(gentle music) (classical orchestral music) - Welcome to "Oklahoma Gardening".

Today we learn from an Oklahoma gardener who has transformed his yard into a native landscape.

We learn about the Yard By Yard program.

We head to Perkins to see what's growing.

Riley Coy shares advice on summer tree planting.

And finally, Christie has a refreshing watermelon lemonade.

(classical orchestral music continues) Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma green and growing.

(classical orchestral music continues) "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.

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

(classical orchestral music continues) We're back here at the student farm.

(classical orchestral music continues) I wanna share with you a tropical plant that you might find in some Oklahoma landscapes.

(classical orchestral music continues) It's important to know which plants we are dealing with so that we can continue to maintain them successfully for years to come.

(classical orchestral music continues) Today we're here in Northwestern Oklahoma City at the Ruckers' home, and joining me is Jamie Rucker.

Jamie, thank you so much for inviting us here into your backyard.

- Thanks for coming.

- It's a beautiful native landscape that you guys have designed here, and I think sometimes people think it's wild and crazy, but you've done an excellent job.

Let's talk about your plant choices here.

- Yeah, so right now, you guys came at a good time, so everything's starting to bloom.

We got the Mexican hats, we've got the Golden Crownbeards coming up everywhere.

Englemann's daisy, one of our new favorites.

- [Casey] Yeah.

- [Jamie] So, yeah, - And I know even walking back here, you've maximized that space in the side yard.

That's a lot of times just wasted space.

- Yeah, we kinda wanted to have a full loop around, and a lot of times, side yards are just kind of ugly and a pain to mow.

And so yeah, we made ours, we call it Caterpillar Alley.

So we plant a lot of the host plants back there.

And a lot of these are host plants, but especially, you know, the dill and the milkweeds and those kind of things - Absolutely.

And you're greeted by a nice little hedge of sand plums there.

And I know you've got some other edibles.

Let's talk about those.

- Yeah, so we've got some small raised beds here, but really a lot of the edibles are planted amongst, so, like you said, the sand plums.

And we've got grape arbor over there.

We've got our blackberries.

And then also we really have some wild strawberries growing up as ground cover.

So we're really excited about those.

- So when you're out here gardening, you can- - Yeah.

- Kinda take advantage of some of those.

- Yeah.

- And so you're not only feeding the pollinators, but you also provide 'em with a little bit of water too.

- Yeah, so the great thing with that is... And we actually have a camera over there.

- [Casey] Oh, okay.

- So where we get to see all the things that come at night.

So we've got a whole bunch of raccoons in the middle of the city.

Possums every night.

We have a skunk too.

Yeah, we smell him and see him.

And then we actually have a big mouse that lives underneath our ramp.

- Oh, really?

- So he goes out- and he goes out and we see him when we're out here at night.

- Okay, all right.

So the wildlife is finding your backyard.

- Yeah.

- Is it fun and entertaining?

I mean, y'all- - Oh, yeah.

That's what you wanted, right?

- Well, that's why we did it.

because Lauren loves insects, everything, spiders, wasps, bees, all of that.

So that's really how we got into the natives is we wanted to have hosts for 'em.

And then, yeah, so she's also volunteers at Wild Care and so help rescue, rehabilitate those animals, those native wildlife.

So that's a great thing with the pond.

We get to see a lot of them.

- Okay, and you kept a little bit of lawn too, right?

Because I mean, you gotta have- - [Jamie] Yeah.

- [Casey] Some space to kind of have different events and things like that.

- [Jamie] Yeah, kind of our vision was that it wouldn't be just completely overgrown, everything, but that when people came in, they could see, "Hey, I could do this in my backyard."

It looks nice, but it's also full of plants for wildlife.

Got all our little bees coming out now.

- [Casey] Well, and I know you're gonna continue to have blossoms going through the summer and into the fall.

And so what's nice about that is it continues to evolve, right?

- [Jamie] Yeah, so really, we've got a lot of stuff.

You know, these ironweeds are gonna be coming up.

And also, we've got these Rudbeckias everywhere that'll be blooming a little later.

And then the goldenrods, that's our favorite.

- Absolutely.

Absolutely.

well, I see Lauren over there with your new baby, so I'm gonna go check on with her a little bit.

- All right, sounds good, thank you.

(gentle music) - [Casey] Hey Lauren, how are you doing?

- [Lauren] Hi, doing good.

- I love this little garden you've created for your baby, Zoe.

Tell us a little bit about the evolution of your garden in general.

- Well, when we started out, we kind of just looked at one section of our yard and said, "What if we planted flowers here?"

