Eat Your Landscape

<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting from Studio A here at proven winners Color Choice Shrubs.
<v Speaker 1>It's time for the Gardening Simplified radio podcast and YouTube
<v Speaker 1>show with Stacy Hervella me Rick Weisten, our engineer and
<v Speaker 1>producer Adrianna Robinson. Well Stacey. Today we're going to talk
<v Speaker 1>about eating your landscape. Sixteen percent of the American population
<v Speaker 1>moves every year. I thought that was an interesting statistic.
<v Speaker 1>Suburbanites have become transient while chasing the American dream. And
<v Speaker 1>something I have learned is edible plants and the occasional
<v Speaker 1>chocolate chip cookies help you meet your neighbors. Increasing regional
<v Speaker 1>food security is another issue. People are thinking about existing
<v Speaker 1>vacant lots, flat rooftops, and residential yards. What about your
<v Speaker 1>yard enter the suburbs, what about your lawn? Studies have
<v Speaker 1>exclaimed the lawn as the largest crop in the United States,
<v Speaker 1>and that was a wake up call for many people
<v Speaker 1>in water stressed areas of the country. The lawn is
<v Speaker 1>as an abundant in the suburbs as corn is in Iowa,
<v Speaker 1>and yet Stacy and I are living examples of simply put,
<v Speaker 1>you can't eat your lawn. Well, actually you can if
<v Speaker 1>you have dandelions, clover, and plantain growing in your turf
<v Speaker 1>like many people do. You can eat elements of your lawn.
<v Speaker 1>But edible landscape design is a type of gardening that
<v Speaker 1>emphasizes the production of food crops while still maintaining a
<v Speaker 1>visually pleasing appearance. Often used in small spaces, city gardens,
<v Speaker 1>suburban yards where traditional gardening methods may not be practical,
<v Speaker 1>so edible landscape design. I have an example, and we'll
<v Speaker 1>show a picture on YouTube of the frames that I
<v Speaker 1>build to grow my cucumbers so that they're just not
<v Speaker 1>sprawling all over the ground. It's healthier for them. We
<v Speaker 1>get good air movement. These are wire frames that are
<v Speaker 1>put at a forty five degree angle. The cucumbers grow up.
<v Speaker 1>It keeps them nice and clean. I don't have big
<v Speaker 1>problems with powdery or downy mildew. There's a method to
<v Speaker 1>growing food in your own yard.
<v Speaker 2>States, Oh, there absolutely is, whether you're talking about just
<v Speaker 2>you know, a standard vegetable garden or at all landscaping
<v Speaker 2>like you said, where instead of having things like you know,
<v Speaker 2>boxwood and crab apples, you have apple trees and blueberry
<v Speaker 2>shrubs exactly.
<v Speaker 1>And a thought that stimulated this whole eat your yard
<v Speaker 1>thing in my mind was thinking about garlic. Of course,
<v Speaker 1>you grow a lot of garlic. Stacey and I grow
<v Speaker 1>garlic also, and part of the reason is because it's
<v Speaker 1>fun and it's easy to grow in your own yard.
<v Speaker 1>But I was once again reading statistics, China accounts for
<v Speaker 1>seventy three point two percent of garlic production in the world.
<v Speaker 1>That's amazing to me. The top three countries hold an
<v Speaker 1>eighty six percent share of garlic growth. That's China, India, Bangladesh,
<v Speaker 1>and then South Korea and Egypt. What about growing garlic
<v Speaker 1>in your own yard?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean that is that is very interesting. And
<v Speaker 2>that is also why if you are interested in growing
<v Speaker 2>garlic in your own yard, I generally don't recommend that
<v Speaker 2>you just use regular store about garlic and throw it
<v Speaker 2>in the ground, because all of those climates are a
<v Speaker 2>lot different than the mess of the American Midwest, and
<v Speaker 2>they're probably growing varieties that are very specific to their
<v Speaker 2>climate conditions, have resilience to you know, the various challenges
<v Speaker 2>and things. So I and also why if you're growing garlic,
<v Speaker 2>why would you want to buy the same garlic that
<v Speaker 2>you can get at the store when you can grow
<v Speaker 2>many more interesting varieties. And once you start shopping for garlic, wow,
<v Speaker 2>like it's mind boggling. How many really cool and unique
<v Speaker 2>different airloom varieties from all over the world and throughout
<v Speaker 2>history you can grow. And you know, I'm glad we're
<v Speaker 2>talking about this right now, because it is almost time
<v Speaker 2>to buy garlic. They usually, it's very often the interesting
<v Speaker 2>varieties will get sold out by mid to late September,
<v Speaker 2>so it's a good time to start shopping. Reserve your
<v Speaker 2>garlic and they'll ship it for you at the proper time,
<v Speaker 2>and then you'll be like, oh good, I get to
<v Speaker 2>plant garlic this weekend. This is going to be great.
<v Speaker 2>It's so easy to.
<v Speaker 1>Plant exactly, and that's why I use it as an
<v Speaker 1>example of each your yard. Or let's talk about a
<v Speaker 1>beautiful flowering shrub that I love. Quints Yeah, now, how
<v Speaker 1>many people grow it? For the actual quints fruit? It's
<v Speaker 1>as of itself. Quints fruit is full of pectin. It's
<v Speaker 1>often found as a jam, jelly, or marmalade.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. And you know, a lot in North America we
<v Speaker 2>do not have a quince culture. In Europe, quince is
<v Speaker 2>much more popular. There's a Spanish membryo paste, which has
<v Speaker 2>I think maybe made some inroads here in the US
<v Speaker 2>because of charcuterie boards. People like to have that with
<v Speaker 2>their cheese and salami and so forth. But there's actually
<v Speaker 2>two types of quince. There's a quince tree and that's
<v Speaker 2>the one that is normally used for eating, and the
<v Speaker 2>quince shrub, like our double take quince, which actually don't
<v Speaker 2>set fruit for which for some people is a good thing.
<v Speaker 2>That one is used more for a jam and has
<v Speaker 2>a really beautiful yellow hue. Now when you see a
<v Speaker 2>quince shrub laden with fruit, it's kind of like stops
<v Speaker 2>you in your tracks.
<v Speaker 1>It's stunning, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Because it's all very closely born to the stem and
<v Speaker 2>it just looks like this sort of like alien thing
<v Speaker 2>with like these yellow eggs stuck to it. It's pretty cool.
