We explore:

• Ways to use perennial vegetables in a home-garden setting
• Why perennial vegetables are a game-changer for sustainable gardening 
• Top crops for home gardeners
• Michalina’s top recommendations for home gardeners
• And we also take a tangent to discuss an interesting tomato that Michalina introduced, the ‘Venus of Willendorf’ tomato

Whether you’re curious about food forests, edible perennials, or just want to try something new, tune in for practical advice from a seasoned grower.

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Find out about simple ways to add edible plants to the landscape, top crops for home gardens, how to grow more food in a small space, and edible hedges.

In this episode, I share some of the ideas from my upcoming series of free online Earth Month gardening talks. These talks have been on my mind for a while—and this year feels like the right time.

The earth month gardening talks are free. Please join me for one or all of them. Find out more about the free Earth Month series.

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I’m joined by my former co-host, horticulturist, author, and longtime gardening educator Donna Balzer to talk all about her favourite vegetable varieties. 

Donna shares her long-time favourite varieties—the ones she grows year after year—as well as varieties that have recently impressed her. 

Donna and I wrote No Guff Vegetable Gardening together in 2011, and I’m a big fan of her approach to gardening. (If you’re looking for a copy of this Canadian classic, drop by Donna’s website.)

Whether you're planning your garden or interested in hearing about interesting varieties, this conversation will give you ideas for your 2026 garden.

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Hosted by Steven Biggs, Fig Culture explores the world of growing figs in places where they’re not supposed to thrive.

You’ll hear from fig experts in cold climates about the best varieties, learn how growers protect their trees through winter, meet passionate fig enthusiasts, and discover creative ways to use figs in the kitchen.

In this first episode, we visit Vancouver Island—where figs are fully hardy, but a cool coastal climate makes ripening a challenge. Master fig grower Bob Duncan has trialled hundreds of varieties to find the ones that perform best in his conditions—and he’s found some outstanding picks.

To hear more, search “Fig Culture” in your podcast app and follow the show. Episode 2 is waiting for you.

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Need inspiration for your next gardening task or project? Need to reconnect with nature? Have a listen. Yes, this chat is rooted in gardening. But it’s also a thoughtful look at human nature, current culture, and psychology. 

Stephanie shares a refreshing approach to gardening—one rooted in creativity, sustainability, and community connection. Instead of clicking “buy” for a next-day delivery, she encourages gardeners to tap into the sharing economy, repurpose materials, and collaborate with others to create beautiful, meaningful outdoor spaces. 

This episode is perfect for gardeners, sustainability enthusiasts, and anyone looking to reconnect with nature—and with others—through their outdoor space.

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In this episode, we chat with Véronique Alexandre from Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery, a Canadian nursery specializing in fruit trees adapted to harsh northern winters.

Want a hedge on your property? Forget the cedar hedge, Veronique will tell you about a flowering, fruiting hedge. She has many tips to help home gardeners succeed with fruit. We explore:

• Fruit trees, bushes, and cultivars for cold zones
• Growing a flowering and fruiting plum hedge
• How to fit fruit trees into small gardens and suburban yards
• What you need to know about ordering and planting bare-root fruit treesA tough-as-nails apple that grows in zone 2 and even colder
• A new cold-hardy, tasty, and bred-in-Quebec cold-hardy apple that stores very well 

Whether you want a single apple tree, a productive backyard orchard, edible landscape, or a hedge that feeds your family, this episode will inspire you to start planting fruit—even in the coldest regions.

If you’re looking for more on edible hedges, check out this edible hedge guide. 

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In this episode, I’m joined by gardening expert Charlie Nardozzi, author of The Continuous Vegetable Garden, to explore how to design a self-sustaining food garden that produces continuously through the seasons.

Charlie shares practical strategies for succession planting, perennial crops, fruit, gardening in shade, and no-dig gardening. We also talk about vertical gardening and how to keep tomato and pepper plants from one year to the next—so you can have an extra-early tomato and pepper harvest. 

If you’d like less maintenance and more of an ongoing harvest, this episode will inspire you to plant smarter — not harder.

If you’re looking for more on crops you can grow in the shade, check out this guide to fruits and vegetables for shade.

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In this episode we chat with tomato expert Frank Hyman, author of the brand-new book Ripe Tomato Revolution. He shares his top tips to get lots of healthy, homegrown tomatoes—with less work. Frank has over four decades of hands-on experience, as both a farmer and a gardener. He shares a super practical way for home gardeners to prevent disease, along with his easy-to-make, easy-to-use homemade tomato cages. Whether you’re a first-time tomato grower or a seasoned gardener, get ideas to improve your tomato harvest from Frank’s down-to-earth tips and techniques.

Hear about: 

• Simple DIYs: tomato cages, and Frank’s “tomato house” concept to prevent disease
• Creating conditions for tomatoes to thrive 
• Mulching like a pro
• Ways to support tomato plants
• Different types of tomato plants
• Frank’s personal stories from years on an organic tomato farm 

Perfect for: urban gardeners, backyard growers, sustainable farmers, and tomato lovers of all levels.

Listen now and let’s grow the best tomatoes you’ve ever tasted!

If you’re looking for more on staking and supporting tomatoes, check out this great post. 

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We head to Manitoba, just outside of Winnipeg, to chat with Brent Poole, an avid backyard veggie gardener who has been at it for over 45 years. Along with his own big suburban yard, Brent has a big garden across the street. He loves to experiment with new techniques and new varieties, something he attributes to his background in biology. Brent writes for and is on the board of The Prairie Garden, an annual publication that’s all about gardening on the Canadian prairies. 

If you garden in a cold climate—or want to make the most of a short growing season—this episode is packed with practical ideas.

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Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started.   [Join the newsletter] 

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Today we chat with Niki Jabbour, a CBC radio gardening expert, one of the creators behind the gardening website savvygardening.com, and the award-winning author of The Year Round Vegetable Gardener, Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden, Veggie Garden Remix: 224 New Plants to Shake Up Your Garden and Add Variety, Flavor, and Fun, and Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden.

Niki shares some of her long-time favourite veg varieties, more recent additions to her favourites list, and some varieties with a Canadian pedigree. (Spoiler alert: including one that’s listed in the Slow Fook Ark of Taste.) 

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Today we chat with Dave Hanson, co-host of The Grow Guide podcast, and owner of Sage Garden Greenhouses in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Dave shares some of his favourite veg varieties. He also talks about top herbs, one of his specialties.

Lavender get smoked in a harsh winter? Dave has a suggestion. And if you just can’t get enough cucs, hear what he does.

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In this episode, we get variety recommendations from gardening expert and entomologist Linda Gilkeson. Having spent much of her career on programs to reduce pesticide use, Linda is also an avid organic gardener who can garden year-round in her coastal climate.

Her books include Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest and West Coast Gardening: Natural Insect, Weed and Disease Control.

Linda gardens on Salt Spring Island, one of the Gulf Islands off the coast of British Columbia. She describes her growing conditions as coastal Pacific Northwest. Her variety recommendations are for these conditions.

But even if you’re not in the Pacific Northwest, I suggest you tune in. You’ll hear about tomato varieties that produce when it’s too cold for most others to set fruit. Did you know there are three broad groups of broccoli? And get Linda’s vegetable gardening words of wisdom.

Click here to see Linda’s list of top vegetable varieties.

