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Segment 1: Better container gardening
Segment 2: Shade and soggy tolerant plants
Segment 3:guest Maria Rodale https://www.mariarodale.com/
Segment 4: Garden questions answered
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The following is an exclusive presentation of WI Garden Media, the voice of Garden Talk [Music] [Applause] [Music] Radio. Coming up on the program today, we’re going to discuss how you can have better container gardens as well as shade tolerant and soggy tolerant plants. Our guest is author Maria Rodell and we’ll answer your garden questions. The hour is full, so join us. You are listening to the most informationally packed hour of garden focused radio in the country and on the internet with your host, husband and wife team Julian Holly Baird. This is the Gardening with Joey and Holly radio show and welcome to another edition of the Gardening with Joey and Holly radio show. Happy to have you this week with us. I am your host Joy Barrett. Beside me is my wife, co-host, best friend and gardening partner, Holly Barrett. This program is for you, about you to help your garden grow better, to maintain your landscape, grow healthier trees, make your grass look greener, as well as preserving what you grow. Happy you’re tuning in whether you’re listening to us on one of the 20 AM and FM frequencies broadcasting our program here in 2025 through our parent website the Wisconsin vegetable gardener.com underneath the season 9 tab at the top of the page podcast replay in studio video replay however you’re consuming it. Thank you very much. You want to be part of the program participation is welcome. You can do that to simplistic avenues [email protected]. That’s [email protected] or you can give us a call 24/7 anytime to 1800-927 show. That’s 1 8009277469. Uh before we get in the program, Holly, it’s time for this week’s joke of the week. So why did the potatoes argue? Uh something about their feet, the roots. I because they couldn’t see eye to eye because I Yeah, there you go. Mhm. This week’s garden joke is brought to you by rescue.com. Americanmade rescue products. Keep your family, home, and yard protected from pests, insects like wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, flies, ants, and more. Learn more at rescue.com. That’s re cue.com. So, we’re going to talk about container gardening. Container gardening is um some people call it growing in pots, some people call it growing in containers, some people call it people can grow it. We grow in containers as well. We grow in containers as well as raised beds in the ground. Right. And so it’s not an exclusivity. No, no, no. I’m I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that you can call it many things and you can use it to enhance your garden or you can grow in it only exclusively. And there’s certain things in which you can you should be growing in them like mint uh rather than in the ground otherwise you’re going to have invasive and some people grow raspberries in them. But there’s some ways in which we can have better containers. Okay, first of all let’s talk about the size of the container. Whether it’s a grow bag, whether it’s a terracotta pot, whether it’s a barrel or a bucket, size of the container matters. The larger the container, the more mass of soil you’re going to have, the quicker the the more mass you’re going to have, the slower the evaporation of that water in that soil will be. If you have one gallon, it’s going to dry out much quicker than a 5 gallon or 55gallon half barrel drum or whiskey barrel or grow bag. So, you want to keep that in mind. It obviously it’s up to your ability to have the amount of soil in which is needed to grow. So if you’re in a situation where I only have x amount of resources in order to do a 10-gon grow bag and I really need a 25gallon grow bag or barrel, I would advise not even to do it because you’re going to set yourself up for failure already by not having the adequate resources needed in order to grow certain plants because your container is already too small. Yeah, definitely. So, you want to think about things like drainage holes you might come upon. You might think this container is perfect for planting and planting, you know, whatever. And you might find something free on the side of the road or see it like a marketplace or something, but can you put drainage holes in? And this is important because you want to make sure that the water can drain out. Otherwise, your roots can rot and that’s not that’s not good. Plants need oxygen in the soil. Roots need oxygen. If you don’t have it, you got a swamp and only specific plants grow well in a swamp and not none of your vegetables are those special plants. Right. And you or flowers for that matter. Right now, you can you could get away with putting some um rocks in the bottom and then putting a different container inside of it. Like say say it’s a very large container. You could do that with drainage holes and that way there the water would go somewhere but then you would have to eventually eventually come back up. So, it’s not the best idea on a on a bucket, for instance. This is you see people use buckets and there’s nothing wrong with that. Food grade preferably, not motor oil uh was in it. You want to put your holes not at the bottom, but about an inch up