701 March - Spring Root Vegetables

Hey Listener, 

In this month's episode, we’re talking about how much we love root vegetables, and won't you know it, this is the perfect time of year to plant them.  We chat all about our love for juicy beets, spicy radish, and crunchy carrots.  

We also have our : 

• Native Plant of the Month: black willow
• Bug of the Month: root aphids
•  Monthly Garden Tips: preparing for spring

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 The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Principal Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture; Rachel Rhodes- Senior Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne's County); and Emily Zobel- Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County).

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Transcript

Garden Thyme Podcast Transcript
 S7:E0 Root Vegetables (March 2026)

Note: The Garden Thyme Podcast is produced for the ear and is designed to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.  

Mikaela

Hello, listener. Welcome to the University of Maryland Extension Presents: The Garden Time Podcast, where we talk about getting down and dirty in your garden. We're your hosts. I'm Mikaela.

Rachel

I'm Rachel.

Emily

And I'm Emily.

Mikaela

And in this month's episode, we're talking about cold-weather crops, specifically root vegetables.

Mikaela

Welcome to 2026, everybody. We're happy to be here, right?

Rachel

So happy to be here.

Emily

We are.

Mikaela

We're happy to be back for our 6th season of podcasting about all things green and growing, even if those things are not happening right now.

Rachel

But it's the anticipation and the hope that they're going to happen here soon.

Mikaela

Well, yeah, that's why we have the topic that we have today, right? Is because we are anticipating it's going to be about the perfect time of year to be planting and growing these kinds of things. I'm so glad to be talking about what we're going to be looking forward to once the sunshine is back and the ground is a little bit warmer.

Rachel

Today we're going to be talking about cold weather crops, not to be confused with cole crops, which are a group of vegetables related to cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and kale. We are going to be mentioning other cool season vegetables, how to grow them, and why they should be included in your spring garden.

Mikaela

And I think each of us have selected like our favorite root vegetable, is that—

Rachel

I think so.

Emily

Yeah.

Mikaela

I didn't know you liked beets so much, Emily.

Emily

I love beets, okay? They are one of my favorites ever since I was young. My mom always said beets taste like good dirt. Beets, interesting enough, are part of the spinach family, and they are really healthy for you. They are low in calories and fat, but they actually have one of the highest amounts of natural sugars in them compared to other— what we would consider like vegetables, like true, like culinary vegetables, not so much like the vegetative state. So They're sweet because they're high in sugar, but they're low in calories, low in fat, and they have a fair amount of fiber in them as well, which helps keep people's blood sugar balanced. So super healthy for you, jam-packed with all kinds of vitamins and nutrients. And fun enough, I think one of the reasons I always liked them as a kid was because of the bright color and the juice. But because of all that juice, they historically were traditionally used as a dye, which I actually think is really fascinating. Um, and I've done beet tie-dye before on like cotton cloths, like back in my craftier days. So they also are delicious with some goat cheese when you roast them, or slightly pickled on a salad.

Emily

I find them to be such a diverse root vegetable. So they are, I think, one of the easiest kind of root crops to grow. You just direct seed them right into your garden in early spring, late summer, If you want to increase your germination rate, you can soak them in warm water for 24 hours beforehand. This does a few different things. One, it allows that seed to start absorbing water and starts to trigger its germination. And two, it also kind of helps to reduce some of those soil rots and/or seed maggot problems that sometimes we get if we have like a warm-cold-warm-cold spring. Want to plant them in kind of a fluffier soil, so you can use potting medium if you want to container do them because they don't get massive. But if you are going to put them directly in the soil, you just want to till or fluff that soil a little bit. And then they will tolerate a little bit of shade, so they do work well in kind of like a 6 to 4 hours of direct light with some partial shade. They don't like the super heat, so you tend to do beets in like the spring and the fall.

Emily

You're going to plant them in a row. I tend just to sprinkle my seeds on top and I'll thin them as needed, but if you don't want to thin them, then you're going to space them about 2 inches apart, or I say like 3 fingers. So a seed, 3 fingers, a seed, 3 fingers, a seed. Typically you'll see them emerging in about 2 weeks, so 10 to like 14 days they'll start emerging or germinating, and then typically they're ready to harvest in about 50 to 60 days. They can be a little heavy on the fertilizer use, but if you get a soil test, you'll know what you need to do to amend your soils ahead of time. Typically speaking, if you put some organic matter or some compost in with your soil, you should be good. But again, go ahead and get that soil test to let you know. The one issue sometimes they do have is they'll be deficient in boron, which will end up having like the leaves will get these black spots on them at some point, but a lot of times the root will be a little misshapen or on the smaller side.