Find Linda online at lindagilkeson.ca

If you’re looking for sources and tips about ordering vegetable seed, check out the post about where to get vegetable seed.  

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In this episode, we take a long, slender ornamental garden and reimagine the space with edible plants.

The garden we’re thinking about is actually a little sliver of the Joan of Arc Garden in Quebec City. But these same ideas work well in in many home-garden situations.

We talk about:

• Crop ideas (kales, Thai basil, borage, shiso, and fern-leaf parsley)
• Groupings vs. individual plants
• Urns for adding height an interest in this skinny space
• Plants that last into the fall vs. plants that fade with fall weather

If you’re looking for more on edible flowers like borage, check out this article about edible flowers. 

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Herbs are one option.

In this episode, we look at a space that has a tidy, slightly formal feel.

We replace the tightly clipped shrubs with edible alternatives.

And then we change out the annuals for herbs.

If you’re looking for more on using edible plants instead of traditional bedding plants, check out this post. 

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With the right plant choice, along with an understanding of how the space is used, you can add edible plants without spoiling the looks.

In this episode, we take a public space and reimagine it with edibles.

It’s a big space, with lots of lawn. We talk about plant choice for this shady spot, and about plant placement that doesn’t interfere with how this space is used. We include:

•  Edibles as bedding plants
•  Using height to make a focal point
•  Edibles for colour
•  Edible perennials
•  Fruit for shade

If you’re looking for more on crops for shade, check out this post. 

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In this episode, we look at a patio surrounded by planter boxes that are filled with red geraniums...nothing but red geraniums.

Our goal? Transform this linear container garden from a continuous line of red into something varied, colourful—playful—and edible.

Hear two different approaches to reimagining the planter boxes so that they’re a low-maintenance edible container garden.

If you’re looking for more on the sub-irrigated planters from this episode, find out more here. 

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Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

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In this episode, we tackle a bare space with hard clay, in zone 3.

Let’s not forget the deer and rabbits. Oh, and there’s a narrow “hell strip” that’s needs to be planted too.

The good news is that there are lots of ways to add edibles to a garden. The way to start is by choosing a creative direction, and then getting started.

We work through two entirely different approaches to this space.

First, we explore a low-maintenance “grazing” garden with perennials. Next, we think about how to use a potager style in this space.

For the plant palette we’re including options for:

·         Partial sunlight

·         Good cold tolerance for perennials (zone 3!)

·         Less attractive to deer

·         Plants that give options for adding colour, texture, and height

If you’re looking for fruits, vegetables, and other plants that you can grow in the shade, here’s a post to get you started. 

***

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

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Find out how this grower harvests peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, and more…despite winter temperatures that can dip to -38°C (-36°F) and a short summer.

In this episode, Donna and Steven chat with Saskatchewan fruit grower Dean Kreutzer.  

We talk about:

• Fruit adapted to cold climates
• Using unheated greenhouses to grow tender fruit, grapes…and figs
• Heat sinks and insulated tarps
• Capturing heat from the ground—without an elaborate geothermal heating system

Kreutzer and his wife run Over the Hill Orchards in Saskatchewan.

If you’re looking for more on cold-hardy fruit, check out this post on Saskatoon Berries. 

***

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

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It’s a common problem for the enthusiastic food gardener!

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about finding more growing space so that you can fit more crops into the same space.

Get ideas for:

• Growing in ungardenable spaces…like the root-infested space next to hedges
• Reducing space used by pathways
• Tiering crops in a garden
• Using paved areas, decks—and stairs!

If you’re looking for more on garden planning, check out these 7 vegetable garden layout ideas.  

***

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

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With the right transplanting and care, your tomatoes will be off to a great start.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:

• Transplanting tomato seedlings
• Protecting transplants from cold spring weather
• How to stake, train, and support tomato plants
• Pruning tomato suckers
• Watering and feeding
• Tomato challenges, including pests, diseases, and blossom end rot.

If you’re looking for more on how to support tomato plants, check out this article. 

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

---

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You don’t need to plant everything at once.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about when to plant vegetables, and the Canadian tradition of planting the garden over the Victoria Day (May 24) weekend.

(Sometimes it makes sense…though not for all crops in all zones.)

If you’re looking for more on planting vegetables, check out this article on direct seeding. 

***

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

 -->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

 -->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

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If they’re not hardened off.

But if you harden off seedlings, they stand a much better chance once you plant them in the garden.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:

• What hardening off means
• Why harden off seedlings
• How to harden off seedlings
• When to harden off seedlings
• Harden off seedlings in a greenhouse

If you’re looking for more on growing vegetables from seed, check out post on how to direct seed vegetables. 

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

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Today we head to Alberta, to find out how to grow saskatoon bushes. Arden Delidais grows in Zone 2—and doesn’t get any winter dieback on her saskatoon berries.

Delidais’ orchard and winery, DNA Gardens, has a number of cold hardy crops including saskatoon berries, apples, plums, rhubarb, currants, and haskaps.

Saskatoon bushes (Amelanchier alnifolia) are native to North America. (South of the border you might hear them referred to as juneberry or shadbush.)

Delidais tells Steve and Donna about:

• How to prune saskatoon bushes
• Saskatoon varieties
• Saskatoon pests and diseases
• How to propagate saskatoon berries
• How to use saskatoon fruit

If you’re looking for more on saskatoons, here’s a guide to growing them. 

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

---

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Direct sowing—a.k.a. direct seeding or direct planting—is when we sow seeds straight into the garden. We skip starting transplants indoors.

It gives better results for some crops—because there’s no transplanting shock. And that’s great, because it saves you the hassle of growing transplants.

But some crops need extra growing time…and that’s where transplants make sense. Or sometimes, hot summer weather causes spotty germination outdoors, meaning transplants are a better option.

To ace your direct seeding, you need to know which crops it works with—and how to do it.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:

• Why and when to direct sow
• When it makes sense to grow transplants instead of direct sowing
• How to direct sow seeds
• What crops are best for direct sowing

If you’re looking for more ideas for planting your vegetable garden, here’s an article with 7 Vegetable Garden Layout ideas.    

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

---

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If you get these 4 things right, you’re on the road to container gardening success: 

• The right container
• Good soil
• A suitable location
• Proper care

In this episode, Donna and Steven share top tips for container gardening success, including choosing pots, selecting soil, finding a suitable spot, and caring for your container vegetables.

If you’re looking for more on container gardening, here are top container garden crops. 

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There are many cold-climate fig growers who defy zone boundaries with creative overwintering techniques.

Figs can take quite a bit of cold. Not the extreme cold. A creative gardener gets figs through the winter by moderating the extremes.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about fig-growing tactics for cold climates so that you can harvest figs—even if you have zone envy!

If you’re looking for more cold-climate fig-growing tips, drop by our fig home page.

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If you haven’t tried pawpaw fruit, many people describe the flavour of its silky, yellow flesh as tropical.

While it’s the largest fruit native to North America, it’s difficult to find the fruit for sale.  

Yet it’s easy to grow.

That’s why many gardeners and small farmers plant pawpaw trees.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk with pawpaw expert Adam D’Angelo to get tips on growing pawpaw trees. 

