Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home Gardening

If your garden went really well last season, then you might be thinking of expanding your space this season. Even if you didn’t have a fantastic yield last year you may still be thinking of increasing your gardening area because you’ve seen food prices going up in the store recently, or you want certain heirloom varieties, or you just like a challenge! I am the first one to support relying more on yourself for your food needs and less on the grocery store. So, let’s talk a little bit today about the things you should take into consideration when deciding to expand your garden. Spoiler alert: bigger isn’t always better. Let’s dig in.

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Resources:

Why We Need to Know Why | Psychology Today

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When you’re planning your garden, do you have trouble determining how many plants you should grow? It’s very easy to overdo it, especially in the first few years because you don’t know how many plants you need in order to get the volume you want your garden to produce. I was guilty of not planting enough greens the first few years but way overplanting the cucumbers. So we ended up with too few salads and way too many cucumbers. I was giving them away weekly and we canned enough pickles to provide five families for five years. So today we’ll walk through how to determine the number of seeds or plants you’ll need to plant in order to achieve the harvest you want so you can more accurately plan your garden space and not end up with too much of one thing and not enough of another. Let’s dig in!
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Resources
The Rural Woman Podcast with Katelyn Duban – Growing a Garden from the Ground Up with Karin Velez
Vegetable Planting Calendar | MU Extension (missouri.edu)
How Much Should I Plant? Vegetable Yields Per Plant – Bonnie Plants

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I’ve done plenty of garden myth episodes before on this podcast so when the subject of molasses in the garden was brought to my attention, it piqued my interest. I do know that molasses as a food has a good amount of nutritional value for us as humans and it stands to reason that those same nutrients would be good for the soil microbes and for our plants. But does it make sense to use molasses as a treatment for your garden soil or for your compost pile or are there better alternatives out there for feeding our favorite soil bacteria? And would using molasses even work? Let’s dig in and find out.

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Resources:

Molasses for Plants

Molasses Fertilizer for Soil

Improving Garden Soil: Milk and Molasses Magic

MOLASSES & SOIL MICROBES. DOES THIS GARDEN HACK WORK? | Gardening in Canada - YouTube

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A few years back I began to pay more attention to the ingredients in my tea. And I discovered that many of the tea blends I was using contained artificial flavorings. Even the organic teas used so-called “natural flavorings” without indicating the source of that ingredient. So, I started making my own tea blends from herbs I grow in my own garden. I sell many of these herbs as plants at our farm stand and help folks put together their own tea gardens every season. So, this episode we’re going to talk about some of the most common herbs, flowers, and other plants to grow in your garden for making your own tea blends, and how to harvest and use those herbs, and a few of my favorite blends that you can try yourself. Let’s dig in.

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Resources:

Tea - Wikipedia

Green vs. Black Tea – What’s the Difference? (pureleaf.com)

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Back in 2020, otherwise known as “the year that shall not be named” growing luffa became this sort of garden craze. I have no idea how it got started, but it seemed like everywhere I looked on social media gardening accounts they were talking about growing luffa. Now, if you didn’t jump onto the luffa bandwagon back then or if you’ve not been successful yet in your luffa growing adventures, you are certainly not alone. Luffa needs a really long growing season and it seems that where you are gardening also affects when and how you harvest your luffa. It can be a little persnickety and I’ve found that no two regions seem to grow and mature their luffa in the same manner. It took two years for us to get a successful harvest from our plants but I’ve loved having them in my house now.

So, what is luffa and why should you even bother? As my husband discovered back in 2018, luffa is the sponge you can grow yourself for all kinds of household uses. But, traditionally, luffa is so much more than that and can be a great addition to your garden for lots of reasons. So, let’s dig in to how to grow luffa, with some special tips on growing in areas with shorter growing seasons, and why I’m not growing luffa this year.

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Resources:

Ep. 77 - Five Tips to Successful Seed Starting | Just Grow Something (justgrowsomethingpodcast.com)

Luffa aegyptiaca (Loofah, Luffa Sponge, Sponge Gourd) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (ncsu.edu)

Luffa - Wikipedia

History of the Luffa, Loofah, Loofa, Loufa, Loofa, Lufa, Luf Sponge – Luffa Gardens

Luffa Facts, Health Benefits and Nutritional Value (healthbenefitstimes.com)

How to Grow a Luffa Sponge Successfully. Even in a cold climate! (theartofdoingstuff.com)

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Last week we talked all about what goes into creating and managing your compost pile and then we talked with Stan Slaughter who gave us even more info and talked a little about how beginners can get started composting. Now that we know what the essential components are for an effective compost pile, let’s talk about the different types of compost systems that are out there. Whether you opt for a pile in the corner of the yard (which is still a totally viable option!), or a fancy tumbler, or a vermicomposting system, or something somewhere in between, there are a lot of options. We’ll talk about the pros and cons of each one, the differences in costs and setup, and their level of effectiveness so you can find a system that works with your lifestyle and your gardening style. So, let’s dig into the different backyard systems for creating our own compost.

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Kansas City based artist and educator Stan Slaughter has been traveling the country singing songs and sharing stories with kids and adults since 1987. Stan helped create the very first Earth Day celebration in Kansas City and has made “Every Day is Earth Day” his motto ever since. Speaking at Master Gardeners’ groups, teaching adults in compost workshops, singing at water festivals and zoos, and doing thousands of assemblies for more than 400,000 students, Stan takes his message to both kids and grownups - and makes it fun along the way.

