Compost: it’s so misunderstood. Vilified by HOAs, and loved by gardeners, it’s been ignored, worshiped, blamed, blessed, and then quietly banished to the far corner of the yard. Yet this magical garden process keeps working anyway, taking our scraps, our weeds, our gardening mistakes, and even items that we should have cleaned out of the fridge last month and turning them back into organically rich soil.

What are the issues? What are the joys? What are the things that make the whole process easier? Leslie and Marianne don’t want you to overthink it, they just want you to start it — as they simplify and celebrate the compost pile, today on The Garden Mixer.

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They’re BAAAAAAAK!

Season II kicks off today — WELCOME if you’re new and welcome back if you’re not! Even Leslie and Marianne have been missing the weekly mix of seasonal relevance and irreverence — and a chance to raise a glass in support of our gardening audience all over the world who are dedicated to the proposition that gardening shouldn’t be boring.

The Garden Mixer is bringing you one of those gardeners today — Rochelle Greayer, the new editor of The American Horticultural Society’s American Gardener Magazine.

Are you an AHS member? We hope you will be by the end of this episode.

In a country of over 340 million people that covers over 3.7 million square miles of extremely confusing but necessarily detailed eco-regions, what exactly does it mean to be an American Gardener?

Are the characteristics of an American Garden as easy to recognize as those of a British, Italian or French Garden? What are we adding to the conversation around gardening, and where are we owning it? And why does the RHS get all the good press anyway? July 2026 marks a big birthday for this country of gardeners — perhaps it’s time to take the microphone back and celebrate our strengths.

We’re indulging our revolutionary tendencies today, on the Season II kickoff of The Garden Mixer!

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In the beginning, social media and gardening seemed meant for each other. After all, how better to teach than to show?

But it does feel like we might have lost our way in the last few years. Now we’re pushed towards viral moments, not moments of true discovery. Now we watch sexy six packs selling six packs; and find ourselves navigating a manufactured reality that makes everyday gardeners feel inferior, not empowered.

Are we doing more following than we’re actually doing gardening? We’re talking to gardener and garden influencer Amanda Nadeau of The Ever Hopeful Gardener today about who to trust, why to trust, and when to just let go and have fun.

Even Leslie’s cocktail is trying to be #authentic, today on The Garden Mixer.

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Deer Damage. Few things crush a gardener’s spirit faster than to stroll outside and see that Bambi has invited himself for dinner.

Coincidentally, few things crush Marianne’s spirit more than referring to these four-legged agents of the Devil in cute terms such as ‘Bambi’.

What’s on their perfectly curated menu? Pretty much all of your favorite garden plants. Sprays, granular applications, and motion sensors can keep those deer at bay, for a minute or two. But what about the ultimate solution?

No, the other ultimate solution — a fence. Leslie’s been there, and loved it. But just how tall, how expensive and how ugly does it need to be to protect our plants?

The answer may surprise you. Today, the girls discuss the pros, the cons, and the many considerations of deer fencing, deer spraying, and all the things in between, as Marianne prepares to have her garden world rocked by the installation of a Bambi-blocking fence.

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Promises, promises. We all make them at the beginning of each year. And — made desperate by the cold claws of winter — gardeners make even bigger ones at the beginning of each growing season.

Today on The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne take journalistic integrity to a new level and actually follow up with the promises made, the products they loved, and the season they foretold back in February when they hosted Erin Schanen, The Impatient Gardener.

They’re catching up with this popular Midwestern gardener and social media star over large cocktails and larger garnishes, and Marianne is throwing out some suspiciously large statistics in honor of the first anniversary of their Substack debut.

From the angst of sweet peas to the unbridled joy of bananas, it’s definitely confession time, and no-one’s skimping on the honesty or the drinks. Join these three gardener-friends as they beat their chests and rend their garments.

Or is that just Marianne?

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Let’s be honest and dispense with the illusion of carefree, perfectly decaying, infinitely Instagrammable, late fall gardens.

In reality, the leaves have blown off the trees, the decorative pumpkins are getting soft spots, and there’s a whole lot of flattened, crushed, eaten, and dejected going on where you had envisioned majestic seed heads, trusses of berries, and full-on fall splendor to welcome friends and family home for Thanksgiving.

Today, Leslie and Marianne have some tips for successfully curating the reality of that garden. How do we uncover the good, downplay the bad, and plan for better next year? How do we put lipstick on this pig?

The girls are transitioning to the winter garden — beautifully. Today on the Garden Mixer.

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How better to take advantage of the experience, skill, and time of others than to buy and plant a plumped-up, pumped-up, ready-to-bloom-for-you bulb?

Or maybe two hundred.

When perennials need a couple years, shrubs insist on commitment, and trees require a selfless gift to future generations; bulbs are all about YOU — and it’s time to indulge. Granted, it’s the you of six months from now — but where else in life can you successfully pull off a surprise party for yourself? And afford the florist?

Today, Leslie and Marianne explore all the options. Which ones will delight the senses, which ones will delight the critters, and which tools can help you get them in the ground. It’s not too late to grab those last-minute deals and give yourself the spring surprise party your family keeps meaning to throw.

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Cool air and warm soils mean that it’s a great time to divide and multiply the plants that you love, and Leslie and Marianne want to help you do it easily, efficiently, and with the least amount of plant pain as possible.

What are they dividing in their gardens and how are they doing it? And why is it so good for the plants to rip them from happy homes just when they were thinking of taking a well-earned nap? For that matter, why aren’t the girls sipping pumpkin lattes and waiting ‘till spring?

Set down that bulb planter and grab those two forks, because it’s all about FREE this week on The Garden Mixer.

(Just for the record Marianne hates pumpkin lattes. Leslie's a fan.)

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