When that hotline bling (s1e05)
You begged for it, so here it is. Another episode of garden chores, under supervision, at my mom's place in Albuquerque. We're spraying weeds with a secret family recipe (for your eyes only, below), dishing on water-friendly gardens, and unearthing my mom's sordid past on a garden chat line.
Want to see pics from the garden? Instagram: @freshclippings
Secret non-toxic family recipe for weed spray:
- 4 cups white vinegar
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1/4 tablespoon liquid dish soap
- Combine ingredients into a spray bottle
- Aim one or two sprays at weed roots
- Use at sunniest part of the day for best results
- Watch 'em croak
If you're curious to learn more about water-conscious xeric gardening (often called xeriscaping) The Spruce has a great little hub of info and tips to get started.
Show art by Alison McKenzie
Production guidance from Evan Roberts
Special thanks to Jeremy Bloom
Episode music from Blue Dot Sessions:
Our Son the Potter (Love and Weasel)
Pigpaddle Creek (Sour Mash)
Bossa Boa (High Horse)
Transcript
You seem like a natural on the microphone.
Speaker:How did you feel?
Speaker:I just ignore it and talk to you.
Speaker:That's what I'm doing.
Speaker:You're the pro we're in danger.
Speaker:If that's the case.
Speaker:it's amazing.
Speaker:How much?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Like when you said.
Speaker:what does that do?
Speaker:I think it really does kind of destroy the aphids at skeleton,
Speaker:but I dunno that for sure.
Speaker:And then I said, name comes from Jordanians.
Speaker:Well, think it does people can correct us if we're ready.
Speaker:Uh, let me see.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Episode second, one of, uh, us on Albuquerque pest patrol.
Speaker:What are we attacking today?
Speaker:So you did say pest, not pet patrol.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So, but fin can have a badge if that helps.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Good, good.
Speaker:So I have some weeds coming up.
Speaker:My, um, I don't have grass in my.
Speaker:I've got like pressure fineing and pebbles and so forth.
Speaker:So seed dispersal is a problem in spring when we have a lot of wind.
Speaker:So I've got weed weeds popping up and we're gonna go spray 'em with a
Speaker:non-toxic to humans and pets spray thing.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:Well, let's, let's get into it.
Speaker:Let's get outside you.
Speaker:It.
Speaker:And actually, before we get into the action of this, we have a
Speaker:retraction that we need to, oh, yes.
Speaker:from the information from our last episode.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It didn't take long what, uh, what needs to be corrected.
Speaker:So I went blindly on that.
Speaker:Uh, Nemo was probably a product.
Speaker:Geraniums and it's actually from the Neme tree or Bush tree.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That hence it's called ne oil.
Speaker:Easy to remember not geranium oil.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Uh, okay.
Speaker:So with that important piece, cleared up talk there's we're using, you
Speaker:said this thing was non-toxic that we're spraying the weeds with.
Speaker:Give us a little bit more detail around the approach here.
Speaker:What's in this thing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, uh, why are we doing this now?
Speaker:Cuz I remember you saying this, we had to do this at a special time of day.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, um, it's just, it's three things.
Speaker:It's white vinegar.
Speaker:It's a little bit of dish soap and salt.
Speaker:and, um, you spray it on when the sun is really at, at its hottest and man,
Speaker:it works like you just spray and within about an hour or two, you can see them
Speaker:starting to look a little weathered.
Speaker:And the nice thing about it is my little dog can come by and kind of sniff.
Speaker:I don't have to worry that it's gonna be toxic to him.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So we've got this in a squirt bottle and then are you just
Speaker:gonna point me to the things?
Speaker:So, yeah, so this, anything that, anything that is green is an enemy, except for
Speaker:if it's a Bush that I planted because, um, this is a, a, um, more xeric.
Speaker:Landscape, So you just go, that's it just like two little things and that
Speaker:kills the grass and yes, that kills these little, whatever those pop up weeds are.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Mm-hmm well, I think I see some, like, are those.