Stan has a passion for life and for this beautiful planet, and loves sharing that passion with others through his songs and presentations. He has a master's degree in biology, is extraordinarily educated on soil microbes and what they can do for our gardens, and currently works as the director of education for Missouri Organic Recycling, the largest composting facility in the Kansas City region. In my interview with him today, we talk about his background, his accomplishments and accolades (including an invitation from HRH Prince Charles) and, of course, compost. Stan has some great insights on what makes a good compost pile, why it's important, and how gardeners can get started in their backyards and even their basements. Join me as I interview Stan "The Compost Man" Slaughter.

Green Living Made Simple | Green Living Made Simple (stanslaughter.com)

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Right now, many of us are getting our garden beds ready for the gardening season or if you’re in a warmer climate, your beds may need a refresh before moving on to your next round of planting. In either case, you know I’m going to recommend the use of compost. Not only is compost great at adding nutrients and increasing the soil organic matter, but it’s also a great way to feed the microbiota in the soil that make those nutrients available to your plants and it can act as a fabulous mulch for keeping weeds out. I’ve had a compost pile ever since I started my first garden 18-plus years ago. I haven’t always been super successful with getting the piles to actually compost because, at first, I was just tossing stuff into the pile and letting it sit and do its thing without giving it any thought or effort. Yes, eventually that stuff would break down into something useable but once I paid just a little bit of attention to what I was doing with it, a little effort went a long way toward making the process more efficient and much more beneficial to my garden. On today’s episode I’m going to walk you through the bare minimum of what you need to make a successful compost pile and then the little extra things that can catapult your efforts into compost stardom. We’ll talk the ingredients, ratios, air, moisture, and dos and don’ts of composting. Let’s dig in!

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Resources:

University of Florida Extension: Composting Guide

Composting Dairy Products

Turning Compost by Temperature

Composting to Kill Weed Seeds

EPA: Composting at Home

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I started gardening when some of my kids were fairly young. The youngest was in kindergarten, but the oldest was already a freshman in high school. But, my mom had my brother and I in the garden when we were still in preschool. In fact, that cover photo for this episode is my brother and I in our backyard garden in Colorado. I don’t remember a whole lot of specific things about being in the garden, but I do remember snippets. The joy of pulling something whole and edible from the dirt, the fun of being in the sunshine and getting dirty with mom’s approval to get dirty, and the satisfaction of eating something I could say I grew – even if I didn’t really do much of the actual work of growing it. Sitting on my back porch, dipping rhubarb in a bowl of sugar and munching on the sweet and sour snack is a very vivid memory and that rhubarb came from the plants in our garden. I feel so strongly that everyone should grow a little bit of something for themselves, and I feel just as strongly about children getting into the garden. But, like with everything, it can be difficult to get children engaged and keep them involved, especially when so many other things are vying for their very short attention spans. And even though I didn’t get started as young with my own kids, I’ve helped many customers plan garden spaces for their own kids and my grandkids are starting to learn now, too. Today I’m going to walk you through some tips for how to plan out a vegetable garden specifically for young children, what plants to include or not include, and some advice about how to keep them coming back for more garden time with the parents or grandparents. Let’s dig in.

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Resources:

In the Vegetable Garden: My Nature Sticker Activity Book

11 of the Best Gardening-Themed Books for Children

David’s Garden Seeds Lettuce Butterhead Little Gem

David’s Garden Seeds Carrot Parisian

‘Tiny Tim’ Dwarf Tomato

Burpee ‘Sweet Hearts of the Patio’ Cherry Tomato

Johnny’s Selected Seeds: Mini Head Lettuces

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When you walk into the garden center, that potting soil aisle can be absolutely overwhelming. Potting mix, potting soil, seed starter, soilless medium; the variety and possibilities are endless. Which do you choose? And does it really make a difference when you’re starting your seeds indoors? The answer, like most everything in gardening, is … maybe. Today I’m going to talk about the difference between soilless seed starting mixes and regular potting soil and give you the information you need to determine what works best for your unique growing situation. It all comes down to how long your plants are going to be in the starting medium, how often you plan to water, your fungal disease pressure, and maybe just how many seeds you intend to start. And if you want to make your own seed starting mix or potting soil, I've got that for you, too!

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It is time, my gardening friends! Many of us are getting our spring seedlings going as we speak. Now whether you’ve been starting your own seeds indoors for years or you are new to getting a jump on the gardening season in this way, it can sometimes be a challenge. One year you may have beautiful, strong plants that take off the moment you put them outside in the garden and the next year you may have spindly weaklings that seem to struggle from the get-go. What gives? There are a lot of factors that go into starting seeds indoors and growing them in a way that makes them strong and healthy enough to go outside and really do well. Some factors are beyond our control but today I’m going to give you five things to incorporate into your seed starting procedures to help you get your gardening season, and your seedlings, off to the strongest start possible.

