Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home Gardening

If you were gardening in 2020 you likely remember the shortage of seeds that happened when the world shut down and suddenly everybody was growing a garden. Many seed companies were overwhelmed with the influx of orders and that shortage continued into the 2021 season. There’s nothing more disappointing than to peruse a beautiful seed catalog and make out your list of favorites to grow, only to be told the company is sold out.

Enter seed saving. If you grow heirloom or open-pollinated varieties, you can avoid this problem all together by saving your own seeds. Not only is it cost effective but often times you are creating a stronger strain that is going to work particularly well in your garden each subsequent year because the parent plant has been exposed to, and survived, everything your climate can throw at it.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re digging into why we should add seed saving to our list of garden tasks, even if it isn’t for every variety we grow in our garden. We’ll talk about the practice of saving seeds, including plant selection and pollination control, and go step-by-step into how to extract, clean, dry, and store those precious commodities to be sure we have plenty of options for our gardens for years to come. Let’s dig in.

Episode Resources:

Plan Like a Pro is open for fall registration! Get started here:

Plan Like A Pro | Just Grow Something with Karin Velez

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Ep. 63 - Proper Seed Storage: Moisture levels, storage conditions, containers, and more

Chart of Seed Viability and Simple Seed Germination Test

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On this Focal Point Friday, we go back to Episode 101 and talk about three important things to consider when starting plants for the fall garden: germination time, days to maturity, and harvest window.

Episode Resources:

Ep. 101 - How to Prepare and What to Grow in Your Fall Garden

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Succession planting gets a lot of attention in the early part of the season when we’re fresh and the garden is new, and we're not beat down by weather or pests or diseases or the endless pulling of weeds. But we often forget about it toward the hottest part of the year. This is why having a garden plan that goes from spring all the way through to fall and even into winter helps, because it’s laid out for us and it doesn’t require thought, just effort.

Succession planting is a really valuable technique for us to ensure a continuous harvest throughout the summer and into the fall. By staggering plantings of certain crops, we can extend the growing season and maximize our yields. Today we talk about some important things we need to know specifically about summer succession planting, what crops are most suitable to a late succession, timing, techniques, and how to use intercropping with your succession planting to make the most of the space you have. Let’s dig in!

Episode Links:

Just Grow Something Fall Garden Challenge Registration

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When we're talking about fall gardening, it's important to know what grows well in our area at that time of the season so we can better plan. Let's chat about the factors that go into deciding what to grow in the fall garden and my top five picks for your USDA Hardiness Zone, from Zone 1 to Zone 13.

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If you’ve never grown a fall garden, you are missing out. There seems to be so much less insect and disease pressure with a fall garden. The weather seems to be a bit more predictable, too, even if it is still hot when we get started.

This doesn’t mean the fall garden is fool-proof, but it does mean that many of us get a second chance or sort of “redo” of our spring crops. If there were things that didn’t grow well for us that we’d like to try again, fall is often a great time to do that. If there were things that grew fantastically well and we want more, fall is a great time for that, too. It’s also a time to get things going that will overwinter in the garden if our climate is mild enough or if we can employ some extra protection measures.

On today’s episode of Just Grow Something we’re going to run down the things we should be considering in the garden as we move into fall. The time to do these is now; many colder areas get shorted when it comes to summer gardening and the earlier we can plan and prepare the better off we are. And stick with me until the end and I’ll tell you all about my Fall Garden Planning Challenge. Let’s dig in!

Episode Resources:

Fall Garden Planning Challenge - Sign Up Here!

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If you're in an area that is facing a drought this summer, like I am, you might be thinking of ways to combat it in the garden. Enter the rain barrel!

Home gardeners often use rain barrels to collect rainwater from roofs as a supplement to summer irrigation. Rainwater is a natural and unchlorinated water source for plants, but rooftop runoff can be contaminated by chemical and biological pollutants.

Today we talk about the practicality of rain barrels, possible contaminants and where they come from, and how to safely use rain barrel water in the garden. Let's dig in!

Resources and Citations:

Chang, M., M.W. McBroom, and R.S. Beasley. 2004. Roofing as a Source of Nonpoint Water Pollution. Journal of Environmental Management 73: 307–315.

Chen, J.J., R.C. Beeson, Jr., T.H. Yeager, R.H. Stamps, and L.A. Felter. 2003. Evaluation of Captured Rainwater and Irrigation Runoff for Greenhouse Foliage and Bedding Plant Production. HortScience 38(2): 228–233

de Kwaadsteniet, M., P.H. Dobrowsky, A. van Deventer, W. Khan, and T.E. Cloete. 2013. Domestic Rainwater Harvesting: Microbial and Chemical Water Quality and Point-Of-Use Treatment Systems. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 224(7).

Lim, K.Y., and S.C. Jiang. 2013. Reevaluation of Health Risk Benchmark for Sustainable Water Practice through Risk Analysis of Rooftop-Harvested Rainwater. Water Research 47(20): 7273–7286.

Shuster, W.D., D. Lye, A. de la Cruz, L.K. Rhea, K. O’Connell, and A. Kelty. 2013. Assessment of Residential Rain Barrel Quality and Use in Cincinnati, Ohio. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 49(4): 753–765.

