and it's available just about anywhere podcasts are handed out. And that includes Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Tune-in… and hey, Alexa, play the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, would you please? Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving comments. We appreciate it.