Granite State Gardening – Details, episodes & analysis

In this bonus episode of Granite State Gardening, Nate Bernitz discusses the drought, both of podcast episodes and rainfall.

UNH Extension’s Home Horticulture Team is Hiring

The Home Horticulture Program Manager leads gardening and landscaping education and outreach for New Hampshire residents. Working in tandem with Master Gardener volunteers, home horticulture staff work statewide to develop educational programming on the ground and in digital channels. Home Horticulture staff and volunteers are a trusted source for New Hampshire gardeners, answering questions, conducting outreach on relevant and seasonal topics throughout the year, and providing engaging horticulture skills-training for the public and volunteers. Topics of focus include ornamental horticulture and landscaping, native plants, and fruit and vegetable gardening.

Learn more at extension.unh.edu/unh-extension-seeks-home-horticulture-program-manager

Resources

• Pollinator Garden Certification Program
• Drought Tolerant Plants for New Hampshire Landscapes
• How Do I Keep My Lawn Alive An A Drought?
• Using Water Efficiently In The Landscape

Subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter. 

Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu 

From stunning spring blooms to juicy and delicious fruit summer to fall, cultivating apples, pears, peaches, cherries and more is appealing to many New England gardeners and homesteaders. And while growing fruit trees isn’t necessarily easy, thoughtful planning can lead to healthier, more productive and lower maintenance trees for years to come. In this episode of Granite State Gardening, Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz talk about selecting and preparing your orchard site, choosing rootstock and varieties, planting, and care of young trees. The episode's featured plant is pawpaw (Asamina triloba). 

Promotions 

• Listener Survey 
• NH Farm, Forest and Garden Expo 
• Webinar: Hydroponics at Home 
• Webinar: Extending the Gardening Season 
• Webinar: Propagating Trees and Shrubs in the Winter Months 

Resources 

• Growing Low Input Fruit Trees 
• Recommended Tree Fruit Varieties for Northern New England 
• Training and Pruning Young Apples and Pears 

Subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter. 

Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu 

Transcript by Otter.ai 

We’ve all heard that bees are in trouble, but you may wonder why, and more importantly what you can do to support bees and other pollinators. In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension’s Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz share proven tips and solutions for supporting pollinators on your property. This conversation is very practical, and gets into the kind of detail and nuance gardeners are looking for to go beyond basic concepts. Emma and Nate also cover a wide range of topics, discussing bees and what differentiates them from other insects, and different types of bees including but not at all limited to honeybees. You’ll definitely walk away from this episode with ideas you can put to practice.

·         Featured Plant: Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus)

Resources:

·         Pollinator Week

·         Pollinator Plants for Northern New England Gardens

·         Establishing a Wildflower Meadow from Seed

·         Other UNH Extension resources for creating pollinator habitat

·         Protecting Pollinators While Using Pesticides

·         Bee Nest Box Guidelines

·         Building a Bee Hotel

·         Bees and their habitats in four New England states

Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter.

Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu

 Cover image by - Robert Durant

Transcript by Otter.ai

While insects are a part of every garden, and an important part at that, there are some insects that cause unacceptable damage to our plants and need to be managed as pests. In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension’s Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz are joined by Anna Wallingford, host of the Overinformed on IPM podcast, to share proven tips and solutions for managing these insect pests with an integrated pest management approach. Anna has an uncanny ability to make pest management fun, and while she focuses on advising farmers, recording this episode was a unique opportunity to bring her expertise to gardeners. Anna shares unexpectedly interesting information about the lives these insects lead, and how understanding their life cycles and peculiarities can give gardeners a leg up in battling these garden foes. 

·         Featured Plant: Ground Cherries (Physalis pruinosa)

·         Closing Tip: Choosing your battles with pests in the garden

Resources:

·         Over-informed on IPM podcast

·         Garden Irrigation Webinar

·         Garden IPM

·         IPM Resources for NH Growers

·         Growing Ground Cherries and Tomatillos

Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter.

Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu

Transcript by Otter.ai

What to bring home and how to choose – just two of the questions top of mind as gardeners race through their local garden center in late May, snagging plants and supplies left and right after enduring months of shoveling snow and a spring torrent of black flies. But finally it’s time to plant, and in the shopping frenzy many gardeners may throw caution to the wind. In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension’s Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz are joined by their colleague Rachel Maccini to chat about how they strive to be smart garden center shoppers, and how you can do the same. Happy shopping and happy gardening!

Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter.

Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu

Plants need air, water and sunlight, but require sources of essential nutrients too. Fertile soil rich in organic matter provides nutrients to be sure, but fertilizer is typically needed to grow vigorous, healthy plants. Organic or not, slow release or fast acting, specialty products or versatile mainstays – we face a lot of options when choosing fertilizers. And that doesn’t even begin to cover when and how to use the fertilizer for the wide diversity of plants you’re growing. 

In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension’s Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz are joined by Becky Sideman to share proven tips and solutions for using fertilizer to grow healthy and productive plants in the garden and landscape. The conversation brings up topics and questions bound to get gardeners of all experience levels thinking about fertilizing plants in the yard and garden in new ways. 

