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086-Timeless Gardening Principles, with Barbara Damrosch

| Care, Podcast

My guest this week is Barbara Damrosh. An icon in the world of gardening, Barbara began her horticultural career in the mid-1970’s and has always been driven by the desire to help others get into gardening. To that end, she published her first of many books, The Garden Primer, in 1988; and she’s spent time […]

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How to Divide Plants – and Why You Should

| Care

Are you interested in some free plants to add to your landscape? There are plenty of them already all around you. In fact, many common landscape perennials can – and should – be divided. Dividing plants is easy. You just need to follow a few steps and become familiar with the types of plants which can […]

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074-How to Have and Care for a Healthy Lawn: Top 7 Non-negotiables

| Care, Podcast

Now that I’ve shared my recommendations for creating an eco-friendly garden and a resilient garden during the past couple of weeks, I want to talk about how to have and care for a healthy lawn. I know, to many organic gardeners, “lawn” is a dirty word. Incorporating lawn space is often viewed as environmentally irresponsible, but […]

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072-Creating an Eco-friendly Garden & Landscape: 7 Key Tenets

| Care, Podcast

Having seen many gardens over the years, I’ve been on a mission to inspire people to think more towards eco-friendly gardening. My experiences led me to write a book, The Green Gardener’s Guide: Simple, Significant Actions to Protect & Preserve Our Planet focusing on creating an eco-friendly garden and landscape.     In the book, I […]

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068-Top Predatory Beneficial Insects and How to Attract Them, Pt. 2

| Care, Podcast

Last week, we began a two-part series on garden pest predators with Jessica Walliser and discussed the predator/prey cycle taking place in all our landscapes as well as the cues that signal to good bugs that a meal is available. If you haven’t checked out that episode, I recommend you begin there before diving in this […]

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065-Tips For Reducing Garden Overwhelm, With Margaret Roach

| Care, Podcast

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your garden – by out of control growth or disease or an abundance of crops? You aren’t alone. Nearly all of us feel garden overwhelm at some point during the growing season –  and some of us feel that way frequently through the summer months. This week, I talk […]

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How to Create a Drought Tolerant Landscape: Pro Tips – Pt. 5 of 5

| Care

If you live in an area which experiences periods of drought, you’re probably subject to watering restrictions. Fortunately, your landscape can be surprisingly resilient and drought tolerant using the measures I covered in Part 2 of this series which ensure your plants establish well and sink their roots more deeply into the ground. Under extreme conditions, […]

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063-Garden Fertilizer Basics: What to Know Before You Grow

| Care, Podcast

Plants need nutrients, but how and when you provide those nutrients can make more difference than you might realize. Let’s explore some facts on garden fertilizer which, when put to use in your landscape, can make a significant difference in the color, production and vigor of all your plants. Fertilizer provides nutrients which are key […]

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Watering Your Garden: How Much Is Enough and Sources: Pro Tips – Pt. 4 of 5

| Care

There’s more to being wise with water than efficient garden watering. I often mention that more plants die from overwatering than from underwatering. That’s the main reason I speak so often about making sure you have well-drained soil. In earlier parts of this 5-part series; I’ve covered selecting the right plants, water delivery methods, and watering […]

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How to Water and What to Use: Pro Tips – Part 3 of 5

| Care

There are a number of tools and methods to use when watering your landscape in the absence of rainfall. Efficient water delivery is all about applying the right method in the right circumstance. A water delivery system doesn’t need to be complicated – and it sure doesn’t need to be expensive. Best of all – […]

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How to Water Your Garden and Landscape: Pro Tips – Part 1 of 5

| Care

For most of us, having access to water means simply turning the faucet handle. Voila! Water in abundance, right? Well, this convenience is incredibly deceiving. Although 75% of our planet is covered with water, only a minuscule 1% is available as pure, clean water for use by the entire world population. That’s right – 1% […]

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056-Tomato Care Checklist with Craig LeHoullier

| Care, Podcast

I have a love/hate relationship with tomatoes. This year, I have 32 tomato plants in spite of knowing that tomatoes are notorious for being a lot of work in the garden. Still, in these early days of summer, everything is growing strong, looking great and setting fruit; so it’s easy to start feeling a little […]