Emily

They can also have some other issues. They can get a leaf miner and they can get leaf spots. When it comes to things like leaf miners and the leaf spots, you can just prune out those leaves really easily. You don't really need to treat them with any kind of chemicals. Deformed beets, along with all of the vegetables we're going to talk about today, can be deformed for a wide variety of reasons. So it could be that then they're dealing with compacted soil. If you're also growing in heavy clay, you're likely going to get shorter, stubbier vegetables, especially if you don't till or fluff that soil enough. Sometimes you will get some of the insect pests feeding on, so you may get like mole cricket bites or something like that on that. As long as it's not rotten, you can cut that feeding damage off and you can still eat them. And again, if they have rotten though, like they can just proceed to go into your compost bin. So some beet varieties that are recommended would be things like Bulls Blood, Chicago, Detroit Dark Red, Early Wonder, Ruby Queen, and then there's a few other like hybrids.

Emily

So there's like Red Ace or Red Ball. Those are your typical like red beets. Beets do, however, come in a wide variety of colors. You can find like the golden or the yellow ones. And you can find white ones, and there are some now that come out that almost look kind of like a radish where they're like red and white, which is kind of cool. You're going to sow them several weeks before the late spring frost throughout the summer up until about 6 weeks before the first kill frost in the fall. Ideally, you want to wait until your soil temperature is about 45 degrees or warmer before you plant them just so they will germinate. And then any thinning plants that you can do, you can eat kind of beets as like microgreens, and they are really high in nutrition in that form as well. So you can thin them out and add them to salads, or if you have a microgreen kit, you can throw beet seeds in that, and within 3 or 4 days you'll have little baby microgreen beets. So yep, beets are one of my favorite root vegetables.

Mikaela

Can I share a fun fact about beets that I ran into when I was researching?

Rachel

Okay, please do. I love a good fun fact.

Mikaela

So there's an actual condition, it's called beeturia, where your urine turns red or pink after eating beets, um, and it's from the pigment inside beets. So it, it's just kind of fascinating because It's just, it's like a small percent, not small, you know, 10 to 14% of people. It's very common. And it's just because digestive systems don't always break down the pigment betanin. But that being said, for some people, it's an indication of iron deficiency. And so it might be something you want to pay attention to. Yeah, anemia. You want to be aware of it and maybe like be conscious of your blood iron deficiencies. So I just thought that was kind of fascinating, that it's, it's a whole condition and it's pretty benign. I think they even call it medically benign because it doesn't mean it's cause for concern, but it may be an indicator that low iron. But I thought that was really funny. I'd never heard of, um, it showing up in urine.

Mikaela

that would be really concerning if, if you like saw it was red and you thought you were peeing blood or something. Just take a moment, think about whether you've had any beets recently.

Rachel

I love golden beets. They are one of my favorites. I know, they're so good. And I've been making a beet and berry smoothie for Henry just to, just to get in some vegetables that he can't hear. I'm just like, oh, they're just another berry, don't worry about it, you're fine.

Mikaela

Although I'm pretty sure in like the golden beets it lacks the betanin, the, um, the, yeah, the pigmentation has, has that.

Emily

Yeah. I don't know. I guess I'm just a diehard. Like I like the traditional bright red beets.

Rachel

And another thing, like for individuals that might have trouble handling like beet seeds because of their size, a lot of the seed companies now make seed tape. That have like the beets on like a biodegradable strip so that they're evenly spaced, and that makes planting really easy too.

Emily

I think that's true for most of the root vegetables we're going to talk about today because I feel like all root vegetables have tiny seeds. Like, I can't think of a root vegetable that has a big seed, and honestly, as a lazy gardener, I love that stuff. And I'll be honest, I cheat. I do a lot of my root vegetables in 5-gallon buckets because they're way easier to harvest. And then I can control the texture of that potting media.

Rachel

I was just going to mention that most of, most of these ones that we talked about today are going to be great for container gardening as well. And this is the year of container gardening for our Master Gardener program and our Home and Garden Information Center. So keep that in mind, listeners, when you're listening to this podcast, that these vegetables don't have to be planted in the ground. They can grow very, very well in a container on your porch, on your balcony, on your back step. Easy way to grow our vegetables.