around the perimeter, which gives you about a 1 to 2 in water reservoir, even though there’s soil in the whole bucket. Water is going to settle in the bottom of that bucket and excess will flow out of the holes five around the perimeter 1 to 2 in up. So whenever the water whenever the soil is lacking in moisture above capillation action capillap capillate capillary capillary action can wick that moisture that’s setting in the bottom of that bucket up into the main uh area of the bucket where the roots are at. So it kind of saves you a little bit and has a little bit of a like a selfwatering system but you still have to water on a regular basis. That’s just kind of an emergency backup, right? Um yeah. So that’s that’s you want to think about the drainage holes. Also when you are growing in containers you want to think about how many plants per container. So you can refer back to almost like the square square foot gardening method where like for example if you’re using a 5gallon bucket you would put one tomato plant you wouldn’t put two or three or um say the same size you could put 16 radishes. I think it’s nine beets. So, you want to think about the surface area of what you are planting and what you can put in there. Is there a bad container? I don’t think so. Unless it um I think depth is your biggest depth and and volume is your two big check boxes. Okay, I’ve got at least 6 to 8 in of depth and I’ve got a good amount of mass of soil. It’s not going to dry out as quickly and there’s nutrients. Let’s talk about nutrients. You tires. Tires is a good one. Yeah. You don’t want to grow in tires, edible things. Edible things. Yeah. Right. Um with the growing in containers, there is going to be what is called leeching. You water, it rains, there’s certain amount of nutrient that fall flows out of that soil and disperses itself either out of the grow bag, out of the bottom of the bucket, out of the bottom of whatever it is, you’re going to have to supplement with some type of fertilizer. or instead of supplementing fertil top dressing it with a couple of cups of worm castings or compost tea or compost itself to re-establish that nutrient value in that container so your plants are not suffering. And the biggest detriment to your plants is lack of nutrient on top of forgetting to water. And then you try to go about both at the same time. Well, the plant’s really wilty. It’s really yellow. It needs nitrogen. and these nutrients. It’s been dry for 3 days. I haven’t watered. It’s hard to get that thing to recover and recover to a productive state that it would have been if you had not forgot to water it. The Drip Works makes great irrigation systems for containers, uh, a container garden, dripworks.com. So, it can be set on a timer. You can do, you know, Wi-Fi stuff. You can do all these things in which you can supplement water. And you can do this. I think it’s I think that’s Bluetooth, but yeah, Bluetooth. You can do this on a patio, porch, deck, at an apartment complex. If you’re on the deck of a second or a third or fourth of a condo or whatever, be sure you not water and the water drips down on the nice people below you, you know, put some kind of catchment system underneath your Yeah. So, you want to think about um you know, where you’re going to plant these things. And as Joyce has mentioned, if you are in an apartment building on a balcony, you don’t want to drip on your neighbors. Also, you got to think about weight restriction if you’re in some of that. But just even if you don’t have that situation, you might not want to put it. And we’re going to talk about this in the next segment, like shade versus sun, etc. But you want to think about where you’re going to put it, especially if it’s something that might be heavy once you fill it up because you might not want to drag it around. Fill it up where you’re wanting it to go. Well, also, and you bring about the shade thing, there may be situations in places in which you don’t have an option of moving it to full sun. And you may only get several hours of sunlight a day based on the way your the sun goes your backyard. If you’re renting on your deck, patio, uh your balcony. So, you may have to alter what you’re growing. You may not be able to grow what you want because of the less amount of sunlight that you have available that the plants need full sun. For example, beef steak tomatoes, full sun. You can grow cherry tomatoes in partial shade, which is, you know, 5 6 hours. So you have to adapt and be aware of what your conditions and your situation is. You you have to Yeah, definitely. Um and then also think about, you know, you can use trellis as support. Many people don’t think about that stuff with container gardening. They think it’s just going to sit there. You can you can’t have you can’t have a trellus on a container. Yeah, you can. You can. You certainly can. Um one thing I did want to mention is that if you are growing something that’s invasive, like Joey had mentioned mint. Did you mention mint? Yes. Yep. Um that was not rehearsal. That something like dill may not stay inside the container like mint will. Not that the dill is going to grow outside of the container, but once it starts to seed, it will. It will. Yeah. In some state parks, mint is considered an invasive species because it is so aggressive. When it seeds, it seeds and seeds and continues and it’s uh almost impossible to get rid of without chemicals. Who’s who’s planting mint in state parks? No. No. Dill. Oh, dill. