Upside Down Tulips - A Garden Podcast

Judy Seaborn, founder of Botanical Interests seed company, stops by to share her favorite gardening mistakes - and gives us so many great tips. Which plants won’t benefit from starting early? Which don’t like being transplanted? How do you keep your seeds from clumping in one place in the garden? What plant is a must in Judy's garden this year? Plus: If you plant onions in a circle do you get onion rings? Dandelions - good for bees or not? (The controversy begins.) We talk mugwort and borage, two ‘witchy” herbs. And we celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday with podplays featuring Hamlet and Ophelia; and Imaboil and Esmepus, 2 witches from Macbeth. Learn and laugh with us! Check Out Our Friends at Botanical Interests! Live in Denver? Come see the play we worked on! Runs until May 14, 2022 Learn How to Winter Sow! Don't Know Your Zone? Find it HERE Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

To celebrate National Gardending Day on April 14, we packed this episode with a wheelbarrow full of Spring tips and tricks! Then, we give you something new! We interview an expert: Brittany Pimental, the Equity and Food Access Director at Denver Urban Gardens. We learned so much. Just about every city has a community garden program and they’re there to help you. We learn about viable seeds in ancient Egyptian tombs. Sustainability swaps? No, not a way to reignite the spark in a marriage. Find out what a food swamp is and if you’re in one. Plus, Edith has a garden hack that grosses Christy out. Edith gets bleeped for the third time and Christy dreams of Japanese beetles. And what’s this about thanking your tool? Come see the play we are working on! YOU WILL GET SICK by Noah Diaz Learn How to Winter Sow! Check out our friends at Denver Urban Gardens Find out where YOUR community garden is! Don't Know Your Zone? Find it HERE Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

Can you smell the lilac? It’s all about common and not so common scents in the garden. Combat the malodorous smells of modern times - the exhaust, the garbage, your overly patchoulied co-worker - with the gentle scents that certain trees and plants will provide. Which ones are our favorites, which ones have medicinal properties, which plant can be sowed straight from a teabag. Listen as a letter from Doug gives instructions on building a chicken wire rabbit deterrent fence that just might work. And enjoy a new pod play parody on the TV show, Succession! Learn How to Winter Sow! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

Using the Academy Awards as our inspiration, we give awards to the favorites, and also the disappointments, in our gardens. Along the way we share what made our successes shine and what might prevent future failures. Trees to vines to veggies to flowers- from best ensemble to the most dependable to the villains - Garden 2021 has been a heck of a year. Plus buggy hollyhocks, raging at the radish, and the little seedling that could. Learn How to Winter Sow! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

We’re gardeners and sports lovers, so let’s say this episode is smashmouth gardening. Where else are you gonna get that? We tell you which are the easiest veggies and flowers to grow, and give you tips to ensure your success. Do you like beans, carrots, zucchini, lettuce, and peas? Do marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers and morning glories please your eyes? Add some hardy perennials and you have a beautiful easy peasy garden. Plus an all NEW Who Killed Rosemary: Misty Contour, intrepid podcaster trying to find out who killed Rosemary, visits a neighborhood where she is stonewalled by all the neighbors. Door after door is slammed in her face. What are they afraid of? Is Misty in danger? The list of suspects grows... Learn How to Winter Sow! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

We'll Take Worm Composting for $1000, Ken. And Let's Make it A True Daily Double! We explore vermiculture, which ensures that you can grow the most nutritious vegetables, the most beautiful flowers because you can make the best fertilizer in your backyard, under the sink, on your balcony. Are we pulling your garden-overalled leg? No, we’re not. Vermiculture is raising worms for their precious poop, and we give you the inside scoop. Where to put them, what to feed them, how to keep them alive. Final Jeopardy: How planting sunflowers can take heavy metals out of your soil and how to get rid of poison ivy. Learn How to Winter Sow! Earthlinks Colorado Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

What you can and what you shouldn’t do in your March garden. Direct sowing, soil conditioning, temperature watching, winter sowing, indoor seedling starting, perennial clean up - it all starts now. When, what, and why to prune off your trees. And take time for Your Morning Wordle - our new pod play in honor of you, the gardeners. Learn How to Winter Sow! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