Mikaela

Yeah, that's a perfect segue into carrots, which can also be grown in like 5-gallon buckets or in raised beds. In fact, that's what I usually encourage because at least the soil on the Eastern Shore is not conducive to good root vegetables. It's usually too dense. But carrots are one of the most beneficial vegetables, packed full of beta-carotenes, fiber, vitamin K and C, potassium, manganese, and antioxidants, believe it or not. And for carrots that come in a variety of colors, the orange carrots get the vibrant color from the beta-carotene, and those darker red and purple carrots have higher antioxidants. Same thing with beets. So the golden beets don't always have the same level of antioxidants as like the darker red ones. So when you're planting carrots, you wanna direct seed into deep, loose soil, well-drained soil that is going to be free from rocks, clods, debris. That's where you get your deformed carrots from, or the forked carrots sometimes, even though they make for really good like memes and things like that. The forked carrots usually aren't what we think of on the table. So plant when the soil temperature is at least reached 45 degrees.

Mikaela

They do take several days to germinate. They do not transplant, like, at all. Anything with, like, a big taproot, you'll recognize most of the vegetables we're talking about today, direct sow, or, you know, put them in their final growing spot. So for a spring crop, try making rows and sprinkling a few radish seeds in with them. Because you can harvest those radishes so that you can grow two vegetables kind of side by side. But you don't want those radishes to compete with the carrots. Cover the seeds only like a quarter inch of soil because just like Emily or Rachel said, they're really small seeds. Carrots in particular, they can sometimes come in a pelleted form, which has like a resin coating on it, but the seeds themselves are very small. So you can Sow a little bit thickly. You don't have to get too particular about the exact spacing, but carrots are best planted in the spring and the fall. They do not grow well during hot weather, so for your fall crop, you're going to plant about 10 to 12 weeks before the first frost, and for the spring, you're probably going to plant about 4 weeks before the first frost.

Mikaela

Raised beds work well for for carrots. Like I said, even containers can, can do really well for carrots. It's even kind of cool to do a project where you can have like a clear panel and you can actually watch the root vegetable grow down past the clear panel. That's really fun to do with kids. And they also need full sun, so they require direct sunlight at least 6 hours a day. And if it can get it, 8 to 10 hours a day. There's a lot of different types of carrots. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but just know The Chantenay types, they tend to be the really thick carrots. It's 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter at the shoulder. It's about 5 to 6 inches long. Pretty standard, good-looking carrot, right? It has a medium to light orange with maybe a red core once in a while. Now, the Imperator type is those commercial types that we're going to find in the market. It's— they're very long, very nice tapered shape, you know, 7 to 8 inches long. When you think of a traditional carrot, that's That's this type. They're a little bit skinnier in diameter, but they are also a deep orange in color with a lighter orange core.

Mikaela

Now, these can become pretty woody when they're really mature. That being said, if you grow these in the fall, that first frost has a good way of kind of making it more palatable. Sometimes that first frost can bring out the sugars in root vegetables and actually make them a little bit sweeter. So I actually encourage people Don't always harvest right before the first frost. Sometimes you can get a really nice carrot after it's been frozen a little bit. And then we got our Danvers type. These are conical with a top diameter of 2 and 2.5 inches. So it's thick and they're long. They're going to be 7 inches long. Might be kind of hard to grow in denser or heavier soils is what I would say. And they do become fibrous with age. A lot of carrots become kind of woody or fibrous with age. And then these are kind of the more ones we're going to find in the home garden, maybe things to explore growing with children is the miniature or oxheart types. These are really cute. These are like the baby carrots. The roots are only like 2 to 3 inches long, but they can be up to 2 inches in diameter.

Mikaela

So they're stumpy and they're really suitable for heavier or denser soils or for container gardening because they're, you know, they don't need as much soil to grow in. And I have already kind of mentioned some of the common issues that we have. Deformed roots, that usually happens when there's rocky or compacted soils, or if there's just an obstacle in the way of the carrot, it will actually try and grow around things. And then green shoulders, which is a common occurrence, and this just happens when the soil exposes the top of the root and they start to get sunlight and they actually start to to form chlorophyll in that part of the vegetable and try to photosynthesize. So that's just a common occurrence. You can cut it off. You don't have to eat it. It's also common in potatoes. So what causes those deformed roots? Like I said, rocky or compacted soil, also overcrowding. So I know it's really tempting, especially when you see those little baby greens, to not thin them out. I am guilty of this. I hate, I hate thinning because I feel like I'm killing those little baby plants, but it's okay.

