Cooperative Extension with Paul McKenzie: What Works in the Garden

/by

On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

Make a compost bin if you don’t have one.
As stem and foliage of perennial flowers and ornamental grasses begin to die off, consider leaving them standing through the winter.
Use PPE equipment when doing landscape chores. Eye protection, hearing protection.
If you’ve never tried battery powered lawn and garden equipment, take a fresh look at the offerings. Battery tech has improved significantly and the equipment is very quiet.
Harvest sweet potatoes before frost.
Be sure to remove gas from any equipment that will not be used over the winter.
If you have areas in your garden or lawn that don’t produce well take a soil sample you may have a pH problem or a nutrient deficiency.
Consider doing some basic maintenance to lawn and garden power equipment before storing for the winter so you’ll be ahead of the game next spring. Oil change, spark plugs, air filters, etc.
Have your frost protection materials organized and ready for when we have our first frost.
Planting time is now! Add new trees and shrubs to your landscape.

Click Play

The Local Skinny! Home And Garden Show 10-13-21

/by

This week in the garden with Vance Co. Extension:

  •  Now is the time to dig your sweet potatoes.
  •  Get outdoor container plantings ready for cold weather.
  •  Start planning your season extension materials. Cardboard, row covers, plastic canvas
  • Consider adding ornamental grasses to your landscape.
  • Check cole crops; they may need top dressing with nitrogen if they are light green.
  • Enjoy a visit to a public garden during the mild weather.
  • Soil samples are still free of charge to avoid the rush bring your samples to Cooperative extension today.
  • Spray ivy, wisteria, poison ivy and English Ivy with Brush Killer.
  • Store garden equipment that you won’t need until next spring.
  • Drain water from hoses and other irrigation equipment to prevent freeze damage

Click Play

 

Home and Garden Show

/by

On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

THIS WEEK IN THE GARDEN

1 Check your cole crops for insects. Ex Harlequin bugs, cabbage worm, loopers, aphids
2 Use the NC Extension Plant Toolbox to find trees or shrubs for any situation. 
3 Start collecting your season extension frost protection materials. Cardboard, sheets, etc.
4 It’s late to sow tall fescue seed, do so immediately or wait until late Feb.
5 Keep leaves off of newly established lawns.
6 Fire ants are more active during these times of milder temperatures, which means bait products work well for controlling them. 
7 Soil samples need to be taken now to make soil amendments!
8 Collect seed from cosmos, zinnia, rudbeckias, sunflowers and more. Store in a cool dry location.
9 You can plant carrots,,bulb onions, mustard,lettuce,garlic ,arugula
10 Make a cold frame to raise spinach, lettuce and other greens through the winter.
11 Check for voles in your flower beds and fruit orchards
12 Continue succession planting in your garden 

Click Play

Home and Garden Show

/by

On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

  • Vance County Regional Farmers Market Update.
  • If finished with your garden consider planting a cover crop to protect the soil and add nitrogen to your garden for next year. Example – Crimson clover.
  • Avoid using organic soil amendments when planting trees and shrubs unless you can amend a large area.
  • Start winterizing equipment that you are not going to use until next spring.
  • This is a good time to make herbicide applications to vines and woody brush you want to eliminate. This includes things like english ivy, poison ivy, wisteria, briars, tree saplings, etc. Use a brush killer that will kill the root as well as the top part of the plant.
  • Start assembling your leaf gathering equipment. Have a plan on what to do with your leaves this year.
  • Do you have any mixed spray solution in any of your garden sprayers? Use it up now before you forget what it is, and before we get freezing temperatures.
  • Soil samples need to be taken now to make soil amendments!
  • If you have shrubs with major dieback, consider replacing them this fall. Shrubs with dieback may continue to survive, but they almost never look good and treating them is impractical to impossible.
  • You can plant beets, sweet peas, bulb onions, mustard, lettuce, collards, arugula.

Click Play

Home and Garden Show

/by

On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

  • Prevent weeds from going to seed. Easier to control now than controlling weed seedlings in the spring.
  • We are past the preferred planting window for tall fescue.
  • Put netting over your goldfish pond before leaves start actively falling.
  • Check NC State Extension resources before planting fruit crops of any kind to find out recommended cultivars for this area.
  • Start assembling your leaf gathering equipment. Have a plan on what to do with your leaves this year.
  • Strategic limb removal from large shade trees can allow more sunlight into your yard. Take note now of key limbs, but wait until December at the earliest to do the work.
  • Monkey Grass / Liriope maintenance – February.
  • Soil samples need to be taken now to make soil amendments!
  • Don’t waste time trying to pull bermudagrass or wiregrass out of flower beds. It’s a futile effort. Call us for more effective strategies. 438-8188.

