Bryan Earl

There’s nothing worse than finding a growing, succulent peach taken over by earwigs, or the anticipation of digging a sweet crunchy carrot in the middle of winter, only to find only carrot tops...but no carrots! Diane Alston handles your pest questions. Then, Jerry Goodspeed details the dangers of Vinca in Wait, Wait…Don’t Plant That! Then it's on to the rose in Petals and Prose with Helen Cannon.

Gardening can include so much more than plants. Whether you have an apartment balcony or a 20-acre farm, you can create a garden that attracts wildlife and pollinators, and helps restore habitat. Ron Hellstern and Becky Yeager from the Cache Valley Wildlife Association will help direct your plans for improving wildlife habitat around your home. We’ll also hear about the rose on Petals and Prose.

In an encore presentation from a year ago, we take a captivating look at the sinister side of the natural world on today’s Zesty Garden. Author Amy Stewart uncovers more than one hundred of our worst insect enemies in her book Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army and Other Diabolical Insects. It’s a mixture of history, science, murder, and intrigue that begins-but doesn’t end-in our own backyards. The Green Room showcases the pothos houseplant as a low-light alternative, and in Petals and Prose it's the language of bees.

What do you get when you cross a delirious poet who hallucinates writing, reading, and publishing a novel with globe willows and biennial vegetables? On today's Zesty Garden we talk with Dan Drost about gardening, Mike Kuhns about trees, and Nancy Williams reads from former U-S Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser.

Audio for the full program is, regrettably, not available this week. But you can listen to the separate modules below.

Ted Kooser Books

1. Delights and Shadows

2. Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps

The plants they are a growin' but so are the insects that eat'em. USU Extension Entomologist Diane Alston is the featured guest on The Zesty Garden. African Violets are also discussed in The Green Room, and Shakespeare seems to have a love affair with plants.

USU Extension Vegetable Specialist Dan Drost is in studio for some garden talk. Among the topics is our continued discussion about growing the best tomatoes. And in Petals and Prose, Helen Cannon reads why Shakespeare really knew his plants.

Dan Drost's Five Planting Aphorisms

1. 3X rule: Don't plant seeds any deeper than 3X their thickness (as they lay on their sides)

Deer, garden pathogens, and termites are on The Zesty Garden. USU Extension Specialists Terry Messmer, Claudio Nischwitz, and journalist Nancy Williams are part of today's program.

Utah Public Radio must raise $25,000 to replace two essential pieces of equipment before we wrap up the fiscal year on June 30th: KUSR’s transmitter and an equipment cooling unit. Make a special gift in support of our Technology Fund Drive today! Make a gift right now by clicking here.

In 1998, UPR installed the KUSR transmitter, which now needs to be updated. Much like phones, computers, and boomboxes (sorry, walkmans...er...CD players... mp3 players) needed to be updated, so does our technology. We need a new transmitter to stay up-to-date and on-air. The cost is $19,000. The one we have is on its last leg.

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Florist Kimberly Watt Spears of Petal Pixie will give you the inside scoop on how to take care of cut flowers; USU Senior Lecturer Craig Aston discusses the joys of growing your own flowers for cuttings; Shane Taylor from Cactus and Tropicals helps you keep and grow the phalenopsis or "Moth" orchid; It's a frog invasion with Nancy Williams on Petals and Prose