Mikaela

I'm giving you permission. You want to thin them out so that you don't get that overcrowding. And then that way you get a nice developed carrot instead. Some of the recommended varieties that we have in this area, pretty much all Chantenay types, Nantes, Danver types. There's a carrot called Atomic Red, which is a darker red carrot. It's a beautiful tasty carrot is what I will say. And then there's also one called Purple Haze, and it's a purple carrot. Sometimes they have an orange center in the middle, so they make for like a really attractive plating carrot, you could say, or for salads. They're just really attractive. And those purple carrots also have the higher antioxidants. And you'll find there's even mixes where it's like rainbow types of, of carrot mixes. You'll get white, yellows, oranges, purples. Those are kind of fun. I did those with my kids before, and it's just kind of exciting to see what colors they're going to turn out to be. And then there's some of the smaller varieties. Again, really great for containers, great for working with kids. Short and Sweet, Sweet Treat, and Thumbelina. I love Thumbelina. It's like the tiniest, dumpiest little looking carrot.

Mikaela

Actually, it almost looks like a beet because it's so round. I shouldn't call it dumpy. That, that was rude of me. Um, they're really cute for real.

Emily

Remember, carrots have feelings, Michaela. Yes, carrots are beautiful in their own way. I know, I shouldn't be insulting them, especially when you roast them and eat them.

Mikaela

Yes, the carrot tops or the greens are also really useful. You can use them as a green. Now, I think they have a very strong flavor, but some people like to make, uh, carrot top pesto with with the tops, but they are very fragrant. Like, I like the smell of carrot greens, but it's not for everybody. It's kind of like the tomato— not everybody loves the smell of the tomato stem.

Rachel

Oh, I love tomato stem smell. Okay, so radishes. Let me count the ways I love radishes. And I think, I think it's because radishes and peas are like the epitome of a spring salad, you know, like they mean spring to me, and then that I can really start working in the garden and be outside more. So I feel like I've grown every single type of radish that I could possibly grow, and I could grow a million more because I just love them that much. And if you've been a listener for a while, you've probably heard me go down the rabbit hole of radishes before, but now I actually get to talk about them Rachel, do you write radish poetry for Valentine's Day? You know, in Japanese culture, they actually use radishes for haikus, so—

Emily

Okay, that's really cool.

Rachel

I could, but I don't. I refrain.

Emily

Next year's Valentine's Day episode is all just going to be us writing poetry about root vegetables or Valentine's Day puns.

Rachel

Yeah. So radishes, like carrots and beets, are very nutrient-dense. They're low-calorie root vegetables that are packed with fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants that support our heart health. They improve our digestion and actually can help in weight management. They are categorized by season. So we have spring/summer radishes versus winter radishes. And they also are categorized by their shape as well. So we have round, oblong, and then we have some Asian varieties that I'll talk about, and then our colorful mixes. They are very fast growing, and for those of us that need immediate gratification, radishes are the root vegetable that you should grow. They are also an annual cool season crop, so they really thrive in our cool springs or our cold falls. They are a great plant to use for companion planting because of their pungent odor. They deter pests like aphids, cucumber beetles, and ants. Cucumbers and radishes thrive when growing together, as well as lettuce and peas when grown with radishes. So I mentioned that they are for the immediate gratification gardener, radishes have a 25 to 35 day maturity rate from planting seed. So, if you want to get a continuous supply of spring radishes, plant a small amount of seeds every 5 days for several plantings to have a steady supply of radishes rather than one large harvest.

Rachel

You'll sow seeds as soon as the soil can be worked up the spring, plant seeds 1 inch apart at a depth of about 1/4 of an inch to 1/2 an inch deep. Because the seeds are so small, I scatter them on the top of my container or my raised bed, and then I sprinkle soil on top because they are so small. And when you cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil, they're going to germinate very, very quickly. And then you're going to thin those seedlings as directed by your seed packet. Typically, thinning should be 2 to 4 inches apart to really grow that ideal root vegetable shape, so either oblong or round depending on what type you grow. Radishes grow best in full sun with loose, fertile, well-drained soil, and as Mikayla mentioned, our soils on the Eastern Shore aren't really conducive for root vegetables, so they're really best grown in containers or raised beds. In the spring, we're going to plant our radishes 3 to 4 weeks before our last frost, and in the fall, if you're going to plant a winter variety, you're going to plant them 4 to 6 weeks before our first frost.

