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Thank you and so glad this view is helpful!💚 - Batavia

Thank you!!💚

I give them to my frogs! I tear the horn off first because I don't know what that thing will do when my frogs chomp on it. You know some petstores will sell them for 10 dollars for 4 small ones. I say if ya just grew a tomato plant, you'd have all ya need.

@@ninastone9054good call on the horn. I’m always careful when pulling them off the plant because idk what that thing will do to me if it sticks me lol

Thanks!! I'm trying to soak this up because in a few months, it will look different. 🥹😊

Ha! 😂😂 you're so very welcome!

Worst enemy indeed. I'm a bit scary (raccoon-gate) so I can't even go out at night with my light to check anymore🥹. I wish you success! 😊💚

Thanks Mike! ~Batavia

Heya! This sounds vaguely familiar. It hadn't happened to me though 🤞🏽.

It's my pleasure. Thanks for watching!💚

Fingers absolutely crossed!😊💚

Thanks Joy!

Heya Sis! I'm doing pretty good. How about you? I need to dig into my collard greens bed, Ive had quite a bit of pest pressure in there so I've been putting it off. The greens seem unbothered but it's gonna take a bit more elbow grease to clean them up (I've been spoiled with pretty clean greens coming out of my garden 😊). Your hiatus wraps up around September, when the weather breaks, right? 💚 ~B

@@BBettaGarden Yeah, I'm starting to think about what I'll be growing. I'm not rushing though. But happy growing and harvesting to you. Everything looks great.😊

It's my pleasure!

Thanks so much!💚

Heya! It's my pleasure!💚

Heya Chicago neighbor! So glad that you found your way to my channel. It's really great to be able to check out other gardeners growing near us. Happy gardening! 💚 ~B

@@BBettaGarden Hi neighbor, as I continue to prepare my backyard for my raised beds in hopes of planting some fall crops, can you please advise where in Chicago can I purchase some good seeds? I did a google search for local seed companies in Chicago and nothing really came up. I'd love to support a local nursery vs going to a big box store. Any advice you can give is greatly appreciated. Thanks neighbor.

Heya Chicago neighbor! Now is a good time to get some things ready for Fall. 💚 the rain just ran me inside but I'm going to be direct sowing some kale and green peas in the next couple of days and some collards and maybe cauliflower and broccoli in the next week. I'm waiting a bit for things like mustards and turnips. Here's to a great fall garden! 💚 ~B

Heya! Same here..it's been hard each year to get in gear for Fall each year after a long season. Maybe I'm hoping that the more I talk about it the more likely I am to get it planted 😊. Lettuce does so well for me and I eat it all year so I'm eager to grow it for the cheap 😊. Sending you the extra energy to get over the garden fatigue hump and plant for Fall💚. ~Batavia

Heya Friend! Thanks for the tip for beans and peas! 🙌🏽 That beauty is a Starry Starry Night hibiscus and I got it from Lowe's back in 2019 (I took a pic of the tag 😊). I feel like the Holy Grail that sits in the center gets so much attention and while it's gorgeous the Starry Starry Night is just so unique with the foliage and the multi-colored blossoms. I'm excited about the kale GreenStalk :-). It's my hope to harvest the leaves very young which will make for some tasty salads :-). I also enjoy kale that's a little more mature in smoothies or cooked. Thanks for the reminder to check my cabbage seeds as I most have a variety or two that is set to mature earlier. I can picture a Komatsuna seed package and I definitely have some giant red mustards. I have been thinking about fall flowers (I just never found the inspiration to plant many annual flowers this Spring or Summer.) Have you sowed snapdragons for Fall before? I would love to have some for Fall but I was thinking it was too late to start them. Good luck with the fava beans and all that will be going into your garden in the coming weeks 💚. Take care! 💚😊 Batavia

