(gentle music) (orchestra music) - [Casey Hentges] Welcome to Oklahoma Gardening.

Today, we visit the Tulsa Catholic Charities to learn about how Shape Your Future has helped create a garden that is shaping the mind, body, and spirit.

We get tips on fertilizing our lawns.

We head to the College of the Muscogee Nation to learn more about their community garden and the Payne County extension intern hows us how to make a DIY hydroponic kit.

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.

(orchestra music) I love sharing with you guys the cool things that plants can do.

(orchestra music) 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.

(orchestra music) Today I am excited to be at the Eastern Oklahoma Catholic Charities main campus here in Tulsa and in their beautiful garden that's right here in the heart of their campus and joining me is Anita Mills.

Anita, you're the one that has the privilege of being the garden manager, right?

- Yes, indeed.

Thank you.

- It's a beautiful garden here.

Let's talk a little bit about how it got established and why it's right here in the center of everything.

It's the life, right?

- It is truly the life, and it has become an integral part of this campus.

It was not always so, this was bare ground, actually, it was grass and we had a garden over at the backside of the residences and nobody knew we had a garden.

But putting it here with the cross in the center just made all the difference in the world.

- [Casey Hentges] Right, so tell me a little bit about the mission of this garden.

- [Anita Mills] Our mission can be summarized in body, mind, and spirit.

We provide fresh air and exercise as well as feed people.

So it's good for health, physical health, mind, we teach, we learn every day what's going on in the garden and how everything works together but we also teach children that come and volunteer.

All of our volunteers learn and we're building some lesson plans.

So then there's soul and you can't be in a garden and amongst nature and stay stressed and anxious.

- [Casey Hentges] Right.

- It calms the spirit, calms the soul and I see staff out here periodically wandering through the garden, drinking in the green.

- Absolutely.

It's beautiful out here.

There's a lot of activity that's happening around us.

But this garden doesn't happen overnight.

This took a lot of effort.

You can tell there's a lot of material that went into this.

Let's talk a little bit about how you established the garden.

- [Anita Mills] The physical build has taken over a year.

From late 2022 to the end of 2023, and we have filled the beds without going out and getting truckloads of soil.

We have used waste from the market.

We have a garden bed over here that is composting underneath all of the rotten tomatoes that were coming out of the market.

- I love that idea.

That is terrific.

You might as well make the soil right?

- Yes!

- Yes.

- It's composting in place.

My grandmother used to dig a hole and put her kitchen waste in the hole and cover it up and then go over and dig another hole.

- Right, right.

- So you didn't need a compost pile.

But we have used what is available.

We now have six bales of moldy straw or moldy hay that came in from a staff member.

We're going to incorporate that as mulch and fill in the beds.

We've used mulch from the Greenway site.

We have put very little money into filling these beds because we have used what is available and at hand.

- [Casey Hentges] That's fantastic.

- And it means that other people get to participate.

When restored Organics just south of the freeway site was going out of business, they brought over five cubic yards of compost for us.

- Well, and I know you've got a lot of outside entities that have helped you build this.

I mean, this is a lot of labor that's gone into this.

- Yes.

- And who also is maintaining it as we go forward?

- [Anita Mills] I have a wonderful group of volunteers that are very engaged, who are knowledgeable gardeners and teach me things and we also get corporations who are doing service hours, we get schools that bring classes here for service hours.

It's a community resource.

It's a place to come and learn.

- Well, it looks like you guys are growing a lot, and you mentioned a little bit about this produce goes into your food offerings that you have for the community?

- Mainly, the food goes into the kitchen first.

- Okay.

- The kitchen prepares meals for the staff and volunteers daily, and then twice a week prepares food for all comers.

- [Reporter] Okay.

- [Anita] Including our neighbors.

Also, if there's a lot of overage, they will package things, like salsa mix or meal kits, and put it in the refrigerator or freezer case in The Market.

Our food pantry is a client choice pantry, which is called The Market.

- [Reporter] Okay.

- And it is a small supermarket, where people go up and down the aisles and choose what they want.

We have a couple of kiosks with fruit and vegetables, and last week, we harvested 73 pounds of onions.

One onion was three pounds, and we took it directly into The Market, and it was gone like that.

- That's fantastic.

- I would love to have a kiosk that says, "Fresh picked," but I don't know if we have that production capability yet.

- Well, and I know that you're having such success with this, that you're also hearing that some of your other satellite branches might be doing something similar with gardens.

Is that correct?

