at Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, PA, it's time for another garden decimating episode of chemical free horticultural hijinks, You Bet Your Garden.

I'm your host, Mike McGrath.

Are pest mammals like groundhogs and raccoons making your garden miserable?

On today's show, we'll reveal what you can and legally can't do about them.

Plus, why you should never flush cat or dog waste, and your fabulous phone call questions, comments, tips, tricks, suggestions and non sensibly nuanced notifications.

So keep your eyes and/or ears right here, cats and kittens, because it's coming up faster than groundhogs hopefully packing their own bags, because you're not allowed to pack them, right after this.

- Support for You Bet Your Garden is provided by the Espoma company, offering a complete selection of natural organic plant foods and potting soils.

More information about Espoma and the Espoma natural gardening community can be found at espoma.com.

- Well, they haven't caught on to me yet, so welcome to yet another thrilling episode of You Bet Your Garden from the studios of Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem.

I am your host, Mike McGrath.

Coming up later in the show, we have a great Question of the Week that's mostly listener replies to our episodes on groundhogs, and we're going to throw raccoons in there for free.

All right, that's a lot to get done.

We better hop, hop like a bunny, to your fabulous phone calls at 888 492 9444.

Ron!

Welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Thank you.

Nice to be on with you.

- Well, thank you, Ron, how are you doing?

- Doing fine, thank you.

- And where is Ron doing fine?

- I live in Wilmington, Delaware.

- OK, very good.

What can we do you for, sir?

- Well, I've been having problems with my strawberry patch.

I seem to have bugs of some kind.

As soon as the berries start to ripen, why, something starts eating at them.

They don't seem to bother them until they start to ripen.

And I did, at a suggestion, I did put out some trays with beer, but thinking maybe they were slugs, but they didn't seem to take to any of the trays that I had put out.

- OK, well, that's... - I didn't catch any slugs.

- Right.

Well, that's a good process of elimination.

What's the possibility that mice are able to access the strawberries?

- They could access them, but I don't think so because we have a outdoor cat and she is pretty good about things like that, of keeping up with the fields around us.

- OK, great.

Describe the damage to me.

- Well, it would be like they would eat or peck at the end of the berries.

Sometimes as much as half of the berry itself would be eaten away when I would check the crop in the morning.

The other concern I have is that the berries often, at this time anyway, seem to fall on because of the weight of the berry on the vine or on the plant tend to dip down onto the soil.

And sometimes I think bugs get the strawberry at that point, too.

- It makes access much easier.

Are you growing them in a container, flat ground or a raised bed?

- Flat ground.

- OK, I think you're working against yourself there.

Protecting ripe strawberries can be very difficult compared to the other fruits.

You know, raspberries grow at the top of canes, blueberries, grow at the top of the plant, but the strawberries are just lying there.

I mean, you might as well have a sign, eat at Joe's.

So what I'm going to suggest, if you can still find plants, I would get a nice container.

You know, they do...

The reason you see strawberry pods in garden centers is because it really keeps the fruit clean and keeps pests off of them.

No matter what the pest is, they have to go to work to get to them.

So I would say get a nice big container and see if you can find some everbearing plants that are still around.

And then you should get strawberries this year.

But I think you got to stop growing them on the ground, especially if it's flat ground.

You can try fencing around it, but that could be voles, as well.

But I think the answer is it's just a plant that doesn't do well growing on the ground because it's too attractive.

So grow in a strawberry pot and other type of container and I think you'll be able to eat your strawberries for a change.

All right, man?

- OK.

I appreciate it.

- My pleasure.

- Thank you.

- Good luck to you, sir.

- Thank you.

- Bye-bye.

- All right.

Bye.

At 888 492 9444, Justin, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hi, Mike.

How are you?

- Oh, I'm just Ducky!

Thanks for asking, Justin.

How are you doing and where are you?

- I'm also Ducky and I'm in Abbington.

- What can we do you for?

- I moved into my house three years ago and it came beautifully landscaped, there's these two dwarf Alberta spruces is right in front of the house, and I've never had any issues with them until this year.

