Shows
Making It Grow MinutesMystery of the stabilimentumWhile joining a friend to watch writing spiders weave their webs, Amanda McNulty ponders the purpose of the stabilimentum.
2025-08-2901 minMaking It Grow MinutesWriting spidersHost Amanda McNulty takes a closer look at the web weaving of writing spiders.
2025-08-2801 minMaking It Grow MinutesSpiderweb ManagementInstead of having to keep up with cleaning spiderwebs from the front of her house, Amanda McNulty decides to recruit some members of the wildlife community.
2025-08-2501 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe efficiency of scout antsAmanda McNulty can't find the rice in her pantry, but guess who can.
2025-08-1401 minMaking It Grow MinutesWildlife guestsAmanda McNulty reflects on the variety of animals that have visited her home throughout her lifetime.
2025-08-1301 minMaking It Grow MinutesSalt is hygroscopic, but rice is a desiccantHas South Carolina's humidity clumped up your salt dispenser? Add some rice. Amanda McNulty explains why this household hack works.
2025-08-0601 minMaking It Grow MinutesSalt cellarsHave you ever used a salt cellar? Host Amanda McNulty explains how to place them on the dining table and gives some helpful information on storing salt.
2025-08-0401 minMaking It Grow MinutesMosquito foggers can lead to resistanceMosquitos can be a pain, but Amanda McNulty shares alternatives to fogging and pesticides to help keep mosquitos from pestering you.
2025-07-0701 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe sound of a ripe watermelonAmanda McNulty explains the trick to picking the perfect melon when giving it the "thump" test.
2025-06-0901 minMaking It Grow MinutesYou are nature's best hope.Amanda McNulty explains how making space for native plants in your yard can help restore North America's declining nesting bird population.
2025-05-0901 minMaking It Grow MinutesBirds are having trouble finding enough caterpillars to raise their young.Caterpillars can only eat the leaves of certain native plants. Amanda McNulty offers ways to help build back North America's rapidly declining nesting bird population.
2025-05-0801 minMaking It Grow MinutesWhat does entomology have to do with bird decline?Host Amanda McNulty shares a shocking statistic regarding North America's bird population.
2025-05-0501 minMaking It Grow Minutes'Listen to the Mockingbird'For those grieving the loss of a loved one, Amanda McNulty shares song lyrics that offer comfort and hope.
2025-04-2601 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe significance of the mockingbird in American literatureHost Amanda McNulty explores the significance of literary character Atticus Finch saying, 'It's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'
2025-04-2501 minMaking It Grow MinutesWhy Texas chose the northern mockingbird as its state birdAmanda McNulty shares some U.S. history, as well as some family history, about the northern mockingbird.
2025-04-2401 minMaking It Grow MinutesFun with anolesAmanda McNulty shares tips on where to spot anoles, and how to coax one into performing an amusing parlor trick.
2025-04-1201 minMaking It Grow MinutesTo catch an anoleHost Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" explains how minding "tail autotomy" is key in catching an anole.
2025-04-1001 minMaking It Grow MinutesAnole seasonAs spring arrives in South Carolina, our state's native lizard emerges in search of warm spots, which include the inside of Amanda McNulty's house.
2025-04-0901 minMaking It Grow MinutesUninvited house guestsAmanda McNulty's 19th-century home draws a variety of uninvited visitors, who are sometimes discovered in the most unusual places.
2025-04-0701 minMaking It Grow Minutes"Tell Times"Amanda McNulty shares some charming childhood memories about dandelions.
2025-03-1401 minMaking It Grow Minutes“Tis better to put out your feeders early to the delight of every returning birdy"Amanda McNulty shares a poem to prompt bird-lovers to set up their hummingbird feeders as these lovely little creatures return from their winter retreats.
2025-03-1201 minMaking It Grow MinutesAmaryllis forcingBulbs from the amaryllidaceae family can be coaxed to bloom early, but host Amanda McNulty advises against using wax in the forcing process.
2025-03-0101 minMaking It Grow MinutesOther names for ZephyranthesMyriad common names never stop for Zephyranthes, but according to Amanda McNulty, a couple make some sense.
2025-02-2701 minMaking It Grow MinutesWhat's in a name? That which we call a rain lily by any other name would smell as sweetHost Amanda McNulty explains the charming origins of the rain lily names 'Zephyranthes' and 'Atamasco.'