<v Speaker 1>So we can be decorative and functional as far as
<v Speaker 1>eating our landscape or our yard. Let me do a
<v Speaker 1>limerick here for you a minute to kind of create
<v Speaker 1>a synopsis of the topic. I'm out for a late
<v Speaker 1>night snack. It's growing right out back. I'm wearing my
<v Speaker 1>bathrobe and slippers, holding my favorite clippers, my munching by
<v Speaker 1>moonlight neck I did it. I ripped up my lawn
<v Speaker 1>and now have something to feed on for all of
<v Speaker 1>my labors. I'm the talk of the neighbors, a suburbia phenomenon,
<v Speaker 1>my buffet on the boulevard for all to see, no
<v Speaker 1>holds barred. I'm developing better habits and eat better than
<v Speaker 1>the rabbits right in my very own yard.
<v Speaker 2>Oh that was lovely, very nice.
<v Speaker 1>And part of the reason for doing this, Stacey, is
<v Speaker 1>that there's there's a real sense of accomplishment when you're
<v Speaker 1>able to both improve your landscape decoratively and derive the
<v Speaker 1>benefit of feasting off your landscape.
<v Speaker 2>Also, yeah, you know, there's something about having the produce
<v Speaker 2>from your own backyard, whether again it is a landscape
<v Speaker 2>or an herb. There's just something that is really magical
<v Speaker 2>about running out back and getting it and serving it.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, if you know, you know, and if
<v Speaker 2>you don't know, you know, it doesn't have to be
<v Speaker 2>an all out kind of thing. You can do this
<v Speaker 2>in steps. I think basil is a great entryway plant,
<v Speaker 2>you know, for people who just kind of want to
<v Speaker 2>start getting to know the luxury and joy of growing
<v Speaker 2>animals in your own backyard.
<v Speaker 1>It's beautiful I'm thinking basil and chives. Yeah, I love
<v Speaker 1>going out there clipping some chives, putting them on the
<v Speaker 1>potatoes or whatever it may be. So we're talking about
<v Speaker 1>service berry, blueberries, chives, and garlic, something like colengula or
<v Speaker 1>nasturtiums of course fruit trees. And then I think that
<v Speaker 1>I want to use as an example. I mentioned garlic earlier,
<v Speaker 1>but what about rubar. Rhubarb is the perfect example of
<v Speaker 1>an edible decorative perennial.
<v Speaker 2>Such a beautiful plant, you know, big lush leaves. You
<v Speaker 2>can almost think of it as like an edible hostile.
<v Speaker 2>Actually hostas are edible, but it kind of has that
<v Speaker 2>same effect in the garden, but for sun and you know,
<v Speaker 2>big beautiful red stems. I love reubarbara. And you know
<v Speaker 2>what I'm growing this year that I am also loving
<v Speaker 2>is horse reddish. Oh yes, and that is a really
<v Speaker 2>lovely plant too. But it has these elegant leaves on
<v Speaker 2>these long stems and just makes this clump and it
<v Speaker 2>has a beautiful color. And I'm very very happy with that,
<v Speaker 2>and I plan to harvest it and replant. That's how
<v Speaker 2>you do it. You dig up the whole thing, take
<v Speaker 2>the roots, put them back in and repeat as necessary.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and let me add to the mix. When we're
<v Speaker 1>talking about healthy and colorful, what about Swiss chard?
<v Speaker 2>Oh?
<v Speaker 1>I love that.
<v Speaker 2>You know, when I first started gardening, my very first
<v Speaker 2>vegetable garden was the year that bright Lights Swiss charred
<v Speaker 2>kind of came on to the scene and I saw
<v Speaker 2>that on the cover of the Johnny Seed catalog and
<v Speaker 2>that was it. I was just like, I need that plant.
<v Speaker 2>At the time, nobody had any earthly idea on what
<v Speaker 2>to do with Swiss chard in North America, not really
<v Speaker 2>a vegetable that people ate. But I was in love
<v Speaker 2>with that plant and I grew in and that was
<v Speaker 2>kind of what got me hooked.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, you know, along the lines of rhubarb and
<v Speaker 1>the beautiful leaves, I do want to mention ganera. Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so there. In other words, there are rhubarb plants that
<v Speaker 1>you don't eat. They are grown specifically for ornamental purposes. Now,
<v Speaker 1>ganera is not a rubarb, it is not in that family.
<v Speaker 1>But when I've visited gardens and seen these huge plants, Wow,
<v Speaker 1>talk about an impact plant. And there's some very interesting
<v Speaker 1>articles too on how folks are being told don't plant
<v Speaker 1>this plant, it's invasive. We'll put those links at Gardeningsimplified
<v Speaker 1>on air dot com because it's an interesting plant to know,
<v Speaker 1>known as giant rhubarb. But again invasive and controversial.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well, we don't really have to worry about that
<v Speaker 2>here in Michigan. It's not warm enough to grow it,
<v Speaker 2>and it's certainly way too dry. This is a plant
<v Speaker 2>for swampy, wet areas and mild climates. And when it
<v Speaker 2>looks good, it is gorgeous, so incredible.
<v Speaker 1>You bet. Let's find out what Stacy has on her
<v Speaker 1>mind for plants on trial. That's coming up next here
<v Speaker 1>on the Gardening Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 2>Prooven Winners Colored Choice Shrubs cares about your success in
<v Speaker 2>the garden. That's why we trial and test all of
<v Speaker 2>our shrubs for eight to ten years, making sure they
<v Speaker 2>outperform everything else on the market. Look for them in
<v Speaker 2>the distinctive white container at your local garden center. Greeting's
<v Speaker 2>gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show.
<v Speaker 2>We're talking edibles, and you know, I had a dream
<v Speaker 2>that when I did buy a house, I would have
<v Speaker 2>an edible landscape that I would do exactly what I
<v Speaker 2>was just talking about where, you know, when I would
<v Speaker 2>if I would say to myself, okay, well I want
<v Speaker 2>a groundcover here. You know, instead of choosing say, pacassandra,
<v Speaker 2>I would choose cranberry, and you know I would be
<v Speaker 2>able to err, yeah, I would be able to make
<v Speaker 2>all of these swaps. Well, I unfortunately have run against
<v Speaker 2>the reality of deer in rabbits, which is making that
<v Speaker 2>hard because very often a number of edible plants that
<v Speaker 2>we enjoy are widely relished oh right, deer by deer
<v Speaker 2>and rabbits, and that can kind of put a little
<v Speaker 2>bit of a kaibash on your dreams, certainly for me,
<v Speaker 2>you know, having to have my vegetable garden enclosed in
<v Speaker 2>some sort of you know, prison to keep deer out.
<v Speaker 2>But I did want to talk a little bit about.
<v Speaker 1>About vegetable they are, Yeah, what.
<v Speaker 2>Else are you going to do? You can't have them otherwise,
<v Speaker 2>Gotta do what you gotta do. We're talking about lawns,
<v Speaker 2>and you were talking about how dandelions edible, and there's
<v Speaker 2>certain you know, lawn weeds. But one of the interesting
<v Speaker 2>things that I have found in my garden is I
<v Speaker 2>have grown more and more edibles. Is that my weeds
<v Speaker 2>become edible plants.
