We Do Hard Things, In and Out of the Garden
Season 6, Episode 41, August 28, 2024
On this week’s episode, we chatted about rejuvenating lawns, soil testing, herbicide dangers, an old gardening book, and a few other misc. topics, which you’ll discover as you listen.
Our favorites this week were some late summer flowers. Dee loves her 'Benary’s Giant Wine' zinnias which she featured on Instagram a few days ago. I’m loving Sunflower 'Concert Bell'. This sunflower is an All-America Selection. They sent me seeds for them this year and last year, and I love them. Don’t they look great in my vegetable garden?
Continuing our “Fall is for…” series of topics, we discussed rejuvenating lawns. Fall is a great time to do that in both our gardens, although as you listen, you’ll pick up on some differences in lawns between Indiana and Oklahoma. One big difference… listen to find out, and leave a comment if you discover it.
We revisited soil testing for our vegetable topic, going a little more in-depth on it, and giving some advice to help you decide if you should have your soil tested. In my case, I’d send a soil sample to A&L Great Lakes Laboratories, a soil testing lab located in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. If you are looking for a soil-testing lab closer to you, we recommend searching online with terms like “cooperative extension,” “soil testing,” and your state to come up with other options.
On our bookshelf, we featured a book from 1986: This is the Way My Garden Grows and Comes Into My Kitchen, by Barbara Dodge Borland. (Amazon Link) Yes, Barbara is one of my Lost Ladies of Garden Writing, and I previously recorded a YouTube video about her. Listen to find out what inspired us about her book.
For our dirt, I got an email with information about Triclopyr, one of the herbicides that many homeowners now use, causing off-target damage. If you see plants browning up around where you used that popular herbicide that starts with R and ends with P, and you didn’t mean to spray them, check out this Purdue Landscape Report for more information.
Down in our rabbit holes, Dee tried to blame me for her recent purchases of books illustrated by Anne Ophelia Dowden. Did I cause her to buy books? Have we caused you to buy books?
We also both enjoyed watching Touring the Cotswolds with Pam Ayres on YouTube, and I’m done with jigsaw puzzles for now, having finished two recently: USA State Birds and USA State Flowers.
There are a few other tidbits in this episode, but if we reveal too much about them, you might not listen, so listen for the rest! Maybe even listen while you weed in your garden.
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Re: soil testing. I ordered SoilKit from Amazon (it's also available at Lowes) which tries to make it as easy as possible to test your soil. You register your kit once you get it and mark the area you want to test (could be the whole yard, just the vegetable garden, etc.) on a Google map of your property. In my case I wanted to know how acid the soil was around my hydrangeas. They enclose a bag for the soil sample and it's postage paid so you just mail it after it's sealed. A week later you get an email with a link to your online report and recommendations. Much to my surprise, I found the soil around my house wasn't as acidic as I thought, only a pH of 6. It needs to be lower than that for my hydrangeas to turn blue, and sulfur is recommended. I was disappointed that they didn't test for aluminum, because if your soil lacks aluminum the flowers won't turn blue no matter how acidic it is. Pros: very easy. Also pretty fast turnaround, and kind of fun doing it online Cons: heavily weighted towards lawns. There is a way to specify other gardening types, but they assume you are testing your lawn unless you say otherwise. The other con is they want to upsell you on the deluxe subscription and various amendments, but you can just say no to all that. And it's more expensive than doing it through cooperative extension. If you want, I can send you a copy of my test results, so you can see how it compares to yours.
Those sunflowers are gorgeous! How do you keep the rabbits or squirrels from eating the seedlings? I had so much trouble with that this year.