Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

Andrew Huxsel joins us from St Placide, Quebec to tell us about worm composting. Also known as vermicomposting. Andrew runs Vermicbec, a company that sells worms and worm compost.We talk about:How vermicomposting worksUsing vermicompost (a.k.a. worm castings or worm wompost)Large scale vs. home-scale vermicompostingTop 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) ---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]

It’s planting season here..and the gardening questions are pouring in. Here’s the Q + A from our latest live show. We talk about:Favourite tomato varietiesSupport for tomato plantsMulchAsparagusMicrogreensLemonsArtichokeSquirrelsWhat to do about bolting lettuce ---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]

We head to Georgia to chat with 7-year-old Kendall Rae Johnson and her mom, Ursula. 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. ---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]

We chat with Zach Loeks, an educator and grower who specializes in edible ecosystem design. 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 tractorHow it’s different from a rototillerHow home gardeners, landscapers, and homesteaders can use 2-wheel tractorsWhat 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 contourTillage: minimum till vs. no-tillZach is the author of The Two-wheel Tractor Handbook. ---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]

Permaculture OrchardWe chat with orchardist Stefan Sobkowiak who replaced an organic apple orchard with a permaculture orchard at Miracle Farms. We talk about:Why he prefers a permculture planting to a monoculture organic apple orchardHow can an orchard be a permaculture?The system of “trios” he uses as a basic design unitMinimizing external inputsUsing sheep in an orchardTimelines for establishing a permaculture orchardUsing fruiting shrubs under treesPlanting perennial flowers, herbs, and vegetables underneath fruiting shrubsWhen it comes to the idea of permaculture, Sobkowiak says, “It’s just applied common sense.” ---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]

Grow What's in Your Kitchen!In this episode, we head to Vermont and get great ideas for what we can grow right now, in early spring, using what’s in the kitchen. 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 springKids Garden Month ---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]

In this episode, we dig into some history, a sad story – and hope.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 ecosystemChestnut blight, and its effect on chestnut populationsThe “Canadian” American chestnutBreeding disease-resistance American chestnut varieties ---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]

Niki Jabbour on how to Make and Use Mini TunnelsLess 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 areMini tunnels and weatherMini tunnels and pestsMaterials to make mini tunnelsGetting an early start in the spring gardenTurbo-charging heat loving crops with mini tunnels ---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]

Homesteading as a State of MindWe 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 themThe idea of small-scale homesteads in urban and suburban areasTips for aspiring homesteadersHow to get started homesteading ---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]

Grow a Vertical Vegetable GardenSpace. For many gardeners, there’s never enough of it. 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 LaurelDave 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. ---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]

Oregano that Tastes Like Oregano!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. ---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]

Specialty Fruit CropsWe 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 buckthornHighbush cranberryHardy kiwiBush cherriesChokecherryAgroforestyTips for growers who want to grow specialty fruit crops"It's the blue cheese of fruit: Tastes like a cranberry and smells like an old boot!" ---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]

One is quite healthy but tastes awful. One is very juicy and suited to processing. And one is suited to eating fresh.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 opportunitiesSetting up for a cropGrowing the cropProcessing opportunities ---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]

Steven Edholm is a California homesteader who teaches a wide variety of self-reliance skills.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 woodApple rootstockSupplies for apple tree grafting (spoiler alert: what you DON’T need to buy)Best grafts for beginnersSolving common apple-grafting problemsSteven has a grafting video series on his YouTube channel. ---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]

Oklahoma garden designer Linda Vater loves to create elegant edible gardens. Her work is inspired by the tradition of the potager garden. We talk about:Potager gardensMaking ornamental and elegant edible gardensDesign elements such as enclosureHow to design your own potager-style gardenLinda'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 involvementA project that gets kids growing trees from seed ---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]

We chat with cold-hardy citrus expert Sam Hubert from One Green World Nursery. 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 orangeYuzuSudachiKumquat, and other citrus with kumquat lineageIchang lemonCitrumelloMandarinsAustralian finger limesSam also shares tips about different ways to grow and protect citrus in cold climates. ---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]

Forced rhubarb is a winter specialty that's quite different from rhubarb grown outdoors: It's milder, more tender, and brightly coloured. 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 rhubarbConditions needed to force rhubarb over the winterVarieties of rhubarb for forcingGrowing rhubarb roots for forcingDigging rhubarb roots for forcingTips 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. ---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]

We chat Teresa Zohorsky from Solana Garden in Ontario.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 varietiesResources for finding and researching tomato varietiesSelecting tomato varieties suited to the growing conditionsTips for people who want to get started growing heirloom and unusual tomatoes ---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]

Growing QuinceQuince expert Joseph Postman joins us to talk about quince. This fragrant fruit is unknown to many in North America, and often relegated to use as a rootstock for pear trees.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 quinceHow to use quince fruitThe use of quince trees as rootstock for pear treesQuince varietiesQuince cold hardinessQuince diseasesDelectable Root Vegetable RecipesCookbook 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 vegWhat to look for if you're planning to store root vegSpiced roasted turnip and beet batonsBeet and carrot slawRoot cellar medley soupParsnip and pear soup ---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]

