I'm always listening to something in the garden. These are the podcasts I can't live without.
I've been on a rock-and-roll kick lately.
That's what has been playing a lot in my garden, Aerosmith, Lenny Kravitz, Prince and a smattering of 80s hair bands. The music is a nice break from the talking heads bombarding me on TV every day. Why those particular artists speak to me right now, I have no idea.
But you're here for podcast recommendations...
Before social distancing, podcasts were a road trip treat. I made the drive between Oklahoma City and Tulsa two or three times a month, giving me up to to 10 hours of podcast listening time!
I'm not making those trips now but between the jams blasting from my Bluetooth speaker in the garden, you'll catch me making time for these podcasts...
A Way to Garden
Host: Margaret Roach
Former Martha Stewart gardening editor and author of the book "A Way to Garden," host Margaret Roach interviews experts, farmers and other authors in an informative podcast that also airs on some public radio stations.
Why I like it: This is the podcast to listen to if you've been dubbed the expert on all things plants by your friends and co-workers. I can't count the number of questions I've been able to answer because of things I've learned listening to this show.
The Joe Gardener Show
Host: Joe Lamp'l
If you watch PBS, you might be familiar with this podcast's host from his Growing a Greener World program. Joe is an avid vegetable gardener and the majority of his podcasts are related to food growing, but not all.
Why I like it: I was raised to believe that if you're going to cultivate something, it ought to be food and while I don't live steadfast to that rule, I'm a vegetable gardener first. The podcast answers questions I have, even as someone with a lot of experience, but still seamlessly covers topics for a beginner, all in the same episode.
The Gardenangelists
Hosts: Dee Nash and Carol Michel
Each week the hosts cover a plant, some gardening news or advice - often vegetable gardening related - and provide book recommendations. The podcast is peppered with interesting quotes related to plants or gardens and the hosts have visited several renowned gardens allowing them to provide interesting anecdotes that tie the quote's originator to the garden.
One word of warning - the podcast starts with dead air followed by almost shrill birds chirping, so don't turn your sound up until they've started speaking.
Why I like it: One of the hosts, Dee Nash, is a gardening author from my area - she's in the same county even - which makes her experience with how plants perform in her weather super relevant to my growing conditions. She and Carol also know a lot about common houseplants, especially popular and seasonal varieties. I helped a friend understand why her paperwhites were stinky because of what I learned from one of their episodes.
Garden Talk
Host: Larry Miller
Another entry from the Public Radio sphere, this podcast is similar to Margaret Roach's in that there is a weekly interview with another expert or author. They cover a broad range of gardening topics from lawns to vegetable growing to native plants.
Why I like it: This is one of the few podcasts I've found that discusses natives on a regular basis. Being in Wisconsin - part of what once was the Tallgrass Prairie like the eastern parts of Oklahoma - many of the natives they discuss are also native to my area or very nearby. (If you're curious, I'm on the edge of the Crosstimbers region, a hybrid of tallgrass prairie and scrub oak forest.)
Listen: iTunes Unfortunately, I was not able to find this one on Stitcher
Comments