I started noticing on both of them some browning and dying, kind of all around.

No pattern to it.

Just haphazardly.

- Not just at the bottom?

- No, it's kind of all of them.

Both of them on the back side.

I guess it might be worse on the bottom.

- OK, so unless you have done something wrong... Are they mulched?

Do you feed them?

Are they growing near a treated lawn?

- No, no to both.

- Well then, your problem, although not really curable, is very common.

Evergreens are very susceptible to browning out on areas that they don't get full sun, which is why the best-looking evergreens you see are open on all sides, not against a wall, like I'm guessing your trees are correct.

- Correct.

- Yeah.

Yeah, that would make sense for the way they're facing, I guess.

- And how long have they been in the ground and how tall are they?

- They're probably about three feet high.

I don't know when they were planted, but when I moved in, the tags were on them, so I guess they must have been fairly recent at that point.

- Yeah.

And are both of them...?

You said you got two of them, right?

- Yes.

- And are they both in the same kind of situation where they get no sun on one side?

- Correct.

- Well, I think it's not your fault, it's what we call a cultural problem, like opera and my show.

You don't have many choices here.

You could try to move them into the center of the yard.

But I doubt that the brown parts are going to re-green.

I have one of these trees as well, and I've been growing it in a container, believe it or not, and not a really suitable container for a tree.

I got it as, like, a temporary Christmas addition to everything else two or three years ago.

But it has survived fabulously and I just love it.

The needles are so soft, it has a natural conical shape.

So what I might suggest is you take them out, if you want to try to plant them somewhere where they get full sun or you have an area where you can put them where the public can't stare at them, and then replace them with something that really does well against the side of a house.

Oh, God, forsythia, you'd have to prune it every spring, but it doesn't care where it gets its sun.

Hydrangeas, actually.

I have hydrangeas that do very well, but I think it was just the wrong plant in the wrong place.

And again, not your fault.

These plants do great in full sun from all sides.

So if you really liked the plants, and I certainly wouldn't blame you, get another one and plant it, you know, further away from the house, where it gets some sun at the bottom and on the back side.

- All right.

Thanks.

- You are welcome.

Thank you.

And good luck, sir.

Number to call 888 492 9444.

Roger, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hi, Mike.

How are you?

- I am just Ducky!

Thanks for asking, Roger.

Ducky's getting a lot of attention these days.

I think he got a better contract than I did.

All right.

Where is Roger?

- I am in Bordentown, New Jersey.

- OK, the Garden State.

And what can we do for you, sir?

- I've been struggling the last few years with...

I have creeping juniper where there's been kind of a viney weed.

I did a little bit of research and it appears to be something called GROUND ivy.

- Oh, OK. - And no matter how much I pull it out, yeah... - So ground ivy... - Doesn't matter how much I pull it out, it just keeps coming out.

Ground ivy, it doesn't look like ivy, right?

It's creeping Charlie.

- Yes, yes.

Yes.

Little purple flowers.

- Yes.

And they're beautiful.

They were actually...

This plant was used as a ground cover.

And then escaped into the non wild, so creeping charlie, ground ivy, over the ground, this plant has a number of different names.

How much space do your low growing junipers take up?

- It's probably like a five by ten foot area.

- OK, now, have you tried soaking the soil, just saturate it and then slowly pulling the creeping charlie out?

- I tried a couple of different things like that.

And along with that, what I decided this year was to let it grow a little bit more so the plants were a little bit sturdier.

And I did, like you just said, after watering it, got a little bit more success with getting some of the roots up.

- Oh, yeah.

No, not just watering.

I mean soak that area.

The wetter the soil, the more you can slowly pull where the vine enters the ground and get all of it.

And it doesn't sound like that big an area.

And if you get it under control early in the season, it won't set seed.

I want you to get out there and saturate the area, find where the vine is coming out of the ground and gingerly get it out.

If the plants have already set seed, you're probably going to have to do this again.

If you get it while it's still just flowering, you may be done.