We took notes and name names. Of our favorite greens. Our goal is to have 9 months of fresh green salad stuff from the garden. Tips on growing endive, arugula, perpetual spinach, dwarf kale, corn salad, romaine and more. How to plant, harvest, care for, and fertilize. Along the way we get wayword and curdled noddles, grief stricken vegetables, and all root and no bulb enter the fray. Plus a brand new Old Woman Pod Play! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

“Butterflies are flying flowers and flowers are tethered butterflies” Saving our bees and butterflies is also saving our food sources. We explain how you can help whether you have a garden or a balcony or somewhere to plant milkweed seeds for Monarch butterflies. And how to get those seeds for free. What colors and plants attract not just a butterfly but a kaleidoscope of butterflies. Not just a single bee but perhaps a bike of bees. Why you should never plant a butterfly bush, perversely counterintuitive though that sounds. Plus a podcast within a podcast: we’re getting closer to finding out who killed Rosemary, in a brand new pod play! Get FREE Milkweed Seeds Here! Find Your Local Native Plant Society Here! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

Find out which heirloom seed company will ship you seeds with no shipping fees, and hear what may be the worst joke in the world. Then learn how to make two or more houseplants out of your existing houseplants by rooting, stem cutting, or dividing. Discover what pantry staple can be used as a rooting hormone. And if you think a "rooting hormone" has anything to do with why you are loathe to leave the house, give us a listen. Also: What happens when a Crazy Cat Lady meets a Crazy Plant Lady? FInd out and have a laugh or two in a brand new hand-crafter pod play just for the gardener. Some cool links to what we talked about this episode: Denver Urban Gardens Earthlinks in Colorado Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

In this week's special encore episode, we share the difference between dirt, soil, top soil, potting soil, and seed starting soil. Who knew? We didn’t! But we do now. Also: How many worms in a shovelfull of good soil? How to use the principles of regenerative agriculture in your garden large or small. How do worms procreate and why should you care? Why does Plato the Greek philosopher think people are like dirt, and why you’ll agree with him. So many questions. We have answers to a lot of them. Don’t confuse rotorooters with rototillers and the secret to a good marriage. Okay, we didn’t say one has anything to do with the other. Or did we? Listen to find out. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

Winter Sowing 2! Good news! You don’t have to wait to garden. We answer your questions about how to sow seeds, outside in the winter. Does it matter where you live? When is the best time? Can you use compost? What is the best way to water? What kind of light? Should you ever take the tops off? What if it gets really cold? Along the way we have a hilarious headline correction from England, living bridges in India, and new ways to garden: free planting and leaving vegetable roots in the ground. Informative and funny, gardeners we’ve got your backs. Click HERE to listen to Winter Sowing Part One Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

In this Encore Episode, Christy teaches us how to winter sow, and it’s about the coolest thing a gardener can do. Meet Johnny Hardscribble, a tough guy who needed a Hail Mary to save his spirits and found one in his garden. Meet the Gardeners of the Galaxy: The Fairy Godwater, the Bee Team, and the Mulch Master. We also answer the tough questions: can you put deer poop in your compost? What is a knot nematode? And if someone offers you bunny honey, don’t spread it on your bread. Edith has a compost experiment and says “at least it doesn’t stink.” Wow, someone’s standards have sunk to a new pandemic low. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

Things to consider when planning your 2022 garden. How to lengthen the season in colder zones, new ways of watering, and inexpensive ways of providing shade. The new way Christy will plant her expensive herbs and the one herb Edith will never plant again. What you need to do in January to ensure getting the garden you want in July. Two treats for theater lovers: Hamlet and Ophelia in their frozen garden, and a mulch pile begging to be spread belts out Broadway tunes. “Ah, five, six, seven, EIGHT!” Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

You want to plant a garden. Now what? In this Encore Episode, we explore Gardening 101: where to put your garden, how to determine what kind of soil you have, and how to amend it. But along the way we’re discussing Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania and Sir Walter Wally in Raleigh NC. We have tips on why thinning out boyfriends and carrots are important. We share soil tests you can do at home, with stuff from your pantry! Knot nematodes, spineless cactus, plumcots and cat skulls may not seem like they’re cogent in a gardening podcast; but you’ll see why they are. Also, an in depth discussion on why the word ‘moist’ is irreplaceable. You don’t want a clammy cake, do you? Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

