- Welcome to Oklahoma Gardening.

Today we start by looking into the future of our industry as we showcase FFA members who are working hard to learn horticulture skills.

Dennis Martin Scouts for winter kill in Turf Grass.

Ann Christie is whipping up a quick dish in the kitchen.

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.

Oklahoma Gardening 50th anniversary.

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

- People in Oklahoma love their gardens.

- I feel like this is the People's Show.

We all know we're working towards the common goal and that's to produce the best quality television and information for our audience.

Hey everyone, I just wanna remind you about our youth gardening contest that we're hosting here on Oklahoma gardening.

So entries are due the end of this month, May 30th, that Friday.

Please get your entries in and you can do that by submitting them to our email addresses.

Just as a reminder, if you are a youth ages 12 through 18 and have an interest in a project that you've been working on related to gardening or horticulture, we wanna hear about it.

So send us a few photos.

Also a brief description about what your project is and also how you got involved in it.

We know that there's a lot of youth out there that are gardening and we wanna hear from you.

Again.

This might be your summer to be on tv.

There's been an influx of high school students recently here on OSU campus.

And joining me today is Dr.

Rob Terry, who's here to talk to us about the FFA Career development events.

Dr. Terry, thank you so much for joining us.

- So you, yeah, I'm very happy to be with you.

- So you kind of oversee all of these career development events for people who might not be familiar, can you tell us a little bit about what they are?

- Yeah.

So we can trace back CDEs to Livestock Judging contest way back a century ago, and that's kind of the founding of FFA, you're part of it.

So it started from that and it's expanded to more than 30 events that focus on career development as well as leadership development.

Ideally it starts in the classroom.

The students would learn about that area of competency and the teacher would offer, Hey, if you want to go compete in this and find out how, how good you really are, we're gonna work in the evenings or early in the morning and we'll have workouts and go to different places, practice contests and so forth.

Leading up to competing at the state contest.

So there's really three components of school-based ag education.

There's the classroom component, there's the FFA, which people are familiar with.

There's also supervised agricultural experiences, which are really experiential learning and agriculture.

To me, CDEs fit right in the middle and the confluence of those three where they're learning in the classroom, getting to do the work on their own with supervision from their teacher and then get to compete through the FFA organization.

Some of the events range from pardoning procedure contest, nursery landscape, turf grass and flora culture that are specifically related to horticulture.

Where the rubber really hits, hits the road is where they get to do this experience and show what they know through activities.

- Maiden hair, so you got that right.

Flat leaves.

I see a lot of growth.

I know a couple of my kids on my floral team, they'll randomly be out placing, be like, oh, I know what that is, or I know what that is.

Or they'll send me pictures going, Hey, this is this.

And so it's pretty cool seeing them go from not knowing much to knowing a whole lot.

- I chose to do floral culture just because in general I really like plans.

I've always been fascinated about them and I wanted to like learn more about it and see how far I could go with it.

We have a greenhouse, which we go to like practice ID together.

We'll like set out plants and say, Hey, name all these plants.

Just stuff like that.

- A lot of schools that have greenhouses, they collect these plants.

Of our 30 teams, half of 'em have a greenhouse, so that'd be 15 roughly.

And of that 15, probably six or seven actually try to keep these plants in stock.

- The events have been put together for them and to kind of enhance what they're doing and to show what they're learning in class and then compete with each other to see who's learned it the best.

We had more than 3000 students pre-registered as far as management on our side, we have a class ag at 32 0 1, which students can enroll in primarily agricultural education students.

Okay.

That we'll start working in January with our planning and then the superintendents like Mr. Hillock will start working on that months in advance, making sure their guidelines, the rules are as they should be.

We go through the whole process of determining the different components of the contest, making sure that we're delivering what we said we would do.

- So you guys get to be on Oklahoma gardening, by the way.

So hope you're okay with that.

Sure.

That's right.

Okay, so you have your score sheets.

Again, you can use that as a reference for the things we're gonna score you on this year.

We just completed the potting of nursery stocks.

We get these rooted cuttings or liners and then they have to prepare them for potting and get 'em potted up into containers and do it appropriately - Throughout the year.

We've been working in the greenhouse making arrangements to prepare for our plant sale.

And then today we got to get a potting container in five plants and we got to make an arrangement with those five different plants.

It's - Not, it's not, it's a double snap.

It's a double one.

I've been doing floral culture for a while and turf grass is a new one.

They learn a lot with turf, different seeds, and then the tools take care of those if you're using them on a golf course or a baseball field or just your own home lawn.

