SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 26, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Do you like to garden? I know I do.
I’ve managed to grow a garden no matter where I’ve lived during my TV career ─ whether it was back in Lima, Ohio starting out as a cub reporter, or in Indianapolis, where I found my first real success as a TV guy and could finally settle down and start a family.
Even against the crazy backdrop of 24-hour, non-stop news in Los Angeles, I managed to till a little soil, grow a few vegetables — and ultimately create a space where I could breathe, a sanctuary to collect my thoughts and leave the toil and worry of the TV news business behind, even if for just a few minutes each day.
It’s a tradition that lives on at my home in the Salt Lake Valley.
Every year about this time, as I feel the sap rise, I snap my imaginary suspenders, saunter out back and plan for a bumper crop from the Gephardt Garden.
There’s only one problem:
I kinda stink as a gardener.
Great crops one year. Famine the next.
Just when I think I’ve cracked the nut when it comes beefsteak tomato growing, I end up in the RAGU aisle shaking my head and asking what went wrong.
But the times, they are a changin,’ thanks to master gardener Leslie Woodmansee.
That’s right. Master gardener. That’s a thing that really exists, and Leslie is actually one of them.
She’s telling me what to do, how to do it and when to do it. She’s even getting a little help herding me from my border collie, Riley.
So if you like to garden — whether it’s for the food, or the fun, or a tiny bit of soul cleansing solitude — be sure and catch our weekly episode of Bill Gephardt’s Garden Adventure with Master Gardener Leslie Woodmansee.
Leslie knows her stuff.
To check out our introductory episode featuring “Master Tips for Garden Preps and Planning,” click on Episode 1.
If you have questions, drop us a line in the comment section or on Facebook. I’ll get back to you with an answer and some advice.
— Bill Gephardt
How awesome is Master Gardener Leslie? I do have a question that I have never been able to get a good answer for that satisfies both my husband and me. We have had Morning Glory (not the pretty flower, but the awful weed – I think it’s actually called bindweed) take over our tomato patch for the last two years. We thought we could keep up on it, but even with diligent weeding it overgrows the tomatoes and chokes them all out. My husband wants to kill everything with some sort of super strong, noxious weed killer and then till the soil and plant the tomatoes. I honestly really hate the idea of growing our tomatoes in all those chemicals and think it can’t be good for us. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for how to get rid of the bindweed either before or after the tomatoes have been planted? Thanks for any thoughts you may have.