- Today on Oklahoma Gardening, we discuss the five things to consider in order to have a successful garden.

Join us as we talk about soil prep, planting seeds, pruning, weeding, and irrigation.

Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, food and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma Green and growing Oklahoma.

Gardening is also a proud partner with Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust shape your future provides resources for Oklahomans to make the healthy choice the easy choice.

I love sharing with you guys the cool things that plants can do.

We're back here at the Student Farm.

I wanna share with you a tropical plant that you might find in some Oklahoma landscapes.

It's important to know which plants we are dealing with so that we can continue to maintain them successfully for years to come each spring.

People who have been gardening for years as well as people who might be new to gardening get excited about the idea of gardening.

They have optimism and enthusiasm for it.

Well, today we're gonna share five things to consider in order to start your garden off successfully.

Gardening can take on a lot of different forms and whether you are starting with an established garden space or you look at constructing a garden space, you first want to think about soil preparation.

And the best place to start is by soil sampling.

A soil sample will give you those baseline readings of the fertility that is in your soil and available for those new plants.

Now this is nice to do at the end of winter, early spring, before you start fertilizing so that you know exactly what you need to apply as you go through the season.

And if you think, well, I'll just keep doing what I've always done, it might not always end in the same results.

In fact, if you continue to do that, it has shown to lower the pH and also increase to excessive levels, some of those nutrients.

Plus you might be throwing your money away because it might not be necessary.

This is why soil sampling in the early stages of spring is a great way to get started.

Now for an ornamental herbaceous garden, you're kind of working with existing plants usually, and you can see here we have a lot of dead debris to deal with.

So at this point in March, you can see a lot of the green plants are coming on now.

And even though we've left this, it's important to leave it because it allows for winter protection and also for an environment for beneficial insects to over winter.

But at this point, it's time to remove this, allowing that vegetation to come on through.

So you can use pruners simply to cut some of this back.

Also, a, a large leaf rake or even one of these hand rakes is really nice to get all this debris out from around like day lilies and some of your other perennial crops here.

So we're gonna continue to do this, but this stuff is actually still beneficial in your garden.

So instead of just bagging it up and putting it out on the curb, make sure you add it into your compost pile.

Now for a vegetable garden, it's a little bit different, so you wanna make sure that you're going ahead and smoothing out the bed as much as possible.

You can use a the back of a leaf rake to really get that smooth.

And that's important so that when you're direct sowing your seeds that the seeds actually stay in place where you're planting them.

The other thing too is, is the nice opportunity based off of your soil test to go ahead and add any compost or any amendments that you might need to incorporate into the soil at this time.

Remove any old plants of course as well, or debris that you might find in your garden.

If you haven't ever cleaned out your vegetable garden from last season and you still have tomatoes and pepper plants in there, you wanna make sure to remove those.

And of course, if they didn't have diseases on them, you can add that to the compost pile as well.

Now, if you did grow a cover crop during the fall season or into the winter months, you wanna make sure that you begin to terminate that, and there's a couple of different ways to do that, but terminating that cover crop now will allow it to go ahead and incorporate into your planting soil before you actually plant your crop this season.

So go ahead and start getting those vegetable gardens ready.

Another option for gardening this season is of course container gardens.

Containers are a nice addition to the garden for accents or also if you're having a hard time getting down onto the ground level containers, really help elevate that a little bit more for you.

Now, if you are container gardening, you wanna make sure to always use potting soil or potting media, not actual top soil.

So potting media is composed of different materials, usually vermiculite, pearlite, sphagnum or peat moss, and also sometimes bark mulch that's mixed in here.

Basically it's a combination that it really allows that potting media to hold the moisture around that plant, but yet also adequately drain versus topsoil will not do that for you.

So if you have used containers previously and you have old potting media in there, you wanna make sure to go ahead and clean out that potting media because as it goes through a season, it breaks down and loses its ability to retain and also drain properly.

So if you didn't have any disease problems or any root problems last year, go ahead and use that in your compost pile when you're cleaning that out.

Now take advantage of having empty containers and also clean your containers with a 10% bleach solution.

Again, it'll just kind of prevent any pathogens from carrying over from season to season.

And finally, when you've got 'em all emptied and clean, it's time to go ahead and find you a nice potting soil to then fill them back up again and be prepared for this season.

The weather can often be unpredictable this time of year.

So on those warm days, make sure you're out doing your soil prep.

But on those colder days, it's time to settle in and start thinking about what you're gonna be planting out in your garden.

And you can do that in a couple of different ways.

There are several options as to how to go about planting your garden, one of those being starting your own transplants early.

Now, starting your own seeds may require a little bit of upfront investment.

You need some of your own containers, your potting soil, and usually a grow light and of course some dedicated space in your home in order to do that.

But one of the big advantages is the variety of seeds that you'll have available to you.

So you're gonna have a wider variety of plants that you can actually start versus what you might find later on growing at the garden center.

Also, it will in turn save you money because just for a couple of dollars for a pack of seeds, you can grow a whole lot of plants.

Another option for planting your plants is to direct sow your seeds.

And that means basically we're planting the seeds straight out into the garden.