<v Speaker 3>Now.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, of course I still get regular conventional obnoxious weeds.
<v Speaker 2>Who doesn't. But you know, for example, I've talked about
<v Speaker 2>it on the show before, but when we moved into
<v Speaker 2>our house, the previous owners had at one point planted arugola,
<v Speaker 2>and itself sows all over my garden. And it's a
<v Speaker 2>great weed to have. I don't have to do anything
<v Speaker 2>to grow it, and I can pretty much go out
<v Speaker 2>anytime around my yard and scrounge up in a arugola salad. Meanwhile,
<v Speaker 2>they're selling it at the grocery store for like fifteen
<v Speaker 2>bucks a pound, and it's just growing in my backyard
<v Speaker 2>like there's no tomorrow.
<v Speaker 1>I know it's something else and so healthy, so nutritious,
<v Speaker 1>but what do I know. I'm only a rugola guy.
<v Speaker 2>It's it's very nice, it's very tasty, you know, and
<v Speaker 2>I have herbs self sewing. It's a good problem to have.
<v Speaker 2>So the more you fill your yard with these kind
<v Speaker 2>of plants, the more you're going to find that your
<v Speaker 2>yard becomes sort of more of that kind of habitat.
<v Speaker 1>So we're on the edge of our seat.
<v Speaker 2>I know, I've built up a lot of suspense here
<v Speaker 2>in the studio on what today's plant on trial is.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, we do have some edible shrubs here
<v Speaker 2>in the proven Winter's Color Choice line. But I always
<v Speaker 2>love whenever the subject of eating, you know, plants that
<v Speaker 2>people don't expect to be edible. I love bringing up
<v Speaker 2>this plant because people, really people are always surprised when
<v Speaker 2>I tell them, And I was very surprised when I
<v Speaker 2>found out myself, which was not actually all that long ago.
<v Speaker 2>This is not knowledge that I've had for years. Today's
<v Speaker 2>plant on trial and it is edible is paraplue pink
<v Speaker 2>ink hibiscus, also known as a rosa sharon. And of course,
<v Speaker 2>roses of sharon are in bloom right now here in Michigan.
<v Speaker 2>Roses of sharon are one of those ubiquitous summer plants
<v Speaker 2>that we're well familiar with.
<v Speaker 1>So are you eating it when it's in bloom? Or
<v Speaker 1>are you eating the buds? Or are you eating the foliage?
<v Speaker 1>Or are you gnawing on the stems? What's the deal.
<v Speaker 2>Well, if you're a deer, you're gnawing on the stems.
<v Speaker 2>But if you are human, the flowers are edible. So yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it's so what you eat them when they are in
<v Speaker 2>what I would call the tube stage. So if you're
<v Speaker 2>familiar with what a rosa sharen looks like when it's
<v Speaker 2>coming out, you know, first day it's kind of in
<v Speaker 2>a tight pointed bud, very close to the plant, and
<v Speaker 2>then the following day it extends into a tube. The
<v Speaker 2>next day it opens, and then usually a couple of
<v Speaker 2>days after that, it goes away. So you want it
<v Speaker 2>when it's gone out of that pointed bud stage, but
<v Speaker 2>before it opens and it's in this tube, and yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you can eat them fresh straight off the plant, and
<v Speaker 2>they to me, they taste very good. But the reason
<v Speaker 2>that they taste good to me is because I like okra.
<v Speaker 2>Oh oh, you do like okra. That's good.
<v Speaker 1>I love it.
<v Speaker 2>And okra is very polarizing vegetable.
<v Speaker 1>I'm wondering, so could you deep fry these things?
<v Speaker 2>So I don't know about that. That's a good question.
<v Speaker 2>They are definitely more delicate than okra because of course
<v Speaker 2>they're you know, flower petals instead of a vegetable, a
<v Speaker 2>seed pod as it were. But they taste like okra.
<v Speaker 2>They have a slight kind of sliminess, which I think
<v Speaker 2>is a good thing. Like okra, But yeah, they're good
<v Speaker 2>enough to just put on a salad. I've only ever
<v Speaker 2>had them fresh, and I chose pair of blue pink
<v Speaker 2>ink today because it is, to me, one of our
<v Speaker 2>prettiest and most interesting varieties. I am crazy about it.
<v Speaker 2>But the fact is that all roses of Sharon are
<v Speaker 2>actually edible as flowers, and you can eat them. Surprise
<v Speaker 2>your friends bring them over to your house, just you know,
<v Speaker 2>casually pull one out and shomp on it and see
<v Speaker 2>their face when they do. Now, one thing I would
<v Speaker 2>say in terms of selecting roses of Sharon to actually
<v Speaker 2>eat in your garden is I would generally, probably maybe
<v Speaker 2>a matter of personal taste, shy away from the double variety.
<v Speaker 2>So like our Chaffon series where you have a lot
<v Speaker 2>of extra petals, and this isn't really because of flavor
<v Speaker 2>or anything, but my concern is just that when they
<v Speaker 2>start opening into that tube phase, that's a lot of
<v Speaker 2>hiding places for bugs. So if you are squeamish, all
<v Speaker 2>those extra pedals can give them a lot of places
<v Speaker 2>to hide. And you know, if you're trying to be all,
<v Speaker 2>you know, macho and eat a hibiscus in front of
<v Speaker 2>your friends and family, and you bite into some horrible
<v Speaker 2>ant or something might ruin your facade, and we don't
<v Speaker 2>want that. Yeah, a lot of people are really surprised
<v Speaker 2>to find out that roses of Sharon are edible. And
<v Speaker 2>so if you have a rose of Sharon, whether it
<v Speaker 2>is paraplue pink ink, or any of the other number
<v Speaker 2>of roses of Sharon out there, congratulations, you have edible
<v Speaker 2>landscaping well.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, it does make sense when you look
<v Speaker 1>at how pollinators, bumblebees, hummingbirds are attracted to the blooms
<v Speaker 1>of rows of Sharon, it seems to make sense that, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>maybe this is kind of a tasty snack.
<v Speaker 2>I think it is.
<v Speaker 3>So.
<v Speaker 2>Paraplue pink ink is just as tasty to the eyes
<v Speaker 2>as it is to the tongue if you are an
<v Speaker 2>Okra kind of person. The flowers are so The Para
<v Speaker 2>blue series in general is characterized by extra large open flowers,
<v Speaker 2>So a lot of roses of Sharon they're kind of
<v Speaker 2>more bell like, they don't fully open, like a big
<v Speaker 2>old satellite dish. So the Para blue series has really
<v Speaker 2>large flowers that open fully, and paraplue pink ink the
<v Speaker 2>flowers are so pretty if you have to go to
<v Speaker 2>Gardening Simplified on air dot com and look at photos
<v Speaker 2>of this plant. So they are white flowers and the
<v Speaker 2>pink ink part comes in because the center is pink
<v Speaker 2>and it has these what's known as eye extensions on
<v Speaker 2>the hibiscus world that come out into the petals, So
<v Speaker 2>it's like a pink kind of swirl in the center.
