From the slimey studios.

Lehigh Valley Public Median Bethlehem PSEA.

It is time for another Here episode of chemical free horticultural hijinx.

You get your garden.

I'm your host Mike McGrath.

If you think that your slus are a problem, you should e the ones in England mow don plants on Today Show will p a British listener mess upr miserable mollusks.

Otherwise, it's a fabulous phone call show cats and kittens.

Yes, potential guests are y brushing and grooming.

So we will take that heap d helping of your telecommunicating question, comments, tips, tricks, suggestions, ironically, ingratiating incantations.

So keep your eyes and ears right here.

True believers because it'l coming up faster than you slugging away.

You know what?

Right after this support fr you bet your garden is prod by the spammer company offg a complete selection of nal organic plant foods and pog soils.

More information about a spammer and the esposa natl gardening community can be found at ESP.

Ozma .com.

Welcome to another thrillig episode of View.

Bet your garden from the studios of Lehigh Valley Pc Media right here in Bethle, Pennsylvania.

I am your host Mike McGrath coming up later in the shoa travelog on the best siteso visit in Merry Old England.

And if you think I'm kiddi, you have to do is stay tun.

But they don't fire me over this one.

I'm here forever.

And of course, your fabulos phone calls.

But first we have a littlet of wonderful housekeeping o take care of.

The first is a gift I recee from Susanne Riddley in Ga, Oregon, which is the easten edge of Oregon almost.

And Washington State on the Reporter Corps Creek and ce to Portland.

You can actually drive to Rockaway Beach from there.

Oh, Lord, where do they get these names anyway?

Suzanne, was kind enough to send me two jars of her homemade garlic paste instd of drawing the garlic and grinding it up for garlic powder like I do, she makes paste.

I have not opened either oe two jars and they were safeguarded by a private security guard hired to mae sure nobody approached the fridge until I came in to k them up.

So thank you, Suze.

You are wonderful.

And then we move on to Rutn Australia.

Now we've been trying to sp a phone call with Ruth fora couple of weeks now.

And we thought we had the timing down.

But it's hideous on her sio be with us during the time we're taping.

She had to get up at four k in the morning and her alam clock didn't work or she st through it or the dog or homework.

But anyway, it didn't happ, which was fine for us.

We had plenty of calls fore show, but she felt so bad t two days later our new production person, my new producer Teresa got a pack.

She got a beautiful floral arrangement and a very nice card saying how sorry she s that she hadn't been able o make it on the show.

This was not a gift to me.

This was two terrific Tere.

And, you know, keep those s and letters and gifts of garlic, cumin, cats and kittens.

All right.

We should take a phone calt eight eight eight four nino 94 44.

Brianna, welcome to you bet your garden.

Thanks, Mike, for having m. Well, thank you for being .

Brianna, where are you?

I am in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Oh, right.

Well, what can we do for sa few years go.

My husband built a wonderfl Gracedale for me followinge Mike McGrath rules of raced hopes creation.

Yeah.

And it's been wonderful.

I am basically able to grow green phase nearly year ro.

I've got some strawberriesn there and I had just plantd some small carrots and so e watering these young seedls the other day I noticed tht there were Emmaus just pilg out of the sides of this re that he had not used to war in Oklahoma.

Yeah, well, what is the problem?

What is this stuff?

I'm getting wet.

Yeah, I would give it if we having really hot weather I was giving everything a rey good soak.

So these guys started pourg out and you know, we have d of ants on our property.

I don't have a problem with ant, but I don't really wat them living in my Raisen.

I hear you know, I'm hopinu have some tips to get these guys to move on.

Now, these aren't fire ant.

No, they're just regular bn yardarm.

Yeah.

Finally, there's only like 18,000 species of ants.

So you're forgiven.

Have they damaged anything?

OK, so that I can tell yout too much time on your hand, girl.

Now ants can be a problem n very specific situation ase growers know, ants will actually protect the aphids that love to attract roses, especially new buds.

And they will eat.

There is wonderful film Maa Micro Macro, something any.

It's been years since I sa, but it is all close ups of nature.

Now, of course you see that every day with Richard Attenborough telling you ws going on.

Right.

You know, but this film had great footage of ladybugs flying in to eat the aphidn the roses and ants coming p and boxing them, just hittg them.

It was amazing.

So the ants protect the aps because they feed on their sweet frass.

Honey, do.

Yes, honey, don't.

