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Got problems in the garden? Meet two experts from Garden & Green Living Expo
March 6, 2025 Leave a Comment
Thanks to our friends from Garden & Green Living Expo, PBS Wisconsin viewers can continue learning from experts around the state while preparing for the upcoming growing season.
PBS Wisconsin spoke with two plant specialists — Lisa Johnson, Dane County Horticulture Educator, and Brian Hudelson, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic — to explore resources that are available to gardeners year-round.
Johnson and Hudelson are mainstays at the annual Garden & Green Living Expo and frequent guests on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Garden Talk with Larry Meiller. Both share a wealth of knowledge in various gardening subjects and a track record of delivering effective yet practical advice to people throughout the state.
PBS Wisconsin: Tell us about your position and how you help the people of Wisconsin manage their gardens.
Lisa Johnson: As the horticulture educator at the UW-Madison Dane County Extension Horticulture Office, I answer questions that come in mostly by email, but also by phone. During the growing season, we also have a Dane County Extension Horticulture Helpline that is staffed by UW-Madison Dane County Extension Horticulture volunteers and Master Gardeners who are specially trained to help with plant diagnostic questions.
I should make a caveat that I take questions only from Dane County. If you are outside of Dane County, please select your county on the Wisconsin horticulture website form to ask your gardening questions.
Brian Hudelson: I am the director of the Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic in the Department of Plant Pathology at the UW-Madison. And, my primary job is to diagnose plant diseases, at least in the summertime. People can either send me photos, or even send me a physical sample of a sick plant that they have. Then, I’ll take a look at it and try to figure out what’s going on — what’s going wrong — and then provide information on how to manage the particular disease problem that is showing up.
PBS Wisconsin: What types of questions and requests do you receive?
Johnson: I get questions about everything from diseases, insect trees, shrubs, lawn issues and wildlife issues. It really runs the gamut. I really treasure when somebody asks me a question about something I don’t know. Then I get to research it, talk to another specialist and add to my knowledge base. I would be nowhere without the specialists that we have.
Hudelson: It really is variable. Anything plant disease-related can come in. Sometimes it’s not a disease, it can be environmental stresses. Sometimes it’s an insect-related problem, which I then forward on to PJ Liesch, the director of the Insect Diagnostic Lab in the UW-Madison Department of Entomology.
PBS Wisconsin: How do you approach your position?
Johnson: I call it being the plant detective, where you have to figure out what kinds of questions to ask. Having people take and share photos is especially helpful. It’s very easy to not come up with the right solution if you don’t ask the right questions.
Hudelson: If there is anything I can do to get people excited about plant diseases, I will do it. I’m surprised every day by the questions I receive, and that’s what’s fun about the job.
PBS Wisconsin: What advice do you have for novice vegetable gardeners?
Johnson: UW-Madison Division of Extension provides resources and a knowledge base to start from. The Wisconsin Horticulture team website has information on growing vegetables and some videos on vegetable-related topics as well. In terms of when to start planting, I am a proponent of being patient, which is not always something we gardeners are prone to be. I do see people push it and try and plant those warm-season crops or even cool-season crops too early, then there is a frost or freeze and they have to start over again. It is important to look at soil temperatures when planting seeds or transplants, since the air may be a lot warmer than the soil. Dane County Extension has a seed-starting temperature publication we use — an inexpensive soil thermometer can save you a lot of trouble. My Green Thumb Gardening online Vegetable Gardening series has 13 classes covering a wide range of topics about vegetable gardening which is a good resource, too. [Hudelson] is one of the specialists featured — he talks about managing plant disease in vegetable gardens.
Hudelson: I would suggest documenting the garden from the get-go what you’re planting and where you’re planting particular vegetables on the plot. I also suggest starting a gardening journal where you make a diagram or take photos with your camera so that you know where particular plants were planted because the following year you want to make sure you’re moving those vegetables around to different areas.
