Mike Raley & Rufus Edmisten
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The WPTF Weekend Gardener is an award-winning radio talk show that has been on the air for over 40 years. Mike Raley has been the host since the show first aired in January of 1985, bringing expert gardening advice and fun conversation to listeners. Rufus Edmisten, former NC Secretary of State and Attorney General, has been a co-host for over 10 years, providing his unique insights and adding to the lively discussions. The Weekend Gardener is an evolution of The Tar Heel Gardener, a show that aired for 40 years and was hosted by North Carolina State University professor John H. Harris. Initially a 15...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
WPTF Weekend Gardener pairs usable plant advice with the local knowledge, humor and patient troubleshooting of a neighborhood garden bench.
WPTF Weekend Gardener turns practical plant questions into roomy, good-humored radio. Mike Raley and Rufus Edmiston move between callers and guests, giving advice while letting experience accumulate around each problem.
A dog gets implicated in a boxwood mystery, and your gardening questions are welcome too.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose garden hour that mixes practical advice, local banter, and grounded plant knowledge.
WPTF Weekend Gardener moves from slugs to mint to mountain greens with easy confidence, keeping the talk rooted in practical garden know-how and local memory. Rufus, Gerald, and Dr.
A loose gardening call-in hour that makes plant health feel practical, local, and lived-in.
Weekend Gardener moves like a loose, easy call-in hour, and it keeps circling back to plant health. MitoGrow, root growth, and listener questions all get folded into the same conversation, and the product mention lands best when it turns into plain talk about roots, the root…
A loose Saturday call-in that turns biostimulants and planting depth into practical porch talk.
This Saturday garden show keeps a full porch of voices in motion, with Chad Tyson's Mita-Gro discussion anchored in the kind of back-and-forth that makes practical advice feel grounded.
A conversational Raleigh garden segment built around winter prep, local produce, and market staples.
Weekend Gardener centers on the practical business of wintering a garden and making a thoughtful run through the farmer's market in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Winter bulb advice arrives in a conversational, local, and useful way.
WPTF Weekend Gardener is a loose, talkative hour built around practical bulb advice and familiar radio banter. Mike Raley and Johnny Coley keep it moving with calls, coffee talk, and the kind of side trips that wander into beer jokes, Irish coffee, and New Year greetings.
A cold-weather garden chat that stays practical and leaves room for uncertainty.
This episode keeps its feet on the ground. It moves from the cold snap and the plants that took a hit to a calm reminder that some perennials will pull through, and that practical turn gives the conversation real value.
A warm, wandering garden conversation with practical talk, local color, and a wreath-making thread.
Weekend Gardener feels like a loose, neighborly chat about ordinary yard life: peacocks in the spring, hydrangeas getting cut back and tried again year after year, and the hands-on work of turning greenery into wreaths.
A loose, local garden conversation where practical advice comes wrapped in family lore and dry humor.
WPTF Weekend Gardener settles into a familiar mix of garden know-how, family ties, and local memory. It moves from Clemson spineless and butter beans versus limas to the boxwood mystery linked to Moses, and the show feels most alive when it lets those details sit side by side…
Hosts Mike Raley and Rufus Edmonston welcome guest Nelson Cox, discussing his travels between beach and farm, setting up a gardening talk show.
A gardening advice radio show with expert tips and lively conversation.
Congressman Bob Etheridge warns that farm trouble "will catch up with you this fall and this winter when food prices go up," pointing to higher fuel and fertilizer costs.
The episode begins with a montage of station IDs and promos before the gardening talk show starts.
Hosts discuss garden sightings, rhododendrons, bulbs, and interact with members of the Chapel Hill Garden Club.
The hosts and guests discuss slug problems in Western Washington, wild gingers that trick pollinators, herb gardening tips like culantro, eggplant preparation for baba ghanoush, and the genetics of wild peppers, blending expert advice with personal anecdotes.
The episode features gardening advice on camellia blooming patterns, a deep dive into the MitoGrow product for plant health, and caller questions about persimmon tree issues, all hosted by Mike Raley with guests including Rufus Edmisten and Chad Tyson.
The episode features gardening advice, a discussion on the MitoGrow plant product, health tips from callers, and lively conversations about local farmer's markets and retirement activities, all wrapped in a nostalgic collage of WPTF's historical radio voices.
The hosts and guests discuss Mito-Gro, a biostimulant product, explaining its mycorrhizae-based science and practical applications for gardeners, while also addressing listener questions on plant care and drought conditions in North Carolina.
Host Mike Raley and guests Johnny Coley and Rufus Edmisten discuss winter gardening topics, including plant care experiments, seasonal blooms like winter sweet and hellebore, and personal anecdotes about pets and health.
In this episode, hosts Mike Raley and Johnny Coley, with guest Rufus Edmisten, discuss beekeeping in winter, soil testing for spring, wildflower planting techniques, and low-maintenance gardening tips.
Mike Raley and co-host Rufus Edmisten discuss winter gardening tips, including spinach cultivation challenges and camellia varieties, with guests like extension agent Johnny Coley and nursery owner Phil Campbell.
This episode of WPTF Weekend Gardener features conversations with State Auditor Dave Bolick about government accountability, callers sharing personal stories about former Governor Jim Hunt, and gardening experts discussing winter plants like bur oaks and unique species.
This episode of WPTF Weekend Gardener features NC State Auditor Dave Bolick discussing his office's use of AI for disaster recovery monitoring and upcoming audits, alongside gardening experts exploring topics like okra varieties, kale preferences, and plant disease management.
The hosts of WPTF Weekend Gardener share gardening tips, discuss chicken breeds and egg colors, and swap travel stories from Israel.
Host Mike Raley and co-host Rufus Edmisten introduce the gardening talk show, discussing their backgrounds and setting a friendly tone for expert advice.
Hosts Mike Raley and Rufus Edmisten chat with listeners about gardening, reminiscing about political figures.
The Weekend Gardener radio show features host Mike Raley and co-hosts discussing gardening topics, taking listener calls, and providing expert advice.
A radio talk show providing expert gardening advice and conversation, hosted by Mike Raley.
Host Mike Raley and co-host Rufus Edmisten welcome listeners and discuss peaches with a special guest.