So otherwise they can somes steal seed freshly planted seed.

But if they're not botherig the strawberries, I would y you don't have a problem.

Ants erate the soil they et smaller parasites and thins underground.

I personally would not wory about it but that's my atte towards a lot of things ine and I'm generally paying my bills late because of it.

If you want to get rid of m in the best possible way, safest you need to go out d find ant traps or ant bait whose active ingredient is boric acid or boric acid is unique in that worker antsl feed on and it comes in a sweetened form.

So the answer attracted to.

So the worker ants will tae this sweet stuff back to te nest and feed it to the qu.

Nothing happens for like te first five days.

But on day seven say, the t worker ant to find this stf goes I don't feel so good d the colony collapses, especially the queen.

And as we all know, when te queen of the house is not n charge, the men are just desperate.

They're just running around into each other.

You know, going to tractor pulls, you know, and don'te time to bother anybody.

So because we're outside, however, what I want you to if you use the boric acid s and you can read more about this in the answers, your gardening questions at the shows website, get a cardbd box and cut little cartoon mouse holes at the bottom o the ants can come and go ad take the poison slow acting poison back to the nest and bees and other pollinators won't be attracted to it.

OK, all right.

Well thank you so.

Oh, my pleasure.

Say hi to all my friends t. I'll be back when all thiss over at eight eight eight r nine to 94 44.

Deniece, welcome to you.

Bet your Gordon.

Hi Mike.

I have to tell you I'm so thrilled I've been wantingo talk to you.

Probably for 30 years so ts is really exciting.

For me.

OK, well it's funny you mentioned 30 years becausen this show airs it will be e end of 23 years being on te air.

OK, we started at that lite community station in Philadelphia back in Octobf 98 and I can never figure t how to figure these thingst to me that means I got 23 s in the bag and this show bs the 24th.

So in two years we're goino have a party already.

OK so where are you Denise.

I'm in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

All right.

What can we do for Denise o is not in the Garden State?

Well, I want to be proactie and I have an area that's t four feet by ten feet nexto my garage, OK?

And it faces east, but it l because of the way my house configured it, only gets sn from about 11 to two and te soil is pretty has a lot of clay in it and I want to pt now so that I can have wonderful things in the spg and next year.

So that's just three hours.

You're like an hour Schwans isn't there any other placn your landscape.

Certainly there's other pls that I could put it where s not you know, we're definiy things get more sun.

It's just that the garage s so ugly and unsightly becae there's nothing next to it.

But I can certainly considr another location for sure.

Right.

So what I advise people too in your situation is thinkf things other than plants tt will dress up the area.

You know, what color is the garage?

A nice shape.

It's yes, it's in nice sha.

It has some Pennsylvania se and sort of a gray exterio.

OK, so it's stone.

Oh, that would be perfect.

What I'm going to suggest s you get some interesting ps of sculpture and make a lie sculpture garden out thered you can plant a couple of e loving ground covers at the base and you know, it'll be beautiful without making yr plants sad and unhappy.

OK, Sanchez, what ground cs would you recommend?

I guess Paca Sandras the coward's way out.

Hey, you know, I always tae that path, but go on line d punch up shade loving aroud covers for Pennsylvania thl give you a real good list.

You can go over, talk to yr local independent garden cr about which ones they'll he in the spring.

They have them now.

It would be a great time to install them, OK, but then again, makes them make some nice focal points.

I have some giant metal sculptures of things like dragonflies and stuff that, you know, Half Moon, those things like that I just scr throughout the garden.

But if you were creative aI bet you're more creative tI am, you can really make a statement out of that area.

Do you still want to plante stuff?

Absolutely.

Well, spring bulbs, tulips, daffodils, crocuses, This s the time to put those in hs not yet arrived.

And garden centers may acty be putting them on one sal.

You know, half price, you .

20% off something like that pretty soon because they'vt to clear out all this stufo get ready for Christmas ine giant and palatable Homer Simpson's and take up so mh space and OK, may be plannd next year on having havinge garlic ready to plant in September, OK. And otherwise, if you're willing to buy into a coupf season extending devices le little little tunnels with hoops and then covered with remarry, you can start sald greens.

Now, there's no reason not.

All righty.

I'll play it on that then.

Thanks so much for the gret advice.

My pleasure.

Thank you.

At eight eight eight four .

44.

Jane, welcome to you.

Bet your Gordon.

Hi Mike.