There's a couple of benefits to this.

It allows the plant to get established without having to worry about transplant shock as you move it from where you've been growing it to out in the new environment.

So it allows it to kind of get used to and acclimate as it's growing and establishing itself.

Now the drawback is that they are very small so they can wash away, and you also have to be very vigilant about making sure and checking on 'em because as they start to develop, they just have a small root.

So you're gonna have to make sure that they have moisture as they develop.

Now it's not too early.

Go ahead, get your cool season crops out there, such as your leaf, lettuce, and spinach.

You can go ahead and plant that early 'cause they are cool season crops.

But also there are some warm season crops that you can direct, so such as some of your squashes and okra and corn later on in the season.

Another option for planting is to purchase transplants.

Perhaps the spring kind of snuck up on you and you didn't have time to actually direct so, or you didn't start your own transplants indoors.

You can always purchase them from a local garden center.

The nice thing about using transplants is it sort of gives you an instant gratification because they are usually about four to six inches tall when you purchase them.

So by putting them out in the garden, you're gonna have that nice look already of a plant being established there.

Now usually you'll buy those in a four or a six pack, or sometimes they come in a four inch pot.

So one of the benefits of buying transplants is it allows you just to get a couple.

So you could get just a couple of several different varieties versus a whole packet of seeds of one type of variety.

The other thing too is when you're planting these, you wanna make sure that you're planting them based off of the season that they're appropriate for.

So there are cool season transplants like chard that you can put out, or you wanna make sure to wait and plant your warm season crops like tomatoes and peppers after April 15th when there's no more concern of frost.

The other thing too is you wanna make sure if you're planting tomatoes and peppers in your garden, that you are either starting with transplants that you grew yourself or that you purchased.

This gives that plant a head start so that you ensure that you're gonna get fruit set before the summer heats up.

Now, when it comes to our woody shrubs and trees, one of the big questions that a lot of people ask about is when to prune them.

Well, that depends on the question of whether it blooms on old wood or new wood, and you're thinking old wood and new wood.

What's the difference?

Well, basically old wood and new wood determines when the plant is actually going to flower.

So here we've got a couple of plants next to us, some shrubs, and you can see this quince is already blooming early in the springtime.

One good indicator that it blooms on old wood is the fact that it blooms early in the spring.

So these flower buds actually were produced on last year's vegetative growth.

So if we were to prune this early in the spring, we would be removing these flowers so you wouldn't actually have seen this beautiful display.

This is an instance with flowering quince, the forsythias azaleas, and even some hydrangeas.

So be cautious and make sure to prune those after they're done flowering.

Now in front of us here we have some crate myrtles, and this is an example of a plant that blooms on new wood.

So you can see it's still dormant for the season.

It hasn't started producing any of that vegetative growth.

So in fact, plants that bloom on new wood, you can go ahead and prune early in the springtime.

It's not gonna do anything.

So if we wanted to maybe keep this in check a little bit, we could go ahead and lower this if we wanted to by pruning some of these branches out.

Because what's gonna happen is when the temperatures warm up, this is gonna produce some of that vegetative growth and then it'll produce those flower buds that you'll see later on in the summer months.

So we're not actually removing any flower buds by pruning it early in the spring.

So if it blooms on old wood, make sure to prune it after it blooms.

If it blooms on new wood, then go ahead and you can prune it this spring.

Now, when it comes to actually pruning, you wanna keep a few things in mind, and before you start cutting anything, you're gonna wanna identify anything that is dead and diseased because that's the material that you wanna remove first because it's not benefiting the plant anymore.

So of course, dead stuff is not doing anything and it's only gonna lead to more decay.

And anything that's diseased, you wanna make sure to remove it so that that disease doesn't potentially spread.

So first of all, prune anything that's dead and diseased out of there.

The other thing to look for is anything that might be crossing, crossing branches when our Oklahoma winds kick up, will rub on each other.

Creating an open wound, that's an invitation for insects and disease to actually penetrate into that plant tissue.

The other thing too is you wanna look at maybe having an open center or an open canopy because that will allow for better airflow that will reduce disease, allow any moisture to kind of dry off again, reducing the potential for pathogens to spread.

So think about creating an open canopy.

If you see any branches that are going into that canopy, think about removing those.

Again, allowing for that open canopy to develop more.

And also, a general rule of thumb is to never prune more than a third of the plant because you're reducing the amount of vegetation causing it to reduce how much it can actually photosynthesize and produce energy for that plant.

So make sure when you're pruning don't prune more than a third, and also to just kind of step back and take a look at it.

'cause you can always go back and prune a little bit more, but you can never glue more back on the plant.

Now let's talk about weeds.

But before we do that, I think it's important to define what a weed is.

A weed is simply a plant that is out of place, which means you as a gardener get to determine what is a weed as what is a desirable plant and which one you deem is out of place.

Now keep in mind though, as we've cleaned out our garden beds, weeds are simply plants and they will also enjoy the warmer temperatures and the more moisture that comes with spring, which means a lot of those weed seeds are gonna start germinating right along with your perennials that are growing and other seeds that you might've put out.

So here's a few tips to consider in order to control your weeds this season.

