Ep. 241 Kicking Off the 2026 Grow Along: What We’re Growing and How to Join | #GoodGrowing

Chris: 00:05

Welcome to the Good Growing podcast. I am Chris Enroth, horticulture educator with the University of Illinois Extension coming at you from Macomb, Illinois, and we have got a great show for you today. We are kicking off year three of the Good Growing Grow Along. And so, obviously, I'm not doing this by myself. I am joined as always every single week by horticulture educator Ken Johnson in Jacksonville.

Chris: 00:28

Hey, Ken.

Ken: 00:30

Hello, Chris. Get excited another year of adventures in the garden.

Chris: 00:37

Today's a good day for that because it's cold and cloudy and bleak and jostle it and awful outside. So I'm happy to be here with you dreaming away about the awful not awfulness, the fun that we're gonna have fun this this summer. So yeah. And, of course, we have our other partner in crime here, horticulture educator, Emily Swihart in Milan, Illinois. Emily, welcome to the show.

Emily: 01:04

Hi, guys. Oh, man. This year is gonna be something based on our just recent conversation about our our choices. This is gonna be a different kind of year for the Grow Along, so let's do it.

Chris: 01:18

Yes. Let's do it. We're excited. It's obviously, you know, why do we choose the things that we choose in this in this endeavor? I don't I think it started with you, Ken, when you're just like, I like to grow weird stuff.

Chris: 01:34

But I think it's all weird. We don't grow, like, weird things. A lot of it is new to us, new things that we've never ever had in our yards, gardens, or landscapes. Some of it is a little bit different, and some of them is just like, I like the name of that. I don't know what it's gonna be like.

Chris: 01:49

So let's just go with the name. And we even have some listener submitted requests in here too. So from folks that participated last year, we have their stuff in here this year. We couldn't get them all, but, yeah, we got a couple.

Emily: 02:03

Yeah. I think, Ken, you did I think you're right, Chris. Like, Ken, you inspired this. And over the years so this is the third year, right, that we've been doing this. I have, from time to time, reflected on why we're gardening, why we're growing.

Emily: 02:19

There's been times in the past that you know, I've mentioned how busy our lives are and how stressful it can be to have a big garden or how we travel and we're gone for many weeks in the summer or growing conditions aren't ideal, and yet we still, like, feel compelled to grow. And sometimes I just, like, I just wanna get food out of the garden, you know, like, and feed the family, and, like, grow for maximum output. But this program, I love because it does it adds more, like, fun and curiosity to it. Like, I can grow the same thing every year and kind of, like, you can be predictable in your garden, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I I appreciate you guys entertaining this idea and our viewers and listeners, like, going along with us to do this because you get to try some really interesting it challenges you.

Emily: 03:10

Like, it could just you know, we get to to experiment and step outside of maybe our comfort zone or find something we really like, eat something that's really weird, makes your mouth drool, doesn't taste like it's supposed to, don't eat what some of this we're supposed to eat that seems like a food. Like, recommendations are to not eat what we're gonna be growing in some cases. So I love this. I I love doing this with you guys and everybody else. So What

Ken: 03:40

do we broaden broaden the palate Yeah. For the garden and your taste buds.

Chris: 03:45

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Well so, I mean, yeah, what goes into what we pick in the garden and and why we we do this? I think it's just fun.

Chris: 03:56

I I have fun growing with you, Emily and Ken, and with everybody listening, watching us. It's kinda just fun to grow along with somebody else and just realize that we have our own misadventures in the garden, and we can relate. And successes too. We've had some successes that we've shared. We've had failures that we've shared.

Chris: 04:17

It's just been fun. So thank you guys for growing along with with me every year. It's been great. Yeah. Let's do it again.

Emily: 04:23

Yep. Good. Before we jump in to the species that we chose this year, we want to maybe remind everybody or just talk briefly about how we got to these different species or cultivars. Just like high level. Right?

Emily: 04:39

We can talk a little more specifically about them when when we get down to the species. But like like, grow in we go in, and we try to find something that at least two of us haven't grown. We've each grown some of these. Well, that's not true. There's a couple that none of us have grown.

Emily: 04:57

But there's some gray area in terms of new to us as a team. And then this last year, we started kind of expanding the options in terms of starting seeds early. So that was an option. And, again, this year is an option. So that kind of forces us to get things going a little sooner because that's that seed starting, like, next level gardening.

Emily: 05:25

Right? You gotta get a do a little planning ahead. So that's an option for some of our plants, but we don't want that to be everything. So that is included in our selection process. Some, you start early, some, you don't.

Emily: 05:36

You can just direct sew. What else am I forgetting? Names. Names are important. We really like fun names.

Chris: 05:43

And and it's like, what can fit through the postage system? Because if you do register to get these seeds, we do mail them out just via the US post service. And we made this mistake the first year where we said beans out. And it's like, well, there's these rollers that the envelopes have to go through, and that kind of can damage the the seed in some ways. And so we we we also have to decide on, like, what can go through the mailing system and hopefully arrive to you undamaged.

Chris: 06:16

Doesn't always happen, but, you know, we we try to do that. So, yeah, we do we, like, start with a big old spreadsheet, and then we have to whittle it all down into just a a couple, maybe half dozen or so plants.

Ken: 06:27

Hundreds of debate. Many tears are shed.

