University of Georgia
Dividing leads to multiplication in the garden when host Walter Reeves looks at herbs, fruits and vegetables on "Gardening in Georgia" June 18 on Georgia Public Broadcasting."Gardening in Georgia" is produced by GPB and the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. It airs each Saturday at 12:30 and 7 p.m.
Dividing transplants is an easy way to multiply your plants and your investment. Reeves shows how to carefully divide a pot of basil containing several sprouts. He shows how he shops for tomato seedlings at a nursery, too, to get more than one plant in a pot and get more for his money.
Seeing hundreds of small peaches on your trees may look like a sweet harvest in the making. But UGA horticulturist Mark Reiger says leaving them all on the tree invites problems.
Thin peaches to one for every 6 inches of stem, Rieger says. This balances a critical ratio between number of leaves and developing peaches. Each fruit, he explains, requires the sugars produced by 30 leaves, usually growing nearby.
If you want to grow your own sweet potatoes, UGA horticulturist Wayne McLaurin says the process starts at the grocery store and ends up in your garden, by way of your kitchen.
McLaurin shows Reeves how to select potatoes by taste before sprouting them and harvesting the easily-rooted "slips" to plant in your garden. And even a small space, he says, can yield a nice crop of sweet potatoes.
