PORTLAND – The founder and editor of a regional gardening magazine in North Yarmouth is branching out into television.

Paul Tukey, who has published People, Places & Plants since 1995, is no stranger to television, having dispensed gardening tips on a weekly segment of a news show on WCSH-TV, Portland. In March, he decided to try doing a television show of his own.

Producing and distributing the half-hour program himself, Tukey has gotten “People, Places and Plants: The Gardening Show” on 14 stations, including markets in Boston, Dallas and Washington, D.C.

Tukey’s co-host is Roger Swain, who spent 15 years as host of “The Victory Garden” on PBS. Tukey plans to do 26 episodes of the show this year and be on 20 stations by year’s end.

Tukey and Swain say their show will attract viewers because of its focus on the people behind lush gardens or intriguing garden centers. Most garden shows on TV, including the dozen or so now on cable, focus exclusively on the how-to aspects of gardening.

Tukey, 42, says the success of his magazine, with more than 100,000 circulation, helped him get the TV show off the ground. Also, he’s been able to get many of the advertisers in his magazine to advertise on the show. The stations that run the show also get to sell about three minutes’ worth of ads on the show, providing revenue for them.