Anyone who gardens for long enough or likes to spend a lot of time in the great outdoors will encounter plants that can cause itchiness or even pain, but there are certain plants that they should be especially wary of — wicked plants. In this week's encore, New York Times bestselling author Amy Stewart joins me to discuss the stories surrounding the world's most notorious plants.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

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Buying ladybugs for biological control of pests can contribute to depleting the ladybug population in the wild and raises other concerns as well. Meanwhile, non-native ladybugs do the same valuable work — eating aphids and other pests that harm crops — but are often cast in a bad light anyway. My guest in this week's encore, Dr. Kaitlin Stack Whitney, an environmental studies scholar as well as a home gardener, explains that non-native insects don't always deserve their bad rap.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.

What if the most fertile, resilient garden is one that feeds itself? Legendary organic grower Eliot Coleman returns to the podcast this week to challenge the idea that gardeners need to buy fertility in a bag. Drawing on decades of experience at Four Season Farm, Eliot explains how green manure and living soil can provide everything your garden needs — without importing soil inputs that could be inferior or, worse, contaminated.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.

If you've ever wished for a gardening guide who cuts through the noise and tells it like it is, you're going to love this week's guest. Dr. Allan M. Armitage — plantsman, prolific author, world-traveled teacher, and all-around straight shooter — joins me to share his signature mix of wisdom, humor and no-nonsense advice. Allan is the down to earth gardener next door and has spent decades helping gardeners feel more confident and less intimidated.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.

Even small, everyday interactions with nature — from a single houseplant to a 20-minute walk through the woods or a garden — can measurably improve our mental and physical health. Biologist Kathy Willis, the author of the new book "Good Nature," joins me to explore the groundbreaking research revealing how touching, smelling and even just seeing plants benefits our well-being.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.

Becoming a successful flower farmer and seed breeder takes not only a keen business sense but also creativity and resourcefulness, two traits that my guest this week has in spades. Erin Benzakein of Floret Flower Farm and the Magnolia Network series "Growing Floret" joins me to share how she cultivates her creative streak to get more flowers out into the world.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.

Practicing permaculture doesn't require a sprawling property of several acres. As my guest this week, Brandy Hall of Shades of Green Permaculture, explains, the benefits of permaculture can fit in urban and suburban settings.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.

Getting a greenhouse opened up so many opportunities for me to advance my gardening goals. In this week's encore, I'm sharing what there is to know before getting a greenhouse and my top tips for taking full advantage of it once you have one.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.

Whether planting just a few trees or embarking on a large-scale ecological restoration project, you will have the greatest chance of success if you choose to use saplings over containerized or balled-and-burlapped trees. To explain the many reasons why saplings are the best option, tree care expert Basil Camu returns to the podcast this week.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.

Plants that live indoors with us over the winter — both houseplants and those that are only stored inside the house seasonally — need a few things from us to get through the darker, colder months. At the same time, too much coddling during this period of semi-dormancy can doom plants. This week, I am sharing how to prepare plants for the transition and how to strike the right balance to keep them happy and healthy.

Podcast Links for Show Notes

Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions.

Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements.

Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses.

Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.