Segment 4 of S5E3 Garden question answered - The Gardening with Joey and Holly radio show

The gardening with Joey and Holly Radio Show heard weekly March - Oct

Email your questions to [email protected] Or call 24/7 leave your
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https://thewisconsinvegetablegardener.com/
Is segment four Joey and Holly answer gardeners questions

Greg from IL writes in who listens via podcast Hi! Love the show, it has been super helpful! Last year was my first year gardening, this year I am trying to start many of my plants from seeds. I have some pink plume celery started, they are in nutrient dense soil, are in a tray that waters from the bottom, they are under a grow light for 16 hours per day and I have a floor fan blowing on them. Many of the seedlings are still falling over! The light is probably 4 inches above the seedlings. What could be the cause of them not doing well? Thanks!

Thank you for your email and the kind words about the show we are happy that the show has been helpful for you. Based on your description of the situation my initial thought is that the plants are experiencing a disease called dampening off this is when the plants grow A few inches and then fall over at soil level and die off.The main cause is to much moisture. I would allow the soil to dry out much more than you are allowing it too. Also sprinkling cinnamon over the soil to help prevent the damping off.

Q
My wife and I work together on Tuesday and Saturday . We listen to you on our way to work. We are looking for an accurate PH meter for testing our garden beds and lawn areas. We bought a 110 year old house four years ago and we are looking at improving the lawn for greener grass and garden beds for flowers only. We only plant perennials. There is way too much animal life for outdoor vegetables and we both work two jobs. All of the reviews we have read suggest that there are no accurate PH meters for any price and the testing strips are just as bad. They suggest that you send the soil samples to a university for testing. Is this your experience as well? Love your show!
To get the most accurate data sending samples off to a lab is the best either from your local university or we also suggest https://www.mysoilsavvy.com/online-store/Soil-Savvy%E2%84%A2-p117274169
Your university may be cheaper to do soil testing. That said once you get that information you have a baseline in which you can buy a ph meter yes the cheap ones do give you a reading not as reliable as the more hi tech ones. You get your results from the lab then you can take your ph tester and test the ph to see how far off your meter is or is not. Then you know next year or the next time you can use your meter and know it is let's say +.2 off of what a lab result would be. so if the meter read 7.2 you know it is right around 7.0

Getting a baseline from a soil test then using a ph meter and knowing the Accuracy range based on the soil test we think is the best way to go then the meter can be used over and over.

A soil test from a local university from multiple areas of the yard would be the best accuracy. Choose where you’ll be putting perennials and also the lawn, test those areas. PH meters can be helpful, but a soil test itself is more accurate.

Q So, you CAN rutabagas in the spring? How soon? I just got some seeds and it's the end of Jan, can I still plant these seeds and get rutabagas this spring? That would be AWESOME!"
A:Yes you can plant them as soon as the soil warm up enough in your area

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