·         Featured Question: Should I use fertilizer spikes or a granular fertilizer for my trees and shrubs? 

·         Featured Plant: Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa)

·         Closing Tip:   New Hampshire’s Turf Fertilizer Law

Resources:

·         Fertilizing vegetable gardens 

·         Fertilizing fruit trees

·         Fertilizing trees and shrubs

·         New Hampshire’s turf fertilizer law

·         Soil testing

·         Spring Webinar Series

UNH Cooperative Extension’s Vegetable & Fruit team, together with a group of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of New Hampshire, conduct research on vegetable and fruit crops. While the team does much of their work at theNH Agricultural Experiment Station in Durham, NH, they are located throughout NH and their research project topics are driven by the needs of NH growers. The team believes that using effective growing practices for our region (including new varieties, new crops, and season extension strategies) can help farmers diversify, improve yields, and improve crop quality. Many of their integrated research and extension projects focus on high-value specialty crop production systems and methods of extending the growing season (e.g. season extension). They offer an up-to-the-minute snapshot of what we're up to on Instagram at unh_sidemanlab.

Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter.

Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu

Transcript by Otter.ai

Soil amendments have the ability to transform soil health by adding organic matter, changing soil properties and ultimately improving plant growth. In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension’s Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz are joined by New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station researcher Becky Sideman to share proven tips and solutions for using soil amendments to build and transform soil to support healthy and productive plants in the garden and landscape. The conversation brings up topics and questions bound to get gardeners of all experience levels thinking about amending soil in new ways. 

·         Featured Question: How to manage ground nesting bees and wasps

·         Featured Plant: Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

·         Closing Tip: Determining when compost is finished

Resources

·         Purchasing top soil

·         Purchasing compost

·         Guidelines for using manure

·         Soil testing

·         Controlling wasps, bees and hornets around the home

·         Spring Webinar Series

Connect with us

• Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter.
• Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu

While we often focus on growing fruits and vegetables, flower gardening brings unmatched beauty and life to any yard and is a lifelong passion for many gardeners. It can also be overwhelming: which flowers go together, what should I choose, how to stop weeds. Growing beautiful flower gardens brings its own challenges while offering endless opportunities for your personality and creativity to shine. 

In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension’s Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz share proven tips and solutions for creating and maintaining vibrant ornamental flower gardens. We hope you’ll take away new ideas, inspiration and techniques that you can use this year and for years to come. And if you’re so inclined, send us photos of your flower gardens looking their best to gsg.pod@unh.edu.

·         Featured Question: Cut Flower Gardens

·         Featured Plant: Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia)

Resources:

UNH Extension resources on growing annuals and perennials: https://extension.unh.edu/tags/annual-perennial-gardens
Upcoming events: https://extension.unh.edu/topic-events/Home,%20Yard%20&%20Garden
 

Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter.

Email us questions, suggestions and feedback (and photos from your garden) at gsg.pod@unh.edu

As much as gardeners love the outdoors and the diversity of wildlife that call our region home, there are some parts of the yard and garden where we have to draw the line. With as much effort as we put into gardening and landscaping, we all know the sinking feeling of seeing what can happen seemingly overnight. In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension’s Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz share proven tips and solutions for dealing with animals that can damage yards and gardens. Straddling the line between supporting wildlife and managing nuisance wildlife can be a challenging balancing act, but we share an approach that does just that. After listening, you will be equipped to prevent damage, and if necessary manage whichever critters take an interest in your gardens this growing season. We hope you will take away some new ideas, as well as what strategies not to spend time and money on. 

·         Featured Question: Growing garlic

·         Featured Plant: Inkberry (Ilex glabra)

·         Gardening Tip: Using Tree Guards

Resources:

 ·        wildlifehelp.org

·         USDA APHIS Wildlife Services in NH

·         NH Fish & Game: Living with Wildlife, Wildlife Control, & Nuisance Wildlife

Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter.

Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu

Some of our favorite vegetables can not only be grown before last frost, but thrive in the cool months before we can grow tomatoes and other classic warm season crops. With our region’s short growing season, moving up your planting window is a welcome opportunity for antsy gardeners after a long winter. In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension’s Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz share proven tips and solutions for successfully growing cool season veggies. After listening, or even while you’re listening, head out to the garden and get growing. With a few tricks, you’ll be amazed how much you can grow and harvest before the heat of summer.

• Featured Question: Row Cover Frames
• Featured Plant: Garlic (Allium sativum)
• Gardening Tip: Harvesting Cool Season Vegetables

 Background reading:

• When to start and plant your vegetable garden
• Using row covers in the garden
• Growing cool-season vegetables
• Growing Garlic
• Fertilizing vegetable gardens
• Garden mulches

Upcoming Events

• Cool Season Veggies with Becky Sideman on Facebook Live, April 19 at 6 pm
• Explore our other upcoming events for gardeners and homesteaders

Access the transcript for this episode at https://extension.unh.edu/blog/growing-cool-season-vegetables-your-spring-garden