You Bet Your Garden : WHYY

What does 'blight' really mean?

Mike McGrath offers suggestions for deterring animal pests, growing tangy tomatoes, what to do with chickweed, how to rehome carpenter bees, getting rid of fire ants, a good bet for shaded hanging baskets, lawn care tips for late spring, and how to fight blight in your garden.

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Earth Navigators

Seasonal changes impel a wide variety of creatures, from whooper swans to monarch butterflies, to begin their epic migrations to ancient feeding, mating, and breeding grounds, sometimes covering thousands of miles and employing ingenious methods to reach their destinations.

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When to Listen
Join Mike as he slays slugs, defeats deer, whacks weeds, mispronounces Latin words and saves plants across the nation every week on You Bet Your Garden — a breezy, light-hearted, and sometimes (OK - frequently) wild and crazy island of highly accurate and family-safe gardening information. Tune in every Saturday at 11 a.m. on WHYY-FM.

Recent Shows

Home-grown potatoes without the digging
Mike McGrath advises his listeners in growing raspberries, the benefits of ants in a home garden, developing soil for a new raised bed, and how to grow potatoes above ground. Plus, Mike speaks with Dr. Phillip Kaufman, a professor at the University of Florida, about unusually large mosquitoes.
What's the pH of your garden plot?
Mike McGrath advises his listeners in guarding against ticks, building a raised bed garden, using rabbit pellets in compost, growing tomatoes upside-down, planning a practical garden, recovering trees from storm damage, how to care for Japanese maples, and testing the pH of your garden soil.
Groundcover gone bad
Mike McGrath shares his recommendations for getting rid of weeds, correcting herbicide damage, pruning your trees properly, using manure in your garden, growing tasty tomatoes and the best way to beat Bishop's weed. Plus: Mike speaks with Dan Sullivan about toxic compost.
How to make compost WITHOUT fall leaves
Mike McGrath shares with his listeners the best recipes for compost, recommendations for hoop houses and high tunnels, methods to improve the health of blue spruce pines and protect roots from grazing animals, how to prevent verticillium wilt, and tactics for combatting stray cats and sneaky squirrels.