- So I used the the landscape nursery contest as a, as a basis and kind of merged it with the Collegiate Turf Bowl contest that that exists because I wanted something that was familiar that ag teachers could wrap their heads around and it wouldn't be too big of a leap.

So similar makeup with a written exam ID and practicum.

But you know, each is kind of tweaked to, to better represent the the turf management specifically.

- Every contest we've gone to has been leading up to this.

It's just kind of a cool thing.

Just be like, Hey, I'm here at State, I have to go out and give it my all.

- So the students that end up in the top spots will be recognized at the state FFA convention.

They'll get to go up on stage and receive their trophies and plaques, hear their name over the loudspeaker, and have family friends get to cheer for 'em as they go across stage.

The next step will be for most of these events, they now qualify for the national event, which will be held in October in Indianapolis.

We have a lot of success when we go to nationals.

Our students do really well, even if the state contest, there are scholarships and cash awards and so forth that students can take home from the state convention as well for competing.

Right.

But then the idea of getting to go to nationals and represent Oklahoma at a national competition is very exciting.

- It is mid to late spring here in Oklahoma and each year we get a little bit of winter kill on our warm season turf grasses.

Our most widely used turf grass is common Bermuda grass as well as the hybrid Bermuda grasses.

And then also we have a fair amount of Zoya grass and Bermuda moved around the entire state.

If you're in the southeastern part of the state, you might be using some St. Augustine grass, which has some special challenges with respect to winter kill.

But over most of the state, we're using Bermuda grass and zoia.

Well, with both Bermuda and Zoia, they have above ground stems, aerial tillers, they have runners cold stolens, but they also have below ground rhizomes.

That is if they're healthy and of course a root system.

Well, when you see winter kill symptoms, you usually notice it because you surmise that there's been plenty of warm days for the grass to start growing.

That's the case here as we'll.

Show you healthy Bermuda grasses and those known to be plenty Winter hardy should certainly be leafed out and be relatively full in their growth by the time you reach the end of the first week of May of most years, even if we've had chilly or overcast conditions.

The same is true with zoyja grasses.

Now, winter kill, you usually see it because the grass fails to green up and just because it has failed to green up, not necessarily all is lost because with Bermuda and zoyja, they have the underground stems called rhizomes.

So it becomes necessary to sample and see if you've got live healthy white rhizomes.

So the appearance above of a winter killed area of Bermuda grass would be like we see right here, maybe only a few stems coming out and greening up.

And you may say, well, do I need to re-sod or re seed this area?

What do I need to do?

Well, before seeding or sodding, we need to scout underneath and we've got a hunt for rhizome.

So the way to do that is to take your favorite sampling shovel or spade, or in my case I use a cup cutter because I'm here at our turfgrass center and you'd sample out an area, pull a plug out.

You don't have to have one of these fancy tools.

And what you're gonna look for is live healthy white rhizomes.

What they are, of course is a a stem underneath, and you'll see this in some of the, some of the video here, we're gonna look for live healthy white rhizomes.

If alls we're seeing is these dark colored, mushy black, discolored underground stems we're in trouble.

But we wanna see a certain percentage of them.

We sure hope that at least 10% of those stems underground would be live white and healthy.

And then what happens?

Those will break dormancy.

The live healthy ones have a bud at the inter nodes, and then you'll see the aerial chute system come from that.

However, if all the rhizomes have been killed, like if we froze deep into the soil and you had a sense of Bermuda grass, there's no hope for these areas here.

So they'd need to be either re-seeded, plugged, or sodded.

And then sometimes it's difficult to find the exact cultivar that you originally had in there.

Key factors in dealing with winter kill issue in bermudagrass are to pick good performing, documented, good performing bermudagrass cultivars.

So if we're looking at seeded types, reliable types include Yukon, Rio and Monaco.

You'd wanna probably try to avoid Sahara or Arizona Common if you're trying to escape winter hardiness issues.

Good vegetative types that have had good winter hardiness over the decades include things like Astro and U three newer types that have better winter hardiness include Tahoma 31, latitude 36 North Bridge, and similar new varieties that are coming outta the Oklahoma State Program.

In terms of management practices, things you wanna avoid, excess traffic, letting the grass go too dry during late fall or winter.

And then also excess fertilization in October and November because that can predispose to winter kill.

If you'll manage properly and pick good cultivars, you can reduce risk of winter kill issues.

Well, if you live in the southeastern part of Oklahoma, St. Augustine may be the grass that you're using in full sun or even in shade because it does have excellent shade tolerance.

But St. Augustine has special winter kill concern because it's not known for being real winter hardy.

Raleigh as in the city in North Carolina.