2025-02-2601 minMaking It Grow MinutesWhere the rain lilies bloomHost Amanda McNulty reflects on the beauty of one of the New World's native plants that is a member of the Amaryllis family
2025-02-2401 minMaking It Grow MinutesHow marmorated stink bugs survive the winterAn insect that's invasive to crops also invades structures, like Amanda McNulty's home.
2025-02-1201 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe Pitfalls of PaintingHost Amanda McNulty discovers she's not the only one who finds her exterior paint color attractive
2025-02-1001 minMaking It Grow MinutesHow resurrection ferns live up to their nameAmanda McNulty continues her look at epiphytes and demonstrates her skill in pronouncing genus names.
2024-12-2601 minMaking It Grow MinutesWhat's an epiphyte?Host Amanda McNulty shares how a plant with no roots helps its host plant conserve water and energy.
2024-12-2501 minMaking It Grow MinutesHow and when to water blooming holiday cactiWatering blooming holiday cacti is a bit tricky. Amanda McNulty offers helpful tips to keep your plant happy and healthy year-round.
2024-12-1401 minMaking It Grow MinutesHave a spare box? Save it for your holiday cacti.Amanda McNulty shares helpful tips to ensure your Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti bloom beautifully
2024-12-1201 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe difference between Thanksgiving and Christmas cactiAmanda McNulty describes the leaf difference on these two epiphytes, and why caring for them is distinctly different than nurturing their desert-dwelling cousins.
2024-12-1101 minMaking It Grow MinutesTable decorations for the holidaysHost Amanda McNulty gets creative with cacti as she prepares her table for holiday celebrations.
2024-12-0901 minMaking It Grow MinutesChickie Wimberly's special visitWhile visiting her dying mother, Amanda McNulty brought Chickie Wimberly to comfort, entertain, and provide fun stories for future visitors.
2024-11-1601 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe McNulty Family's Memorable MealsAmanda McNulty's family finds ways to make their holiday meals special by adding memorable main courses.
2024-11-1501 minMaking It Grow MinutesChickie Wimberly joins the McNulty FamilyHost Amanda McNulty has a history of keeping unusual pets, including a chick hatched in her child's classroom.
2024-11-1401 minMaking It Grow MinutesMenageries and menu choicesHost Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" shares more childhood stories of her unusual pets, their favorite foods, and the foods she and her family enjoyed.
2024-11-1301 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe unusual childhood pets of Amanda McNultyHost Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" shares a vivid childhood memory of one of the many unusual pets she and her brother used to keep.
2024-11-1101 minMaking It Grow MinutesMake it STOP growing!While "Making It Grow" host Amanda McNulty is usually in favor of planting and growing, she draws the line at her bathroom tile.
2024-09-2701 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe beauty and ecologic necessity of the sweetbay magnoliaHost Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" explains how the sweetbay magnolia helps sustain a variety of wildlife.
2024-09-2601 minMaking It Grow MinutesSouthern magnolias vs sweetbay magnoliasHost Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" explains her preference of the sweetbay magnolia over magnolia grandiflora, a.k.a. the southern magnolia.
2024-09-2501 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe fleeting fragrance of tea olive treesHost Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" enjoys the scent of tea olives this time of year when she opens her windows for a cool evening breeze.
2024-09-2301 minMaking It Grow MinutesCattle egret nestsWhere do cattle egrets build their nests? Host Amanda McNulty points the way on this episode of Making it Grow.
2024-09-1301 minMaking It Grow MinutesFavorite foods of the cattle egretWhat and where do cattle egrets like to eat? Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" explains that some of these birds have very exotic dinner guests at their table.
2024-09-1201 minMaking It Grow MinutesHow to identify cattle egretsAre you familiar with cattle egrets? Host Amanda McNulty explains how to identify them on this episode of "Making It Grow."
2024-09-1101 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe origin of cattle egretsCattle egrets are fairly new to the U.S. Host Amanda McNulty explains how and when they arrived in our country.
2024-09-0901 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe rewards of home canningInterested in canning your own foods but don't know where to begin? Amanda McNulty shares a helpful starting point.