Rachel

So, for spring, you can go on the National Gardening Association website and type in your zip code, and then get when your, your last frost is going to be and work your way back. And then for fall, you're going to do the same thing to find out when your first frost will be and work your way back on planting. If you're going to fertilize these, you really want to avoid excessive nitrogen fertilizers because they're going to increase the leaf growth and not the root growth, and you really want to have really good root growth because it's a root vegetable. And watering, you want to make sure that you're keeping the soil evenly moist but not soaking wet because you will encourage root rot. So average watering requirements in well-drained soil, you can use a soaker hose or even drip irrigation. When radishes are pushing themselves out of the ground, they are usually mature. So we're going to harvest our spring radishes when they're about a 1 inch in diameter. So just pick one, see what it looks like. If it's not ready, give it a few days, it'll be fine. And then depending on the cultivar, they'll have directions on when it will be ready because you have those globe radishes or you have the long icicle radish.

Rachel

And then depending on the cultivar as well, you want to make sure that you harvest them before they crack or become too pithy. Or even too hot. After you've harvested them, you can wash and dry them and place them in a plastic bag in your refrigerator. With the right conditions after harvesting, you can keep them fresh for 1 to 2 weeks, and I love to pickle things. These are— radishes are great to pickle if you like to do that. So radishes taste sweeter and less pungent and cold weather because low temperatures, particularly light frost, cause them to convert starches into sugars as a natural antifreeze, and this results in a crisper, milder, or even more tender root. Conversely, if we get a heat spike, it's going to make the radishes more woody and bitter and overly spicy. So, they're really best when we have that Frost, like Mikayla said, with carrots. A couple of my favorite globe radishes are Easter Egg because they have that blend of white, red, and purple. They're very crisp, very mild, and they have that 1-inch globe. They thrive in our spring cool weathers, and then Purple Plum is another one that I really like.

Rachel

It's a vibrant violet-purple skin skin, and then it has a crisp, mild, white flesh in the center, and they grow to that 1, 1.5-inch globe as well. They rarely get pithy, which I really like, and they are ideal for our spring salads or pickling. I really love the icicle radish. It's called French Breakfast. It's a blunt finger-shaped radish, and they grow to about 3 inches long, they're red and then they have a white tip. They are amazing, they're a great fresh crisp radish that have a little bit of a kick. They are more heat tolerant than our Easter Egg or our Purple Plum, so they could be used for a later spring garden or seeding. And then we have some winter radishes that we see a lot, like our daikon, watermelon, or black Spanish, they're really good if you plant them in the fall. The daikon and the watermelon are actually an Asian variety. I know Mikayla really loves watermelon radish. It's a white globe radish, but it has a pink center. They are absolutely delicious. Daikon are great radishes if you have soil compaction in your raised beds, or if you have them in the ground, they will actually get tubers that are like 6 to 8 inches deep, and they're huge.

Rachel

They're great for pickling or using in tacos. They're delicious. I love those as well. So, they mature more slowly than our spring radishes, so you're going to need to read the seed packet to see how long it takes for those to mature and develop. Well, that's all I have for radish.

Mikaela

I mean, it's pretty impressive. I wish I liked them more. That's the problem is they're so cool. The Easter egg mixes are fun.

Rachel

They are fun. They're great for spring salads, like a radish and pea salad. I was going to say, when you're thinning, you can also use those for salad greens.

Emily

I like them just slightly pickled. Like, I'll do like a 24-hour pickle with radish. Yeah, I find that with like radishes and beets, I don't want as heavy as a pickling as I'd want with like my cucumbers for making true pickles. So I'll just do that and I'll let it sit for like a few days in the fridge, and then I'll pull them out and eat them.

Rachel

I think it's cool when you pickle radishes because they'll lose that red color, and that red will go into the pickling brine, so it'd be like pink. I'll have like pink brine.

Emily

Yeah, especially if you put it in with the beets. I've never tried pickling golden beets. Maybe I'll try golden beets this year, guys. Oh yeah, I just have always stuck with the red ones, but maybe I need to try golden beets and try pickling them.

