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MARGARET ROACH A WAY TO GARDEN

MARGARET ROACH A WAY TO GARDEN

Margaret Roach

A WAY TO GARDEN is the horticultural incarnation of Margaret Roach

657 - Ripe Tomatoes With Craig LeHoullier – A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach – July 31, 2023
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  • 657 - Ripe Tomatoes With Craig LeHoullier – A Way to Garden With Margaret Roach – July 31, 2023

    Around this time each summer I look forward to the onslaught of fresh tomatoes—while at the same time hoping against hope that what I call “tomato troubles” don’t reveal themselves and get the upper hand.  I’ve been hearing from lots of readers and listeners in recent weeks that the new normal of weather chaos nationwide isn’t helping them get to the tomato finish line successfully...and that they’re worried.  So with all that in mind, I made my annual frantic call with some urgent tomato questions to today’s guest, Craig LeHoullier of North Carolina, the NC Tomato Man as he’s known on social media, author of the classic book “Epic Tomatoes.” Craig knows more about these cherished fruits than almost anyone I’ve ever met, and he even shares that in Live sessions each week on his Instagram account, where you can ask your questions and get solid answers.  I asked Craig how he’s doing, and what we should all be doing to bolster a bountiful harvest, and also about which fruits to save next year’s seed from anyhow, and other tomato questions. 

    Wed, 26 Jul 2023 - 26min
  • 656 - Ken Druse on Lost Plants – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – July 24, 2023

    We gardeners all know the experience of loss: of plants that don’t make it, for one reason or another—from a tomato felled by disease in a too-humid summer to a venerable old tree taken out by a nasty winter storm. There are losses every year, no matter how expert a gardener you are...but some of them really stand out in memory, indelible. Plants we have loved and lost, but never forgotten: That’s our topic today with my friend Ken Druse. You all know Ken, who gardens in New Jersey, and is the author of an impressive 20 garden books.

    Wed, 19 Jul 2023 - 27min
  • 655 - Harnek Singh on Succulent Stars – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – July 19, 2023

    Succulents: You probably already grow some perennial ones in your garden, and perhaps others that aren’t hardy are among your favorite houseplants. But what if some of those indoor types started playing seasonal roles in the garden, too? That’s what Harnek Singh, a longtime gardener at Wave Hill in New York City, has been thinking about and experimenting with lately, to pretty stunning effect.  It helps if you have a spare garden area to experiment in like they do at Wave Hill, where what’s called the Paisley Bed – because it’s shaped like a giant paisley -- is planted in a whole new theme each year. This year, until sometime in October, it’s all about succulents, and the design includes many of the plants in the cacti and succulent collection that Harnek cares for in Wave Hill’s conservatory, just one part of his overall horticultural role there.   He’s here to recommend some favorite succulents for indoors and outdoors, with tips on how to grow them, and use them, and even which ones are easy to propagate more of. 

    Wed, 12 Jul 2023 - 27min
  • 654 - A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – July 10, 2023 – Ethan Kauffman on Natives at Stoneleigh

    Can a historic formal space become the home to a forward-thinking landscape of native plants? The team at Stoneleigh, a five-year-old public garden on an old estate in Villanova, Pennsylvania, says the answer is an emphatic yes, and their horticultural experiments seem to prove that’s true.  Its director, Ethan Kauffman, is here today to talk about how he and his team are reinterpreting the grand old landscape with a natives-only ethos handed down to them by the non-profit called Natural Lands that conserved the place.     Two-dozen kinds of native vines now climb the majestic century-old stone pergola at Stoneleigh, and space-defining hedges of white pine and American arborvitae, or dwarf Magnolia grandiflora and among those redefining the 42-acre landscape. There are lots of other lessons for home gardeners, too.  

    Thu, 06 Jul 2023 - 26min
  • 653 - A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – July 3, 2023 – Erik Keller on the Garden as Therapy

    No doubt all of you who are listening, all you gardeners, would agree that interacting with plants, and with nature, has a restorative benefit—that it has the undeniable power to lift us up and make us feel better.  That idea—that working with plants is therapeutic—is the foundation of the field of horticultural therapy. Today’s guest, Erik Keller, has practiced horticultural therapy for more than 20 years, using plants and nature to help clients, from cancer patients to special-needs children and disabled seniors, to cope, and to make positive life changes. He’s also author of  “The Therapist’s Garden: Using Plants to Revitalize Your Spirit.”  Erik is a master gardener, and manages the gardens and horticultural therapy program at Ann’s Place in Danbury, CT, an organization assisting cancer patients and their families.  We don’t need to be in a formal horticultural therapy program, though: Erik wants to remind each of us of the positive power of what we’re doing outside, and give us some advice on how to maximize its benefit. 

    Tue, 27 Jun 2023 - 27min
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