"I can use some socks.” If that quote doesn’t signal an exciting episode, we don’t know what does. It's our annual Favorite Mistakes of the Year! We go through our many gardening mistakes of 2021, some of which ended in... plantslaughter! From too much sun to not nearly enough, from a hostile poppy takeover to accidentally killing houseplants - learn from us. And laugh with us! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

Blanket yourself with this delightful Christmas quilt of an episode. From the care of your Christmas tree, poinsettias, and amaryllis to a mailbag featuring two of the most heartwarming stories we’ve ever heard. Plus, the most unusual “12 Days of Christmas” you’ve ever heard, a way to frustrate scammers, and a stomach churning Gift of the Magi. And “The Ghosts of Gardens Past” to warm your eggnog. Happy Holidays! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

In this Encore Episode, learn how to grow herbs! Have a container? A small patch of land somewhere? Plant herbs! There is nothing like fresh herbs that you have grown for your health, happiness, and recipe success. Let us help you with tips for sowing, growing, and harvesting your herbs. Plus intriguing truths: What is the most popular spice? (Hint, it isn't Baby) How the Romans used the herb savory. Why medieval monks were forbidden to grow it. Meet an herb whose leaves tastes SO GOOD to 8o% of humans, is inedible to the other 20%, and then produces seeds that are a whole different spice! And the name of which herb is featured in what is arguably the best play written in the 20th century! Journey through thyme (ha ha) with Upside Down Tulips. Plus - a special couple of humorous "pod plays" that celebrate The Natural State. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

Edith and Christy search the globe and outer space, looking for unusual gardens. From above the Arctic Circle, to the indigenous forests of Africa - from the ketchup and fries plant, to where you can find gardens inside taxicabs, to a parody of “The Martian” - so much great information presented alongside funny letters to Santa and groan worthy puns. The elves Wunorse Opanslae and Shinny Upatree warn us about the one gift they never should have given Mrs. Claus. Believe it... Or not! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

In this Encore Episode, you can end re-gifting with our suggestions of wonderful gifts you can make FROM the garden and FOR the gardener. From body butter to soup of the month to sage bundles to Herbs de Provence - in these times where so many of us are operating on a Bob Cratchit budget, make wonderful gifts for about a ha’penny. We also suggest some simple gifts for that special gardener in your life. Or for yourself! Or for us! We think we may be headed toward The Bigger Time - cause we have merch! Get your Upside Down Tulips Gear HERE! This blockbuster of an episode includes singing, jokes to make ye merry, and colorful characters like Lara Lura, the Jolly Green Giant, Saint Nickerless, Sandy Clause, and a listener from Oregon who - oops - ate the whole thing. Get seeds from our pals at Botanical Interests: https://www.botanicalinterests.com Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

Happy Thanksgiving! Like friends and family coming to our table, we have new letters from listeners as well as favorites from last year. They run the gamut from the missing mashed potatoes to Spudsgiving. Plus a new podplay about the Cranberry Wars. Oscar Wilde, the Buddha, and the Minneapolis Miracle are already seated. We’ve saved a place for you. We would be grateful if you joined us. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

We have gathered only good news, because things have been stressful and we needed it. News about how gardeners like you are helping with climate change, how architects are designing skyscrapers that are covered in gardens, how Maine has put itself in the forefront of the right to grow your own food and how a gardener in Atlanta created a sitting garden for her neighborhood. And more! Also, an unsolved garden mystery involving a huge zucchini and a bad assed gardener who takes his cue from Clint Eastwood’s persona provides laughs -- because laughter is its own good news. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

In this Encore Episode, we talk about tools - not humans with appalling behavior but garden tools that help us out. Christy’s cartoon thumb bears witness to the importance of tools. She has definitely paid the price for yanking the cosmos. Hori knives in holsters, hand weeders, hacks you find in your kitchen or garage. Tools that blow which might make you feel like you’re licking the sidewalk. Waste of money tools. Tools with cancer warnings that has Edith playing detective. Meet Janelle the strict parent of her seedlings and Rowena, the very nervous gardener who stunts all she touches. It’s all here. Plus the most beautiful inspiration we’ve found yet. Gardening: It’s like falling in love with the ground. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