Chris: 06:30

Mhmm.

Ken: 06:31

Yep. But we get there.

Chris: 06:32

I hadn't talked to Ken for two weeks. So, yeah, hurt my feelings.

Emily: 06:36

It was awkward. I'm glad you guys made up.

Chris: 06:39

Had to record a podcast. I'm kidding everyone. So yeah. So should we dive into our list for 2026 for the Grow Along?

Emily: 06:51

Yes. Please. So the first one, Chris, you brought to us because you had seen a comment from a viewer.

Chris: 07:01

That's right.

Emily: 07:01

This is recommended.

Chris: 07:03

So It you was a recommended one from a viewer, and all they had to do was mention the name and I was on board. So this is going to be a tomato. This is our tomato for this year, and it is rebel starfighter prime. I I mean, do you even need to know anything else about this plant? So, yeah, Emily is holding up the seed right there.

Chris: 07:25

It's it's a really interesting like, the photographs are beautiful of this plant. So this is like an ox heart, also known as like a Valentine's tomato shape. So it's like a heart shape. It's got a little point on the blossom end of it. It's got a deep red, purple, burgundy kind of exterior.

Chris: 07:47

And supposedly, when you cut into it, also that that coloration carries through the flesh. I wonder if this is kind of the answer. So we have the GMO purple tomato that produces a lot of anthocyanins. I wonder if this is kind of the answer to that with this more open pollinated type of tomato. So this is goes against my newfound rule, of doing an indeterminate tomato.

Chris: 08:14

So the these are indeterminate tomato plants, which means they're vines. They grow really long and tall. If you've listened to the show in the past, you know that I have switched to determinate tomatoes because they're just easier. Ken, he showed me the light. But but we're going indeterminate this year with Rebel Starfighter Prime.

Chris: 08:34

So this is gonna be the one that you're gonna want to have to also start indoors if you wanna get kind of a leg up on the season. It is a everything I've read about it looks like it's a pretty vigorous grower. The foliage is described as wispy, which I'm interested to see what that's like. And so, yeah, it I think it just kind of normal tomatoes type conditions, full sun, good drain soil, you want a nice little mulch around it, and you're gonna need to have some kind of support system to grow this tomato because, again, it's vining. It grows a long long vine.

Emily: 09:10

Yeah. This one and looking at the pictures and I might have to go against my rule, which was no more heirlooms. They cause problems for me. I I am not, like, harping on heirlooms. In just my current life stage, heirlooms are challenging.

Emily: 09:26

But Cherokee Purple, it kind of reminded me of that, which I do like. I like Cherokee Purple. And so, like, the coloration, not the shape, you know, but I like that stripy, gorgeous kind of purplish maroon coloration. So Yeah. I'm excited.

Emily: 09:42

This one's pretty new to the market, so none of us have grown it.

Ken: 09:46

I'll be interested to see if the colors are quite as intense as you see in the pictures. I think we've talked about this before is that a lot times there's some editing going on with pictures. So interested to see if it's even if it's even remotely close to the pictures, it'll be a pretty cool looking tomato.

Chris: 10:06

Yeah. I think someone's bumping up the saturation, some of these photos here, but

Emily: 10:09

Yeah.

Chris: 10:10

We shall see. But I I think in the end, the the biggest decider of if a garden crop is successful is, one, does it taste good? So does this taste like a good tomato? We'll figure that out. And then is it you know, what kind of problems do we run into as we're growing it?

Chris: 10:24

You know, that's so you know, that I think flavor is really important because we have all these novelty fruits and vegetables out there. They're really fun and cool, but if they don't taste good, I don't wanna grow it again. So I'm I'm excited to give this one a try.

Emily: 10:37

One of the descriptions that I read said that the flavor is well balanced between sweet and long lasting umami, which I don't really know what that means. I'm gonna be honest. I don't I've heard that term. It sounds great. I don't know what it means, so I'm hoping to get it in this tomato.

Emily: 10:57

So we'll see.

Ken: 10:59

Must be that was that savory flavor? Yeah.

Chris: 11:02

I go.

Ken: 11:02

Find that.

Chris: 11:03

You know, soy sauce is one kind of for like Asian countries. Worcestershire sauce is another. Umami flavor. Yes. Yeah.

Emily: 11:12

Yes. I've heard I've been told all of these things before. I've I've heard all of this. I still don't get it.

Chris: 11:18

How do you get it from a tomato? That's the question.

Emily: 11:20

I don't know. Yeah.

Chris: 11:24

It's syringed with Worcestershire

Emily: 11:25

sauce. Rebel? Yeah. So that is a rebel starfighter prime tomato. So strong start, Chris.

Emily: 11:34

Strong start.

Chris: 11:35

Well, this next one, I've never grown. But you, Emily, and Ken, you have grown this one. So tell us about this mixture you have concocted.

Emily: 11:46

So it's been decades since I have grown. It's poppies, so we're gonna grow some poppies, a couple of different cultivar or species of poppies. But it's been decades, and I just they're I have, like, a fondness for them because my grandma grew them in her garden, and I'm sure they just reseeded themselves. Like, I have a fondness. So these cultivars I haven't grown, I'm very pumped to grow.