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz you know birds. Who’s planting dill? Well, birds will bring it in. You can bring it on your clothes. You don’t seeds travel in very mysterious ways. Do you say you sit there before you go camping? You hiking. I got my water, my hiking sticks and my pocket full of dill seeds. Yeah. In case I in case I want to eat a pickle. Okay. Make pickles on the way. Um, another thing that people don’t think about in containers is using mulch. And this can be very handy because containers do dry out and a little bit quicker most of the time. Um, so you can use mulch to help cuz a lot of times people think about mulch and weeds and might think, “Okay, I’m not going to have weeds in my container,” which you could get weeds in your container, but you can use mulch. Mulch can be anything that you want, shredded paper. You can go somewhere, your discretion, and get a bucket of sand and utilize that as um mulch, that works. Straw, anything, leaves, anything that you can think of, you can turn into you can utilize as mulch. Um so in a container, you can do that and be very successful at it because like you said, it’s elevated. it’s going to dry out quicker and that can save your plants immensely by utilizing mulch. Well, we are brought to you today by our sponsor Walton’s Inc. Listen, we know you care about where your food comes from, canning and preserving, etc. But what about the meat? At walton’s.com, you can get the equipment, seasoning, and supplies to make sausage, jerking, any other meat product your way to your high standards. Do you want to make snack sticks that people will actually like? Walton’s created meatistics.com, anformational site to help you make the best finished product. Walton’s even has a full line of their own meat grinders, mixers, and sausage stuffers to help you go from animal to edible. Walton’s everything but the meat. 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And um so you want to if you’re not sure what full sun or partial shade or partial partial sun is, etc. Full sun is 6 to 8 hours. So basically all day um or plus partial sun is 3 to 6 hours of direct sunlight and partial shade is about 3 hours of direct sunlight. So you can also utilize like for example if you have an area where you might get um a lot of sun in the morning you can kind of take that into consideration or you get a lot of sun in the evening that’s still considered partial sun partial shade but it could work in your advantage if you use like a trellising system or something like that. So, um then deep shade, light shade is if you get like a filtered um leaf situation, like you have a a tree over that area. Most plants don’t do super well in the filtered shade, but you could try to grow some things. And then deep shade or full shade is typically not where you’re going to be able to grow much at all. Um probably just weeds. So, some things that do well in partial shade or partial sun, whichever way you want to say it, are coal crops. So, this is like um co l um also known as cruciferous vegetables a lot of times. I think there’s another word for them, but bras bras. There we go. Um there it says like broccoli, cauliflower, turnups, kale, rudabaggas, uh korabi, and they do well sometimes. Um they might not form like cabbage might form more of like a looser. Now the these are not summer hot day crops here. No. No. Um none of these really are. So, that’s another thing to keep in mind is if you only have partial shade, you might you could probably grow like um the summery vegetables like tomatoes, green peppers or peppers in general. Uh squash, trying to think of more summery vegetables. Cucumbers. Cucumbers. You could grow those possibly, but they might not do as well or be as large. Yeah. So, uh, a lot of things in which you want to consider here. And it changes throughout the growing season. Oh, it’s full sun right now. Oh, there’s a tree above. It’s going to get partial shade. Yeah. Yeah. So, that’s another another thing is if this is your first year growing, you may want you definitely want to look above where you’re going to grow. And then also take that into consideration and maybe um if you are concerned about a tree or a garage or a building or your house or it can benefit you. You can put your more sensitive uh plants in the area where the shade is going to be distributed during the hottest portion of the day. So you can kind of uh work in that area. If a plant is more daylight sensitive, like the early season, late season, you can put that crop in that shady area, so it gets midday shade and kind of prolongs like lettuce, uh, prolongs the harvest rather than it going to bolt right away because it’s not so much the heat, it’s the day length in addition to the combination of heat as well. because we see it. It goes, you know, six 40 to 60 degree days, 90 degree day, everything goes to both, but it’s also the day length at that point. When it gets to 90, you your days get much longer, right? And then, so there’s a little saying that I say sometimes I learned it from it’s if you grow it for the roots or the fruit, you need full sun. If you for the shade or for the the greens, you can grow it in the shade. Now, that