It’s time for another Good Growing Halloween Spooktacular! We’re all dressed up again this year to talk about some creepy crawlies that have had or are still having an impact on humans or have a lot of lore behind them, including black widow and brown recluse spiders, stinging caterpillars, oriental rat fleas, lice, and more! Skip to what you want to know: 00:41 – Welcome, Ken. What are our costumes this year? 02:50 – Black widow spiders 11:30 – Brown recluse spider 15:50 – Identifying brown recluse spiders 18:30 – Venomous vs poisonous 19:20 – Stinging caterpillars 22:40 - Saddleback caterpil ..read more

Now that the garden season is starting to wind down, it’s a good time to start thinking about getting our tools ready for winter. This week on the Good Growing Podcast, we discuss some things we do to get our garden tools ready for winter, including cleaning, sharpening, winterizing, organizing, and more! Skip to what you want to know: 00:40 – Welcome, Ken, and time to clean up the garages. 02:10 – Cleaning and sharpening shovels 11:35 – Sharpening cultivators/hoes 14:52 – Caring for wooden handles 18:05 – Motor oil to protect metal? Other ways to prevent rust and lubricate tools 21:10 – Carin ..read more

This week on the Good Growing podcast Ken and Chris discuss why we clean up our gardens in the fall. Cutting down perennials, raking leaves, and pulling out spent vegetable plants is a common job for the gardener in the fall. As the autumn days get shorter our time is precious outdoors. What needs to be done now and what can wait until next year? Skip to what you want to know: 00:29 Hey Ken! It rained! 02:33 Fall clean up. Why do we do it? 04:38 How does cleaning the vegetable garden break disease cycles? 11:53 Adding amendments to the vegetable garden. 13:55 Using manure in the garden. 16:32 ..read more

It’s time for our last Grow Along check-in for 2024. Each year we at Good Growing decide to try growing some new (to us) vegetables. This year we invited you to grow along with us. This video is for those who signed up to receive seed for our Grow Along. In this video, we are trying the fruits of our labor. We share some of the different ways we have prepared the produce we grew as part of the Grow Along. We want to hear back from you! You should have gotten an email with a survey link if you received Grow Along seed from us. How is your crop progressing? Have you been able to harvest anything ..read more

In this episode, we dive into the latest challenges facing gardeners and landscapers. From toppling trees to the potential for itchy mites dropping from the sky, Ken and Chris have a list of things that might be bugging your garden and landscape! Skip to what you want to know: 00:38 Hey Ken! 01:57 Chris found a pretty bug! A dog-day cicada. 03:47 Updates from Ken and Chris' yards. 07:06 What is this green bug eating my flowers? 10:53 Issues with a pin oak tree dropping limbs and leaking fluid from a hole in the trunk 17:50 The problem with aphids this summer. So many! Why? 21:02 Why did my ash ..read more

October has arrived, and while it may not feel like it at times, so has fall. This week on the Good Growing Podcast, we discuss some of the different things on our fall gardening to-do list, including caring for mums, moving houseplants indoors, planting garlic and woody plants, soil testing, and more! Skip to what you want to know: 00:35 – Welcome, Ken and preparing for fall invaders. 03:10 – Planting and caring for mums in the fall 08:05 – Moving houseplants indoors 13:50 – Planting garlic 21:20 – Testing soil and where to send it 25:00 – Planting trees and shrubs and protecting them from de ..read more

Foodscaping is a design concept that intentionally adds edible plant varieties to existing beds of ornamentals. The result is growing food that saves money and is a healthy activity that produces fruits and vegetables to enjoy all season long. The main appeal of foodscapes is that they are valuable and beautiful. Get tips on designing and maintaining a foodscaping project by having the right plant in the right place. Presenter: Chris Lueking, Extension horticulture educator This webinar was originally recorded on August 13, 2024. - - - - - - - - - - The University of Illinois Extension Horticu ..read more

This week on the Good Growing Podcast, Chris compares the essential fall flavors of apple and pumpkin. If you had to choose, what side would you fall on? Team Apple? Or Team Pumpkin? Contact us! Chris Enroth: cenroth@illinois.edu Ken Johnson: kjohnso@illinois.edu Check out the Good Growing Blog: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowing Subscribe to the weekly Good Growing email: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowingsubscribe Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies. Barnyard Bash: freesfx.co.uk Mysterious Invasion ..read more

This week on the Good Growing Podcast, we’re trying something new: toothache plant. Learn more about this interesting plant, what happens when you eat it and how you can grow it yourself! Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z7ywlxrKWTM Skip to what you want to know: 00:40 – Introduction to toothache plant 05:50 – Eating toothache plant reactions 10:20 – How to grow toothache plant 13:13 – Wrap-up, thank yous, what’s up next week, and goodbye! Toothache plant picture: 葉子, Public Domain, iNaturalist Contact us! Chris Enroth: cenroth@illinois.edu Ken Johnson: kjohnso@illinois.edu Emily Swihart ..read more

Have you ever wondered what causes the reds, yellows, oranges, and maroons of autumn? There are lots of different plant pigments beyond the green color of chloroplast. In this episode horticulture educator Chris Enroth peers inside the processes of a leaf in the fall and how we get those spectacular autumn leaf displays. Skip to what you want to know: 00:18 Fall color lore 00:33 What we thought was happening in leaves to produce fall color. 01:06 What triggers fall color to begin? 01:19 Senescence 01:32 Resorption 02:08 Abscission layer 02:34 What role does fall color play in leaf senescence ..read more