Emily: 12:12

Because if, again, with these pictures or anything remotely close to what comes out of the garden, it's gonna be it's gonna be so fun to have them. But, Ken, have you you've grown poppies more recently?

Ken: 12:24

Yeah. We've grown poppies the last few years. Not the specific species or cultivars are grown this year. We've grown I think it's ladybird, which is a red one with black spots on the inside of the petals. So, yeah, we've we've grown some, but interested to try, some of these different ones.

Ken: 12:45

And if if people have never grown poppies before, think of your poppy seed muffin or whatever. So the seeds are gonna be rather small. So that's something to to keep in mind when we're doing this. So that you're gonna have want to have an area cleared and probably worked fairly well if you want to be have better chances of success.

Emily: 13:12

And they're a cooler season. They can be sown directly, like earlier than the last frost, couple six weeks before four to six weeks before the last frost. And so if your garden's ready to go or if we have a nice little warm spell, you wanna get your garden ready if you're gonna get these poppies. So and, Chris, you hinted at it. We're gonna do a mix of them because we could not pick which ones we wanted.

Emily: 13:40

And so we landed on three. The first one, I'm gonna go ahead and hold up here, is called amazing gray. And I I don't know. I mean, like, look at this. Look at she's lavender gray is how I've seen it described.

Emily: 13:58

Like, smoky gray, like, a muted mauve. I don't know what we're gonna get, but this is a pretty unique color in terms of flowers. I think it's probably pretty highly sought after as a cut flower. And so excited to see, like, what that what it grows as. Next one.

Emily: 14:18

Which one do I do? Which one do do? I'll do this one. I'll save I'll save my favorite for last. Alright.

Emily: 14:22

So then we've got pop Shirley Poppy Supreme. Shirley Supreme. Here you go. It's a double poppy, and so there's, like, double ruffled feather kind of petals on it. So it should be you know, some of our puppies are like that single petal.

Emily: 14:41

These are way more full in terms of the flower in terms of the petal coverage. So coral red, sugary pink. I mean, like, anything that's described as sugary pink, I'm on

Chris: 14:55

Sounds delicious. Mhmm.

Emily: 14:57

Yeah. So that one there's that one. But then so a couple years ago, I grew it was a near black, like, really dark flower. And I before that hadn't ventured into, like, the deep deep, like, burgundy black kind of flowers. I thought maybe they would get lost in the in a bouquet or in the landscape.

Emily: 15:19

And I am happy to admit when I am wrong, and I was way wrong. They are so cool. And so I'm kind of obsessed with growing some, like, dark flowers now. And so this year, we're gonna grow black swan puppy. And she is, like, large and frilly.

Emily: 15:37

It's a like a feather petal. So they're they're more dissected than the other two petals. And so you've got kind of this, like, feathery look to it, which I think is gonna be really, really cool. And if you if people sign up to get poppies, we'll make sure that there's a little bit of each of these seeds in the packets. We're just gonna send it as one packet that'll be labeled poppy, but you will get all of these mixed together in there.

Emily: 16:04

And so it'll be kind of a fun surprise to grow, you know, these these unique cultivars, and then you won't even know what plant what you've planted where, so double surprise.

Ken: 16:15

And so these are not the eating type of poppies, so don't eat them.

Emily: 16:20

Say that again, Ken.

Ken: 16:22

Don't eat the poppies.

Emily: 16:23

Don't eat these poppies. Yeah. That was one of our selection criteria with these, is that while these are not the ones that are used primarily for harvesting the seeds for consumption, like the baking poppies or the ones for more nefarious purposes, they're still you still like, please don't eat them. They're not for they're not for consumption. They're for beauty.

Emily: 16:52

So you guys know I could really enjoy cut flowers. And there's a practice with cut flowers that I haven't even I haven't tried. I kind of haven't had the heart for it yet because it just seems kind of mean. But poppies don't have a very long vase life. They're kind of a delicate flower, and so after you harvest them, if you're gonna use them in a bouquet, their vase life is shorter than most other flowers, like your zinnias or your sunflowers or your dahlias, like all those other really beloved cut flowers.

Emily: 17:26

Like, four days, five days max in a vase if you cut them and treat them really, really well. But you can extend their vase life by a couple of days If you sear the cut ends in boiling water for ten seconds, apparently this is a practice that is done with a variety of different cut flower species, and it just depends on the species. But I think I'm gonna give it a shot. I'm gonna hopefully, I'll have enough to to do, like, a little trial where there's some that have been just harvested and put into some clean distilled water, and then others that have been harvested. And I'm gonna try to sear them in boiling boiling water for ten seconds and see what the vase life is like.

Ken: 18:14

Is it with if you've never grown poppies, they're a a spring bloomer? So I think was it like, fourteen, fifteen weeks, something like that from Yeah. Seed to flowers. So this will be an earlier earlier season, early color. And you mentioned starting outdoors.

Ken: 18:30

That's what's recommended. I don't know if the seed packets say you can sow indoors. That can be done. Usually doing that six to eight weeks before last frost, but they do not transplant well. So

Emily: 18:42

Their roots don't like to be disturbed.

Ken: 18:43

We've done about the first year we grew, then we we started indoors just because the seeds are so small. We weren't really sure where they're going to end up. We had some success, but we had much better success last year where we just direct seeded stuff. Yeah. So something to keep in mind.