being said, you can grow things like um radishes, like the smaller root crops, even beets, some carrots, some carrots. Um even some potatoes will do okay, especially if you have like a lot of morning sun or evening sun. You really want to take advantage of that. The potatoes are going to do fine unless you’re in a an area where the soil temperature at root zone exceeds 85°. Uh they are tolerable through the summer and they do quite well if you keep the moisture to them. They do not do well when the soil temperature at root zone falls below about 4550°. That’s when you’re going to have problems. So, uh, what about some plants that enjoy more wet conditions? I know cranberries are one of them. They like a bulgier. You can grow cranberries in your backyard. It’s not as profitable or production-wise as buying them from the uh in the fall, but you can do it. I I personally would not grow cranberries. You don’t like cranberries at all? cranberries. But also, why would you grow cranberries then? But also, they are like around the fall they become like a dollar a pound. They’re like ridiculously cheap. But it we grew sweet corn one year and put a lot of effort and energy into it to video it and cranberries. Convert your cranberry your backyard to cranberry cranberry. Well, that would definitely depends on some people’s location in the backyard. Some eyebrows of the neighbors. Well, they’re talking about you anyway, so what’s the difference? I I mean I don’t like cranberries enough. No, I mean we grew corn and we never grew it again, but we wanted to do it to do it. Yeah. And it was good, too. It was good, but it was just so much energy input on our end uh in order to get one ear per corn, per stock. We really did put a lot of effort into it, but it was fun. It was fun to grow. Um, so you can anything that has a shallow root will do okay being soggy because it’s not going to be susceptible to Yeah, we’re talking soggy. We’re not talking like laying in a a swamp area. We’re talking about wet wet soil. Maybe you have like a lower line area that gets a lot of when it rains it kind of takes a while to dry out, but it’s not standing water. It’s not drowning in a water like a pond. No, no. Yeah. So, lettuce lettuce does well because it has the shallow roots. Um, and also it does appreciate a lot of times when there’s a lot of water that means coolness. So, lettuce likes the coolness. Cabbage and kale also do very well in the um the same situation. And then you can kind of get away with vining vegetables as long as you have some sunlight. So the because they’re vining, you have to get them off the you want to get them off the ground anyway. So since they’re growing up, they’ll be okay in more wet conditions. And plus things like cucumbers and beans and peas, they like a lot of water. Not that your other plants don’t, but a lot of water is not the worst thing. Especially they’re very thirsty, especially cucumbers. Yeah, because they’re like 95% water or whatever, right? Watermelon uh if in the right condition. Watermelon likes a lot of moisture and it likes a lot of heat. That as well. Uh same for uh eggplant and okra, as long as you can keep the moisture to them. Uh the the hotter it is, the better it is for them. But they don’t like, you know, wet wet feet. they there’s got to be some conditions of breathable uh soil conditions. So, let’s talk about that. You can’t necessarily control how much shade you have, but you could control the moisture in a way. Um, and that could be anywhere from switching to raised beds or if you have a an option for like straws, straw bell gardening. Um, and that’s and I suppose was going to mention that in the the first segment, but Straw Bill Garden is a good option if you have an area that just gets absolutely flooded. And what was it that they were in? Was it Denmark that they would get flooded? They would get flooded a lot like a foot and the bales are 18 20 in on edge uh when you laid on the site and the the garden would always do well cuz that bail would only absorb enough moisture and then it would repel what it didn’t need. And they had phenomenal gardens all year long when that flooding was happening because everybody else’s garden was gone and the bales were elevated and absorbed like a sponge and then once it was moist moist uh had the moisture in it wouldn’t suck up anymore. Yeah. So that’s an option for you to definitely use straw bills. I think I would do that or again containers or if it’s something where you are determined to grow in the ground bring some soil in, bring some compost in. certified. Make sure you know the source. Make sure it’s legit. It’s not just somebody that says, “Hey, I’ve got some free dirt.” Dirt is not compost. Phil is not compost. That is just junk that they’ve scraped off the top in order to pro to uh utilize an area to start building somewhere. They’ve just scraped the the top soil off with all the other junk that’s in the soil, rocks, weed seeds. It’s not been conditioned. has not been treated in the heat treating process that traditional compost is made where it gets to 170° in wind rows and it bakes the seeds so they’re not viable. Right. Right. I think we talked was it last week or the week before just because it’s free or just because it’s cheap, you’re probably going to pay for it in the long run. Yeah. You know what’s funny is that