POTENTIAL CONTAMINANTS IN RESIDENTIAL RAIN BARREL WATER (HOME GARDEN SERIES), Washington State University Extension

100-Year-Old Way to Filter Rainwater in a Barrel - The Prepper Journal

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Is eating ultra-processed foods associated with depression, anxiety, memory problems, and trouble reasoning? An article I read in early May took me down a research rabbit hole and there are a lot of recent studies that say just that: 60% of the American diet is ultra-processed foods and they are causing mental health issues and cognitive decline.
Today we're digging into the data and uncovering what defines ultra-processed foods, how much it affects our mental health, and to what extent.
Resources and Citations:

How Eating Ultraprocessed Foods Can Affect Your Mental Health - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Characterizing Ultra-Processed Foods by Energy Density, Nutrient Density, and Cost - PubMed (nih.gov)

Nutrients | Free Full-Text | The Healthfulness of the US Packaged Food and Beverage Supply: A Cross-Sectional Study (mdpi.com)

Current Intake of Ultra-Processed Foods in the U.S. Adult Population According to Education-Level and Income | Current Developments in Nutrition | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

Cross-sectional examination of ultra-processed food consumption and adverse mental health symptoms - PubMed (nih.gov)

Association Between Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods and Cognitive Decline | Dementia and Cognitive Impairment | JAMA Neurology | JAMA Network

Diet and depression: exploring the biological mechanisms of action | Molecular Psychiatry (nature.com)

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There are few things that taste like summer quite like cantaloupe or watermelon. These hydrating favorites can sometimes be a little mystifying for new gardeners to grow. And what's the difference between a crenshaw and a canary melon?

On today’s episode, we’re digging into all things melon. What does it take to grow them, can they cross-pollinate, and what’s the trick to picking a truly ripe watermelon? Let's Dig in!

Episode References and Citations:

Wasylikowa, Krystyna; van der Veen, Marijke (2004). "An archaeobotanical contribution to the history of watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai (syn. C. vulgaris Schrad.)". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 13 (4): 213–217. doi:10.1007/s00334-004-0039-6. ISSN 0939-6314. JSTOR 23419585. S2CID 129058509.

Paris, Harry S. (August 2015). "Origin and emergence of the sweet dessert watermelon, Citrullus lanatus". Annals of Botany. 116 (2): 133–148. doi:10.1093/aob/mcv077. PMC 4512189. PMID 26141130.

Strauss, Mark (21 August 2015). "The 5,000-Year Secret History of the Watermelon". National Geographic News.

"Cantaloupe". Oxford English Dictionary. 2016.

Marion Eugene Ensminger; Audrey H. Ensminger (1993). "Cantaloupe". Foods & Nutrition Encyclopedia (2nd Edition, Volume 1 ed.). CRC Press. pp. 329–331. ISBN 084938981X.

Melons: Cantaloupe, Muskmelon, Honeydew, Crenshaw, Casaba, etc. | College of Agricultural Sciences (oregonstate.edu)

Watermelon | College of Agricultural Sciences (oregonstate.edu)

Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides – Watermelon Growing Guide

Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides – Melon Growing Guide

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It's hot and your plants look awful! Extreme heat can mean extreme responses from our gardens. Let's spend a few minutes talking about what's normal, what we should and shouldn't be doing, and how we can help when needed to help the summer garden get through a heat wave.

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Today we’re talking specific tasks we need to perform in the garden to get our best yield and to keep the harvest going through to fall. Unfortunately, our gardens are not “set and forget it” kind of things. We can’t just put the plants out there and come back in six weeks and expect to harvest. And as the days heat up and summertime events take over it can be tempting to skip some of these things in favor of other more fun activities.

We’re going to run down the list of eight things we need to be paying attention to as the gardening season moves on in order to keep things running smoothly. Any one of these by themselves can be critical to our garden success but I would say the first three are the most vital in my experience. And I’ll be upfront about how difficult this can be when it’s hot and sweaty and dusty and dry and the pool is calling your name which is why having a checklist in front of you of weekly tasks can help get you in the garden and done so you can enjoy the rest of your summer activities knowing your garden is well-tended. Let’s dig in!

Episode Links:

Four Ways to Use Less Water in the Garden

Ep. 134 - Soil Texture and Composition: How it affects water and nutrients in the garden and how to know what type you have

Types of Mulch for the Garden

Benefits of using compost as mulch in your garden.

Ep. 55 - Identifying Insects in the Garden

Companion Planting and Trap Crops for Insect Control

Ep. 99 - Eight Common Tomato Diseases: Identification, Prevention, and Treatment

Ep. 18 - Garden Talk Tuesday: Plant Nutrients and Why You Need to Know Them

Ep. 22 - Garden Talk Tuesday: Plant Nutrient Deficiencies and Toxicity

Identifying Nutrient Deficiencies in Your Garden Plants

Indicators of Nutrient Toxicity in Garden Plants

What To Do If Your Plants Show Signs of Nutrient Deficiency (Or Toxicity) Buy One Get One Free from Elm Dirt: Use Code WOLFCREEK

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The description on just about every seed packet or plant tag usually says something along the lines of, this plant “likes fertile, well-draining soil, with lots of organic matter.” The fertility part we likely understand, and we talk about soil organic matter all the time around here. But what about well-draining soil? What does that mean, how do we know if we have it, and what do we do if we don’t? If our soil isn’t well-draining are we destined to only garden in planters where we can completely control the soil? Can we create well-draining soil in our containers or can we modify our existing soil to make it well draining?

We know the soil we are gardening in is one of the biggest building blocks for a healthy plant and, therefore, a healthy harvest. What are the possible consequences for not having well-draining soil? How does it affect the plants? We are getting into all of that today including, step by step, how to test any soil in any location to see exactly how well it drains. Let’s dig in!

Episode Resources:

Ep. 136 - Filling New Raised Beds

Ep. 134 - Soil Texture and Composition: How it affects water and nutrients in the garden and how to know what type you have

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New research from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health shows that childhood exposure to glyphosate is linked to liver inflammation and metabolic disorder in early adulthood, which could lead to liver cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease later in life.

Thousands of people have filed lawsuits against Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, and its parent company, Bayer, claiming that exposure to glyphosate caused them to develop cancer.

Levels of glyphosate found in our foods have always been within the Environmental Protection Agency’s "regulatory safe levels", but all the prior research was focused on cancer risk. What about liver and metabolic syndromes? Other health risks?

Today's episode explores new findings and continuing research in this area.

