If you’re venturing into flower and vegetable seed starting in 2021, good for you! It’s fun, and with seeds, there are plenty more varieties to choose from. You may have some leftover seeds hanging around. But will those old seeds germinate? Our favorite retired college horticulture professor, Debbie Flower, has a surefire way to tell. Are you familiar with the pluot? It’s a fruit, it’s a cross between a plum and an apricot. And it truly is one of the sweetest treats that you can grow in your ya...
Jan 15, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 70
For those of us in USDA Zone 9, protecting citrus trees from a frost or freeze is a primary concern. But what about all the gardeners in USDA Zones 9, 8 and 7 that have a yard full of succulents? What is the best way to protect them from cold damage? We talk with the Plant Lady, Marlene Simon , from the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, who has tips for keeping your succulents alive through the winter. And one of her tips involving water might be the direct opposite of what you are doing! It’s Ep...
Jan 08, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 69
Happy New Year, and welcome to the beginning of Season 2 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. For many gardeners, planning the 2021 garden is underway this month. Perusing seed catalogs, making choices for the warm season vegetable and flower garden, and perhaps checking out all the dormant plants that are arriving, or will be arriving soon, at area nurseries and garden centers this winter. One of those popular bare root plants that brings out the customers are all the rose varieties t...
Jan 01, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 68
If you live in the West or the South, Perhaps Santa left you some new bare root fruit trees. Back East or up North, maybe it will be the Easter Bunny making those deliveries. Wherever you live, we have tips for planting bare root fruit trees, those six foot tall bare sticks with pretty pictures attached, arriving this winter at nurseries and garden centers (just in case Santa and the Easter Bunny don’t come through for you). Also, which blueberry plants are right for you? Phil Pursel of wholesal...
Dec 25, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 67
If you’re thinking of adding a fruit tree to your garden in 2021, here’s one criteria to think about: of all the fruit trees available, which are the tastiest? Dave Wilson Nursery 's Phil Pursel talks about the tastiest peach tree varieties . Plus, he has advice for pruning and training those new backyard fruit trees so you can have multiple varieties of trees, even in a small garden. It’s all about size control. Or, choose a tasty miniature peach tree variety, such as the Garden Gold peach tree...
Dec 18, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 66
A fully grown, properly placed, healthy tree can add thousands of dollars of extra value to your property. Yes, your trees can put extra money in your pocket when it comes time to move! In the meantime, how do you know your trees are really healthy? And, how do you know if your neighbor’s trees are healthy? After all, those trees on the other side of the fence might be causing you a lot of extra work, expense, or danger. The only way to find out is to hire a consulting arborist. What does a cons...
Dec 11, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 65
It’s a good thing that Santa parks his sleigh on your rooftop, otherwise, Rudolph, Donner, Blitzen and the rest of his deer crew might help themselves to your garden goodies. Deer love your garden! Are there such things as deer resistant plants? How do you keep deer from ravaging your radishes and rose bushes? We have tips. Plus advice for caring for that new, cut Christmas tree that you’re about to haul home. And, poinsettia pointers from a commercial grower, to keep that holiday houseplant loo...
Dec 04, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Itching to get a bit more dirt under your fingernails during the cold, wet months ahead? Do it indoors, growing microgreens. Some call it vegetable confetti. Microgreens are a perfect topping for salads, soups, stews, tacos and a lot more. What’s in microgreens? They’re leaves…small, colorful vegetable, herb and flower leaves, that pack a wallop of good nutrition. Plus, they grow quickly and easily! Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour has all the tips you need to get your microgree...
Nov 27, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Those of you in milder climates may still have a few tomatoes clinging to your shivering vines. More than likely, they are probably green tomatoes. You might be wondering, will they ripen? Our favorite college horticulture professor (retired) Debbie Flower says, “It depends how green they are.” She has tips for determining which ones are most likely to ripen, and how to ripen them indoors. Just in case they won’t, we have a recipe for healthy oven baked green fried tomatoes…without the frying. A...
Nov 20, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 62
If you're staring at the picture accompanying this episode, you might be wondering: "Where is the edible succulent in this spinach-cherry tomato-feta cheese salad?" It's those little green nuggets on top, the leaves of Portulacaria afra, also known as Elephant's Food plant. It's a succulent that you can grow in the drier, milder areas of USDA Zone 9, or in a greenhouse anywhere. And, yes, elephants do eat it. Succulent expert and author of " Succulents Simplified ", Debra Lee Baldwin, talks abou...
