2:01

You can have your soil tested to see what it is.

2:04

If a soil test shows the pH

2:06

is lower than that, making it too

2:08

acidic, sprinkle a cup of

2:10

ground lime around the base of each plant

2:13

and that'll help. Another

2:15

thing that can cause blossom and rot is

2:18

large swings in soil moisture because

2:20

this can interfere with the function

2:22

of the roots and

2:25

they might not function properly and again,

2:27

not pick up enough calcium. So

2:29

to keep this from happening, try to

2:31

keep the soil evenly moist and

2:34

mulching around your plants will help do

2:36

this too. And don't

2:38

use vinegar to water. Do

2:40

not use vinegar on your

2:43

tomato plants. From my previous question. Okay.

2:46

Thank you, Steve. You're welcome. We'll

2:51

be back with more After the Break. Welcome

3:04

back to Ask Grumpy, a

3:07

podcast from Southern Living. Hey,

3:10

Steve. Hey, Nella. We

3:12

have a good tip of the

3:14

week. Aren't they all good, Nella?

3:17

Yes, they are all good. So

3:19

how would you rate this among

3:21

all the good tips? I think

3:23

this is pretty top of the

3:25

list. Okay. It's

3:27

important that people don't do. Including

3:30

myself. You don't do this? Mm-mm.

3:34

You're in need of such incredible... I

3:36

know. I'm going to be better this

3:38

year. Okay. So this

3:41

is a tip of a week

3:43

and especially for Nella who never... Does

3:46

this. ...pays any attention to anything

3:48

I say. Okay. This

3:50

comes from a question that I got from a reader and

3:53

they were about ready to fill

3:55

some containers and put out some new

3:57

plants. the

4:00

summer and they had some old pots

4:02

that had potting soil in which they

4:04

had grown stuff in there last year.

4:08

And they wanted to know whether it

4:10

was okay to use the old potting

4:12

soil again or put in fresh potting

4:14

soil. And my

4:16

answer to that is I think

4:19

you're better off taking the old

4:21

potting soil and putting it into the

4:23

compost and then

4:26

putting fresh potting soil in

4:28

for your new plants. And this

4:30

is especially true if you're going to be growing

4:32

any kind of vegetable crop in

4:35

containers because when you're

4:37

growing vegetables, a lot

4:39

of them have insect and

4:42

disease pests. And

4:44

sometimes they can overwinter in the soil

4:46

of the pot that's just sitting there

4:48

all winter. You can plant

4:50

the same kind of plant in there another

4:53

time. You may have pest

4:55

problems. Also the

4:58

potting soil tends to break down. I

5:00

mean you can have all sorts of

5:02

things getting in there. I

5:04

would just start off with fresh potting soil

5:07

because some of them have a little bit

5:09

of fertilizer to get you going. But

5:12

you could also have a fertilizer build up

5:14

in a plant that has old soil in

5:16

there because some people would think it's necessary

5:18

to go and fertilize every single

5:21

week. So do yourself a favor. I

5:23

think it's not that expensive. Take

5:25

that old potting soil, put it in the

5:27

compost and then after everything is composted with

5:29

all the other stuff you got in your

5:31

compost, then spread it around the garden.

5:34

Okay. I have a question. Yeah.

5:36

A follow up. Okay.

5:40

I have also read

5:43

where after disposing

5:45

of the old potting soil you

5:48

should wash the pot out with

5:51

soap. It is a good idea

5:53

really to wash out the pot because you

5:56

want to get rid of any kind of disease

5:59

pathogen. or anything like that. See,

6:01

especially if you're using clay pots

6:04

because they're porous and they absorb water and

6:06

it goes in and out and there may

6:09

be something left in the pot. Now, I've

6:11

often made fun of

6:14

people using vinegar for everything, but

6:16

if you were to take a gallon of water and

6:18

put a cup of white vinegar in there, not

6:21

cider, but white vinegar, and

6:23

just swish that around in the pot, that

6:26

should take care of anything bad that's in

6:28

there and then just rinse out the pot and

6:30

you're good to go. Okay, great.

6:34

I'll be cleaning all my pots out this

6:36

year. I'll be checking up on you, you know. Okay.

6:39

Yeah, peering through your impenetrable

6:41

thicket of bamboo where

6:44

you hide the moonshine. Y'all

6:47

don't listen to him. All right. Thanks,

6:49

Steve. All right. Bye.

6:52

Bye. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Steve

6:55

Gagner. I'm the owner of the M.A.B. Thanks

6:58

for tuning in to Ask Grumpy. This

7:00

podcast airs every Wednesday and Saturday. If

7:02

you have a question, you know where

7:04

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7:06

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7:09

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7:24

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7:28

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