<v Speaker 2>And a single flower is beautiful, but when you have,
<v Speaker 2>you know, dozens of flowers, which is one of the
<v Speaker 2>strengths of Rows of Sharon is that you have a
<v Speaker 2>lot of flowers at once on the plant. So when
<v Speaker 2>you have a whole bunch of flowers in bloom with
<v Speaker 2>that kind of swirl pink center, it really is a
<v Speaker 2>very very impressive kind of eye dazzling site to see.
<v Speaker 1>I think impressive is a good description. In the Garden Center,
<v Speaker 1>when Paraplue is in bloom, it stops you in your
<v Speaker 1>tracks if you're walking the aisles shopping flowering shrubs, or
<v Speaker 1>even walking through the Rows of Sharon section, when you
<v Speaker 1>come upon this plant, there's something distinctive and different about.
<v Speaker 2>It, definitely, and I feel like that is true of
<v Speaker 2>all of the Parablue series. You know, paraplue violet is
<v Speaker 2>another one of my favorites, and that is a plant
<v Speaker 2>that I always have to say you just have to
<v Speaker 2>see to believe because the color is just so unique.
<v Speaker 2>But paraplue pinking, I think, is the one that like,
<v Speaker 2>when people see it, they're just they're gonna want to
<v Speaker 2>grow it. And then if you are the kind of
<v Speaker 2>person who you know, likes to throw some weird stuff
<v Speaker 2>in your salads and amaze your friends, it has that
<v Speaker 2>added advantage too. And by and large, you know, as
<v Speaker 2>someone who, as I was just saying, can't really grow
<v Speaker 2>the edible landscape of my dreams because of dear pressure,
<v Speaker 2>roses of Sharon are by and large pretty deer resistant.
<v Speaker 2>Have you found that, Yes?
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely so.
<v Speaker 2>They do browse my plants a little bit, I mean certainly,
<v Speaker 2>not enough to cause any damage. And once your roses
<v Speaker 2>of Sharon are established, you know, you probably wouldn't even
<v Speaker 2>barely notice. And the more established they get, the more
<v Speaker 2>mature your plants get, the less deer damage occurs because
<v Speaker 2>they just become woodier and the deer are less interested
<v Speaker 2>in them than when they're very young and fresh.
<v Speaker 1>The best way to describe it is like when you
<v Speaker 1>go to a buffet in Las Vegas, you know, and
<v Speaker 1>you've got all this food along the buffet. You kind
<v Speaker 1>of nose around in there a little bit. But now
<v Speaker 1>I'm moving on to something else. And that's what the
<v Speaker 1>deer do with rows of share.
<v Speaker 2>Take a little taste, Yes, enough, something else. Dot's try
<v Speaker 2>something else in my house. That actually means you're probably
<v Speaker 2>just moving on to now my summarific hibiscus, which they
<v Speaker 2>hopefully won't eat either. But yeah, so very easy to grow.
<v Speaker 2>Roses of Sharon of course love full sun. They are
<v Speaker 2>hardy down to USDA Zone five heat teller all the
<v Speaker 2>way through USDA Zone nine, so good portion of the
<v Speaker 2>country can grow these edible hibiscus. And one of the
<v Speaker 2>other great things about the Parablue series in general, as
<v Speaker 2>well as Parablue Pink Ink, is that they have a
<v Speaker 2>really elegant habit. And this is a crucial part of
<v Speaker 2>our selection process here at Proven Winters Color Choice shrubs
<v Speaker 2>for hibiscus, because a lot of older varieties they kind
<v Speaker 2>of have what my boss is referred to as a
<v Speaker 2>caveman club habit, like they just kind of look like
<v Speaker 2>a club. And these are really elegant parablue pink ink
<v Speaker 2>is five to eight feet tall and four feet wide,
<v Speaker 2>so it's got a good space saving habit, you know,
<v Speaker 2>not the old varieties. It gets to be ten feet
<v Speaker 2>tall and ten feet wide and you know, watch out,
<v Speaker 2>you have to clear a whole area to be able
<v Speaker 2>to grow them. They're actually pretty restrained, nice small footprint
<v Speaker 2>and so a really nice plant to add. Or imagine
<v Speaker 2>this an edible hedge of hibiscus, and that's.
<v Speaker 1>What I like because people are always looking for plants
<v Speaker 1>that they can use for hedging. Talk about a knock
<v Speaker 1>your socks off hedge.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, great choice, and your neighbors will be grateful too,
<v Speaker 2>because they're going to be enjoying the other side of
<v Speaker 2>it and it's going to look absolutely amazing. And another
<v Speaker 2>great thing, Hibiscus rosa sharon is drought tolerant once it
<v Speaker 2>is established, and really it's just a great choice for
<v Speaker 2>the garden and kind of one of those accidentally incidentally edible,
<v Speaker 2>Like it's edible, but you know that's not the main
<v Speaker 2>reason you grow it. So check out the pictures at
<v Speaker 2>Gardeningsimplified on Air dot com or visit us at proven
<v Speaker 2>Winter's Colour Choice dot com to find a retailer near
<v Speaker 2>you so you can add Para blue pink ink hibiscus
<v Speaker 2>to your garden. We're going to take a little break.
<v Speaker 2>When we come back, we're opening up the garden mail bag,
<v Speaker 2>so please stay tuned at proven winner's color choice. We've
<v Speaker 2>got a shrub for every taste and every space. Whether
<v Speaker 2>you're looking for an easycare rose, an unforgettable hydrangea, or
<v Speaker 2>something new and unique, you can be confident that the
<v Speaker 2>shrubs and the white containers have been trialed and tested
<v Speaker 2>for your success. Look for them at your local garden center. Greetings,
<v Speaker 2>gardening friends, and welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show,
<v Speaker 2>where it is the time of the show where we
<v Speaker 2>help answer your questions about what's going on in your garden,
<v Speaker 2>what you should do, what you shouldn't do, and if
<v Speaker 2>you have question for us, you can always reach us
<v Speaker 2>at help HLP at Gardening Simplified on air dot com,
<v Speaker 2>or just visit Gardening Simplified on air dot com and
<v Speaker 2>use the contact form to fill it out and send
<v Speaker 2>us your question. And you can even attach a photo,
<v Speaker 2>which is very very helpful because I'll tell you I
<v Speaker 2>love playing long distance plant detective, but it is darn
<v Speaker 2>near impossible without a photo. Very often, in fact, almost
<v Speaker 2>all the cases, a photo will blast a case wide open.