Episode Resources:

IARC Monographs Volume 112: evaluation of (who.int)

Roundup ingredient found in Cheerios, Quaker Oats, and other cereals | Fox Business

Association of Lifetime Exposure to Glyphosate and Aminomethylphosphonic Acid (AMPA) with Liver Inflammation and Metabolic Syndrome at Young Adulthood: Findings from the CHAMACOS Study | Environmental Health Perspectives | Vol. 131, No. 3 (nih.gov)

Looking beyond Cancer: Glyphosate and Liver, Metabolic Diseases in Youth | Environmental Health Perspectives | Vol. 131, No. 5 (nih.gov)

Childhood exposure to common herbicide may increase the risk of disease in young adulthood - UC Berkeley Public Health

Kids’ glyphosate exposure linked to liver disease and metabolic syndrome - EHN

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On today’s episode we go over the basics of growing okra, including preferred temperatures and conditions that are key to its success, and discuss ways to work around some of those preferences to get yourself a crop even in a short season or difficult climate. You can most certainly grow this southern favorite in a cooler climate with a shorter season with just a few tricks!

Episode Resources:

Vegetables. Wageningen, Netherlands: Backhuys. 2004. p. 21. ISBN 9057821478.

"Okra, or 'Gumbo,' from Africa". Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M University. http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/vegetabletravelers/okra.html

"Colonial Food In Philadelphia - 1883 Words | Internet Public Library". 

Okra - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Okra: Nutrition, benefits, and recipe tips (medicalnewstoday.com)

Growing Okra Plants | How to Plant Okra and General Growing Tips

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Okra - Harvest to Table

Okra | Home & Garden Information Center (clemson.edu)

19 Best Okra Varieties To Grow In Your Garden Or Container (gardeningchores.com)

How to Store Okra (eatingwell.com)

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If you're in the U.S. Midwest, squash bugs and squash vine borers often keep you from getting your best zucchini harvest. But what if there were a variety of zucchini you could keep covered the whole time you were growing it so the pests couldn't get to it? And it would fruit without pollination? Today we explore the possibility of parthenocarpy in zucchini varieties, where to find them, and how they can thwart our biggest zucchini pests.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Burpee 'Sure Thing' zucchini

Dunja - Organic (F1) Zucchini Squash Seed | Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com)

Golden Glory - (F1) Zucchini Squash Seed | Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com)

Noche - (F1) Zucchini Squash Seed | Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com)

Give Parthenocarpic Squash a Try Next Year | Home & Garden Information Center (clemson.edu)

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Sometimes it is very difficult to sift through all the information and advice we get as gardeners and to know what exactly we should be doing out there. This source says one thing, that blog says another thing, and the book on our bedside swears those other two are incorrect. What are we supposed to do?

Today we’re talking about two specific pieces of advice I was asked about over the weekend that seem to be complete opposites of each other but, in reality, they are two sides of the same coin. One of those pieces of advice came from me and how you act on that, and other pieces of advice, totally depends on your unique gardening situation. We’ll go deeper into that on today’s show.

We’ll also announce the winner of our 50k giveaway and I’ll share how my day in the garden went. It might just make you feel a little better about yours. Let’s dig in!

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Our pets are part of the family and we hate to see anything happen to them. Let's be sure there's nothing we're doing in the garden that might be hazardous to their health. Today's discussion is all about avoiding the dangers from our compost piles, mushroom compost, mulch, fertilizers and amendments.

Episode Resources:

Mushroom Toxicity | VCA Animal Hospitals (vcahospitals.com)

Tremorgenic Mycotoxins - Moldy Food Strikes Back - CriticalCareDVM

Common Garden Dangers for Dogs - BluePearl Pet Hospital (bluepearlvet.com)

Dangers of Fertilizers to Pets (intermountainpet.com)

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The height of the gardening season in the northern hemisphere is on the horizon which means peak time for gardening questions! Today we dig into why rhubarb might not turn red when ready to harvest, what the numbers on fertilizers mean and why the source matters, battling asparagus beetles, and preventing garden damage from animals during drought.

If you've got a gardening question, I'd love to hear it! Send me a message on social media, email me, use the link below to send me a voice message or jump into the Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook group!

Episode Resources:

Asparagus beetles in home gardens | UMN Extension

The Asparagus Beetle: Organic Control Tips – Mother Earth News

How and When to Fertilize Your Vegetable Garden | The Old Farmer's Almanac

Garden Fertilizer Basics | University of Maryland Extension (umd.edu)

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Since it's peak tomato growing season in most areas of the northern hemisphere, I thought it would be a good time to revisit an old episode about tomato plant diseases! This is not a comprehensive list, but a discussion of eight of the most prevalent diseases. As always, be sure to check with your local university extension to find out which diseases are most prevalent in your area. This will save you some stress. Let's dig in!

Episode Resources:

Ep. 99 - Eight Common Tomato Diseases: Identification, Prevention, and Treatment

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I spent the better part of my afternoon on Monday pulling Johnsongrass from my tomato field and in between my pole beans, which is what prompted today’s episode. That Johnsongrass is a perennial weed that reproduces both by seeds and by rhizomes and it’s been an aggressive problem for us in one particular field and I thought it would be helpful to give some tips on controlling all types of weeds in your garden.

Today we’ll talk about knowing the difference between annual weeds and perennial ones, the different ways they spread, and some strategies on how to prevent and control them. In most cases, you are not going to eradicate them completely, so managing them is the name of the game here. In some cases, this could take years and the frustration level may make you want to give up. But trust me when I say even the heaviest weed infestation can be controlled with a plan. Let’s dig in.