Ken: 18:59

You can try, but you may have more success just direct seeding.

Emily: 19:04

Yep. And they are taller, you know, like, they're if anybody's grown poppies, like, are they're no different than kind of your straight species or your heirloom species. They are three foot, two to three feet in height. And so if you're gonna plant them somewhere, just keep that in mind. I was thinking of trying to maybe in a container, but they might need to have a little bit of support by putting them in a container.

Emily: 19:28

So we'll see.

Chris: 19:30

Sunshine's a little limited in my yard. I thought I had a spa for this. Can I put them in a shade area for poppies? They need full sun.

Ken: 19:40

I think they're full sun.

Emily: 19:41

They're full sun.

Chris: 19:42

Oh, biscuits. Alright. I'll figure out a different spot.

Ken: 19:45

There's only one way to find out.

Chris: 19:47

There you go. Yeah. I mean,

Emily: 19:50

how how not full sun is this?

Chris: 19:54

No sun. No. It's got, like, a couple hours maybe of direct sun. You know what? We'll find out.

Chris: 20:04

Yeah. Experiment type.

Emily: 20:06

They might be stunted and they might not bloom. You know, like, there's kind of those Yeah. Options.

Ken: 20:13

Sprinkle a few in a pot. Mhmm. A big pot.

Chris: 20:17

Yeah. I got one of those.

Emily: 20:19

Alright. Next on the list. Ken, this one you introduced us to last year, and I decided I'd I have to grow it. Me too. It just blew my mind.

Emily: 20:30

It's our pepper for this year. So go ahead. Tell them what we're doing.

Ken: 20:35

So this is not a peno. So this is a jalapeno with no heat. So you get the flavor of jalapeno without the heat. So if you're not if you don't like heat or you used to eat you used to eat hot things and you can no longer eat hot things, here's your chance to eat get that jalapeno flavor, without the heat. So you grill them just like any other jalapeno hot pepper, starting indoors, transplanting out after danger of frost has passed.

Ken: 21:06

And with peppers, they like warmer soils, so make sure you're waiting. Don't get them out too early because they'll just sit there and and do nothing. So make sure those soils are warmed up. And this term how tall our plants got they've got a couple feet tall and do pretty good production than other ones we've grown in the past. So you'll have, you know, a couple plants where you probably have more peppers than you need for most people.

Ken: 21:33

So pretty productive.

Emily: 21:34

With peppers, when I germinate my peppers, I do use a heat mat. Pepper seeds generally they just kinda like like warmth all around, and so that has helped in the past. So if you do have, like, a heat mat, that might be something to to bust out for these peppers. But yeah. When you brought them to us, like, these look like jalapenos.

Emily: 21:57

Like, you brought them to us last year, and I ate them only because I trust you and that because it I don't like heat. I do not like heat. And they don't. They have a great flavor to them without, like, burning your mouth. It's so good.

Ken: 22:18

And if and if you grow regular jalapenos and not a peanuts, if you're going to grow both, don't put them right next to each other. So last year, I brought you guys the habaneros, the habaneros that aren't hot. Yes. And I got my plants mixed up and I was picking them and I just ate a habanero plain. That was that not a good idea.

Ken: 22:40

There's there's quite a bit of discomfort for a while. So if you're going to grow both, make sure you know which one's which before you start just eating it in the garden. Unless you can normally do that, but I'm not one of those people that can.

Chris: 22:54

Yeah. And you gave us the fully mature ripe fruit, the red fruit that was almost had that sweet bell pepper flavor. So I'm waiting. I will wait for that. I I am patient enough to ignore green peppers to wait for them to turn whatever mature color they're going to because usually that flavor is far far better, in my opinion.

Emily: 23:19

Yes. Yeah.

Chris: 23:20

Yes. Green peppers are roughage.

Emily: 23:22

I like waiting. I need to in addition to separating them and and marking them well, I need to tell the kids in my life to not pick them. One year, my nephew went out to the garden. I was waiting for peppers to mature into colors, and he comes back with a armful of, like, really beautiful green peppers. I was like so I have to put a sign that says not a pino and wait till they're red.

Ken: 23:50

But you can still eat them green like you would normal jalapeno, or you normally would with a jalapeno too if you want. But, yeah, I think they do taste better, A little sweeter when they're red.

Emily: 23:59

Those are gonna be fun to take to, like, the ball field and just, like, snack on and just blow people's minds. Like, meat and jalapeno in spite of that. Yeah. And

Ken: 24:08

hopefully, the seeds they sent us are actually not a peno.

Emily: 24:12

Oh, I hadn't even thought of that, Ken. Why would you say that?

Chris: 24:16

Now I'm scared. Yeah. Everyone take a little bite at first. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: 24:25

I'm excited to take a relatively healthy vegetable and stuff it with cream cheese, wrap it in bacon, and and fry it. Yeah. It's gonna be

Emily: 24:35

fun. Yeah. Very good. Okay. Next up, our cucumber.

Emily: 24:44

Who whose idea was this one?

Chris: 24:47

I think I I think I saw it, and I'm like, what about this? And Ken said, I've grown that before. And I said, what if we did this little mouse melon? And then so, Ken, what what am I in for here with my little tiny cucumber that I decided to to include?