we were talk Joey wasn’t there but we were talking with my family about how there were these random daffodils and um growing in in our garden and my um my uh dad was like well maybe Joey brought in some soil from somewhere random and the daffodil bubbles were in there and I was like first of all Joey would not bring him random soil for you don’t do that. Yeah and I got a little defensive. Yeah. Well, what are you accusing my husband? I I we planted them years ago and then we transitioned to raised beds and that’s where they I was going to do a a permanent flower bed there and then we moved to raised beds and daffodils were part of the deal there. Yeah. So anyway, surprise daffodils. So there are plants that in which can be grown and and your mileage varies, your plants mileage will vary. So before you just say, “Oh, well,” and then plant, you want to do your research and you can variation the plants. You don’t have to have all one type of plant in one low-lying area or an area in which water retains on a regular basis. If you’re in an area that water retains on a regular basis, you can uh look at different ways of getting drainage out of that. Uh if you’re in a lowlyer, you can put drainage in the garden or in the yard in order to shed that water away. Or some people will take, okay, this particular area in my garden is a low-lying area. I’m going to make a retention pond to hold that water, bring wildlife in, uh have a little solar sprinkler or fountain in it so you can utilize the land, lay the land in order to benefit your property. check with your ordinance um to make sure that what you do is up to code and you don’t have to pay penalties or fines and um just be aware of that that you’re warning you do what you want or do it at night and nobody will see you. Uh, I don’t know. Somebody might see you depending on everybody’s seeing everybody. Nosy neighbors. Soon it’ll be warming up, Holly. It is uh going to be summer here and you will want to protect your garden from those Japanese beetles, grubs and alike. Yeah, you know, spring is here. Spring and sprung and soon will be summer. And you got to think about those uh beetles and grubs in your yard. Grub gone is the answer. Grub Gum can be applied to your turf around ornamentals uh to control grubs impact the lessen uh those beetles will have on your yard this summer. Easy to apply with a commercial spreader or irrigate right in the soil. Specifically designed when it goes in your soil to target those beetles and grubs without harming beneficial insects such as bees, ladybugs, and butterflies. And to be honest, it’s it’s the only non-chemical that works. Find out more at phylmoproducts.com. That’s phy loom mioproducts.com. When we return, Maria Redell, author, will be with us. You’re tuned in to the Gardening with Joan Holly radio show. Have a gardening question? 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Hi, let’s go to the hotline and bring in our guest for this week. Maria Rodell is an author, gardener, mother, grandmother, board member for the Rodell Institute and passionate about organic farming and gardening. Her book is Love, Nature, Magic, Shamanic Journeys into the Heart of My Garden, Organic Manifesto. Welcome to the program, Maria. Thank you. It’s great to be here. Well, we appreciate you taking time out of your day uh to join Holly, myself, and all of our listeners. And I’ll start with this. You enjoy the gardening for many reasons. Why is the garden so magical to you? Well, the garden is a magical place because everything is alive and conscious and um just uh surprising and entertaining. Um so I just love the interaction with every living thing. Well, and you bring that up because you can sit in the garden in the summer and you can see the flies, you can see the butterflies, you can see the bugs flying around. And if you flip the soil over and you’ve got healthy soil, there’s a whole magnitude of a world in which we don’t necessarily appreciate the way we should. Exactly. They say that there’s more living things in a tablespoon of soil than people on planet Earth. That’s definitely amazing. So um speaking of you know soil what is the Royale Rooddale Institute and what role does it play in organic farming? So the Rooddale Institute is a nonprofit that does scientific research comparing organic and regenerative organic agriculture to conventional agriculture. And it’s the longest running sideby-side study um in in the world um that does that. And we are considered the like originators of the organic movement and the regenerative organic movement. So our research has shown that organic is just so much better for the soil, for the water, for climate, for our human health, and it’s just as productive and even more profitable than conventional agriculture. And then, you know, let’s step back for people who are not familiar about the term organic. That really didn’t originate until after World War II. Prior to World War II, nobody gardened organically. It was just that was the way it was garden. You didn’t use chemicals or or really necessarily fertilizer in a bag. That all changed after the the World War II era. Yeah. It actually I write about this in my book, Organic Manifesto. I write about the history of when we started using chemicals and it actually started before World War II um and uh especially in the fruit um production