Growing Greener

A replay of a February 2024 conversation in which Joseph Lofthouse, author of "Landrace Gardening" details how anyone can create genetically diverse vegetable and fruit crops that flourish in the local climate and soil with minimal inputs in just three years.

Byron Kominek knew the family farm needed a more profitable crop than hay to survive.  By installing  photovoltaic panels and growing crops underneath, he now supplies electricity to 300 neighboring houses while also producing food and hosting educational programs at what is now a popular learning center.

Liz Koziol of the University of Kansas shares hew work with mycorrhizal fungi and native plants, and how a properly designed fungal inoculant can make your ecological garden more biodiverse, quicker to establish itself and more resistant to weeds.

Herbariums, annotated collections of dried plant specimens first appeared in Italy almost 500 years ago.  In today's Growing Greener, Lea Johnson, Director of Conservation at the Native Plant Trust discusses why they remain an essential tool for those who track and study native plant populations, and the new technologies herbariums facilitate.

Dr. Elic Weitzel of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History describes the thousands of years of association between deer and people, how they long ago came to prefer human-created landscapes, and why their population has exploded

In a conversation recorded in December of 2019 Shannon Currey, a leading educator in the native plants industry, describes how the unique adaptations of warm season grasses make them winners in an era of climate change as well as invaluable in the late summer garden.

In a conversation from January of 2021, Dan Snow tells how, using locally sourced stone, he expresses the intrinsic beauty of a site in bold constructions held together only by gravity, friction, and history.

Goats love invasive plants, says Elijah Goodwin, Director of Ecosystem Monitoring at New York's Stone Barns Center; and with careful timing and regulation the Center's herd is restoring ecological balance to its 80-acre campus and hundreds of acres of a famous nature preserve.

Revisiting a conversation from August 2023 with Dr. Bethany Bradley of the University of Massachusetts, who describes how plants introduced from outside our ecosystems may remain quiescent for decades before turning invasive, and how climate change is threatening to explode this threat.

Wildlife biologist Ken Bevis discusses the many benefits to biodiversity of "snags," standing dead trees, and how to incorporate them safely and aesthetically into our gardens.

In a replay of a conversation from September of 2023, Sheri Crabtree of Kentucky State University describes the northernmost species of the tropical custard apple family, the pawpaw, which offers delicious tropical flavor, a creamy texture, and thrives in the backyard garden as far north as USDA Zone 5.

William Cullina, a leading expert on the propagation of native plants, describes the special insights about a species' adaptations and ecology that starting from seed provides, and offers simple tips for success with this endeavor.

'Good fences make good neighbors,' especially, according to Vermonter Susan Shea, when it comes to gardeners and woodchucks. A nature writer and photographer, Shea details the extraordinary abilities of this native mammal, the important ecological and cultural roles it plays, and how to install a woodchuck-proof fence.

Everything that grows on your property – its "biomass" – should remain there even after death, says this award-winning garden designer and founder of the Perfect Earth Project.  Fallen branches, leaves, even tree trunks as they decay reactivate a cycle essential to Nature's health, and are an opportunity for a different kind of beauty.

Overlooked by many gardeners, moths are actually more efficient as pollinators than bees and are the basis of the food chain for everything from bats and songbirds to grizzly bears

Expert tracker Jason Knight shares how to develop the ability to read animal tracks and signs to keep current with wildlife visits and to resolve wildlife problems peacefully and effectively.

Richard Hayden, senior director of horticulture for the High Line, describes how plants and gardeners collaborate in this ever-changing urban paradise

Beth Ginter, executive Director of the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council, describes her organization's successful program to enlist an often-resistant profession as advocates for environmental activism.

How Village and Wilderness fosters diverse local solutions to a global problem

John Pitroff chose composting when his daughter's birth sparked dreams of leaving her a better world – and now he's addressing environmental problems while making a living helping local gardeners and farmers.