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053-Waterwise Gardening With Nan Sterman

| Care, Podcast

This week, I take a look back at a conversation on conservation – with Nan Sterman, co-author of Water-wise Plants for the Southwest and expert on waterwise gardening. Although she spent some years away, Nan grew up in and returned to southern California and has become known as a water-wise guru. Nan speaks frequently on water […]

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050-Organic Pest Control: Beneficial Insects And Beyond

| Care, Podcast

This week, I continue my conversation with the Bug Lady, Suzanne Wainwright-Evans. Suzanne is an entomologist and industry leader in the movement to utilize biocontrols – putting beneficial insects to work before reaching for pesticides. This is Part Two of our biocontrols discussion, so if you missed Part One, start there. The information in Part […]

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049-When Good Bugs Eat Bad Bugs: The Business of Beneficial Insects

| Care, Podcast

This week’s guest is Suzanne Wainwright-Evans, the Bug Lady of Bug Lady Consulting. To say that Suzanne – an entomologist and expert on biocontrol who I’ve known for many years and interviewed multiple times – is a wealth of information… well, that would be a true understatement. Our conversation is so jam-packed with pest management […]

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047-Tomato Seedling Mistakes with Craig LeHoullier

| Care, Podcast

Craig LeHoullier has been a frequent guest of this podcast series. He joins us again today to follow up on our early 2018 series on seed starting. If you missed that series, I recommend you start there, so you have context for this discussion on tomato seedling. In this podcast, we check in on how […]

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The Numbers on Fertilizer Labels, What They Mean

| Care

A hallmark of good gardening is providing your plants with fertilizer, right? Well, not necessarily. Let’s take a look at some fertilizer facts and review not just the do’s and don’t of fertilization but, more importantly, the “why’s” behind it all. Fertilizer is sometimes seen as a gardening “bandage.” Many gardeners are under the false impression […]

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028-The Role of Minerals in Making Great Soil

| Care, Podcast

Now that the Thanksgiving week is behind us, I typically start to reflect on all the things that happened during the year that went well, and those things that, well, have room for improvement. In the garden, it was a good year overall. But the wet, humid weather this summer wreaked havoc on my organic […]

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025-Five of the Biggest Mistakes in Tree Care

| Care, Podcast

While we love our trees, we often (and unknowingly) do things that can lead to their early demise. This podcast and post discuss five big tree care mistakes (and some of the other most common) that are usually at the root of the problem. Jamie Blackburn, ISA Certified Arborist, was our guest expert for today’s […]

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We love you, Miss Hannigan

| Care, Just for Fun

Hello from Holly. When I really need some work done around the garden, I offer to keep my nephews for the weekend. This strikes me as a genius plan, full of brilliance and benevolence, if not efficiency.     Child labor laws? I scoff in the face of child labor laws. My extra helpers, T-Rex […]

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020-Gardening for the Birds with Margaret Roach

| Care, Podcast

Acclaimed gardener and passionate bird enthusiast Margaret Roach will often say that the birds taught her how to garden. Accordingly, she found herself gardening for the birds. Over time, Margaret created a 365 day-a-year bird-friendly garden that also provided year-round beauty. Today, countless birds and over 1000 people a year visit her stunning 2-acre wildlife […]

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019-GardenFarm Audio Journal – First Day of Fall, 2017

| Care, Podcast

This podcast episode format is a first for me and quite a departure from our usual format. In this episode, I take the mic and recorder outside for a behind-the-scenes day in the life at the GardenFarm™. I’m calling it an “audio journal” – snippets of a typical weekend Saturday for me. From the time […]

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017-The Five Biggest Mistakes Gardeners Make

| Care, Podcast

Over my many years of traveling the country touring gardens both great and small, I’ve managed to summarize what I believe are the five biggest garden mistakes made by gardeners in their home landscapes and gardens. They also happen to be some of the most common. In speaking with horticulturists and gardeners at every level, […]

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015-Life Lessons on Gardening and Design with Margaret Roach

| Care, Podcast

Over my long career in horticulture and gardening media, I’ve had the privilege of meeting pretty much all my heroes – the people that really walk their talk and that I truly respect and admire. In my short list of standouts is Margaret Roach.     Our kindred spirits have united us as good friends. […]

