Showing results by narrator "Mike McGrath" in All Categories

The legendary Mel Bartholomew, creator of the wildly popular "Square Foot Garden", joins us to discuss his new guide to growing the most possible plants in the smallest possible space. Mel�s new book, All New Square Foot Gardening, adds 10 improvements to the original 25-year-old SFG method. Later on the show, Mike will reveal how people without any ground of their own can still get growing by joining a community garden.

If you've grown squash plants in your garden you've probably suffered the savage attentions of the dreaded vine borer, which can wipe out an entire crop and is hard to detect at first. Mike McGrath will reveal six all-natural ways to prevent this pest, including one that dates back to the 1890s!

Want more butterflies in your life? On this week's episode of You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will reveal how to attract the fabulous flyers with butterfly-friendly plants and tricks with sand and salt!

Do Ladybugs bite? It's hard to imagine that these pretty, beneficial insects could have an aggressive side! Mike will answer this puzzling question, and explain why ladybugs move into people�s houses every winter. He�ll also reveal how to handle these annual invasions.

Are multi-legged crawly things creeping into your bedrooms, and all over your house? Mike McGrath will explain how to tell if you have pestiferous millipedes or highly beneficial centipedes and what to do about them. Plus, learn how tomatoes protect themselves against pests with signals that travel an inch a minute through the plant.

Are you ready to plant peas on St. Patrick's Day? In the next thrilling episode of You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will tell you how to make sure June brings a bounty of good eating. Plus: chemical-free answers to all your gardening questions.

All gardeners love the idea of companion planting. Do roses really love garlic? Do marigolds really protect nearby plants from pests? No. But there are garden combinations that do work, and some have been proven in scientific studies. Mike McGrath will reveal them all when we take a close look at plants that make great neighbors.

Are the leaves on your poor plants stained, splotched, and smudged? Besmirched, blemished, and blotched? Host Mike McGrath will discuss the dread diseases that cause spots to appear, and how you can prevent the problem - without any sprays, chemical or organic!

Do you feel like growing some unusual offerings in your garden this year? Exotic flowers, heirloom varieties, or strangely-colored vegetables maybe? We'll hear about the eclectic selection in the quirky J. L. Hudson seed catalog. And to make sure your seed-starting endeavors are off to a good start, Mike will go over his Seven Secrets of Successful Seed Starters. He'll also reveal a cure for the dreaded disease that often claims over-watered seedlings.

The single most important thing you can do to insure a healthy, productive garden is to make compost for your soil. But should you include things like weeds, wood ash, and droppings from small herbivores in that pile? Mike McGrath will reveal exactly what seemingly worthless waste you can safely turn into glorious garden gold!

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.

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.

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.

Mushroom expert Paul Stamets joins us to explain how seemingly humble fungi can be used to filter water, destroy pest insects like termites and fire ants, and create new medicines. Paul is the owner of the mushroom company Fungi Perfecti and his new book is Mycelium Running. During the Question of the Week, Mike will explain how gardeners can safely use wood ashes in their landscape.

In this thrilling episode of You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will tell you about the two main types of tomatoes and helps you decide which one is best for you. Then Mike gives you a guide to community gardens. Plus: chemical-free answers to all your gardening questions.

This week on You Bet Your Garden, Penn State Professor Don Davis joins us to discuss the house and car-staining fungus that breeds in shredded bark and other wood mulches. Later in the show, Mike suggests ways to deal with grasshoppers! He'll reveal the all-natural product that can kill this Biblical garden foe and name the bird that puts hoppers at the top of its 'to eat' list. He will also explain how molasses can protect your plants.

Are nasty pests planning to hitch a ride on your incoming houseplants? Mike McGrath will explain how to prepare plants that have spent the summer outside for overwintering in your house, without bringing pests like aphids along. Plus, he'll offer specialized cures for fungus gnats and scale. We'll also hear about a new way for pipes and tree roots to peacefully coexist.

Are you ready to start your seeds? Howard Shapiro from Seeds of Change joins us to discuss the all-organic offerings their new catalog. During the Question of the Week, Mike tackles a potentially stinky topic: Skunks can tear up lawns in their search for food, and they're very fond of sub-letting spaces underneath unsuspecting homeowners. Mike will explain how to safely evict them without unwanted incident; and how to erase that smell if you or your pets do get sprayed.

What can you do when you show up at your vacation beach retreat and the outside of the house is covered with mosquitoes instead of vinyl siding? Mike McGrath will reveal how he handled this very problem this summer, without any of the mosquito-fighting tools he has at home, and without turning to toxins! We'll also tell a year-long island resident how to keep the local insect life out of her house.

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".