Ken: 25:07

Yeah. So this is Mexican sourdoughken or sometimes called mouse melon. You'll see both names out there. So basically, it's it's it's cucumber and it produces these small, maybe inch long, fairly kind of like little miniature watermelons. And it tastes kind like a cucumber, a little more sour than a cucumber, but and they're it's a vine.

Ken: 25:30

You can get fairly large and we've grown them. We grow them. We've got a fence around our garden that we just let them grow up. And they will spread quite a bit. And again, they're very prolific, like cucumbers, small little, very small little yellow flowers, and you'll get all kinds of fruit off there.

Ken: 25:47

You do kinda have to keep up with picking them once they get as the bigger they get, they get kinda soft and they're not quite as good. So, like other cucumbers, there's a good chance you'll end up with more than you want because they they can be prolific. But and it's one you can just, you know, eat them while you're picking, like, peas or green beans, something like that. Yeah. I think that's the that's that's the gist of it.

Ken: 26:13

A little miniature watermelon almost look alike.

Chris: 26:16

Cool. So we're we're in for the same situation. I I think I also suggested lemon cucumber two years ago, so I I I apologize to everyone for not learning my lesson. So here we go again.

Emily: 26:30

Yeah. I saw it said huge yields, and I was like, they're, like, an inch in size, so the wolves spend many many minutes out there picking.

Chris: 26:38

I've made it worse to actually tip in year three.

Ken: 26:44

And because these are so small, I would grow them up a on some kind of trellis because it's it's gonna be much easier to pick them. That way, we planted ours and we had one of the, like, the bean trellis that we just kind of angled onto the fence, let it grow up. And they kind of hung down. It was a lot easier to pick. Because they are prolific and they are small.

Ken: 27:06

I would I would recommend growing them on some sort of trellis to make harvesting easier.

Emily: 27:11

I saw the flavors who Chris, you mentioned the lemon cukes. These did say that they were, like, lime flavored cucumbers. I was like, so maybe we have, like, something happening. Maybe we grab another lemon cube, and we grow two of them.

Chris: 27:28

It's like like a it's not Sprite anymore, is it? Starry? I don't know what the brand names are anymore. Something. I don't drink soda.

Ken: 27:35

Still around.

Chris: 27:36

Yeah. Okay. Sprite's still there.

Ken: 27:39

Starry with Sierra Mist.

Chris: 27:41

Okay. Yep. Well, thank you for humoring me with the mouse melon. I I will be when we do our updates later in this in the year, you'll hear me cursing and wondering why in the world we chose this thing. So yep.

Chris: 28:02

And everyone listening and

Emily: 28:03

watching chore for the kids. Let me you know, they can pick them all day.

Chris: 28:08

All day long.

Emily: 28:11

Throw them at each other is what mine will do.

Chris: 28:13

Probably. It's really good slingshot ammo. Oh,

Emily: 28:19

yeah. So okay. Next, ground cherry. Chris, you proposed this one?

Chris: 28:28

I don't think so. I I've grown it before.

Emily: 28:30

Okay. Oh, oh, okay. I have been curious about this for a while. So maybe I didn't mention it, and I'd I'd forgotten. Someone had mentioned to me about ground cherries a while ago, and I just have been curious.

Emily: 28:42

And I so I grew tomatillos a couple years ago, and they look very similar, related to each other, but they are not the same. So if you've grown tomatillos, ground cherries are not just another name for tomatillos. Mhmm. They do have some fun common names that I would like to just run through because, I don't know, I I get a kick out of what different folks call different or the same thing. So bladder cherry is one of them that I saw.

Emily: 29:19

Cape gooseberry, which I I kinda like. A Chinese lantern, which you can kinda get when you see the pictures. Ground cherry. Jerusalem, excuse me, Jerusalem cherry. I don't know where that name comes from, but perhaps maybe like an origin.

Emily: 29:38

And then this one, I am confused by, and it's strawberry tomato. Yep. You get you get that one, Chris?

Chris: 29:50

I get it. I mean, the husk so it's a it's a round fruit born in a husk.

Emily: 29:56

Yes.

Chris: 29:57

And the husk is kind of strawberry shaped, like that upside down pyramid shape sort of. Yeah.

Emily: 30:04

Okay. Okay. Okay. Strawberry tomato then. We're sticking with it.

Emily: 30:10

Yeah. But like I said, these are not tomatillos, which do still have that that, like, husk around them, which is a calyx if anybody wants to be nerdy. But so what was interesting, and you do need to start these early, is that ground cherries need to be started, was it earlier? Let me check my notes. Yeah.

Emily: 30:36

Two weeks earlier than your traditional tomatoes, whereas tomatillos would be started later, like indoors, than your tomatoes. So if you're timing out your seed starting and you want to, like, stagger it, if you're gonna do the ground cherries and our tomatoes, and you do wanna wait a little bit on growing the tomatoes even though they're both part of that Solanaceae family. You want to start your ground cherries earlier. I thought that was fascinating and a mental note that I needed to make because I would have just started them at the same time. So but can you grow these too?

Emily: 31:09

Yes? Am I the only one?

Ken: 31:12

I have I have not grown them.

Emily: 31:13

Okay.

Ken: 31:14

So this is new to me. I will say that so there's an ornamental called Chinese lantern

Emily: 31:19

Yes. Too. Yes.