And then as we started to learn more about gardening and landscaping and planning, we would kind of pick a project to do for the year and put all the elbow grease and work into it, put it together and then, you know, through the winter, kind of reflect on it and see what we thought.

And then the next year we'd say, "Yeah, we really like that.

How can we expand it?

How can we, you know, do something else in our yard?

- So this has been, what, a four year process or- - A four... Four years of hard work.

- Okay.

And you had a baby in that time.

How did you manage it all?

(laughs) - We have amazing grandparents, for one.

But you know, at first we really tag team.

We would trade off taking care of the baby while one of us is out here doing the work.

- [Lauren] And then, you know, when we can, we would bring Zoey out here with us.

And would just bring her into the gardening, and sometimes the gardening would go slower because of that, but it was always more fun.

And but when we do hard work and hard projects, we would wait 'til she goes to bed.

- Okay.

- And then we break out our headlamps and we night garden until we (laughing) couldn't anymore.

- Well, it's a little cooler then, at least.

(laughing) - It's so much cooler.

It's breezy.

There's not as many bugs.

We actually really prefer it to gardening in the middle of the day.

- So when you guys built or bought this house, it was just a Bermuda grass backyard, right?

- Let's- - Yes.

- [Casey] How did you find, you know, your resources and that sorta of thing?

- [Lauren] Well, you know, at first, we would just go to Home Depot and buy plants.

But there's just so many plants.

They weren't doing great.

So then we were like, "Well, you know, what grows well in Oklahoma?"

And we went to a local flower and garden festival.

We met a native plant seller, and she got us into the Native Plant Society and the Native Plant Network.

And we made a lot of amazing friends who had tons of knowledge and connections, and they really got us into native plants.

And there's so many varieties.

There's so much fun you can do with them.

We've got over 100 species of native plants.

- Wow.

- In our yard so far.

And you know, we've just, we've loved it, and they're low-maintenance.

They're easy to take care of, which is great when you're trying to keep a little human alive too.

(Casey laughing) - Absolutely, you found your network of people to support you in both regards, right?

- Yes.

- (laughing) Well, I love your little signs that you've created here with your senses and your smell and touch and things like that for Zoey to enjoy.

But I've also seen you're expanding the design to the front yard too now.

- [Lauren] Yes, we're trying to minimize the lawn in our front yard, and we've really enjoyed just enjoying our backyard and taking walks through it.

And we'd love for our front yard to be something similar, where we actually enjoy, you know, exploring it, going through it, playing with Zoey in the swing, and not just having, you know, a blank lawn.

- Well, thank you so much for sharing this with us.

It's just been a pleasure to experience your backyard and also hear about your story.

- Yes.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much for coming.

(light music) - We're now in the front yard, and joining me is Marcus Long with Oklahoma Conservation Commission.

And today we're talking about the Yard By Yard program, which is a great program to support native plant landscapes.

So let's talk a little bit about this program.

- Yeah, yeah, so the Yard By Yard program, it was started in 2020, just before the pandemic.

So it kinda got off to a slow start, but now on the other side, we're moving pretty quick.

And it's all about encouragement for homeowners to do eco-friendly landscaping.

And that can be anything from planting a pollinator garden or making your own compost, growing your own food.

Yeah, Jamie's yard is a perfect example of focusing on natives.

- [Casey] They're doing a little bit of everything here, right?

- Yes, yeah.

- [Casey] And so does it have to be in the front yard or the backyard?

What are some of the regulations for applying for Yard By Yard?

- [Marcus] So the Yard By Yard application, it's kinda split up into four categories: soil health, water conservation, food production, and wildlife habitat.

And in order to qualify for the program, you have to check one box within each of those categories, and you have to check five boxes total.

- Okay.

- The boxes that you'll be checking would be practices that you're participating in.

So boxes that Jamie is checking is he is using organic mulch.

You know, that's a box that you would check for soil health, right?

He uses drought-resistant plants.

That's a box he could check for water conservation.

He plants native host plants, like milkweed.

That's a box he could check for in wildlife conservation.

- So he's probably got more than just five to (laughing) actually check, right?

- Yeah, he's checking a lot, yeah.

- Yeah.

- But that all to say that there's a wide breadth of qualifying for the program and then maybe going to the extent that Jamie and Lauren are going where they're kind of all-out.

You can garden in your landscaping beds, and you can still qualify for the program.

It's really all yeses.

The program is meant to be encouragement.

There's only one no.

- Okay.

- And that's no use of pesticides.

- Okay.

Okay, so let's talk a little bit about, you know, adding and creating a native landscape.

