In this episode of Ask The Garden Geek Michael talks about among other things compost and how fun it is to put into your lawn and your garden and make your soil incredibly good and disease  resistant.  After getting an email this week about how to deal with fungus in the yard Michael reflects on yes there are things you can do to control fungus but the better option is to prevent fungus by using common sense organic fertilization and cultural practices.  

 On this edition Michael talks about trees in urban areas especially downtown areas. Local Tampa activist Topher Morrison  is not happy that oak trees in downtown Tampa are being replaced by Palms. Michael just happens to disagree with him to a certain extent. if you have a metropolitan area near you or living one you're going to want to hear about trees growing downtown.  

 In this Edition we talked about growing pineapples in a pot or in your yard if you live in the Deep South in a pot if you live elsewhere and have better control of your temperature. We also talked about growing bean sprouts in a jar or alfalfa sprouts in a jar. It is surprisingly easy and fun. 

 In this episode Michael Crose talks about hydroponic gardening and reviews a very difficult to get book called The Hydroponic Garden Secret by Susan Patterson. We look this book up on Amazon and could find nothing I finally had to go to the website that is listed on the back of the book and that website is called thealternativedaily.com  A note of caution about this website. I found it to be interesting in that they talk about Health Nutrition and gardening but when you go to buy something  from them they send you to a website called ClickBank.com  and when you think you're just buying a book you can very easily find yourself getting into massive up sales unless you pay very close attention like I did. I got the book actually off of a Facebook ad from the alternative daily that took me to a website the tried to upsell me a whole bunch of stuff which I did not do. I got the book free well I had to pay $9.95 shipping and handling but as free as you can get it and I found it well worth the $9.95.  

Diatomaceous Earth As Natural Pest Control

One of the more popular uses of D.E. is as a natural form of pest control . Because of the many tiny sharp edges on each spec. of D.E., when it comes in contact with insects D.E. absorbs the waxy coating that covers the insect causing a laceration of the exposed tissue. This is aggravated by the insects writhing. The insect dies from dehydration, usually within a few hours.

Since I first began talking about Diatomaceous Earth coast to coast on my radio show four years ago it has become a very popular form of natural pest control. As a matter of fact I learned last year at a pest control trade show I attended that professional pest control operators from all over the country were using D.E. as an important aspect of their regular service. All that I talked to were very happy with the results they achieved for using this natural product on many insects. For more info go to  http://naturalpesticides.blogspot.com/ 

Today I talk about lawn pests like grubs, ants and chinch bugs. I like natural controls and I give my thoughts.

In this podcast I talk about pruning dead wood out of your trees and shrubs.

 In this episode Michael talks about planting trees in Spring. He talks about how to select a proper tree as well as how to dig the hole and how to place the tree and what to put in the whole besides the tree.  

 In this episode of Ask The Garden  Geek with Michael Crose I continued the spring celebration talking about what to do to get all of your shrubs ready for the growing season. I talked about pruning and give proper fertilization recommendations.  

Welcome to the first edition of the Ask The Garden Geek  Podcast. in this edition we talk about spring and getting the lawn ready.

You'll hear me talk about my favorite lawn fertilizer for spring. Also we will talk about applying a pre-emergent herbicide if you desire not to have crabgrass this year. and what would be a spring episode concerning your lawn if we didn't talk about the lawn mower. getting a new blade, changing the oil and the spark plug. when I didn't mention in the episode that this is an important time to change the air filter in the lawn mower as well.