It is often said that one of the best things that you can keep in the garden is your own shadow, meaning that you should regularly be visiting your garden and visually inspecting that garden not only for the desirable plants, but also some of the undesirable plants or the weeds that you might be fine coming up.

Now, so often as a gardener, whether it's my gardener or not, a lot of times gardeners have this need to just wanna pull weeds when they see 'em.

And so something as simple as pulling a few weeds as you go through the garden can help eliminate that weed problem before it gets too big, especially if you get 'em while they're small.

Another way of suppressing your weed growth is simply by covering that warming soil, preventing some of those seeds from actually germinating.

And one of the best covers to put out into your garden is some shredded hardwood mulch.

So not only does it help the soil retain that moisture and the prevent the loss to evaporation, but it also will make it a little bit more difficult for some of those weed seedlings to get germinated.

The other benefit of adding hardwood mulch into your landscape is that it's also adding organic matter as it breaks down through the season.

Now there's one more option that you can use for weeds, and that is a pre or a post emergent.

Basically your chemical options.

So here we have a pre-emergent, which basically you just sprinkle it amongst your other plants.

It's not gonna affect anything that has already come up and germinated.

However, it will prevent some seeds from germinating, specifically weed seeds, but you always wanna make sure to check the label so that if you have put out beneficial seeds, that it doesn't interfere with their germination as well.

And finally, the last thing you wanna keep in mind is anytime you're using any sort of herbicide is that you always check the label because the label is the law.

The other thing is, is you might look at a post emergent.

So if you see weeds that are coming up already, then as the name applies, you would wanna apply a post emergent meaning that you apply it to green weeds that are already up and that will cause them to die.

The other thing to consider is herbicides are either selective or non-selective.

So a selective herbicide might target a specific type of plant like a grassy weed or a broadleaf weed, whereas non-selective herbicides will basically be detrimental to anything that is green.

So again, whether this is an option for you or not, that is up for you to choose, but it is an option also to help you have a successful garden this spring.

Having a proper water system in place is fundamental to having a successful garden.

So often people start planning where their garden's gonna be and the first question I always ask is, where is your water source located?

Because you wanna make sure that you're putting your garden near your water source.

There's nothing worse than growing a beautiful garden and then forgetting about it for a couple of days.

And in our Oklahoma summers, a couple of days without water can be detrimental to your successful garden.

So make sure you have a good water system.

Now, a couple of things.

If you have an irrigation system already in place, it's time to make sure you do an irrigation audit.

Make sure you've changed those batteries if you have a battery operated controller because again, you don't want that to be the reason your water fails.

The other thing is go ahead and run the cycle, even though you might not need the irrigation just yet, run it so that you can ensure that there are no leaks in your system.

You also wanna make sure that the spray is still going in the proper locations.

Plants grow, things break over the winter and you just wanna make sure that it's going to water your garden properly.

If you don't have an irrigation system, I might suggest getting a faucet timer.

Again, a lot of times these are battery operated, so you wanna make sure you've changed the batteries in them, but this is a nice way to easily hook up your hose to an automatic irrigation system as well.

If you haven't done irrigation at all, you might consider using drip irrigation.

Drip irrigation is a great way to reduce evaporation and put the water exactly where it needs to go at the base of the plants.

The other thing is you don't wanna forget about your containers and hanging baskets.

Usually they're much smaller and so they're going to dry out faster.

Also, a lot of times they're either elevated or even hanging up in the air, and so they're gonna be exposed to that higher ambient air temperature as well as the wind causing them to dry out faster.

In fact, it might be a good rule of thumb to check those daily if you don't have them on an irrigation system.

But another simple fix to that is to check into getting a container irrigation kit.

These are kits that you can easily a adapt to your system and incorporate your containers in your hanging baskets into your irrigation system, making them a little bit easier as you go into those hot summer days.

Now finally, if you don't have irrigation at all and you're relying on a hose, make sure that you're putting your garden somewhere that it's easily visible and accessible with a hose if you have containers.

And don't put 'em by your front door if you're always entering your house through your garage, 'cause you're never going to see those containers until it's too late.

Put 'em maybe by the back door where you frequently come in and out of your house so that daily you see that visible reminder that it's time to water your garden.

So there you have it, soil prep, planting, pruning, weeding, and watering.

Those are the five things you need to keep in mind as we head into the growing season.

Now, I know this can all be a little bit overwhelming, especially if you're a new gardener, but the two biggest pieces of advice that I always give to new gardeners is one, to have fun with it.

And two, regardless of what you're trying to grow, what you're really growing is your confidence in being a gardener.

There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

Be sure and consider some of these events in the weeks ahead.

If you're missing fresh garden vegetables.

Join us next week on Oklahoma Gardening, - Nutritional You Are, act Thanks.

Dang it.

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Oklahoma Gardening is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

The Botanic Garden at OSU is home to our studio gardens and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful Stillwater G. We would like to thank our generous underwriters, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, food and Forestry, and Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

Additional support is also provided by Greenleaf Nursery and the Garden Debut Plants, the Oklahoma Horticulture Society, the Tulsa Garden Club, and the Tulsa Garden Center.