Annuals, Perennials and the Garden Shed | 60 Years of Garden Tips | Prairie Yard & Garden 3813

Connie has developed a thriving winter gardening routine that focuses on preserving her favorite plants, particularly annuals like coleus, which she loves for their ability to propagate easily. She takes cuttings, known as slips, places them in water to root, and then nurtures them indoors under lights, turning her bathroom, dining room, and living room into vibrant green spaces. Despite experimenting with growing these plants in the ground, she has found that they flourish much better in pots. By winter, Connie has rooted around 97 cuttings, and she also brings in a variety of succulents and geraniums, keeping them in a heated garage where the temperature hovers around 45 to 47 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, Connie successfully stores calla and canna bulbs over the winter, highlighting her ability to maintain a diverse garden throughout the cold months.

With a wealth of experience in gardening, Connie also shares her wisdom with others, giving away plant divisions and participating in local plant sales to support her community. She reflects on the joy of asking her husband for help with their lush lawn, which stands out beautifully, especially during hotter months. Alongside her gardening practices, Connie has addressed challenges, such as a pesky squirrel that infiltrated her garden shed, showcasing her resourcefulness in problem-solving. With the aid of a utility golf cart for transporting tools and her son’s inventive use of belting for pathways, Connie continues to cultivate her garden while delighting in the beauty of her plants and the joy of sharing them with her neighbors.

Prairie Yard & Garden airs weekly on Pioneer PBS at 7:30 p.m. CST on Thursday evenings. It also drops here on YouTube on the same day.

People living within Pioneer PBS’s viewing area are able to livestream the station online at pioneer.org/live

First aired in 1987, Prairie Yard & Garden is a 30-minute television show about gardening in the Upper Midwest. Each season, the crew travels the state to meet with researchers, gardening and nursery professionals, educators and ordinary backyard gardeners to discuss specific issues in horticulture, landscaping and a host of topics in gardening.

Produced by Pioneer Pioneer PBS, Prairie Yard & Garden (PY&G) is a Midwest gardening program hosted by Mary Holm, produced and edited by Mike Cihak, with additional videography by Tim Bakken and production assistants Gorden McIntosh and Vivian Heltemes. Production sponsorship is provided by Minnesota Grown, Heartland Motor Company, ACIRA, Shalom Hill Farm, Friends of Prairie Yard & Garden and members of Pioneer PBS. If you enjoy PY&G, become a friend of PY&G by filling out a Google Form: https://forms.gle/KDbx4Eyzo3HZ8d1W6.

Stream us on the:
PY&G website – pioneer.org/pyg
PBS app – pioneer.org/pbsapp/
Pioneer PBS Video Portal – video.pioneer.org/show/prairie-yard-garden/

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