Rachel

Yeah, or just roasting them. They're so good.

Emily

Oh my God, I love roasted vegetables.

Rachel

Like, one of my favorite salads is a roasted beet salad.

Mikaela

Yes, with goat cheese.

Rachel

And it's like, if I see it on a menu anywhere, that's what I'm—

Mikaela

especially if they're warm on the cold lettuce, it's perfect.

Rachel

So amazing.

Mikaela

Now I'm getting really hungry. I actually can't believe I haven't chosen this one because there, there isn't, um, a ton of things blooming, like actual blooming in March. Sometimes I have to resort to picking something for its bark or, you know, kind of like winter interest because March is pretty early, but this guy is actually blooming in March. It's black willow, so Salix nigra, and this is our native willow. Again, it's a great and unique choice for very specific growing conditions, which I'll get into. Many people think about weeping willows when they think about this tree species. It's probably the most recognizable for its shape, right? But black willow is our native species that only reaches about 35 to 40 feet tall. I've actually never seen one that big. I think of them as almost being more shrubby in stature and appearance, maybe due to their growing conditions or wherever they're growing. But the leaves are pretty traditional in, in their appearance. They're very long, just like the weeping willows. They're kind of 3 to 5 inches long, narrow and tapered with a very finely toothed margin. You'd have to look pretty close to see it, but very traditional looking leaf.

Mikaela

Sometimes the underside is a little bit lighter than the top, so they look really pretty when the wind blows. But the black willow flowers bloom starting in March, and it's one of the very first available sources of pollen and nectar for our native bees, which are just starting to wake up and be more active in March. So these are kind of greenish yellow flowers. Some places call them insignificant, but I think they look really vibrant and they're actually quite attractive. And since the black willow is also dioecious, that means male and female flowers occur on separate plants, but they do, they do look kind of similar. You'd have to look really close to tell them apart. So black willow is a fast-growing woody plant with a very large native range, so includes like the eastern part of the US, starting from like Colorado east, and you can find it as far north as Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba in Canada. This wood is very lightweight, moderately soft. Apparently it's kind of popular for, for making boxes like shipping containers out of. I don't know much about the wood. I'm not a woodworker, but that was kind of an interesting footnote.

Mikaela

They prefer full sun, but they will tolerate some part shade, but The biggest requirement is having moist to wet soils in any type. It can be any type of soil— clay, loam, sand— as long as there is adequate moisture, because its native habitat is marshes, wet meadows, or even ditches with some low to moderate tolerance for salt water. It doesn't like really brackish water, so I wouldn't exactly put it in a living shoreline, you know, in our brackish tidal waters, but it does have some tolerance. So again, if I haven't made this perfectly clear, it is excellent for wet sites and for soil erosion. The root system of willows is very extensive. They have very fine root systems and very abundant, so it's very extensive, and it— so that means it stabilizes soil very well. It's what they call a soil binder. It makes that that soil is not going anywhere. So in areas where you have soil erosion, this might be an excellent choice. But it also likes wet feet, so it has to be in a wet area. Very easy to root and propagate from cuttings. In fact, some people will just take a cutting from a willow and stick it in the ground and walk away, and you have a new plant.

Mikaela

Like, literally, that's all you have to do. But what I would say is do not plant near septic systems, just for the very reason I mentioned before. It has a very extensive fibrous root system, it will find and clog your septic systems, and then you have a bigger issue. So make sure you have— give it a wide berth.

Emily

I love a plant that propagates easy like that.

Mikaela

Exactly, like it's gonna live, you know, despite my interference. It could do very well without me. I like those kinds of plants. I like independent plants. So black willow also has high biological significance for bees. Mining and sweat bees particularly coming out in March, they depend on willow pollen as a major food source because like I said before, not much blooming, right? So, and because willows tend to be a larger species of plant, that means they have a lot more flowers, they have a lot more source for these insects. But it also attracts dance, hover, and tachinid flies, which are very excellent predatory insects that that you want in your landscape. Also, numerous butterfly and moth species will feed as caterpillars on the willow leaves later in the season. So again, it's a multifaceted plant that provides across many different seasons. And bonus, deer do not really find it palatable. It, like, they'll eat it as maybe a last resort, but so it has low to moderate appeal to whitetail deer. Now, if you live in moose country. Apparently, you know, moose love willows and they will go to town. But luckily in Maryland, we're not, we're not looking at moose issues.