We talk about:

• Where to grow pawpaw trees
• Pawpaw tree hardiness (yes, there are pawpaw growers in Canada!)
• Grafting pawpaw trees
• How to grow pawpaw from seed
• Pawpaw breeding
• What makes pawpaw a great fruit crop for home gardeners and small farmers

D’Angelo is the founder of Project Pawpaw, a crowd-funded pawpaw research and breeding program.

If you’re looking for more on pawpaw, tune into our interview with the Indiana Jones of pawpaw, Neal Peterson, and hear our chat with Toronto pawpaw expert Paul DeCampo. 

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And growing crop after crop in a garden is like making withdrawal after withdrawal. The crops use nutrients. Working the soil affects its structure.

Amending soil is like putting money back into the bank. Soil amendments can improve soil structure, soil chemistry, and return nutrients to the soil.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about practical ways home gardeners can improve soil quality with soil amendments. 

We discuss different types of manures, making compost, using leaves, wood chips, and common products such as bone meal, peat moss, and blood meal.

If you’re looking for more on soil, check out this post about how and when to use wood ash in the garden.

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If you’re planning a herb garden, there are many ways to add herbs to the landscape. You can have a stand-alone herb garden, a herb lawn, herbs mixed with paving, use herbs as bedding plants, weave them into a perennial border, or make a herb container garden on a patio, deck, or paved space.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about ideas for using herbs in home garden landscapes and share their favourite perennial herbs, annual herbs, and exotic herbs.

If you’re looking for more on planning a kitchen garden, check out this post on kitchen garden planning.

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Find out how to grow more leafy greens in your garden and how to extend your harvest so you can pick fresh salad greens as long as possible.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops ideas for leafy greens, how to plant leafy greens in a home garden or edible landscape, choosing greens crops for ongoing harvest, how to hurry up your spring harvest, and how to slow down bolting—even in hot weather. 

If you’re looking for more on leafy greens, check out this guide to 5 heat-tolerant salad greens.

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Citrus expert Byron Martin has the solution. And it’s not difficult.

AND he also has recommendations for other unusual potted citrus trees. 

We talk about finger limes, blood limes, pomelo, sweet lemon, sunquat, kumquat, citron, and more.

For all of these citrus trees in pots, proper watering is the key to success. We hear how to water—and what to expect from potted citrus trees in the fall. (Spoiler alert: If your lemon tree drops leaves when you bring it indoors, you’re not alone!)

We also find out about Byron’s favourite rootstock for citrus grafting.

If you’re looking for more on indoor lemon trees, here’s a guide to growing a lemon tree in a pot (that actually fruits!) 

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You can prune raspberries and manage the crop to maximize production. But this is one of those bulletproof crops that can do quite nicely without your help.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about planting raspberries, how raspberries grow, how to prune raspberries, and how to care for them.

If you’re looking for more on raspberries, tune in to our chat with Conrad Richter from Richters Herbs about the genus rubus (and learn about raspberry leaf tea!)

And here’s more on how to tip-layer blackberries and black raspberries. 

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You might already have some and just aren’t using them.

Edible flowers often come from well-known vegetable, herb, and fruit crops. But there are many that come from ornamental plants too. Even some shrubs and trees.

Find out which flowers are edible—and how you can use them to spice up your cooking and have fun with your culinary creativity. 

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about their favourite edible flowers, and how to use them.

If you’re looking for more fun crops, check out these edible perennials. (You might already be growing some of them!

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In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops they find worthwhile, along with some favourite varieties. The choices for Donna’s cold prairie garden aren’t always the same as for Steven’s milder growing zone.  

Start to narrow down the top choices for your vegetable garden with ideas on crops and varieties for:

• A reliable harvest
• Simplicity
• Suitability for your garden

If you’re looking for more ideas to plan the perfect kitchen garden, check out these ideas. 

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There’s more than one way to raise tomato plants from seed. And that means you can do it in a way that fits your growing space.

AND make sure to pick a variety you’ll love—because that’s a big reason for growing tomato seedlings. Some of the best tomato varieties are only available as seeds.

In this episode, Donna and Steven chat with Gen Z tomato grower Emma Biggs, who has raised tons of tomato plants for her annual plant sale and seed business. They talk about how they grow tomatoes from seed and the varieties they love. (They each do it differently!)

If you want more on planting tomatoes from seed, check out the guide to growing tomato seedlings on the website.

And say hi—we love to hear what you think.

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If you’re in a northern climate, to grow vegetables in winter you need to give them heat and light…and that usually means high-input greenhouse growing.

But there’s another way to approach winter vegetable gardening. 

And it’s low-tech.

The idea is to choose hardy crops and grow them big enough before light levels take a dive. Then keep those hardy crops alive in a protected space—and keep harvesting through the winter.

The key to successes is the right combination of crops, varieties, and the spacing.

In this episode, find out how to you can harvest winter vegetables in cold-climate home gardens.

We’re joined by JM Fortier, co-author of the book The Winter Market Gardener. The books shares years of research at Ferme des Quatre-Temps.

Fortier is also founder of The Market Gardener Institute, which offers training for small farmers. He’s founder of the small-farm tool and accessory retailer Growers & Co.
 
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If you’re looking for more information on seed-starting, vegetable gardening, and growing food at home, drop by the Food Garden Life website and grab the free guide, 20 Small-Space Food-Garden Hacks.

And say hi—we love to hear from what you think. 

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The right time to start seeds indoors—and have plants that aren’t too big or too small— depends on your crops and your location. It varies from place to place, but there’s a simple way to choose seed-starting dates.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about when to start seeds indoors so that your vegetable transplants are a good size for transplanting into the garden. They also discuss direct-sowing dates for garden vegetables.

If you’re looking for more information on seed-starting, vegetable gardening, and growing food at home, drop by the website and grab the free guide, 20 Small-Space Food-Garden Hacks.

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The best way to solve the problem of spindly seedlings is to prevent them from getting that way in the first place.

Set up your seed-starting area so you can give seedlings good light, an appropriate temperature, a suitable potting soil, and good containers.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about best practices so that you can grow compact, healthy vegetable seedlings at home.

If you’re looking for more information on seed-starting, vegetable gardening, and growing food at home, drop by the website and grab the free guide, 20 Small-Space Food-Garden Hacks.

And say hi—we love to hear from what you think. 

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In this episode, Steven and Donna share seed-shopping tips and talk about common seed-related terms.

Not sure if untreated seed is organic? Wondering what "heirloom" really means? Tune in to find out about seed terminology and crop related lingo.

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Find out how to grow damsons.

Sarah Conrad Gothie, Author of Damsons: An Ancient Fruit in the Modern Kitchen joins us to talk about the history of damsons, how to grow damsons, and how to use them in the kitchen. (Spoiler alert: They make a marvellous gin!)

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We talk about:

• Top tips for growing vegetables when conditions are not predictable
• Choosing crops for a climate-change vegetable garden
• Perennial vegetables
• Tips for veggie gardening in hot summers

Kim is an award-winning writer, journalist, and educator. Her new book is The Climate Change Garden: Down to Earth Advice for Growing a Resilient Garden. 

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We chat with Brad about using the landscape to harvest rainwater. And about using the landscape as a living air conditioner. 

Brad also talks about a very inspiring project that he helped spearhead, a community food forest.

We talk about: 

• Using permaculture principles in landscaping
• How to harvest rainwater in the landscape
• The connection between landscapes and cooling
• Using the soil and "speed bumps" in the landscape to make it a living sponge
• Selecting plants to suit the landscape
• The Dunbar Springs Urban Food Forest

Brad is the author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond.  