Speaker:Slain weeds.
Speaker:Yeah, no, that's one that I actually mechanically comes out.
Speaker:Oh, gotcha.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So this one.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:That's enough right there.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And now while we're doing this, you can keep pointing stuff out if I miss it.
Speaker:Oh, like those two that I missed, uh, while we're doing this, if you
Speaker:had to do some battle with, uh, other volunteer weeds popping up
Speaker:because of your bird feeder, right?
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:So, um, I really in love with having birds, um, right outside my house windows.
Speaker:Where I can actually just see them fluttering and flying and feeding,
Speaker:and it's just been so much fun.
Speaker:So I had bought, um, a really cheap variety of bird seed that
Speaker:had a bunch of different kinds of seeds in it and unfortunate.
Speaker:I, I mean, I.
Speaker:Underneath the, uh, area where I had put that out.
Speaker:And about a week later I had a carpet of all sorts of weeds and so forth.
Speaker:And I had to go out and just pick each of those by Hannah, to me about four
Speaker:hours, because all the bird seed, just sort of like you had like sunflower
Speaker:seeds and you had exactly right grass or whatever they were eating.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So I have to in this area, um, I, because I don't want, um, those
Speaker:kinds of crops to be growing.
Speaker:I, um, yeah, I have to buy a certain type that, uh, it it's
Speaker:called a no mess blend and even.
Speaker:It, it can fall on the ground.
Speaker:It's not gonna germinate.
Speaker:some people are able to just put any type of bird seed that they want out.
Speaker:And it's not a problem because they're just adding more green to their yard, but
Speaker:this is a different kind of yard here.
Speaker:I don't want these weeds taking over and then it looks all messy.
Speaker:You've.
Speaker:So you've used the term xeric and I feel like growing up in Albuquerque, I sort
Speaker:of know what that means, but I don't know that I know the exact definition
Speaker:mm-hmm so would you spell the word.
Speaker:And define the word.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So I have some friends who call it zero escaping, and I take Umbridge
Speaker:that , it is not zero escaping.
Speaker:It is xeric and that's spelled X, E R I C.
Speaker:I think it's probably whatever.
Speaker:Um, whatever it truly, truly means, what it has come to.
Speaker:Is plant things that will naturally grow that are native to your area.
Speaker:So you don't have to use extra resources to grow.
Speaker:Like for example, I have chosen not to have a green lawn here.
Speaker:Because I don't need it.
Speaker:Um, and it doesn't naturally grow.
Speaker:I've tried to keep, um, just with native plantings, um, shrubs and
Speaker:trees that grow here pretty well.
Speaker:What is you?
Speaker:Don't take too much water.
Speaker:And that to me is the big.
Speaker:Now I think our, our world is going to be defined by the need
Speaker:for water in the coming years.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:Does xeric always mean dry or does it just mean native?
Speaker:We should look that up.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:you don't want, clearly I'm not the person that should be giving definitions.
Speaker:You don't wanna have to give another attraction in the next episode.
Speaker:Huh?
Speaker:did you do these?
Speaker:Yeah, I did get 'em.
Speaker:Yeah, this is, most of it is, um, really along there.
Speaker:And then we can look up.
Speaker:Did you do that?
Speaker:Mm-hmm I can get it again if you want
Speaker:there's one right there.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We could go around the back just to make sure.
Speaker:I think I saw some sort of around the side of the corner.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Something we haven't talked about yet is that actually, you know, like this is not
Speaker:the first time that you've just been asked a bunch of gardening questions, right?
Speaker:Like when I was younger, you actually took classes and
Speaker:volunteered for a gardening hotline.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:I, I am, there are county extension services across the.
Speaker:They offered classes in master gardening, and we had a really good one here.
Speaker:Um, and so what was it you just like had to take a class?