Episode resources:

33 Lawn and Garden Weeds: How to Identify and Control Them. https://www.bhg.com/gardening/pests/insects-diseases-weeds/types-of-weeds/.
How to Get Rid of Garden Weeds Naturally | The Old Farmer's Almanac. https://www.almanac.com/weed-control-techniques.
Identify common weeds / RHS Gardening. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/Common-Weeds.
How to Identify 25 Common Weed Types and Control Them | HGTV. https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/landscaping-and-hardscaping/12-most-common-weeds-pictures.
Weed Persistence: Why Are Weeds So Persistent? - Science ABC. https://www.scienceabc.com/nature/why-are-weeds-persistent.html.

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Tuesday we talked about tomatoes that perform well in short seasons or challenging conditions. I had several listeners reach out and ask about growing in containers and small spaces. There are lots of options for this! On this Focal Point Friday episode, we talk container growing, the different categories of compact tomatoes, and varieties that perform well in just about any small space.

References:

Tomato Varieties for Short-Season Areas and Challenging Climates - Ep. 148

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For many gardeners the ultimate vegetable to grow is the tomato. There really is something special about the flavor of a fully ripe tomato picked from the vine and brought straight to your plate. Unfortunately, growing tomatoes can be a challenge if you live in an area with a short season.

For those of you living in colder regions your growing season for warm-weather crops may be very, very short between frost-free days. Those in very warm climates have the opposite problem; you may need to get a quick crop in before the days turn so hot you can’t grow anything! And even if neither of these applies to you, you might be in an area that is plagued by heavy pest pressure or foliar diseases that take out your plants fairly early in the season. In any of these cases, you need a tomato plant that will produce quickly and reliably.

So, today we’re going to go over what traits you should look for in a tomato variety if you need them to produce quickly and review some varieties that not only match those traits but many that can actually perform well under cool-weather conditions, which is not the norm for most tomato varieties. If you’ve ever struggled with getting tomatoes to produce in your garden before the first frost of the season hits or before the sun tries to cook them on the vine or before the insects and diseases completely destroy your plants, this episode is for you. Let’s dig in.

Episode Resources:

Vegetable Breeding Program | College of Agricultural Sciences (oregonstate.edu)

Moskvich (aka Moskovich) Tomato - Heirloom, Open-Pollinated, non-Hybrid Victory Seeds® – Victory Seed Company

Bush Early Girl Tomato – Bonnie Plants

Santiam Tomato, Santiam Tomato Seeds - Reimer Seeds

Sub Arctic Plenty, Tomato Seeds | Urban Farmer (ufseeds.com)

Heirloom Tomato Seed - Oregon Spring | Non-GMO Vegetable Gardening · True Leaf Market

Quedlinburger Fruhe Liebe Tomato, Medium-Small Tomato Seeds: Totally Tomatoes 83 Fast-Growing Short-Season Tomato Varieties for Cold Climates – Garden Betty

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Does pruning your tomatoes in a certain way increase the yield? Does it really matter? Are there other more important factors involved? I get asked all the time if we prune our tomatoes, how we prune them, how many tomatoes a gardener should expect to get from one plant, etc. Folks tend to get frustrated when it’s not a straightforward answer.

Your tomato yield is likely to boil down to a number of factors before you even get to the pruning question. Today's episode digs into the three factors that are a much bigger consideration in tomato yield than pruning and whether pruning is suited to your specific goals.

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For as long as I can remember I’ve believed that marigolds were the best companion plant for everything. Despite the naysayers touting time and time again that it was all conjecture, I stood by the research I could find that proved otherwise.

If you listened to last week’s Focal Point Friday episode you understand the position I’ve found myself in after all these years of companion planting marigolds in and amongst all of my garden plants. To my way of thinking, as long as there wasn’t a proven detriment to the paring then even if the marigolds weren’t preventing the pests in my garden, they would at least be attracting the beneficial insects that either were good pollinators or that actually preyed on the insects I didn’t want hanging around. And many marigolds have a strong scent and I hoped this would also serve to confuse those pests that plague my crops.

Do I still believe all these things? Yes. I will go to my grave defending marigolds as good companion plants because I have the science-backed research to show those benefits. I, as always, will link to boatloads of research in the show notes so you, too, can nerd out about some plant science. But, have I had to take a step back and do a little more research about my beloved companion before I continue to make recommendations to people in their gardens? You betcha. Because science is always evolving and so are we as gardeners and one of my favorite mantras is we don’t know what we don’t know. And sometimes we just gotta admit when we’re wrong.

RESOURCES:

Insects | Free Full-Text | Conservation Biological Control of Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella): Effects of Two Aromatic Plants, Basil (Ocimum basilicum) and French Marigolds (Tagetes patula) (mdpi.com)

Weed and Pest Control: Conventional and New Challenges - Google Books

Which companion plants affect the performance of green peach aphid on host plants? Testing of 12 candidate plants under laboratory conditions - Ben Issa - 2016 - Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata - Wiley Online Library

Incorporating lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus L.) and marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) as non-host barrier plants to reduce impact of flea beetle (Chaetocnema confinis C.) in cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.) (actajournal.com)

Evaluating French marigold as a border insectary plant for the enhancement of beneficial arthropods in sweet corn plantings - ScienceDirect

Intercropping of Pak choi (Brassica rapa chinensis) with Marigold flower (Tagetes erecta L.) and Onion (Allium cepa L.) to control foliar pests researchgate.net)

"A Proactive Pest Control Calendar and Rearing Beneficial Insects" by Victoria Bolden (upenn.edu)

Microsoft Word - Draft-Proceedings_8th DBM Conference_2019 (researchgate.net)

Companion planting with French marigolds protects tomato plants from glasshouse whiteflies through the emission of airborne limonene | PLOS ONE

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Companion planting is a great way to deter pests in our garden, specifically for summer squashes. Some plants repel pests like aphids, whiteflies, melonworms and pickleworm. Others are better suited as trap crops, attracting aphids, squash vine borerers, squash bugs and cucumber beetles so we can remove them from the garden and destroy them before they get to our zucchini or yellow squash. It's important to know which pests we're dealing with so we know which plants to use and how to use them. And I'll bet many of us have used one specific plant incorrectly as a companion plant for our area, and that includes me! Let's dig in to the best, and worst, companion plants for zucchini and other summer squashes.

