A Better Yard
We bring together Upper Midwest gardening enthusiasts who are transitioning to a more sustainable lifestyle to explore eco-friendly landscape and gardening practices, so that we can reduce our chemical use, water use, and create a thriving ecosystem.
Episodes
80 episodes
The EFSS Filter for A Better Yard
Your yard is not a static backdrop. It’s a stream of decisions you make all season long: what you plant, what you spray, what you mow, what you water, what you pull, and what you tolerate. Today we share a simple lens that helps you make those ...
Stop wasting water on your lawn
Your yard might be using more clean water than your showers and laundry combined, and the wild part is you may not even notice it. We sit down with Noelle Johnson, author of The Water Smart Garden, to get honest about outdoor water use, aquifer...
Yard Waste Is Not Waste
“Free yard waste drop-off” sounds like a win, but it raises a bigger question: why are we creating yard waste at all? We look at the leaves, grass clippings, stems, and small branches we’ve been trained to bag and haul away and show why they’re...
The Anti-Chemical Lawn Plan
Perfect lawns are a great business model and a terrible way to spend your weekends. We’re pushing back on the endless cycle of pre-emergents, blanket weed killer, multiple fertilizer rounds, and “technician” visits that make homeowners feel lik...
Spring Yard Reset
Audio from our free seasonal tasks masterclass on March 31 Spring makes people want to rush outside and “fix” the yard, but we’ve learned that the fastest way to a healthier landscape is slowing down. We kick off with a practical U...
Spring's First Flowers While Hiking the Louisville Swamp
Pasque flowers are blooming in this transition to spring. I’m out hiking with Scout along the Minnesota River on federal land at the Louisville Swamp, narrating what we see as the prairie wakes up. You’ll hear why those fuzzy, pale purple nativ...
How Trees Know When to Turn: The Science of Fall Color 🍂🍁🍃
The leaves don’t wait for frost—they’re already counting the night. We dive into the quiet timing system inside trees that decides when the colors ignite, why some years burst into crimson while others fizzle to brown, and how weather and latit...
The Key to Healthy Soil
This episode is the audio from our October Masterclass: Key to Healthy, Living Soil and focuses on the importance of soil health in gardening, emphasizing the role of organic material, soil organisms, and sustainable practices. Our community di...
The EFSS Framework and Minnesota Gardening's Landscape Wellness Stages
In this episode of the Minnesota Gardening Podcast, host Brad Tabke reflects on personal challenges and the importance of community in gardening. He introduces the Minnesota Gardening EFSS's Framework, which focuses on eliminating chemicals, fe...
Plant Healthy Plants: Part III of my 3x3 Course
We continue our 3x3 series with the final installment focusing on planting helpful plants to feed pollinators, save water, eliminate chemicals, and store carbon. This free course from Minnesota Gardening provides nine keystone actions for creat...
Environmentally-Responsible Landscape: Part II of my 3x3 Course
Fall is the perfect time to implement environmentally friendly practices in your landscape that support local ecosystems while reducing your workload. We explore part two of our 3x3 program on environmentally responsible landscaping, focusing o...
Sustainable Lawn Care: Part I of my 3x3 Course
Today is a wonderful day! Releasing our free course called 3x3: Nine keystone actions you can take today for a healthier lawn and landscape.Here is t...
All about jumping worms with Laura Van Riper from Minnesota DNR
Spring plant sales and swaps are a great time for jumping worms to spread in our landscapes.Laura Van Riper, the Terrestrial Invasive Species Coordinator at the Minnesota DNR joins me for this replay episode of Minnesota Gardening Podcas...
When can I do Spring Gardening tasks?
I've been getting a lot of questions lately on the timing of spring gardening tasks. In this episode we talk through the timing on spring gardening tasks and how you want to accomplish them.Download the Seasons Calendar at
Regenerative Gardening with Stephanie Rose
In this episode of Minnesota Gardening Podcast, host Brad Tabke speaks with Stephanie Rose, author of 'Regenerative Garden.' They discuss Stephanie's journey into gardening as a form of self-healing, the principles of regenerative gardening, an...
Fruit Trees with U of M's Madeline Wimmer
Madeline Wimmer is a guru of Upper Midwest fruit tree in the UMN Hort Department specializing in grapes and apples.Lucky to have Madeline with us to talk care for midwest fruit trees.Show notes, links, and transcript for members a...
Lawns to Meadows with Owen Wormser
Owen Wormser is the author of a wonderful book called Lawns Into Meadows a "how-to book on growing your own wildflowers and native grasses is also about sustainability, reg...
Seed Starting Supplies and Planning
Show notes available to members at MinnesotaGardening.com.Minnesota Gardening's 202...
Renewed Minnesota Gardening
Unveiling the renewed Minnesota Gardening focused on sustainability and helping Upper Midwest homeowners switch to more environmentally-friendly landscape and lawn care practices.Right now, you can get an annual membership for only $127...
Using Winter Design to Reduce Salt Use
Connie Fortin and Kyra Oliver join me for a BONUS episode of Minnesota Gardening Podcast to talk all about Winter Design and efforts to reduce salt use and water pollution.Connie Fortin has been working for 20 years with winter maintena...
Native Pollinators with Heather Holm
Heather Holm is an amazing author on native pollinators and has an incredible Instagram Page sharing her love of native pollinators, bees, and wasps.In this episode, we talk about the need for protecting native pollinators, competition ...
Succession Planting with Meg Cowden of Seed to Fork
Meg Cowden is the author of Plant, Grow, Harvest, Repeat - an incredible resource for all gardeners. We are replaying this episode with Med all about succession planting from our Spring 2022 season. Right now is a gr...
Urban Foraging with Tim Clemens of Ironwood Foraging
Tim Clemens of Ironwood Foraging joins me for this week's episode of Minnesota Gardening Podcast. Tim was awesome to talk with about foraging in an urban setting .Tim and I talk about the ethics of foraging, what people need to know get...