agriculture. So we’ve been using chemicals for a long time but definitely the term organic farming and agriculture started in 1940. Okay, that’s why we bring guest on because we’re not always right and I appreciate you correcting us on that uh information there. So, please tell us about more about your book the the um as you call it the organic manifesto and maybe what our listeners could expect when they pick up a copy kind of give us a little tease about it etc. So, I wrote organic manifesto actually uh quite a while ago um in 2010. And that’s a history of how we started using chemicals, why we started using chemicals, and what organic agriculture and farming is really about um and why it’s important that we do it, why it’s the most important thing we do. Uh my new book is called Love, Nature, Magic. And that I kind of go on an adventure where I do um shamanic journeys to talk to the plants, animals, insects in my garden to try to understand what their purpose is, especially the um the ones that annoy me. Um, would that be the bad bugs or just ones that have beneficial purposes but just bother you when you’re out there? Um, well, I started with plants that annoyed me and a few bugs that annoyed me and then I started just having so much fun with it that I started talking to everything. Um, but you know, I started with the plant mugwart, which is considered an invasive weed. Um, and I it I my yard is filled with mugwart and I wanted to understand why it was there and what it was trying to do. And in the process I uncovered this incredible history ofness of the mugwork plant. And it it really gave me a new newfound respect for um not just mugwart but really everything that is around us that we have been trained to think of as a a pest or a weed but is really a powerful beneficial useful and sacred you know plant or being. uh with the uh invasive with with those weeds that you find it ties into the organic farming with you can utilize those for a beneficial you know uh helping protect plants from bugs or turning them into fertilizer so you can avoid the chemical aspect of traditional agriculture. Yeah. Actually for the last two years I’ve been experimenting in my own garden where I have almost completely stopped weeding altogether and what I have found is that my plants are thrilled. Um my roses have tripled in size and some you know even like trees that were struggling have just exploded with growth. And the other thing I noticed is that, you know, I have groundhogs in my yard and they love to eat the weeds. So when they’re eating the weeds, they don’t have to eat my vegetables. Um, so it’s been a win-win situation. Now, do you contribute? And my thought is if you don’t weed, yes, the weeds take some nutrient from the soil, but they create a basically a living mulch. protect the soil from being dried out and allowing your vegetables to be more moist and being able to grow. Exactly. Okay. That’s and I and I also think there’s um some you know interaction with the roots underground that are supporting each other and that’s based on some science that I’ve read about trees. you know how trees even different species of trees communicate underground through their roots and the fungi and um that that helps the whole forest and I think the same thing is happening in our gardens. Now I grew up in an agricultural farm big agg. Uh what is organic farming and the gardening? Why is it so important for the transition to try to get more farms to transition to organic gardening versus what we know today as conventional big farming? Well, the the essential thing is that uh organic farming is not poisoning our bodies, our children, our water, our environment and our soil. And it’s enabling to um and this is actually comes from research from the Rodell Institute that when the soil is organic and it’s alive and it’s filled with you know fungi and microorganisms it’s actually storing carbon pulling carbon from the air and storing it in the ground where it belongs. So it’s a solution for the you know climate um concerns as well. Now in your opinion how do we get some of these farms to transition over or is it one of these sad things where we have to allow that generation to pass away and allow the new generation to take over and realize how beneficial organic farming is. Well, I’m very hopeful about the new generations. Um what I have found in Manifesto, I actually did um focus group research with chemical farmers to find out, you know, why they did what they did and what was stopping them from changing. And a lot of it was it wasn’t science-based. It wasn’t even economic based because economically they’re falling behind. Um it’s like economics 101 is not working for them. Uh but it’s emotional and it’s social like they don’t want to um be different than their neighbors. They don’t want their fields to look messy. Um it’s it’s very um uh sad. And usually what happens, the thing that changes a person’s mind, well like you said, death uh si sickness. somebody in the family gets very sick or um if it’s a you know if it’s a woman getting pregnant when all of a sudden she becomes concerned about you know growing a child inside of her um those are the big gateways to organic but from a a business economic sense it just makes so much more sense I mean you’re not transporting chemicals from all around the world that are you