@@BBettaGarden About pre-soaking peas and beans, a slight revision: probably not less than four hours and no longer than six to eight for the beans, no longer than six for the peas, if that. If they're starting to *lose* their wrinkles, they're getting hydrated. It's important not to over-soak. The purpose is to help the seeds and to shorten the germination time. This, if we didn't talk about it before, is called "priming" and can be done with quite a lot of types of vegetable (and melon) seeds, and after priming you can dry those same seeds and store them for a while. Joe Lamp'l, of "Growing A Greener World," is supposed to have a CZcams video about this and if I recall correctly, he talks specifically about *spinach* seeds but the principle's the same and any differences are, doncherknow, the details. Unless you want only young kale leaves for use in salads, you're aware you can massage mature kale leaves to soften them (I'd still recommend taking out the tough center rib, though!) If you're going to do that, it's probably most pleasant to do this before adding any dressing to the salad. Probably even before tearing the leaves into smaller bits. It's in my mind that if you sow Napa/Chinese cabbage *right now,* you can just squeak that one in before first frost, and if it doesn't head up you can still use the leaves. Some of the earlier-maturing cabbages I can name are Early Jersey Wakefield (60-75 days, I assume from transplant); Golden Acre (60-65 days); Copenhagen Market (65 days); Napa cabbage/s of which there are many varieties (60 days); Tête Noire (about 65 days); Red Acre (65 days.) And remember to add a week to two weeks to the maturation times given or harvest dates because we've passed the equinox, are sowing after the equinox, and with the diminishing hours of daylight as well as the somewhat more oblique angle of the sun's rays, growth will be slowed by that much. About the snapdragons.... I didn't do the sowing, the snapdragons themselves did that earlier in the season by however long they needed to drop their seeds and for the seeds to germinate and then the plants to get to flowering. One day late in the season after all the other flowers had sort of begged off for the year, I went out to the garden and was surprised by a splash of brilliant red: the self-sown snapdragons! If you're able to give them warm enough soil I imagine they'll be fine. Er...until the frosts get them. Do you already have snapdragon seeds? Which ones do you like? Do you need some snapdragon seeds? I used to have a P.O. Box for you; I still have the Box #; do you still have and use that address? I adore tall snapdragons and I like clear, cheerful colors; some breeder or vendor offers seeds for snapdragons which look like too-old uncooked liver, and I can't get excited about those. I don't know whether I have any "dwarf" snapdragons. Love the shirt-dress; it reflects your joyfulness. From Northeast Ohio, 😊💚💚💚💚💚😊

@@BBettaGarden Oh! And I did mean to say Thank You for the info on the Starry Starry Night hibiscus! I'm going to have a look for it around here; maybe one of the nurseries.... Thanks so very much!😊💚

Heya! I hope you're recovering well from your foot surgery 💚. Glad to hear your summer plantings get a second chance to produce 😊. Are you harvesting from your Fall plantings all through winter? Curious how mild your winters are. Take care! ~Batavia

@@BBettaGarden Thanks, I am healing well and have started physical therapy. Been working fully remotely, but should be able to go back to my hybrid schedule sometime around early or mid September. I am able to harvest fall plantings even through the spring. Admittedly, I don't do particularly well with broccoli and cauliflower, but have had some success with cabbage and certainly lots of success with lettuce, arugula, Swiss chard, kale and collards. So my greens are more successful. I do also get some strawberries through late Fall. But when it cools down, things to grow slowly. Add in the low level of sunlight in my growing space, even things like carrots and beets don't really perk up until the warmth of spring which can start temperature-wise here as early as late February, early March. This year I'm going to see if I can get some late season peas and beans started. One nice thing though is that I can overwinter tomato and pepper plants so that when the temperatures warm up in the spring, I already have a head start with mature plants ready to start flowering and fruiting.

@@jwilli7434 glad to hear on the recovery. September is right around the corner! There is something about heading crops that gives me a challenge..cabbage do pretty well but the others, I feel like I'm rolling the dice every year. I've toyed around with overwintering peppers but each Fall the garden fatigue sets in and getting garlic planted and putting the garden to bed is about all I can get done. Now that said..I've had dreams of having a structure that would allow me to harvest the light the winter, even here in Chicago (seen it done by another gardener 😊). Anywho, happy growing! 💚

So funny! If I didn't know any better, I would have thought I wrote this comment. This is exactly how I talk about things like this. Go for it! I'm rooting for you! 💚 ~B

Heya Latasha! Great tip 🙌🏽💚Are you able to harvest through winter?

Thanks so much Sammy! The most important thing is that your garden produces, right 😊💚. Having a neat and organized is a bonus but is secondary. Thanks for watching and commenting! ~B

Heya Mary! Seems like shade screens can be a saving grace!💚🙌🏽 ~-B

Heya Darla! The last few years, most of my cool weather crops are planted in the Spring (in April) or this year as late as May.. I don't have a bunch of turns at the wheel planting for Fall so I'm trying to put what I know is logical to practice. And I'm hoping that some things that have struggled (ex. cauliflower, brussel sprouts) when planted in the Spring do better in the Fall. Oh and last season I had some volunteer beans come up and I moved them and they did really well..I still think direct sowing will lead to a stronger plant but that doesn't matter if the plant doesn't survive, right.. Thanks so much for watching and leaving such a rich and helpful comment 🙌🏽💚. ~B

Heya Jenace! Here's to a great rest of the garden season!!!!💚

Heya Chicago neighbor! lol at not having a real winter..that really changes everything for gardening, right?!?! Glad you found our podcast, we do have a good time 😂😂. And glad that you were able to check me out here! happy gardening!💚🛎️

Heya!! I marvel at gardeners who face heat like you experience I summer 💚. I've been fortunate that the physical protections I've put together have been effective for the critters that visit my space 😊. Wishing you great success with your fruit cages!💚 thanks for watching and commenting 😊💚. ~B

Heya Trisha!! ✋🏽So happy to hear you've joined the garden world this year 💚. Getting out of the starting gate in the Spring has been hard for me each year but it's getting a better each year (this year, not so much though 😊). You have a great line up for Fall! 'm rooting for you! 💚

