- From the physically fit Univest Studios at Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, P.A., it is time for another groundbreaking episode of chemical-free horticultural hijinks, You Bet Your Garden.

I'm your host, Mike McGrath.

are you tired of feeling all "Achy Breaky" when your gardening day is done?

On today's show, we'll explain how changing the way you work outdoors can leave you feeling refreshed, instead of ruined.

Plus, a quick peek at the Northern Lights and your fabulous phone call questions, comments, tips, tricks, suggestions, and belatedly bellicose boom-ifications.

So stay right where you are, cats and kittens, because it's all coming up faster than you enhancing your endurance.

Mark, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hello, Mike.

How are you?

- I am just ducky!

I can't reach Ducky, if you're watching on TV.

I'm trying to pat Galactus, and I don't think that'll work out real well.

How are you, sir?

- I'm fine.

- And where is Mark fine?

- I am in Warrington, Pennsylvania, Bucks County.

- Okay.

Very good.

What can we do you for?

- Well, I have three rhododendron in front of my house, and they were very healthy, doing really well, they were about 25-plus years old.

And one was removed due to a plumbing, pipe problem, and it was replanted by the plumbing contractor.

And since that time, which was about five years ago, it has looked terrible.

It's tired, leaves have fallen.

It still blooms.

It's still alive.

But I just want to try to revive it.

Is there any suggestions you have?

- Yes.

Go back in time and don't let the plumber replant it.

They don't like trees and big shrubs, because they enlarge little cracks in water pipes.

Let's see.

It had to be planted in a totally new location, or it went back to where it had been.

- No, it went exactly where, well... Close to exact as possible where it had been.

- Okay, good.

Good.

And were you around when they replanted it?

- Well, no, not really.

I was in the house, but I didn't physically watch them do that.

- Okay.

And it's funny, you're talking about a rhododendron.

I just had a brand new oil heater and oil tank installed, because the old one was stinky and old, and old, and they had to move the supply line where they put the oil in from outside the house.

And I was not paying attention either.

And first time I went outside, "Hey, guys, how's it going?"

I noticed that the guy installing the new outside piping had removed about a third of my incredibly mature rhododendron, which is well over 50 years old.

So I have kind of a newly-shaped rhododendron I must have... And what I did was, just to try to save the flowers, I took all his pruning things and put the individual stems in water.

So I've got like 40 jars and vases, and anything else that can hold water with the hope that at least I'll get to see those blooms the last time.

But, you know, that's the important part of this phone call, get out there and watch!

You don't leave your babies alone with a stranger.

What time of year was this done?

- It was done in the fall, late fall.

It wasn't frozen yet, but it was getting cooler.

- Okay.

Well, that's an ideal time to transplant, you know, because these are plants that need a winter chill.

They like cold weather.

They go naturally dormant, and all that.

What... Did you get flowers the following spring?

- Yes.

I've got flowers every year since it's been replanted, but since then, it has always looked significantly weaker than the other two that are right beside it.

There's three in a row, and the others, you can't see through them.

But this, it's...tired-looking.

And with so many leaves lost, you can actually see through the plant.

- Yes.

- I put plant food on it.

Whatever, I don't remember, like a Miracle-Gro or something that's designed for rhododendrons.

I did that like three years in a row, and to no avail.

When a plant looks bad, people immediately jump to food, and it's almost always the wrong type of food.

But if you think, here's a guy just coming in from a car accident, he's in the trauma ward, he looks awful, is the correct response, "Here's a cheeseburger, you'll feel better?"

So I hope all that stuff has washed out of your soil.

Yeah, If you had wanted to feed it something, you want to feed it a natural plant food for two reasons.

First of all, the chemical plant foods are toxic, which is why the show exists.

And the other reason is they release all their nutrients at once, and it can overwhelm the plant and really stress it further.

What I'm going to suggest is you get a rain gauge and empty it every Sunday or whenever.

And if you go a week without water, I want you to take a hose out to the bad rhododendron, and just let it drip gently at the base for at least six hours.

And really saturate that soil.

Azaleas and rhododendrons, which are related, have very shallow roots, and they are often the first plants to show drought stress in the landscape.

- I see.

- So try that for this coming season.

If you don't see any perky-ness show up, I would remove that rhododendron.

- Thank you, Mike.

I appreciate your help.

Thank you very much.

- All right.

My pleasure.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Jack, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Thank you, and thank you for having me.

- Well, thank you for being had, Jack, how you doing?

- I'm doing fine.

I'm in a little dilemma with this problem I have, and I'm hoping that you could give me some advice, or at least clear some things up.

- Okay.

Where are you, man?

- I am in Woodbury, New Jersey.

- Okay.

Proceed, sir.

- Well, it seems that for the past two years, I've been having these flying insects around my property, and they've been going into the soil digging, burrowing into the soil and laying their eggs.

They were called digger wasps, according to the agency that I paid to come out here and to remove them.

And they used a chemical called Tri-Die.

In either case, I was totally against doing that.

But I had a problem because the neighbors complained they were having it too, and they had a person from the township come out and gave me violation warnings.