It's go thyme! This week is all about how to grow an indoor herb garden. But first, Edith encounters a persnickety security system demanding a “secret word”, Christy is starting a produce section in her attic, and we both had a fennel fail. What is the Persephone Period? We will tell you. If you’re as determined as we are to grow fresh herbs indoors this winter, give us a listen. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme - not just an old Simon and Garfunkle song. It could be part of your kitchen herb garden. We share what materials you will need, best practises and how to trouble-shoot. Also, we’ve got a joke, an inspiration, and a sauerkraut recipe from a listener. Thank you Catherine, thank you faithful listeners. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your Persephone Period

It’s Halloween 2. We’ve got Tom Cruise, Ichabod Grain, and Canable Pectin. Wrap yourself in our Halloween quilt with the best stories from last year, new stories from our listeners, and two new podplays. We have tricks: how to eat an eyeball if you have to; and treats: The Silence of the Lamb’s Ear and a headless garden ghost. Revisit the haunted Fordney mansion which holds a true ghost story and find out what could happen if you garden after dark on Halloween. We’ve got tricks, treats and laughs. As Rosemary Clooney would say: “Come on-a my house, my house a come on - I’m gonna give you candy.” Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

We share new things we tried last summer and how they worked out. Good, bad, and ugly things. Important things like which tomatoes to plant to get rid of a soil fungus, the easiest beautiful annual to care for, how to have fresh greens in your garden for 8 months, and what is and how to grow a successful moon garden. Do you know what a Maximillian sunflower is and why it’s great to have it in your garden? And for chuckles, pod plays about being the quarterback in a garden football game and a new interpretation of “boxing tomatoes” starring Howard Cosell-ish. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

Do you want to have a headstart for your plants in next year’s garden? We have the details on bringing in geraniums, rosemary, and peppers. The harden off/soften on method, the pruning, misting, microclimating, and dormancy inducing techniques that help your plants survive the winter in your house. Plus how to grow plants from cuttings. As well as a question about broccolini, a story about beavers, a 172 lb. cabbage, and a 76 pound rutabaga. It’s a supersized episode! Both of us laugh, both of us cry, but one of us is just kidding. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

We are not an “organic proprietary mixture”, although we get a little ticked off by something that claims it is. We go into all the dos & don'ts and pros & cons and easy tips for how to freeze and can your harvest for the winter. Plus more drama: what died all by itself on Edith's hügelkultur? Why does Christy's pumkin look like Walter Matheau? Why is Edith afraid of canning equipment? And what, in the garden, will give you more, the more you use? These kind of miracles, giving trees, and why birds might be pooping on cars. It’s all here. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

A spanking new episode exploring upcycling for your garden: toilet paper rolls are not just for making chunky necklaces anymore. Second lives for soda bottles, boots, toilets, broken tools, bathtubs, tires and more. Learn to make your own pots for seedlings and then use a ‘seedling apartment building’ to shelter them. Whether it’s a recipe for drying cherry tomatoes with zero energy use, or a recipe for roasted tomato salsa, or the recipe that might have kept Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara together, this episode’s got it. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

Everything you wanted to know about growing, curing, and storing garlic. The difference between hardneck and softneck garlic. What they have in common are fantastic health benefits. In Romania it is often considered as good as antibiotics! Plus eat the rainbow that’s not Skittles - a vegetable’s color is an indication of its health benefits. We explain. What we’re planting now - hoping it will overwinter and give us vegetables early in Spring 2022. And we pepper this barrage of information with two very funny Podplays that deal with a better way to awaken Sleeping Beauty. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

Eating raw fruits and veggies is not only great for your health, but for your energy bills, and the environment as well. Not enamored of eating a pile of plain raw veggies for dinner? We have suggestions: recipes for cold soups, sauces, salsas and smoothies. If a Colorado garden zone 5B can produce fresh greens allowing you to eat uncooked nutritious foods for about 7 months, so, most likely, can your zone. Better skin, great gut health, improve your immunity: eat it raw. Plus we solve the blossom end rot on grape tomatoes but lose the battle of the pumpkins to squirrel saliva. It’s always something, isn’t it? Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

The September garden: watch out for frosts and for insects making homes in your garden cantaloupes. A to-do list that includes the hows and whys of watering, planting, harvesting, fertilizing, and weeding. What to do with a tsunami of tomatoes. Taking care of your lawn, flowers, and trees. We are so full of good information we could burst like Christy’s forgotten pumpkin. We also have questionable information as Edith gives her theory of the evolution of the French language. Could it possibly be true? Fiacre! We don’t know. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us! Find Your First and Last Frost Dates Here! What is my Gardening Zone? Find it Here!