<v Speaker 2>So please do include a photo if you can. And
<v Speaker 2>Jim our first question, did send us some photos?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Jim sent photos about a red dwarf Japanese lace
<v Speaker 1>leaf maple, and he believes that it's dying. It's in
<v Speaker 1>its third replanting three years years ago. Replanted for location purposes.
<v Speaker 1>It's in sandy soil, full sun, breezy, next to a lake.
<v Speaker 1>It gets a fair amount of water, as indicated by
<v Speaker 1>the green grass around it. I do not fertilize the
<v Speaker 1>tree and the area. I do know the pH of
<v Speaker 1>the I do not know the pH of the soil.
<v Speaker 1>Today I added the mulch and watered it for an hour.
<v Speaker 1>Its last location was similar to this location. What to
<v Speaker 1>do and Stacy those pictures? This Japanese maple looks really rough,
<v Speaker 1>but I think it's pretty typical of what happens with
<v Speaker 1>the Japanese maple when you have it in a highly
<v Speaker 1>exposed area.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know, Japanese maples are definitely one of those
<v Speaker 2>plants that needs some careful sighting. You know, there are
<v Speaker 2>certainly shrubs and trees and perennials out there that you
<v Speaker 2>can pretty much pull up down anywhere in your yard
<v Speaker 2>and they will thrive. And Japanese maples are not one
<v Speaker 2>of them, correct, They are one that definitely benefits from
<v Speaker 2>a more protected location. And I would say, especially in
<v Speaker 2>the case of a lace leaf variety like he has,
<v Speaker 2>you really want to make sure you're sighting that out
<v Speaker 2>of the wind. The reason for that is because those
<v Speaker 2>lease leaves expose so so much more leaf surface than
<v Speaker 2>a standard leaf. You know, you have all of those fine,
<v Speaker 2>little thin fingers, and what that means is that the
<v Speaker 2>sun the wind has all that extra places to work on,
<v Speaker 2>extra surface area to evaporate water from, and it just
<v Speaker 2>makes the plant really really stressed. So I would say
<v Speaker 2>that I don't think this plant is long for this world.
<v Speaker 2>I'm afraid if it were to stay in this spot.
<v Speaker 2>And I would also add in the photo it looks
<v Speaker 2>like there's a lot of potting soil around the base
<v Speaker 2>of the plant. And you know it's I understand, I've
<v Speaker 2>been there before. Believe me, I know what it's like.
<v Speaker 2>The desire to just say I want a plant here,
<v Speaker 2>so I'm just going to dig a hole I'm going
<v Speaker 2>to dump a bag of potting mix in here and
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to plant in it. But that is a
<v Speaker 2>really bad idea. And I know it's hard to understand
<v Speaker 2>or believe this, but it is true. So what happens,
<v Speaker 2>as I've talked about before, is a bathtub effect. So
<v Speaker 2>potting mix is very very porous. It has large air
<v Speaker 2>spaces between its particles that means it can hold on
<v Speaker 2>to a lot of water. By comparison, the soil around
<v Speaker 2>it has very very small spaces in between its particles.
<v Speaker 2>So when you water, all that water is going into
<v Speaker 2>that nice, light, fluffy potting soil with those big old
<v Speaker 2>air spaces, filling that up. But then gravity takes its
<v Speaker 2>toll and it starts to drain through, and when it
<v Speaker 2>hits the native soil around that hole that you dug,
<v Speaker 2>it just comes to a screeching hole. It's kind of
<v Speaker 2>like trying to fit a huge crowd through a small door.
<v Speaker 2>And what ends up happening is that moisture just sits
<v Speaker 2>around the roots waiting for its chance to drain out,
<v Speaker 2>and in very sensitive plant I've seen this lead to
<v Speaker 2>death in the case of lilacs and panicle hydrang just
<v Speaker 2>specifically because those are two plants that are very sensitive
<v Speaker 2>to those conditions. So, you know, I know obviously this
<v Speaker 2>plant is not happy at having been moved three times.
<v Speaker 2>Japanese maples generally don't take too kindly to that. But
<v Speaker 2>I think if this plant is going to have any
<v Speaker 2>chance at survival, it needs to be moved away from
<v Speaker 2>the lake and into a spot where it's just your
<v Speaker 2>native soil. It's protected from the wind and mulched and
<v Speaker 2>given a lot of TLC and hopefully it can recover.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the edge of a lake is a very exposed area,
<v Speaker 1>not a good spot for a Japanese maple. They tend
<v Speaker 1>to like micro climates. One other quick addition to that, Stacey,
<v Speaker 1>and that would be with Japanese maples, they have a tendency,
<v Speaker 1>at least in the Midwest in the north to leaf
<v Speaker 1>out in spring and then be subject to frost yep
<v Speaker 1>and die back, and they're very sensitive to that too,
<v Speaker 1>So it's probably an accumulation of a lot of things there.
<v Speaker 1>So I would agree, I think this plant needs to
<v Speaker 1>move again and in a different, more protective location.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, Jim, what you can do is plant
<v Speaker 2>a lemony lace elderberry instead. Yes, it is a much
<v Speaker 2>more durable plant. It has lacy leaves that look a
<v Speaker 2>bit like the Japanese maple, so if that's the look
<v Speaker 2>you're going for. There. It is bright yellow instead of
<v Speaker 2>the red that you have, But it's a much more
<v Speaker 2>durable plant and will probably deal better with those conditions
<v Speaker 2>than the maple will.
<v Speaker 1>Mary Lou writes to us, Hello, Rick and Stacey. I
<v Speaker 1>love listening to your garden advice. My question is this.
<v Speaker 1>I have a variegated pagoda dog with suckers coming up
<v Speaker 1>from the bottom. Typically I trim them out to give
<v Speaker 1>them the energy towards the tree. However, the tree is
<v Speaker 1>looking unhappy and maybe due to cicadas, I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>It also might be due to the lovely buckthorn growing
<v Speaker 1>in my neighbor's yard that suck any nutrients out of
<v Speaker 1>the soil. Would you recommend trim off the suckers or
<v Speaker 1>letting them.
<v Speaker 2>Grow so you know, Mary Lou. She also sent a
<v Speaker 2>picture and we of course will put that on the
<v Speaker 2>YouTube version as well as in the show notes that
<v Speaker 2>gardening simplified on air dot Com. I don't see this
<v Speaker 2>plant looking bad, do you know?
<v Speaker 1>I thought it looked actually quite beautiful.
<v Speaker 2>I thought it did.
