This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com Farmer Fred interviews horticulturist and commercial citrus grower Lance Walheim about the history and cultivation of citrus fruits, covering varieties, growing tips, pest challenges, and the joys of homegrown citrus.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com If you’re looking for a superfood to grow, it’s hard to beat blackberries. They can be grown in just about every state in the United States. They’re highly adaptable, and they thrive in USDA zones from 4 all the way up through 10. Here in California, in USDA zone 9, they do quite well. They grow nearly anywhere that has enough sun. Today, we talk with Master Gardener and berry expert Jeff Smoker, who has tips...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com We talk about water safety and rain barrels with Sacramento County Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour who swears up and down on her stack of Ruth Stout gardening books that she would NEVER drink water from a rain barrel…nor would she water her edible plants with it. What’s a gardener to do?...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com In this podcast episode, I speak with Staci and Jeremy Hill, authors of "The Preserver's Garden," at their 11-acre farm Gooseberry Bridge in the Ozark Mountains. We explore their transition from urban life to sustainable farming, emphasizing self-sufficiency and healthy eating through preserving homegrown food....
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com What is Backyard Orchard Culture? According to Dave Wilson Nursery, the goal of Backyard Orchard Culture is the prolonged harvest of tree-ripe fruit from a small space. This means planting close together several fruit varieties that ripen at different times and keeping the trees small by summer pruning. According to today’s podcast guest, Ed Laivo, the backyard garden is not a place for a commercial orchard, ...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com Some passersby or visitors might think you have a yard full of shiny coffins in your front or backyard. OK, using large steel cattle watering troughs as gardening containers might not appeal to those who heed form and design before function. But that staple of rural areas for supplying water to horses, cattle, and sheep is also damn practical for the gardener looking to remain more upright while working with ...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com Today’s podcast here on Beyond the Garden Basics is all about grapes. We have two interviews with two Sacramento County UC Master Gardeners, who specialize in grape selection, planting, trellising, feeding, watering, protecting, and harvesting both wine grapes and table grapes. You’re going to discover the best disease and heat resistant varieties, the best tasting grape varieties, and detailed information ab...
Please share this with any of your friends or family embarking into the exciting world of backyard gardening, especially starting a food garden! America’s Favorite Retired College Horticultural Professor, Debbie Flower, and I explored these “lessons learned the hard way” (aka “Garden Wisdom”) back in 2022. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com Blueberries Grow Well in Containers At our former residence, the blueberry harvest from our six plants was outstanding; there was plenty for us, as well as the birds (note: add netting). The six southern highbush varieties that we planted there included Sharp Blue, Jubilee, South Moon, Blue Ray, Sunshine Blue and Misty. That was about 10 years ago....
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com In today’s newsletter podcast, Master Rosarian Debbie Arrington waxes rhapsodic about the new rose varieties that will be at nurseries in 2026. In USDA Zone 9, those roses may already be available locally. If not, they’re usually available from rose catalogs. For paid subscribers, Debbie talks about 12 new rose varieties (it’s 6 varieties for free subscribers). Paid subscribers also have access here to the tr...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com We are entering the shivering season for the Central Valley, Bay Area and low foothills of California, along with other mild winter states, especially those that grow citrus. Late November through mid-February is the most critical time here for protecting frost-susceptible plants. This is especially true for citrus tree owners, who are anxiously keeping an eye out on the upcoming weather f…...
Growing onions can be confusing and try your patience, as listening to the above podcast will demonstrate. As our resident vegetable expert, Master Gardener Gail Pothour, knows first hand, growing green onions is a snap. But bulbing onions? Gail has more or less given up on trying to grow bulbing onions. If you listened to the podcast before you started reading this, it should be pointed out that the bulbing onion trial conducted at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center more than 10 years ago that G...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com If you spend good money on good-quality hand pruners that have replaceable parts, they can last for decades IF you take care of them: cleaning, oiling, and sharpening after every use. My Felco #2 hand pruners have been alive, well, and cutting since the 1990’s. So, how do you sharpen the blades of pruning tools? Sacramento County Master Gardener Bill Black offers step by step instructions in today’s newslette...
(Note: this post was sent early this morning, but only a few people received it. I’m not sure what the problem is at Substack, but I’m sending it again. Hope you get to read and listen to it!) Don’t give up on certain seed varieties that seem to really take their time, germinating and growing indoors. Among the warm season vegetables that are frustratingly slow to germinate are onions, peppers, parsley, basil, and dill. To make the wait even more maddening, it can take 8 to 12 weeks for certain ...
Don’t give up on certain seed varieties that seem to really take their time, germinating and growing indoors. Among the warm season vegetables that are frustratingly slow to germinate are onions, peppers, parsley, basil, and dill. To make the wait even more maddening, it can take 8 to 12 weeks for certain vegetables to grow before they can be transplanted in the garden, including onions, parsley, eggplant and celery. Add to that the seeds of flowering plants that take awhile (8 to 12 weeks, or m...
