Veteran investigative journalist Carey Gillam introduces her award-winning book, “Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science,” sharing its account of the collaboration between chemical manufacturer Monsanto and governmental agencies to cover up the disastrous health hazards of the omnipresent weed killer, Roundup

Dan Mabe, founder of AGZA, the American Green Zone Alliance, has taken on one of the bitterest impasses of contemporary suburbia. So many residents hate the noise and fumes of gas-powered landscape equipment, and its unsustainable thirst for fossil fuels. Landscape maintenance contractors reply that they cannot provide the services their customers demand at a price they will pay without it. AGZA has developed analytical tools that can help owners reduce the carbon footprint of their landscape by a half or even more. It also works with landscape industry professionals to help them explore alternate tool systems, cleaner burning or battery powered, that can enable them to accomplish maintenance goals at less environmental cost and typically far more quietly. Listen to Dan describe how AGZA resolves the conflicting dynamics.

#NoMowMay is an international movement that has been gaining widespread popularity in the United States. Its goal is to persuade gardeners to stop mowing their grass during the month of May so that lawn weeds such as dandelions and white clover may flower and provide early spring pollen and nectar for insect pollinators. A laudable impulse, but Dr. Sheila Colla of York University and her colleagues biologist Heather Holm and native plants stalwart Lorraine Johnson have published an article in Rewilding Magazine detailing why this isn’t the best means of fostering native pollinators in North America

If each of us enriched our personal landscape with native plants, making it hospitable to pollinators, birds, and other wildlife, what an immense cumulative impact we would have! In Saving Nature One Yard At A Time, veteran naturalists and gardeners David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth show us just how we can accomplish that, while also joining together to boost the ecological health of our communities as well. Framed as a series of stories profiling individual animals and plants, this book is as entertaining as it is informative, and is thoughtfully designed to apply no matter where in the continental United States you happen to garden

Colleen Murphy-Dunning, director of the Urban Resources Initiative, describes how Yale University’s School of the Environment partnered with the New Haven community to design and implement a very successful program to enhance the urban ecosystem in a way that directly benefits residents while also educating students.

Director of Horticulture at the Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts, and former Curator of Native Flora at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Uli Lorimer has written a new book, The Northeast Native Plant Primer, 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden. An outstanding introduction to gardening with native plants, it is especially relevant for residents of the northeastern United States but has much to offer to gardeners in other regions of the country as well. In our conversation, we explore such matters as what is a native plant and why species-type native plants are better for the “earth-friendly” garden.

Dr. Toni DiTommaso of Cornell University explains how familiarity with the ecology of weeds can help a gardener control their impact on the garden without resorting to toxic chemicals, and shares the web address of a free book-length guide to the subject.

With roots in traditional Korean agriculture, Bokashi composting has much to offer the contemporary gardener. Conway School graduate Boris Kerzner describes the process, explaining how you can pursue this process for recycling kitchen wastes – including meat scraps and dairy – to enrich your garden’s soil in just weeks.

Water is a resource plants cannot do without, and maintaining the right level of moisture in your soil – not too little and not too much – is critical to gardening success. That’s why pioneering horticulturist Robert Kourik holds irrigation to be one of the gardener’s most powerful tools. Join him for details about the techniques he has found most precise and efficient, methods of irrigation that can reduce your water use by a half or more while also boosting your harvest of fruits and flowers.

For 40 years, Larry Weaner, founder of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates, has been exploring the intersection of ecology with landscape and garden design, creating a style of planning, planting, and management that is founded in the natural dynamics of the site. One of the most powerful of these dynamics is succession, the inherent tendency of landscapes and their flora to evolve and change. By learning how to work with succession, how to channel and direct it down desirable paths, Larry has succeeded in creating landscapes that are not only biologically richer but also far easier to manage than conventional gardens designed around a static, change-resistant plan. Join the conversation and listen to Larry Weaner discuss how to incorporate succession into a habitat that addresses the needs and desires of both people and nature.

Share my discovery of a Nebraska treasure: the Prairie Plains Resource Institute. For more than 40 years this organization has been perfecting low-tech methods of wild grassland restoration while reconnecting people with the richness of their prairie heritage. Join us for a visit with executive director Amy Jones

To trace the impact of climate change on the plants and animals of Massachusetts, Dr. Richard Primack of Boston University turned to an unconventional source: the journals of 19th century philosopher Henry David Thoreau. In these documents, Dr. Primack discovered a wealth of relevant, closely observed data. Learn about this and Dr. Primack’s other intriguing discoveries in this week’s Growing Greener

Gardening can be a prime source of aches and pains, from a bad back to tendonitis – now “GardenFit,” the new public television series, combines inspiring visits to extraordinary gardens with professional advice on how to keep your gardening healthy. Join hosts Madeline Hooper and Jeff Hughes in their project to make your gardening more rewarding both horticulturally and physically

Have you wanted to save seeds from your vegetable and flower crops and free yourself from reliance on commercial seed retailers? Do you want to develop your own bank of locally adapted seeds? Jeanine Scheffert of the Community Seed Network shares how her organization can help you succeed in both these endeavors and put you in touch with other gardeners with similar interests.

No garden has had more impact in recent years than James Golden’s “Federal Twist.” Now, in a new book, “The View from Federal Twist,” Golden has shared the thinking that went into the design of this beautiful landscape, and the history of this careful duet with nature. Indeed, this book, subtitled “A New Way of Thinking About Gardens, Nature and Ourselves,” delivers in full everything the title promises. In our conversation, the author also discusses how he translated the European garden design innovations that were his starting point into a distinctively American process.

Horticulturist Jessica Walliser is fascinated by the insects in our gardens, the vast majority of whom play positive roles in these domesticated ecosystems. We discuss the fruits of her studies and the new, updated edition of her award-winning book, “Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, a Natural Approach to Pest Control.” Learn how your landscaping can bolster the work of these essential garden allies.

In 2017 Benjamin Vogt captivated the gardening world with his book, “A New Garden Ethic,” in which he explored the need to radically redesign our domestic landscapes to accommodate all the other creatures of North America. Since then this award-winning author, horticulturist, and educator has been promoting this message in the gardens he designs, his many articles and talks, and his on-line classes. Today we discuss these classes, and how they present an engaging and easy-to-master introduction to his special, eco-friendly, style of gardening.

Gardening can be the heart of a community, as the Rochester, Minnesota Seed Library demonstrates. Librarian Keri Ostby describes how the seed library brings together vegetable seeds for all the groups within the community, providing a source of superior fresh foods and for exploring mutual foodways. By encouraging seed saving the seed library also fosters the development of locally adapted strains of vegetables

If, like me, you’re daunted by the conventional instructions for creating a pollinator meadow, you’ll be heartened by Alina Harris’ unconventional alternative. Instead of applications of herbicides or smothering with sheets of plastic, she says you can just change the frequency and timing of your mowing. An integrated pest and pollinator management specialist for the Xerces Society, Harris also works for the National Resources Conservation Service and the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension. In all these roles she’s an advocate for the little things, the insects and other invertebrates that pollinate our flowers and serve as a foundation of the food chain. Hear her story of balancing help for farmers and gardeners to protect their plants against pests with promoting the vital role that invertebrates play in promoting environmental health.

The nation was shocked in December by the destructiveness of the fast-moving Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colorado which burned through six thousand acres of suburban landscape in less than 24 hours. Bill Melvin of Ecoscape Environmental Design in Boulder discusses the causes of the fire’s ferocity, and how gardeners can adapt their activities to help limit future fires’ impact while also planting more in harmony with the local environment