WDAY Chief Meteorologist Jesse Ritka had a busy summer, with turbulent storms and widespread tornado damage. And now, like the rest of us, she's reaping the gardening benefits of an unseasonably warm fall while waiting for sweather weather to finally arrive.

In this episode, Jesse joins Don and John for a chat about recent weather and how the stormy summer affected her garden. Ever the scientist, she talks about spending time "experimenting" in the garden with her own family.

Just because summer is over and winter is on the horizon, it doesn’t mean gardening has to be done for the year.

In this episode, Don and John talk about how to keep geraniums, mandevilla and other plants growing through the winter so you can get a head start on summer color.

Nothing can be quite as breathtaking as fall color, and though there's a certain poetry to this last burst of natural beauty before we plunge into winter, there's some hard science there, too.

In this episode, Don and John talk about the chemical changes that make fall color happen and talk about their favorite fall color plants, shrubs and trees. Don fields a listener question about late fall pruning and we all seem to agree that slugs are, indeed, super gross.

Crabgrass and quackgrass might sound a little funny, but they are such a common nuisance many homeowners simply throw up their hands and live with them. It doesn't have to be that way.

In this episode, Don and John talk about two of the most common weeds in our lawns and give you strategies to help bring them under control.

A common refrain here at Growing Together is that there's usually something going on with your garden, no matter what time of year, and the same holds true for your local garden centers.

In this episode, Don and John are joined by Luke Nygard, the owner of Nygard Nursery in Dilworth, Minn., for some reasons to give your local nursery a visit even though winter is coming fast. Luke also shares how he transitioned from professional drummer to full-time gardener to business owner.

Learn more about Nygard Nursery on their website: https://www.nygaardnursery.com/

You might think of Labor Day as the time when you start closing down shop for the year, but it's also the time when you can start laying groundwork for next year.

In this episode, Don and John go over some of the most fruitful tasks for your Labor Day/early September to-do list, like fertilizing your lawn, splitting geraniums and tackling your toughest weeds.

Topics in this episode:

0:42 Don's vacation seeing gardens on Martha's Vineyard, Boston and Hyde Park
6:40 Are tomatoes late this year?
12:50 The transition time of the Labor Day holiday
13:52 The most important time of year to fertilize your lawn
15:45 This is the best time to control lawn weeds
16:58 What kind of fertilizer should we be using?
18:54 Overseeding your trouble spots
20:06 What to use for spot spraying
21:31 Making cuttings from your geraniums
23:34 Dig and divide peonies
24:38 Planting tulip, daffodil, hyacinth bulbs
26:15 Moving rhubarb
28:30 Planning your garden expansion
30:27 Harvesting vegetables and fruits

Your riding mower might make you feel like royalty as you leisurely cut the grass on a hot day...but, you're missing out on some much-needed exercise when you do.

In this episode, Don and John welcome NDSU Extension Food and Nutrition Specialist Julie Garden-Robinson for a discussion about health and gardening, including why you should keep sweating behind your push mower. Julie also has some tips for how to get the most nutrition from your harvest bounty.

As you build out your yard and develop your garden, you'll inevitably find the need to put down some mulch to cover the ground and create pleasing areas around your growing spots.

In this episode, Don and John go over a few key points on mulch, edging and maintenence, including things to consider when choosing rock or mulch and how to prevent weeds.

Topics:

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:33 Today's topic: Mulching
• 2:12 Listener question: What is this powdery substance on my lilacs?
• 4:36 How ground cover has changed
• 9:42 Maitaining rock mulch
• 11:34 Preventing weeds with a pre-emergent herbicide
• 19:46 A disadvantage to rock mulch
• 21:07 Wood mulch; chips vs. shredded
• 23:52 The advantages and disadvantages of wood mulch
• 25:02 What to put underneath wood mulch
• 26:51 Tips for using cardboard under mulch
• 30:00 Wood vs. rock mulch
• 31:17 Rubber pellets
• 35:02 Edging