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I talk all the time about the importance of soil testing and usually we’re chatting about the nutrient deficiencies that can be discovered and amended through those test results. But what we don’t talk about as frequently is one other result you get from a soil test and that’s your soil’s pH. Most garden vegetables do best in a soil pH that’s slightly acidic, generally between 5.8 and 7.0, with a few notable exceptions. But what does that mean? What is soil pH? How does it affect plant growth? And what can we do if our soil is too acidic or too alkaline to grow the garden plants we want to grow?

This episode we’ll dig into the basics of soil pH, how to prevent your soil from becoming excessively acidic or alkaline, and what we can do to safely adjust our soil pH, when needed. Let’s dig in!

Affects of pH on Nutrient Availability

Soil Acidification

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Last week we talked about timing your seed starts for your cool weather crops and that was based mainly on the last average frost date in spring for your area or your average daily temperatures, for you warmer climate folks.

But, what about the warm-weather plants? If you determined to save some money in the garden this year by starting your own summer crops from seed instead of buying starts from the local nursery then that is fantastic! Keep in mind a lot of those summer plants take longer to get to the right size for transplanting so you’re going to be growing a lot of these alongside your early spring plants and then continuing to grow them inside after those early plants have gone into the ground. If you have limited space for starting plants indoors, which is most of us, the timing and spacing of having all these plants going at once can become an issue. So, you’ll need to plan and prioritize. Part of that is knowing exactly when your warm-season plants CAN go into the ground and when they SHOULD. There is a difference, and that difference can mean a couple weeks of leeway in your seed starting schedule.

So, let’s talk about the different techniques we can use to determine when to start our heat-loving garden plants.

Greencast Soil Temperature Maps

Let Soil Temperatures Guide You When Planting Vegetables

Average Weather by Location

Johnny’s Seed Planting Schedule

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Free Garden Planning Primer

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The start of the new year in the northern hemisphere often turns us toward thoughts of our garden already. Those seed catalogs start rolling in, the days slowly start to get a little bit longer, we start to get a little restless, but it really isn’t time to start those seeds just yet in most areas. This will depend on your growing zone, of course, and when your last spring frost date is, but it will also depend on what you’re planning to grow. So, this first episode of the new year I’m going to talk a little bit about some techniques you can use to determine when the best time is for you to start your spring seedlings, and how to time them accordingly. So, let’s dig in to how to perfectly time starting your seeds indoors.

First and Last Frost Dates – Almanac.com

Johnny’s Seed Planting Schedule

Free Garden Planning Primer

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Hello my gardening friends. I hope you are having a wonderful start to the new year thus far. Right now, I am working on all kinds of new things for the second season of the Just Grow Something podcast along with some other projects all designed to help you get the most out of your garden in 2022. Because of this, I will be taking a few weeks off from recording new episodes and, instead, will be replaying a few of the most downloaded episodes from season one. Hopefully, these episodes will get you pumped up and imagining your dream garden even while we’re still in the throes of winter here in the northern hemisphere. And I will be back in no time at all with all new episodes and other goodies to help you be the best gardener you can be. So, enjoy this replay episode and I’ll talk to you again soon!

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Nutritionally, broccoli is a powerhouse. Just 2.8 ounces or 80 grams of broccoli counts as a full serving because it’s so nutritionally dense. It’s low in calories (35 calories per serving) and carbohydrates and provides good levels of protein, fiber, and essential minerals. The entire plant is edible, including the leaves (use like kale or spinach), and all the parts contain the antioxidants and anticancer compounds.

The majority of broccoli cultivars are cool-weather crops that do very poorly in hot weather. This, plus its nutrient requirements and pest issues, makes broccoli one of those crops folks have a difficult time growing. So, let's dig in to everything you would ever want to know about broccoli in the garden.

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Resources:

https://www.herbazest.com/herbs/broccoli

http://www.stuartxchange.org/Broccoli

https://www.almanac.com/plant/broccoli#

https://firstsaturdaylime.com/

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/disease/white-rust-disease.htm#:~:text=The%20secret%20to%20how%20to,the%20disease%20the%20following%20spring.

https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/disandpath/oomycete/introduction/Pages/IntroOomycetes.aspx#:~:text=The%20oomycetes%2C%20also%20known%20as,foliar%20blights%20and%20downy%20mildews.

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Hello my gardening friends. I hope you are having a wonderful start to the new year thus far. Right now, I am working on all kinds of new things for the second season of the Just Grow Something podcast along with some other projects all designed to help you get the most out of your garden in 2022. Because of this, I will be taking a few weeks off from recording new episodes and, instead, will be replaying a few of the most downloaded episodes from season one. Hopefully, these episodes will get you pumped up and imagining your dream garden even while we’re still in the throes of winter here in the northern hemisphere. And I will be back in no time at all with all new episodes and other goodies to help you be the best gardener you can be. So, enjoy this replay episode and I’ll talk to you again soon!

.....

So, after listening to the first couple of episodes. let’s say you’ve figured out what types of plants you want to grow, how much space you’ll need to grow it, where you will grow it, whether that’s in ground, in raised beds, or in containers, and you’ve determined how many seeds or plants you’ll need.

Time to pick out the varieties of seeds and plants you want to grow. There is no shortage of places to get your seeds and plants and no end to the different varieties and cultivars of each. Before you begin, it may be helpful to know some definitions. First, let’s tackle the differences in some plant terminology, specifically with regards to plant names, and then we’ll cover some other plant and seed definitions.