In this replay of a 2019 interview, we chat with Bob Bors, head of the fruit breeding program at the University of Saskatchewan.We talk about:Breeding haskap (a.k.a. honeyberry) fruitCold-tolerance of haskapHow to care for haskapHow to prune haskapCold-tolerant cherry varieties from University of Saskatchewan ---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]

Emma chats with tomato expert Linda Crago about the 'House' tomato, a compact tomato plant that some gardeners keep over the winter in the house.They also talk about a few other unusual tomato varieties, including one of the ugliest tomato plants you'll see: 'Stick.' ---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]

How to Grow and Cook MedlarJane Steward, author of Medlars – Growing & Cooking, talks about how to grow medlar, how to cook medlar, and shares some fascinating medlar facts. (Find out how medlar wood was used in Dutch windmills!)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 medlarSteward’s journey into planting a medlar orchard and starting a food-processing business How to “blet” medlar Medlar rootstockMedlar fruit in Turkey and around the Caspian Sea(Spoiler alert: we also hear about medlar gin and a delicious medlar chutney)“If you want to have medlars in your life you really need to have a tree!” ---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]

Garden Planning and Seed ShoppingHorticulturist and vegetable-garden expert Donna Balzer talks about garden planning and shares her tips for seed shopping.We talk about:Favourite early spring greens cropsMaking a vegetable garden planSuccession cropsStorage CropsWhere to get seedsTesting seeds for viabilitySeed Lingo ---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]

Daniel Speck from Henry of Pelham winery talks about growing grapes, wine, and different types of wine grapes.We talk about:What makes Niagara an excellent grape-growing regionGrape vine careVinifera grapes, labrusca grapes, and hybrid grapesThe history of the Henry of Pelham wineryThe Baco Noir and Pinot Noir grapesFood pairings for Baco Noir wine“Baco is Canada’s Grape!” ---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]

Mark Wolbers, president of the Alaska Pioneer Fruit Growers Association, talks about growing fruit north of 60.We talk about:The range of fruit that grows in AlaskaThe growing conditions in different parts of AlaskaUsing greenhouses and high tunnelsThe gardening culture in AlaskaThe advantages of growing in a northern areaOpportunities for monetizationA greenhouse-winery!“Snow is our friend!” ---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]

Dave Hanson from Sage Garden Greenhouses in Winnipeg, Manitoba tells us about growing herbs indoors.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 gardenSeed-growing herbs indoors over winter3 bullet-proof herbs for growing indoorsLesser-known herbs that are well suited to indoor conditionsIndoor herb care and feedingPotting soil for growing herbs indoorsControlling pests on indoor herb plants“Even though I’m a greenhouse grower, I like to un-complicate things!” ---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]

Taking Math to the GardenIt 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 starBringing the classroom to the garden — and the garden to the classroomCreating The Bullock Garden Project to help other educators start gardensFunding the non-profit project with a for-profit seed company, Garden Teachers YardResources for educators who want to incorporate gardening into the curriculum ---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]

Discover the Next Great AppleSusan 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:SmellFlavourTextureThe 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 TreesWe also talk about how to prune fruit trees:Why prune fruit treesHow to prune fruit treesWinter vs. summer pruningWater sproutsWhen to cut off healthy branchesWhip cuts ---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]

We chat with giant vegetable grower Norman Kyle from Ennismore, Ontario.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 bestTips on growing giant vegetablesHow to grow giant pumpkinsGetting seedThe Giant Vegetable Growers of Ontario ---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]

We chat with artist, filmmaker, and gardener Arlin McFarlane in Whitehorse, Yukon about gardening in cold climates.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 seasonGardening on poorly developed soilsHow to grow tomatoes in the far north (spoiler alert: Arlin grows tomatoes!)The importance of microclimatesThe show The Curious GardenerConnectThe Curious Gardener: thecuriousgardener.ca ---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]

Steven explains why lemons are his top citrus choice for cold climates.He talks about:How cold lemon trees can getHow cold the fruit can getFruiting and floweringUsing lemon leaves in the kitchenHow big potted lemon plants will getHis favourite lemon for growing in a pot in cold climates ---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]

Grow Your Own SpicesIn 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 spiceSpice-growing ideas for this time of yearSeed-grown spices“Underground” spicesSpices that might already be in your landscapeSpices that a patio gardener can grow in containers and overwinter indoorsFeed Yourself for a YearIn 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 foodThe advantage of preserving your own food vs. kitsIdeas for urban dwellers to store foodThe importance of stored waterMaking basement root cellarsMaking a roothouseSmoking food ---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]

We chat with Adina Oosterwijk, the Community Greening Officer at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australia.We talk about:Home food gardens that are productive and aesthetically pleasingA tomato festivalThe Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, which has three different sites that each have different growing conditions and plant collectionsGarden outreach to vulnerable communitiesScrappy plants for tough growing conditions ---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]

