Episodes

  • Tomatoes With Craig LeHoullier-A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach February 28, 2022

    Tomatoes With Craig LeHoullier-A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach February 28, 2022
    Feb 26 2022

    Sick of winter? What I find helps, besides the occasional warmish, sunny day, is thinking about tomatoes. And that's what we're going to do today with Craig LeHoullier, author of the hit 2014 book “Epic Tomatoes,” who has over the years grown some 3,000 varieties in his home garden and adds new ones to his list every year

    Craig, who gardens in North Carolina, is a retired chemist with a longtime passion for tomatoes. He's the co-founder of the Dwarf Tomato Project, an advisor on tomatoes to Seed Savers Exchange, and the person who in 1990 named the popular heirloom Cherokee Purple from seed that had been passed down and eventually made its way to him. 
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    26 mins
  • A Dry Year With Julie Zickefoose - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Dec. 16, 2024

    A Dry Year With Julie Zickefoose - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Dec. 16, 2024
    Dec 13 2024
    Did you have an abnormally dry growing season this year—one where it felt like you just couldn’t keep up with the watering, maybe? Today’s guest, naturalist and artist Julie Zickefoose, and I both did in our otherwise different garden locations—places that usually have plenty of rain. Besides prompting frustration and some plant failures, the dry times also had us making observations about the impact of drought on various forms of wildlife. Julie Zickefoose lives and gardens in the Appalachian foothills of southeast Ohio. You probably know her from one of the books she’s written and illustrated like my favorite, “Saving... Read More ›
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    29 mins
  • Tomatoes With Craig LeHoullier-A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach February 28, 2022

    Tomatoes With Craig LeHoullier-A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach February 28, 2022
    Feb 26 2022

    Sick of winter? What I find helps, besides the occasional warmish, sunny day, is thinking about tomatoes. And that's what we're going to do today with Craig LeHoullier, author of the hit 2014 book “Epic Tomatoes,” who has over the years grown some 3,000 varieties in his home garden and adds new ones to his list every year

    Craig, who gardens in North Carolina, is a retired chemist with a longtime passion for tomatoes. He's the co-founder of the Dwarf Tomato Project, an advisor on tomatoes to Seed Savers Exchange, and the person who in 1990 named the popular heirloom Cherokee Purple from seed that had been passed down and eventually made its way to him. 
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    26 mins
  • Supporting Biodiversity With Sarah Jayne - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Dec. 9, 2024

    Supporting Biodiversity With Sarah Jayne - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Dec. 9, 2024
    Dec 6 2024
    The message has become increasingly clear: By shifting the palette of what we plant toward native, and refining the practices we employ in caring for our landscapes, we gardeners can make a contribution to the greater ecology. We can create pieces of functioning habitat that support biodiversity. We’ve heard about saying no to vast stretches of mown lawn, about removing invasives, and leaving the leaves in fall — or how artificial light at night is harmful to insect populations, among many important changes we’re urged to make. But we probably don’t know all the nuts and bolts involved in best... Read More ›
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    28 mins
  • Nature Watching With Margaret Renkl - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Dec. 2, 2024

    Nature Watching With Margaret Renkl - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Dec. 2, 2024
    Nov 29 2024
    She has had various job titles in her career, but writer Margaret Renkl says one consistent role in her life for decades has been that of “a window-gazer,” someone who watches what’s going on out there. Even better, she gets outdoors and really looks around, calling into play what she says are the greatest tools of a naturalist: silence and stillness. “Sit quietly and let the world come to you,” Renkl writes. Now she has a new book out to help us cultivate our attention of the natural world, and she’s here to talk about some of her tactics for... Read More ›
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    28 mins
  • Editing and Dividing Perennials With Toshi Yano - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach August 23, 2021

    Editing and Dividing Perennials With Toshi Yano - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach August 23, 2021
    Aug 20 2021
    Maybe you, like I do, have certain perennial beds that could use editing and some particular plants that need dividing in the process. That’s just one focus of today’s guest, Toshi Yano, in his role as director of horticulture at Wethersfield, a former private estate turned public garden in the Hudson Valley of New York, He’ll tell us the how-to, and also about visiting this special place.  Toshi Yano Toshi is in his third year as director of horticulture at the former estate called Wethersfield garden in Dutchess County, New York, with its 3-acre formal gardens plus 7 acres of wilderness garden and commanding views of the Catskills and Berkshire Mountains.  Toshi and his team are bringing the gardens back to life, and he told me about the place, and specifically about the tasks of editing and dividing that every perennial gardener needs to do, whatever their garden scale. 
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    26 mins
  • Forcing Bulbs With Peggy Anne Montgomery - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Nov. 25, 2024

    Forcing Bulbs With Peggy Anne Montgomery - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Nov. 25, 2024
    Nov 22 2024
    It’s practically December, but like many gardeners I’m already thinking about spring. One big element of that thinking is how to maximize the power of flower bulbs, and though you might have already planted some in the ground earlier this fall, there are still opportunities to call more bulbs into play. It’s not too late to force pots of bulbs that can add extra color to your outdoor spring displays, for instance, or prepare others to provide indoor cheer while we wait. You just need to know a few strategic tactics, which today’s guest is here to share. Bulbs are... Read More ›
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    27 mins
  • 'WildStory' Podcast's Poetry + Plants - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Nov. 18, 2024

    'WildStory' Podcast's Poetry + Plants - A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach - Nov. 18, 2024
    Nov 15 2024
    I was invited recently to be a guest on a podcast called The Wildstory from The Native Plant Society of New Jersey that talks about plants, of course, and ecology … but unlike other garden-related podcasts, it also explores poetry. I was intrigued, because I recognized the names of many of its other recent guests – from Doug Tallamy to Barbara Kingsolver – and thought it would be fun to get to know its co-hosts a bit better. Ann E. Wallace, the Poet Laureate of Jersey City, and Kim Correro, a Rutgers Master Gardener and Director of State Programs, are co-hosts of The... Read More ›
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    28 mins