- Yes, three years ago we helped install a garden at St. Anne's in Broken Arrow next to the Mission of Compassion Food Pantry, and I just heard that they were putting their tomatoes and their produce that's coming out of the garden into their pantry.

Two months ago, I was down in Muskogee.

They had just expanded their garden, so we're offering them support as they need it.

We don't do, we consult, and when we get a number, a lot of resources, like a lot of seeds or a lot of plants, I will put out the word to them.

- [Reporter] Okay.

- [Anita] And let the take advantage of that.

- [Reporter] As a TSET Grantee, I know you guys received a grant.

Let's talk a little bit about how they benefited your garden here specifically.

- Oh, they've been wonderful.

Number one, most of the second phase, which was over 700 square feet of beds, were financed with the TSET grant.

It was wonderful, and then we did a joint workshop on beginning gardening here about, what was it?

May, I think.

(both laugh) - Well, gardening is contagious, and it looks like it's definitely catching on right here with Eastern Oklahoma Catholic Charities.

Thank you so much, Anita, for joining us.

- Well, thank you for coming out, and you're welcome in the garden anytime.

- Thank you.

- And we always need help.

- [Reporter] Well, let's get to it.

- [Anita] Okay, thank you.

(easy guitar music) - Joining me next is Sidney Suttles with TSET, and let's talk a little bit about why TSET invests in projects like this.

- Yeah, of course, so this garden is a way for people to access more nutritious foods.

This provides food for The Market, so clients can come in and access these more nutritiously dense foods, but it's also a way for people to be more physically active.

They can be out in the garden moving up and down and walking around and enjoying the sunshine, so TSET likes to invest in programs that help people make the healthier choice.

- And I know you also have another organization under the TSET umbrella, Shape Your Future.

Let's talk a little bit about what they provide to the clientele as well.

- Yeah, Shape Your Future is one of many programs at TSET, but what I think is neat about its connection with the garden here is Shape Your Future can provide information about how to use specific produce.

So maybe there's a vegetable you've never cooked with before and you're unfamiliar.

You can find recipes and ideas on the Shape your Future website.

- And this is just one example.

You guys have examples all over the state, correct?

- Yeah, TSET has a variety of programs, that span every county in Oklahoma, and so you can find more information about those on our website at OK.gov/TSET.

- And I know you guys provide a lotta different grants out into the communities as well.

Is there information on your website about that?

- Yeah, absolutely.

You can find everything you need on our website.

- All right, thank you so much.

- Of course.

- [Reporter] For more information about Shape Your Future, visit their website.

(easy guitar music resumes) - Hi, everyone, today we're going to discuss a fundamental aspect of turf grass management, fertilization.

Fertilization play a really important role in keeping your grass healthy.

It's directly affect several key characteristics, like color, density, uniformity, and growth rate.

The essential nutrients for turf grass grow, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and some micronutrients.

Nitrogen is especially important because plants need a larger amount for them to grow, and in a average Oklahoma top soil, there are minimal plant-available nitrogen that is available in the soil.

Phosphorus and potassium are also important, but they can stay in the soil much longer than nitrogen.

- And the plant doesn't need it as frequently as nitrogen.

So the first step before you develop your fertilization program is to do a soil test.

A soil test will tell you how much phosphorus, potassium you have in the soil, your soil pH, and so on, so forth.

If the soil test indicate you're low in phosphorus and potassium, you want to choose something more complete fertilizer.

Otherwise, you'll chose a nitrogen, straight nitrogen fertilizer.

A rule of thumb for turf grass fertilization is to do your fertilization during the time when turf grass is actively growing, when they develop a lot more roots than should.

There are other factors affect your fertilization program, such as the type of soil you have, your expectation, the species and the cultivar, the growing environment, and so on and so forth.

A lot of people in Oklahoma, they grow Bermudagrass, which is a warm-season grass.

They like warm weather, so you need to focus your nitrogen and other fertilizer during the time when they are active growing, from May to early September.

An example fertilization program is apply fertilizer using one pound of nitrogen on May 1 or two weeks after the spring green-up in your area.

And if you use quick-release fertilizer, make sure you water the area immediately or apply before a storm or sufficient rainfall.

You can then apply two pounds of slow-release fertilizer on June 1 and do it again on August 1.

So in this case, you do slow-release fertilizer, you can do a higher rate and less frequent.

If you do an August fertilization using slow-release, you can skip a early fall fertilization.

If you choose to using a quick-release fertilizer, you will want to reduce the rate to no more than one pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet.

And like I said, water the area immediately to avoid turf burn and loss of the nitrogen.