Home and Garden Show

/by

On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

  • Farmers Market
  • Getting to Know Your Land
  • Before tilling up an area of your garden, take a picture of what was growing there and record it in your garden journal so you can rotate vegetables in that area next year.
  • Sow your tall fescue seed now though mid-September. Get soil seed contact and water frequently.
  • Consider planting cover crops such as crimson clover to provide nitrogen for next year’s garden.
  • Don’t put grass clippings in the compost pile.
  • Consider constructing a greenhouse or cold frame to extend your growing season.
  • When planting trees and shrubs this fall, consider choosing native plants that produce berries to help birds get through the winter.
  • Take your soil samples now to avoid the rush !!!!!!!
  • Don’t apply lime to your lawn unless indicated by soil analysis.
  • You can plant beets, sweet peas, bulb onions, mustard, lettuce, collards, arugula.
  • Visit the Memorial Garden at the Vance County Regional Farmers Market to see what’s blooming late in the season.

CLICK PLAY

Home and Garden Show 9-8-21

/by

Thank you for listening to WIZS Radio.  Your Community Voice!!

Information included in today’s show audio. Click play below.

Lunchtime Garden Tips – Proper Plant Selection and Proper Planting 9/15 at noon via Zoom

Native Tribes Corn Plot Tour 9/29 – 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Getting to Know Your Land, starting 10/21

Plan for planting strawberries.

Be on the lookout for fall armyworms.

Pull microstegium before it sets seed.

Do research for fall planting of trees and shrubs.

Hosted by Paul McKenzie with special guest Johnny Coley (Granville/Person Extension Agent)

Click Play

The Local Skinny: Home And Garden Show 9-1-21

/by

WIZS, Your Community Voice.  Thank you for listening! 

The Local Skinny! each Wednesday on WIZS is the Vance County Cooperative Extension Service Home and Garden Show.

Click Play

UPCOMING EVENTS: GAP Workshop September 9, 2021 9am – 4pm Vance County Regional Farmers Market; 210 Southpark Drive; Contact Cooperative Extension 252-438-8188 for more info and to register.

TODAY’S TOPICS:

  • Get your soil samples taken early for 2022 garden.
  • Be on the lookout for fall armyworms.
  • Check crops for harlequin bugs, aphids, cabbage worms, loopers.
  • Do research for fall planting of trees and shrubs.
  • Remember get vegetables under refrigeration as soon as possible.
  • Avoid pruning from now until mid November at the earliest.
  • Sow your tall fescue seed now though mid-September. Get soil seed contact and water frequently.
  • Cooperative Extension has fall gardening publications. Call Cooperative Extension 438-8188

 

The Local Skinny! Home and Garden Show 8-25-21

/by

WIZS Home and Garden Show – Vance Co. Cooperative Extension

On the show today – Click Play Below

UPCOMING EVENTS: Fall Vegetable Gardening Monday August 30,2021 6:30pm VCRFM 210 Southpark Drive Contact Cooperative Extension 252-438-8188 for more info and to register.

  • Check vegetables growing now and in the fall for insects more closely. Loopers , cabbage worms, aphids.
  • Purchase seed and fertilizer for early Sept tall fescue care.
  • Fall vegetables need at least 1 inch of rain or irrigation per week.
  • It’s late to be planning a complete lawn renovation. May be best to wait until next year.
  • When broadcasting seed make sure you have good seed to soil contact. Use a roller or packer to get that seed into the soil.
  • Evaluate your landscape for late season blooms (goldenrod, asters, joe pye weed).
  • Cooperative Extension has a publication titled Carolina Lawns. Call Cooperative Extension 438-8188
  • Consider leaving dried flower heads in the garden for the birds.
  • Use labeled row markers when planting your fall garden, put planting date, variety, type of vegetable on each marker and place on each row and record in vegetable journal.

 

The Local Skinny! Home and Garden Show 8-18-21

/by

Thank you for listening to WIZS Radio!  Your Community Voice!!

You’ll hear the latest from the Vance County Regional Farmers Market, including Twilight Markets ahead, plus the latest tips for lawn and gardening for this time of year.