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In today’s episode, Steve digs into vertical gardening.

We talk about:

• Top crops for vertical gardening
• The benefits of vertical gardening
• Support structures in a vertical garden
• Materials to make your own trellises and support structures.

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Having studied psychology and ran a taxi franchise, Wally became interested in market gardening. 

So he bought a farm. 

But a conventional market garden wasn’t the right fit for him. That’s because a big operation requires hired help and capital outlay for equipment. 

So Wally and his wife Gail sold the farm—and moved back to the city. To farm—to farm other people’s yards.

And in the process, Wally mapped out a system of best practices called SPIN farming (Small Plot Intensive farming.)

Today he tells us his journey, and what he’s learned along the way.

We talk about:

• Running the 20-acre market garden
• Downsizing and setting up in the city
• The SPIN model and variations on it
• Comparing SPIN farming to commodity farming
• Using the SPIN model in small towns
• Top tips for new urban and SPIN farmers

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Andrew runs Vermicbec, a company that sells worms and worm compost.

We talk about:

• How vermicomposting works
• Using vermicompost (a.k.a. worm castings or worm wompost)
• Large scale vs. home-scale vermicomposting
• Top tips for home gardeners wanting to try worm composting (If you’ve tried it and had bug problems, Andrew tells you how to solve the problem) 

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Here’s the Q + A from our latest live show.

We talk about:

• Favourite tomato varieties
• Support for tomato plants
• Mulch
• Asparagus
• Microgreens
• Lemons
• Artichoke
• Squirrels
• What to do about bolting lettuce

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Kendall is the youngest certified farmer in the state of Georgia.

At her aGROWKulture Farm she grows her favourite crops and teaches other kids about gardening.

Kendall has been on Good Morning America, The Ellen Show, and Sesame Street.

Our own connection with Kendall is that we’re fans of the organization KidsGardening. Emma and Kendall were both involved in an event that KidsGardening hosted last year.

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He talks about the two-wheel tractor, a versatile piece of equipment that he says can be used by backyard gardeners, homesteaders, edible landscapers, and in community gardens.

(If you’re about to skip this episode because you don’t want more equipment…stay a while. Zach has insights into soil and tillage too.) 

In this episode we talk about:

• A look at the 2-wheel tractor
• How it’s different from a rototiller
• How home gardeners, landscapers, and homesteaders can use 2-wheel tractors
• What can a 2-wheel tractor do beyond tilling (spoiler alert: they can blow snow and bale hay too!)
• Earthworks for swales, berms, and beds on contour
• Tillage: minimum till vs. no-till

Zach is the author of The Two-wheel Tractor Handbook.

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• Why he prefers a permculture planting to a monoculture organic apple orchard
• How can an orchard be a permaculture?
• The system of “trios” he uses as a basic design unit
• Minimizing external inputs
• Using sheep in an orchard
• Timelines for establishing a permaculture orchard
• Using fruiting shrubs under trees
• Planting perennial flowers, herbs, and vegetables underneath fruiting shrubs

When it comes to the idea of permaculture, Sobkowiak says, “It’s just applied common sense.” 

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We talk about kitchen-scrap gardening with Em Shipman, Executive Director at KidsGardening.

Em also tells us about Kids Garden Month, with lots of fun activities and prizes for kids.

We talk about:

• Growing small seeds from the kitchen (e.g. citrus)
• Growing large seeds (e.g. mango, avacado)
• Growing roots and tubers and rhizomes (e.g. ginger, sweet potato)
• Things for kids to do in the garden in early spring
• Kids Garden Month

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All this from a tree that was known as the redwood of the east. A towering tree prized for its wood. A tree pivotal to the forest ecosystem.

And by the 1950s, it was thought to be extinct in Ontario.

But it wasn’t extinct. And it’s not extinct now.

We head to southwestern Ontario to find out what the Canadian Chestnut Council is doing to bring the American chestnut back to the landscape. 

Whether you’re a forager, interested in food forests, or want to grow nuts, this is a fun chat.

Our chestnut guide is Ron Casier, chair of the Canadian Chestnut Council.

We talk about:

• The American chestnut, and the place it held in the ecosystem
• Chestnut blight, and its effect on chestnut populations
• The “Canadian” American chestnut
• Breeding disease-resistance American chestnut varieties

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Less frost damage. Fewer bugs. Better growing conditions. 

Mini tunnels have lots of advantages, and they're easy to make and use. 

For this episode, we head to Nova Scotia to chat with vegetable gardening expert Niki Jabbour about how to make and use mini tunnels.

She’s the author of Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden and the creator of the online course How to Build and Use Mini Hoop Tunnels in the Vegetable Garden.

We talk about:

• What mini tunnels are
• Mini tunnels and weather
• Mini tunnels and pests
• Materials to make mini tunnels
• Getting an early start in the spring garden
• Turbo-charging heat loving crops with mini tunnels

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We head to Minnesota to chat with small-scale homesteaders Michelle Bruhn and Stephanie Thurow.

Both are urban homesteaders, and they’ve collaborated on a book to help small-scale homesteaders, Small-Scale Homesteading.

We talk about:

• What homesteading means to them
• The idea of small-scale homesteads in urban and suburban areas
• Tips for aspiring homesteaders
• How to get started homesteading

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So in small spaces we train crops upwards instead of outwards.  The term vertical gardening is often used to talk about adding the dimension of height to a garden.

Today on the podcast we head to Vancouver Island to chat with vegetable gardening expert Donna Balzer about vertical gardening. Steven and Donna are teaming up to hold a live online event on Vertical Vegetable Gardening on April 4, 2023.

Bay Laurel

Dave Hanson from The Grow Guide Podcast joins us to talk about growing the Mediterranean herb bay laurel. Steven and Dave are teaming up for a live online event on creating a Mediterranean Kitchen Garden in cold climates on March 14, 2023.

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We find out how to grow great Oregano with Dave Hanson from The Grow Guide Podcast. (No more bland orgegano that tastes like...hay!)

Why Now is a Great Time to Homestead

Homesteader Steve Maxwell talks about his journey from suburban Toronto to a rural homestead on Manitoulin Island.

He tells us why he think there's more opportunity than ever for homesteaders today. 

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We continue our chat with agronomist Laurie Brown from Cultur'Innov. She talks about 5 more minor fruit crops, how to grow them, and the opportunities they present for growers.

We talk about:

• Sea buckthorn
• Highbush cranberry
• Hardy kiwi
• Bush cherries
• Chokecherry
• Agroforesty
• Tips for growers who want to grow specialty fruit crops

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In this episode we look at 3 fruit crops: aronia (a.k.a. chokeberry), elderberry, and haskap (a.k.a. honeyberry).

Agronomist Laurie Brown from Cultur'Innov explains how to grow these minor fruit crops, talks about the opportunities for growers, and tells us where they’re at in terms of commercialization.

Cultur'Innov is a co-op focused on lesser-known fruit, nuts, and forest crops such as ginseng and mushrooms. This Quebec multi-stakeholder co-operative has both farmers and employees as members. 

The co-op helps its farmer members with different aspects of production:

• Understanding crop opportunities
• Setting up for a crop
• Growing the crop
• Processing opportunities

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He is passionate about grafting fruit trees. He's created trees that have over 100 varieties.