Nov 13, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 61
If the idea of growing cool season vegetables makes you yawn, we’re going to wake you up today with interesting, unusual, colorful and tasty varieties of fall and winter vegetables that you may not know about, that are worth a try in your garden. Unusual radishes (such as the "White Icicle" radish, pictured) and beets, colorful lettuce and cabbage varieties, different, easy to grow broccoli-like plants, and tasty cool season flowers that should be part of your edible garden. We talk about those ...
Nov 06, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 60
So, you want to grow an avocado tree? Can’t say it’ll work where you live. But what the heck, you gotta try, right? We’ve got tips for you to give it a good start , no matter where you are. It’s Fabulous Fruit Friday, and today we tackle the persnickety but popular avocado, with fruit expert Ed Laivo from Tomorrow's Harvest . And horticulture professor Debbie Flower fights off the spider mites on your plants. Control strategies include a blast of water , insecticidal soap, or neem oil. It’s Epis...
Oct 30, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 59
Maybe you’ve got a large lot. Maybe you’ve got a few acres. Maybe you’ve been hankering to get yourself a tractor. Before you spend your children’s inheritance on a piece of machinery, you need to ask yourself some questions. We talk backyard tractor basics on today’s show. Also we discuss less toxic weed killers. And, how the change of seasons - and the change of the clock this weekend - may not be particularly healthy for you (Seasonal Affective Disorder)…unless you’re a gardener. And how your...
Oct 27, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Fabulous Fruit Friday is back, and today, Ed Laivo of Tomorrow's Harvest tells us about an early bearing fruit with a long hang time on the tree, the White Diamond Nectarine. Plus, Ed has tips for improving the chances for your new fruit trees to succeed…by checking the soil drainage before you plant. Can you grow a fruit tree from a seed? Professor Debbie Flower says…it depends. It’s Episode 57 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you by Smart Pots and Tomorrows Harvest. An...
Oct 23, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 57
If you’ve been bit by the gardening bug, it won’t be long before you’ll be craving a hobby greenhouse . With a greenhouse, you can get a jump on spring planting, keep tender plants from freezing in the winter, and, perhaps most fun of all, starting all sorts of delicious fruit and vegetable varieties from seed, varieties you possibly wouldn’t find at a nursery. And there’s no reason why you can’t be growing tomatoes, peppers, greens, strawberries and lots more anytime of the year…if you have a p...
Oct 20, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 56
It’s Fabulous Fruit Friday, and today we talk with Ed Laivo of Tomorrows Harvest about a delicious, sweet, crunchy white peach, the Ivory Angel. And, Ed explains why your fruit trees need cold winter weather . Master Food Preserver Laura Doyle tells us what to do with all the apples you might be harvesting this month: make some apple jelly. Plus, she goes over the basics of using a water bath canner . And, Professor Debbie Flower explains USDA zone maps . It’s Episode 55 of the Garden Basics wit...
Oct 16, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Why should we, here in the warm, sunny areas of the United States, have all the fun growing citrus? If you're in snow blower tune-up mode now, you could also be growing citrus trees such as lemons, limes and more…indoors! We talk with the man who literally wrote the book on citrus, Lance Walheim , about how to successfully grow citrus inside your house during the winter. You’ve heard me yammer on about the benefits of using leaves as a mulch in your garden. But have you heard about garden tools ...
Oct 13, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 54
It’s Fabulous Fruit Friday! Ed Laivo of Tomorrows Harvest tells us about one of the most peach leaf curl resistant varieties of a peach or nectarine that you can grow at home: the Frost Peach . Plus, Ed and I do a deep dive into the mulch pile, singing the praises of topping your garden with wood chips, tree trimmings and more. Don’t worry, we won’t sing. But we do harmonize on how mulch can make your gardening chores a lot easier! Plus, our favorite retired college horticulture professor, Debbi...
Oct 09, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 53
If you have a pollinator friendly garden, you have all sorts of beautiful flowering plants. Why not bring some of that outdoor splendor indoors? Today, on the Garden Basics podcast, the appropriately named horticulture professor, Debbie Flower, offers tips on how best to harvest and prepare cut flowers for an indoor display (that's a combination of zinnias with garlic & onion flowers in the picture). Also, for those of you living in colder climates, you might have some backyard chickens. How...
Oct 06, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Thinking about buying a rototiller? How about purchasing a chipper/shredder instead? It’s a machine that will make easy work of chopping up your garden clippings, including tree limbs, into the greatest mulch you could possibly own. The latest research shows that rototilling your soil actually damages soil structure and the soil biology. On the other hand, the end result of using a chipper/shredder is going to provide you with a quality of mulch that we like to call, gardeners gold. We get buyin...
