The Garden Thyme Podcast

Hey Listener  We are bringing in the New Year with a game of Garden Trivia! Stephanie Pully and Kaitlyn Baligush from the UME Master Gardener Office are joining us with some fun trivia questions. Feel free to play along with us.  There are four categories, each with three questions:  Botany (~1:53)  Soils (~8:14)  Entomology (~13:09) Native and Invasive Plants (19:46) **Bonus Question ( ~27:19)  W...

This year, we are taking a break from our spooky plant list to instead talk about a spooky, cute group of insects STINGING CATERPILLARS! Don't let their cuteness fool you; these incredible insects can string if touched, so BEWARE and keep your hands to yourself.  We also have our:   Bug of the Month – Antlions.  (~29:45)   Native Plant of the Month - Little bluestem- Schizachyrium scoparium (...

 Hey Listener, Gold and yellow hues are the undeniable colors of autumn. In this episode, we discuss one of our favorite yellow-blooming perennial plants–Goldenrod. With its pretty yellow flowers, long blooming seasons, and high wildlife value, What is not to love about these fantastic native plants? Michaela also counts down her top pick of goldenrod for different gardens (~17:10). Our goldenrod...

Hey Listener,  In this month's episode, Dr. Shauna Henley (a Senior Family and Consumer Sciences Educator with the University of Maryland Extension) returns to the podcast to discuss canning those summer fruits and vegetables. She will tell us a bit about the history of canning, what supplies you need (~5:20), the difference between canning with a hot water bath and pressure canning (~9:53) ,...

Hey Listener,  In this month's episode, we are talking about two common household pests: ants and termites. While both live in colonies and can enter our homes, they have very different lifecycles and social structures. Some of them are nuisance pests, while others can cause damage to our homes. This episode will cover how to tell ants and termites apart, their life cycles, and control method...

Hey Listener,  In this month's episode, we are excited to Celebrates National Pollinator Week. ( June 19-25, 2023).  A pollinator is any animal that visits flowering plants and moves pollen from flower to flower, which helps plants reproduce, making fruits and seeds. In North America pollinators include bees, butterflies, moths, flower flies, beetles, and wasps.  Worldwide, approximately 1,00...

 Hey Listener,  In this month's episode, we are excited to welcome back  Jon Traunfeld, Principal Agent and Program Director of the fantastic UME Home and Garden Information Center. 2023 is UME HGIC year of the Sweet Potato , and  Jon is here .o give us some tips about growing and harvesting them, and in return, we share recipes for eating them with him. We also have our:   Native Plant of th...

Hello Listener,   In this month's episode, we're talking about selecting and growing small fruits and fruit trees. With spring blooming around us, many garden centers and stores will have fruit trees and small fruit shrubs for sale. Creating a home orchard can provide a source of delicious fruit. However, fruit trees and shrubs have their own unique challenges.  In this month's epis...

Hello Listener,  In this month's episode, we are talking to Paul Goeringer, a University of Maryland Specialist with the UMD Agriculture Law Education Initiative. We have some great questions regarding homeowner and property rights to put Paul on the spot today. We discussed Maryland HB322 (~3:27), overhanging trees (~12:15), fence laws (~15:30), dealing with damage to your yard (~18:40) and...

Hello Listener,   We love some fun facts and lists so in this episode we will talk about some of intriguing animal mating and courtship habits, to celebrate the month of Valentine’s. We cannot cover them all but we picked some of our favorites including honeybee, horseshoe crabs, daddy long legs, slugs, and dragonflies.  We also have our:   Native Plant of the Month - Crane fly orchid (Tipularia d...

Hello Listener,  It is almost 2023, but you can still do some chores in your garden this year. In this episode, we talk about the winter garden chores Rachel has been doing, and Mikaela and Emily have been putting off. We also talk holiday plant care (16:00), including caring for living trees (19:00) and fresh cut trees (28:10).   Link to our survey: go.umd.edu/gardenthyme The effect of Christmas...

Hello Listener,   It's Spooky Season! In this month's episode, we sit down with Leslie Sturges of the Bat Conservation & Rescue of Virginia to talk about bats. We chat about how much we love bats and why you should also. She tells us all about the types of bat you can find in Maryland (9:53), Whitenose syndrome (17:03), how bats rear their young (23:24), and echolocation (25:50). We...