If you think it's setting seed, you may want to get a flame weeder and flame the flowers so that you destroy the seeds.

And there's also a tool you can use.

It's called a water-powered weeder.

And as far as I know, it is only available from one source, which is Lee Valley Tools.

But it's great, you attach it to your hose.

It's a very long stick-like thing and it has a trigger.

And you find where the... ..where the weed is entering the ground, you stick the point of this thing down, you pull the trigger and a laser-like beam of water goes and, honestly, just clears the area around the root system.

And then it's your game to lose.

You know, after they've gone through that and soaking, they should be very easy to remove.

- OK.

Sounds good.

- All right, sir?

All right, thank you very much.

- OK.

Thank you very much.

- Bye-bye.

- Bye-bye.

1 888 492 9444.

Ally, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hi.

Thank you.

Thank you for taking my call.

- Well, thank you for making it, Ally.

How are you today?

- I am well, thank you.

And you?

- I'm just Ducky!

Thanks for asking.

Where is Ally well?

Where do you live?

- I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Oh, right!

What can we do for Ally in Montreal?

- Well, our lawn has been slowly getting browner in patches and we thought it's just the normal not enough water, but it's getting bigger, the patches.

So our neighbor said it might be chinch bugs, so we did that test with the filling up the can with water.

And we did see those little tiny things floating in there.

- Ally, let me stop you right there, because this is not a common problem and I want to explain to the people watching and listening, I don't even know exactly how to pronounce the name of this pest.

I know it's spelled c h i n c h. So it's the "chintz" bug, the "kintz" bug, something like that.

And it's a tiny little insect that can do a tremendous amount of damage to lawns.

And the test that you referred to, you get a big coffee can and cut off both ends and sink it in the ground and fill it with water, keep the water there, and they will float to the surface to try to not drown.

- That's what we did.

- OK. Who cuts your lawn?

- We do it ourselves.

- OK, and how high is it when you're done cutting it?

- It's not too short.

We try not to cut too short.

- OK, so here's what I want you to do.

I want you to go out with a ruler and measure the height of your grass.

If it is lower than three inches, I want you to cut it higher.

See, because just like you explained, these are creatures that want it hot and dry.

And by mowing at the correct height, which for a cool season grass, which I presume you have, is three to three and a half inches.

That will shade the surface of the soil and make it less pleasant for them to live there.

The direct for of these creatures would be beneficial nematodes.

If you have a really hip independent garden center near you, they may carry them.

Otherwise you mail order, you find them on the internet, and you water them in at dusk.

Now it'll be a very small package, but that small package is going to contain 50 to 100 million beneficial nematodes.

So, it's very low tech.

You put them in a watering can or a big bucket and apply them to the area where the damage is in the early evening.

They're very sensitive to heat and drought.

So this is a case where you would water the area well up front then water the beneficial nematodes in, and they will seek out and destroy all of the little cinch bugs that are in there.

Totally nontoxic, won't harm anything else.

If you have some grubs hanging out, they'll eat them, too.

But that's your best answer, and I think you already know you have to come up with a scheme to keep this area watered during dry times at the height of summer.

But I also think that raising the cutting height on your mower is going to be a tremendous help.

- OK, great.

All right.

Good luck.

- Thank you so much.

Yes.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

Bye-bye.

As promised, it is time for the Question of the Week, which we're calling Update On Groundhog And Raccoon Woes: The People Speak!

As you may recall from a recent thrilling episode, we answered, or tried to answer, a listener with groundhog issues.

She had hired professional trappers and they had captured a few.

But at 175 bucks per woodchuck, the trappers had also captured a possum and a raccoon.

And I warned that while possums are kind of beneficial, as they eat mice and rats, raccoons are anything but beneficial.

They are a prime vector for rabies, and their fecal material is tremendously dangerous to humans and pets, as it contains numerous disease and parasitic organisms, including roundworm.

How lovely.

Now, I told our listener that she should have had the captured raccoon professionally euthanized, as moving it somewhere else would only give other people the problem or cause the raccoon to suffer a long and painful death, as relocated mammals never do well.

