- From the deeply confused studios of Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem P.A., it is time for another questioning episode of chemical-free horticultural hijinks, You Bet Your Garden.

I'm your host, Mike McGrath.

Have you ever wondered what's in those bags that are labeled "potting soil"?

Should you just use pure compost instead?

On today's show, we'll reveal the answers to your curious seed-starting questions.

Plus, dahlias, mulches, and your fabulous phone call questions, comments, tips, tricks, suggestions and demonstratively difficult demonizations.

So keep your eyes and/or ears right here, cats and kittens, because it's all coming up faster than you saying "no" to cow manure right after this.

- Support for You Bet Your Garden is provided by the Espoma Company, offering a complete selection of natural organic plant foods and potting soils.

More information about Espoma and the Espoma natural gardening community can be found at... - Welcome to another brand new episode of You Bet Your Garden, from the studios of Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, P.A., I am still your host.

I don't think anybody upstairs listens to this show.

Mike McGrath!

Coming up later in the show, it's a veritable "pot pourri" of questions that have come in from our first four thrilling episodes on seed-starting.

With special guest, dahlias!

I don't understand it, either.

But anyway, up until then, we'll take some of your misunderstood phone calls at... Ryan, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hi, Mike, thanks for taking my call.

- Well, thank you for making it, sir.

How are you doing?

- I'm good, I'm good.

I'm in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, in between Redding and Lebanon.

- Very good.

All right.

What can we do for you, sir?

- Two years ago, I started a little fruit area in the back corner of my property, and got some bear roots, fruit bushes.

One of the blueberries didn't make it, so I replaced it with one I got from a Home Depot.

- Oh!

Saints, preserve us!

- Yeah, I noticed some weeds that I had never seen before.

I didn't think too much of it.

I just kind of knocked it down with a hoe.

And then, the next year, they were everywhere.

And come to find out that a weed called Creeping Charlie.

That's pretty much taken over that whole area now.

- OK, Creeping Charli has more names than Hector had pups.

And if there's anybody out there old enough to recognize that reference, send me a card.

It's also known as gill-over-the-ground.

It's been a while since I talked about it.

It's got like 18 different names.

So what else we got growing back there?

- I have blueberries, some Nanking cherry, but there's also, I planted some strawberries, and I did it on flat earth, which I know is a no-no, But now the Creeping Charlie is in the strawberries, and I think those are a loss.

But I was trying to see if there was a way I could still get the Creeping Charlie under control around the blueberries and the Nanking cherries, because they're doing well.

When you look on the Internet, it's all about Roundup, and I don't want to use that.

So I had an idea that I wanted to run past you.

- Uh-oh.

- If I were to just put down maybe an inch or two a topsoil, could I plant an annual groundcover, like a rye grass or a clover, that would grow higher than the Creeping Charlie?

Do you think that would work to smother it out, or is that...?

- Creeping Charlie is a ground cover!

It's a beautiful ground cover.

It was originally used as an ornamental.

As you know, the color of the plant is magnificent.

And when you mow it, you get this wonderful herbal aroma.

Why do you feel you need to replace it?

- Well, it just seems like it's growing out in every possible direction.

I wasn't sure if there was a way to stop it until it got to...

I have other plants in that general area that I'd rather it not get into.

And it's not too far away from my vegetable garden.

I thought it'd be better to get rid of it.

- No, what I would suggest is you get some really nice garden edging.

And you put that to enclose the current swath of Creeping Charlie.

Also, just keeping it mowed keeps it under control.

The flowers might be good for pollinators.

I mean, it's a beautiful plant, but yes, it will spread unless you keep it under control.

But that's easier than anything else.

Now there is an organic solution to Creeping Charlie involving Borax.

But I tell you the truth, you've got so many different plantings in there.

The Borax cure was for lawns.

- Okay.

- I think you've got a beautiful ground cover for your orchard floor and...

The problem is nil, it is moot.

- All right, then, that'll work.

- All right to you.

