Proper harvesting will help insure the best flavor, quality and maximum productivity.  I'll share tips on harvesting squash, peppers, and potatoes as well as many other popular crops.  Also, what to do with green tomatoes. Send in your favorite green tomato recipe (e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or mail to Melinda Myers, PO BOX 370331, Milwaukee, WI 53237-0331 and I’ll send you Volume 1 DVD of Melinda’s Garden Moments (a collection of one minute gardening tips). I answer gardeners' questions on tomato troubles and clematis with yellow leaves.  I'll discuss how these pepper plants (pictured) received help from Purple Cow in the garden. I'll finish with a mention of a great harvesting tool, the garden hod.

Let's continue our discussion on maximizing the harvest, ways to get more produce from small spaces. I'll answer gardeners' questions on soil testing and lawn fertilizers. I'll discuss rose slug in this week's pest tip. Then I'll talk about how to create your own Topsy Turvy tomato planter.

Many households are going to begin growing vegetables for the first time this year. I'll give you some basics to get started. Then I'll answer gardeners' questions on installing an arbor for trumpet vine and growing onions in the north. This week's pest tip will focus on clubroot of cabbage and other crucifiers. I'll finish with a recommendation of a great vegetable to grow, Eggplant F1 'Hansel' , an All-America Selections winner.

Start planting fruits, vegetables and herbs indoors! No matter where you live, you can get started now. I answer gardeners' questions on Illini Hardy blackberry, plants that attract finches and using baking soda for disease control. I'll talk about fungus gnats in this week's pest tip and using Gnatrol with Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) for control.

It's time to reap what you sow! I'll give you some tips on harvesting those delicious raspberries.  I'll discuss their pest problems and how to prune. Then I answer gardeners' questions on eliminating an invading shrub, removing overgrown yews and troubles with black-eyed Susan's. I'll end with ideas on creating a homemade harvest basket.

Listen closely and I'll share with you some interesting history on our most popular garden vegetable, the tomato. Justice Gray stated; "Botanically speaking, tomatoes are fruits of a vine". I answer gardeners' questions on creating a flower bed and wilted annuals and perennials. I finish with a mention of Seed Savers Exchange.

This week’s discussion is on common tomato problems; black bottom, fruit isn’t forming, cracking from the rain, distorted fruit and other diseases and insects. I answer gardeners' questions on black walnut toxicity and pine with red spider mites. Then I'll discuss the Topsy Turvy planter that grows tomatoes upside down.

In this week’s podcast you’ll find there’s still time to plant and enjoy fresh vegetables from the garden. I answer questions on yellow trumpet vines, yews with brown leaves, and Japanese beetles. I then discuss pear slugs that feed on cherries and pears in mid to late summer. Finally for garden enjoyment, plant Easter Egg radishes and Purple Haze carrots.

The season of planting and harvesting asparagus is the focus of this podcast. Then I answer a gardeners’ question on black spots on tomatoes. Next Kristin Gies joins me for tips on treating and preventing salt damage on our landscapes. I finish by recommending a great plant, Brazilian Verbena, Verbena bonariensis.

I offer tips for harvesting herbs in this episode. Then I answer gardeners’ about poor fruit set on fruit trees and groundcovers suited for a roadside garden. Next Kristin Gies joins me for tips on managing powdery mildew. I finish off with describing a favorite new place, Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.