Flower Power Garden Hour

A listener questions episode this week focusing on vegetables: • Does cornmeal work as a pre-emergent herbicide • Why does broccoli bolt? What is bolting? • Do eggshells and/or diatomaceous earth effectively kill snails and slugs? • Use of heat mats to start seeds • My go-to soil amendments for vegetable garden soil preparation – and when to use

Kate Waldo owns Worm Fancy, a business intent on diverting food waste going into landfills. She began working with schools implementing programs yielding significant results – sometimes a 3x reduction in trash volume. Here Kate walks through steps to start & guidance about how to be successful raising your own composting worms • Types of containers to use & how-to setup • Ideal worm for composting Pre-configured bins/stackable trays can be purchased at Worm Fancy, as well as worms to start you

A highly anticipated episode, featuring world renown tomato expert, Brad Gates. Brad owns Wild Boar Farms where he spends years creating new varieties of exotic tomatoes, optimized to be “stunning looking tomato varieties with extreme flavor.” To bring a new variety to market, it takes Brad on average 6-7 years of breeding for the desired traits & selecting the strongest plants each season to begin the following generation. Using fully organic/sustainable farming techniques, Wild Boar is 100% not GMO

This is a much requested episode with a deep dive on bees. Bee expert Dave Watson shares best practices for successfully raising bees, providing a step by step process on how to set up your hive & much more (including hive social dynamics). Dave is a fantastic teacher – this show serves as THE How-To guide for novice to experienced beekeepers. As part of his business, Dave removes bee swarms. This unique phenomena is discussed near the end of the podcast, with Dave sharing some of his best stories

A comprehensive breakdown of roses, with a focus on bare-root. Covered here: Types: Old English, ramblers, climbers, hybrid teas, grandifloras, floribundas, moss rose Purchasing: What to look for when buying bare-root roses Planting: Bare-root, actively growing roses, grafted vs non-grafted, soil, temperature range, drainage tolerance, sun requirements, when to plant, techniques of successful planting Pruning: When to prune depending on type & area, techniques, preventing disease transfer

A listener questions episode this week featuring: • African violets….tips for re-potting • Succulent protection in cold weather and frost • All about Rue (Ruta graveolens)….growing tips • Mushroom infestation…potential diagnosis and recommendations • Pest control (beetles)…how to selectively predate their larvae

Alan Yip, Masters in Horticulture and Biodiversity, joins for Part 2 on a discussion around everything houseplants. Here we focus on tips and tricks about how to optimize your indoor plants. Topics include: • Potting soils – how to choose or make your own • Make your plants shiny (?) • Protecting plants from cats • Treat fungal gnats • Dispelling common myths • Common issues, such as leaf browning

Alan Yip, Masters in Horticulture & Biodiversity, joins today for a discussion on houseplants. Alan is an expert on orchids - we will do an upcoming episode specifically on those. Here we talk about all things houseplants, focusing on ones easy to grow, tips for making them thrive, & common problems/solutions. We dive into which houseplants currently popular - we’ve gone retro, because 1970’s houseplants are in! Popular plants discussed include Monstera & Ficus lyrata (aka Fiddle Leaf Fig)

Delmar Duldulao was Head Gardener at the Winchester Mystery House for over 20 years. The Winchester House is a 161 room estate, built by Sarah Winchester in the early 1900’s. It's where I had my first job & intro to pro gardening, working with Delmar as Assistant Gardener. He was the perfect teacher – a genius at mixing science & art. We discuss the unique plants, challenges & history of the gardens at the Winchester House. Delmar owns The Garden Samurai, a landscaping companying in Silicon Valley

Dr. Richard Karban is a researcher at UC Davis, where he is an expert in the field of plant defenses and plant-insect interactions. His studies with sagebrush and how they “communicate” to decrease herbivore predation has been groundbreaking. Plant communication has been a hotly contested discussion for the better part of a decade. Although the general consensus in the scientific community now is that plant communication DOES occur, the mechanism(s) by which this happens is not well known or agreed upon

Brendan Wilce is a UCD grad in Environmental Horticulture & a nursery industry veteran, currently working at El Dorado Nursery in Shingle Springs, CA. Brendan is a longtime friend & colleague, & has an amazing collection of succulents (Pachypodium, Stapeliads, Aloes, Agaves, cactus), maples, oaks, woodland perennials, & rhododendron species. He is an amazing resource of knowledge & has a relentless interest in anything rare, unique. Check out his collection & plant photos @ theplanimal on Instagram.

A listener questions episode this week featuring: • Leaf curling on citrus trees • Geriatric Christmas Cactus not blooming • Difficulty growing Rhododendron in Northern California • Mosaic Virus (or some other virus) in vegetables such as zucchini, tomatoes, cucumber • Gnats infiltrated hibiscus • Stubborn Plumeria not blooming

Tony Lord first developed his love of exotic edible plants while working as a social anthropologist in Micronesia. After his retirement as an Anthropology Professor, he continued this passion in his Sacramento garden. Tony is intrigued by any plant that says, “will amaze your neighbors”. This can be anything from sugar cane to Moringa…. amazing because Tony grows in a Mediterranean zone as opposed to Tropical, yet he has continued success. We discuss a variety of unusual plants & Tony shares his tips/

It’s late August which means..time to prepare & plant your Fall/Winter vegetable garden NOW! Marlene the Plant Lady discusses: • Strategy to plant Winter vegetables when summer garden still going • Direct sow seeds or plant starters • Types of winter vegetables & containers/locations they can be grown in (Kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, beets, carrots, radishes, onions, potatoes, cabbage) • Cover crops for nitrogen fixing (fava beans, red clover) • Soil amendment • Pests & treatment in

A listener Q&A episode this week featuring: •Seedless green & red grapes producing very small fruit – why and how to fix •How to know when a watermelon is ripe and ready to harvest •Avocado trees grown indoors – when and how to move outside •Edible weeds – example, Purslane •Techniques to propagate a Crape Myrtle from a sucker •Azalea health •Best soil type for raised vegetable beds •Yellow spots – causes and how to fix