Showing results by narrator "Mike McGrath" in All Categories

Looking for a holiday gift for the gardener in your life? Mike McGrath will reconstruct the classic "Twelve Days of Christmas" to present you with a dozen unique, useful, and ecologically sound options. There's something for everyone, from the hard-core, already chemical-free grower, to newbies you're hoping to coax away from bottles and bags with big warnings on them.

Are bees buzzing around in your landscape, scaring you and your family? Or are they boring holes into your house and other structures? Mike McGrath will explain how to deal with wood-boring carpenter bees and scary Springtime ground nesting bees. He'll also explain why these native creatures are not only harmless, they are extremely beneficial to your garden!

Are you going on vacation? Prepare your plants, lawn, and garden so they don't suffer while you're away. Mike McGrath will explain what to do to cover watering needs, prevent weeds, and harvest your precious crops so nothing spoils during your time off. We'll also answer lots of gardening questions from around the country.

Do you fear the bite of the "deadly" and mysterious brown recluse spider? Relax. They're not the monsters people make them out to be. Mike McGrath will discuss reassuring research about the habits of these spiders, and explore the positive role all spiders play in our lives.

We celebrate St. Patrick's Day with tips from noted Irish gardener John Cushnie! John is the author of several books; his latest is How to Prune. He is also a panelist on the BBC's Gardener's Question Time. During the Question of the Week, we stick with the green and discuss moss. Moss covers the ground with a bright blanket of green that never needs mowing or feeding. It can take a little foot traffic and even a little sun.

The horrific hornworm is the number one pest of tomato plants; this gigantic caterpillar can consume a Big Boy almost overnight! Mike McGrath will reveal how to stop the pest in its pupa, he'll suggest companion plants that can protect your tomatoes, and reveal the organic control that dispatches the beast without any risk to you or the environment. We'll also hear about some good news for gardeners happening in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Are you one of those listeners who avoids the actual growing of things because your "black thumb" makes you feel inferior to the other gardeners in your neighborhood?

Blossom end rot is the cruelest problem that can strike tomatoes, turning the fruits black just as they ripen up. Mike McGrath will reveal how eggshells can save your love apples AND crisp up your cucumbers! We'll also discuss some other tomato problems that won't be cured by eggshells, and offer solutions for those, too.

Mike McGrath takes a look back at the year 2006 with our favorite listener phone calls and 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 you worried about aggressive wasps swarming around your garden and building nests? We'll discuss how to handle yellowjackets and other dangerous hornets with "Norman the Conqueror" Norman Patterson. He defeats these aggressive beasts and sells them to medical companies, where they are used to protect people with severe bee-sting allergies.

Would you like to make your landscape a better place for wildlife like beautiful birds, toads, and amphibians? David Mizejewski, author of Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife offers tips and simple steps to provide shelter, food and nesting spaces in your yard. He'll also explain how gardeners can get their yard certified as a habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. Then. there's a chill in the air, and that means miserable mice are gearing up for lots of mischief.

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.

Raspberries are the perfect fruit! They are nutritious, delicious, and easy to grow, in fact, they prefer to be planted in poor soil! Mike McGrath will provide all the details you need to have a red stained face and a big grin in summers to come. Plus: Now that harvest time is here, are you starting to realize that you once again planted way too much? We'll tell you how to "share your harvest" and help feed the hungry.

This week, we put the spotlight on tiny plants that often go unnoticed. Mosses and liverworts might lack the eye-catching flowers of many other plants, but they have a beauty of their own. They also play a big role in ecosystems, pioneering the way for more advanced plants to take root in places where they would otherwise not be able to grow. Susan Munch joins us to discuss the habits and role of these small beauties. She has written Outstanding Mosses & Liverworts of Pennsylvania & Nearby States.

It's been a great growing year if you're a weed! Mike McGrath will reveal how you can eliminate weeds between your pavers, on your patio, walkways, and in your garden. He'll explain when to use flame, radiant heat, soap, or what are known as "horticultural vinegars". Plus an Insect Fear double header: Fire ants on vacation in Virginia Beach and yellowjackets building nests the size of a car!

Do you dutifully water your plants every day, keep their soil covered with wood chips, feed them frequently, spray every insect, and still aren't having much luck? That's because you're already committing four of the most common mistakes gardeners make! Mike McGrath will reveal the other six in the Question of the Week.

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.

Are the leaves on your poor plants stained, splotched, and smudged? Mike McGrath will discuss the dread diseases that cause spots to appear, and explain how you can prevent the problem without any sprays, chemical or organic! Plus: Science isolates the sweaty smell that makes some people unattractive to mosquitoes, midges and other bad biters.

Have you received the email warning about termite-infested mulch heading our way from Katrina damaged trees? Mike McGrath will reveal the truth behind those rumors, and explain how your current mulch may already be inviting local termites to dine on your domain. Plus: Mark Tebbitt from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden joins us to discuss the amazing diversity in the surprisingly wide world of begonias. Tebbitt has written Begonias; Cultivation, Identification and Natural History.