Guests: Chad Bliss and Justin Quinones from Cob Connection; Sarah Abu-Absi, WRD Environmental Consultant for the Chicago Department of Environment on "Tweet Home Chicago" competition.

Guests: Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott, author and editor of Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: good science - practical application; Kerrie Rosenthal and Carol Niec from The Seedkeeper Company; Jack Pizzo of Pizzo & Associates Ecological Restoration.

Guests: Jennifer Brennan, horticulture information specialist at The Chalet, sits in for the entire show. Alicia Ontiveros (@EcoChicago) of EcoChicago talks about an EcoChat on her website tomorrow about this Saturday's Earth Hour.

Guests: Anna Pavord, author of the gorgeous book, Bulb; blogger and Twitterer LaManda Joy, a.k.a. @TheYarden, who talks about "The Lost Victory Garden Seed List of 1943"; Paul Tukey, founder of SafeLawns.org discusses the Chicago premiere of his documentary, "A Chemical Reaction" with Mike and Steve Neumann from Clean Air Lawn Care Chicago.

Guests: Authors, bloggers, Tweeters, podcasters and kibitzers Jean Ann Van Krevelen (@JeanAnnVK) and Amanda Thomsen (@KissMyAster) talk about their new book, Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Food. We even sneak in some conversation about the Chicago Flower & Garden Show. Local Foodies Jim Slama and Vicki Nowicki preview FamilyFarmed Expo. The continuing saga, "To Dump or Not To Dump" in DeKalb County continues. Dan Kenney of Stop the DeKalb County Mega-Dump is back to report on the week-long public hearing about whether to expand the county's landfill.

Guests: Foresight Design Initiative Executive Director Peter Nicholson; Dan Kenney, chair of a group called Stop the DeKalb County Mega-Dump; Joe Lill, Vice President of the Chicago Audubon Society talks about Birding America ViII. But who knew that he had prodigious musical talent? Check out the final ten minutes of the podcast to hear Joe wail on the trumpet...over the phone, no less.

Beth Botts fills in for the vacationing Mike Nowak. Guests: Diane Blazek of All-America Selections and National Garden Bureau; Jim Kleinwachter, head of the Conservation@home program for the Conservation Foundation; garden designer Andrea Green of Gardens by Design in Oak Park.

Guests: Follow up on Chicago's war on local food: Chicago Tribune's Monica Eng, Alexis Leverenz of Kitchen Chicago and Martha Boyd from Angelic Organics Learning Center; Garth Conrad, president of the Midwest Ecological Landscaping Association (MELA); speakers for the 18th Annual Natural Landscaping Seminar for the Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee of McHenry County--Lorraine Johnson, Ed Collins and Nancy Williamson.

Guests: Natural Resources Defense Council's Josh Mogerman talks about latest developments in the Asian Carp crisis; Mr. Brown Thumb invades the studio with his legion of Twitter followers; Chicago Tribune writer Monica Eng and Flora Confections Chief Operating Officer Lee Greenhouse discuss the heartbreaking action of the Chicago Health Department, which destroyed thousands of dollars of fruit purees in a licensing dispute. (This link contains the video that is posted on my home page.)

Beth Botts co-hosts. She and Mike talk about the latest funding crisis for Illinois Extension, the state of the economy in horticulture, why you should stop whining about snow (it's good for your plants), and they answer a few gardening questions along the way.