So for other people who are managing or growing cool-season grass, like tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, you really want to focus your fertilization program in the cool dates, starting from late September, early October, until in the spring.

We recommend putting down two or three pounds of actual nitrogen in the fall, and reducing it in the 1/2 amount in the spring.

So we don't really recommend putting too much or excessive nitrogen in the summertime, 'cause the grass is under stress.

So a example fertilization program is putting one pound or two pound of nitrogen in October and then apply again in December.

You want to split your spring fertilization to reduced rate in March and May and take a break after then until in the fall.

Another thing to keep in mind is simply increasing your fertilization program won't improve your turf quality.

Other practice, like mowing, watering, cultivation, needs to reflect the quality you aim for.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Thank you for watching.

(light music) - Today we are in Okmulgee at the College of the Muscogee Nation.

And joining me is Courtney Natseway, who is the extension educator here.

And Courtney, thank you so much for inviting us here to your garden.

- Yeah.

- So I love that with extension, you started with a garden.

(laughing) - Of course, yeah.

- Let's talk about this garden here.

And what's the purpose of it?

- So this is our teaching garden here on campus.

This garden is basically out here.

It was built by students, and we just use it kinda to teach them different gardening techniques, different pest management techniques, things like that.

- [Casey] So you've got a lot going on here.

It's beautiful.

And I know this is a fairly recent development, right?

Let's talk about- - Yeah.

- [Casey] Kinda the timeline of what you've done here.

- [Courtney] Yeah, so our extension program actually started in November.

- Okay.

- And then I started here in March.

So when I started here, it was still cool season, so there wasn't a lot growing out here.

And then, yeah, we started seeds my first week and transplanted 'em all outside, I wanna say about May.

So this is our first like full run in the garden ever.

- Well, you're doing an excellent job.

- Yeah.

- And your background is in horticulture, right?

- Yeah, yeah.

I actually graduated from OSU with a Bachelor's degree in Horticulture.

- Okay, well, it definitely shows you've got a green thumb.

Let's talk a little bit about what you're growing in here and how it's utilized.

- Okay, yeah, so we have a wide variety of crops.

I think this growing season, we just kinda planted a bunch of different types of seeds and just kinda saw what would grow out here, what would do well.

So we just have a lot of variety.

We have fruit crops, vegetables, flowers, medicinal plants, gourds, pumpkins, things like that.

- And of course you're incorporating plants that are tribally important to you guys.

- Yeah, yeah we have a lot of culturally significant plants.

We have some tobacco, we have gourds that they use at the stomp ground.

We have different corn varieties, a lot of different corn varieties from different tribal nations.

- [Interviewer] Because you guys have a corn festival, is that correct or?

- We have, we, yeah, a lot of grounds are doing their green corn festival now, or just wrapping 'em up, so, yeah.

- For us as Muskogee, we do have our relationship as a corn maybe describe as a tree of life for us.

And then we honor this corn into our communities every year around right after the solstice.

And we call it the purification process for the corn.

We fast in order to bring it into the communities.

Welcome it.

Don't touch any, don't eat any until, until after our ceremonies.

And then that's when we can use it and always possible.

- So Courtney, tell me a little bit about how you're utilizing this with the college and the students.

- So it's obviously a teaching garden.

We have students come out here and just kind of learn about gardening.

We have work studies that work out here, part-time.

We have a lot of students that come out and volunteer and I think, you know, even students just come out and hang out.

We have our environmental science club that we just started, so they kind of have their meetings out here and they'll come out here and play music and just kind of relax and hang out in the garden.

- So not only are they learning horticulture, but it's kind of their mental health space right, exactly.

That's awesome.

It's contagious once you start gardening.

- Yeah, it's a good spot to unwind after studying and stress of college and things like that.

You know, (birds chirping) - My favorite part about working out here is building community.

It connects me to my culture.

I've made a lot of friends.

It keeps me in shape.

This is something that I've always wanted to do with my life, helping people.

I didn't know initially how I was gonna do that, but being out here I see that this is the way that it's gonna happen.

I've seen progress be made before my own eyes and we're really working towards building community.

We volunteer a lot.

Just overall, my mental health for sure has greatly improved being out here.

This really means a lot to me.

It's been a passion project.

My first trimester out here, there wasn't really a lot of students that came out, but now going into my fourth trimester working in the garden, there's so many people that come out here just to enjoy it.

They volunteer their own time as well.

And really this is something that I love doing.

I had no idea that this is what I was gonna do with my life, but it's really made a huge impact in me.