Resources:

Companion planting with French marigolds protects tomato plants from glasshouse whiteflies through the emission of airborne limonene | PLOS ONE

Virginia State University College of Agriculture | Companion Planting

melonworm - Diaphania hyalinata (ufl.edu)

Can the introduction of companion plants increase biological control services of key pests in organic squash? - Lopez - 2022 - Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata - Wiley Online Library

⁠9 of the Best Companion Plants to Grow with Zucchini (gardenerspath.com)⁠

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Summer squashes are a staple in most summer gardens. Whether you call them zucchini, courgette, or marrow, they can be easy to grow and very prolific, so they are a great introduction to a successful harvest for new gardeners.

Unless you live in an area where pests and diseases are the name of the game: squash vine borers, squash bugs, cucumber beetles, drought, powdery mildew and bacterial wilt can all destroy a squash plant before we get a single fruit.

Whether you live where squash grow so prolifically that you're sneaking onto your neighbor's porch at night to drop off a bag full or you're battling invaders to get a single harvest, today's episode has you covered with techniques for planting and protecting our coveted summer squash. Let's dig in!

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Episode Resources:

American Indian Health - Health (ku.edu)

FoodData Central (usda.gov)

Cucurbitacin - Wikipedia

Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides - Growing Guide

Cucumber, Squash, Melon & Other Cucurbit Insect Pests | Home & Garden Information Center (clemson.edu)

Squash, Zucchini and Summer | College of Agricultural Sciences (oregonstate.edu)

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Whether we grow our garden from seeds directly in the soil or start out with transplants, there are some distinct advantages and disadvantages to both methods. Today let's break down the five main factors to consider when making this decision.

As always, find more gardening information on the Just Grow Something website.

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The gardening "advice" we get may not always be accurate. Bury a whole egg under your tomato plants? Make a tea from banana peels? What advice is legit and what is bogus? Let's look at the scientific research behind common kitchen scraps that might also be used as garden amendments: banana peels, eggshells, teas leaves and spent coffee grounds.

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RESOURCES

Comparative Study of Various Organic Fertilizers Effect on Growth and Yield of Two Economically Important Crops, Potato and Pea (scirp.org)

Effects of banana peel compost rates on Swiss chard growth performance and yield in Shirka district, Oromia, Ethiopia - ScienceDirect

Preparation of nano-fertilizer blend from banana peels | SpringerLink

BIO-ORGANIC LIQUID FERTILIZER PRODUCTION FROM CHICKEN MANURE AND BANANA PEELS AND EVALUATING ITS EFFECTIVENESS ON LETTUCE (Lactuca sativa L.) UNDER HYDROPONIC CONDITION. (haramaya.edu.et)

HEN EGGSHELL WASTE AS FERTILIZER FOR THE GROWTH OF PHASEOLUS VULGARIS (COW PEA SEEDS)

Chicken eggshells as a soil amendment and their relationship with the morphological response of mustard plants (Brassica juncea, L.) - IOPscience

The use of spent coffee grounds in growing media for the production of Brassica seedlings in nurseries | SpringerLink

Agriculture | Free Full-Text | Spent Coffee Grounds Applied as a Top-Dressing or Incorporated into the Soil Can Improve Plant Growth While Reducing Slug Herbivory (mdpi.com)

Acute Toxicity of Experimental Fertilizers Made of Spent Coffee Grounds | SpringerLink

Impact of spent coffee grounds as organic amendment on soil fertility and lettuce growth in two Mediterranean agricultural soils: Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science: Vol 64, No 6 (tandfonline.com)

Biblioteca Digital do IPB: Effect of fresh and composted spent coffee grounds on lettuce growth, photosynthetic pigments and mineral composition

Use of Spent Coffee Ground Compost in Peat-Based Growing Media for the Production of Basil and Tomato Potting Plants: Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis: Vol 47, No 3 (tandfonline.com)

Applying spent coffee grounds directly to urban agriculture soils greatly reduces plant growth - ScienceDirect

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This is the time of year when we not only start to have a lot of yard waste and garden waste but we generally have food waste coming out of our kitchens year round, so now is the perfect time to put all that waste to good use. The average American produces about 1,600 pounds (726 kg) of garbage a year and approximately 75% of this garbage is organic material. That means 1200 lbs of the 1600 pounds of waste produced could be composted. Per person. We don’t want that organic material going to the landfills and causing methane gases to add to the atmosphere, so let’s talk about the basic ingredients of a compost pile.

Resources:

Ep. 80 - Creating and Managing a Compost Pile

Ep. 81 - Talking Compost with Stan "The Compost Man"Slaughter

Ep. 82 - Compost Systems for Home Gardeners

Ep. 106 - Introduction to Vermicomposting (Worm Farming!)

What is Vermicompost and Why Should We Care?

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Last summer we talked a little bit about growing extra produce in our gardens specifically for donation. I will leave a link to that episode in this episode description. This week I have the pleasure of interviewing two folks from After The Harvest, an organization here in the Kansas City Metro area that rescues fruits and vegetables from going to waste and donates them to agencies that serve hungry people in the Greater Kansas City area. Their volunteers glean after the harvest, picking what’s left in farmers’ fields and picking up already harvested leftover produce. They bring together volunteers, growers, financial donors and food agencies all participating in fighting hunger, improving nutrition and reducing food waste.

Our farm has donated to After The Harvest for years at one of our local farmer’s markets and I was happy to reach out get them on this show to not only spread their mission here locally but to speak to you about how you can get involved in whatever organization facilitates the movement of fresh fruits in vegetables in your area to the people who need it the most.

So, take a listen to my conversation with Brooke and Clay from After The Harvest and maybe think about the ways you can be helping this movement in your own area with produce from your own garden. Let’s dig in.