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Baker Creek Heirloom: Heirloom and open-pollinated seeds.
Botanical Interests: Heirloom seeds, some organic varieties.
High Mowing Organic Seeds: Heirloom and hybrid seeds, all certified organic
Johnny's Selected Seeds: Heirloom and hybrid seeds, some organic varieties
Seed Savers Exchange: All heirloom seeds
Seeds of Change: Heirloom and hybrid seeds and seedlings, all certified organic

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: testing your soil is the best way to find out what is lacking in your garden as far as nutrients are concerned and the earlier you test it, the better. Testing your soil in the off-season before spring rolls around gives you an earlier start toward correcting any deficiencies. Fall and winter are the best times to amend your soil with organic components because they will have a chance to break down into the soil and incorporate themselves so they are ready to be absorbed by your plants come spring. But the plethora of amendments available to the home gardener these days can be overwhelming. How do you know what to add, when to add it, and how much? I’m going to spend this episode talking about some of the most popular and easily accessible amendments you can use on your soil right now to give you a better harvest next season and talk about how to determine how much of it to use, based on your own garden circumstances. Ready? Let’s dig in.

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This episode let’s reflect a little bit on our gardens this past year. What went well? What didn’t? I refer to these as wins and lessons, not losses, because every activity in the garden is a learning experience. Some are just a little bit less pleasant than others. Even though they may not have been productive in the sense of producing a harvest, they will always be productive in the sense of bettering our future gardens and gardening experiences. Today I will happily review with you what went well in my gardens this year, follow up with the results of a few experiments we had going on out here, and talk a little about some of those more difficult lessons. Let’s dig in, shall we?

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Episode 5 – Experimenting in the Garden

Episode 65 – Overwintering Plants Indoors: Production or Dormancy?

Johnny’s Seeds – Cegolaine, Rosaine, and Dragoon lettuces

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You’ll notice my tone is slightly different today and that’s due to the nature and seriousness of the topic I want to explore with you. Specifically, regarding the recently unsealed 54-count indictment against an organized crime syndicate in the southern U.S. relating to the horrible treatment of people they brought across the border to work on farms and who, subsequently were treated as slaves. If you saw my stories on Instagram this week you got to see my rant on this topic and, honestly, this story struck a real nerve with me, so I thought I would take the time to give it some attention here on the podcast.

For those of you unaware of what I’m talking about, two dozen defendants have been indicted on federal conspiracy charges after a three-year investigation into a human smuggling and labor trafficking operation that brought workers from Mexico and Central America to work and live in brutal conditions on several South Georgia farms.

Farm worker conditions is nothing new in the news. We’ve heard before of migrant workers who’ve come here illegally to work being subjected to horrible working conditions because there’s nobody to hold the employers accountable: long hours in scorching sun without breaks or enough water, no access to medical services, inability to get decent housing or a decent wage. The victims in these indictments suffered all that and more and what makes it worse is they were brought here legally, using a federal program that allows for temporary work visas for foreign agricultural workers on U.S. soil. But, no matter how they get here, the people who are responsible for harvesting much of what we eat here in this country are constantly facing brutal conditions and I want to take today’s episode to remind us all, including myself, what the unseen costs of our cheap food are and try to talk through what we can do about it.

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One of the problems of being a home gardener in many climates is that the season for salad greens can be short. Either you’re in a climate that gets way too hot in the summer to grow decent greens or you’re in a climate that has a very short growing season and it gets too cold too quickly. And, even if you’re in a climate where you can grow through the winter, you may not have enough space outside to get those greens to full size before your Persephone period hits and they stop growing. The answer to all of this is microgreens.

Microgreens can be grown year-round indoors with very little in the way of equipment or expertise. And there are so many different crops that make great microgreens, there’s bound to be some that fit the palate of everybody in your family. There is quite literally something for everyone. And not only are they delicious and versatile, they are exploding with nutrients. And they can add that nutritional value to so many foods – as a topping for pizza, a base for salad, added to pasta, in wraps and on sandwiches, and so much more.

So, this episode I’m going to dig in to what it takes to get started with growing microgreens, some of the easiest ones for beginners to grow, and what you need to know about selecting seeds to use for microgreens. Let’s dig in.

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Assessment of Vitamin and Carotenoid Concentrations of Emerging Food Products: Edible Microgreens

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Way back in episode one, the introduction episode, I briefly mentioned that my love of gardening, and my naivety of how easy it was, was partly responsible for the beginnings of our farming adventures. During that episode I mentioned we started selling to the public through a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture program. I also mentioned I would eventually do an entire episode on what that is and, well, here we are 68 episodes later and I’m finally getting there!

So, what is a CSA? How is it different from a subscription box shipped to you from a company you found online or that found you through some data tracking algorithm? And why is a CSA a great way to support your local food system? We’re digging into all that and more on today’s episode.

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Episode One – The Introduction

The History of Community Supported Agriculture

The Untold History of CSA

LocalHarvest.org

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As we start thinking about our gardens for next season, we may not just be looking at fruits and veggies and herbs. Many of us like to plant our landscape and the areas surrounding our vegetable gardens with plants that are beautiful to look at. Maybe they’re for cutting flowers and bringing into the house or maybe they’re just for some added color and beauty while we spend our time outside. It may also be for curb appeal.

