Maintaining the lawn and garden with this smokey air and more!

·37 min·3 clips

Laura Irish Hanson explains whether wildfire smoke from Canada harms your garden plants.

The episode is a live Q&A session where host Denny Long interviews Laura Irish Hanson, a horticulture expert from the University of Minnesota. It begins with a question about how wildfire smoke affects plants, with Laura explaining that ash clogging is not a concern but ozone levels might be, though impacts are minimal. She then answers a series of listener-submitted questions via text and phone calls, covering topics such as when to stop fertilizing perennials and annuals, relocating milkweed for monarch butterflies, and dealing with black spots on gladiolus. Laura provides advice on using Roundup around trees, managing crabgrass and quackgrass, and pruning trees, noting emerging research on growing-season pruning. She discusses soil testing at the U of M, transplanting rhubarb, and issues with potting soil insects. The conversation includes details about the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's events, like the Honey Harvest, and resources like the Hort Shorts videos on YouTube. Later questions involve problems with marigolds, cucumber leaf spots, white powder on pine trees, and pepper flower drop. Laura explains pumpkin pollination, deadheading astilbe, compost weed seeds, and ornamental grass viewing times. She concludes with notes on mole removal, homemade weed killers, and fertilizing young Japanese yews, emphasizing soil testing and proper watering.

As heard by us

A useful August garden Q&A on smoky air, rhubarb, potting mix, and a brief Arboretum event note.

Smart Gardens uses a smoky August morning as the frame for a grounded, useful round of yard questions. Laura Irish-Hanson of the U of M responds to a listener worried about smoke and plants, then moves through two common midseason concerns: whether rhubarb can be dug and divided…

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Why you'd press play

You want calm garden counsel for smoky August weather, resilient rhubarb, and the occasional surprise in a bag of potting mix.

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