Podcasts Archives

Extreme Permaculture Primer

July 11, 2020November 2, 2020 Mike Nowak Building a Better World in Your Backyard, COVID-19 and gardening, eco-influencer, gardening expert Melinda Myers, home energy use, incandescent v. LED light bulbs, Midwest gardening, Paul Wheaton, Peggy Malecki, permaculture, The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:32:39 — 42.1MB)

Paul Wheaton and Shawn Klassen-Koop are the authors of Building a Better World in Your Backyard Instead of Being Angry at Bad Guys. It might be called an essential extreme permaculture primer. Garden expert Melinda Myers returns to the show to talk about keeping your plants healthy in summer, and to promote the lesson of patience in the garden.

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We Are the Champions

October 14, 2018February 2, 2019 Mike Nowak Chicago Excellence in Gardening Awards, environment, gardening, mulching, Natural Awakenings Chicago, Phyto Studio, plant communities, Shedd Aquarium, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show, Thomas Rainer, University of Illinois Extension

Landscape architect Thomas Rainer offers some heretical advice on what makes plants happy. Peggy and Mike welcome some winning gardeners from the Chicago Excellence in Gardening Awards ceremony.

Peggy and The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener

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Mark and Marcus: Music and Sustainability

October 6, 2018May 4, 2019 Mike Nowak environment, FolkTober Fest, gardening, harvesting tomatoes, Marcus de la fleur, Mark Dvorak, native plants, planting garlic, retrofitting, storm water management, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show, The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:49:18 — 49.2MB)

Folk musician Mark Dvorak and Stephanie Schrodt stop by the studio to promote next week’s Folktober Fest in Oak Park. Holly and Joey Baird, The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener, have early fall tips. In the advance of the ILCA’s IMPACT Conference, Marcus de la fleur talks about the benefit of putting native plants in your home’s landscape, and the difficulty of finding companies that will maintain them.

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The Power of Dirt; Hydrangea Help

September 8, 2018September 15, 2018 Mike Nowak Angelic Organics Learning Center, Dirt is Good, Dr. Jack Gilbert, environment, gardening, germs, hydrangeas, Melinda Myers, microbiome, natural lawn care, shrub pruning, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show

Gardening expert Melinda Myers has late season advice for hydrangea care; Dr. Jack Gilbert, author of Dirt Is Good talks about why protecting your kids from germs might not be the best thing for them.

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Why Recycle? Hosta Finale

September 1, 2018September 7, 2018 Mike Nowak Adam Minter, conifers, environment, gardening, Hosta Happening, Mano a Mano International Partners, Marta Keane, recycling, Rich and Susan Eyre, Rich's Foxwillow Pines, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show, Will County Green

Marta Touloumes Keane, Recycling Program Specialist for Will County, explains what can and can’t be recycled, and why. Rich and Susan Eyre from Rich’s Foxwillow Pines prepare for their Hosta Happening Finale next week.

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Seaweed Chronicles and Trout Tales

August 25, 2018September 1, 2018 Mike Nowak biodiversity, Chicago Public Schools, environment, gardening, over-fishing, Seaweed Chronicles, species depletion, Susan Hand Shetterly, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show, Trout in the Classroom, Trout Unlimited

Susan Hand Shetterly, author of the just-released book, Seaweed Chronicles: A World at the Water’s Edge, reports on how seaweed harvesting could be the next biological frontier and also an environmental battlefield. Trout Unlimited coordinator Marvin Strauch, and Chicago teacher Joe Lentino explain the Trout in the Classroom program.

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Pollinator-palooza 2018

August 4, 2018March 23, 2019 Mike Nowak e-commerce, environment, exotic invasives, gardening, monarch butterfly, native plants, Nature Hills Nursery, plant diseases, Plant Sentry, pollinators, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:46:24 — 48.7MB)

Landscape horticulturist Dolly Foster teaches you how to make your garden pollinator friendly. Tom Buechel explains how the Plant Sentry program will theoretically keep plant e-commerce free of invasive plants and pests.

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Bonsai, Tomato and Native Plant Rock Stars

July 28, 2018August 20, 2018 Mike Nowak Dan Kosta, environment, gardening, KC Tomato, Morton Arboretum, native garden tour, Prairie State Bonsai Society, rain gardens, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show, The Spirited Gardener, tomato taste, Wild Ones West Cook

The Spirited Gardener Julia Bunn from the 6th annual GreenBuilt Home Tour has rain garden advice. Dan Kosta reports on the Prairie State Bonsai Society annual show. KC Tomato talks–what else?–tomatoes. Stephanie Walquist and Terry Guen preview the Wild Ones West Cook Native Garden Tour.

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SNAP SNAFU

July 21, 2018August 20, 2018 Mike Nowak Community Supported Fisheries, environment, Experimental Station, Farmers Markets, gardening, green living, Sitka Salmon Shares, SNAP, sustainability, The Green Divas, The Mike Nowak Show

Corey Chatman from the Experimental Station helps explain a potential issue concerning SNAP purchases at farmers markets across the country. Green Diva Meg talks about her new podcast at The Green Divas website. Dr. Nicolaas Mink of Sitka Salmon Shares addresses the challenges facing Community Supported Fisheries.

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The Budburst Challenge: Natives v. Nativars

July 14, 2018July 20, 2018 Mike Nowak butterflies, citizen scientists, environment, gardening, Kayri Havens, Laury Lewis, master gardener, phenology, pollinators, Project Budburst, Sheffield Music Festival and Garden Walk, sustainability, The Mike Nowak Show

Chicago Master Gardener Laury Lewis stops by the studio to preview the 50th Annual Sheffield Music Festival & Garden Walk and answer gardening questions. Kayri Havens and Jennifer Schwarz Ballard from Budburst at the Chicago Botanic Garden are looking for citizen scientists to participate in the Nativars Research Project.

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