‘Teaming With Microbes’ podcast: Mastering the introduction of native plants to your garden and lawn

This week the guys share tips on introducing native plants to your yard, garden, or meadow, including optimal planting locations and conditions for their growth.

Welcome to our weekly podcast with longtime Anchorage Daily News garden writer and author Jeff Lowenfels and co-host Jonathan White. It’s a companion to Jeff’s weekly ADN gardening columns and his popular series of books.

This week, Jeff and Jonathan celebrate the bountiful dandelions flourishing in Southcentral Alaska, prompting an important question: where do they originate?

They discuss how attitudes towards dandelions have evolved over the years and explore strategies to prevent their overgrowth.

Next, they share tips on introducing native plants to your yard, garden, or meadow, including optimal planting locations and conditions for their growth. For those in northern climates, Jeff recommends the book, ‘Wildflowers for Northern Gardens.’

Post-break, they discuss methods to identify plants, emphasizing that most mobile phones feature built-in AI plant identifiers.

Finally, they address a few listener questions.

Have a question? Ask Jeff and Jonathan at teamingwithmicrobes@me.com

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Sponsored by Number 2 Organics, Big Foot Microbes and Down to Earth Fertilizers

Hosts: Jeff Lowenfels and Jonathan White. Produced by Evan Phillips.

This podcast is a collaboration between the hosts and Anchorage Daily News.

Feedback: teamingwithmicrobes@me.com

Read Lowenfels’ weekly columns on gardening and growing at ADN.com.

Read Jeff’s books: “Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web,” “Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition,” “Teaming with Fungi: The Organic Grower’s Guide to Mycorrhizae,” among others.


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Listen to previous episodes:


Jeff Lowenfels

Jeff Lowenfels has written a weekly gardening column for the ADN for more than 45 years. His columns won the 2022 gold medal at the Garden Communicators International conference. He is the author of a series of books on organic gardening available at Amazon and elsewhere. He co-hosts the "Teaming With Microbes" podcast.

Jonathan White

Jonathan White is the co-host, with Jeff Lowenfels, of the "Teaming with Microbes" podcast. He's an Anchorage small business owner, gardener and former journalist.