25th Anniversary Season Premieres Saturday, April 5, at Noon, Only on UNC-TV!
ALMANAC GARDENER RETURNS WITH DROUGHT-CONSCIOUS DIRECTION
AND BUSHELS OF TIMELY ADVICE FOR ALL NORTH CAROLINA GARDENERS

Despite facing another sweltering spring and summer drought, North Carolina gardeners are still looking forward to making their Southern landscapes grow better than ever before.  With these intrepid Tar Heels specifically in mind, Almanac Gardener—North Carolina’s only statewide home horticultural series—returns for a historic 25th  anniversary season, beginning Saturday, April 5, at noon, only on UNC-TV. Encore presentations of each episode air Sundays at 11:30 AM.

Over the course of 20 weeks, each half-hour episode of this historic Almanac Gardener season plants fertile ideas for growing even the driest garden green with segments featuring the latest local gardening tips, techniques and insights.  Specifically, the storied series focuses on helping home gardeners deal with the season’s dry conditions using Water Wise Gardening and weekly, water saving tips on such topics as: Permaculture…the No Waste Landscape, Building a Rain Barrel, Installing Cisterns, Using Recycled Water, Drip Irrigation, Drought Tolerant Plants for the Landscape, Water Saving Mulches, Building a Rain Garden, Controlling Storm Water Run Off and How Much Water Do Your Plants Really Need?

As the face of North Carolina’s popular perennial gardening program, long-time series host Mike Gray returns to share the best-kept secrets of master gardeners and horticultural experts from around the state. Whether he’s cultivating a window box of flowers, a backyard patch of vegetables, or an acre full of healthy grasses, Gray is a gardening guru who takes the toughest viewer questions and always provides insightful ideas and instruction—from seed to fruition. In every episode, experts from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service at North Carolina State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences join Gray’s green thumb to assist viewers in exploring the dynamics of garden planning, maintenance and blooming innovation.

Regular Almanac Gardener Extension panelists include:

• Karen Neill, Horticultural Agent, Guilford County;
• Linda Blue, Horticultural Agent, Buncombe County;
• Bill Lord, Environmental Agent, Franklin County;
• Lucy Bradley, Urban Horticultural Specialist, NCSU;
• Stephen Greer, Horticultural Agent, Forsyth County; and
• Susan Ruiz-Evans, Horticultural Agent, Dare County.                              

These Almanac Gardener Extension experts appear in a multitude of locales across the state, cultivating specific gardening techniques that are indigenous to North Carolina’s ever-changing climate. Whether you’re concerned with protecting fruits and vegetables from late frosts in the North Carolina mountains, learning lawn care tips in the Triangle, or uncovering the latest coastal composting tips, from April to August, Almanac Gardener travels from the state’s western hills to its eastern shores to help you reap the rewards of a well-sown spot in your own backyard.

Episodes in April and May 2008 include the following topics:

• Saturday, April 5, at noon: Drought Tolerant Plants for a Rock Garden
• Saturday, April 12, at noon: Proper Way to Plant a Tree
• Saturday, April 19, at noon: Use Less Water--Improve Your Soil
• Saturday, April 26, at noon: Growing Native Grasses
• Saturday, May 3, at noon: Permaculture...No Waste Gardening
• Saturday, May 10, at noon: Growing Hostas
• Saturday, May 17, at noon: Mulching; Save Water and Grow Healthy Plants
• Saturday, May 24, at noon: Jack in the Pulpit...Perfect Woodland Accent Plant
• Saturday, May 31, at noon: Backyard Playground...Kids in the Garden

Throughout the season, Almanac Gardener also focuses on other timely topics facing both urban and rural gardeners.  Further features this season include Using Native Stone in Your Landscape, Starting a Spring Vegetable Garden, Growing Mushrooms at Home, Growing Vegetables in Containers, Attracting Beneficial Insects, Pruning Trees, Building a Dry Stack Stone Wall, Starting Shrubs from Cuttings, The New Hanover Ability Garden, Gardening with Your Kids, Three Most Popular North Carolina Strawberry Varieties, and much more!

For more information about Almanac Gardener, please visit our website www.unctv.org/gardener. Viewers are also encouraged to visit the Almanac Gardener website throughout the season to test their gardening knowledge for a chance to win an official Almanac Gardener t-shirt!

Funding for Almanac Gardener is provided in part by Fafard/Wyatt-Quarles and Black Kow/Wyatt-Quarles. Almanac Gardener is part of UNC-TV’s ongoing commitment to producing programs for and about North Carolina.