Garden Plot
Watercooler
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- Funeral home has bicycle hearse for 1 last ride
- Alaska man runs onto frozen lake to avoid jail
- Aussie minister sorry he 'liked' exposed teen pic
- Exhibition of secretly shot photos upsets NYers
- Wash. state woman spots stolen car in drive-thru
- Deer smashes Pa. bus windshield, takes short ride
- Texas senior, 18, bags 800-pound record alligator
- Conn. chef set to feast on cicadas during invasion
Mike McGrath
WTOP's Garden Editor Mike McGrath is:
* Host of the nationally syndicated Public Radio show, You Bet Your Garden
* Contributing Editor and columnist for Greenprints magazine
* Former Editor-in-Chief of ORGANIC GARDENING magazine
* Author of books on Tomatoes, Compost, Seed saving and Kitchen Gardening
* Mike makes several appearances around town. Click for more.
* Do you have a question for Mike? Email him at mikemcg@ptd.net. (Please include your name, location and the topic in the subject line)
Garden Plot: How to beat back mosquitoes
Garden Plot Editor Mike McGrath answers all of your garden and lawn care questions. On the list this week: controlling ticks and mosquitoes, wise watering and rose bush care.
Preventing and treating poison ivy
It's the time of year when everyone starts heading outside. And it is also the time of year when doctors see an uptick in poison ivy cases.
Garden Plot: Grow delicious tomatoes and ward off frost damage
Garden Editor Mike McGrath has tips for protecting plants from a late spring frost, growing tomatoes and keeping lawns green.
Lack of tree sex causes worse allergy symptoms
If your allergies are acting up, it may be due to a lack of sex.
Garden Plot: Tomato plants need warm nights
Nights with temperatures in the 40s won't kill your plants as impressively as frost, but those temperatures will stunt the growth of your tomato plants.
Garden Plot: Torch those dandelions goodbye
Weed and seed like a pro with advice from Mike McGrath.
Where and when will Garden Editor Mike McGrath spring up next?
WTOP's Garden Editor Mike McGrath will be making several appearances in the D.C. area this spring.
Cicadas, ticks and moles in your garden
WTOP Garden Editor Mike McGrath offers advice on cicadas, moles and ticks. And he has some tips about when to put your summer plants outside.
Garden Plot: The golden rules of lawn care
Cool season lawns should never be aerated in the spring. Pulling out all those little plugs to relieve soil compaction stresses the turf in the short run and you never want to do anything to stress a cool season grass with summer heat around the corner.
Garden Plot: Some vegetables need to be planted now
WTOP Garden Editor Mike McGrath shares his advice on when to plant this spring and what will kill your vegetable garden.
How to care for Easter lilies
Easter lilies don't bloom naturally at this time of year. WTOP Garden Editor Mike McGrath has advice for how to care for those plants you get and give as gifts.
Weed and feed this spring with corn gluten
WTOP Garden Editor Mike McGrath details how to get the most from corn gluten, how to protect your boxwood from manic mulching and how to best protect your daffodils from spring freezes.
Garden Plot: Your peas can freeze on St. Patrick's Day - unless you cheat
Sunday is St. Patrick's Day, the lucky day for planting cool-weather loving snow peas, snap peas and shelling peas in your almost-spring garden. But it won't be very lucky if you just bury the poor pea seeds in freezing cold soil.
Garden Plot: Spring forward and tasty garden peas
I'm sorry that we all have to lose an hour's sleep tonight, or go to bed an hour early, but "springing ahead" also means that the season of growing will soon begin. That means pea planting in the McGrath garden!
Don't let spring fever ruin your garden or your lawn
Garden guru Mike McGrath says don't rush to sow seeds outside or spread corn gluten on your lawn. It's too cold for both.
Garden Plot: How to prolong the life of roses
If all you do is remove last year's mulch from under your roses, you'll greatly reduce disease problems. And if you replace that much with fresh yard waste compost, like LeafGro, you'll prevent new disease spores from breeding.
Lawn care: Never aerate cool season lawns in spring
WTOP Garden Editor Mike McGrath offers advice on when to aerate lawns, when to add corn gluten and grass seed, what not to do to boxwoods and when to prune apple trees.
What your flowers really say on Valentine's Day
Thursday is Valentine's Day. And if you didn't already know that, this is probably the most helpful garden tip you'll get from me this season.
Garden Plot: Not all mulches are created equal
In this week's edition of Garden Plot, Mike McGrath discusses how to choose the best mulch and offers some different types of corn seeds that make for great popped corn.
Garden Plot: Apologies to the deer and cold weather lawn advice
When I reported this one on Saturday, I had to change my opening line to "Garden Editor Mike McGrath with your Mea Culpa of the Day!"
Hi: 73 °F | Lo: 63 °F