Heya!! ✋🏽😊 once I have lettuce growing again, I'll still have some tomatoes so I'm looking forward to a homegrown salad this Fall😊. I would say the traditional curly kale (not sure I have a fav variety for it yet) is my favorite but I've come to enjoy Dinosaur (or Lacinto) kale..maybe in part because it grows so nicely and isn't a pain to clean like the curly variety. I grew Red Russian kale a few years ago. I can't put my finger on it but it reminds me of another green. I'll be sure to share some of the varieties I'm growing this fall and I'll make a note to share if any rise to the top as a fav. P.S. for fun--I direct sowed this plant in the Fall..it was shaded by some other plants but it came back the following Spring 😊czcams.com/users/shortsqY-8-TdZng8?si=dyvEGPGj0CFXYR4S Thanks for watching and commenting!😊💚

Heya Susan! Same here when it comes to my summer plants are doing so well around this time of year so it's hard to imagine pulling any out. Since I've started to grow more in the Spring, it's opened up some spaces naturally so that's been a help. That's a nice lineup for Fall and going through seeds for quick growers is a great idea! 🙌🏽😁. I had some herbs and celery ins greenstalk last year and used the frost cover. I'm not sure if the veggies would have been fine without it. I am thinking I'll use it for that tan GreenStalk that I'll be planting kale in..although Kale is super super harder. Thanks so much for commenting 🙌🏽😁💚.

Also in 5b (or is it now 6a?) 40 or so miles Northwest of Chicago! Pretty much almost Wisconsin, but basing it on zipcode alone, I have 2 weeks longer season than my parents do, and they're just a few miles south of me! Microclimates are wierd lol 😂 For fall garden I'd like to try garlic again, and of course leafy greens. I'm no good at cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, or beet, but I try every year anyway! Maybe I dont have the best soil, who knows!

Thank you!

Heya! Thanks! The hibiscus with the dark purple leaves and light pink flowers is a Starry Starry Night and I picked it up from Lowe's. The other with the dark leaves and the dark red flower blooms is a Proven Winners Holy Grail hibiscus. I think I've seen them at Lowe's and I think I got mine from a local store, Fasel & Sons Garden Center. the Mexican sunflowers are so pretty! I have some small sunflowers, Incredible that are supposed to grow about 20 in tall. Glad to hear the poles/pipe tubbing worked! 😊 I think I remember you being in Maryland. Love to hear that you're growing into winter! Thanks for watching and commenting and happy gardening!💚

Thanks!!

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Good morning and good afternoon!😊. Thank you!!! I just love love love it. Same as you, I had to buy another couple after I wore it a couple times 😊😊. I am all but sure that I have winter density seeds and I definitely have little gem 😁😁. Marvel of 4 season is one of my favs!! Each season I think about broccolini and each season I forget it when the time comes. I'm going to check the date to maturity..if it normally matures quicker than traditional broccoli, maybe will give it a try this Fall. I know time is ticking but you may have time to direct some another round.💚 Thanks for watching and commenting!

Heya Caleigh 🛎️! Thanks for listening to the pod and for watching and commenting here! Cool weather is such a great season for 'leafy greens.' And such a great idea about the beans and peas. Thanks 🙌🏽💚. Question: Do you soak your peas this time of year? I soaked some beans and some I just sowed and for the most part, they all came up in 2-3 days..I'm sure in large part, it was because of how warm it was when I was getting them started. ~ Ms. Botanical 🤣🤣

@@BBettaGarden For me it really depends on the weather conditions! If it has been particularly hot and dry I will soak shortly just to give them a better chance of actually making it through germination. If I have decent weather then I’ll usually just got ahead and direct sow. My area has had an unseasonably wet summer which has actually been incredible for the garden, so direct sowing has been very easy! 👍

Heya Laura! ✋🏽Seems like we're always fighting with a creature when I gardens are thriving 🥹.I'm going to try to direct sow cauliflower to see how it does. I don't have an irrigation system. It's been hard to wrap my head around the idea because of all of the different water spaces. I primarily water with a hose and if I'm using a liquid fertilizer I'll use a watering can. P.S. thanks for the video idea!

P.P.S. And thank you!!!!!

Hey IL neighbor! I'd guess you're in zone 6 too So glad to read that the video was helpful. Those white butterflies (I probably said moths in the video) are so pretty but they lead to so much damage 🙁. P.S. if you're interested, you can go here and enter your zip to find your zone. planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/

thanks so much!

Thank you!💚

Sorry to hear. Spindy sounds like they could be stretching for sun and they never form a strong stem to support them. But it's a bit hard to really say without seeing them. If you're on IG or FB, feel free to to send me a few pics of them at b_bettagarden 💚

Good evening Ripley! So glad to see you stopping by and love that you enjoy the podcast. 🛎️

Heya Tracy! I didn't use/don't typically use filler for my containers (I have seen others do it).

🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