RadioGarden: The Best Garden Podcast Period

If you haven't checked out Andrew Key's RadioGarden, my friend, you are missing out.  Andrew Keys wears many hats in the gardening world: designer, writer, entrepreneur, and blogger.  Andrew has made gardening hip for the iPod generation.  I had already been following his witty blog Garden Smackdown, when I saw that he was starting a radio podcast for Horticulture Magazine.

This peaked my interest.  For years, I've been searching for a GOOD garden podcast to pass the time while I do my studio work.  But it's slim pickings in the garden podcast world.  The vast majority of them are overly polite how-to's (today's episode: how to prune hydrangeas); or call in shows where every other caller wants to know what they can plant that will withstand dog pee.  Mind numbing stuff.

RadioGarden is a breath of fresh air.  In an era where garden media is dominated by "garden celebrities" like P. Allen Smith (trademark!) and corporate sponsorships from Scotts/Miracle-Gro, Andrew Keys is the antidote.  Fresh, witty, and real, Andrew tells stories about the intersection of plants and people.  Inspired by Ira Glass' This American Life, Andrew's show exposes the real connections between people and the gardens they love.  There's no pretension here.  Just good, raw storytelling told with a journalist's eye for detail and a poet's sensibility. 

Andrew has produced four quality episodes so far.  The only question is: can Andrew keep it up with all his other commitments and interests?  I certainly hope so.  It's time for this show to go big time.

You can listen yourself right here on Horticulture Magazine's website.  Or download the podcasts from iTunes.