Showing results by author "Mike McGrath" in All Categories

Want to restore all the minerals that time has sucked out of your soil? On this week's thrilling episode of You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath discusses how rock dust can perk up your plants. As always, fabulous phone calls and chemical free answers to garden questions.

The terrible taste of store-bought tomatoes is enough to get even non-gardeners to put a few plants in the ground. Luckily, growing tomatoes is fun and easy, if you give them a few things they crave and require at planting time. Mike McGrath will help you achieve love apple success with his Top Ten Tips for Terrific Tomatoes!

The grubs that are in lawns and gardens now are poised to become armored adults that will terrorize plants. Mike McGrath will explain how to stop those grubs before they get their wings; and how to deter any flying defoliators that escape your tender attentions. Plus: Common Sense Pest Control expert Bill Quarles joins us to discuss some great weapons in the war on fire ants, carpenter ants, and just plain ants! Bill Quarles is the director of the Bio-Integral Resource Center in Berkeley, California.

What should you say if someone offers you a load of sawdust for your landscape? Host Mike McGrath reveals just what you can and can't do for your lawn and garden with dust of wood.

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!

Sometimes moss is the right plant in the right place-and sometimes it's just in the way. This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will explain how to keep shady sidewalks and such moss-free. And of course, chemical free answers to all your garden questions.

There's very serious, late breaking bad news for tomato and potato growers sweeping the country. This week will be a special edition of You Bet Your Garden, where host Mike McGrath will discuss the recent outbreak of "late blight"; perhaps the most devastating of all plant diseases. Plus: Your protection options; and of course, chemical free answers to all your garden questions.

Would you like to have a pest-free garden without using any sprays? Beneficial insects like ladybugs and lacewings are the answer. Beneficials are insects that eat only pests and don't bother good bugs or your plants. Mike McGrath will reveal which beneficial insects you can buy to release in your garden, and how you can attract many more with our list of plants that lure the good bugs in!

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!)

Want to start a garden right away, but the area is a mess of tough invasives like ivy or mint? On this week's You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will reveal your long and short-term options. Plus, tips for growing great edibles from George Ball, and chemical-free answers to all your gardening questions.

The holidays are coming, and Mike McGrath will help you avoid some of the prerequisite panic by going over great gift suggestions for gardeners. Most of these ideas have been contributed by our listeners, but Mike adds some of his favorite critter-and weed-defeating gifts, and a brand-new suggestion that has become a staple in his collection of gardening gadgets. We'll also hear about an interesting tip concerning festive paper whites!

What's more annoying than a big, fat fly buzzing around your house, looking for nice clean things to land on? Flies in your garden! Mike McGrath will discuss indoor and outdoor fly control. He'll explain how to easily dispatch a roomful of the pests overnight with an organic remedy that's over a century old. And he'll discuss your outdoor fly control options, including the famous "shoo fly plant" that sterilizes house and white flies.

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.

Looking for a lush, fragrant, fast-growing screening plant that supplies a highly valued cash crop and grows virtually anywhere? This week on You Bet Your Garden, we'll hop onto the idea of growing your own hops!

Have you been told to prune the "sucker" offshoots off of your tomato plants? This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will discuss why he thinks the right thing to do is to keep them on. Plus, an interview with a researcher who discusses the link between pesticides and myeloma. And of course, chemical free answers to all your garden questions.

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.

Think tomatoes are the most different tasting things you can grow as opposed to buy? This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will reveal why the real answer is potatoes! Plus: chemical-free answers to all your garden questions.

Are pesky mosquitoes making you miserable? This week on You Bet Your Garden, host Mike McGrath will review the steps you should take to avoid giving blood 'on the fly'. And of course, chemical free answers to all your garden questions.

Spring is coming, and that means soon it will be time to get your garden going. Mike McGrath will help new gardeners avoid rookie mistakes with details on how to create a super-productive, easy-care raised bed.

Noted Alaska gardener, garden writer, and radio host Jeff Lowenfels joins us to talk about how he created the "Plant a Row for the Hungry" program that allows gardeners to help feed people in need.