All right... - Thank you very much.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, I got to get that.

- I'm sorry.

- No, no.

"All right.

Good luck to you."

There we go.

How did this guy get a show?

What is, you know, what?

What's going on?

All right.

Take care, man.

Katherine, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hi there, Mike.

Hello, Katherine, how are you doing?

- I'm doing great.

How are you doing?

- I'm Ducky!

Where are you, Kath?

- I'm in Chester County, Honeybrook Township.

- What can we do for you?

- Okay.

Well, we have almost five acres and the house is in the clearing, but we look at 2-3 acres of woods.

- Good - And after a storm, we always have a tree or two down.

- Right.

- And I'm wondering, am I...?

I don't like looking at all these trees that are down.

But on the other hand, is it better to let nature take care of it?

Or should I clean them up?

They do take a very long time to disintegrate.

- OK, well, first of all, you're absolutely correct.

Trees that die replenish the soil like nobody's business.

You have quite a few options.

How big are these trees?

- I would say 20-30 years old.

- OK, if they're in the woods, I would say, leave them be.

Now, if you want to get... Do you know what kind of trees?

- Summer maple...

I don't know what else there, there's a mixture, you know, this is a very old, wooded area.

I mean, it's... - Well, then again, we... swampy?

- A little bit.

A portion of it is wet.

Yeah.

- Okay.

All right.

So here's your options.

Option number one is, do you eat mushrooms?

- I love mushrooms!

- Option number one, go to this website, fungi.com, That is run by my good friend, Paul Stamets.

The company is called Fungi Perfecti, and Paul is the best person in the world to tell you what mushrooms will grow best when seeded into trees.

All you'd have to do is get back there with a cordless drill, drill some holes in it, drop the spawn in, and do whatever else the instructions are.

- Get out, you're kidding!

- I get things right every once in a while, you know?

- I had no idea.

- Sometimes I think I'm on The Munsters.

Yeah.

Well, that's how mushrooms grow in the wild.

I just had an ash tree that had died years ago, and it's kind of close to the house.

But it was, you know, full of woodpecker holes.

A wood duck lived in the top.

But then, one morning after a rain, I woke up and the base was covered with hen of the woods, or chicken of the woods, not Chicken of the Sea.

And you know, it was just remarkable.

And it reminded me that mushrooms are obviously not only a food staple, but the growing of the mushrooms absorbs lots of nutrients from the wood and helps it break down faster.

- How?

So have somebody help you identify the trees, go to go to the website and see what you can grow.

Would that help?

- That's a wonderful idea.

I'm going to look into that.

- OK?

- Oh, that's wonderful.

- Yes, I am.

- I know you are.

- But what are you?

- That's a great idea.

Do you want to come and look at them after they start growing?

- Send us pictures.

Absolutely.

- Okay.

Okay, that's a deal.

- All right.

You take care.

Number to call... Jen, Welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Thank you, Mike.

- How are you doing, Jen?

Oh, I'm freezing in Rhode Island.

- Oh, okay, yeah, I'm freezing in Pennsylvania.

What can we do you for?

- Well, being a kind of lazy gardener, I left, you know, all my plants in my garden bed last year and still there.

My kids were out there rummaging, and my five-year-old decided to harvest, or pick, I guess, some of the beans from my scarlet runner bean plant.

And he took them in all on his own.

He got one of my pots that had soil, and I don't know what kind of soil it had in it, down in my basement.

He planted the seed... and it grew.

- Yeah, so he asked me for a grow light.

You know, at the time, I didn't know if I was going to work, but I gave him a grow light, and it grew.

But, you know, just started growing, you know, January.

So this thing is growing and growing really well, and he loves it.

He's very excited about it.

And, you know, he wants it to survive.

He wants to plant in my garden.

- Oh, good lord, yes!

How old is he?

- He's five.

- Oh, my goodness!

A future gardener of America.

What's his name?

- Jackson.

- Jackson.

Is he there?

- Yes.

- May I speak?

- Sure.