And I thought the next step was I was going to go to court and get sued.

- What?!

What?

I...I...

I've heard of weed violations.

I've never heard of someone being charged because of insects on their property.

- Well, I can tell you the violation warning was Section 307.01, and the title was Infestation.

- Oh!

Oh, so it's like you got termites or something.

Oh, man.

Woodberry is a tough taskmaster.

I don't know that that's the common name of any insect.

There are a number of native bees that behave like this, and they are referred to as "digger bees".

There are two possibilities, and these are both very large insects.

The most common one is the famous cicada-killing wasp.

The female finds a cicada in a tree or something, stings it to paralyze it, drags it to a hole that she has dug, drops the cicada's body down into the bottom, lays her eggs on top of it, and then, fills in the hole.

So that when the eggs hatch, the developing wasps feed on the poor cicada's body.

The other is a really fascinating creature called the blue-winged wasp.

It is very distinctive.

It is very blue.

You would not confuse it with anything else, and it flies...

I helped build the garden for the Salvation Army in North Philadelphia, a big community garden.

And one day they called me and said, "Nobody can get into the garden.

We need your help."

And I went down, and the entire garden was covered with blue-winged wasps.

And it was...beautiful.

And I got the people who were tending the garden, I said, "Come out with me," and I very deliberately walked around the garden, even waving my arms a little bit.

And I said, "See?

They're not going to sting you.

"They're aerating the soil.

They're not doing any harm."

And the same is true of the cicada-killer wasp.

She has no interest in you, you're too big for her kids to eat.

So these are just natural creatures going about their own business.

The thing that leads them to a lawn is the fact that the lawn is poorly-kept.

What you want to do is have a professional come out in the fall and over seed your lawn by laying down screen topsoil or compost, and then over-seeding it with a matching grass.

In the fall, the soil is warm, the grass will germinate instantly.

It will look fabulous, and there won't be any opportunities for these insects.

The secret to having them go to your neighbor's lawn is to have a healthier lawn with no bare spots, and that's countering...

The way to do that is counterintuitive.

Most people want to do everything in the spring, but you're growing a cool-season grass, and everything needs to be done in the fall.

- Thank you very much for your advice and your help.

- All right.

Good luck to you, sir.

Bye-bye.

- Thank you.

- Janet, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Well, thank you.

- Well, thank you, Janet, how are you doing?

- Oh, very well.

It's beautiful here in Williamsburg.

The tulips are in bloom.

- What can we do you for?

- Well, I have been trying to grow hardy kiwis, and I've got the self-fertile ones, and this is going into the third year, and it is a tale of woe and intrigue.

So the first year, first year I had...

It's three small plants that I ordered from a small Internet independent grower, and they arrived a month earlier than he said they would, and the trellis wasn't finished yet.

So I tried to keep them happy, which was difficult.

Finished the trellis, planted them.

And, you know, they tried, but then, leaves turned black and they died.

So it was early enough that I replanted with three plants from a big reputable seed company.

And they were bigger, nicer plants, and they grew for a while.

And then, the leaves turned black and died.

And one, I think, made it just barely.

So year two, tried planting three bargain ones from the local tractor supply, and they all looked good for a while and did better than the fancy brand names.

And then, the leaves turned black.

And two of them died.

So I still had two puny little ones left from the previous years.

And, of course, they were both in the same spot.

But, you know, they did not really do well.

None of them have ever gotten more than a foot high.

And so far this year, nothing seems to be coming up, so... - Maybe that's better.

What are they growing out of?

I presume they're planted directly in the soil.

Is there any mulch on top of the soil?

- Well, our native soil is absolutely miserable.

So I dug out a hole about the size of an 18-gallon tub.

You know, those big plastic beer coolers.

You use them to ice a beer keg.

- Okay.

- And so, I dug the holes that deep, and I filled them with pretty much what you would put in a raised bed garden, about a third compost, and a third peat, and a third Pearlite.

And... - Mmmmm.

- You're not liking that.

- Well, peat is highly acidic.

I am going to suggest you go to Google and just type in, "Do hardy kiwis like acidic soil?"

And you'll get the answer right away, if that is the issue, especially if they say they tend to like a more alkaline soil, then clean up everything, get rid of all the plant debris, make sure that floor is clean, get some new plants.

But before you do that, amend the soil with agricultural lime or ashes from a hardwood stove.

I think that's it.

What you described is more of a potting soil than a planting soil.

- Hmm.

- Okay?

- Well, the blueberries like it, and that's acid.

- Oh, yeah.

No, ding, ding, ding.

I win again.

- Yeah, too acid.

- Yeah.

All right, now you know.

- Well, okay.

Thank you so much.

- My pleasure.

Good luck to you now.

- Well, okay.

Bye-bye.

- Bye-bye.

As promised, it is time once again for your Question of the Week, which we are calling... As you may recall, we described several exercises in this space two weeks ago that you could and should do to get your winter body ready for springtime garden chores, courtesy of my good friend, physical therapist, and exercise physiologist Phil Dunphy.