Raleigh is a cultivar from the 1980s and it still stands as one of the more winter hardy types within the St. Augustine grass species.

We've got enough cover here with this Raleigh St. Augustine to grow it back in with a normal management program.

However, if your lawn looks more like this, you're gonna have to replug or resod.

And also with St. Augustine grass, there is no seed in the trade.

If you're dealing with winter kill on Bermuda grass or zoyja grass, you can go with either plugs or sprigs or solid sod or even seed if you haven't used a pre-emergent herbicide.

So if you're dealing with St Augustine grass and you don't see live shoots by early May to mid-May, you've had probably severe winter kill and there's no hope coming from below.

Because with St. Augustine Grass, unlike Bermuda and Zoyja, you do not have below ground stems called rhizomes.

So winter kill is not at all uncommon each year in Oklahoma.

But the key factors for growing back in are know your turf species and variety.

Always choose more winter hardy types if you're planning to reseed to establish, know whether you've used a pre-emergent herbicide or not.

And then also good mowing, fertilization and irrigation are very important and it's important to start early so you can grow the stand in as quickly as possible.

- Today we're making healthy egg bites.

And joining me in the kitchen today is Julie Bisby, executive director of Tea Set.

Julie, thank you so much for joining me in the kitchen today.

Thanks for having me.

Well today we're making a shape your Future recipe Healthy egg bites.

And one thing that I really like about this recipe is that you can make it one day and you've basically got breakfast if you put it in the refrigerator and reheat it for the next three to four days.

And breakfast, a healthy breakfast is already ready.

- Excellent.

Saving time in the morning or I guess a high protein snack, if that's what're saying.

Yeah, - Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Well, to start this recipe, we are using seven eggs, which I've cracked into a medium sized bowl.

Now I always like to remind people that when you're using raw eggs to always wash your hands after handling the eggs.

We've already done that so we are ready to get started.

Ready to - Roll?

- Yeah.

Alright.

Okay.

So two are seven eggs.

I'm gonna add one quarter of a cup of milk and then we're gonna add just some salt and pepper to taste.

And then I thought, well, well I'm mixing this, or go ahead and it whisk it together.

Can you tell us a little bit about shape your future, - Shape, your future as a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust that's really helping the provide resources to family for healthy eating, ways to be active, ways to sneak vegetables in, maybe you have a picky eater, things like that.

So that we are helping oklahomans live healthier lives.

- Yeah, and I I, I've looked on the website and there are a lot of great resources available.

- Absolutely.

You can find recipes like this, like this one, you can find tips for gardening, how to start your garden, when to start your garden.

So it's, it's a really, you know, kind of a one-stop shop for - Folks.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And like you said, recipes like this one.

- Yes.

- So for this recipe, what I really like is that we have a, a combination of some different vegetables and protein items to add to it, which, you know, you can switch these out based on what your family likes, but you know, we're gonna start with a muffin pan.

I've sprayed it with non-stick spray.

Okay.

And that, you know, is a pretty important step, otherwise the eggs are gonna stick to the pan.

- Absolutely.

- So if you'll help me, we're just gonna add each of our ingredients to the pan, just kind of divide 'em up evenly.

Okay.

And what we're using today, we've got one tomato, a half of a cup of chopped spinach.

You have four slices of Turkey bacon Okay.

That are cut into little pieces.

And then a quarter of a cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

- Great.

Great.

Does it matter what order you put it in?

- No.

Nope.

We're just all gonna get added to the little spaces in the muffin pan.

Okay.

And so while we add this, do you want to share a little bit about some of the other resources and recipes that are on Shape Your Future?

- Absolutely.

So really it is how do we make Healthy choice the easy choice?

And how do we make that easy for families?

We know those habits that kiddos get in the, when they're young with their parents are gonna be the things that last for a lifetime.

So you can find blogs, you can find videos on how to get your physical activity in.

All of this can be found on Shape Your Future.

Okay.

Dot com.

- Yeah, definitely a good website to, to go check out.

- Yeah.

And it's all part of TS set's mission to help improve the health of Oklahomans or again, make that healthy choice the easy choice.

So sometimes there are barriers, people, you know, don't know what to make need ideas, wanna look for something that might fit into their budget.

And so we try to hit all of those and provide resources.

You know, we're at that time of year when folks are thinking about gardening or already in the process and really it is an easy way to, one, be active, get outside, get with nature, but also to have fresh fruits and vegetables that you know where they're coming from and they might last longer or give you a quantity that you can can or freeze or save for later.

So it's very economical as well.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Okay, well now that we've got our other ingredients added to our muffin pan, now I'm gonna go ahead and add the eggs to the pan and try to make this as evenly as possible.