We chat with author and market gardener Dani Baker about forest gardening.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 principlesCreating microclimatesGrouping plants in layersUnderstanding your spaceMatching plants to conditionsWhat you can do at this time of year to get startedHer new book is The Home-Scale Forest Garden: How to Plan, Plant, and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape. ---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]

2022 Tomato RoundupSteven and Emma take a look at the 2022 tomato crop.We chat about:What’s new in the tomato patchGrowing methodsTop varietiesTomato seed savingFavourite tomato recipes ---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]

Toronto Garlic FestivalIn 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 propertiesHow to grow garlic at homeThe 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 HentopiaIn 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 ideasCreating practical water dispensers — even in cold climatesMaking a pallet coop(Spoiler alert: we hear about the cricket rodeo he gives his hens) ---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]

We chat with Pittsburgh author and horticulturist Denise Schreiber about edible flowers.Schreiber is the author of the book Eat Your Roses.We talk about:Common edible flowersLesser-known edible flowersTop tips for edible flowersEdible-flower recipes, including rose-petal ice cream, pork sliders with nasturtium, roasted-red-pepper soup with nasturtium, lavender-flower biscotti ---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]

We chat with Darryl Nelson and his teenage son, Aden, about light and gardening under lights.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. ---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]

Land ConservationWe 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 organizationsMechanisms for land conservationTips for bringing people together around food and gardeningThe community fig orchard ---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]

Time Outdoors…and TroutYou 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 FamilyMike 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 troutHis epic brook trout fishing trips to Algonquin Park with his son, BrendanFavourite tackleReading a lake when fishing for brook troutTips for new anglersHow he created a business doing what he lovesConnectCanada Fishing Guide: canadafishingguide.net ---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]

Summer in the GardenIn 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 tipsWhat to do in the garden nowTheir new book, Down the Garden PathForagedIn 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 foodsThe journey of building a businessTop tips to get started with a food businessUnique foods he loves on Foraged ---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]

Katie Elzer-Peters tells us about kitchen gardening. That is, gardening in the kitchen -- with leftover greens, seeds, and roots.We talk about growing:sweet potatocarrotslettucecelerybeetsgreen onionsleeksturmericgingerAnd saving seeds from squash and tomatoes.Katie's is the author of No-Waste Kitchen Gardening: Regrow Your Leftover Greens, Stalks, Seeds, and More. ---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]

Container GardeningPittsburgh 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 containersHow often to replace or top up the potting soilGrowing figs in wicking containers on the roofPlumbing together a series of containers to simplify watering ---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]

A Rose Garden Re-ImaginedIn 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 perennialsChanging from overhead irrigation to drip irrigationSelecting rose varieties with improved genetics ---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]

Summer Vegetable GardenIn the first part of the show, we chat with vegetable gardening expert Niki Jabbour.She shares tips about:Summer vegetable garden succession cropsGrowing vegetables in potsSupporting tomato plantsManaging slugsJabbour 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 ApplesIn the second part of the show we talk about hardy apples with Bob Osborne.He tells us about:Choosing a location for apple treesApple rootstockTips for growing apples in cold climatesApple varietiesCider apple varietiesOsborne 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. ---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]

Straw-Bale GardeningIn 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 conditionsMaking non-straw bales out of other available organic materialsTrellising for straw-bale gardensMaking raised straw-bale gardensGrowing mushrooms on straw bales (spoiler alert: then you can grow veggies afterwards!)Connectstrawbalegardenclub.com and strawbalegardens.com for straw-bale gardening informationstrawbalemarket.com to shop for straw balesbalegardenbuddies.com for straw-bale garden community and mentors ---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]

In this episode we visit Misilla dela Llana in Washington State to talk about growing food year-round.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 seasonCrops for season extensionPerennial food cropsSome of her top cropsHer new book is Four-Season Food Gardening: How to grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs year-round. ---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]

Year of the Garden2022 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."Anything that slows us down has to be good for us.” Michel GauthierLive the Garden LifeHow 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.ConnectYear of the GardenCanadian Horticultural Therapy AssociationCheney Creamer, One Green Square ---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]

Eating Locally in YukonSuzanne 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 DiscoveriesCrocker talks about some of the techniques she learned during the year:Making birch syrup to use as a sweetenerForaging weeds and spruce tipsJuicing potatoes to make a thickenerUsing rhubarb juice as a vinegar substituteGardening North of 60With 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 FilmCrocker 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. ---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]

Cold-Hardy Fruit and NutsIn 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:MedlarMulberryHimalayan Chocolate BerryHoneyberry (a.k.a. Haskap)HazelnutTheir new book is Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts: 50 Easy-to-Grow Plants for the Organic Home Garden or Landscape.Creating Habitat for Native PollinatorsIn 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 speciesHow honeybees can impact native bee populationsThe disappearance of the rusty patched bumblebee in OntarioTheir new book is A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators. ---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]