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Houston, this is Tranquility

| Care, Just for Fun

Hello from Holly. Houston, this is Tranquility. We have a problem.     I do not remember agreeing to this. I remember agreeing to, “Let’s have a baby,” but I do not remember agreeing to growth and development and grade school and, “Mom, that shirt looks totally cute on you.” I agreed to “glubs” and “bwackberry […]

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Rabbits Part Deux: Rise of the Offspring

| Care, Just for Fun

Hello from Holly. Listen, I have friends, and then I have friends. You know the italics kind–the kind you text during dinner on the weekend, and they respond, “I’ll be right over.” One of those during dinner texts happened just this past weekend when all my deepest fears came true.     In case it’s […]

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There goes the neighborhood

| Care, Just for Fun

Hello from Holly. It’s been a little too quiet around these parts. I shoulda known something was up. Innocently enough, I meandered to the garden to pick flowers for teacher welcome back and was met with quite a fright: a huge rabbit jumped from the green beans. For a split second our eyes locked and […]

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Vacation all I ever wanted

| Care, Just for Fun

Hello from Holly. We just got back from vacation. I didn’t tell you beforehand because of the Hamburglar. But now that we’re back let me give you a tour of the hot mess I found upon our return. I don’t mean to hashtag humble brag, buuuuuuut…it would appear my garden prefers it when I’m not […]

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009-Organic Disease Control with Jeff Gillman

| Care, Podcast

When it comes to maintaining a healthy garden, organic disease control comes down to a few main options.     In this podcast episode, we close out our 3-part series with Dr. Jeff Gilman. This time, we’re discussing the most common steps anyone can take towards organic disease control for creating and keeping a healthier […]

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Hark, I’ve Discovered a Discovery

| Care, Just for Fun

Hello from Holly. I believe I’ve discovered a new species of garden pest. It’s not an insect, rodent, parasite, or fungus…but it’s potentially way more destructive. I know it’s unexpected considering that I live in suburbia and not some remote corner of the earth, but hear me out. Gardeners worldwide depend on our accurate classification […]

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008-Organic Pest Control with Jeff Gillman

| Care, Podcast

In this podcast, we’re talking organic pest control with Dr. Jeff Gillman. While currently the Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens in Charlotte North Carolina, Jeff has spent his career getting to the truth behind the rhetoric in matters involving both the garden and the environment.     Jeff holds a master’s degree in […]

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007-Organic Weed Control with Jeff Gillman

| Care, Podcast

In this podcast, we talk organic weed control with Dr. Jeff Gillman. While currently the Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens in Charlotte North Carolina, he’s spent his career getting to the truth behind the rhetoric in matters involving both the garden and the environment.     Jeff holds a master’s degree in entomology […]

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006-Weedless Gardening with Lee Reich

| Care, Podcast

Today we’re talking about the common denominator all gardeners face, the one thing that impacts everyone equally when it comes to maintaining our gardens and landscapes and that’s the unavoidable issue of weeds and how to best eradicate them from our lives – or at least our gardens. Fear not – a weedless garden is […]

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Sunscald-What Happens when Tomatoes are Overexposed

| Care, Video

Sunscald is a condition common to tomatoes and peppers when they are exposed to the direct rays of the sun during hot weather. The condition causes pale white or yellowish blotches on the fruit where the sun’s rays are most intense. It’s more common on developing green fruit but sunscald can affect mature tomato fruit […]

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The 3 Biggest Mistakes when it Comes to Pruning

| Care, Video

In my experience, pruning mistakes are common, but there are three that seem to be the most common. Pruning is easy once you understand key fundamentals. Here’s how you can get it right: 1. Pruning at the wrong time Most people that wonder why their flowering shrub isn’t flowering, the answer is almost always one […]

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Pruning 101:
The Pruning Basics from A to Z

| Care

You remember all those freshman college classes that ended in “101”. For some reason, I always felt less intimidated by the course if the title ended with that number. So welcome to Pruning 101, where we cover how to prune – the pruning basics from A to Z. While pruning can be intimidating for many […]

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001-Pruning 101:
The Pruning Basics From A to Z

| Care, Podcast

I’m starting off our new podcast series with this episode dedicated to pruning 101 – the pruning basics from A to Z because when it comes to pruning, there’s more to know than just taking your shears or loppers to a plant whenever and wherever you want. A lot more if you want to do […]

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