<v Speaker 1>And you know the characteristics of the plant, the way
<v Speaker 1>it grows, it generally grows well with some competition around
<v Speaker 1>along woodland edges. So I think you got to give
<v Speaker 1>yourself some credit there, Mary Lou. I think the plant's
<v Speaker 1>doing pretty well.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think so too. And so this is specifically
<v Speaker 2>a golden shadows Pagoda dogwood, beautiful yellow and green variated tree,
<v Speaker 2>and it is turning a little bit pink, and I
<v Speaker 2>think that that's normal. I mean, you might usually see
<v Speaker 2>that a little bit later in the season rather than
<v Speaker 2>right now. But I don't think that the pink is
<v Speaker 2>a cause for concern. And I would say that, yeah, overall,
<v Speaker 2>I think your plant looks healthy. I don't think you
<v Speaker 2>have to worry about the health now. As for the suckers,
<v Speaker 2>I would be inclined to probably myself trim them out,
<v Speaker 2>especially at the age that Marylou's tree is. It really
<v Speaker 2>has developed kind of a strong single trunk, and I
<v Speaker 2>think it's best to just stick with that because some
<v Speaker 2>of the suckers that you can see to the right
<v Speaker 2>of the photo are getting pretty large.
<v Speaker 1>Correct If the tree was younger, then you could opt
<v Speaker 1>to go with the multi stem route that at this
<v Speaker 1>point I think we're in the boat. We got a row.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I agree, but it's not going to harm the tree.
<v Speaker 2>You know, some of those cuts will be rather large,
<v Speaker 2>but again I wouldn't worry about that too terribly much. Now,
<v Speaker 2>I have heard for crab apples that the best time
<v Speaker 2>to prune off suckers is in August because the hormones
<v Speaker 2>in the tree are such that it won't just keep
<v Speaker 2>trying to make them, it can actually, you know, reduce
<v Speaker 2>or even eliminate the suckers. So whether that is equally
<v Speaker 2>true for Dogwood's I don't know. But given the fact
<v Speaker 2>that it is now, you know, late July, I would say,
<v Speaker 2>go ahead and plan for you know, in about three
<v Speaker 2>weeks or so to cut off those suckers. See if
<v Speaker 2>that help, you know, see if that timing works to
<v Speaker 2>reduce them. But overall, I wouldn't worry about your plan.
<v Speaker 2>I think it looks really good.
<v Speaker 1>John writes to us very simply, our yard has been
<v Speaker 1>crazy this year with weeds. We spend way too much
<v Speaker 1>time pulling them. I have used prene to exhaustion the
<v Speaker 1>weeds we've got pull You know, you got to be
<v Speaker 1>weeding by example here, and I'm just gonna simply say
<v Speaker 1>to John that, yes, weeds are frustrating, but I believe
<v Speaker 1>that if you are out there in fall dealing with weeds,
<v Speaker 1>you solve eighty to ninety percent of your weed problems.
<v Speaker 1>I really believe that when you use herbicides in fall,
<v Speaker 1>there's good translocation into the root system. You get the
<v Speaker 1>winter annuals before they before they bloom. I just really
<v Speaker 1>believe that the people who have the best success as
<v Speaker 1>far as weeds are concerned, are out there in the
<v Speaker 1>fall dealing, you know.
<v Speaker 2>And the other thing I would add to that is
<v Speaker 2>that you know, why are you getting weeds? Is it
<v Speaker 2>that your lawn isn't filled in? Is it that it
<v Speaker 2>is a bed that's not mulch, Because I will tell
<v Speaker 2>you mulch can work wonders. And if you can, you know,
<v Speaker 2>get rid of the weeds and get a good four
<v Speaker 2>inch layer of mulch on that area. That should take
<v Speaker 2>care of not only the perennial weeds. In many cases
<v Speaker 2>some things will still come up, but also it will
<v Speaker 2>prevent the seeds from germinating. And you know, do yourself
<v Speaker 2>a favor. Don't make it more work than it needs
<v Speaker 2>to be put down mulch. It really really will help.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and John also mentions prene here. So prene is
<v Speaker 1>a pre emergent weed control, So it's only going to
<v Speaker 1>work on weed seed or seed that's brought to the surface.
<v Speaker 1>It's not going to help with those perennial weeds. And again,
<v Speaker 1>when you're dealing with weeds, you're dealing with all types
<v Speaker 1>of weeds, including those winter annuals. So boy, I can't
<v Speaker 1>emphasize enough. Mark your calendar for September, October, November and
<v Speaker 1>be out there dealing with the weeds you're the following year,
<v Speaker 1>you're going to be happy.
<v Speaker 2>Then, Yeah, and you know, spend the next couple of
<v Speaker 2>weeks identifying your weeds, find out if their perennial weeds,
<v Speaker 2>find out if they're annual weeds, and then you know
<v Speaker 2>where you can put where you need to put your energy,
<v Speaker 2>and if preene is even doing any good, because if
<v Speaker 2>you're using it against those perennial weeds, Yeah, like Rick said,
<v Speaker 2>it won't do anything for you. So we got to
<v Speaker 2>take a little break. When we come back, we've got
<v Speaker 2>a special guest for branching news. You won't want to
<v Speaker 2>miss it, so stay tuned. The Gardening Simplified Show is
<v Speaker 2>brought to you by proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our
<v Speaker 2>award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens have been trialed and
<v Speaker 2>tested for your success so you enjoy more beauty and
<v Speaker 2>less work. Look for Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs in
<v Speaker 2>the distinctive white container at your local garden center.
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Today, for branching news,
<v Speaker 1>we're going to talk to Diane Devereaux. Diane is known
<v Speaker 1>as the Canning Diva and I've known Diane for a
<v Speaker 1>number of years. She has a new book coming out
<v Speaker 1>called Meals in a Jar, and we're going to hold
<v Speaker 1>this up for YouTube viewers. What a gorgeous book. And Diane,
<v Speaker 1>thanks for joining us on the Gardening Simplified Show. We
<v Speaker 1>appreciate you joining us and sharing information about Meals in
<v Speaker 1>a Jar. How did this come about?
<v Speaker 3>Oh, thank you guys, Thank you so much for having me. Well,
<v Speaker 3>I as a recipe creator, you know, I'm constantly thinking
<v Speaker 3>of new things. But it came about because a lot
<v Speaker 3>of the canners that I interact with on a daily basis,
<v Speaker 3>whether it be social media, on my website. They wanted
<v Speaker 3>more meals, and you know, there just wasn't enough out there.
<v Speaker 3>A couple of my books kind of grazed the surface,
<v Speaker 3>and so I was getting lots of lots of inquiry.
<v Speaker 3>So I decided to just start working on a bunch
<v Speaker 3>of recipes. And then, of course I love food, so
<v Speaker 3>I dove into like culinary cuisines from around the world,
<v Speaker 3>and I just I had so much fun with this.