You can see in the front yard, it's still new.

It's still starting.

So I think sometimes it's an education process for what people should have as far as their expectations, right?

- Oh, definitely.

You know, most native landscaping plants are perennials.

They kinda have to go through an establishment period before they get big.

It might ebb and flow a little bit.

There's a little work on the front end.

You know, right here in front of us, Jamie had to shovel all this mulch to get rid of the Bermuda.

And that's a lotta work, you know?

And then you still have to establish plants.

And whether it's native plants or ornamentals, that establishment process still requires things like watering, keeping the weeds down, all that classic gardening stuff.

- [Casey] Yeah, and he has sprinklers out here.

I think that's kind of a big misconception is you don't have to water natives.

But in order to get 'em established, you need to help 'em, right?

- Oh, for sure.

And I think any Oklahoma gardener is well aware that there's not many happy plants in July and August (Casey laughing) in Oklahoma, especially in sunny- - Spots.

- Right.

- [Marcus] Dead plants are part of nature.

- Absolutely.

- [Marcus] But we don't necessarily want that in our front yards, right?

- No.

- We want our front yards to be beautiful, so they still require a little bit of care.

All that stuff you do for your other gardens, your ornamental gardens, like pruning, watering to establish...

It's still relevant.

- Right.

- Hopefully, it's a little bit less after plants are established, but the work's definitely still there.

- So they're hopefully gonna get some deeper roots to be able to tap into that longer supply of water that we get right now in the springtime, right?

- 100%, yes.

Yeah, yeah, but definitely more drought-resistant.

- So I would imagine having your signs out.

That's a sign that you guys provide for anybody that has applied for this and actually been approved through it.

- [Marcus] Yeah, yeah.

So that's kind of probably the big prize at the light at the end of the tunnel for people who apply to the Yard by Yard program, you get a sign.

This sign kind of helps let your neighbors know that, "Hey, what I'm doing here is intentional.

I don't just have a crazy, weedy patch, but these are native plants that are serving an ecological purpose.

And also gives them something to Google, right?

Some people might see a garden and be like, you know, "What is that person doing?"

But now, they can google Yard by Yard, you know?

What is Yard by Yard?

- Right.

- [Marcus] They learn about eco-friendly landscaping.

They learn about native landscaping just by kind of having a sign out front.

- Well, I think this is a great educational program.

It makes it look intentional.

Is this a statewide program or... - Yeah, yeah, so the Yard by Yard program, it is a statewide program, but in order for it to kind of come to your house, your county has to approve it.

We have about 30 counties that participate.

Our biggest, most busy counties are Cleveland County, Oklahoma County, and Tulsa County.

And the reason for that is 'cause Yard by Yard is targeted at urban populations.

The Conservation Commission, it started in the '30s after the Dust Bowl, and it was only really interacting with commodity crop farmers, you know, corn and wheat, to try to help them improve their soil health and kind of save Oklahoma soils.

The Yard by Yard program is a step for the Conservation Commission into urban environments.

We want to get involved with all landowners, big and small, and this is kind of our way of doing that.

- This is fantastic.

So if people want to find out more about this, where can they find that?

- Yeah, they can check us out on Facebook, the Yard by Yard Community Resiliency Project, or they can check out our website, okconservation.org.

- Excellent, thank you so much, Marcus.

(country music) Today we're down here at the Cimarron Valley Research Station in Perkins, Oklahoma.

And joining me is Dr. Tyler Mason, who is our new vegetable extension specialist.

Dr. Mason, thanks for having us down here.

- So good to have you, you're welcome.

- Yeah, I always enjoy coming down and seeing what research is going on, and I know you've got a lot of different trials and you actually started some last fall.

Let's go ahead and get started with what you've got.

- Yeah, in the background, you can see some weedy plots.

In between the weeds is some garlic growing.

We wanted to do a low input study for garlic to see which varieties would be top performers in Oklahoma.

So we're doing a variety trial.

We're growing 10 different entries, both hardneck and softneck.

- Okay.

- [Dr. Tyler] And we wanna see how they perform.

And today my student is with me today, Victor Ware.

He's helping us harvest the garlic.

And then in the front, I have some other projects that I'm also managing.

These first two rows are tomatoes, and we want to evaluate management techniques for nematodes in tomatoes.

- Okay.

- [Dr. Tyler] And then... - Which is a big problem?

Right, I mean, - Yeah, it is.

- it makes the root not nematode.

Once you have it in the soil- - You can't do much for it except for treat it or grow resistant varieties.

- Okay.