In this episode, he explains how to graft apple trees at home.

We talk about:

• Reasons to graft apple trees 
• Apple trees with lots of grafts (Frankentrees!)
• Cutting and storing apple scion wood
• Apple rootstock
• Supplies for apple tree grafting (spoiler alert: what you DON’T need to buy)
• Best grafts for beginners
• Solving common apple-grafting problems

Steven has a grafting video series on his YouTube channel.

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We talk about:

• Potager gardens
• Making ornamental and elegant edible gardens
• Design elements such as enclosure
• How to design your own potager-style garden

Linda's new book is The Elegant & Edible Garden.

In the second part of the show we catch up with Sunday Harrison from Green Thumbs Growing Kids in Toronto. We're big fans of this non-profit that brings gardening to school kids and communities in downtown neighbourhoods.

We find out more about their model, which solves a common challenge of school gardens: Summer.   

We talk about: 

• Why working with a cluster of schools helps with summer care 
• Summer community involvement
• A project that gets kids growing trees from seed

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Sam's interest in citrus began when he realized he could grow trifoliate orange in New England.

If you've tried trifoliate orange, you'll know it has true pucker power.

But don't worry!

Sam has lined up a mix of cold-hardy citrus: Along with fragrant and bitter citrus that add complexity to all sorts of recipes, he tells us about some eat-straight-from-the-tree cold-hardy citrus.

We talk about:

• Trifoliate orange
• Yuzu
• Sudachi
• Kumquat, and other citrus with kumquat lineage
• Ichang lemon
• Citrumello
• Mandarins
• Australian finger limes

Sam also shares tips about different ways to grow and protect citrus in cold climates.

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Brian French and his wife Jeannette run Lennox Farm in Dufferin County, in Ontario. Along with field-grown rhubarb, they force rhubarb indoors during the winter. 

Brian French explains how to force rhubarb:

• The difference between forced and field-grown rhubarb
• Conditions needed to force rhubarb over the winter
• Varieties of rhubarb for forcing
• Growing rhubarb roots for forcing
• Digging rhubarb roots for forcing
• Tips for growing rhubarb at home

(Spoiler alert: Brian tells us whether it's really necessary to harvest by candlelight, as it's traditionally done!)

To see photos of the rhubarb-forcing operation at Lennox Farm, see the blog post for this episode at Foodgardenlife.com.

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What started as a fascination with unusual tomato varieties grew into an addiction! Teresa specialized in heirloom and unusual tomato varieties, and now sells tomato transplants and fruit.

We talk about:

• Top varieties
• Resources for finding and researching tomato varieties
• Selecting tomato varieties suited to the growing conditions
• Tips for people who want to get started growing heirloom and unusual tomatoes

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Postman is a retired plant pathologist and curator of the USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Oregon, where he helped develop a pear collection with cultivars and species from around the world.

We talk about:

• What is quince
• How to use quince fruit
• The use of quince trees as rootstock for pear trees
• Quince varieties
• Quince cold hardiness
• Quince diseases

Delectable Root Vegetable Recipes

Cookbook author and professional home economist Jennifer MacKenzie joins us to talk about cooking root vegetables and shares recipes from her book The Complete Root Cellar Book. 

We talk about:

• Shopping for root veg
• What to look for if you're planning to store root veg
• Spiced roasted turnip and beet batons
• Beet and carrot slaw
• Root cellar medley soup
• Parsnip and pear soup

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We talk about:

• Breeding haskap (a.k.a. honeyberry) fruit
• Cold-tolerance of haskap
• How to care for haskap
• How to prune haskap
• Cold-tolerant cherry varieties from University of Saskatchewan

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They also talk about a few other unusual tomato varieties, including one of the ugliest tomato plants you'll see: 'Stick.'

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Steward planted a medlar orchard, holds the UK National Collection of medlars, and runs Eastgate Larder—a food business where she processes medlar.

We talk about:

• How to grow medlar (Mespilus germanica)
• How to cook medlar
• Steward’s journey into planting a medlar orchard and starting a food-processing business 
• How to “blet” medlar 
• Medlar rootstock
• Medlar fruit in Turkey and around the Caspian Sea
• (Spoiler alert: we also hear about medlar gin and a delicious medlar chutney)

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Horticulturist and vegetable-garden expert Donna Balzer talks about garden planning and shares her tips for seed shopping.

We talk about:

• Favourite early spring greens crops
• Making a vegetable garden plan
• Succession crops
• Storage Crops
• Where to get seeds
• Testing seeds for viability
• Seed Lingo

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We talk about:

• What makes Niagara an excellent grape-growing region
• Grape vine care
• Vinifera grapes, labrusca grapes, and hybrid grapes
• The history of the Henry of Pelham winery
• The Baco Noir and Pinot Noir grapes
• Food pairings for Baco Noir wine

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We talk about:

• The range of fruit that grows in Alaska
• The growing conditions in different parts of Alaska
• Using greenhouses and high tunnels
• The gardening culture in Alaska
• The advantages of growing in a northern area
• Opportunities for monetization
• A greenhouse-winery!

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Dave has joined us here on the show before to talk about exotic edibles. 

Along with Sage Garden Greenhouses, he co-hosts The Grow Guide podcast. 

We talk about:

• Herbs that can be moved indoors from the garden
• Seed-growing herbs indoors over winter
• 3 bullet-proof herbs for growing indoors
• Lesser-known herbs that are well suited to indoor conditions
• Indoor herb care and feeding
• Potting soil for growing herbs indoors
• Controlling pests on indoor herb plants

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It started with a math lesson. A very boring math lesson.

Educator Sonya Harris was trying to get a concept to stick. And the thing that got it to stick was the garden.

A non-gardener, she saw how it could help kids take in ideas. But she wasn’t sure where to start once she got buy-in from the principal to make a garden. 

So she did it with a fun celebrity event. 

We talk about:

• Launching the school garden with a “yard-crashing” event featuring an HGTV star
• Bringing the classroom to the garden — and the garden to the classroom
• Creating The Bullock Garden Project to help other educators start gardens
• Funding the non-profit project with a for-profit seed company, Garden Teachers Yard
• Resources for educators who want to incorporate gardening into the curriculum

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Susan Poizner, founder of Ben Nobleman Community Orchard in Toronto, talks about the upcoming apple-tasting fundraiser event for the orchard. Poizner is a college instructor, author of Grow Fruit Trees Fast and Growing Urban Orchards, and the founder of Orchard People.

At the virtual apple tasting, participants are guided through characteristics such as:

• Smell
• Flavour
• Texture

The apples in the tasting were bred in Ontario — and have not yet been released.

An apple tasting event is something you can do yourself! Poizner shares tips on how to host your own apple-tasting event.

Pruning Fruit Trees

We also talk about how to prune fruit trees:

• Why prune fruit trees
• How to prune fruit trees
• Winter vs. summer pruning
• Water sprouts
• When to cut off healthy branches
• Whip cuts

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Kyle will have a number of his giant vegetables on display at the 2022 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, November 4-13.

We talk about:

• His 1,659-pound pumpkin — a personal best
• Tips on growing giant vegetables
• How to grow giant pumpkins
• Getting seed
• The Giant Vegetable Growers of Ontario

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McFarlane produced the gardening show The Curious Gardener, about Yukon farmers and gardeners.