2024-08-2401 minMaking It Grow MinutesIs your family recipe for canning foods safe?If you have a family recipe for canning foods, Amanda McNulty shares some resources to ensure your process is safe.
2024-08-2201 minMaking It Grow MinutesTurning your garden bounty into pickles and chutneysLooking for new ways to preserve your garden's offerings? Host Amanda McNulty shares her favorite ways to can and a great resource for more delicious recipes.
2024-08-2101 minMaking It Grow MinutesSafe canningSome family recipes have outdated canning procedures. Host Amanda McNulty offers a helpful resource to update your process to ensure health and safety at the dinner table.
2024-08-1901 minMaking It Grow MinutesSipping 'the forbidden nectar of knowledge'Carpenter bees can't sip from the inside of a flower. Amanda McNulty explains their workaround and its effect on cross-pollination.
2024-07-2601 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe solitary life of the carpenter beeCan you tell the difference between a carpenter bee and a bumble bee? Amanda McNulty teaches you how.
2024-07-2501 minMaking It Grow MinutesHanging pictures and painting pewsWhile Amanda McNulty decorates the inside of her home, carpenter bees are also decorating just outside her front door.
2024-07-2401 minMaking It Grow MinutesCarpenter bees take a seat on Amanda McNulty's porchMale carpenter bees put on a good show, but there's no need to fear. Here's why.
2024-07-2201 minMaking It Grow MinutesCorn OFF the cobPreparing corn off the cob is a labor of love, but well worth the effort, according to host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow"
2024-06-2101 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe multicultural flavors of corn on the cobWhile in Los Angeles, host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" experiences a conversion regarding grilled corn on the cob
2024-06-2001 minMaking It Grow MinutesPreparing the perfect cob of cornHow do you like your corn on the cob? Host Amanda McNulty of "Making It Grow" shares her favorite way to prepare this tasty summertime treat
2024-06-1701 minMaking It Grow MinutesA brief history of California's Cottonwood Spring OasisHost Amanda McNulty visits Joshua Tree National Park, home of the Cottonwood Spring Oasis
2024-05-1801 minMaking It Grow MinutesThe difference between kestrels and hawksHost Amanda McNulty of Making It Grow sees the natural beauty of the Wateree floodplain during her daily commute.
2024-03-0601 minMaking It Grow MinutesCotton speciesHello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. There are 50 species of cotton in the genus Gossypium — basically they’re seeds with fibers attached. Only a few are commercially important.
2023-12-1601 min
Making It Grow MinutesCotton speciesHello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. There are 50 species of cotton in the genus Gossypium — basically they’re seeds with fibers attached. Only a few are commercially important.
2023-12-1601 minMaking It Grow MinutesCrotalaria spectabilisAmanda McNulty discusses crotalaria spectabilis, a yellow flower commonly known as rattlebox.
2023-09-0701 minMaking It Grow MinutesCrotalaria spectabilisAmanda McNulty discusses crotalaria spectabilis, a yellow flower commonly known as rattlebox.
2023-09-0701 min2023-08-2401 min2023-08-2401 minMaking It Grow MinutesHomemade mayonnaiseHello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. In the winter time, cooking a frozen pizza is my easy go to supper. We have a gas stove, which adds heat to the kitchen, so I never turn it on in summer if I can help it. Hot weather suppers revolve around vegetable sandwiches, cucumber or tomato. White bread, peeled sliced cukes or maters, lots of mayonnaise. There’re lots of discussions about what kind of mayonnaise, all made more complicated by other concoctions similar looking to that white stuff in a jar, wildly different tastes. Most peop...
2023-08-2301 minMaking It Grow MinutesHomemade mayonnaiseHello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. In the winter time, cooking a frozen pizza is my easy go to supper. We have a gas stove, which adds heat to the kitchen, so I never turn it on in summer if I can help it. Hot weather suppers revolve around vegetable sandwiches, cucumber or tomato. White bread, peeled sliced cukes or maters, lots of mayonnaise. There’re lots of discussions about what kind of mayonnaise, all made more complicated by other concoctions similar looking to that white stuff in a jar, wildly different tastes. Most peop...