Speaker:No, you had to, I think it was like six weeks.
Speaker:Um, and we went for like three hours.
Speaker:Um, once a week sort of strikes me and then you had to take a test at
Speaker:the end and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:It, it, uh, it was humbling to me because there are people who had been farmers.
Speaker:There are people who, yeah, grew acres and acres of food to give to needy causes.
Speaker:It's like, you know, so.
Speaker:My little home garden of the tomatoes and the yeah.
Speaker:And the cucumbers.
Speaker:Um, I learned a lot from them and they were experimenting with ways,
Speaker:water wise, ways to grow food.
Speaker:And it was cool.
Speaker:So after you take the glass, then do you actually just like,
Speaker:what was the hotline experience?
Speaker:Like?
Speaker:I only did it like a few times.
Speaker:Oh, um, And then I kind of changed directions, but, um,
Speaker:it's called a pivot these days.
Speaker:It is called a pivot.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I always had someone with me who really.
Speaker:Had this fundamental, uh, background knowledge of how to grow cucumbers in a
Speaker:backyard using the least amount of space.
Speaker:And what can you put into a container garden here?
Speaker:And, you know, really fundamentally.
Speaker:Useful, was it busy?
Speaker:Would like phones ringing off the hook.
Speaker:It, it was pretty busy.
Speaker:And then of course people would call, oh, and then I've got this.
Speaker:And then, so they wanted to talk for 45 minutes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, but the lines were crank and especially in spring, it's like
Speaker:a pledge drive, but for plants.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And it was like, okay, well, Here's our email.
Speaker:Send that good question in, you know, Uhhuh and then people would
Speaker:actually email the responses back.
Speaker:So that's pretty cool.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:Do they still do that today?
Speaker:Even though everybody can Google things they do.
Speaker:So, um, last year I went to a nursery and I got what was labeled with a cute little.
Speaker:stick in label.
Speaker:It was, it said it was a lemon, cucumber and lemon cucumbers are kind of fun.
Speaker:And I just wanted to grow them in a pot.
Speaker:So I had been taught by the master gardeners that you could, um, take a
Speaker:tomato cage and then put one cucumber, uh, plant at the leg of each of the tomato.
Speaker:Um, stand mm-hmm and then have 'em grow up.
Speaker:And I had done it the year before and they were just beautiful
Speaker:and it worked really good.
Speaker:So I brought this home and I was growing it and I'm like, yeah, that sure.
Speaker:Doesn't look like a lemon CU Gummer So I sent a picture, um, emailed a
Speaker:picture in, and this gal just laughed and said, you've got yourself some very
Speaker:nice cantaloupe , which is something that people say on hotlines a lot.
Speaker:that's nice.
Speaker:Those, those very kind of her.
Speaker:the mom's mom's refusing to comment.
Speaker:I, I don't know this guy with the microphone.
Speaker:I've never met him before.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, we're, I've embarrassed.
Speaker:You and the I've embarrassed.
Speaker:The weeds maybe to death.
Speaker:With the spray.
Speaker:I think so you and two different kinds of sun are gonna do it.
Speaker:the sun.
Speaker:And then the one way overhead.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So once this, once this stuff soaks in the sun just sort of like cooks them.
Speaker:So you gotta do it in sunny weather.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah, which is most of the days out here.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What am I gonna do in Portland?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Good luck.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:a very strong flashlight.
Speaker:just standing over the weeds at night.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I will look any crazier than anybody else on my block.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:All well, another mission accomplished.
Speaker:We've been really productive here in Albuquerque.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:This has been, I it's been a good visit.
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Thanks mom.
Speaker:. Thank you.
Speaker:Thanks everybody.
Speaker:Um, and we'll catch you again in the garden soon.
Speaker:Next time we won't be in as sunny or as dry a place, but there will be just
Speaker:as many hummingbird back in Portland.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:We'll catch you then.
Speaker:Bye.