Mikaela

And then I like to end with my fun fact. My fun fact about willows is that they are ethnobotanically significant. So salicylic acids were isolated from willow bark, and this contributed to very early fever-reducing and pain-killing medicines, like way back in the day historically. Now, modern aspirins are a synthetic version of salicylic acids, but it really was modeled off of what was taken from willow trees. And the name salicylic acid is derived from the name Salix, which is the genus of this particular group of plants. Isn't that kind of cool?

Rachel

I love your fun facts.

Mikaela

I'm not saying you should go like strip some willow bark and like rub it on your gums if you have a toothache. But, you know, back in the day that might have been what they did. Now go see a dentist. But still, there is some really interesting historical facts about this plant.

Emily

That's really neat. I love plants that have like historical significance to them. I think it makes it more fun. I love that one, Makayla. And I am a little surprised that it took this long for it to come up, but I feel like we say that every month with your plant of the month. We're like, how did we not talk about this one yet? Because it's so cool. But then we have to remember we only have so many episodes to talk about these cool native plants and bugs and stuff.

Mikaela

That's true. Although I'll tell you what, in March 2027, I'm gonna be in trouble because I've run it to the end of the list of native plants that are like interesting in March.

Rachel

That's not true, but I'm gonna worry about that in 2027.

Emily

You'll find one. You'll come up with one and you'll be like, how did I forget about this?

Mikaela

You're probably right.

Emily

You're Right.

Speaker 4

So root aphids are a type of aphid that will spend some part of their life cycle— will be spent living on the roots of plants, sucking the sap out of the roots. So the same way that they feed feed on like the leaves and the stems. It's just in this case they're on the root. In general, these guys are going to be small, so we're talking 2 to 3 millimeters in length, about the same size as aphids that would be on the leaves, and their color can vary a lot depending on the species and again the environment. So a species that could be green on your leaf might be brown, yellow, or white when it's underground. So most will alternate between a woody host and then a herbaceous plant. With the majority being found on grasses and other plants that aren't really affecting your garden plants. And some of these ones also do make galls on the leaves. So really neat life cycles in a lot of these, really fascinating. I may pick one or two later on as Bugs of the Month and do a deeper dive, but for this episode, I really just wanted to focus on them as a whole.

Speaker 4

So some common ones that you may encounter in your garden would be roseroot aphid. There's a lettuce root aphid, there's a cabbage root aphid, there's a hawthorn carrot root aphid that will go between hawthorns and carrots and then other plants in the carrot family as well. There's a, there's also one that has been known to feed on mint, although it's not found in our area. And then they've also found some that will feed on asters and various types of bulbing plants. One thing is that they often will give off a white waxy appearance So sometimes people will notice that white wax around the crown on the soil surface, and that's kind of an indicator that you might have root aphids, although it can be confused with mealybugs, salt crusts on the soil, or fungal spores. And one way to kind of determine what you have is to just do some investigation. Maybe pull that up, rub it through your fingers, see if it feels waxy. You could also uproot the plant and look at the roots. Large populations are most damaging to young plants, particularly young plants that haven't been established yet. Once plants have a well-established root, these guys tend not to be a severe pest.

Speaker 4

Although again, if they were feeding on, say, your carrots or your onions or something where the root was the part you were going to harvest, then they would potentially be detrimental to your harvest. Symptoms that you might see would include things like wilting, stunted growth, unhealthy color in that foliage or those leaves, followed by premature leaf drop. So a lot of things that could be mistaken for like nutrient deficiency as well. It is worth noting that on some of these plants, especially once they're well established, these root aphids don't really have an impact on plant health. So specifically the rose root aphids, if you have a healthy rose bush that's been in the ground for probably more than a year that has a good root system, these guys likely aren't causing it problems. It's probably something else in the environment that's causing it problems. So that's when I'd say, like, ideally get a soil test and think of it there. So that is my bug of the month.

Rachel

Emily, I'm not sure about this one.

Mikaela

Aphids.

Rachel

I mean, Aphids on top of the ground, aphids underneath the ground.

Mikaela

Right. It's a source of stress and anxiety. It's a source of stress and anxiety.