2023-08-2301 min
Making It Grow MinutesPlants at Zoo ExhibitsI’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. On our visit to film at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, we learned about displays designed to reflect the native areas of a specific animal. We started out at the sealion and seal exhibit. Obviously, there weren’t plants in the water, but curator Melody Scott Leach has planted the surrounding areas to resemble the wind-swept California coasts home to these animals. She explained that she studies photographs of the animals’ place of origin then designs topography and selects plants with similar appearance that can thrive in our climate. Her choice...
2020-10-1701 min
Making It Grow Minutes"Furniture" in Zoo EnclosuresI’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. During our filming with horticulturist Melody Scott Leach at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, we learned about what animal exhibit specialists call furniture. This means plants or other items placed inside the animal enclosure. For example, the rhinoceroses need shade but these massive animals could easily destroy trees by rubbing against them. Scott-Leach has planted trees but placed large boulders around them to keep these animals from scratching their backs on the tree trunks. But don’t think that they have to suffer an itching spot –there is a suspended brush...
2020-10-1601 min
Making It Grow MinutesImmersion Horticulture for ZoosI’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. As part of putting our toes back in the water during these difficult times, Team Making It Grow is looking for outdoor places to film. Recently, we visited Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia. There’s a special branch of horticulture for areas that involve animal exhibits. Melody Scott Leach fills that role there and she gave us a fascinating tour and explanation of that subset of gardening. The trend began in the 1980’s with the idea of immersion horticulture for zoos. Instead of just choosing plants for a beauti...
2020-10-1501 min
Making It Grow MinutesVolunteering in Outdoor, Public SpacesI’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. At our recent filming at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, we met several people who help our friend Katie Dickson by volunteering, working year round in summer’s heat and winter’s cold. We talked with some of them who said they get more in sharing friendships and learning than they give with their valuable skills. Many, many public gardens rely on generous hearted volunteers who help with greenhouses, planting and the inevitable and unfun task of weeding. Working outside with others, masked and socially distanced, is a way to stay e...
2020-10-1401 min
Making It Grow MinutesMagnolia Plantation and GardensI’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Team Making It Grow is going back out to film interesting places to share with our viewers. Public gardens seem like just the ticket in these times, especially now that the temperatures are lower. Our first trip was to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens where our friend Katie Dickson is in charge of seasonal displays for lots of WOW. We began our tour at a fabulous collection of sun coleus, many I’d never seen before, set off by the chartreuse leaves of a border of dwarf durantas – aka golden dew dr...
2020-10-1201 min
Making It Grow MinutesLegislating Measures to Save America's BirdsHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. In an effort to stop the potential extermination of native birds being used in the millinery trade, Congress passed the Lacey Act in 1900 which made it unlawful to transport illegally procured animals across state lines. Meanwhile, a new threat emerged as Florida’s homesteaders’ act gave them preference to land under control of the General Land Office. Pelican Island was about come under this act which would allow pro-feather collecting people to buy it. Theodore Roosevelt was now president with many national issues to address, but he rememb...
2020-09-0501 min
Making It Grow MinutesRefuge for PelicansHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Although we often think of Theodore Roosevelt as a relentless hunter of trophy animals, he combined that a passion for understanding the habit, habitat and lifestyles of not only those but other animals in nature. As he waited for transit to Cuba during the Spanish American War, Roosevelt renewed an earlier interest in pelicans, this time spending endless hours observing them in nature from his posting in Tampa. Fortunately for the conservation movement, he saw and was sickened by a sixty-foot high pile of dead birds on th...
2020-09-0401 min
Making It Grow MinutesPelicansHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Dixon Lanier Merritt, American humorist wrote: A funny old bird is a pelican. His beak can hold more than his belican. Food for a week He can hold in his beak, But I don’t know the helican.
2020-09-0301 min
Making It Grow MinutesVictorian Fashion Included Hummingbirds as OrnamentHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. I wonder how many more hummingbird feeders we’ve added to our gardens since the pandemic started as birding resource sites report there’s been a huge interest in ornithology recently. Sadly, there was an equal fascination with hummingbirds during the times when features and even entire birds were used as adornments in the world of fashion. There was a massive use of hummingbird bodies mounted on Victorian fans. Their beautiful heads were often fashioned into dangling earrings. In the tropics, hunters would hold poles covered with glue n...
