Résultats lu par "Mike McGrath" dans Toutes les catégories

Think poisons were the only early answer to insects? On this week's You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath talks with the author of the new book American Pests- who explains how early controls were highly advanced! Plus: fighting Phragmites: the Monster Weed of the Wetlands.

Birds can be excellent garden pest controllers. And sometimes they can BE the pests! This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will help you keep those flying friends where you want them!

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.

Few insects are as annoying to gardeners as the pestiferous blackfly. This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will reveal how you can evade the unwanted attentions - and bites - of these annoying gnats.

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 the newbies you're hoping to coax away from the bottles and bags with big warnings on them.

Are you tired of losing your plants to garden-devouring pests? Insect expert Linda Gilkeson joins us to reveal easy organic ways to keep bad bugs out of your beds. Her new book is West Coast Gardening: Natural Insect, Weed & Disease Control. Then, are chipmunks cute little critters or are they just as pesky as squirrels? Mike McGrath will reveal what kind of damage chipmunks do in gardens, and suggest non-lethal ways to keep them at bay.

Every garden and landscape needs compost, the rich black super soil that feeds your plants, and prevents disease better than any chemical fungicide. Ergo, every gardener needs a composter! So to kick off our seasonal gift suggestions, Mike McGrath is going to describe several units you can purchase, or make yourself, to get that special gardener of yours on the road to black gold!

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.

It doesn't often happen, but we have a listener struggling to keep her ivy alive, along with the usual numerous emails from listeners who can't get rid of their ivy. Mike McGrath will reveal the best ways to keep ivy happy, and he'll explain how to best get rid of it. Mike will also discuss why the plant that you're calling ivy may not be ivy at all!

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.

Winter means icy sidewalks and worries about what the salt or other chemicals used to make those surfaces safe is going to do to the poor plants in the proximity.

Have you got lots of grass clippings that you'd like to turn into compost? This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will explain why you should back away from that pile and use those clips for something much better!

Is the soil in your garden full of bugs, weed seeds, and disease? Have you tried year after year, with the same sad results? On this week's episode of You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will explain how you can use the solarization technique to improve your soil. And as always, Mike tackles your toughest gardening questions.

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.

It used to be that only Japanese beetle grubs savaged lawns, and only in the Northeast, but now other beetle babies are learning to terrorize turf all over this land. Mike McGrath will begin a two-part series on grub damage control with a close look at milky spore disease; can it really grub-proof your turf? Plus: More bad news from the world of science for people who still use lawn chemicals.

Do you want to avoid giving blood to summertime mosquitoes but don't want to douse yourself in chemicals like Deet? Mike McGrath will talk about two natural repellant products that have been shown to be very effective in scientific studies. He'll also suggest some aromatic garden plants that can be used to fend off the pests, and discuss new repellants based on catnip, Osage orange and even tomatoes.

Having trouble getting rhododendrons, lilacs, and dogwoods to flower the way they should? Mike McGrath will discuss the causes of feeble flowers, and explain how you can boost your blooming bounty. Plus: A side-effect of using garden chemicals that will have all the men out there canceling their Chem-Lawn contracts on the spot.

Blueberries are one of nature's most perfect foods - they're packed with naturally occurring antioxidants that fight cancer and other ailments, plus phytochemicals that can delay the onset of dementia. Mike McGrath will discuss everything you need to know to grow your own, in your own backyard.

Are squirrels driving you crazy with their outdoor antics? Mike McGrath will tackle the most rascally rodent of them all when he comes to the rescue of a listener whose poor dogs are being driven crazy by tormenting tree rats! We'll get expert advice from a professional squirrel trapper who will share his secret bait formula with us. (No squirrels will be hurt during this program, they are trapped live and relocated!)

Mike McGrath takes a look back at the year 2006 with our favorite listener phone calls and gardening questions.