Showing results by narrator "Mike McGrath" in All Categories

Tired of planting your garden of good eating year after year? This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath, will discuss the perennial vegetables you plant once and enjoy for decades!

You've all seen the ads for "amazing zoysia grass". On this week's You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will reveal the pros and cons of this warm-season turf that survives northern winters! Plus: plans for a beautiful three-bin compost system.

You may have heard rosemary being called "the herb of remembrance", but two top researchers say that many other easy-to-grow edibles are also capable of helping prevent or reverse age and Alzheimer's related declines in mental function. Mike McGrath will reveal the top 20 plants you can grow in your own garden to prevent "brain drain".

Garden success begins with raised beds, and during this hour, Mike will prepare our listeners for Spring by explaining how to create the perfect growing space. We'll cover the best dimensions for raised beds, how to frame them, what to fill them with, and what to use for mulch.

Are little road maps appearing in the leaves of your poor plants? This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will reveal the surprising cure for leaf miners! And of course, we'll have chemical-free answers to all your gardening questions.

Corn Gluten Meal is an organic lawn-owner's dream. It prevents dormant weeds seeds from sprouting while giving your turf an all-natural, high-nitrogen feeding. Mike McGrath will explain how and when to use corn gluten meal, and what other areas of your landscape it will work on. He'll also discuss why some cheap products sold as Corn Gluten Meal in animal feed stores won't work!

Are you worried that the recent decline in honeybee numbers means your posies won't be properly pollinated this season? Don't "bee"! Most garden pollination is performed by native bees, like the ones nesting in lawns right now! They are harmless creatures but often scare gardeners because of their size or seemingly aggressive behavior. Mike McGrath will tell you how to attract and protect these priceless pollinators and keep them happy.

Black spot is the scourge of rose growers everywhere. Mike McGrath will tell you how to prevent rose disease in general, and he'll name eighteen rose varieties that are naturally resistant to black spot and mildew, including a number of grandiflora and floribunda types, and even some hybrid teas!

Common Sense Pest Control expert Bill Quarles reveals a new insecticide that�s safe for people and pets but deadly to pest caterpillars, beetles, thrips, termites, and even fire ants! Bill is director of the Bio Integral resource Center in California. Later on the show, Mike McGrath reveals holiday tree tips! He'll explain how to prevent needle drop and how to keep the tree watered without bending over.

Noted Alaska gardener, garden writer, and radio host Jeff Lowenfels joins us to talk about how he created the "Plant a Row for the Hungry" program that allows gardeners to help feed people in need.

Do you want to replace your dying summer container plants with something beautiful that will survive the winter? Jeff Jabco, Director of Grounds and Coordinator of Horticulture for the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College in Philadelphia has been teaching workshops on winter container gardening. He will suggest plants that can survive the winter from the frozen North to the milder South, and give advice on what kind of soil mixture and containers to use.

Morning glories are beautiful, and while they tend to spread quickly, they are easy to control. But they have an invasive, weedy perennial cousin, which can really get out of hand. Mike McGrath will explain the difference between morning glory and bindweed, and give detailed information on how to handle both.

Once again, it's time for the You Bet Your Garden Christmas show! This week, host Mike McGrath and friends look back on the highlights of holiday gardening tips and tricks, such as how to care for your Christmas cactus, poinsettia, mistletoe and more. Plus, musical numbers from You Bet Your Garden Christmas shows past - and a new song as well.

Sometimes moss is the right plant in the right place-and sometimes it's just in the way. This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will explain how to keep shady sidewalks and such moss-free. And of course, chemical free answers to all your garden questions.

Tired of seeing your prized plants perish when frost comes calling? Mike McGrath will reveal his favorite gardening trick; bringing peppers, begonias, and impatiens inside for the winter. You can enjoy good eating and beautiful color through the cold season, and start out with nice, big plants next Spring. He'll also explain which herbs can over-winter outside in which garden zones, and which ones have to come inside.

We'll celebrate the beginning of seed catalog season with Burpee Seed Company president George Ball. He'll tell us what�s new on the market, and share his favorite picks for unique tomato varieties and bush beans! Plus, the Question of the Week: Cotton plants are very ornamental, with beautiful flowers and seedpods preceding that dramatic burst of white. But if you garden in a climate warm enough to see cotton appear, you probably aren't supposed to be growing it.

Has your lawn carried a lot of extra weight over the years? Host Mike McGrath reveals how to ease the compaction this can cause with soil aeration and other weighty issues on this week's You Bet Your Garden. As always, fabulous phone calls and chemical free answers to garden questions.

Forget Halloween; you know what's really scary? People burning their leaves! On this thrilling episode of You Bet Your Garden host Mike McGrath shows how to harvest this rich bounty of miracle mulch and black gold-to-be. Plus fabulous phone calls, tips and tricks - all chemical free, of course.

Do you know if your summer blooming bulbs need to be protected, and when it's safe to plant spring bloomers where you live? Bulb-man-for-all-seasons Brent Heath of Brent and Becky's Bulbs joins us to reveal the answers, and name the bulbs that critters won't touch. Later on the show: Did dread disease take down your tomatoes? Mike McGrath will discuss the possible causes of yellowed leaves, and how to prevent tomato problems in the future.

Moles create ugly tunnels and dirt piles in lawns. There are many home remedies that supposedly chase away or kill moles, but do they really work? Tom Schmidt, aka "The Moleman", joins us to share what he's learned about those burrowing pests in decades of evicting them from turfs. During the Question of the Week, Mike McGrath will reveal how you can attract toads and frogs into your landscape - they eat pest insects.