2020-09-0201 min
Making It Grow MinutesThe Historic Toll of Fashion on Bird PopulationsHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. One early falsehood spread by manufacturers of hats adorned with feathers was that the feathers were gathered from the ground. But as whole birds or parts of birds began to adorn hats the specious nature of that story was revealed. The Empress of Germany Bird of Paradise measuring over two feet from beck to the end of its exquisite tail was hunted almost to extinction and entire stuffed birds were incorporated into hats. In the United States alone, almost 5 million birds a year were killed for the mi...
2020-09-0101 min
Making It Grow MinutesCruel FashionHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Woman were blamed for their heartlessness in wearing hats covered with the feathers and body parts of cruelly harvested wild birds. But with time, knowledge of the consequences of this practice prompted many socialites and educated women into campaigning against this practice. We spoke earlier of Boston socialite Harriet Hemenway who used invitation to tea parties to convince nine hundred equally influential woman to join her campaign against feathers in fashion. With the widespread authority that the Audubon society was receiving, women promoted Audubonnets – hats that were deco...
2020-08-3101 min
Making It Grow MinutesThe History of Gourds as ContainersHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Gourds were human’s earliest containers. Their diversity in size and shape let early peoples select them for a variety of purposes. Some were cut in half and filled with food, hot rocks were added to cook those contents. Others with flat bottoms and long necks held and easily dispensed liquids. Early on they were decorated as we humans want to add beauty to our homes, be they caves, teepees, or fiber covered structures. In Kenya, where gourds were essential to life for ten thousand years, the prol...
2020-05-0201 min
Making It Grow MinutesAncient Bottle GourdHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. As a non-traditional, i.e. older, student, I took one horticulture class with David Bradshaw and my life was changed for the better. Among his infectious passions is an interest in heirloom seeds and he helped establish an heirloom seed repository at Clemson. One website offers his purple martin bird house seeds, our topic of the week, the ancient bottle gourd, Lagenaria sicenaria. For over fifty years, he’s been selecting seeds with the best characteristics for this purpose. Purple martins travel to South America in the wint...
2020-05-0101 min
Making It Grow MinutesBottle GourdsHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Bottle gourds have been used by ancient and modern peoples for over ten thousand years now. For religious rites, they’ve been crafted into masks, musical instruments, or sounding devices. From a utilitarian standpoint, bottle gourd uses are incredible diversity -- a container, a dipper, wheels, even flotation devices. When dried, they are especially light weight and have undeniably made contributions towards improvements in the lives of humans. The eventual shape can be manipulated when the fruits are young by tying vines or twine around them to achi...
2020-04-2901 min
Making It Grow MinutesInstruments Made from PlantsHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. . In many cities these evenings, people go outside at seven and make noises to communicate their appreciation for front line workers in the covid 19 pandemic. My daughter and her boyfriend in Los Angeles have been participating. Casey, a trained saxophone player, has alternated between blowing two flutes at one time (a common ancient practice) and a digeridoo. Eliza Frezil shakes a tambourine. All three instruments have ancient origins – the digeridoo most probably eucalyptus trunks hollowed out by termites. The flutes from plant stems and bamboo, and the tamb...
2020-04-2701 minMaking It Grow MinutesDuring Pandemic Some Farm Produce Once Bound for High-End Restaurants Now Available for HomeHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Many specialty good growers rely on high end restaurants to pay top dollar for their meticulously produced crops, often produced on a small acreage farm. With the ban on indoor dining, many restaurants have closed their doors as takeout orders don’t fit with their fine-dining experience. Consequently, their suppliers are taking quite a hit. Some of them are now offering ways for us to enjoy their products and help keep the afloat. At the South Carolina Department of Agriculture home page, the first image is a fiel...
2020-04-0901 minMaking It Grow MinutesClemson Extension Agents Still On the JobHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. The Clemson Extension Horticulture team interacts with professional fruit and vegetable growers as well as home-based clients. Although restricted by safety guidelines during these times, Extension office phones are working and hort agents are available to solve residential and commercial problems. Agents are also offering a variety of programs on line, from environmentally sustainable landscaping to step-by-step instructions on renovating your lawn, check out the Clemson Horticulture Facebook page. The Ag Service lab will accept soil samples in zip lock bags from residential customers and the Plant an...
