⚠️ Gentle Warning: This episode contains mild adult humor, gardening innuendo, repeated use of the word “moist,” and an emotionally intense relationship with mulch. Listener discretion advised.

Hi Friends! It’s hot. It snowed yesterday. The tomatoes are confused. So are we. It’s Spring 2026 and gardening has officially become a survival skill.

This spring on Upside Down Tulips, we dive headfirst into drought gardening during one of the weirdest weather years yet. Denver Water restrictions are here, mulch has become a personality trait, and apparently California uses giant floating shade balls to reduce evaporation? Neither did we. Gardening remains weird.

Edith somehow achieved basil immortality. Christy finally turned her compost pile and found inner peace. We discuss emergency tomato-cage frost blankets, boiling water tricks for surprise freezes, and ask the important question: Why can’t we grow spinach and peas anymore?!

Then we dig into practical and surprisingly hopeful ways to garden during drought — from smarter watering and drip irrigation to xeriscaping, hydrozoning, compost, mulch and shade cloth. We share how to water less but smarter, why mulch is basically therapy for soil, which veggies can actually handle the heat, and how to keep your containers from turning into tiny terracotta ovens. Plus: why your tomatoes may need shade, and why your soil desperately needs a weighted blanket.

PLUS:

• terrible jokes & bad gardening puns
• strange weather stories
• a possible dystopian “Letter from the Future” from the mail bag
• a new dramatic mulch podplay because apparently this is who we are now

So grab your soaker hose, aggressively spread some mulch and join us for a funny, heartfelt and practical summer episode full of dirt, drought and determination.

And remember: When in doubt… mulch it!

Oh — and yes… There may be an Easter egg after the credits.

Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch!

Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary

Learn How to Winter Sow!

Don't Know Your Zone? Find it HERE

Find Your Last and First Frost Date

The garden world can feel a little upside down these days — so this week we bring you a whole episode of Stranger Garden News!

First, we catch up on the strange happenings in our own gardens. What happened to winter? What are we growing inside? And why are some things still happily growing outside like the calendar means nothing?

Then we dig into some of the most hopeful — and occasionally bizarre — garden stories from around the world. Turns out there’s a lot of strange and wonderful news sprouting out there.

In this episode we share stories about:

• The hot new seed-starting trend: snail roll gardening • What in the world RFK Jr., Monsanto, and gardening have to do with each other • The strange things people discover hiding in their gardens • How Brazilian farmers are replacing nitrogen fertilizer with microbes • Garden hacks involving plastic forks, diapers, and cinnamon (yes, really) • The latest hopeful news about the monarch butterfly population • And what new seeds we’re tempted to try this year

Of course we also have pod plays! This week we bring back the fan favorite Stranger Garden Things — plus a brand-new installment.

And we’ll visit the Mail Bag (Ring! Ring!) and share a little garden inspiration to remind us why we keep planting — even though it is technically still winter.

So grab a seed catalog, pull up next to your favorite houseplant, and join us for an episode full of laughs, dirt, and a little good news from the garden.

So grab a seed catalog, pull up to your favorite houseplant and join us for a hopeful episode full of laughs, dirt, and a little good news from the garden.

Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch!

Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary

Learn How to Winter Sow!

Don't Know Your Zone? Find it HERE

Find Your Last and First Frost Date

You asked for it and its back! Two brand new Who Killed Rosemary pod plays. Find out where Misty Contour is at with the mysterious death of Edith's Rosemary.

In the garden, we are slowly sliding from fall to winter and now is the time for reflection on:

The Good

The Bad

And…

The Ugly! Including a very ugly letter for the mailbag

ENJOY!

Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch!

Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary

Learn How to Winter Sow!

Don't Know Your Zone? Find it HERE

Find Your Last and First Frost Date