If you think mulch is beautiful, too, become a subscriber! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com It seemed like a simple enough garden question to answer. The writer of the email, Steve, said: “I have never cared for a young peach tree or any other variety so I don’t know what to do since I got it in the ground. Now what?” Steve included a picture of the tree, which you can see here. America’s favorite retired college horticulture professor, Debbie Flower, and I ended up having more questions and comment...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com Holiday Special! For the rest of December 2025, get an annual subscription to the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast for 40% off the regular price. Just $30 a year! In this episode, Farmer Fred connects with Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery to reflect on the 2025 tomato growing season, sharing their experiences and insights while evaluating the performance of various tomato varieties. Farmer Fred...
Thanks for reading Beyond The Garden Basics! This post is public so feel free to share it. Visiting a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm or any of the corner lots or nurseries filled with already chopped cedars, pines and firs this weekend, in search of the perfect holiday tree? Here are some tips from the Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Departments of Horticulture and Forestry to keep your December living room centerpiece intact through the holidays: • You may cringe at this fir...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com In this week’s podcast, Diane Blazek, Executive Director of All America Selections (AAS), tells us about the upcoming 2026 gardening season’s latest award-winning plants. We highlight standout varieties like the Bada Bing tomato, Treviso basil, Majesty purple pole bean, and RubyBor kale, each recognized for their adaptability and exceptional qualities. Diane also introduces the Butter Lamp winter squash and S...
Today’s Podcast: Debbie Flower and I tackle the problem of a slow draining lawn. There are lots of strategies for improving a soggy lawn! Where does the water go?” That’s a question I frequently ask myself while bicycling throughout the region, staring at rain-soaked suburban yards. This is also a question homeowners should ask themselves before, during, and after the rainy season. One of the best pieces of advice I can offer any new homeowner: before you spend any time and money on landscaping ...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com In today’s newsletter podcast, we chat with Renee Shepherd of Renee’s Garden seed company about the worldwide journey of garden seeds, rising seed prices, and seed availability for 2026. We explore factors influencing market changes, including tariffs and supply chain issues. The discussion highlights the logistics of seed packaging and the importance of quality standards. She also differentiate between hybri...
Today’s Podcast We interview climate scientist Daniel Swain, who, besides being a University of California Ag and Natural Resources employee at the California Institute for Water Resources, is well known on social media. Swain runs the Weather West website as well as his frequent presentations talking about extreme weather conditions in California and the west on YouTube , Bluesky , and other social media outlets. TIPS FOR SETTING UP A HOME WEATHER STATION One common topic when two gardeners mee...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com Today’s newsletter podcast features an arborist discussing ways you can spot when your trees may be in danger of falling, especially in a wet, windy winter (recorded as the California drought was ending). Also: Consulting Arborist Michael Santos tells us about online resources for homeowners to get more information about the trees in their yard. More information about what was discussed in the podcast can be ...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com Are you thinking about buying a rototiller? How about instead purchasing a chipper/shredder? Now, that’s a machine that’s going to make easy work of chopping up your garden clippings including tree limbs. it’s going to make it into the greatest mulch you could possibly own. The latest research shows that rototilling your soil actually damages soil structure and doesn’t do anything good for the soil biology. O...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com When it gets hot, the ants start marching indoors. When it rains, in come the ants. Too cold? The ants know where its nice and cozy: your kitchen, bathroom and pet food bowls. Outdoors, pet food and garbage cans are also ant attractants. Argentine ants , those busy little black ants, are in march formation year round. In years past, we would reach for the spray can and douse those little scavengers. But not a...
One of my frequent bicycling routes takes me by a local food bank. Over the years as I pedal by in the morning, I’ve seen the line of cars increase while waiting for the 10 am food bank opening. Lines of a half block or more were common during the age of Covid (2021-2022). Lately, the line of cars has not only increased in length, it’s now 2 lanes of traffic stretching down the road waiting for a bag or two of food. Fortunately, the road widens out as it approaches the food bank, and the employe...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com In the warm winter areas of the country, the calendula is the go-to source of bright garden color on those cold, cloudy, foggy days. In cooler growing zones, the calendula is a blooming staple during the summer. In the podcast (above), we explore the enchanting world of calendulas with Diane Blazek, the executive director of the National Garden Bureau, as we celebrate 2025 as the Year of the Calendula. We dis...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com If you have a worm bin, and are harvesting the worm castings (yes, it’s worm poop ), and you’re spreading those castings around your outdoor and indoor plants, you are helping to create some powerful soil, teeming with microbiology, that will supercharge your plants. According to Cal Recycle , the process of vermicomposting, which uses worms to break down organic material such as food scraps, will turn them i...
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com I spent the weekend in a garlic frame of mind. I’ve been working one 4x8’ garden bed, harvesting the pumpkins, removing the vines, reworking the soil with worm castings and compost, and planting the garlic that just arrived last Friday from Territorial Seed Company . By the way, kudos to Territorial for all the information contained about the garlic varieties they sent that’s included on the label, which also...