Ken: 31:20

This is a different species. Just looked up apparently, the ornamental is technically edible but tasteless and really eaten for the ornamental Chinese lanterns. So Okay.

Chris: 31:30

It it's a pretty fruit. I like it. It's it it your guys are in for a treat. And it is like a cherry tomato plant in that it is the gift that keeps on giving because I planted one

Emily: 31:42

I saw that.

Chris: 31:43

Ground cherry, and it just kept coming back every year. Not from the original root system, but from the fruit that I did not pick. So it's but I would describe the flavor of my ground cherry as, like, like, a little pineapple y tomato flavor. It's it was just really was really pleasant. I really liked it.

Chris: 32:05

So I'm excited to grow it again. I'm we we we moved and so my my gift that keeps on giving stayed at the old house. So I'll I'll have one now here.

Emily: 32:17

Thanks. How do you prepare them? Because I was reading, like, you can do, like, all the things with it. You can eat them fresh. You can make them, like, into, like, a salsa or, like, a a eat them eat them fresh.

Emily: 32:28

You can cook them. You can I think it said freeze them? You can dry them like a raisin. You do, like, all the things.

Chris: 32:38

I didn't do all those things. I my favorite was just eating them raw. You know, you pop them out of their their husk and then and eat them. And that was the best flavor to me. You can mix them up in, a a salad.

Chris: 32:51

We would do that. It had a nice little kinda sweet bite to it. And but, yeah, I I think there was an attempt to make salsa. I don't remember what happened to that. I actually have a picture, which maybe I can pop in here of all grew some Roma tomatoes, the ground cherries, and everything.

Chris: 33:11

We're gonna make a salsa with it. I don't I honestly cannot remember what that even tasted like. I don't remember the result, but I know there's a picture of it. So it happened. Yeah.

Chris: 33:24

So I'll throw that in there.

Emily: 33:26

Okay. Well, I think we should try to to make I mean, like, when you say it has, like, a pineapple y flavor, I'm thinking of, like, mango salsa, like, sweet salsas. Mhmm. Like, with some rebel starfighter in there.

Ken: 33:38

Sounds great. Some natalepenos.

Emily: 33:41

Some some natapenos. Yeah.

Chris: 33:43

We're growing a salsa garden this year. Sweet. Okay.

Emily: 33:49

And then we can have the poppies as our little table decor.

Chris: 33:52

Mhmm.

Emily: 33:53

Because we're not eating those.

Chris: 33:55

No. We're not.

Emily: 33:57

No. So I had a question. So I was reading about this, and it was saying that when they are ripe, they tend to drop. Has that been your experience? Like, you need to kind of, like, on the harvesting game?

Emily: 34:07

Okay.

Chris: 34:08

Yes. Yes. You do. Beyond the harvesting game, I actually grew mine in a container, a large, like, 10 gallon container, I think. And, yeah, I would I could move it.

Chris: 34:19

And when I would move it or shake it, all the ripe ones would just fall off, then I just gather them all up. But but, yeah, they will they will drop once they're ready. So you wanna get them as soon as, you know, as soon as that happens. Fortunately, they're in that nice little husk, the calyx protection. So and, yeah, full sun plant.

Chris: 34:41

Yeah. It needs good bright sunlight as a relative of the tomatoes and tomatillos.

Emily: 34:48

And they keep a while too. If they even if they do drop, their shelf life is is prolonged. So good. Well, I'm excited about these too. About what did we call them?

Emily: 35:03

We called them strawberry tomatoes.

Chris: 35:06

Strawberry tomatoes. That's right. And and maybe there's varieties that have more of that strawberry flavor. Don't know. There's there's more sweetness to this.

Emily: 35:15

Last but not least, this one I brought to us for just kind of a frivolous reason, but that's okay, I think. Because we're going to grow an herb. It's gonna be savory. And I asked you if you either of you had grown savory because when I was preparing supper one night, I was looking at my ingredients for my Italian seasoning mix, and savory was in there. I recognized all the other ones, and I've seen savory.

Emily: 35:44

But I just thought, I have no idea what savory, like, individually tastes like. I've not grown it. I've not had it. And so you both were game for growing some savory, so we're going to. We're gonna grow summer compact.

Emily: 36:00

That's the cultivar. It is a more compact cultivar. So savory can kinda get spreading and growing. This one seems to or it's supposed to stay, you know, smaller in stature. And so I actually intend on growing it in a container for that reason, kind of like an herb herb garden right outside of, you our back door.

Emily: 36:21

It's supposed to have, like, a peppery flavor. First, have you two remind me. Have you two had it, like, on its own? Just

Chris: 36:30

I mine is always an Internet search. It's like, what is an alternative to savory when I'm cooking? Like, as if the recipe calls were savory. I'm like, don't have that. What else can I use as an alternative?

Chris: 36:40

And it's usually like marjoram, which I also don't have, or thyme. I think it's sort of like you have to use use thyme, but yeah. So I I've never tasted it, never grown it.

Ken: 36:54

Yeah. Don't know if I've knowingly had it by itself.

Chris: 36:57

Mhmm.

Ken: 36:57

But I can remember anyway. Okay.

Emily: 37:01

So I was maybe we're in for a treat. I was reading a little bit about it, just like the flavor and kinda like what we can expect. And so this is a very long used herb. It has medicinal properties that have been utilized for thousands of years. So it's native to the Mediterranean region, so it likes that climate.