 Hello Listener,   Fall is almost here, and we are ready. Nothing signals the start of fall like the changing of the leave. In this episode, we discuss what causes the leave to change color. It was also really hard to choose, but we picked our top 5 trees with the best fall color.  We also have some suggestions for shrubs, grasses, and flowers that make great additions to the garden in the fall. ...

Hello Listener, In this month's episode, we are speaking all about Climate Change and Sea Level Rise with Dr. Kate McClure from the University of Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program. We talk about the effects of climate change that we are seeing right now and what sea level rise looks like. Dr. McClure also gives us some online prediction tools to help us better plan our landscape for the fu...

Hello Listener, The summer heat is here, and if you are like us, you are taking a break under the shade of a lovely tree. In this episode, we are talking all about shade. Why we love it, some tips for gardening in your shady area ( 10:07 ), and a list of native plants ( 16:35 )  that enjoy the shade as much as Mikaela. We also have our:   Native Plant of the Month - Northern Maidenhair Fern- Adian...

Hello Listener, It's Pollinator Week! And to celebrate, we have a special episode for you all. We got to sit down and chat with Sam Droege, who works at the Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab with U.S. Geological Survey. We talk about how native bees differ from honey bees, learn about some neat bee flower interactions, and Sam gives us some tips about how to transition to a native garde...

Hello Listener,  It has been a weird spring weather wise, and that weird weather may have stressed some of your plants out.  In this months episode we are talking all about abiotic disorder  in the garden.  Abiotic disorder in plants are caused by non-living factors such as weather,  and the enviroment .   We will give some examples of what we have seen so far this year,  and what you should be lo...

Hello Listener, In this month esiopde we are talking about continer gardening with Ashley Bachtel-Bodkins, Senior Agent Asso. & MG Coordinator for UME in Garrett Co.  If you are limited on space and time a container garden may be a perfect way to add in the garden you’ve always wanted.   We talk picking the correct size container for your plant needs, drainage tips and growing media.  We also...

Hello Listener,  April is National Garden Month! So Happy National Garden Month everyone.    One of the most clear signals of spring is the emergence of spring ephemerals- daffodils, crocus, tulips… these bulbs are some classic examples, but we have so many more to enjoy! Our woodland wildflowers may be more subtle, but are no less impressive and are even more rewarding. This month we taking a bre...

Hello Listener,  How do I control weeds is probably one of the most common questions we get. So in this month's episode, we are chatting all about spring weeds. What is a Weed? Which ones are our favorites? What's the difference between a typical weed, an invasive plant, and a Noxious Weed?  We also have our:   Native Plant of the Month ( Golden Ragwort) at 49:00 Garden Tips of the Month...

Hello Listener,  Although it may be cold and dreary outside, it’s the perfect time to take inventory of your deciduous trees and shrubs to see which plants would benefit the most from pruning. In this months episode we’re sitting down with Extension Specialist in Commercial Horticulture, Dr. Andrew Ristvey. Dr. Ristvey is giving us the ins and outs on winter pruning.  We also have our:  Bug of the...

Hello Listener,   Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that we are already in a new year. We are kicking off our third season by sitting down with Extension Educator Ginny Rosenkranz. Like many of you, during the pandemic our acquisition of houseplants increased exponentially. Ginny guides us on caring for all of our botanical beauties.  Timing:  Houseplants at ~ 01:50 Native Plant of the Month M...

Hello Listener,  The season of  food and eating is upon us! In this episode, we are talking with Dr. Shauna Henely of UME Family & Consumer Sciences, all about how to keep our garden food safe to eat from pathogens,  testing our soils for lead,  washing produce and how to handle leftovers.   We also have our:  Native Plant of the Month (Bushy bluestem) at  33:20 Bug of the Month (Boxelder bugs...

Hello Listener,  In this episode, we keep with our October tradition of talking about spooky plants by chatting all about carnivorous plants! Carnivorous plants are predatory flowering plants that kill animals, primarily insects, to derive nutrition from their bodies.   Fun fact: Did you know that there are 19 different species of carnivorous plants found in Maryland. This episode covers the famou...

Hello Listener, In this month's episode, we are chatting all about the benefits of rain gardens (~12:45).  Every time it rains, water runs off impervious surfaces such as roofs, driveways, roads, and parking lots, collecting pollutants along the way. Maryland's average rainfall is about 44”. That is a lot of stormwater, isn't it? Think about how much water can go back into our groun...