2020-04-0801 minMaking It Grow MinutesEssential Activities of Agriculture Continue During COVID-19 PandemicHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. During a recent interview, Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers detailed the breadth of agricultural activities considered essential during this time of national crisis, and that there is no evidence that food product can transmit the corona virus. His staff, most working remotely, is still performing all activities necessary to keep human and animal food and fiber production, inspection, and distribution safe and operating at levels that can supply demand. If you search South Carolina Department of Agriculture, the first image is a field with the phrase COVID-19/ (Co...
2020-04-0601 min
Making It Grow MinutesThe Benefits of Owning WoodlandsHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. There’re many benefits to owning timberlands besides the income from harvesting your trees. Some families enjoy hunting or while others gain income by leasing hunting rights to others. Wildlife ecology goes along with hunting in some cases when owners plant food crops and conduct prescribed burns. For many it’s the joy of hearing the wind as it sings in tall pines and the voices and glimpses of birds and wildlife; all reasons to enjoy and protect your family’s woodlands which are enjoyed as much by women...
2020-03-2701 min
Making It Grow MinutesWomen Owning WoodlandsHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Janet Steele is a regional Clemson Extension forestry agent based in Orangeburg. She came to Sumter recently to tell us about new program she, Clemson Forester David Coyle and others are offering. In South Carolina eighty-five percent of woodlands are privately owned by companies or families. Eighty percent of married women outlive their husbands. So often while adjusting to the loss of a spouse, these persons also must learn how to manage their family’s properties; a task which most often had been the purview of their husb...
2020-03-2301 min
Making It Grow MinutesImportant Members of the Nightshade FamilyHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. The family, Solanaceae, has the common name of nightshade, which sounds like something to avoid like the plague, includes some of our favorite vegetables. Besides tomatoes, other members are peppers, eggplants, and potatoes, and still an important agricultural crop, tobacco. Flowers include Datura, brugmansia, petunias and nicotiana. One important gardening and farming practice is crop rotation. If you plant the same crop over and over again, diseases that favor that plant family will build up in the soil, you should wait at least a year before planting ot...
2020-03-0601 min
Making It Grow MinutesThe Bumblebee is an Important PollinatorHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Mated female bumblebees overwinter in sheltered underground locations, emerging in early spring to find a nesting site, collect pollen to lay eggs. Newly hatched bees take over the pollen and nectar gathering and the hive increases. Although social insects, bumblebees are relatively docile and generally not a threat. They don’t make much honey as the colony, which may reach several hundred individuals, dies when winter comes. Since bumblebees are large bodied, they can emerge and visit flowers when it is too cold for honeybees to be acti...
2020-03-0501 min
Making It Grow MinutesPollinating Commercially Grown Tomatoes is a ChallengeHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Field grown tomatoes can be effectively pollinated by wind but the addition of powerful buzz-pollinating insects, bumble bees and the much-maligned carpenter bees, improves the outcome. When growing tomatoes in greenhouses, the producers can either use mechanical pollination or maintain colonies of bumblebees. Effective mechanical pollination requires workers to vibrate each fruiting cluster with devices, sometimes battery-powered toothbrushes. A University of Pennsylvania study concluded that it took 15 hours of manual labor per day to perform this task. Compare that with the perfect combination of bumblebees and tomatoes. A...
2020-03-0401 min
Making It Grow MinutesTomato Plant PollinationHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Tomatoes need movement for pollination. Their pollen containing anthers have slits or pores in them which release ripe pollen when stimulated by wind or vibrations. As wind moves the flowers pollen is released and falls on the female stigma. The best insect pollinators are not honey bees but bumble bees and carpenter bees. These insects which have super strong chest muscles frequently visit flowers in the nightshade family, which includes tomatoes. Using a technique called buzz pollination, they hold onto the flower with their jaws and with th...
2020-03-0301 min
Making It Grow MinutesThe Challenges of Growing TomatoesHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Growing the delicious garden tomato becomes more and more elusive for me and others as well. Back in the day, my parents would put a few tomato plants in amongst the foundation plantings and we’d have plenty of those summer treats. Now with increased disease and insect pressure, I‘ve become an aficionado of cherry tomatoes which seem easier to grow; although you need a really sharp knife if you are going to slice them for BLT’s. There’re also tasty greenhouse grown tomatoes, with brown skin...