Thanks so much.

Well thank you.

How are you doing.

I'm doing well.

Things are blooming all the way.

Plants are blooming around Right.

O'Neills keeping my bees fd and keeping them in nectar.

OK, good.

So things are good.

So where are you beekeepin.

My hives are in a conservay in the Cheltenham Township area.

Oh OK. Briem just outside of Philadelphia.

Yeah.

OK, all right.

Well what can we help you .

Well my late summer early l honey is the right color rt viscosity.

But it has a very tangy quality.

That's from what I've been reading on.

Yeah.

So well OK, that's that way question.

Yeah.

I had a few hypotheses and ruled them out and that was definitely because that's y certain beekeepers will lal their honey, you know, froa specific blooming crop, you know, and that's kind of or appellation.

No, that's not the way the French do it anyway.

Oh, boy.

And when I was a child back when Raptor's roamed the Eh and tussled with Sabertooth tigers on Broadstreet, I remember I think yes, it wn the spring we had a milk mn like everybody else, you k, we had a milk man, we had a bread man.

We had a huckster who came through in the summertime Jerseyed made a three pounr a half a dollar jersey tomatoes.

We got sweet corn, silver n kid.

It was better than a bell.

But in the spring I remembr turning to my mother one te and going, Mom, the milk'st good.

And she goes, Oh, that's jt the clover.

It'll be it'll taste betten a couple of weeks.

So they are what they eat.

Everything transfers and yu should be able to figure it simply by examining what's blooming over in the conservancy.

Right.

So I was wondering about wh flower might be having the tangy nectar so what we seo have a lot of I'm not a gardener, Persay, but I did look some things up.

We have a lot of what looks like carrot weed but couldo go Quiñones lace it.

Yes, that's what it looks .

But I'm not sure if it's emplace or if it's hemlock.

They kind of look alike.

So I don't know I don't knw that I'd want to eat.

Honey, that has Hamburg DNn it.

Yeah, that's true.

Well I mean you're going tt Dublin still alive so it's probably not hemlocks.

OK, Or slow acting.

What I can suggest is are a member of any local beekeeg associations.

Yeah.

OK, I put the question to , they'll be able to tell yo, you know, so I only have ne bees, but I've counted oh l over 50 different species f native bees on my property.

Some so small.

They're like the oh they're smaller than the tip of a n or a pencil and some of the biggest bumblebees I've evr seen, they're like the Mack truck of bumblebees.

And I have this weird plana hardy begonia that blooms e crazy at this time of yeard it's covered with all kindf bees.

This would be a perfect tio let the bees keep their hoy for the winter instead of Perkasie.

Yeah, substituting somethig for it and you'll just knos soon as you notice that flr even minutely.

OK, bees, you're going to d this honey over the winter.

It's supposed to be Harim e here in Pennsylvania.

So, you know, let's harvest more happiness.

I extracted this in Augustd I decided that they're goio have rest.

So that's good advice.

I think that's good for everybody involved.

Yes.

Albright you very much.

I appreciate your help and onward and upward.

Yes, absolutely.

Just like a bee as always.

It is now time for the Quen of the Week.

Hair of the dog can deter l squirrels.

But what about slimy slugs?

Maxine, who prefers to be called Max in Cornwall, England, writes, Would Pate work as well as human hairo destroy slugs?

I've been to the UK startig out in London and on to Salisbury, home of the wors oldest clock.

Then to nearby Stonehenge t dawn, of course, then to Coventry, which was compley rebuilt after World War Tw.

Their village square featua fascinating bell tower clok with Lady Godiva making a circular appearance on the hour.

While all of the animated e sized villagers turn their heads until she hits the halfway mark and then peepg Tom pops out of a hidden dr at the top and the stunniny beautiful cathedral almost completely destroyed durina war.

The new one was built nexto the original with a special glass surface that reflecte ruins of the original.

In Nottingham, I visited Rn Hood's grave, whose statuay was frequently robbed of is golden arrow and the sherif Nottingham's Castle, whichs perched on a high cliff and whose insides have been tud into a museum that rivalede official British Museum in Lonon, an entire room devod to glass Victorian walking sticks.

As I left, I noticed that e was an opening in the basef the cliff with a little won sign that said Ye Olde Jerusalem in established wl the sign that I remember sg back in the 70s said sometg like nine 28 AD But Wikipea now places it both older ad younger, depending on whetr its original time as a brey counts.