Emily: 37:22

So if you're gonna be growing it, it does like a kinda warm, moist, but it tolerates dryness when once it's established. And so that's, like, kinda what made me think of growing it in a container is that I my containers do dry out quicker than in, you know, in the garden. And so I think, like, I it might tolerate that well where I'm gonna keep it moist till it grows and establishes, and then I can kinda lay off of the the watering because that's my lifestyle. Mhmm. So hopefully, this one fits nicely into it.

Emily: 37:56

But so that's from the Mediterranean. It was prized apparently by ancient Romans and medieval herbalists. And now I I bring this up because I wanna talk about what it was used for because I love this. So it was apparently believed to bring to our homes, so get ready for this, warmth, harmony, and courage.

Chris: 38:21

I'd I'd Yeah. Yeah. Need some of that. Let's do it.

Emily: 38:25

Good thing to have. I didn't quite like, that made me chuckle when I read that. And so, like, alright. Warmth and harmony in a home is is common language for what you wanna bring to it, but then there was courage thrown in. So The Wizard of Oz lion will be pleased.

Emily: 38:39

Yes. And so then as an herb or as like a medicinal herb, It is used or has been used. It's slightly spicy, and so it's paired with, like, bean recipes to help with indigestion and flatulence. And so yeah. That's always great.

Emily: 39:03

That's a good good

Chris: 39:04

feature. To my children.

Emily: 39:06

Yeah. So true. Yes. Yep. It was also mentioned as an aphrodisiac and then gargled for sore throat.

Emily: 39:15

And so I don't know if I care to test that out, but just, you know, it's like Tums. It's like the herbal essence of a calcium tablet. Savory.

Chris: 39:30

Mhmm.

Emily: 39:30

We'll have to see what see what it tastes like. We can make a bean dip or something. Ken, you've grown some different beans. Maybe we'll have to bust some of those out.

Ken: 39:41

I got got it. I'll have more beans this year, hopefully.

Emily: 39:45

You are growing some work. Yeah. Dried beans.

Ken: 39:48

Yeah. And look at this one. Looks like it can be either direct sewn or started early. So you got options there.

Chris: 39:55

Yeah. It's it needs to be surface sewn. And I think what I read on the website was that summer compact is that's it is bread for containers, so I plan on putting mine in the container. Yeah.

Emily: 40:09

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And it has a nice flower, obviously, for best flavor in the leaves. You're gonna wanna not let it go to flower.

Emily: 40:19

You can pinch it to to encourage more vegetative growth. You know, pinch off those flower buds as they start forming or pinch it back, and you'll have a lot more vegetative growth. So maybe we'll experiment with, you know, that also. But the the once you're tired of it or once you've harvested enough of it or if you just, you know, wanna let it go, there's some really lovely blooms that accompany it like most herbs. That's our list.

Emily: 40:45

It was a little bit shorter this year. But

Chris: 40:49

Lesson learned from last year, which we'll forget about for 2027. So don't worry, everyone. Just do more do more options. Yeah. We'll we'll totally forget.

Chris: 40:57

Yeah. So yeah. A great list. I'm excited. Let's let's go let's go grow this right now on February 24 is the date today as it stands.

Chris: 41:08

Yes.

Ken: 41:09

Oh. Get that greenhouse.

Chris: 41:12

Working on it. But I'm retired. Ripe age of 80. Yep.

Emily: 41:21

So we Then you'll need the savory for sure.

Chris: 41:23

Definitely. Just be walking around flagellating all the way over the place. Is that the right way to use that word?

Emily: 41:32

Anyway I was thinking of indigestion.

Chris: 41:35

Oh. You might have somewhere else.

Emily: 41:44

Anyways

Chris: 41:45

Yep. So we have a a timeline to share with folks because, you know, I I will say if you are farther south, I apologize. You're you're more tied to us in Central Illinois here, so to our timeline. So apologies. You you probably could get started a little bit earlier than what should be getting our seeds.

Chris: 42:08

But, Emily, so what what timeline are we looking at? So when could people expect to sign up and then have seeds in their hand?

Emily: 42:17

Yeah. So registration's gonna be up. There'll be a link with this with the video and with the podcast, and so just scroll to the notes. It is so it'll be open this week, and it will close on March 23. That is a Monday.

Emily: 42:33

It'll close at the end of the day, like midnight when the clock rolls over, on March 23 when it rolls over to the twenty fourth. So you have all of Monday, to register. But then I'm gonna, close it, and I will assemble our mailing packets. They'll be in the mail, by March 26. There's some you know, that takes a few minutes, kinda depending on what happens those days.

Emily: 42:57

I'm gonna give myself a day or two buffer to get them in the mail. And then they're in the in the mail system and be they're out of our hands. And so, hopefully, they will get to you by, like, April 1, and you'll be ready to go around April 1, kind of depending on how far they have to go. But that's our timeline. We are going to offer an option, and this is it is totally optional with registration, is to pick them up in one of our three locations.

Emily: 43:28

And so I'm in Milan, Illinois. Chris, you are in Macomb, Illinois. And Ken, you're down in Jacksonville. And so if anybody wants to kind of take mailing system out of it and you want to just come into the office, or you or Master Gardener, come in frequently, you're welcome to come and pick them up in the office. There will be a checkbox that'll be part of registration.