Unfortunately, there are many species that get planted that are considered invasive in areas. No matter where you are, it’s likely that your region has plants that were introduced from another continent or even another area of your country that have escaped cultivation and gone on to propagate almost uncontrolled in the wild. We regard these plants as invasive species and today I’m going to dig in to what defines an invasive plant species, why they are a problem, and what we can do to prevent the spread of them. Then, I’ll talk about five of the most popular ones here in North America that are STILL being sold at nurseries and what alternatives you can choose to plant instead.

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Bradford Pear fact sheet – Clemson Univ. Extension

Invasive Plants – National Park Service

Invasive Plants – U.S. Forest Service

12 Common Invasive Plants

Native American National Day of Mourning – Live Stream

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It’s that time of year! This evening I will be binge watching whatever show the Mean Farmer and I decide upon while maniacally separating clove after clove of garlic. We’re planting close to 15 pounds of garlic this year, a combination of both hard neck and soft neck varieties. Depending on the variety, that’s anywhere from 25 to 40 cloves per pound. Which all need to be separated from their heads to get ready to plant. So, we will be enjoying the smell of the stinking rose this evening while we partake of a few glasses of wine and some sci fi.

Because of that, I thought it would be the perfect time to give you a little refresher on planting your own garlic. In most regions the timing is perfect and even if you think you’ve missed the window of opportunity in your area, you’d be surprised at how flexible garlic can be. We'll cover soil conditions and timing, plus I'll share some tips and tricks for those of you planting garlic in the Southern U.S. and other warm-weather climates. So, let’s dig in to when and how to plant your garlic!

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Episode 40 – Growing Garlic

Soil Temperature Maps

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

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The past few weeks we've talked about the fall garden and overwintering in the garden. Some of our gardens have already seen a hard freeze or snow, some a killing freeze but still have plants going strong, and some don't see a freeze at all but simply go dormant.

This week we’re going to talk about the three things to do at the end of your garden season to get you off to the best start NEXT year. These things are going to help you better prevent and manage pests and disease in the garden as well as helping build a better soil microbiome to improve your yield. And, I’ll finish up with one more thing I do here that many home gardeners don’t realize they can and should be doing in their own spaces, weather it’s in ground or in beds. So, let’s dig in to my three tasks you should not skip at the end of your garden season.

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Positively Farming Media playlist

Cover crop seeds:

True Leaf Market

Johnny’s Selected Seeds

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We’ve talked about cloning plants by taking cuttings to save our favorite garden specimens over the winter while taking very little space. But, what about bringing plants in to overwinter in a dormant state or even keeping them productive?

If you’ve got the space, there are several techniques for overwintering your most productive garden plants to either continue the bounty all winter long or to keep them alive and ready to go back outside in the spring to get a jump on the season and start producing all over again.

Karin also has a challenge for you if you want to try this over the winter. Let’s dig in!

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Winter Growing Tomatoes

Overwintering Pepper Plants

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So, we talked last week all about saving seeds from your best garden specimens to use in your garden next season. But, what about that big, beautiful, healthy plant that's just produced loads of veggies for you all season long? Don't you wish you could bring it inside and then bring it back out next year? Well, you can! And you can do it without taking up the entirety of your window space indoors and without having a greenhouse.

The process of taking cuttings from a healthy, productive plant and propagating a new plant is called cloning and it's much easier than you think. You may have actually done it before by accident. So, let's figure out which plants are best for this type of propagation and talk about the different ways it can be done.

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This Focal Point Friday episode is the second in our two-parter on saving seeds. Tuesday’s episode focused on which plants you should be saving seeds from, how to properly collect and clean those seeds and how to hedge your bets against carrying over diseases on or in your seeds.

This episode focuses on seed storage, whether it's seed saved from your own garden or over purchased from a supplier. Leftovers from spring? No problem. We’ll talk about proper moisture level for saved seeds and how to get them dry enough to store, and what the best conditions are for storing seeds whether saved from your garden or store bought. We’ll also talk about the types of storage containers and how long each type of seed can be stored, based on plant family. So, let’s dig in to storing your seeds, shall we?

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Resources:

Collecting and Storing Seeds From Your Garden

Are My Seeds Dry Enough?

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Have you decided this is the year you’ll start saving seeds from your garden? Or, maybe you’ve saved seeds in the past and have had some problem with viability or germination the next season.

I mean, it doesn’t sound like it should be a difficult task. Just collect the seeds from whatever you want to keep, rinse them, dry them, and pack them away for next year, right? Well, sure! And while following this simple method can absolutely mean you’ll have beautifully preserved seeds that have fantastic germination the next season and yield a bounty of exactly what you thought you were planting, it’s equally possible that you’ll open the seed packet the next season to find fuzzy gray fungus or black moldy growth on your seeds, or nice looking seeds that don’t sprout properly, or maybe they sprout and you get midway through the gardening season and the fruit on the plant look nothing like the ones you saved the seeds from.

What seems like it should be a straightforward process actually requires a little finesse. So, this Garden Talk Tuesday I’m going to dig into which plants you should and shouldn’t be saving seeds from, how to properly collect, clean, and dry those seeds in order to best guarantee your success the next season, and what to do with certain seeds to hedge your bets against carrying disease over from one season to the other. Let’s dig in, shall we?