RESOURCES:

Ep. 95 - Grow a Row to Donate

After the Harvest | Healthy Food for Hungry People » After the Harvest (aftertheharvestkc.org)

Volunteer » After the Harvest Gleaning Calendar

Laws, Resources, & Organizations for Gleaning & Food Recovery - National Gleaning Project

Map of Gleaning & Food Recovery Organizations in the USA (nationalgleaningproject.org)

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In this timely flashback episode, we go back to episode 91 and talk about hardening off our plants to move them into our garden spaces. Whether we've started them from seed ourselves or we've purchased plants and brought them in, our plants need some time to acclimate. The process is a little different in both cases. And if we're growing plants indoors, we have a different set of circumstances to navigate.

Let's talk about transitioning our plants.

References: Ep. 91 -Transitioning Your Plants into Your Garden

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One of the best flavors of the summer has to be sweet corn right from the stalk. If it’s picked at the right time and eaten right away, you really don’t need anything on it. It’s just that good. If you’re lucky to find some at the farmers market and can get it home and eat it right away, it’s almost as good.

But we can absolutely grow our own even in smallish spaces. And what about growing our own dried corn varieties? There are so many choices when it comes to dent corn, popcorn, and other dried corn types that we can use for corn meal and even just for decoration. You’ve probably seen beautiful glass-colored heirloom varieties in catalogs that are almost too pretty to be believed.

But what you also may have seen in the seed catalogs next to the sweet corn are little letters like su and sh2 or terms like synergistic or sugar-enhanced. What does all that mean and is it genetically modified? Today we’re going to figure out exactly what it takes to grow both sweet corn and dried corn, all the differences between the two categories and the corn varieties within them, what can plague corn plants and how to harvest and store it. Let’s dig in!

Resources:

How to tell the difference between types of corn - Farm and Dairy

American Indian Health - Health (ku.edu)

Native American Indians and their use of Corn

Growing Heirloom Corn Varieties - Little House on the Prairie

Corn 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits (healthline.com)

What are the differences between the various types of sweet corn? | Horticulture and Home Pest News (iastate.edu)

How To Avoid Corn Cross Pollination - Our Stoney Acres

How to Grow Sweet Corn - Farmers' Almanac - Plan Your Day. Grow Your Life. (farmersalmanac.com)

Organic Insect Management in Sweet Corn - SARE

Dent, Flint & Flour Corn (southernexposure.com)

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It's spring planting time in areas of North America, or getting close to it, and many of us have the danger of a late frost hitting our gardens after we've spent so much time putting tender annuals in the ground. Let's revisit some options for frost protection in the garden, using both purchased items and those we can find around the house.

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How do we know as gardeners when the appropriate time is to plant those seeds or transplant our seedlings? There are guidelines on the backs of seed packets and tables and charts online and in books that tell us the supposed correct date to plant those seeds. But this generic information is usually based on the average last frost date for our area. If you’re in an area that doesn’t often get a frost or if you live in a frozen tundra that date can be deceiving. Plus, that information doesn’t take into consideration the fluctuations we see in our temperatures and weather patterns each season or the ever-changing climate. In nature, seeds just know when to sprout at the right time based on the cycling of the seasons. There proper germination is based on factors like moisture levels, light availability and, most importantly, soil temperature.

Today we’ll talk about optimal soil temperatures for both cool season and warm season crops, for both seed germination and transplant growth, how that compares to our average air temperatures, how to properly test your soil temperature and where to find historic soil temperature data for your area so you can more effectively plan your planting dates. Let’s dig in.

Resources:

Soil Temperature and Seed Germination (psu.edu)

Soil Temp Planting V2docx (wisc.edu)

Mineral Nutrition of Plants: Principles and Perspectives | SpringerLink

7 facts you didn’t know about soil temperature (farmprogress.com)

Soil Temperature and Planting Crops (harvesttotable.com)

Soil Temperature Maps | GreenCast | Syngenta (greencastonline.com)

Taylor Precision Products Standard Grade Thermometer (Amazon affiliate link)

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Let's round out our mushroom discussions with some good 'ol compost! What is mushroom compost, is it good for our gardens, and how do we use it? Can we use the substrate from our own homegrown mushrooms and how is that different from the commercially available bags in the store? Spend a few minutes with me today to discover mushroom compost.

Resources:

Mushroom Compost: The Bad, The Good and The Beautiful - Compost Magazine

Analysis of Fresh Mushroom Compost in: HortTechnology Volume 20 Issue 2 (2010) (ashs.org)

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Last week we talked all about growing mushrooms but that was all based on research and nothing to do with my own personal experiences. Even though my husband has always wanted to create a “fungus of the month club” to go along with our CSA program, we’ve never quite gotten there. I have worked with multiple mushroom growers over the years as vendors at our local farmer’s markets and have yet to even grow mushrooms from a kit! I just support them at their stands when I get a craving for a cremini.

So, I thought it would be super helpful to hear from not one, but two different mushroom growers about how they got started growing and where they’ve gone from there. Technically, it’s three growers because one brought along their production manager, and they were all a wealth of information.

RESOURCES:

MyCo Planet - Fresh Gourmet Mushrooms (mycoplanetkc.com)

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On this week's Focal Point Friday episode, we're revisiting the basics of plant nutrients. Good plant growth is directly correlated to good plant nutrition. The efficiency with which a plant uses the nutrients in the soil varies greatly according to the composition of your soil, water availability, soil temperatures, and so much more. But it’s important to know how the most essential nutrients work so you can choose soil amendments and fertilizers, if necessary, that will most benefit what you’re growing.

Knowing which nutrients your plant relies on most and which stages of growth are most demanding will help you get the most out of your garden without negatively affecting the plants or the soil. Just like it’s possible to be lacking in nutrients, it is possible to have too much of a good thing!