- And then I also have a tomato variety trial planted for market growers.

We wanna find those unique, delicious-tasting, and high-yielding tomato varieties.

And then one of my personal passions is the delicata winter squash.

- Okay.

- I think it is the most- - Is that what this is?

- Yes, it is.

Yeah, yeah, I have a whole row of delicata winter squash.

And we want to know what is a good performing small, personal-sized squash for the Oklahoma garden.

- Okay.

- And then I also want to evaluate techniques for integrated pest management for squash bugs.

- Oh.

- It's a major problem as you know.

- Yes.

- I'm sure you've covered it.

- Everybody's looking for the answer on that one still.

- Yeah, exactly.

So we're trying an integrated pest management approach where we're growing some from seed and some from transplant to see if you have a larger transplant in the season isn't more resistant to squash bugs because there's more biomass to protect them.

- Gotcha.

- And then we'll cover some with insect netting, and then we will spray pyrethroids to manage squash bugs and then we'll spray and cover as a integrated approach.

- Okay, and you said, is this a winter squash or a summer squash?

- It's a winter squash.

- Okay, okay.

- Yeah.

- Delicata is a winter squash.

- Okay.

- [Dr. Tyler] Kinda the focus of my first year has really been research, so that way I have something to extend.

- [Dr. Mason] Going into the season to help growers.

- Well, Dr. Mason, we know you've been busy, and we look forward to hearing some of the results that you have for us this season.

- Thank you.

I'm excited to share them with you.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Today, joining me in the garden is Riley Coy with the Oklahoma Forestry Services, and Riley, things are heating up, and I know I'm not the only one that wants to hide in the shade this time of year, but is now the best time to be planting trees?

- Absolutely.

No, I'm feeling it too.

(Casey laughing) Pretty blazing right now.

Unfortunately, no, now is not the best time to be planting trees.

You're gonna really wanna look for anything below 80 degrees to have the highest chance for success.

Can you get away with planting it right now?

If you do everything properly and really baby that tree, yeah, you can get away with it.

It's been done, but your chances for success go way down at this time of year.

- [Casey] Okay, and I've kind of heard a rule of thumb as to you can plant a tree in any month that has the letter R. So you're leaving out May, June, July, August?

- [Riley] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Is that a good one?

- That's exactly right, yeah - Okay, so those four summer months, let's avoid planting trees, basically, - Right.

- because of the temperatures.

- Absolutely, yeah.

- Is it affecting the upper growth, or is it the root establishment?

Like what is it that's really, just?

- Well, you gotta look at layers of stress on a plant, any plant, not just trees.

Whenever you're sticking it on the ground, it's gotta go through that transplant shock.

If you add oppressive heat or dryness or water holding capacity and clay soils on top of all of that, then that's just a recipe for failure, honestly.

- Right, okay, so it's just undue stress that's added to it.

- You just wanna take away some of those layers of stress.

And planting in the right time of year is just gonna not add that major layer of stress that can mean the difference between success or failure.

- Okay, so maybe when we get into September, that has an R in the month, we can start thinking about going and purchasing trees and getting 'em on the ground.

Now, I know there's always been a little bit of debate about how to properly plant a tree.

Can you clear up some of those myths?

Do we amend the soil?

Do we stake?

Do we cage it?

Let's talk about once we're putting it in the ground, what do we need to do?

- There's a lot of ifs, ands, and buts, but just kind of the rules of thumb.

Do not amend the soil.

Put the tree directly from the pot into the soil.

Go ahead and check the roots.

Make sure there's no gurgling roots.

Make sure your hole is two times wider.

Plant the tree high, it won't die, as we always say.

So you want the root ball to be a little bit above grade.

That way, you can anticipate the sinking of the tree as the macropores in the soil deflate.

- Resettle, yeah.

- Right, right, so the tree will settle.

Really, that's all you gotta do.

You just stick it in the ground, and let the tree do the rest.

If you make that hole really, really desirable, then the roots aren't gonna escape that hole.

They're just gonna circle around in that hole.

So that's what happens when people try to amend the soil as they're planting a tree.

You kinda wanna treat the tree a little bit badly so that it's forced to get out there and establish itself.

That's gonna make the tree more resilient and more likely to have a long-lasting life.

- Okay, and I know you've mentioned, you said make the whole two times as wide as the diameter.

I think that's a critical thing because I think a lot of times, we think the roots go down, but on trees, they're going out, right?

- Absolutely.

Most of the trees are gonna be in the top 18 inches of soil, and they're gonna be at least as big, usually bigger, than the canopy of the tree that you see above ground.