Emily: 43:53

If you don't fill it out, we will send them in the mail to you. But that's our timeline, and then we'll be off and growing come April. And yes, to the people in the South and southern areas. You would I know you would want them sooner. It just is how our timeline works out.

Emily: 44:11

So know that we know that we're sorry.

Ken: 44:16

Next year.

Emily: 44:18

Always next year. Right?

Ken: 44:19

Mhmm. And if you're if you're picking up in the office, that still wouldn't be until late March. So

Emily: 44:26

Right. Yes. And I'll send an email to let you know that they are there. So we're not, like, getting anybody, you you know, having taken trips into the office and then not being there. You'll get an email for to let you know what these seats are in the designated office for pickup.

Emily: 44:42

Unless nobody wants to come see us in the office, and then they'll all just go

Chris: 44:46

out in the mail. That's fine too.

Emily: 44:51

It is fine.

Chris: 44:52

My feelings are not that hurt. That hurt. So yeah. And and, Emily, as you said, there we do have a limit for our registration. So we do apologize.

Chris: 45:04

I know, yeah, we we cannot get anywhere. And we also usually try to focus our efforts on, like, Illinois and adjacent states. Mhmm. But, you know, if you're somewhere else, you know, don't don't necessarily stop you from registering, but we do kind of pinpoint our locales first.

Emily: 45:22

Yeah. And I don't think we've said it either, but just like in years past, you can choose one, some, or all of the species that we outlined here. So if, like, you just wanna grow poppies and you don't wanna grow, like, savory, that's fine. Or, you know, if you wanna grow all six of them and join us, you don't wanna have a big garden, you know, indicate that you want all six of them. So it's kind of a choose your own adventure program.

Emily: 45:48

Yeah.

Chris: 45:50

And we should probably mention this too. We're not going to send this anywhere where they can't be sent or that would require us to file paperwork with, like, some ag department. So sorry if you're in Canada or somewhere else. Yeah. We're not Sure.

Chris: 46:05

We're not going outside US borders. Just too much paperwork.

Emily: 46:09

Come pick it up at the office, and then you do the paperwork.

Chris: 46:12

There you go. Just gotta get your customs. Blind. Yes. So awesome.

Chris: 46:20

Well, everyone, that was some great information about our list for the Grow Along this year. You know, I I hope folks sign up. Usually, we do fill up, so probably sooner rather than later would be a great suggestion. And, yeah, as as this goes along, people have questions, reach out to us. Our emails are in the show notes down below.

Chris: 46:44

Well, the Good Growing podcast is a production of University of Illinois Extension edited this week by me, Chris Enroth. Emily, thanks so much for kicking us kicking us off once again, year three, the Grow Along. And, yeah, it's been a lot of fun hashing out what we wanna grow and then also our other secret side gardens that we're gonna be growing just because, obviously, folks, you know, we could just keep it to six between three of us. So we have our own crops that we're growing between three of us. So, yeah, fun to fun to grow along with you guys.

Emily: 47:20

Uh-huh. Well, it's my pleasure to join you and our viewers, and and we do send out those surveys. I know we didn't mention that, but we send the surveys out. And people that send, like, feedback back to us is just it's so delightful to hear how y'all are doing. And so, like, Ken and Chris, like, I love growing with you guys and chatting about our successes and challenges.

Emily: 47:40

But then hearing from people out in the world is really, it's lovely. So thank you all for doing that. Thank you, Ken and Chris, for, you know, growing some some weird things, some fun things with me. So

Chris: 47:54

And, Ken, thanks for hanging out once again as always and, you know, giving the best that you have to offer here with these fun, exciting crops because, I mean, if you ever wanna try something new, ask Ken. Because, Ken, you you've got a encyclopedia in your head of, well, why don't you try this? Why don't you try that? And I'm like, yes. I want to.

Chris: 48:17

Yeah. Adopt me, Ken. I'll yeah. I wanna see what all you got going on in your garden there. So it's a cool place.

Ken: 48:23

When I win my millions when I win my millions, I'll go do a little shed.

Chris: 48:27

Thank you. That's shed boy out and back. Yes. He takes care of the garden.

Ken: 48:34

Yes. Thank you, Emily and Chris. It'll be here before we know it. It may seem like we got some a lot of time, but gardening season will be here soon. And, Chris, let's do this again next week.

Chris: 48:47

Oh, we shall do this again next week. I made a mistake last time and said we were talking about crocus, but I think we're talking about crocus next week. So, yeah, we will we will do that then. So and it's gonna be a a fun filled podcast because it is the year of the crocus according to the National Gardening Bureau. So we'll we'll see if it lives up to the hype.

Chris: 49:09

Well, listeners, thank you for doing what you do best and that is listening or if you watched us on YouTube watching. And as always, keep on growing.

Ken: 49:24

University of Illinois Extension.

Emily: 49:32

Going right down the line, tomato, poppy, pepper, cucumber.

Ken: 49:36

Ground is

Emily: 49:37

very savory.

Ken: 49:38

Yeah. There's an outline in podcast channel if you wanna look at it.

Emily: 49:43

Sure. I'll open one more thing. My computer's probably gonna crash.