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This week, we’re digging into a topic I have been asked numerous times to cover and really couldn’t because I’d never grown them! With names like puffball, stinkhorn, enoki, paddy straw, shaggy mane, and more, I didn’t even know where to begin to research how to grow them much less do a deep dive into the ethnobotany of the crop.

I’m talking about mushrooms. This is not going to be my typical crop specific episode because the rabbit hole I went down made me realize the awesome complexity of what we refer to as a mushroom and all the different traditional and current uses for them. So, while we’ll deviate a little from the format today, prepare to learn everything you can possibly imagine learning about growing mushrooms in about a 40-minute timeframe. And, trust me, there’s a lot. Let’s dig in!

RESOURCES

Health Benefits of Mushrooms – Cleveland Clinic

The Mushroom Council | Explore Mushrooms

The largest living organism in the world is the mycelium | 7 Miracles, which Mushrooms are Capable to Perform! (chirkup.me)

What is the scientific name for a mushroom? (narkive.com)

Mushrooms: Health Benefits & Nutrition Facts - Drlogy

Mushroom Growing Supplies List: Everything You Need | GroCycle

Growing Mushrooms at Home: The PF Tek Method – Mother Earth News

How to Grow Mushrooms: Step-By-Step Guide (wayofleaf.com)

How to Start Growing Mushrooms at Home (curativemushrooms.com)

Growing Mushrooms at Home - Gardening Solutions - University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (ufl.edu)

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Welcome back, my gardening friends, to another Focal Point Friday episode. Let’s spend just a few minutes together reviewing a snippet of info from a previous episode, highlighting a new topic, or quickly focusing on a current event in the food and agriculture world.

This week's focus is weed management. The main strategy to keep weeds out of the garden: prevention!

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Foliar feeding has been the subject of a little bit of debate over the years, both in the horticultural space and as far as online gardening information goes. The practice of foliar feeding or foliar fertilization essentially involves applying water-based nutrients to the leaves of our plants to enhance their nutrition. In the home garden this can be done with a spray bottle or a pump sprayer or by using an attachment at the end of our hose that feeds the liquid into the water as it passes through.

While 90% of the nutrients for our vegetable crops as soil applications based on soil tests and the specific crop’s nutrient needs, foliar fertilization is meant to help maintain or enhance or correct a plants nutritional profile during the growing season.

On today’s episode we dig into what foliar feeding is, how to use it, the benefits and drawbacks, what stages of growth are most benefited by it and why I choose to use it in rotation with my other approaches to plant nutrition and soil health. And, yes, there is a soil component here. There always is. Let’s dig in!

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RESOURCES:

Ep. 22 - Garden Talk Tuesday: Plant Nutrient Deficiencies and Toxicity

Identifying Nutrient Deficiencies in Your Garden Plants

Foliar Feeding Revisited // Missouri Produce Growers Bulletin // Integrated Pest Management, University of Missouri

Foliar Fertilization for Vegetable Crops | Weekly Crop Update (udel.edu)

Foliar nutrition in vegetables: A review (phytojournal.com)

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What exactly does that name on the plant tag or seed packet mean? How does that affect what we plant and how or where we plant it? On this Focal Point Friday, let's go way back to Episode 6 to demystify plant nomenclature and the differences between open-pollinated, heirloom, and hybrid.

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Did you know that poor diet is the leading cause of disease worldwide? Diets low in fruits and vegetables contribute significantly to some of the world’s most widespread and debilitating nutrient-related disorders. Which is why many of us garden. We want to include those fruits and vegetables in our diet.

And, if we have limited space, we need to be particular about what we’re planting. When I help people plan their gardens, I’m always reminding them to go back and review their “why”. If your goal for your garden is to reduce your family’s food budget, like mine was in the beginning, then maybe the things you should prioritize planting are the things your family eats the most or the things that cost you the most in the grocery or at the market.

But, if we’re gardening to increase the overall nutrition our family consumes, does that mean we should be focused on planting something other than our most purchased items? And, if it’s all about saving dollars, can we grow things that make us feel fuller longer because they’re more nutritious? Which fruits and vegetables degrade the most from the time they leave the farm to when they hit our plate? Which fruits and vegetables the most nutrient-dense overall?

On today’s episode I’ll give you the rundown on some studies that have been done about which vegetables decline in nutrition the fastest, which ones are the most nutrient-dense overall, and what we need to do in our own gardens post-harvest to preserve those nutrients that we’ve worked so hard to grow. Let’s dig in!

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RESOURCES

Ep. 52 - Cabbage

Low Energy Density Foods and Recipes: Will They Help You Feel Full with Fewer Calories? | Optimising Nutrition

Optimising foods for satiety - ScienceDirect

Maximizing the Nutritional Value of Fruits and Vegetables (ucdavis.edu)

Nutritional comparison of fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables. Part 1. Vitamins C and B and phenolic compounds (ahealthylife.nl)

Vegetables_122107_S (fda.gov)

Fruits_122107_S (fda.gov)

Postharvest Handling | USU

Harvesting and storing home garden vegetables | UMN Extension

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On this week's Focal Point Friday episode, I'm following up with questions and comments I got about some recent episodes about phytoremediation, commercial compost, and using manure in the garden safely.

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Celery is a cool-season crop that can be a bit finicky about its growing conditions. If carrots are divas, then consider celery Goldilocks: not too hot, not too cold, but just right! On today’s episode I give you the lowdown on growing your own celery at home and this includes those of you who live in warmer climates. The main consideration for celery is it takes a really long time to grow from seed and it can be a water hog if you want those big plump stalks. Some varieties need to be trenched and mounded in order to get those pale stalks like you’re used to seeing the grocery store, and they don’t tolerate a heavy frost. And even though they don’t like the heat, too much time spent below a certain temperature can actually cause them to bolt. But, if you know how to mitigate all those things, the flavor of homegrown celery can be so much more intense than what you get in the store. Let's dig in!