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Resources:

Hot Water Treatment for Seeds – Louisiana State University

How To Save Vegetable Seeds – Farmers Almanac

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It's October! And October 1st is the first Friday of the month which means another Can You Dig It? episode. This month we talk unknown plants in the garden that turn out to be lilies (and edible) and when to start saving seeds. This is also a precursor to next week's double episodes on seed saving. Great information here and more to come. So, let's dig in!

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Ep. 40 - Growing Garlic

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Traditionally, home gardeners have planted bare-root strawberry plants in the garden and had to wait an excruciating year to pick their first ripe berry. But, most commercial farms plant exclusively in the fall and harvest their first berries in the spring. On this episode, Karin talks about how the home gardener can use this technique to get a perennial strawberry bed producing earlier, the difference between the strawberry plant types, and more. Check the links below for sourcing rooted strawberry plants for your fall garden planting and follow the link to the Facebook group if you have any questions!

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Resources:

Strawberry Varieties: The Complete Guide (Updated 2021) (strawberryplants.org)

Growing Fruit: Strawberries [fact sheet] | Extension (unh.edu)

Strawberry Plants for Sale Online: The Complete Guide (Updated 2021)

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Have you been keeping notes all season long in a garden journal? Have you kept track of your varieties, harvests, weed pressure, insect pests, weather conditions, etc? No? No worries! Right now is the time to make some annotations about your gardening season to help put you on the right track for next year's garden. Doesn't need to be fancy, but the more you write down now the less you'll have to rely on hindsight to give you an accurate portrayal of what happened this year so you can make corrections next year. So, let's dig in to what the most important garden notes to be making right now.

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This Garden Talk Tuesday we’re digging into growing a favorite fall decoration of many people – mums or, more accurately, chrysanthemums. Now you absolutely can grow these fall flowers in your garden year-round but you need to know what you’re planting. Is it possible to plant the mums you get from your garden center and have them come back each year? The answer is: it depends. Knowing the difference between a garden or hardy mum and a nursery or florist mum is going to make all the difference here. So, we’ll talk about propagating your own mums, whether it’s from seed or from cuttings, when and where it’s possible to plant potted nursery mums in the garden and have them be perennial, overwintering your mums and we’ll talk about what’s different about Belgian mums.

So, for this week’s episode, mum’s the word!

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Resources:

Secondary metabolites of Chrysanthemum genus and their biological activities

History of the Chrysanthemum – National Chrysanthemum Society, USA

Chrysanthemum

Growing Garden Mums for Fall Sales

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Did you plant pumpkins this year? What about winter squashes? One of the questions I usually get around this time of year about pumpkins and other winter squash is, “how do I know when it’s ready to pick?” There’s nothing worse than waiting all season long for that huge vine to flower and produce these beautiful fruit, only to harvest it way too early because it looked ready or leave it out there too long and the bugs or ground rot gets to it. So, today we’re going to talk really quickly about the best time to harvest your winter squashes, including pumpkins, how to properly display them so they don’t go bad so quickly, and how to store them long-term so you can enjoy them all winter.

Episode 34 – Winter Squash

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I've talked about using these before, but what's the difference between a row cover, a frost cover, and insect cover? What about shade cloth? This episode we'll dig into the different materials available commercially to purchase for each of these tasks in your gardens, which ones are multi-purpose and which ones aren't, the accessories that go along with them and what alternatives you may have just laying around your home.

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Resources:

Johnny's Selected Seeds

AgFabric

Gurney's

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What is this?? It's a common question in the garden when we come across an insect, or any other arthropod, that we don't recognize. This Focal Point Friday we'll talk about the key items to take note of when trying to identify any one of the hundreds of thousands (literally!) of insects we may encounter in our day-to-day lives and then what to do with that info. Let's dig in to identifying insects in the garden.

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Resources:

BugFinder Insect Identification Tool

Antman's Hill on Facebook

Peterson Field Guide to Insects North of Mexico

iNaturalist

Ask an Entomologist

What’s That Bug?

BugGuide.Net

Pest World Pest Guide

Insect Identification Forum

Insect Identification Key

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This Garden Talk Tuesday we’re going to talk about a leafy green that people either really love or really do not care for – arugula. And though we refer to it as a green culinarily, like lettuce or kale, botanically it’s actually an herb and it definitely has a peppery or mustardy bite. It’s in the same family as the brassicas we’ve talked about in previous episodes, but the growth habit is completely different so I thought it deserved its own episode. Now, I’ll admit, I wasn’t a huge fan of arugula in the beginning. In fact, I had no idea what it was when customers began to ask me if I grew it. And for the first few years I grew it but didn’t really use it myself. Now that I’m more familiar with some great uses for it and at what stage of growth I prefer it, it’s become a favorite early spring and late fall or winter addition to my leafy mixes and even as a topping for my pizza or pasta. You can even grow it indoors as both a leafy green and as a microgreen.

So, let’s talk arugula!

