radio podcast: getting ready to shop for seeds

The seed catalogue season is in full swing and I paused to consider their value to gardeners.

New gardeners are keen to get going and it may be painful to wait for several months to grow your own from seed or cuttings. Fortunately there are several ways to shortcut the process by buying starter plants.

College move-in day can be almost as stressful as it is exciting. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first or your fourth—there are many things to consider and many ways to make your new temporary living place feel like home.

Shopping for home accessories isn't an overnight process, but if you're looking to begin the journey of filling your space with beautiful accents, you'll want to keep these pro tips top of mind.

Order yours from £65 from sarahk.co.uk

It’s the end of June, and my vegetable garden looks rough. The heat and the insects have wreaked havoc on my once beautiful Garden of Eden. This is the perfect time to rejuvenate some of the crops using a technique call ratooning.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE WRITTEN to say you enjoy the radio podcasts I create with Robin Hood Radio (NPRs newest and smallest affiliate, and just down the road from me in Ruralville, USA here). Marshall, Jill and I do have fun with our Monday-morning conversations–but you can listen anytime.

WOO-HOO! MY FRIENDS AT WHDD in Sharon, Connecticut, aka Robin Hood Radio, just called to say our A Way to Garden podcasts are not just on iTunes but also on an RSS feed. Easy, peasy, to tune in to.

CO-HOST AND GARDEN DESIGNER CARMEN DEVITO really got me going on the popular weekly “We Dig Plants” show on Heritage Radio Network the other day, when she asked me to think back–now four-plus years–about my journey from the city life of my past to the here-and-now of living in the garden. Apparently I shared such wisdoms as: “With things that you treasure, whether it’s a person, a thing or plant, sometimes you can hold it a little too close and suffocate it.

IT FEELS LIKE TOMATO-HARVEST SEASON here, what with 85 degrees dipping to a chilly 60 at night, but in fact we’re just coming up on tomato-sowing season (I do it April 15 here). Tricks for tomato sowing and growing, including what to do to prevent diseases this year, formed the topic for this week’s A Way to Garden radio podcast on Robin Hood Radio (WHDD-Sharon, Connecticut).

THAT ANDRE JORDAN IS UNCANNY, WITH HIS ABILITY to see what I am doing from halfway across the nation. I am beginning to worry that he has somehow placed a 24/7 Skype video device here in my dining room–is that your secret, dear doodling Andre? Yes, it’s seed-mania time, and I am having a hard go of it–trying to avoid doing just what the lady in the nightgown has fallen prey to.

WE WENT SHRUB SHOPPING–VIRTUALLY, AT LEAST–on this week’s Robin Hood Radio A Way to Garden podcast, with the topic ranging from where to start in the shrub section of your local nursery (under “V,” of course, for Viburnum) to what else to look for besides (the obvious) spring blooms. Click over to hear the latest edition, or browse through our growing podcast archive.