We talk about:

• Gardening when there are only about 75 frost-free days in the growing season
• Gardening on poorly developed soils
• How to grow tomatoes in the far north (spoiler alert: Arlin grows tomatoes!)
• The importance of microclimates
• The show The Curious Gardener

Connect

The Curious Gardener: thecuriousgardener.ca

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He talks about:

• How cold lemon trees can get
• How cold the fruit can get
• Fruiting and flowering
• Using lemon leaves in the kitchen
• How big potted lemon plants will get
• His favourite lemon for growing in a pot in cold climates

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In the first part of the show, we chat with Tasha Greer about how to grow your own spices. She’s the author of the book Grow Your Own Spices. 

We chat about:

• The difference between a herb and a spice
• Spice-growing ideas for this time of year
• Seed-grown spices
• “Underground” spices
• Spices that might already be in your landscape
• Spices that a patio gardener can grow in containers and overwinter indoors

Feed Yourself for a Year

In the second part of the show we talk with homesteader, cold cellar, and food storage expert Steve Maxwell for ideas about food storage – even if you’re an urban dweller. He’s the creator of the online course Feed Yourself for a Year: Select & Store 365 Days of Food.

He talks about:

• The reason for having a supply of stored food
• The advantage of preserving your own food vs. kits
• Ideas for urban dwellers to store food
• The importance of stored water
• Making basement root cellars
• Making a roothouse
• Smoking food

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We talk about:

• Home food gardens that are productive and aesthetically pleasing
• A tomato festival
• The Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, which has three different sites that each have different growing conditions and plant collections
• Garden outreach to vulnerable communities
• Scrappy plants for tough growing conditions

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Baker has created a forest garden on her USDA Zone 4 farm. She shares her tips for making a forest garden, whether it’s an acre or just a few square feet.

We talk about:

• Permaculture principles
• Creating microclimates
• Grouping plants in layers
• Understanding your space
• Matching plants to conditions
• What you can do at this time of year to get started

Her new book is The Home-Scale Forest Garden: How to Plan, Plant, and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape.

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Steven and Emma take a look at the 2022 tomato crop.

We chat about:

• What’s new in the tomato patch
• Growing methods
• Top varieties
• Tomato seed saving
• Favourite tomato recipes

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In the first part of the show, we chat with Peter McClusky about garlic. He’s the founder of the Toronto Garlic Festival, now in its 12th year. 

We chat about:

• The hardneck garlic grown in Ontario, and it’s culinary properties
• How to grow garlic at home
• The festival, which includes seed garlic, prepared food, educational events, and music. 
• The festival is Sunday, September 25, 2022 at Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St. here in Toronto.  

Backyard Hens get Hentopia

In the second part of the show we talk about backyard hens with Frank Hyman, author of the book Hentopia. 

Hyman’s approach to keeping chickens is that he aims to spend less time doing chicken-related chores than cooking eggs. And he sets up the coop so that he can go away for a couple of weeks at a time.

He tells us about:

• Practical feed and feeder ideas
• Creating practical water dispensers — even in cold climates
• Making a pallet coop
• (Spoiler alert: we hear about the cricket rodeo he gives his hens)

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Schreiber is the author of the book Eat Your Roses.

We talk about:

• Common edible flowers
• Lesser-known edible flowers
• Top tips for edible flowers
• Edible-flower recipes, including rose-petal ice cream, pork sliders with nasturtium, roasted-red-pepper soup with nasturtium, lavender-flower biscotti

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Darryl and Aden tell us how they taught children about light at a children’s event at a local museum. (Spoiler alert: it involved colourful Skittles candy.)

Darryl is an avid food gardener — and his specialty is light. His business, Just Led Us, specializes in lighting.

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We chat with Jack Spruill, whose farm is is on the shore of North Carolina’s Albemarle Sound, the largest freshwater sound in the world.

Spruill plans to donate the farm to an organization that will maintain public access, with the land used for low-impact farming, research, and education programs.

At the moment, some of the property is used for a community garden — and a community fig orchard.

We talk about:

• The idea of public access, and how it scares some organizations
• Mechanisms for land conservation
• Tips for bringing people together around food and gardening
• The community fig orchard

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You probably never expected to hear about polar bears on The Food Garden Life Show.

Today’s show is a bit of a departure from our usual focus on plants. We continue with our focus on food, the outdoors, and the human story.

Time Outdoors…and Family

Mike Borger, lived some of his younger years as a self-described canoe bum, travelling northern waters in pursuit of brook trout. Today, he helps people plan trips to remote fishing destinations through his business Canada Fishing Guide.

We learned of Mike Borger when a friend sent us a link to a video of a great family trip: A Dad who takes his 10-year-old son on a spring brook-trout fishing trip into Algonquin Park – and they get the mother lode of fish.

In today’s show, my son Quinn, an avid angler, joins in our chat with his fishing questions.

We talk about:

• Travelling northern canoe routes (and a polar bear encounter!)
• Mike’s passion for brook trout
• His epic brook trout fishing trips to Algonquin Park with his son, Brendan
• Favourite tackle
• Reading a lake when fishing for brook trout
• Tips for new anglers
• How he created a business doing what he loves

Connect

• Canada Fishing Guide: canadafishingguide.net

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In the first part of the show, we chat with landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing, hosts of the Down the Garden Path radio show and podcast.

We talk about:

• Seasonal gardening tips
• What to do in the garden now
• Their new book, Down the Garden Path

Foraged

In the second part of the show we talk about unique foods, foraging, and turning your passion into a career with Jack Hamrick from Foraged.

He tells us about:

• How a chat with a forager and some Chicken of the Woods mushrooms set him on the path to creating an online marketplace for foraged and specialty foods
• The journey of building a business
• Top tips to get started with a food business
• Unique foods he loves on Foraged

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We talk about growing:

• sweet potato
• carrots
• lettuce
• celery
• beets
• green onions
• leeks
• turmeric
• ginger

And saving seeds from squash and tomatoes.

Katie's is the author of No-Waste Kitchen Gardening: Regrow Your Leftover Greens, Stalks, Seeds, and More.

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Pittsburgh gardener Seth Finn talks about his container garden and the container garden on the roof of his daughter’s restaurant.

The restaurant rooftop garden furnished the restaurant with fresh figs and shishito peppers amongst other things.

We talk about:

• Wicking containers
• How often to replace or top up the potting soil
• Growing figs in wicking containers on the roof
• Plumbing together a series of containers to simplify watering

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In this episode we speak with Alex Henderson about the rejuvenated rose garden at Royal Botanical Gardens. 

Henderson, Curator of Living Collections, explains that the original rose garden, planted in 1967, was suffering from the combined effects of poor soil health, rose varieties susceptible to disease, and a ban on cosmetic pesticides. 

We chat about:

• Creating more ecological balance by having mixed plantings of roses and flowering perennials
• Changing from overhead irrigation to drip irrigation
• Selecting rose varieties with improved genetics

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In the first part of the show, we chat with vegetable gardening expert Niki Jabbour.

She shares tips about:

• Summer vegetable garden succession crops
• Growing vegetables in pots
• Supporting tomato plants
• Managing slugs

Jabbour is an award-winning author of four books: The Year Round Vegetable Gardener, Groundbreaking Food Gardens, Veggie Garden Remix, and Growing Under Cover. As well as hosting and producing The Weekend Gardener radio show, she is a CBC radio columnist. Her award-winning website is savvygardening.com.