And I like using, you know, I've added the eggs to this large liquid measuring cup because it, it helps to pour - Right.

- But if somebody didn't have one of these, you know, you could use like a bowl and just kind of spoon it into the muff to the spaces.

I just find this a little bit easier - Measuring cup maybe.

- Yeah, you're really precise.

Put it in a, yeah.

Okay, now that we have the eggs added to the pan, we're just gonna bake these in the oven at 350 degrees.

Okay.

For 20 minutes.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Now that our 20 minutes are up, we're gonna go ahead and check to see if our egg bites are done.

Great.

They smell really good.

They do.

Now one thing with egg dishes is that you wanna make sure that the eggs are not runny.

'cause if they are, then that's one sign that they're not, they're not fully cooked.

- Yes.

- These aren't.

So we're gonna go ahead and check the temperature.

We wanna make sure with egg dishes that they're cooked to at least 160 degrees.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

And these are plenty done.

And you wanna make sure you're not touching the bottom of the pan with thermometer.

Just the center of the egg.

The egg dish.

- Very good.

Very good.

- But now do you wanna remind our viewers one more time where they can find this recipe?

- Yeah.

These are the healthy bites and you can find this recipe and others at Shape Your Future.

Okay.

Dot com you'll find a lot of things that are easy to eat on the go.

Healthy things that you can meal prep, things that kids can help you with.

And so this is just another example of the resources on Shape Your Future.

Okay.

Dot com.

- Yeah.

And this, that is, this recipe is a great example of one of those recipes that you can have on the go, like a great on-the-go breakfast, but you could have it, you know, for lunch or dinner anytime.

Snack in between.

Really healthy, it's got a good mixture of protein and And veggies.

- And veggies.

Yeah.

These are great.

Very colorful with that.

Spinach and tomatoes.

- Yeah.

So I'll go ahead and put these, put these on our plate.

They're really pretty and colorful.

- This would be fun for a little party too, my little - Brunch.

They would, wouldn't they?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Very - Good.

But there we go.

That's our Healthy Egg Bites.

Thank you again, Julie, for joining me in the kitchen today.

- Thank you.

- For more information about Shape Your Future, visit their website or scan this QR code.

- Lately in gardening, we've seen a really big interest in trying to be a little bit more sustainable, especially in the home lawn and landscape.

We're all concerned about the environment.

It's, it's tough.

Our weather's tough and it's hard to find plants that hold up to the heat and drought that we experience in late summer.

And so in order to meet the educational needs that people are asking for related to landscaping, we've developed a new conference.

This is our second year.

It's gonna be June 27th and 28th in Oklahoma City.

And it's called Sustainable Urban Landscaping Conference.

This conference is aimed at professionals and homeowners.

The first day, which is on the 27th, will be aimed at people that work in landscaping, that are trying to find more efficient ways to do sustainable landscapes like native gardens, native lawns, perhaps how to save water when they're installing landscapes, like plants that are more drought tolerant or maybe even how to use less chemicals.

So that day is really open to the public, but aimed at professionals on Saturday the 28th, that that whole track is pretty much aimed at homeowners with the same kind of environmental topics, water conservation, drought tolerant, less chemical use.

Our, our keynote speaker who's very famous is Doug Tmy.

He's a, an author who was also a professor in, in, at the University of Delaware, a famous, famous author who wrote, bringing Nature Home, a very famous book about trying to create more sustainable landscapes that support wildlife, pollinators, and really are just better for the environment.

Some of our other speakers include your host, Casey Nchs.

She'll be speaking on Bermuda grass suppression and how you can do that without chemicals, because we all know it's very, very difficult.

It's a really great lineup.

We'll also have speakers focusing on pollinator plants and native plants.

And then a lot of the, the, the conference will also be aimed at reducing water usage, not to mention organic kind of gardening techniques.

So again, this is in downtown Oklahoma City at the Convention Center, June 27th and 28th.

And the way to register for that conference is through our partner Oklahoma City.

Beautiful.

So if you go to the website for Oklahoma City beautiful, you'll see the event Sustainable Urban Landscape Conferences in June and register for either day or come for both.

But we'd love to have you and we can all learn more about being more environmentally friendly and doing a better job in our own spaces.

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

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

OETA will be conducting fundraising for the following two weeks.

But join us for a brand new episode of Oklahoma Gardening on June 14th.

Joining to me joining today.

Me today.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Gotta get that out.

May 30th.

And you can send those right to our email address 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 Oklahoma gardening dot OK state.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 into 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 is 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.