All Of It with Alison Stewart

It's officially summer, meaning that many of you might be spending a lot of time in the front or backyard, caring for your lawn. There are many different ways to go about lawncare, some of which require more resources than others, like water, fertilizers, and pesticides. But there are also more eco-friendly sustainable ways to grow a lawn. Michele Bakacs and Amy Rowe, Rutgers associate professors and extension agents, join to give us tips for lawncare and take your calls and questions.

Here are some sustainable landscaping resources that our guests shared with us:

Rutgers Organic Land Care website

Frequently Asked Questions About Native Plants

National Wildlife Federation Keystone Plants by Ecoregion

Supporting Bees in Your Garden and on Your Farm

Incorporating Native Plants Into Your Residential Landscape

Don’t guess! Soil test! When managing your lawn it’s important not to put down any chemicals/ fertilizers until you have a soil test indicating your soil’s needs.

Rutgers Soil Testing Laboratory

Cornell Soil Testing Services

Cornell Cooperative Extension County offices for questions in NY

Rutgers Cooperative Extension county office for questions in NJ

Our June Full Bio selection is King: A Life, the first comprehensive account of Martin Luther King Jr. in three decades, written by Jonathan Eig. Today, we discuss King's relationships and disagreements with activist contemporaries, his blind spots, mental health, and the toll of being arrested nearly thirty times. And finally, we look at King's civil rights efforts and priorities in the last months of his life.

Yesterday marked the first official day of summer, which means it's time for summer reading! All Of It and Get Lit producer Jordan Lauf joins us to recommend some of the best new and upcoming summer reads, plus we take listener calls and suggestions!

 Jordan's Recommendations:

Listener Recommendations: 

Our June Full Bio selection is King: A Life, the first comprehensive account of Martin Luther King Jr. in three decades, written by Jonathan Eig. In this installment, we discuss MLK's advisors, such as Bayard Rustin, Ralph Abernathy, and Stanley Levison. We also discuss some of MLK's lesser known protests.

Aisha Harris will also be in conversation with Jourdain Searles tonight for a book event at The Strand at 7:00.

A new book explains how ice became a necessity in our everyday lives, whether its making tall glasses of tea, skating rinks or cutting-edge cryotherapy breast-cancer treatments. Journalist and historian Amy Brady join us to discuss her latest book, titled Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks--a Cool History of a Hot Commodity.

Season eight of Slate's Slow Burn podcast focuses on the life and career of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who made headlines recently after it was reported that he failed to disclose a financial relationship with billionaire and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. The podcast traces Thomas's journey from his childhood in rural Georgia, to his rise as a controversial conservative Justice. Host Joel Anderson is with us to discuss the podcast, which is releasing episodes now.

Our June Full Bio selection is "King: A Life,” the first comprehensive account of Martin Luther King Jr. in three decades, written by Jonathan Eig. In this conversation, we hear about a young King's romantic interests and his marriage to Coretta Scott, from 1953 until his death. We also focus on 1955, the year in which the King family moved to Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to move from her bus seat, and King was drafted to lead a movement.

For decades, the Sullivan Institute for Research in Psychoanalysis operated in the Upper West Side in Manhattan, first as a boundary-breaking commune that attracted artists like Jackson Pollock and Judy Collins in the 50s and 60s... and later, in the 70s, as a cult led by Saul Newton. AuthorAlexander Stille joins us to discuss his reporting on the Sullivan Institute and his new book, The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune.