Grumpy's Gripe Of The Week: A DIY Soil Tip

About This Episode

A reader needs advice for planting in their Zone. Grumpy shares his biggest gripe of the decade.

Question Of The Week

"Is heather a good plant for Richmond, Virginia, or is it too hot here in zone 7b?" - Ginger

Grumpy's Answer: Well, Ginger, that depends on the type of heather that you mean. If you're talking about Mexican heather, that's an annual or tender perennial that has pink, purple, or white flowers all summer. And it loves the heat and will do just fine. But if you're talking about Scotch heather, that's the low, evergreen shrub that adorns Scottish Highlands with pink and white and purple flowers in late summer and fall, forget about it. The Virginia heat will turn it into fried haggis – a disgusting pudding made up of ground sheep organs and suet. But if you're really into the Scottish heather, that is a plant that you need to plant in zones 5 and 6. Where we live here in Birmingham, we are in 8b, and in Richmond, you're in about 8a. So the Scottish heather is going to burn up.

Gripe Of The Week

My gripe of the week or actually it could even be of the decade or this century is this stupid, stupid gardening suggestion that I read on a stupid website that I won't name. It's one of those DIY tips, you know? And they said, "We have a really hard soil here. It's got a whole lot of clay in it, and it's hard to get things to grow. But here's something that's really, really easy to loosen up that soil." And you know what it is? Pour beer on your soil. Can you imagine pouring good beer on dirt?

So when you pour the beer, it goes down into the ground, and all those bubbles come up, they rise up out of that clay and break it apart and loosen the soil. So if you just happen to have a case of beer and you're trying to plant an azalea, you know, empty the whole case of beer. Can you imagine anything as stupid as that?

About Ask Grumpy

Ask Grumpy is a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener. For more than 30 years, Grumpy has been sharing advice on what to grow, when to plant, and how to manage just about anything in your garden. Tune in for short episodes every Wednesday and Saturday as Grumpy answers reader questions, solves seasonal conundrums, and provides need-to-know advice for gardeners with his very Grumpy sense of humor. Be sure to follow Ask Grumpy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss an episode.

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.