Jackson, you want to talk to Mike?

- Hi.

- Hi, Jackson!

I hear you did something really special.

I love your scarlet runner bean.

OK?

- Thanks.

- OK.

Put your mom back on, please.

- So he was very excited about this thing.

But now, I don't know.

I don't know how I'm going to either get this thing to survive until whatever, June...

I don't know if I should take the light off because it's... - No, no, no, don't take the light off!

- Okay.

- What's it potted in?

- And then I know that it can't really be transpl... Like, I know you're not being generally direct seed, so I don't know... - What's it potted in?

- It's just like a little plastic orange pot.

- How tall is it now?

- Oh, it's easily like a foot long at this point.

- Good, good, and it's not being supported, so it's just sprawling around.

- Yep.

- OK.

I'm going to suggest you get a good-sized pot with good drainage.

And then I think the smartest thing, rather than transplant, would be to score the pot that it's in.

You know, take scissors or a sharp knife.

Make slits down all four sides.

Then fill your new container with a mixture of nice seed-starting potting soil, organic, some compost if you got it, and some Perlite.

- OK. And it's the seed starter mix, you said, right?

- Yes.

- Not the...okay.

- Yeah.

Seed-starting mixes is nice and light, and good for this kind of situation.

OK, so then you're going to mostly fill up your new pot.

I'm going to suggest a 15-inch pot, if you can handle it.

- Okay.

- And fill it most of the way up.

Leave a little hole in the center, and then, drop the scored pot down into the center, and keep the soil line the same.

- Okay.

- Now, do you harvest your end-of-the-season beans?

- That was the first year I grew, so I didn't even think twice about it.

I hadn't been out to my garden, and they were just out there, my kids and, you know, came in with a bunch of beans.

- Yeah, aren't they beautiful?

- Like, "Oh, I guess I should have saved them, "and I can plant them again."

I didn't even think of it myself.

- Oh yeah, you never have to buy those twice.

Aren't the seeds stunningly beautiful?

- Oh, they're gorgeous.

- Gorgeous, like the purple with the spots... - Oh, it is.

It's the most beautiful seed I know.

So... - Yeah, me too!

I love them.

So with the pot, I'm just cutting down, I'm not trying to, like, peel it down and put it in... Just cut it and not cut the bottom, just... - Correct.

- Cut it and leave it?

- Yeah.

The roots will find their own way.

- Okay.

- And at the, you know, early in the season, you can eat them like string beans.

But if you... - Oh, you can, okay.

Last time I saw them, they were really sick.

- Yeah, OK, well, that's fine too, because then you want to leave them on the plant until the seed pods turn brown, and then take off all the seed pods and sod your seeds for next season.

- Yeah, I'm definitely to do that again, I guess apparently it's very easy.

I didn't have to do it myself.

- Oh, well, this is astounding.

A five-year-old, I love it.

I love it.

I love it.

Please keep in touch.

- All right, perfect.

Thanks so much.

Oh, thank you for sharing.

What a charming story.

That's fabulous.

- Great.

Thank you.

- Bye-bye.

- Another epic episode of the Question of the Week, This is "Seed Starting V".

Plus a special guest appearance by... Tara in Atlanta writes... Well, this was a great question.

So I went back to the 1990s, way back, way back, and double-checked my stance on this subject, and I and my fellow editors at Organic Gardening Magazine all agreed that the best way to start, that is germinate seeds, is in a professional seed-starting mix, with some Perlite.

Mixing compost in before the starts always seemed to delay germination.

We return to Tara in Atlanta.

Wasn't that the house in Gone With The Wind?

Anyway... OK, Tara.

Composted cow manure is not compost of any kind.

It is dried manure collected at large dairy farms.

I suspect that most, if not all, of it comes from factory farms where the animals are treated very poorly.

This reminds me of a story.

My old friend Andy Weil, M.D., and I were having dinner with a small group who were attending the same botanical conference, and someone asked the food-wise Dr. Weil, "What's the worst food anybody can eat?"