<v Speaker 3>So I didn't want to just create another soup or
<v Speaker 3>another chili, you know, I wanted to give people something
<v Speaker 3>really exciting. And as you noticed when you put throughout
<v Speaker 3>the book, there are some amazing, fun and very cultural
<v Speaker 3>recipes throughout.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Absolutely, and you talk about cultural. I know you
<v Speaker 1>well enough, Diane, and follow you in social media, where
<v Speaker 1>I also know that you believe that the work you
<v Speaker 1>do here with meals in a jar or canning, you're
<v Speaker 1>not only preserving food, but you're preserving family meals. You're
<v Speaker 1>preserving memories, so to speak, which really makes us special.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, thank you for saying that. It is true. It's
<v Speaker 3>like a community, right, and when you think about breaking bread, right,
<v Speaker 3>we sit down together, we have fellowship, we have family, friends, community, right,
<v Speaker 3>and that's exactly what we are doing with canning and
<v Speaker 3>home preserving, because not only in the act of you know,
<v Speaker 3>preserving and propping the food and putting it into jars,
<v Speaker 3>we're doing that at meal time too, So you're getting
<v Speaker 3>a sense of community throughout all the work from start
<v Speaker 3>to finish, and then the enjoyment aspect. So yeah, for.
<v Speaker 1>Sure, and Diane talking about family and friends. The forward
<v Speaker 1>of this book is written by Carrie Underwood tell us
<v Speaker 1>about that.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, Carrie is wonderful. A couple of years ago, she
<v Speaker 3>had posted an image of a recipe she canned, and
<v Speaker 3>I think it was something simple like tomatoes, and she says,
<v Speaker 3>I may not be no canning diva, but these maters
<v Speaker 3>shoe looked good, and I thank her. It was awesome, right,
<v Speaker 3>So I thanked her for giving me a shout out,
<v Speaker 3>because you know, she is quite popular and that helps,
<v Speaker 3>you know, give me a little bit of recognition. But
<v Speaker 3>when I had reached out to her, she founded right
<v Speaker 3>back and we started to have a wonderful dialogue. And
<v Speaker 3>she had mentioned how she was a bit intimidated about
<v Speaker 3>pressure canning, and I just I just said, you know, hey,
<v Speaker 3>anytime you you want me to show you, I'll gladly
<v Speaker 3>teach you. And sure enough she responded right.
<v Speaker 1>Back with okay, well that's great. I was like, yeah.
<v Speaker 3>My jaw hit the floor and I was like, okay,
<v Speaker 3>we're doing this. And it has been a fun, you know,
<v Speaker 3>friendship since. And I'm very thankful that she took the
<v Speaker 3>time out of her very busy schedule, as you know,
<v Speaker 3>to talk about how she loves gardening and canning and preserving.
<v Speaker 3>And you know what I was able to do for her,
<v Speaker 3>which you know, just that that interaction helped give her
<v Speaker 3>the confidence she needed. And she she's a canning machine.
<v Speaker 3>Whenever she's not on tour, she's home, she's gardening, canning
<v Speaker 3>and baking.
<v Speaker 2>That's dream life. You know what I really love about
<v Speaker 2>this concept, Like you said, it's not another seat, it's
<v Speaker 2>not another chili, which is of course with so many
<v Speaker 2>canning books are, but you know, so many people are
<v Speaker 2>so busy and they want to eat home and they
<v Speaker 2>want to eat home cooked food, they want to eat healthy,
<v Speaker 2>but they just don't have the time to you know,
<v Speaker 2>get home from work and the kids have this, and
<v Speaker 2>then you know they have to do this and this
<v Speaker 2>and this. But this is such a great way to
<v Speaker 2>take advantage of slower times of the year, you know,
<v Speaker 2>your kids off season in sports or whatever, to devote
<v Speaker 2>the time to just stocking up these meals so that
<v Speaker 2>when you do have those busy nights, it's like the
<v Speaker 2>same as if you did have two hours to cook
<v Speaker 2>an amazing meal that everybody could sit down together.
<v Speaker 3>Mm hm oh absolutely, you hit the nail on the head.
<v Speaker 3>We put all that time in the upfront, so that
<v Speaker 3>way you do have a pantry stock full of meals
<v Speaker 3>that you just eat and serve. It takes the load off,
<v Speaker 3>because you're right, especially when fall hits, you know.
<v Speaker 1>So in a nutshell, Diane, what we're talking about is
<v Speaker 1>we're talking about pressure canning ready made meal in a jar.
<v Speaker 1>Is that correct?
<v Speaker 3>That's correct. Yes, Everything we make is going to be
<v Speaker 3>already cooked and ready to go, so it has a
<v Speaker 3>shelf life of three to five years. What's beautiful about
<v Speaker 3>every meal inside the book is you preserve it and
<v Speaker 3>then you simply remove the lid and heat it up
<v Speaker 3>and eat it.
<v Speaker 1>Wow. Yeah, that sounds convenient now, I'd have to admit, Diane.
<v Speaker 1>And again we're talking to the canning diva, and that's
<v Speaker 1>Diane Devereaux and her beautiful new book coming out called
<v Speaker 1>Meals in a Jar. Diane, I have to admit that
<v Speaker 1>when I saw it involved pressure cooking pressure canning, I
<v Speaker 1>was like, I'm out, I can't do this, and I
<v Speaker 1>remember years ago the old pressure cookers on the stove.
<v Speaker 1>But following you on Instagram, I was struck by the
<v Speaker 1>fact that you were using this pressure canner, this pressure
<v Speaker 1>cooker outdoors using propane, and I'm thinking, now, maybe I
<v Speaker 1>can handle this.
<v Speaker 2>M Yeah, I have.
<v Speaker 3>I'm very blessed to have a partnership with all Americans
<v Speaker 3>pressure canners, these out of Wisconsin, and they had sent
<v Speaker 3>me one of their models. It's a nine. It'll hold
<v Speaker 3>upwards of twenty court jars. What's awesome about this is
<v Speaker 3>I can get so much done at once, but it's
<v Speaker 3>too big for my save. So I have a camp
<v Speaker 3>shaft sove that's outdoors. It has two burners. You use
<v Speaker 3>a pro paane tank just as you would a grill,
<v Speaker 3>and it works out perfectly. I set a couple of
<v Speaker 3>fire bricks down there so that we have a flat
<v Speaker 3>surface because it is so large, and yeah, it makes
<v Speaker 3>it so much easy. Is the biggest thing you have
<v Speaker 3>to worry about though. Rick is the weather, Yeah, right.