know made from petroleum It’s crazy. And a lot of the things that people are using chemicals for um like corn um corn and soil, I’m sorry, corn and soy. We humans don’t even eat those foods. They’re turned into bofuels and we’re they use as much fuel to make as they do um to use. So, it’s really a kind of a no-win situation. And um we have to get back to thinking of land as providing um food and sustenance and nourishment for everything on it. Um and instead of feeding cows corn and soy, we should be feeding cows grass, which is better for us. Their stomachs are made to eat grass, not corn and soy. And what we have found at the institute is that the farms that use animal manure are, you know, organic composted animal manure are actually the most productive farms, the most productive soil. And you know what what you have in um commercial confine, you know, animal major corporate farming is you have cows that are eating things they don’t want to eat and their waste going into vats where people are just storing it and nothing is getting used in the right way and no one is happy. So, um, there’s a lot of great success stories out there of people doing well. Um, and Will Harris in Georgia is someone who I think if people have questions, they should look up what he’s doing and see the incredible work he’s doing on his farm. And you talk about the input and output. Uh this spring as people drive around and you see these tractors in the field, those tractors are burning roughly between 10 and 15 gallons of diesel fuel an hour to operate at a cost of about $4 to5 based on what part of the country you’re in for diesel fuel, agricultural diesel fuel. So there’s a lot of energy and a lot of money going for those tractors just to move up and down the field in hopes to get something planted in hopes to make very little and survive. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the the best thing that they could do is turn th those fields into pasture and put cows or sheep on them. Um that’s the most efficient productive thing they could do and the most healthy thing. Um so, but a lot of farmers are also really trapped in a cycle of debt uh from from those big tractors, right? and it’s hard for them to see a way out of it. Definitely. So, we’ve really enjoyed having you on the program. Um, Maria, can we can you tell us how people can find out more about you and your books and your information? Uh, well, my books are all available on Amazon if you go on my or Barnes & Noble um if you type in my name, Maria Rodell. Uh, but the best way to keep in touch with me is through Substack. I have a Substack newsletter called Life Unfiltered where I write um usually twice a week and you can comment and communicate with me and I will answer every comment. Uh and I love to hear from people and I love to hear hear uh questions and everyone’s thoughts about the world we’re in right now, which is definitely a strange one. Well, Maria, thank you so much for the time you’ve offered Holly, myself, and the education. We thank you very much for that. Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure. Absolutely. And when we return, it’s your garden questions and our garden answers. You’re tuned in to the Garden with Joey and Holly radio show. Got a question for Joey and Holly? Send it via email anytime to [email protected]. Good garden tools make gardening easier. Wisconsin made cobra head tools simplify weeding, cultivating, digging, and planting. Favorites of professional gardeners. Cobrahead tools are durable, ergonomic, and easy to work with. Visit cobrahead.com and use coupon code soil for 10% off your order. Do you have pets trying to leave your fenced area or pest trying to enter your fenced area or garden? Dig Defense provides peace of mind that your pets are contained safely and humanely in your yard and other animals or pest stay out. With several sizes to pick from, dig defense is the easy, safe way to extend the protection of your fence, protecting your pets and your property. Find out more at stop thedig.com. 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That’s [email protected]. Or you can give us a call tollfree coast to coast anytime to 1 800-927 show. That’s 1 800-9277469. All right, Holly. I use a lot of mulched leaves in my garden. I have a problem with ticks in my garden as a result of doing that. This is quite bothersome here in Kansas City. Uh almost makes me not want to use leaves in my garden. Do you have any tips uh regarding that? So ticks are are not fun. We had uh well uh Summit Responsible Solutions has a tick uh spray that you can utilize around your garden and around your property. And we had him on uh what was his name? Bill, was that right? Oh, yeah. I just go to responsiblesolutions.com. Summit is the company and they have a lot of information on their website regarding ticks and other insects and and and controlling them and the products in which will control them because of tried and true and tested products. Uh, next question here. Can I take granular fertilizer and mix it with water to hurry it up for use? bought that uh that kind this year instead of the water mix kind. Not sure how much to use. Thanks. Love your show here in Southern California. So, with that being said, first of all, thank you. Uh we don’t have a terrestrial radio station out there, but they do gather it