Segment 4 from S4E1 Garden questions answered for early March - The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener radio show

The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener Radio Show from
March – Oct weekly
Heard on Joy 1340 AM & 98.7 FM Milwaukee, WI Saturday mornings 7-8 AM CST http://player.listenlive.co/41841
Heard on WAAM 1600 AM & 92.7 FM Ann Arbor, MI Sundays 7-8 AM EST https://tinyurl.com/p68cvft
Heard on KDIZ 1570 AM Minneapolis, MN Saturdays 4-5 PM and replay Sundays 2-3 PM CST http://player.listenlive.co/57071
Heard on KFEQ 680 AM at 107.9 FM St. Joseph/Kansas City, MO Sundays 10-11 AM CST http://www.680kfeq.com/live-stream/
Heard on WRMN 1410 AM & 96.7 FM Elgin/Chicago, IL Sundays Noon-1 PM CST https://www.wrmn1410.com/
Heard on KYAH 540 AM Delta/Salt Lake City, UT Saturdays 1-2 PM MST Reply Sundays 9-10 PM MST https://www.yahradio540.com/listen-live/
Heard on KMET 1490 AM & 98.1 FM Banning, CA Tuesdays 9 - 10 AM PST April – Oct https://www.kmet1490am.com/
Heard on WCRN 830 AM Westborough/Boston, MA Saturdays 10-11 AM EST https://tunein.com/radio/WCRN-AM-830-Full-Service-Radio-s1112/
Heard on WOGO 680 AM & 103.1 FM Chippewa Falls, WI Sundays 9-10 AM CST https://www.christiannetcast.com/listen/player.asp?station=wogo-am
Check out https://thewisconsinvegetablegardener.com/
Email your questions to [email protected]
Or call 24/7 leave your question at 1-800 927-SHOW

In segment four Joey and Holly answer gardener's questions via email and phone call for early March .

1.How tall does a seedling need to be before planting it outside
A:The general rule of thumb is that when a seedling has three to four true leaves, it's large enough to plant out in the garden (after it has been hardened off)

2. Q 8: Nathan, ask I have failed miserably at gardening the past few years. So last year I did nothing but work on getting better soil. This year my goal is to start earlier with better seeds/seedlings. My question is can I put my seeds for seedlings out in my greenhouse right away or must I start indoors? I live in green bay. I am thinking starting tomatoes second week of April? Thanks.

A: Thanks for reaching out. You can start tomato seeds 2nd week of April in your greenhouse. You just need to make sure the temperature is around 68- 70 degrees and there is proper ventilation if needed. Depending on your greenhouse set up, that might not be warm enough. We start ours indoors as we don’t have a greenhouse, but we can watch them and know what temperature it is in our grow room area. Here is also a helpful link with other links listed in the article that will definitely help you: https://www.almanac.com/content/starting-seeds-indoors#

Q:Ash from the fireplace is it good for raised beds. Is this correct?

A: In small amounts, It sweetens the soil(raises the PH). Depends on what you are growing. It will raise the alkalinity of the soil which will harm plants that prefer more acidic soil. adding to much ash will make it more alkaline and most plants don't like that.

Q: How do you keep squirrels from eating all the bird seeds?

A: There are a couple of different ways in which you can fight the squirrel problem one you could attach cones to the bird feeders add a lubricant or a slinky to the pole . A more effective way is to either mix hot chili powder in with you or birdseed or they do have that type of bird seed available on the market birds cannot taste the heat in the chili powder but the squirrels can taste the heat and will go elsewhere.

Q: Can I use pressure treated lumber for raised beds ?

Pressure treated lumber is now treated with a copper material not arsenic as it was in the nineties. It is safe to use pressure treated lumber for raised beds. There maybe some leeching of the copper into the soil. However there are small traces of copper in your soil that is part of what plants need to use to grow it will last considerably longer

Check out the companies that make the show possible
Power Planter of www.powerplanter.com
Proplugger of www.proplugger.com
World's coolest rain gauge www.worldscoolestraing(continued)