Whether we’re facing sub-freezing ice storms or sweltering droughts, North Carolina gardeners are invariably optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied—continually 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 gardening series—returns for its 22nd season beginning Saturday, April 2, at noon, only on UNC-TV. Encore presentations of each episode air Thursdays at 1:30 PM.

Whether you’re a late bloomer in the garden or a resident green thumb, Almanac Gardener’s all-new season addresses all of your growing concerns with 20 half-hour episodes full of the latest local gardening tips, techniques and insights. During each episode, experts from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service at North Carolina State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences join series host Mike Gray to assist viewers in exploring the dynamics of garden planning, maintenance and blooming innovation.

As the face of North Carolina’s popular perennial gardening program, Mike Gray has been sharing the best-kept secrets of master gardeners and horticultural experts from around the state for more than two decades. 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 viewers from seed to fruition.

This season, Almanac Gardener features expert panelists 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 garden vegetables from late frosts in the North Carolina mountains, learning lawn care tips in the Triangle, or uncovering the latest coastal composting tips, throughout the season Almanac Gardener travels from the state’s western hills to its eastern shores to help you reap the rewards of a well-sown garden in your own backyard.

Almanac Gardener will also focus on some of the timeliest topics facing both urban and rural gardeners. With episodes discussing backyard activities (Selecting Colorful Plants for Your Butterfly Garden;), garden maintenance and diversification (New Begonia Varieties), and growing healthy herbs and vegetables (Growing Spring Potatoes;) this year Almanac Gardener makes green thumbs out of everyone!

Episodes in April will feature:

April 2: Growing Spring Potatoes

April 9: Selecting Colorful Plants for Your Butterfly Garden

April 16: New Begonia Varieties

April 23: Selecting the Right Fertilizer

April 30: Growing Rosemary

Other features this season will include: Vermicomposting (composting with worms), Using Fertilizer Wisely, Renovating your Fescue Lawn, Growing Crinum
Lillies, An Old Southern Favorite, New Petunia Varieties, Xeriscaping (landscaping to conserve water), Controlling Carpenter Bees, Controlling Poison Ivy, Growing Sweet
Corn and much, much more.

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

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.

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