The Big Deal About Dill and Other Gardening Topics

Season 6, Episode 35, July 17, 2024

and

Jul 16, 2024

We covered quite a few topics on this week’s episode while we tried to focus on begonias and dill as our two main topics. So how does that happen? Do you really want to know what goes on behind the scenes, or is it just more fun to listen and see how it all turned out?

Because behind the scenes… Well, with careful editing there is no way you’ll be able to tell when my screen froze up and we had to pause and restart. I promise, just like a fresh layer of mulch can cover up weeds and other issues in a garden, we can do some careful editing so you’ll enjoy listening to us chatter away and come back each week for another episode.

Of course, we talked about our favorites in the garden this week. I’m not going to spill the beans about my favorite (and no, that bean reference is not a hint!) but Dee’s favorite starts with a “Z” and ends with “innia.” She really likes those she grew from seeds from Siskiyou Seeds including Tide Pool and Megadiversity and another zinnia variety she bought from Johnny’s Selected Seeds called Giant Creamy Yellow.

Dee’s zinnias… Giant Creamy Yellow and Tide Pool

Our question of the week from my neighbors led us to the depressing topic of pine trees that suddenly die. For more information, check out Purdue University’s info on Pine Bark Beetles and other problems pine trees can have.

We then went right on to a happy topic— begonias. I couldn’t remember, but turns out, I did write an article about how to care for begonias for Family Handyman. It’s rather short, so we got quite a bit of great information from the American Begonia Society website. We also talked about the All-America Selections begonias. Dee is loving the Big begonias from Benary and I was reminded of a lost begonia I cannot find, Glorie de Lorraine. Per Dee, friend of the podcast, Beth T., is raving about a Proven Winner’s begonia, Surefire Rose begonias. Finally, the begonia I got to trial that is doing quite well is a spreading begonia called ‘Hula White.’ It should be available in 2025.

My hanging basket with one plant of Hula White spreading begonia.

For our veggie section, we talked about dill and learned about quite a few varieties from Johnny's Selected Seeds. You’ll want to listen to hear Dee’s humorous wasp story.

On the bookshelf, I listened to and loved the audio edition of the new book, Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Amazon Link).

Our dirt was an about some information Dee found in the WSJ, Why America’s Berries Have Never Tasted So Good.

Dee’s Summer Corn and Zucchini Chowder looks delicious!

In our rabbit holes, Dee shared a recipe for Summer Corn and Zucchini Chowder that she found on Facebook, and she’ll soon be publishing a reel about deterring deer. (I hope you are following her on Instagram!) Dee also posted on her blog last week about how Weeds Have Super Powers,

In my rabbit hole, I got lost with one Lost Lady of Garden Writing so ended up writing about a completely different one, and in the meantime wrote a blog post about talking flowers and finished up my weekly newsletter.

And that is quite enough of us!

Except… big announcement. You can now send us text messages via whatever app you use to listen to our podcast. Just click on “Send us a text message” at the top of the notes. Feel free to message us with questions, prompts, or just to say you love us! Include your name in the text message so we know who you are. And apologies, but we can’t reply to the texts, we can just get them.

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