We want you to have a happy harvest so we let you know when your veggies are ripe. From beans to zucchini and most things in between, it’s about color, texture, smell, shriveled stems, green caps, tight heads, and leaves dying back. It might surprise you that in most cases, size doesn’t matter. Seed collector alert: what to start looking for before they blow away. Meet Buff Biffins the plant homicide detective who learns that sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind in the garden. Saints, assassin bugs, and little cabbages no one planted make unexpected appearances. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

We give a tip of the hat to our Curmudgeons and share a story about the power of unexpected kindness. What you can plant today and still harvest before winter and why you should plant trees now. How to extend the life of the vegetables you have past your first frost date, the Persephone period explained, and sheltering plants for the winter so they’re alive come Spring. What happened to bad smelling Gunther and why the Dormouse accuses Alice of being a poisoner and a perv. We know better - she’s just Alice in Gardenland. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

The ubiquitous bane of the gardener - Bindweed. There seem be at least 50 ways to fight your bindweed - pulling, snipping, solarizing, suffocating, boiling, blow torching (really), using strong chemicals that kill everything around it and sometimes leaving bindweed standing alone on the hill, victory flag in hand. Yes, gardeners, it’s war. We’re on your side discussing what could work and how long it could take. Note: Be patient. And presenting 3 short comedies to ease your (and our) frustration. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Big Sale on UDT Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

We’re talking ways to save water that is both nutritious and free. There’s more to watering than what comes from your hose. We’re talking rainwater, gray water, black water, cooking water. One of these things is not like the other, however. How to collect water, store it, apply it to your garden. How to help save your lawn and water bill in this heat. From sprinklers, soaker hoses, rain barrels, and water absorbing polymers to aeration and hydrozoning, we cover this topic as thoroughly as the papparazzi cover Simone Biles. Speaking of similies, Agnes the community college instructor/radio host is back with a drama presentation about Tomato Town. And - curtain! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us!

We discuss the things that can happen to your tomatoes, the ‘risks’ as it were: blossom end rot, blossom drop, not setting fruit, not ripening, Septoria, early blight, late blight, middle aged blight (just kidding on that last one). We tell you how to fix what can be fixed and when to throw in the trowel and not beat yourself up about it. Cause it’s probably not your fault! Plus Antelope Twomey is back with a moving and funny poem called “Ode to the Gardener”. It’s all about you, our gentle listeners and gardeners. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter!

We discuss what we (and hopefully you) learned from each other this past year. Like how to do your own soil test, and what is Soil Pep? (It has nothing to do with pompoms or short skirts). We discuss gardening by grid, taking suckers off of tomato plants, how to garden without disrupting the natural way of things, why Christy has changed her mind on a certain store bought fertilizer and what went horribly, nauseatingly wrong with Edith’s Bokashi experiment. Gardening is not for the squeamish. From spiders in meat tubes, to squirrel skulls to Cindy Brady in the garbage - we get down and dirty in the garden. And not a hoe joke in sight. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter!

It’s Episode 50! And our First Anniversary! (Which means we’ve been doing this for a year and we’re not so good at math.) Thank you to everyone who has listened over the last year! We truly love this community of gardeners, friends and stewards of the planet. To celebrate, we share are a few of our favorite moments from the year: From the silly - shredded tweet and Salvadore Dilly, to the profound - May Sarton’s quote about gardening, we’ve got you covered. We fill in between the two, revisiting little bird buttholes, a deep confession from Christy, and the story of a man who cooked a smoked turkey into a salt lick. From the sacred - an homage to the gift of the Magi - to the profane - what an irritated telemarketer called Edith. And we’ve got an entirely new podplay of the Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe. What sets her off and has her calling out the artillery? Plus, we sprinkle in a few gardening tips and tricks along the way. Enjoy! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter!

