how we garden today: a conversation with joe lamp’l

Rachel Platt in the 'Chained to Tech' Tatton Garden. Image Source: Julie Skelton Photography. 

Taylor Swift is in her Eras era, and the world is here for it. Whether you’re a die-hard Swiftie or just catch the occasional tune on the radio, you’ve probably heard all about the Eras Tour, along with its fantastical world-building and ambitious set design. The three-hour show takes the audience through an era-by-era recap of Swift’s 17-year musical career, covering all of her albums in a stunning and immersive 44-song performance.

Prepping a bed without turning or tilling may actually help reduce the number of weed seeds that sprout, so in many situations, it’s my tactic of choice. If a sunny patch of lawn is destined to house a crop of summer tomatoes or a fall-planted bulb garden, or an existing border needs some smothering of weeds. how to make a bed with cardboardTHE EXPLANATION below assumes the underlying soil is fairly decent, neither bog nor wasteland nor highly compacted, and that the vegetation growing in it is mostly herbaceous (like lawn, not a thicket of blackberries or po

This year, I’m late, late, late—and I’m conveniently blaming circumstances beyond my control. After frozen ground in April, no rain for three-plus weeks in May, and a June of incredible deluges, some of my best-laid plans aren’t looking so swell. Maybe you’re in the same situation. With all the upside-down spring weather that made headlines around the nation, I suspect it’s not just me who fell “behind.” There’s still time for a positive outcome.Ken (below, saving tomato seed), founder of Hudson Valley Seed Library catalog and an organic seed farmer, joined me on the public-radio show and podcast to talk about planting for late summer into late fall harvest (think: pea-shoot salad, a succulent fresh batch of basil and more), and about seed saving.Read along as you listen to the July 13, 201

IT’S A DREAM many gardeners and farmers entertain: To become a beekeeper, adding honeybee hives to the landscape both for the pollination work that bees can do and for the delicious by-product we can harvest a share of, thanks to them.

The June 14th edition is about plants I call “confidence builders” (read: maybe too enthusiastic) that I grew at the start of my garden career. Today’s is about creatures in the garden: which to tolerate, and which not to, and why, from deer on down to slugs, snakes and more.But maybe don’t click away right yet…better yet, stay a minute first and get the backstory on the Garden Rant post:If you follow the comments here on the blog you’ll perhaps remember the funny back-and-forth about Sedum with Susan Harris, one of the voices of Garden Rant, and how her wondering aloud to me (both in a comment here and a post at her place) about the ID of a particular variety.Her wondering sent me out into the night to grab some of the plant-i

Whether you get technical or go generic with your terminology, it’s time to tuck tubers and corms and tuberous roots and rhizomes and yes, even some true bulbs into the soil for years of enjoyment. But which ones, and how?With help from horticulturist Jonathan Wright of Chanticleer Garden, who joined me on my public radio show and podcast, we’ll learn some less-than-expected uses of bulbs, like massed in lawns [photo below, at Chanticleer], and layered in containers. Plus: tips such as which bulbs are more animal-proof tha

He visited my public-radio show and podcast to talk shrubs: what’s new, what’s coming next, and what’s going out of favor and why. There’s a tension between what we gardeners need to make great season-long gardens, and the fact that we mostly shop only in spring—meaning we mostly buy things that look good then.We covered why he’s excited about plants like a beautyberry with flashy foliage, not just fruit (to help satisfy the “looks good in spring” thing); new barberries that don’t seed and become invasive; a dream of better viburnums that resist the leaf beetle; new native Hydrangea arborescens varieties in different colors of flowers (like ‘Incrediball Blush,’ above; an Aronia that covers the ground, and lots more.Read along as you listen to the April 15, 2019 edition of my public-radio

One of the best resources ever for those wishing to know their weeds is the book “Weeds of North America,” published in 2014 by University of Chicago Press, and co-authored by Richard Dickinson, with France Royer. Since its release, it is always at the ready here—with information about 500 species, plus photos of most every one at every life phase from seed to seedling to full plant and leaf and flower detail. There will be no mistaking weed from wildflower or garden plant again. Toronto-based Richard Dickinson has taught plant taxonomy for more than 25 years, and he joined me to talk about every gardener’s favorite—or is it unfavorite?—subject, weeds. I learned how they get so good at being weedy, and what their environmental impact is beyond taking space awa

I hope you visit Joe’s latest inspiration-filled home base, and listen in to our chat that ranged from key landscape-design principles for real gardeners to how much I weigh (did I really say that out loud on the show?).the “Joe Gardener” podcast episode we just recorded Joe’s new website If you’ve never seen the TV episodes we filmed here—his first visit to my garden, and later a show about my obsession with gardening for the birds—those are recommended, too. (That’s us at one such meetup, above, with my trusty Kubota.)And Joe has been a guest on my

How do birds get their food, and what do they eat, anyway? Well that depends on the bird, and Ellen Blackstone of BirdNote.org has some answers. A million people a day and more than 200 radio markets hear the 2-minute public radio show called BirdNote, and now “BirdNote” is a book too, which Ellen edited.Read along as you listen to the Aug. 20, 2018 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).how birds find foo

Our guide is Virginia Tech associate professor of horticulture Dr. Holly Scoggins, a herbaceous plant specialist and educator, who also teaches greenhouse management and ornamental plant production and marketing. She conducts research to help commercial growers of container plants get it right, optimizing inputs like water and fertilizer, for instance, or different kinds of growing media.In other words: Holly Scoggins knows a well-grown plant when she sees one.Because she apparently can’t get enough plants, Holly also operates a U-pick blueberry farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains, blogs at The Garden Professors blog at extension.org, and contributes to the Professors’ popular Facebook page.On my public-radio show and podcast I learned a whole new style of plant-shopping etiquette, and got over my sti