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Resources:

Umbellifer or apiaceae? - Richard Jackson Garden (richardjacksonsgarden.co.uk)

Apium graveolens (Smallage, Wild Celery) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (ncsu.edu)

Celery / Apium graveolens Herbal Medicine, Health Benefits, Side Effects (medicalhealthguide.com)

Everything you didn’t even know you wanted to know about celery - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

Cel-Ray - Wikipedia

Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides - Growing Guide

Celery | College of Agricultural Sciences (oregonstate.edu)

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What manures are "safe" to use in the garden and which ones need to be composted? The question came from a listener and the answer may surprise you.

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Resources:

Animal-Manure-in-the-Garden.pdf (wsu.edu)

Bunny honey: Using rabbit manure as a fertilizer - MSU Extension

Colorado Master Gardener Training (colostate.edu)

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Purchasing compost and potting soil can be expensive and new garden beds can take a lot of soil to fill them. Plus, we’ve talked before that commercial compost often needs a little help getting the microbes up and moving again in order to make it biologically active and not just an inert material that’s not helping our plants at all. So, filling a raised bed with nothing but trucked in compost and bags of potting mix just isn’t the way to go. If you’ve gotten behind on building your beds or you’re just now deciding you need to create some, especially if you’re creating a garden for the first time, it’s important to know what to fill those beds with.

Today we’ll talk about different techniques we can use to fill those raised beds properly so that the growing medium is not only biologically active, which is helping the plants get the nutrients they need, but also doesn’t break the bank.

Ep. 80 - Creating and Managing a Compost Pile

Ep. 81 - Talking Compost with Stan "The Compost Man"Slaughter

Ep. 82 - Compost Systems for Home Gardeners

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Resources:

Effect of high compost temperature on enzymatic activity and species diversity of culturable bacteria in cattle manure compost - ScienceDirect

Microbiological parameters as indicators of compost maturity | Journal of Applied Microbiology | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

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For this week’s Focal Point Friday, I answer a question asked by a student in my Plan Like a Pro garden planning course last week. She wanted some clarification on what I mean when I’m talking about intercropping. “Does that mean I plant another crop in between the rows of the other or does it mean the second crop is spaced in the same row as the other crop.”

Companion Planting Chart

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Potatoes are a staple in many areas of the world, and they can be grown just about anywhere. Your yield definitely improves if you follow a few techniques, but there are so many options: from big long in-ground rows, to raised planters, old bathtubs or wash basins, buckets, grow bags, even pots on your patio. So, even if you don’t have hundreds of row feet of space to grow potatoes for your entire family for a year, most everybody has space to maybe do some fingerling potatoes or some small boiling potatoes for at least a few meals.

Of course, there’s a great sense of satisfaction dumping the dirt out of a pot or digging into the soil and pulling up a potato plant and seeing all those potatoes hanging from the root system. And the flavor and texture of new potatoes are just fantastic and really can't be found in the grocery.

Ready to grow some spuds? Let’s dig in!

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Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify

Resources:

Hijmans, RJ; Spooner, DM (2001). "Geographic distribution of wild potato species". American Journal of Botany. 88 (11): 2101–12. doi:10.2307/3558435. JSTOR 3558435. PMID 21669641.

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Finding rewrites the evolutionary history of the origin of potatoes (2005)

Potato Production and Consumption

Solanum tuberosum (Irish Potato, Irish Potatoes, Pomme de Terre, Potato, Potatoes, White Potato, White Potatoes) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (ncsu.edu)

Potato: Nutrition facts, recipes, benefits, side effects, and more (msn.com)

Soil Temparature Maps | GreenCast | Syngenta (greencastonline.com)

Growing potatoes in home gardens | UMN Extension

ORGANIC POTATO GROWING GUIDE (woodprairie.com)

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Jennifer in the Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook group said, “I've seen, several places now, an argument about whether sunflowers are toxic to other plants around them or whether they are soil cleaners. Can you give us the low-down?”

This was a great question and one that was asked again just a few days later in our Kansas City Area gardening group, as well. The quick answer is everything you've heard about sunflowers is true!

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Merchandise | Just Grow Something

Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify

Resources:

Allelopathic Plants. 7. Sunflower

Sunflower Power! (landhealthinstitute.org)

Potential of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) for Phytoremediation of Soils Contaminated with Heavy Metals

Behaviour of Helianthus annuus L.: an ethogram for sunflower, and the effect of potential competitors on soil nutrient patch use

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Different types of soil have different water holding capacities and nutrient availability. Much of this is based on the percentage of three soil particles in the soil composition: sand, silt, and clay. Knowing what the texture of our soil is helps us to know what how water and nutrients move through our soil and the best amendments for our particular soil type and the plants we want to grow.

Today we’ll talk about how to test our soil composition and texture by using the jar method or the ribbon method, and what the results mean for you and your garden. Let’s dig in!

Get your soil texture download

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Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon

Follow me on Instagram

JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com

Merchandise | Just Grow Something

Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify

RESOURCES

Soil Water Holding Characteristics - Center for Landscape & Urban Horticulture (ucanr.edu)

Soils & Plant Nutrients | NC State Extension Publications (ncsu.edu)

Soil Texture Analysis “The Jar Test” | Home & Garden Information Center (clemson.edu)

Testing Soil Texture by Hand – The Soil Ribbon Test – GrowIt BuildIT

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Welcome back, my gardening friends, to another Focal Point Friday episode, this time covering proper lighting for your indoor seedlings. It's not as complicated as you may think!

These quickie episodes are either an important highlight from a previous episode or a quick focus on a current event in the food and agriculture world that I think we should be talking about.

Think of these episodes as a way to tickle your brain with one or two ideas to ponder while you’re planning or planting or digging in the garden this weekend. Without further ado, let’s get down and dirty. Enjoy!

Reference episode: Ep. 77 - Five Tips to Successful Seed Starting

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