So they're not a mirror image of each other, like I was taught in grade school.

It's more like a lollipop sitting on top of a plate.

- Okay, all right.

Good to know.

And then it's staking or caging, and we've got deer in Oklahoma, right?

- Yeah, yeah, caging, for some species, is really, really necessary, especially depending on where you're at.

The further west you go, the more important this is.

Staking, there's a lot of debate between staking, whether you should do it, whether you shouldn't.

In Oklahoma, we experience really strong winds.

So it's a smart idea to stake your trees in Oklahoma.

If they're really protected in a forested area or heavily treated area, it might not be necessary to stake your tree.

You're just gonna have to use your judgment on that.

- Okay, but the stakes are not there to hold the tree up, right?

They're there to support it through those heavy winds.

Is that- - Correct.

You want the tree to have some sway to it so it can develop the taper down at the base of the tree.

That's what's gonna give you a strong tree in the future.

- I say it's like abs on a tree, right?

- Yeah, it's like abs or like the quads on a tree, you know?

You want those to develop and get strong.

If you've got those stakes pulled tight, that tree has no sway.

It's not using those muscles, so it's not gonna develop that taper.

- Right, and so when you do take those stakes off, then it might just snap the next time - It's just gonna be floppy.

Right.

- Okay, and checking our stakes, can we talk about that too?

'Cause I think that's always important as well, making sure that how long can we go with our stakes on our tree, basically?

- Yeah, go out there, and, you know, maybe once a year.

You're really only gonna need your stakes on for probably the first two to three years.

But after that second-year mark, go out there, give that tree a little shake, pull it back, see if it snaps back on its own.

If it can snap back on its own, if you can give it quite an extreme bend that it goes back with no problem.

- Take those stakes off.

It doesn't need it anymore.

- All right, well, thank you.

We'll remember all of this information come September.

Thank you so much, Riley.

- Absolutely.

Thanks for having me.

- Thanks.

(cheerful acoustic music) - Today, we're out in the garden.

And what better to have on a hot day outside than either some fresh watermelon, or an ice-cold glass of lemonade?

Well, today, we're having both.

We're gonna make watermelon lemonade.

Now, to start this recipe, you're gonna need about four cups of chopped watermelon.

I'm using seedless watermelon, but you could use regular watermelon with the seeds.

You would just wanna try to cut around, so that you don't have as many seeds for what you're end up putting in the blender.

So, we're gonna go ahead and put our watermelon into the blender.

(glass knocking) And then, we'll start adding our lemons.

We're gonna want about a cup and a half of lemon juice, and that's equal to about six large lemons.

So, we'll just cut these in half, and then we'll try to squeeze as much juice out of each one of these as we can.

And we should end up with about 1 1/2 cups.

Okay, and now that we've got all of our lemons juiced, we'll go ahead and add that to the blender, along with our watermelon.

And now, we will just blend it up until it has a liquid consistency.

(blender whirring) Okay, and now that looks nice and blended, so we can go ahead and pour it into our pitcher.

And then, the next thing, we're gonna add a 1/2 cup of sugar.

Okay, and then we'll just give that a little stir.

(spoon knocking) And then, we're gonna add six cups of water to our pitcher.

(water pouring) Okay, and then we'll give it another little stir, make sure everything is nice and mixed.

(spoon knocking) And this drink is gonna be loaded with vitamin C and really a good source of hydration for you and your family on these hot summer days.

But really, that's it.

We're gonna go ahead and pour it into our glasses, with ice, and it will be ready to enjoy.

(drink pouring) So, again, this is the watermelon lemonade.

I hope you give it a try.

I'm sure your family is really gonna like this.

(cheerful orchestral music) - [Announcer] For this recipe and more like it, scan this QR code.

(cheerful orchestral music continues) There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

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

(cheerful orchestral music continues) Join us next week on Oklahoma Gardening, as we head out to the ballpark.

(cheerful orchestral music continues) - The... - Rudbeckia Maxima.

- Shoot.

- Yeah.

- Gosh.

I screwed up that.

- well, Tyler.

Sorry, no.

Okay.

- That's fine That's all right.

- [Speaker 1] That one.

- [Speaker 2] Don't get this one.

(cheerful orchestral music continues) - [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.

(cheerful orchestral music continues) Join in on Facebook and Instagram.

(cheerful orchestral music continues) 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 OKGardeningClassics YouTube channel to watch segments from previous hosts.

(cheerful orchestral music continues) 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 gem.

(cheerful orchestral music continues) 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.

(cheerful orchestral music continues) 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.

(cheerful orchestral music continues)