But then, instead of an instant follow-up, we aired a repeat show last week about slugs.

Why did we do that?

Was it a clever way to give you time to get into shape before we hit you with part two?

Nah.

Our esteemed producer, Teresa Radtke, took the trip of a lifetime to see the Northern Lights, in Alaska!

And the rest of us just wanted a week off.

By the way, I'm thrilled that those lights were green when Teresa was there.

They must have known she was coming.

Anyway, we're back now, and this time, we'll more properly answer the question that sparked this anti-soreness series.

To wit, Julianne, in Glenside, PA wrote... First, a personal plea.

Will everybody please knock it off with "you're not a kid anymore" comments?

My body reminds me of that every day!

Okay?

Not to mention all those lying mirrors in my house.

They must be haunted.

We now proceed.

First, we want you to warm up.

Just as with the exercises we showed you two weeks ago, you need to loosen up before you head out to the garden if you want to return to the house standing up straight.

Phil suggests a 5-15-minute walk while holding your back nice and straight, or five minutes of gentle arm swings or a nice, warm shower.

If it's okay with your doctor, you could also take an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory a half-hour ahead of time.

It is much easier to prevent muscular inflammation than it is to cure it.

All right, here are the basic rules of pain-free gardening.

Keep the work close to you.

Don't reach out to do something.

Move closer to the work instead.

Always keep the work directly in front of you.

Don't twist your body to reach something.

Turn and face the work directly.

Most important, never reach and twist.

Even a light object can hurt your back if your arms are extended and your body is twisted.

Don't bend and twist either.

It's just as bad.

Beneficial bending.

If you need to lift something like a pot, plant or a bucket, don't bend at the waist with your legs straight.

Instead, flex your knees to transfer some of the weight from your back to your thighs.

Don't do a full squat, or you'll lose that beneficial leverage and maybe fall down, go boom.

If you need to do a lot of work at ground level, get down there to do it.

Use kneepads, a knee cushion, or one of them low-to-the-ground garden kneeler-type thingies.

Don't bend over to do something at ground level if you can kneel to do it instead.

And once you are down, try and stay down.

Don't do the twist.

Don't twist to reach from bed to bed.

Move to the next area instead.

Again, always making sure the work is in front of you.

Phil warns if you twist to reach another bed, you could easily be laid up for a week.

And then, who's going to weed the tomatoes?

I said that, not Phil.

When it's time to move to another section of the garden, try to get over to that place while you're still on the ground, rather than getting up and walking over.

Use one of them garden-roller- kneeler-type things.

Heck, crawl if you have to!

Remember, once you're down, try to stay down.

And now, two things to do while you're down.

Deliberately tighten your stomach muscles as often as you can while you're kneeling.

Every five minutes or so, act like a cat, put your hands on the ground, and gently roll and arch your back a few times.

Just a nice, smooth, gentle motion.

Doing this prevents your getting into a locked position.

Sensible shoveling.

Don't stand straight-legged with your back bent when you shovel.

Keep your knees slightly bent to bring your legs into the act.

Tighten your stomach muscles when you shovel.

Always pull the shovel close to your body when it's full.

A shovel-full of dirt held to feet away from your body exerts enormous pressure on your back, so keep that shovel close.

Proper dirt disposal.

Don't turn and throw a shovel full of dirt with your feet planted.

Instead, pick up your front foot, point it in the direction you want the dirt to go, pivot on your back foot until you're facing in the right direction, then toss the dirt.

Don't dig for extended periods without stopping.

Every five minutes or so, stop, put your hands on your hips, and lean backwards for a few seconds.

You'll last longer and feel better when you're done.

And finally, stretching.

As we have said previously, you always want to stretch after the work is done.

Stretching cold muscles before exercise can be physically harmful.

In a study involving hundreds of thousands of Army recruits, injuries were greatly reduced by switching to after-exercise stretching.

And that's the truth.

Well, that sure was some helpful information about achieving a more graceful way of gardening, now, wasn't it?

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

To read it over at your leisure or, of course, 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 You Bet Your Garden Question of the Week, and you always find the latest Question of the Week at the Gardens Alive website.

You Bet Your Garden is a half hour public television show available for viewing on PBS39, PBS Passport, and our website.

It is also an hour-long public radio show and podcast, and they are all produced and delivered to you weekly from the Univest Studios at Lehigh Valley Public Media, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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

You Bet Your Garden was created by Mike McGrath.

Mike McGrath was created when an exploding microwave turned him into a human cell phone tower covered with a massive amount of mac and cheese.

Yikes!

My producer is threatening to steal my shovel if I don't get out of this studio.

Eh, let him steal it.

I got 12 more.

We must be out of time.

But you can call us anytime at... Or send us your email, your tired, your poor, your wretched questions teeming towards our garden shore at...

I'm begging ya, please include your location.

I'm your host and executive producer, Mike McGrath, and I'll be potting up my pepper plants into, well, bigger pots, right?

What?

They should be smaller?

Until I can see you again next week.