It’s hot and dry July. The early season plants are reaching their endtimes, flowers need to be deadheaded and the Japanese beetles are back! To temper the horror of that, Edith wrote a poem! We then talk 50 ways to kill your Japanese beetles. You could sweep, bag, spray, trap, grind, or entice them with a lovely fruit cocktail. (Fruit cocktail? What is this, 1954?) You could also try Neem Oiling or Milky Sporing them to their everlasting rest. Then, for a little dark humor, we brought back Darla and the Jersey gangster Tone Baritone. And, as if all this murder talk isn’t enough, Christy has the most morbid inspiration ever, starting with the words “Every corpse…” and it doesn’t get any cheerier from there. Calm down or die. Grow something. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter!

The start of July means summer is in full swing and our gardens are at the peak of the season. It is also a big month for garden maintenance. So we have gathered together over 20 tips on what you should be doing in your July garden - what not to plant, what you can plant, what to deadhead, how to get broccoli baby heads even if your original plant goes to seed. Plus: helpful info on pinching, watering, weeding, staking, dividing, mulching. So many "ings!" Don’t know what a farrier is? Neither did we. Christy thought it might be a grower and caretaker of fairies. (!) Edith has been waiting for years to use the word “Oyez” in a sentence and finally found a way! We revisit Christy’s Horrifying Ladybug Incident and a listener explains why not everyone’s pee changes smell if you eat asparagus. And then Ben Franklin mansplains about the issue. (Go fly a kite, Benjamin, or at the very least stick to forming the US of A.) The Garden Gnomes return in two fun pod-plays made just for the gardener! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter! Find Your First and Last Frost Dates Here! What is my Gardening Zone? Find it Here!

We’re thrice potting cucumbers and shaking seed heads, all while exploring the world of vines. So much more than just a conveyance for Tarzan, vines shelter, give beauty, grow food, attract pollinators and hide unsightly views. Not even to mention that’s how grapes grow and that’s what makes wine! Which vine’s seeds cause paralysis, labored breathing and convulsions- and still has “sweet” in its name? (That may be taking forgiveness a step too far.) Let us introduce you to the Lazy Housewife Pole Bean and the Asian Winged Bean. The first is not a Victorian insult and the second is not an anime superhero. They’re beans you can grow in Zones 3-11 and who doesn’t want to grow colorfully named beans? Also - learn about trumpet vine, honeysuckle, morning glory and how to grow your own loofah sponge and more! Do you have thistle weeds? We have tips on how best to get rid of it in Mail Bag. And two fun new "pod plays" made just for the gardener. Boom chicka boom boom! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter!

“Hope is being planted and I feel it growing.” We’re quoting from a listener’s letter because we’re too hot to say anything worth quoting. BUT we did have the presence of mind to gather about 10ish garden tips we forgot to tell you in the past year. Like what is well drained soil? Can you plant in a ziplock bag? Do you need different fertilizers for different plants and what is elbow soap? Why you should pinch your mum now and what the appearance of dog vomit slime mold tells you. Free resources, plants that resist bolting, red warty things, and if you see something spiny tiny and creepy in your garden- don’t kill it. It’s your friend. We’re your friends. We also have Cinderella and the Gardeners of the Galaxy. Join us. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter!

Things are popping in the garden and we’re getting down with our hoes. Christy’s roses are opening, something absconded with her cauliflower plants, and her rosemary after surviving the grim winter, has a ceased to be. It’s like a vegetal soap opera! If you think NPK is an arm of the Russian Secret Service, you need this episode. If you want to know why Edith is reading War and Pees in her bathroom, you should listen. We explain how and when to fertilize flowers, vegetables, roses, and houseplants- one size doesn’t fit all. What unexpected trait is shared by some people and all herbs? What herb is so toxic any product containing it was banned in Canada and yet it’s a great natural fertilizer? What is the difference between organic and synthetic fertilizers? And why we are reconsidering using that blue stuff. Some great info here, gardeners. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter! Find Your First and Last Frost Dates Here! What is my Gardening Zone? Find it Here!

Here is your June "Get 'Er Done" List! Someone once said if you have to tell people you’re hip and relevant, you’re probably not. We politely yet vigorously disagree. Cause we’ve got slamming plants and vibrating stamens. Exploding gardens and hoe jokes. Doing the ‘what is dead’ search. It sounds like an action filled sci fi adventure, but it’s just another week in the gardens of Christy and Edith. From succession planting to mulching, supporting and staking, and it’s last call for seedlings. What you can still direct sow and - bonus! -a recipe for homemade pesticide with all natural ingredients. What to pinch, prune and cut back in June. Why, when they mow low, you should mow high. Plus a letter from a listener who tells of being bent over with a 3 year old glued to her back pocket. That’s all we’ll say here. Juneau you have to listen. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter! We would love to hear your garden stories & Q's!