And relocation is also illegal in many states, as frequent listener and show helper Tom in Nazareth, PA reminded us.

He writes: Well, thank you.

But I did know.

However, that call was filled with several very useful diversions and I didn't have time to mention it,.

OK, I also forgot.

Tom added this advice from the PA Game Commission: They then suggest fencing, which is usually ineffective against excellent climbers - like groundhogs and raccoons - unless the fence is built correctly.

That means the bottom part of the fence has to be buried one or two feet in the ground all around the garden, the middle support of the fence is supported with stakes - supported - and the top foot is unsupported and bent outward to act as a baffle.

Go out and watch them fall down when they hit that.

They continue, the PA Game Commission, with live traps which, quote, have a cage with closing door design and come in a variety of sizes.

These traps are ideal for residential areas because if you accidentally catch the neighbor's pet by mistake, all you have to do is open the door to release the kitty cat from the trap.

However, anyone who sets one of these traps must recognize that it has the potential to catch something other than what they were hoping, especially skunks.

The problem, of course, is what do you do with the skunk?

It's liable to spray just about anyone who comes near the trap, even if the person is just trying to set it free.

We continue quoting - Since skunks as well as raccoons, groundhogs, foxes and coyotes are rabies vector species, that means they cannot be relocated like other wildlife.

Homeowners who set traps and catch these species may think they face the choice of killing the animal or releasing it.

But in addition to being prohibited and a bad idea, releasing a skunk or a raccoon can also be a risky situation.

There's a chance that you could be sprayed by the skunk and bitten or scratched by the skunk or raccoon.

End quote.

If you are scratched or bitten, you need to see a communicable disease specialist A.S.A.P.

Rabies is a very nasty disease.

And again, I want to emphasize that it is illegal and a bad idea to release any of these creatures in most states.

It's a bad idea even in states that don't outlaw it.

I strongly recommend that captured creatures be professionally euthanized by a vet or a professional trapper.

Oh, and good luck if it is a skunk, cats and kittens!

A bath in tomato juice seems to work best if you get sprayed.

I know that for sure.

But you should also plan to set up a tent in the backyard, because that's where you're going to be living for the next week or so.

Back to groundhogs, and my advice to pour used kitty litter down their holes after removing the feces and flushing or trashing it, well, Jill in wild and wonderful West Virginia set me straight on that piece of advice.

First of all, she says: Well, thank you, Jill.

Keep talking to your mom.

By the way, I also suggested throwing the feces in the trash.

So do I at least get time off for good behavior?

Well, that sure was some interesting information about the legal rights of groundhogs and raccoons, now, wasn't it?

Luckily for yous, the Question of the Week appears in print at the Gardens Alive website.

To read it over in detail, just click the link for the Question of the Week at our website, which is still and will forever be: Gardens Alive supports the You Bet Your Garden Question of the Week and you will always find the latest Question of the Week at the Gardens Alive website - unless I forget to send it to them.

You Bet Your Garden is a half hour public television show, an hour long public radio show and podcast, all produced and delivered to you weekly by Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, PA. Our radio show is distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.

You Bet Your Garden was created by Mike McGrath.

Mike McGrath was created by the comedy team of Burns and Schreiber.

Yikes!

My producer is threatening to drop his raccoons off at my place if I don't get out of this studio.

Whoo!

We must be out of time.

But you can call us any time at 888 492 9444.

Or, yes, send us your email, your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse teeming towards our garden shore at: Please include your location, and no funny stuff like I'm in the front yard, the kitchen.

OK?

You'll find all of this contact information at our website, which you must know by now is youbetyourgarden.org, where you'll also find answers to hundreds - hundreds!

- of your garden questions, audio of this show, video of this show and our peerless podcast.

I'm your host, Mike McGrath.

There's no rain today again, so I'm setting the alarm for 6am so that I can go out and run through the sprinkler, putter around the garden and then run inside when it gets really hot so I can see you all again next week.