The Dirt Doctor Podcast Audio

Dirt Doctor this week with Howard Garrett -  Art Studio and tree health

In the October 17, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast Howard Garrett discusses a lot of tree topics, such as proper identification of ash trees in Texas yards (Texas ash - good, Arizona ash - bad) and an innovative treatment he is trying in a damaged oak at his home. Proper pruning is again illustrated, and there are some dog videos (no microphones knocked off in the process).  

Podcast highlights
- SPCA 
- Nellie climbing tree 
- Art studio shots 
- Baldcypress seed preparation 
- Video - tree damage  
- Tree injector recommendation  
- Bad and good pruning techniques  
- Treating tree cavities  
- Horseherb  
- Emerald ash borers  
- Texas ash versus Arizona ash  
- Mexican buckeye 
- Big leaf maple  
- TORC Beck and Bradford  

Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com

Dirt Doctor this week with Howard Garrett - Fall Gardening, New Products, Art Studio Tour

The October 10, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast with Howard Garrett discusses what you can be doing in your yard and garden this fall, discusses how to build a deck over tree roots, recommends several products, and gives a new tour of the Garrett yard and new Art Studio.  

Podcast highlights 
- Essential Formulas 
- Rocket launch video 
- SPCA 
- Leyland cypress 
- Deck information and tree roots 
- Stone deck  
- Cheat sheet  
- Garlic 
- Greenhouse design  
- Oxblood/Schoolhouse lily  
- Leaf Management 
- Fungus treatment in turf  
- Silver honey  
- fire ants dry molasses  
- Mound drench  
- Bermuda Grass and Hydrogen peroxide  
- New fertilizer products  
- Tour of yard and new art studio  
- Podcast outtakes 

Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com

The October 3, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast with Howard Garrett discusses how to plant solid sod, time to plant garlic (and how), removing vines from trees, and shares a video of a recent SpaceX rocket launch viewed from South Padre Island. 

Podcast highlights:

- SPCA 
- SpaceX 14 S. Padre Island
- Vines on tree trunks
- Garlic fertilizer
- Bulb Plus product
- Planting garlic
- Dwarf ginkgo
- Organic fertilizer on native plants?
- Leyland cypress
- English ivy - kill with mulch?
- Good watering practices 
- Turf - kill grass before putting down sod
- How to plant solid sod
- Photos of South Padre island - several
- Huberman book

Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com

The September 26, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast with Howard Garrett discusses changes to the updated website to make searches easier, and discussed several trees including the recommended Mexican mountain maple, holly trees, Mexican plum, and ginkgo trees, and illustrates how to make your own soil probe to take a true reading of your soil moisture levels. 

Podcast highlights:

- SPCA 
- Tour of updated Dirt Doctor website  
- Mexican Mountain Maple 
- Ginkgo leaves  
- Mexican plum  
- Kentucky blue grass  
- Chinese Pistache trees  
- amount of grass seed to plant per acre  
- Crabgrass killer recipe 
- What evergreens to block view?  
- Holly tree care 
- Probe - homemade  
- Probe - commercial  
- Pecan tree organic fertilizer recommendation 

Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com

Dirt Doctor this week with Howard Garrett - Comfrey-Garlic-Tree-colors

The September 19, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast with Howard Garrett discusses how to make your own medicinal mix of comfrey from your garden, how to prepare garlic for planting (and what parts to plant when), and tree care tips including treating emerald ash borer and how to plant trees.

Podcast highlights:

- SPCA 
- Comfrey juice
- Garlic book 
- Time to plant garlic 
- Forms of garlic 
- Harvesting garlic
- Ash tree recommendation 
- Emerald Ash Borer treatment 
- Acorn/leaf tea  
- Big tooth maple 
- What is Root flare 
- Kumquat fruit tree tips 

Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com

Dirt Doctor this week with Howard Garrett - Fertilzation, Mulch, and Shredded tree trimmings 

The September 12, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast with Howard Garrett discusses activities on the organic gardening calendar such as fall fertilization and planting fall crops, followed by an in-depth discussion of types and uses of several popular forms of mulch and compost. 

Podcast highlights:
- Monthly gardening calendar
- Corn gluten meal for fall fertilizer/weed control
- How fertilization works
- How pre-emergents work
- Organic calendar - Planting for fall crops
- Types of mulch
- Rubber
- Dyed Wood
- Pine Bark (nuggets)
- Shredded hardwood bark
- ground up grass and leaves
- Shredded native tree trimmings
- Pecan shells
- Cedar mulch
- Pine needles
- Hay bale gardening
- Bois D'arc (Osage orange)
- Plastic ground cloth
- Lava gravel mulch
- Drip irrigation problems

Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas  https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com

The September 5, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast with Howard Garrett answering listener questions that came in via "Ask Howard" about transplanting trees in the heat, about treating brown patch in turf, about armadillos, and described the 2006 trip he and his family made to Machu Picchu in Peru. 

Podcast highlights:
 
Cicada killers
Crapemyrtles dying back
Prepare garlic to plant
Armadillos
Coles Liquid
Slideshow of Machu Picchu
 
Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas  https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com

Dirt Doctor this week with Howard Garrett - Bamboo, Fertlizer, and Golf

The August 29, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast with Howard Garrett answering listener questions regarding good forms of bamboo (that can grow in semi-shade), about how to get lavasand, about when to use fertilizers and what kinds to use, and some golf stories.   

Podcast Highlights
Bamboo, Vinegar, Bad and Good Fertilizers, Lava sand, Sick Tree Treatment, Bad Fertlizers, Propagation Books, Howard's "air layering" propagation, golf annecdote, golf course design with Arnold Palmer

Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas  https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com

Dirt Doctor This Week - Cicada Killers Beetles and Fertilizer 

The August 22, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast with Howard Garrett answering listener questions regarding insects, weeds, the condition of plants in the extreme heat of summer, and fertilizing. 

Podcast highlights:
 
Cicada Killer wasp
Soap damage to tree foliage
Black beetles 
Flea beetle
Harlequin beetle
Black spotted cucumber beetle
Texas Bug Book
How often to water in heat
Chinese pistache looking bad
Fruit tree gummosis
Grub worms
Azaleas not blooming 
Fertilizer

Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas  https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com

The August 15, 2026, Dirt Doctor Podcast with Howard Garrett answering listener questions and discussing photos sent in to illustrate the problems they asked about. The site is being adjusted so photos can be added to the Ask Howard page. A big question - how to successfully transplant trees and shrubs in high summer plus a look at sucking insect pests such as aphids and scale. After a few teasers through the podcast it concludes with a short slideshow from the trip the Garrett family made to the Galapagos Islands some years ago. 

Podcast highlights:
 
Tea recommendation 
Speaking Event in August
SPCA
Successful transplanting in summer
White scale and sooty mold
Sick Tree TreatmentP
organic preemergent - corn gluten meal
Preemergent date for turf 
Neem shelf-life (AzaSol)
Spinosad
oak wilt
poison ivy/ 20% vinegar
mealy bugs 
mound drench
Mealybug destroyer
Galapagos trip slideshow

Advertisers:
Crazy Water is the only mineral water bottled in Texas. Rich with Mother Nature-infused minerals, which are more readily absorbed by your body. https://drinkcrazywater.com/ 
Dr. Ohhira probiotics have been part of the Garrett family health regimen for years. https://drohhiraprobiotics.com/dr-ohhira-probiotics/
Essential Formulas  https://essentialformulas.com/

https://www.dirtdoctor.com