Well, slap some bacon on that Vitamin K, it's an encore! We discuss tomatoes from seeds to BLT’s. In the Middle Ages, Europeans thought of them as poisonous, the French thought they were an aphrodisiac and called them love apples. The Aztec called them “plump things with a navel”. Plus: The difference between determinate, indeterminate, heirloom and hybrid tomatoes are discussed. All you need to know about planting, staking, and harvesting tomatoes. What to do about blossom end rot, blotches, wilt, rot, fungal diseases and pests. We unbox tomatoes that have been sitting in Christy’s attic for almost a year. Then - new stuff! Health benefits! Edith finds out which tomatoes can grow in Siberia and Christy goes all hybrid for a while to outwit the fungus. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter! We would love to hear your garden stories & Q's!

Pardon our garden clogs as we take time to work in our gardens and present our second episode of all garden comedy. Every gardener has a sense of humor. How else can we survive all the missteps and surprises? Can bindweed make you laugh? We think so - revisit the Bindweed Singles Service and the worse come on lines you’ve ever heard - and we hope you will agree. Remember Agnes, the easily distracted creative writing teacher who also has a call in gardening show? We’ve got all the Agneses right here. Plus the Gardeners of the Galaxy, the Society of Gardener’s Patience, the Garden State and Yoga with goats and more. Enjoy! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter! We would love to hear your garden stories & Q's!

“No good in a bed, but fine up against a wall." This is the catalog description of a rose named for a former first lady. Her reaction to it is priceless. We’ve got the info on how and where to plant, prune, fertilize, water and care for the Queens of the Garden: Roses. Save money and up your rose game with our easy homemade fertilizer suggestions. We tell you about a thousand year old climbing rose that survived a WW2 bombing that destroyed the cathedral on whose walls it grew. Plus: do those Japanese beetle bags that attract and trap those pests work? And in addition to all this great stuff we have eunuchs in tunics, Romans in togas, cheesy dribs and limequats. Something for everyone, really. A whole episode about roses and we never use the word “prick”. Go us. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter! We would love to hear your garden stories & Q's!

And just how supple do you think Sleeping Beauty was after she slept for a hundred years? It does have something to do with gardening, we swear. We discuss the unique requirements to grow perennial vegetables: rhubarb, horseradish, artichoke, asparagus and leek. They come back year after year with minimum care. And not just for food: here’s a recipe to lighten your hair naturally with rhubarb. We also reveal the answer to why asparagus makes your pee smell funny and the artichoke’s secret: it is mainly a butter delivery service, let’s be honest. Great tips on caring for your forsythia bush, potted or not. And a quote by Derek Jarman that ends like this ”…..it’s the amen beyond the prayer.” That quote alone is worth your time. SPECIAL TREAT: Not only do we have a new "Ask Agnes" sketch for you, but we couldn't resist bringing back "Stranger Garden Things" and Christy's beloved Rhubarb. BARB!!! Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter! We would love to hear your garden stories & Q's!

The Puckerbutt Pepper Company. Now that we have your attention, meet the subject of this episode, the superstar of perennials: the Iris. Used in perfumes, Bombay Saphire gin, and immortalized by artists: you gotta grow an iris. Really, so easy. We tell you, in detail, everything you need to know to keep this flower, grown by the Greeks and Egyptians, alive and thriving. With not a lot of effort. You don’t even have to mulch it! And you can ship it! Why painting them kept Van Gogh’s sanity (for a while anyway)and had O’Keefe keeping us wondering about lady parts all these years later. And why the Puckerbutt Pepper Company is aptly named. And back by popular demand, The Squirrel comes back in an all new fun sketch. Support UDT by joining our Garden Party and get fun rewards! Get some NEW cool UDT Merch and Mulch it! Visit our website for pix, more info and Upside Down Dictionary Click here to write to us or join our newsletter! We would love to hear your garden stories & Q's!