So I walk into this cleft n the cliff and was met by immediate darkness, giant spiders.

I thought to myself, laboriously made the sign outside and are lurking a w feet ahead.

But after my eyes adjustedI thought I could see a dim t ahead.

Then as I walk through a terrifying corridor with ws of chalk so soft I could ga handful.

I entered a beautiful, pold wood and brass pub.

What can I get you, guv'no?

Is there a working man's pn the back?

I asked.

Well said, sir.

Just walk this way to get o the slate floor.

Always go to the back of ab where the prices are lowerd the gaiety higher.

What?

Huh?

I haven't answered the quen yet.

Give me a minute.

OK, silence means yes.

So I go to the back and ths a guy sitting at the far ef the bar, the landlord comen and I say I'll have a pintf the local.

I had been in the UK for several months at this poi, knew how to order as the landlord pulls my point, te guy at the other end of thr says Of all the gin jointsn all the world, I have a run into Mike McGrath.

It was Steve O'Rourke, road manager for Pink Floyd, a d I had stumbled into interviewing right around .

What?

Come on, I can't talk about Wales.

All right.

All right.

Now the original idea of ug dog hair in the garden waso repel evil squirrels.

It came from bulb growers n Holland where I visited ban the early nineties.

OK, OK. Shish can't get a break ard here.

No creature bothers daffods whose bulbs are toxic to ingest, but tulip bulbs are delicious and nutritious.

In fact, we lost many rare varieties when Netherlandes were forced to delve into stored bulbs to eat when ty were isolated unoccupied dg World War Two.

Now evil squirrels love dig up and devouring articulate bulbs.

But the Dutch observed that dogs hate evil squirrels ad evil squirrels dogs.

So they collected dog hairm groomers and used it to literally mulch freshly pld tulip beds in the fall, the beds were untouched while nearby no dog hair beds wee severely molested.

Now anybody can find dog hr if you don't have a personl pooch, ask a friend with a preferably long haired dogr their brushing or ask a lol groomer to save you a bag r seven an.

But we are supposed to be talking about slug control.

And from my lengthy trip te UK long before I ever dread of becoming gardener, I knw from every bed and breakfat operator never ring the bel while EastEnders is on that slugs were there no one mee the cool, damp climate made living easy for slugs and y were paid these gardeners y eating everything they hado the ground overnight.

The quote slug baits availe at the time were impossibl, highly toxic and there wast enough beer and all a merrd England to drowned all the slugs, which is saying quia bit.

Mulching with human hair bn as a garden tip to slowly d the soil as the nitrogen rh hair decomposed.

But it was soon observed tt slugs got tangled up in the hair, could not remove it d croaked, leading many gards to rush to the local barber shop for their sweepings h, his hair so dog hair, cat r and human hair will all tip slugs.

Now try to avoid heavily treated human hair if you'e going to be mulching edibl.

But it'll still work.

Great to silence slugs on s with bombs.

Well, that sure is some god information and a rather lengthy traveler's guide to Great Britain now, wasn't ?

Luckily, you can read this article over at your leisur your leisure because the question of the week appean print at the Gardens Alive website.

Just click the link for the Question of the Week at our website, which is still and will forever be make a T-st that says Cats and kittens.

You bet your garden.

Oh gee gardens alive suppos the you bet your gardening question of the week and yu always want the latest quen of the week at the Gardensg website.

You at your garden is a haf hour public television shon hour long public radio shod podcast, all produced and delivered to you weekly by Lehigh Valley Public Mediad Bethlehem PSEA.

Our radio show is distribud by PR X, the Public Radio Exchange.

You bet your garden was crd by Mike McGrath.

Mike McGrath is created whn the creature from the Black Lagoon married a Komodo dr. Yikes.

Might produce or is threatg to cut my hair if I don't t out of this studio.

Wow.

We must be out of time.

But you can call us any tit eight eight eight four nino 94 44 or send us your tire, your poor, your wretched re seven email teeming turds r garden chores at Wiberg at Wlvt.org.

Please include your locatir we will send you spam and I don't mean the meat in a b.

You'll find all of our cont information plus answers to your garden questions.

Audio of this show, video f this audio and video of ret shows, old shows and linkso our interntional renown podcast.

It's all at our website.

You betcha.

Gartenberg, I'm your host g Free Mike McGrath and now e up all the wonderful weathf autumn until I see you agan right here, right this time next week.