Oct 02, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 51
We continue our discussion of easy to grow cool season vegetables with Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour. Last episode, we discussed the easy greens to start in your garden now in USDA Zones 7, 8 and 9. This time, we talk about easy root crops to grow, like carrots , turnips , beets and radishes . Plus tasty fall and winter above ground vegetables like sugar snap peas, snow peas and broccoli. Gail has a list of her favorite varieties to grow for gardeners just starting out. Also,...
Sep 29, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Looking for easy care, tasty, cool season vegetables to plant now? Look no further than all the nutritious, green leafy crops that love the fall weather. Today, we’re talking the basics for growing lettuce , spinach, chard , cabbage , Chinese greens, and kale, with great growing advice from Master Gardener Gail Pothour, who's also a vegetable expert. And we are introducing a new segment to the show: Fabulous Fruit Friday , presented by Tomorrow's Harvest ! We’ll be showcasing each Friday a tasty...
Sep 25, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 49
The hot trend of spring is back, this time for fall. The trend? The home-based, back-to-the- land movement, where more and more people are starting a garden. Just as what happened in the spring, nurseries right now are seeing cool season vegetables and flowers flying off the shelves, especially for USDA Zones 7, 8 and 9. For those of you in colder climates, it might mean putting the backyard garden to bed and maybe doing some indoor gardening. But before you put that garden to bed, or if you are...
Sep 22, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Horticulture expert Debbie Flower rejoins us for Part 2 of Understanding the Language of Seed Packets. This time around, she has good planting instructions for what to do if that seed packet says things like, "darkness aids germination" or "requires light for germination". And, when it says "keep seedbed evenly moist, but how much water do you apply? And, just about every seed packet has instructions on thinning the seedlings, but don't tell you how to thin. Debbie Flower just might change the w...
Sep 18, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 47
A seed packet might say, “Plant in spring, but if you live in a mild climate, sow in fall.” What is a mild climate? Do you live in a mild climate? You might think so, but the folks at that seed company might disagree. On this episode of Garden Basics, our favorite retired College horticulture professor Debbie Flower tackles that as well as what can be other very confusing terms on a seed packet. Things like, “days to harvest”, bolting, scarify, stratify, and more. Plus, tips on how to store seed...
Sep 15, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Ripping out your summer garden to make room for the fall vegetable and flower garden? Before you stick one broccoli plant or calendula flower in that space, you need to improve your soil. It’s tired! How do you perk it up? One way: let a portion of your garden lay fallow for the summer, as is that bottom raised bed in the picture. But the soil is being replenished, courtesy of all the mulch on top of the bed. Soils expert Steve Zien has faster acting tips for increasing the amount of microbial a...
Sep 11, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Can there be too much of a good thing? Yes, indeed, if we are talking about fertilizer for your outdoor fruit and vegetable plants . In fact, too much fertilizer can actually reduce the production of fruits and vegetables. Professor Debbie Flower tells us why. Every state in the union can grow table grapes. And this month, you just might have too many grapes, waiting to be picked. Unless you are a professional bird feeder, save those grapes for yourself by making raisins. One method involves usi...
Sep 08, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 44
For those of you who live in the West, the South, parts of the Midwest and mid-Atlantic states, (USDA Zones 7, 8, and 9) we get down to specifics in this episode on the best varieties of vegetables to grow during the cooler months of fall and winter: lettuce , spinach , Swiss Chard , cabbage , Chinese cabbage , cilantro, broccoli (pictured), cauliflower, beets , snow peas , fava beans , carrots , celery, onions , garlic , parsnips , shallots and turnips . We’ll tell you about some tasty, easy to...
Sep 04, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Many gardeners are still enjoying the summer vegetable garden. But get ready…the days will be getting shorter and cooler this month and those vegetables may start to go into decline. Now is time to be planning and planting your second garden of 2020, the fall and winter vegetable garden. Our favorite college horticulture professor (retired), Debbie Flower, has tips for getting your lettuce , spinach , Swiss Chard (pictured), cabbage , Chinese cabbage , cilantro, broccoli , cauliflower, beets , s...
Sep 01, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Welcome back to our little insecticidal soap opera, "Who’s Eating My Tomatoes?" College horticulture professor Debbie Flower joins us for our big finale of this three part series, which looks at the insect critters that don’t necessarily chew the tomatoes, but they sure make them look ugly and unappetizing. It's the sucking, piercing, rasping insects of tomatoes that get our attention today, along with a look at the beneficial insects, the garden good guys, that can do a better job than most che...
Aug 29, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 41