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Resources:

Eruca versicaria subsp. sativa

Rocket, Garden

Tradition, uses, and biodiversity of rocket in Israel

Arugula

Eruca versicaria

Growing Arugula

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It's the first Friday of the month and time for another Can You Dig It episode. To be honest, this one snuck up on me! And, it must have snuck up on all of you, too, because I don’t have any listener questions for this month. But, I do have an interesting question that was posed to me by a customer at the farmer’s market stand and a couple quick tips on how to finish the season strongly with some of your summer garden plants.

So, let’s dig in, shall we?

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Resources:

Find your Persephone Period: Sunset and Sunrise Times

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This Garden Talk Tuesday we’re going to look at another crop that’s great in the fall garden - cabbage! This is another one that works well in the cooler shoulder seasons of spring and fall and does exceptionally well in fall weather. Plus, it’s another bonus crop that can survive a light frost with no damage if it’s covered and can withstand longer periods of cold weather if properly protected.

The biggest problems people face when growing cabbage are twofold. Number one is the garden pests, and we’ll talk a little about how to manage those, but the real head scratcher is when the cabbage won’t form a head. So, we’ll talk about the importance of nutrients when it comes to cabbage and what to do when it just doesn’t head up like it should.

So, without further ado, let’s dig in to growing cabbage.

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Resources:

Episode 12 - Broccoli

Brassica oleracea

Properties of Cabbage

9 Impressive Health Benefits of Cabbage

Stomach Cramps After Eating Cabbage

Midwest Vegetable Production Guide for Commercial Growers

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We’ve talked quite a bit this season about things that can and do go wrong in the garden and some ways to prevent them. In our first Garden Myths episode, we talked about things like coffee grounds, banana peels and eggshells in the garden, whether watering during the heat of the day can burn your plant leaves, marigolds, adding sand to your soil, talking to your plants, and more. If you missed that episode, I’ll put a link to it in the show notes.

On this Focal Point Friday episode, we’re going to look at two things’ people do or are told to do in the garden to prevent weeds and pests and one topic that has confused many home gardeners for generations, including myself. Let’s dig in, shall we?

Episode 32 – Garden Myths! True, False, or … Maybe??

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References:

Dawn Dish Soap Ingredients

How Soap Works

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Right now many of you are getting ready to transition from your summer garden to your fall crops and that’s pretty much what’s going on around here. And many of you are likely going to be using spaces that were previously used for a spring or summer crop or both. Whether you are interplanting your fall stuff under the canopy of your summer plants or planning to pull those plants to make way for the fall garden, there are few things you need to take into consideration prior to planting especially in terms of your soil health. Let’s dig in to what needs to be done to the garden beds before you plant your fall crops.

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I hope this week has been treating you well, especially in the garden. This Focal Point Friday I want to talk about something I think is pretty prevalent, especially on social media, but in any sort of promotional or educational space, like YouTube or podcasting, when it comes to teaching people how to garden. There is this tendency, I think, to only show the beautiful parts. I mean, it makes sense, right? As someone who wants to help people learn all about gardening, I want you to see all the great things in my gardens so you think, “Wow, okay, she knows what she’s talking about, look at that garden!” and then maybe you’ll lean further in to what I’m teaching you. But, I’m finding that can be very detrimental, both for you as a gardener trying to learn as much as you can for your garden, and for me as someone wanting to share my knowledge and what I’ve learned, but also me as a gardener.

Let's talk about why I have felt like a failure in the garden this year, how I've changed that, and what you can do when you feel like everyone else's gardens are looking great and yours doesn't match up.

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It is super-hot again here today and I can’t help but continue to look forward to my fall gardens. Another great fall crop is beets and you can bet we’ve got a ton of them planted already with plans for another succession planting this coming week. So, let’s dig in to how to grow beets!

Beets are grown for both its root and its tops. In the U.S. and Canada, we simply refer to the root as a beet. But elsewhere the root is usually referred to as beetroot, table beet, or dinner beet and the tops are just referred to as beet greens. Beets, both the root and the greens, have been used in traditional medicine for hundreds of years to treat a variety of maladies.

Beets like similar soil conditions to carrots, so nice light or loamy soil with lots of organic matter. Check out this episode to get more info on how to grow a successful beet crop.

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Resources:

Health Benefits of Beetroot

Beetroot

Growing Beets

Beets – Texas A&M AgriLife Extension

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This is the August edition of our Can You Dig It episode! We have a couple food-related articles and a couple gardening questions from listeners and folks in the Facebook group. If you haven’t joined the Just Grow Something Gardening Friends group on Facebook yet, jump in there. Answer a couple of questions so we can make sure you’re not a bot of some sort, and you’ll be joining like-minded gardeners from all over to share ideas and ask questions. You can also share interesting food stories like the ones on today’s show by using the hashtag #canyoudigit when you share in the group. So, join us!

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Resources:

Mobile Farmers’ Market offers fresh produce for Sacramento area’s low-income residents

Farmers Market On Wheels – Sara Bernal

This Frozen Honey Trend Is Going Viral on TikTok—But Is It OK to Try It?

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This Garden Talk Tuesday we’re going to talk about another great fall crop: spinach. Spinach is another fairly easy crop to grow that's only slightly fussy about its growing conditions. It’s no diva, like carrots, but it can be a little finicky when it comes to temperatures and water. So, it really is best grown in the cooler shoulder seasons of spring and fall. And, what makes it a great fall crop is that it can not only stand up to a heavy frost, you can overwinter it with row covers and harvest off the mature plants all winter long. Then, in the spring, it will pick back up and begin growing again for a very early spring harvest before you’ve even finished planting your spring crops.