Andy immediately shot back, "Anything cooked by an angry person."

Likewise, I would never use manure from a distressed animal, not to mention the antibiotics and growth hormones they've been pumped up with.

Like "menores", mushroom soil is tricky.

If it didn't come from an organic mushroom farm, it's likely to be loaded with herbicides, which are used to prevent green plants from arising, thanks to the seeds in the horse manure that is its main component.

Fresh mushroom soil right out of the growing house will burn your plants.

If it's hot, use it not!

Mushroom soil is not exactly compost, but if it's allowed to age until it no longer has any smell or heat, it makes a nice top dressing for your adult plants mid-season.

Now, bone meal is fine, certainly not a compost, but reserve that until planting time, and pour it on top of the root bowl before you fill in the hole to provide calcium, which is essential for tomatoes, or else you'll get the blossom-end rot.

Your tomatoes might get it, too.

Crazy British gardeners!

Oh, they have a lot of tricks up their sleeves, having been at this game a lot longer than us detached Americans.

Dahlias are tropical tubers that have to be stored indoors in climes with cold winters.

And many gardeners plant them in pots or hanging baskets to make this chore easier.

But now we're back to the eternal question, what kind of compost?

What were the raw ingredients?

That said, I would be comfortable planting dahlias and tuberous begonias in close to 100% compost, plus some Perlite, especially if they're not in the ground.

Cold, wet soil can doom dahlias.

And finally, Tara from Atlanta leads us down this week's final rabbit hole... Oh, thank you for that question.

Mulch does not refer to any specific substance, although the purveyors of chipped-up insecticide-soaked pellets from China that have been spray-painted some god-awful color would have you believe that their trash wood is the official mulch.

And, thanks to Monkey See, Monkey Do, it has become ubiquitous.

But this worse-than-useless product does not belong in anyone's landscape, especially rotting the base of trees in the popular but completely incomprehensible volcano mulch-style On a scale of one to ten, dyed mulch gets a zero.

The best mulch is are shredded fall leaves, that's a ten, the pine straw that Tara from the Prairie thinks looks funny, despite it being the mulch of the south, is another ten.

And compost, ten, which prevents weeds just as well as an equal layer of poisonous woodchips.

And finally, no mulch should ever be up against a house.

Keeping the soil moist near the foundation is an engraved invitation for termites to move in.

Well, that sure was another intensive look at seed starting with special guests like dahlias, now, wasn't it?

Luckily for yous, the Question of the Week appears in print at the Gardens Alive website.

To read it over in detail at your leisure or your leisure, Just click the link for the Question of the Week at our website, which is still and will forever be... Gardens Alive supports the Question of the Week, and you will always find the latest Question of the Week where?

Oh, I don't know.

Could it be at the Gardens Alive website?

Oh, I think so.

You Bet Your Garden is a half hour public television show, an hour-long public radio show, and podcast all produced and delivered to you weekly by Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, P.A.

Our radio show is distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.

Shouldn't it be PRE?

Oh well.

You Bet Your Garden was created by Mike McGrath.

Mike McGrath was created when Doctor Strange suddenly appeared, tossed him.

the Wand of Khartoum, said, "I'll be back for this" and closed the portal before Baron Mordo could get through.

Yikes!

My producer is threatening to destroy my dahlias if we don't get out of this studio.

We must be out of time.

But you can call us any time at... Or send us your emails, your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse with questions teeming towards our garden shore at...

Please include your location.

We're really getting lazy on that.

And it takes forever to find out where you are.

You'll find all of this contact information at our website... Where you'll also find the answers to all your garden questions, audio of this show, video of this show, audio and video of old shows, and our peerless, priceless podcast.

I'm your host, Mike McGrath, gearing up to start my own seeds and keeping up with the shoveling my orthopedic surgeon made me swear not to do.

So unless I hear another one of those terrifying pops, I'll seek out... ow, ow, ooh.

Pop, pop, whiz, whiz.

I'll see you next week.