<v Speaker 1>Right, that's true. But you know I can deal with that,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm out there grilling in the weather. But I
<v Speaker 1>love the fact that I could do that outside. Diane
<v Speaker 1>meals in a jar, thinking, okay, so we've got some
<v Speaker 1>carrots and we've got some corn and that sort of thing.
<v Speaker 1>My word, was I wrong? I mean everything from meat
<v Speaker 1>balls to I mean shrimp and et cetera, et cetera.
<v Speaker 1>This is there's some fabulous recipes in here, certainly something
<v Speaker 1>that I'd love to crack open a jar after a
<v Speaker 1>long day at work and be able to heat up
<v Speaker 1>and enjoy.
<v Speaker 3>Oh thank you for saying that. Yes, I had so
<v Speaker 3>much fun. You know a lot of what you see
<v Speaker 3>in here is how I love to cook and eat.
<v Speaker 3>And I'm not gonna lie. I'm the type two that
<v Speaker 3>if I've had a long, busy day, the last thing
<v Speaker 3>I want to do is cook from scratch. So there's
<v Speaker 3>you know, times I'll run downstairs. But something simple like
<v Speaker 3>even Korean bogagi, or I love Asian fruits. He there
<v Speaker 3>would be like sukiyaki or a lemon grass chicken soup.
<v Speaker 3>That one is also, I mean just amazing simple. But
<v Speaker 3>we're also controlling what we put in each jar, so
<v Speaker 3>there is a health factor to that. Right, we know
<v Speaker 3>where the food came from. We prepared it ourselves. Many
<v Speaker 3>of us garden ourselves. Some of us have small homesteads
<v Speaker 3>and farms so they raise their own meat. There's a
<v Speaker 3>lot of cool things that you can do to create
<v Speaker 3>a variety of different meals, and yeah, I had fun exploit.
<v Speaker 3>My other favorite is bangers and nash. That is a
<v Speaker 3>common UK recipe. Did you see that one with the
<v Speaker 3>onion gravy. I'm telling you, if you try that one,
<v Speaker 3>you're going to fall in love with it. You will
<v Speaker 3>be wanting to just make and preserve the onion gravya
<v Speaker 3>so good.
<v Speaker 2>So how long did it take you to do all
<v Speaker 2>the research and recipe development, because this is a this
<v Speaker 2>is a big book with a lot of recipes.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you. It was a long time. It was two
<v Speaker 3>years of creation and testing, an additional year of writing,
<v Speaker 3>and then I mean altogether it was a four year project.
<v Speaker 3>So yeah, it takes a lot of time, and I'm
<v Speaker 3>constantly developing new recipes. I'm thankful that I now actually
<v Speaker 3>have a lab right here in Grand Rapids I used
<v Speaker 3>to have to ship stuff out, so I'm very blessed
<v Speaker 3>to have a third party, you know, helping me. And
<v Speaker 3>then you know, there's a lot that I do as
<v Speaker 3>far as like.
<v Speaker 1>After the fact.
<v Speaker 3>And now we get the book concept going and we
<v Speaker 3>get picked up by a publisher and in this case
<v Speaker 3>at Harvest House has been absolutely wonderful to work with.
<v Speaker 3>And then when they get to green light, like, yes,
<v Speaker 3>we love this book concept, let's go. Then I work
<v Speaker 3>with Jeff Hey, I get green Frog Photo in Grand Rapids,
<v Speaker 3>and we do all of our own food shoots, We
<v Speaker 3>do all the food staging. We do this all ourselves.
<v Speaker 3>So everything you see in the book he and I
<v Speaker 3>did together.
<v Speaker 1>That's really great.
<v Speaker 2>Thanks.
<v Speaker 3>Well.
<v Speaker 1>You can see you put a lot of work into it, Diane,
<v Speaker 1>and it's a gorgeous book. The book is Meals in
<v Speaker 1>a Jar, the Canning Diva Diane. If people want to
<v Speaker 1>learn more about you, first of all, let's ask the
<v Speaker 1>question when does the book come out?
<v Speaker 3>Okay, so it comes out August sixth, that's on a Tuesday,
<v Speaker 3>so for anyone who's pre ordered, that's the ship date. Also,
<v Speaker 3>hearing some whispering that it might ship a little early,
<v Speaker 3>so I'm kind of excited about that. I know I
<v Speaker 3>heard that, but that's also the date. August sixth is
<v Speaker 3>when it'll be available in stores. And we're going to
<v Speaker 3>have a fun book launch signing party in Grand Rappid
<v Speaker 3>at Baker book House, So that's also kind of fun.
<v Speaker 1>That's fantastic.
<v Speaker 3>In your website, none of that canningdiva dot com, so
<v Speaker 3>you can learn more about the book. You've got a
<v Speaker 3>sampling of recipes. I'll share a few things also if
<v Speaker 3>anyone orders the book and they'd like to take part
<v Speaker 3>in a three label template, I have access to every
<v Speaker 3>recipe in the jar. I've created a sheet of labels,
<v Speaker 3>so you have a template. You simply can yep, download
<v Speaker 3>that and print it and now you have labels for
<v Speaker 3>your jars.
<v Speaker 2>Nice.
<v Speaker 1>That's fantastic. Before I let you go, Diane just wanted
<v Speaker 1>to ask you a question today. On today's show, we
<v Speaker 1>talked about eating your landscape. And we're getting to that
<v Speaker 1>time of year when the tomato plants, the cucumbers, the beans,
<v Speaker 1>everything else bontiful and you stand there and you think,
<v Speaker 1>what am I going to do with all these vegetables?
<v Speaker 1>How do I deal with this? Looking at the book,
<v Speaker 1>it looks like you can incorporate a lot of these
<v Speaker 1>into Meals in a Jar.
<v Speaker 3>Hmm. Absolutely. I have a chapter dedicated to vegetarian recipes.
<v Speaker 3>I also have a chapter dedicated to food substitution. So
<v Speaker 3>if you're a gardener and you're starting to see a
<v Speaker 3>bumper crop, this book is going to be a fantastic
<v Speaker 3>asset to you because you will not have to let
<v Speaker 3>any of it go to waye.
<v Speaker 1>Fantastic. Her name is Diane Devereaux, author of the Complete
<v Speaker 1>Guide to Pressure Canning, her new book Meals in a Jar.
<v Speaker 1>Congratulations Diane, and thanks for sharing this with all our
<v Speaker 1>listeners and viewers here of the Gardening Simplify Show. We
<v Speaker 1>appreciate it.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you, Thank you both for having me, and thank
<v Speaker 3>you all for tuning in.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks Diane, well that was great.
<v Speaker 2>That's an excellent book, and I hope that you are
<v Speaker 2>as inspired as we are. And so thanks to Diane.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you Rick, thank thanks Drianna, and of course thank
<v Speaker 2>you so much to all of you for listening. Have
<v Speaker 2>a great week ahead.