on either YouTube or podcast uh platforms, right? Um so, most granular fertilizers can be dissolved into water. You just want to make sure that it’s water soluble. Um, so it’s designed to be there are some that it will not work, right? So there are some that will not work. They’re not water soluble. So you want to make sure that it is water soluble and then you can, you know, add it to the water. I would approximate the the application rate. So I wouldn’t mix a whole batch. I would figure how much, say if it says one cup per x amount of square feet or whatever, I would approximate that, add it to the water, make sure it gets broken down, and then apply it to that area. I wouldn’t mix it all together at the same time. So, to to be clear, just you just can’t throw any fertilizer you bought on sale in water and it’s accelerate the use. It doesn’t work that way. It will say on the bag somewhere water soluble. Um, otherwise if you’re not sure, you could always go to the website of the product. Nonwater soluble granular fertilizer uh is designed to release nutrients slowly over time and may not dissolve in water and that uh they are typically applied directly to the soil. Water soluble fertilizer is formulation to break down and dissolve in water making them ideal application through irrigation systems or backpack or or foiler spray. So be aware. Um it’s not there’s nothing wrong with applying the fertilizer to the soil working the granular. Yeah. Yeah. But some people might find it easier to to apply it with a liquid or something like that. But it’s simply just a matter of spreading it around and then watering it in as well. Right. All right. Best amendments for my garden. Uh it’s not draining properly. So, we talked a little bit about water issues in uh the second segment with soggy plants that like or soil that plants like soggy soil. Uh there’s number one answer is add compost. If you got clay soil, natur compost will naturally start breaking the components of that clay down. There’s a lot of nutrient in the clay soil. It’s just so locked up and dense that the plants can’t access it and the water holds like a it just is very wet. uh compost, aged chicken manure, uh horse, sheep, cow manure, well-aged will do fine with this. Organic additives like chemical-free, seed-free grass clippings, uh composted leaves, just leaves, add leaves in the in the fall. Just mound them up literally like a mountain of leaves through your garden. And by spring, they will have uh broke down or compressed about 50 to 70%. And then you can plant around them, move them back and plant in the amongst them. Or if you choose to till, you can work those leaves into the ground and they will begin to break down and break apart that soil and accessible uh drainage will be uh available. So, you know, shredded uh leaves is a great source. Now, the manure, if you get manure, you want to be careful where that source is. What was the animal fed? uh is is it uh killer compost? You know, that type of thing. You can look up killer compost. Essentially, the farmers spray chemicals on the fields in order to kill broadleaf plants. It’s not toxic to It’s not toxic to the animal. They eat the broadleaf sprayed plants. It doesn’t get broken down in their digestive system or even while it’s curing or aging or whatever it’s called. Um and then it when you use it as fertilizer, it does affect certain plants, especially um is it beans? Um any broadleaf vegetable. So you want to know the source of what’s being fed to those animals if you’re going to utilize the manure. Now some people will say coarse sand. You can add sand to your garden in in quantities in order to get more of a breakup. Uh perlite uh is a lightweight volcanic rock that helps increase soil. Uh drainage. Vermiculite is another lightweight mineral to help hold water. So you want to be careful which one you get there. Uh gypson, you can add gypson to help do that. Other things is uh just mulch. Um and if you have or you can use a raised bed. Raised bed is the other option. Strawberry garden. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there are options um for this particular situation. Just because you got the problem doesn’t mean there’s no solution. We’ve got many options. You have to figure out which one best suits you uh for your situation and your finances and the commitment you’re wanting to put forth. You can spend a lot of money and do it a certain way, but if you’re like, nah, I’m going to go play golf instead of garden really has served nobody any purpose except for the people you bought the stuff from. Yeah. And you want to be smart. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Well, we are out of time and we thank you for yours. Missed any portion of the program today or would like to revisit? You can do that by going to your favorite podcast platform and searching the Garden with Joy and Holly radio show. Tune in to the program next week where we’ll discuss hot peppers, how they breed them, how they’re scored, the Skullville units, the whole thing. It’s going to be a fascinating conversation as well as roses. Our guest, he is the co-owner of a sponsor of Phyom Bioproducts. John Libs will be with her with us next week and we’ll answer your garden questions. So until next week for Holly Bear, I’m Joy Bear and we will see you in the garden. [Applause] [Music]