Hardy Apples

In the second part of the show we talk about hardy apples with Bob Osborne.

He tells us about:

• Choosing a location for apple trees
• Apple rootstock
• Tips for growing apples in cold climates
• Apple varieties
• Cider apple varieties

Osborne has over 40 years experience propagating and selling apples. He runs Corn Hill Nursery in New Brunswick, and is a CBC radio columnist, and the author of the book Hardy Apples: Growing Apples in Cold Climates.

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In this episode we speak with Joel Karsten about straw-bale gardening.

He is the author of Straw Bale Gardens Complete.

We chat about: 

• Straw bale gardens as a way to grow in very wet conditions
• Making non-straw bales out of other available organic materials
• Trellising for straw-bale gardens
• Making raised straw-bale gardens
• Growing mushrooms on straw bales (spoiler alert: then you can grow veggies afterwards!)

Connect

• strawbalegardenclub.com and strawbalegardens.com for straw-bale gardening information
• strawbalemarket.com to shop for straw bales
• balegardenbuddies.com for straw-bale garden community and mentors

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She is the host of the YouTube channel Learn to Grow, where she shares her passion for growing food.

In this episode we chat about: 

• Extending the growing season
• Crops for season extension
• Perennial food crops
• Some of her top crops

Her new book is Four-Season Food Gardening: How to grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs year-round.

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2022 is The Year of the Garden here in Canada.

This year of celebration includes lots of ideas to help people weave gardens and gardening into their lives.

We chat with Michel Gauthier and Cheney Creamer about their weekly Year of the Garden invitations that offer people something simple to do in the garden.

Gauthier is the executive director of the Canadian Garden Council. Creamer is the chair of the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association.

Live the Garden Life

How do you weave gardening into your life? Tell them about it by sharing your garden and what you love about gardening, and use the tag #yearofthegarden.

Connect

• Year of the Garden
• Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association
• Cheney Creamer, One Green Square

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Suzanne Crocker joins us from Dawson City, Yukon to tell us about the year she spent knowing where all the food on her plate came from.

There was no salt, no sugar, and no caffeine. There were three hungry (and sceptical) teenagers, and a reluctant husband. There was no grocery-store food in the house for for the entire year.

Food Discoveries

Crocker talks about some of the techniques she learned during the year:

• Making birch syrup to use as a sweetener
• Foraging weeds and spruce tips
• Juicing potatoes to make a thickener
• Using rhubarb juice as a vinegar substitute

Gardening North of 60

With only a couple of months of frost-free days, the gardening season is short and intense. The intense light causes some cool-weather vegetables such as spinach to bolt.

Crocker talks about crops that do and don’t grow in Dawson — and about gardening with moose!

From Medicine to Film

Crocker was a rural family doctor before becoming a filmmaker. She captured the year of her family eating locally in her new film, First We Eat.

This isn’t the first time she’s turned the lens on her family. Her first feature documentary, All The Time In The World, shared her family’s experience leaving home to live in the remote Yukon wilderness for 9 months.

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In the first part of the show, we chat with veteran fruit growers Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano, founders of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.

Their focus is cold-hardy fruit and nuts with good disease resistance and minimal pest problems — plants suited to home gardens and landscapes.

They tell us about:

• Medlar
• Mulberry
• Himalayan Chocolate Berry
• Honeyberry (a.k.a. Haskap)
• Hazelnut

Their new book is Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts: 50 Easy-to-Grow Plants for the Organic Home Garden or Landscape.

Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators

In the second part of the show we talk about native bees and how we can support them in our gardens, with bumblebee researcher Sheila Colla and native plant expert Lorraine Johnson.

They tell us about:

• Gardening as a way to support native bee species
• How honeybees can impact native bee populations
• The disappearance of the rusty patched bumblebee in Ontario

Their new book is A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators.

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Teri Speight and Kathy Jentz talk about creative ways that city dwellers can make productive, functional, and beautiful gardens.

Jentz is a journalist, editor, and frequent radio and TV guest. She is also the editor and publisher of Washington Gardener magazine.  

Speight is a speaker, writer, and podcaster. She’s the former head gardener of the City of Fredericksburg, founding farmer of a CSA, and an estate gardener. 

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Grow Vegetables in Raised Beds

Raised beds can have a number of advantages:

• Soil warms more quickly in spring
• Less back and knee strain
• A solution for locations with less-than-ideal soil

How to Make Raised Bed Gardens

CaliKim says that raised bed gardens don’t have to be a box or a square. “Think outside the box,” she advises. 

A raised bed garden can be tailored to the yard and to the gardener. That could mean: 

• A shape suited to the location
• Choosing materials that tie in to the style of the garden
• A mobile unit to be place wherever there is available sunlight 
• 
  

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In the first part of the show, we chat with chicken expert and author Lisa Steele.

Steele is a Maine Master Gardener and 5th generation chicken keeper.

In this episode, she tells us about:

• Integrating chickens into the garden
• What to grow for chickens
• What to avoid growing
• The pecking order, and how to deal with it
• Using chicken manure in the garden
• Using eggshells and cycling them back into the garden

Grow Fruit Trees Fast

In the second half of the show, we chat with fruit tree expert Susan Poizner, founder of Orchard People.

Poizner is the host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show, a college instructor, and the author of the award-winning book Growing Urban Orchards.

In this episode, she tells us about:

• What to do with fruit trees in the spring
• Shopping for fruit trees
• Pruning fruit trees
• Common problems first-time fruit tree growers often face
• The community orchard she helped found in Toronto

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Jere Gettle from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds joins us to talk seeds, seed saving, and seed collecting.

He loves meeting gardeners, chefs, and farmers who share old seed varieties and the stories behind them.

Lifelong Passion for Heirloom Seeds

Gettle started his seed business as a teenager, with a 12-page photocopied price list.

Today, the seed company tests over 4,000 heirloom seed varieties each year.

Gettle says that for a variety to make the cut for the catalogue, he’s looking for 3 things:

• It’s beautiful
• It tastes great
• It grows well

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We’ve talked about backyard poultry here on the show before, but we’ve never explored raising chicks. 

Our guest today is Dr. Scott Gillingham from Guelph, Ontario. He’s a poultry veterinarian who works with big flocks. But he’s also a homesteader with his own small flock. 

Commercial scale and homestead scale agriculture are often in different silos. His passion is bridging the silos.

We’ll hear about:

• Crop fill
• Brooding chambers
• Preventative medicine
• Comfort zones
• Giving chicks the right temperature
• Suitable feed for chicks

Observation is Very Important

We’ll also talk about something that is very useful tool when raising chicks: A 5-gallon bucket. 

Gillingham explains how he uses a simple bucket to sit on and observe what’s up. It works in big commercial barns; it works with small home flocks.

He says that when chicks have everything they need you’ll see them eating, drinking, sleeping, and playing. If not — you’ll see huddling for warmth or with wings up trying to cool themselves.

Book about How to Raise Chicks

Gillingham’s book is Raising Amazing Chicks: The First Seven Days. 

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Our guest today makes oils from a wide range of nuts and seeds. 

Bevin Cohen runs Small House Farm in Michigan, where he specializes in oils, seeds, and cosmetics. 