2020-03-0201 min
Making It Grow MinutesOgeechee LimeHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Although the AC Moore Herbarium list of South Carolina’s plant distribution shows Ogeechee lime, Nyssa ogeche, as documented in only Jasper and Beaufort counties, there is a specimen growing at Moore Farms Botanical Garden in Lake City. It’s obviously a female tree, which has mostly female flowers but also some perfect ones, as it produces fruits. Stan McKenzie, aka the Citrus Man, who lives in nearby Olanta, has gone over and collected the juicy fruits this tree produces (they’re used as a substitute for limes du...
2020-02-0801 min
Making It Grow MinutesHoneydew HoneyHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. If you like the pine resin flavored Greek wine retsina, I have a honey suggestion for you. At Honey Travelers Single Flower honey page, they talk about forest or honeydew honey. Honeydew is the substance that aphids excrete – it is the bane of many gardeners as it coats the surface of lower leaves this sweet substance upon which sooty mold grows. But in the fir and spruce forests of Europe, certain aphids feed mainly on these conifer needles and their exudate, is not only filled with sugars but...
2020-02-0701 min
Making It Grow MinutesHoney VarietalsHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. I’m not very picky about honey although Maynard Door near Sumter gave me some special honey he didn’t mix in with others as its flavor was so delightfully floral. Lots of people are honey aficionados and have their favorites for different purposes. There are even listings for honey varietals, just like wine! For example, the website Honey Travelers has information on a honey competition in the Mediterranean region. The top winner, and this is a weird one, was the Strawberry Tree Honey from Sardinia. It’s descri...
2020-02-0601 min
Making It Grow MinutesOgeechee HoneyHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. If you look at the USC Herbarium’s plant distribution list, you’ll see that only in Jasper and Beaufort Counties has Ogeechee lime, Nyssa ogeche, been documented. It’s greatest distribution is in a swath of Georgia and the upper panhandle of Florida. Bee keepers take hives into these sites, sometimes floating them on platforms, to produce this very valuable white ogeechee honey. It’s high fructose to sucrose content helps prevent crystallization. It’s considered a single flower or monofloral honey, and boy, oh, boy, the bee keep...
2020-02-0501 min
Making It Grow MinutesNyssa OgecheHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. The rarest of the North American Nyssa trees is Nyssa ogeche. The species name comes from the Ogeechee River in Georgia, a blackwater river, like our Edisto River in South Carolina. It, too has beautiful bald cypress trees growing in it. But In its massive drainage basin, you’ll also find this Nyssa species, with the common name Ogeechee lime, which only grows in four states. Like its relative Nyssa aquatica, it develops huge swollen bases but is a smaller tree, topping out at about forty feet. Like...
2020-02-0301 min
Making It Grow MinutesVarieties of Nyssa SylvaticaHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Nyssa sylvatica has two varieties. On drier sites, you’ll find Nyssa sylvatica var sylvatica. In wet areas, often growing with bald cypress, the variety biflora is found. Both exhibit beautiful fall color, have small flowers very important to pollinators and produce fruits relished by birds and certain mammals. Also, their leaves are browsed by certain animals. When, as often happens, they become hollow with age, wildlife shelters in those cavities. Wetland species are used in remediation projects. The wood is not useful for lumber -- its inte...
2020-02-0101 min
Making It Grow MinutesA Great PetHello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Our pet hen, Chickie Wimberly, was quite the enforcer. We had a half lab half bassett hound dog, Sally, take up with us who was a pain about getting under foot when we sat on the front porch; often to steal and hors d’oeuvre or, once, a piece of fried chicken out of daughter Lill’s hand. But Chickie Wimberly occasionally came through on patrol and she ran Sally off like nobody’s business. Getting to know that chicken was quite a learning experience in many ways; al...
2019-12-0501 min
The Path with Usha PatelAmanda McNulty and Mary Pat Kling – The PathAmanda McNulty and Mary Pat Kling - From College Senior to Real Estate Investor
New sensation Amanda McNulty was a senior in college when her Dad inspired her to investigate real estate sales as a career path. Leveraging her coach’s knowledge and the experiences of her family, Amanda quickly became competent in the world of investment real estate and is now a leader in her company and working relentlessly toward becoming an accomplished real estate investor. Do you have what it takes to seize control of your financial destiny?
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