And it's not just what I do out here.

Everyone else is a pretty big part.

They have introduced me to things from our culture and that means a lot.

I'm just happy being out here.

(birds chirping) - I would have to say my favorite part of being out here is building stronger relationships with other people and the amount of balance that being out in a garden and being around people brings in my life.

And I'm sure others too, but I would have to hurry up and do all my schoolwork, do all my classes, go to work, and just make sure I was out here as soon as possible because it's just amazing being out here every day.

My favorite part working with Courtney would have to be her teaching me almost everything that she knows because I've known her for the smallest amount of time and I feel like I have a good handful of knowledge that I could use day to day, even in my own personal garden.

- Well, I know you've worked hard to integrate this into the community.

Can you tell me a little bit about some of the partners you're working with?

- Yeah, so we've partnered with the Okmulgee Community Garden.

We actually just did a children's gardening program with them during the summer.

We just gardened with kids from, you know, seed to harvest.

We also partnered with OSU extension here in Okmulgee with their master gardener program.

So we provided scholarships for Muskogee citizens to get into to that master gardening program.

We taught a couple of the courses and yeah, our goal with that ultimately is just to teach master gardeners so that way they can teach other people how to garden, you know, and just kind of keep it going.

- And is this open to anybody or tribal members only or?

- Yeah, so the master gardening program is open to everybody.

Our ultimate goal with that is to start a Muskogee Master Gardener program where we kind of focus more on culturally significant plants and cultural gardening practices, things like that.

But that will also be open to the public.

- This is fantastic.

And if anybody wants more information about these programs, where can they find that on your website?

- Probably our extension page, the CMN extension page.

Our garden is also open to the public every Thursday from 11 to 12.

So anybody can come out and ask us questions, gardening related or not, and they can just come visit our garden and see it.

- Well, thank you so much.

- Hey y'all.

My name's Erynn Allison.

And today, we're gonna talk about how to make a simple and easy hydroponic system.

For those of you that don't know, a hydroponic system is a way to grow plants without the need for traditional soil.

So today, we're going to make our own recycled version with a water bottle.

First up, we're going to cut the water bottle about a half of a way down.

Now we have our part that will hold the media, and our part that will hold the water.

Next, let's take our cap and puncture a small hole through it.

This will allow for our wicking cord to come through the bottom of the vessel.

Let's take about a 10-inch cord.

It can be wicking cord that you buy on Amazon, but it can also be strings of tied together yarn.

Anything you have around your house will work.

Let's tie a knot about halfway through, so that it stays in position in your system.

You might have to use your scissors to get it to push through, but you can do it.

I believe in you.

Alright, now we have our wick coming through our system, we're gonna add water to the bottom.

For the water, it's really important that once we get our system established, that we're going to be changing that water every couple of days.

This will make sure that the water stays aerated and keeps our plants healthy.

So now that we've got the fundamentals of our system assembled, it's time to add in some soil.

Well, it's not soil.

It's a soilless media.

And so it's important that when you are making the selection, that you're not using dirt from your backyard because it doesn't provide the nutrients and support that this plant will need.

So today, I've got a soilless media mix that we're going to be using.

And so when we add this into the system, let's make sure that the wick is completely circling the system, so that it can absorb the water that it needs.

When we think about the water in the bottom of the system, it's also important to remember that it should be changed frequently, so that it stays aerated.

Not only does the system provide water, but it also provides the air that the plants need to survive.

Next, we're gonna select our plant.

We're gonna make sure that the roots are ready to be integrated, and that when we introduce it into the system that the wick is completely surrounding the roots also.

So today, we've made a simple and easy recycled hydroponic system.

For all of the little plant lovers in your life, this will be the perfect experiment.

Thank you.

(classical music) - [Announcer] There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

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

(classical music) Join us next week as we share updates on some garden projects, right here on "Oklahoma Gardening."

(classical music) - That's how that was established.

La la la.

Something like.

And joining me is Courtney Natseway who is one of the first county, or not, sorry, I'm used to saying county.

(classical music) - [Announcer] To find out more information about show topics, as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets, and other resources, including a directory of local extension offices, be sure to visit our website at oklahomagardening.okstate.edu.

Join in on Facebook and Instagram.

You can find this entire show and other recent shows, as well as individual segments on our "Oklahoma Gardening" YouTube channel.

Tune in to our "OK Gardening Classics" YouTube channel to watch segments from previous hosts.

"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's home to our studio gardens, and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful Stillwater gem.

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.

(classical music)