Home Oil Pressing

Cohen says home oil pressing gives fresh oil with superior flavour to oils that are mass produced.

He explains how to press small batches of oil at home. 

Oil Seeds for Northern Gardeners

In this episode, Cohen talks about how to press oil from:

• Flax
• Hemp
• Walnut
• Pumpkin
• Black currant
• Borage
• Watermelon  

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In the first part of the show, we chat with Sean Smith from Crooked Farmz in Toronto. 

Smith talks about his journey into growing food, learning about soil and composting, and the beginnings of his Toronto microfarm.

Compost Tea by Subscription

He calls himself the “brewer” at the farm. The brew? It’s compost tea.

Along with selling at farmers markets, Smith has taken another route to selling the compost tea: by subscription. 

Home Composting Tips

Some of Smith’s top composting tips:

• Understand what “brown” and “green” ingredients are, and have some of each
• Make sure there is enough air
• Make sure there is enough water

Honey Bees and Native Bees

In the second half of the show, we chat with Missouri beekeeping expert, author, and TEDx speaker Charlotte Wiggins.

Wiggins talks about attracting native bees to gardens, gardening for both native and honey bees, and shares tips and ideas for people thinking about getting into beekeeping.

Tips for People Interested in Keeping Bees

• Learn beekeeping lingo
• Join a beekeeping club, make beekeeping friends
• Take a class about beekeeping
• Volunteer with local beekeepers
• Don’t rush getting your own hives, get the hang of things first 

Looking for more beekeeping guidance? Wiggins’ latest book is the award-winning A Beekeeper’s Diary: Self-Guide to Keeping Bees.

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Jarrod Goldin, one of the founders of Entomo Farms, talks about how he and his brothers got into the business of raising food-grade crickets, the use and benefits of crickets as a food source — and about using cricket frass as a fertilizer.

Cricket Frass Fertilizer

Frass: It’s the word for insect excrement. If you’re wondering what cricket frass looks like, Goldin describes it a sand-like in texture and light coloured.

Entomo Farms initially treated it as a waste product. They gave some away, and stored some on the farm.

After seeing how well vegetation grew where they had piled the frass, and after hearing anecdotally about its use as a plant feed, Entomo Farms began to study the use of the frass as a fertilizer. 

Initial trials on fields of hay have shown surprisingly large yield increases, along with longer-term residual effect.

Entomo Farms cricket frass is now available commercially.

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Susan Antler joins us to talk about the Plant • Grow • Share a Row program. 

This program helps groups and individuals to grow extra vegetables to share with nearby food banks and soup kitchens.

First Step

As a first step, Antler suggests connecting with a local food agency to find out what is needed, and also find out details such as delivery days and times.

Another way to get started is to connect with a group of like-minded people in the community who want to grow to share.

Plant • Grow • Share a Row Program

The goals of the program include:

• Helping people plant extra vegetables to share at harvest time
• Providing seeds to participants
• Sharing gardening knowledge

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Wolfgang Palme joins us to talk about winter-hardy vegetables and year-round growing. He is an agronomist, and head of the Research Institute of Horticulture in Austria.

Accidental Discovery

Palme’s journey into winter vegetable growing started by accident one year when autumn weather was unusually cold. Some of the test plots that he had not yet harvested survived, much to his surprise. 

So he started to investigate cold-hardy crops.

He was surprised to find that that published frost hardiness recommendations are often incorrect.

Not New

Palme points out that growing cold-tolerant crops and using simple protective measures is nothing new. This knowledge has simply faded with the advent of large-scale, high-tech growing.

Low-tech, low-input approaches are often well suited to small farms and home gardeners. As well as costing less, there is a smaller environmental footprint.

Surviving Winter

Palme explains that frost is not the main challenge for overwintering greens: It’s moisture and disease. 

A covering such as a hoop house, tunnel, or cold frame can keep leaves dry and reduce susceptibility to disease. In combination with a covering, good ventilation is important, to let humid air escape.

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Lindsay Stuijfzand talks about how she weaves her passion for growing food into her work as a landscaper.

Pretty Tasty Gardens

Stuijfzand is a horticulturist who runs Pretty Tasty Gardens, an edible-landscape garden company in Toronto.

Roots in Landscaping

When she first got into the industry, she worked in conventional landscaping — with a focus on ornamental plants and hardscaping.

As her interest in edible plants grew, she branched off into edible landscaping. It’s a path that makes her a bit of an outlier—or trailblazer—in the landscape industry.

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In the first part of this episode we chat about growing food indoors with Kim Roman, a garden educator and square-foot-gardening instructor. 

Her new book is How to Garden Indoors & Grow Your Own Food Year Round. 

Regenerative Gardening

In the second part of this episode we find out about regenerative gardening from Stephanie Rose. She is a permaculture designer and herbalist.

Her new book is The Regenerative Garden. 

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There’s more than one way to slice a tomato; there’s more than one way to grow a tomato.

Growing tomatoes is like many things in life…there are lots of ways you can tackle it. 

Do you have a favourite way? Or a tomato-growing tip handed down in your family?

Different Strokes, Different Folks

In this episode, we take a deep-dive into growing tomatoes with two experts who have very different approaches to growing tomatoes.

• Garden expert, author, and broadcaster Joe Lamp’l loves growing tomatoes. He’s met lots of gardeners using a wide range of tomato-growing techniques through his work as the host and producer of the Growing a Greener World television series, and through his podcast, The joe gardener Show. 
• World-renowned tomato grower Craig LeHoullier co-leads the Dwarf Tomato Breeding project, has named and popularized many well-known tomato varieties such as ‘Cherokee Purple,’ and is an expert on straw-bale gardening. He’s the author of the book Epic Tomatoes.

Tomato Talk

Lamp’l and LeHoullier talk about:

• The tomato-growing methods they use in their own gardens
• How their gardens differ
• Tomato-growing ideas they’ve learned from each other
• Favourite tomato varieties
• Tomato-growing techniques they’ve seen in other gardens

They also share tips for new gardeners. “Don’t get hung up on the destination, but learn to love the journey,” says LeHoullier.

Growing Epic Tomatoes

Lamp’l and LeHoullier bring together their tomato-growing experience in an online course called Growing Epic Tomatoes. Registration is open now.

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Daniel Brisebois joins us from La Ferme Cooperative Tourne-Sol near Montreal. 

The farm operates as a workers co-operative, where farm owners are the workers. 

When the farm started in 2005, sales were through both farmers markets and CSA baskets. Today, sales are entirely through CSA baskets. 

Work-Life Balance

There is a focus on work-life balance. Vacation and parental leave — challenges for many farmers — are possible under the co-operative model.

“It’s always been important to us that we don’t burn people out.” 

Seeds and Breeding

Seed sales have always been part of the farm business, but were a small portion in the beginning — $700 in the first year. 

Today, the farm sells more seeds than vegetables, with an online seed store and seed racks in over 150 retail locations.

Spreadsheet Maniac

Brisebois believes in the importance of making business decisions based on data. 

He uses spreadsheets to collect and understand farm data. He shares his passion for spreadsheets through his Farmer Spreadsheet Academy.

Daniel Brisebois website: goingtoseed.net

La Ferme Cooperative Tourne-Sol: fermetournesol.qc.ca

Farmer Spreadsheet Academy: farmerspreadsheetacademy.com

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