Speaker 4

Please take a deep breath. No need for anxiety over this. I don't think they're really as common as like the above-ground aphids are. Out of all my years of gardening, I've never encountered any of these ones.

Rachel

All right, if you are ready for your spring gardens like we are, it's time for your garden tips of the month. If you didn't take a soil test in the fall, and you need to, you're going to do it as soon as the ground thaws. Take soil samples from different parts of your garden at a depth of 6 to 8 inches. This is for your vegetable garden, not for your lawns. For your lawns, you're going to test it like 2 to 4 inches because you're going to be hitting that root growth of a lawn. And then, you're gonna go on the Home and Garden Information website, and you're gonna type in selecting a soil test lab for Maryland, and go through that list and pick the soil testing facility that you like the best. Now, you're going to pick a lab that is on the East Coast, that is regional, that is going to give you recommendations for Maryland, either a Maryland vegetable garden, a Maryland lawn, or even a Maryland perennial bed. So, test your soil before you do anything, before you plant a new plant, before you start a new garden bed. And along that same note, if you are going to be planting in the spring, and you know you're going to be planting in the spring, you need to call out Miss Utility and check for any underground lines.

Rachel

All right, because we're not going to go plant a tree and slice an underground wire. All right, so call Miss Utility. After you get your soil test results, you are going to contact your local Extension educator for your county and say, hey, I have these soil test results, what do I do with them? Because we are here for you to use, and we'll be here to guide you through your soil test results. Results. They will guide you on if you need to add lime to adjust the pH or any other nutrients, and you're going to amend your soil when the ground can be worked. That's when you're going to do it, not when you might have a chance of rain or we might still have another frost. Make sure your soil can be worked first. We've had a brutal winter in Maryland and along the East coast with extended periods of cold, snow, ice, and wind. And due to this, we may begin to see winter damage on our evergreens in March and early April. This often appears as brown, scorched, or even dried needles and leaves. Symptoms appear when plants begin to break dormancy.

Rachel

The primary cause of this is water loss because the plant cannot replace moisture as it's lost from the foliage due to frozen soil, high wind, or even our bright winter sun, or even the reflection of the sun off of the ice and the snow back onto the leaves. The most vulnerable plants are our broad-leaved evergreens like azaleas, boxwoods, hollies, our rhododendrons, and even our chameleons. Although this may look really scary, it's more than likely your evergreens will bounce back. And if— some of our Extension educators will also come out and look at samples, or you can bring in samples for us to look at as well, just to make sure that it is winter damage and not some other type of disease. If you are actively working in your vegetable garden in March, you're going to start seedlings, spinach, lettuce, arugula, our beets, peas, carrots, radishes. If you know we're going to get a frost or another like hit of snow, you can always apply a floating row cover, and floating row covers are made out of a spun-bound polyester. They let in air, light, and water and offer some protection from frost, and they are great because they exclude insects and bigger critters from getting in your delicious salad greens.

Rachel

March is also a perfect time to start seeds like eggplant. You should do your peppers if you didn't do them in February. Broccoli and cabbage can be started indoor under lights to be ready for planting in 6 to 8 weeks. If you have started all your seedlings and you're wondering what else to do in your garden, it's a great time to put up your trellises or your teepees for your peas, or any of your other climbing spring vegetables, and then waiting until you plant before putting those in can actually damage the roots. It's time to harden off leeks, shallots, and onions in a cold frame or set them outside on a porch or protected area for a few hours a day before bringing them in at dusk and then gradually working them up to be outside all day. And you'll do this for about a week to 10 days before transplanting them in the garden. And you'll follow this process throughout all your seedlings that you've started indoors. So, when your eggplants are ready, when your tomatoes and peppers are ready, you're going to be hardening them off as well when it's time to move those outside.

Rachel

And that's all the tips of the month.

Mikaela

Thank you, Rachel. I can't wait to use those tips when it's It's a little bit warmer.

Rachel

Well, that's all we have for this episode, listener. We hope you enjoy it and will tune in next month for more gardening tips. If you have any garden-related questions, please email us at umegardenpodcast@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook at Garden Time Podcast. That's Garden T-H-Y me. For more information about the University of Maryland Extension and these topics, please check out the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center website at go.umd.edu/hgic. Thanks for listening and have fun getting down and dirty in your garden.

Mikaela

Goodbye. I can't wait for the native plant of the month because it's one of my favorites. They're all one of my favorites, I say.