So, let’s dig in to growing spinach.

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Resources:

Spinach

Medicinal Plants: Spinach

Cornell Vegetable Growing Guide: Spinach

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Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed by your summer garden? The overwhelm you may be feeling in the garden is a good indication that you’ve pushed yourself pretty far in terms of your commitment to your garden, the hard work you’ve put in, and you may be having difficulty managing the stress that hits in the middle of the heaviest part of the harvest when it seems like everything needs to be done at once and NOTHING is cooperating.

Unless you are relying on your garden for all of your family’s sustenance, that it’s okay to have those failures in the garden. It’s supposed to be something you enjoy. And once you get through those few weeks of frustration and exhaustion, hopefully you’ll be able to look back and see everything you gained from that garden and happily be able to move forward into the cooler fall season with your head held high.

Now, what if your garden was your job? What if it was the way you fed your family, both figuratively and literally. How you paid the bills. What if your garden was a family legacy passed on to you or one you wanted to pass on to your children? What if paying your mortgage or your rent relied on how well you did in the garden?

That’s the life of a farmer. The people who put the food on our tables and in our grocery stores contend with this stress on this level every single season. As consumers, we don’t see it. But stop for a minute and think about the number of items on the grocery store shelves. Think about the variety of foods we get to choose from. Whether it’s a fruit or vegetable, a bean or a grain, a meat or an egg, a dairy product or a boxed good, every single item on those shelves has a component that needed to be grown and cared for by somebody. And those somebody’s are burning out.

This episode we talk about the epidemic of farmer burnout, how prevalent it is, what's causing it, and what we can do about it.

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Resources:

Midwest farmers face a crisis. Hundreds are dying by suicide.

Farmer Burnout in Canada

Frequency of Burnout in the Swiss farming sector

Burnout and hopelessness among farmers: The Farmers Stressors Inventory

Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases

Burnout Prevention and Treatment

5 ways to detect and combat burnout

Food Prices and Spending

How Much Should I Spend on Groceries?

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We covered ways to help you continue to work in your garden during the heat of the summer in episode 41, but what about your garden? Many of you have already been facing extreme heat this year, so let’s talk about what to do to help care for your garden when you experience extreme summer heat conditions.

Episode 41: 6 Ways to Beat the Heat in the Garden

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We’ve been talking about fall gardening over the past few weeks and some of the techniques I’m going to talk about fall right in line with planting for fall, so now’s a good time to cover some of the terminology and the differences between and benefits of each. These are all techniques we’ve used a lot on our farm and in our gardens and they work well no matter how much garden space you have. In fact, these techniques can actually increase the yield of a small garden space substantially. So, without further ado, let’s dig in to succession planting, relay planting, and interplanting.

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Carrots are divas! Carrots can either be a complete failure or a rousing success and 90% of that depends on your soil composition. One little bump in the road and your carrot will do a quick swerve and you end up with wonky roots. No worries! On today's episode we'll cover how to amend your soil to perfect diva status, how to grow carrots in containers, what diseases and pests to watch out for, harvest tips and more. So come one, let's grow carrots!

The Gardening as Therapy episode has been corrected, too. The link below takes you to the Anchor page for the corrected audio.

Ep. 39 – Gardening As Therapy

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Resources:

A Look into the Powerful Medicinal Properties of Wild Carrots

Carrot – Botanical.com

Carrot Nutrition Facts

Carrot Growing Guide, Cornell University

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Working in the garden in the heat can not only be dangerous if you’re not careful, but it can also make it difficult to stay on track with what you’re doing. It can be a bit of a distraction, we don’t work nearly as efficiently, it can be an actual health risk. So, here are 6 ways you can beat the heat in your garden this summer.

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Send in those gardening questions to grow@justgrowsomethingpodcast.comor by leaving a voice message through the link below.

Resources:

Hydrating foods: The top 20 and their benefits

16 Herbs to Help You Beat the Heat, Plus Health Benefits and Recipes

17 Simple Ways to Beat the Summer Heat

Warning Signs and Symptoms of Heat-Related Illness

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Are you having harvest envy over all the photos of gardeners and their beautiful garlic? Have no fear! This Garden Talk Tuesday we're talking all things garlic - hardneck vs. softneck, how to prep the bed, when to harvest, how to store, and more. Let's take the mystery out of planting this wonderful, universally loved crop and Just Grow Garlic!

Check out the Facebook group of fellow gardeners and food lovers at Just Grow Something Gardening Friends.

Enjoying this podcast? Support us on Patreon! This labor of love costs real money and you can help cover those expenses with a monthly contribution that allows me to continue creating new, valuable content. Head over to our Patreon page to find out more.

Don't forget to send those gardening questions for our next Can You Dig It? episode. Leave a message at the link below or email me to grow@justgrowsomethingpodcast.com.

Resources:

Extracts from the history and medical properties of garlic

6 health benefits of garlic

The difference between hardneck and softneck garlic

HOW TO IDENTIFY AND CONTROL GARLIC PESTS

Garlic Diseases

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