Fall might still feel far off, but if you want a successful fall harvest, now is the time to start those seeds indoors. Today on Just Grow Something, I walk you through the step-by-step timing strategy for indoor seed starting specifically for fall gardening. Learn how to: Calculate back from your first fall frost date to find yoursowing and transplanting windows Adjust days to maturity using the “fall buffer” method Choose the best crops to start indoors based on your zone and daylight hours Ut...
Jul 08, 2025•36 min•Season 5Ep. 257
Your summer garlic and onion harvest are ready, now what? You spent a lot of time and energy getting this crop to maturity, let’s not waste that effort by allowing them to go soft before we get to use them. Today on Just Grow Something, I give expert tips for harvesting, curing, and storing garlic and onions to keep them fresh through next spring. Learn how to recognize when your crops are ready, the best techniques for drying and storing, and how to avoid spoilage. Plus, I share alternative pre...
Jul 01, 2025•36 min•Season 5Ep. 256
This week we dive deep into the world of garden weeds and how some seemingly harmless plants can actually be Trojan horses harboring pests and diseases. Learn how to identify five major plant families by their flowers, leaves, and growth habits — and why removing these weeds early can protect your precious crops. Today on Just Grow Something You'll Learn: The role of alternate hosts in pest and disease cycles How to identify Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, Asteraceae, Polygonaceae, and Amaranthaceae w...
Jun 24, 2025•36 min•Season 5Ep. 255
From experimenting with peas shading lettuces to using mint as a living mulch for kale and cucumbers, this week on Just Grow Something I share the successes, tweaks, and surprises of my spring growing season. If you’re looking to maximize yield, minimize weeds, and experiment with companion planting, this episode is packed with all the things. And these can all be repeated for fall! Let's dig in! What We Cover: How to use “high, low, fast, slow” principles in garden planning The pros and cons of...
Jun 17, 2025•46 min•Season 5Ep. 254
Summer gardening should be about sunshine and fresh veggies, not swatting and scratching. So, this week on Just Grow Something we dig into the science and strategy behind controlling two of the most irritating garden pests that go after the gardeners, not our plants: ticks and mosquitoes. Learn which ones are in your region, understand the risks they carry, and implement practical, research-backed solutions to protect yourself and your family while in the garden. From landscape tweaks to persona...
Jun 10, 2025•43 min•Season 5Ep. 253
In this short and snippy episode, we dig into a classic gardening technique known as the Chelsea Chop. Named after the iconic RHS Chelsea Flower Show, this late spring/early summer pruning method can help home gardeners promote bushier growth, delay blooms for season-long color, and support pollinators with flowering perennials in the garden. If you’re looking to add more beauty to your veggie garden and boost the productivity of your perennials, this episode is your green-thumb guide to giving ...
Jun 03, 2025•18 min•Season 5Ep. 252
There’s a persistent myth floating around on social media that gardening is too expensive to be worth the effort when it comes to saving money on groceries. But what if I told you that with the right strategies, your backyard (or balcony!) garden could not only feed your family but actually save you money? Today on Just Grow Something, we’re busting the myth thatgrowing your own food can’t compete with grocery store prices. We’ll explore how your location, soil type, and choices in the garden ca...
May 27, 2025•43 min•Season 5Ep. 251
Welcome to the 250th episode of the Just Grow Something podcast! 🎉 Whether you've been listening since the beginning or just found the show, thank you for being part of this growing community. In this special milestone episode, we're digging into listener-submitted questions on a variety of timely gardening topics. In this episode: When seedlings are ready to transplant (what to look for beyond just "true leaves") How to properly plant using the Three Sisters method and why timing is key What t...
May 20, 2025•33 min•Season 5Ep. 250
Are all bugs in your garden bad news? Not at all! In fact,some insects are your best allies when it comes to pest control and plant health. Today on Just Grow Something , we’re talking about howto tell the difference between beneficial insects and destructive garden pests —even if you’re not an entomologist. Learn how to identify common bugs based on their behavior, body features, and habitat, and discoverwhich insects you want to attract to your garden and which ones to manage quickly. Whether ...
May 13, 2025•40 min•Season 5Ep. 249
It’s been a while since we’ve done a full crop specific episode and I think this is the perfect time of year to talk tomatoes. We are getting about 500 tomato plants in the ground over the next week so they are on my mind! So, today on Just Grow Something we’ll walk through the full tomato-growing process—from choosing varieties and starting seeds indoors to troubleshooting common problems and harvesting for peak flavor. You’ll learn how to choose the right variety for your space, when and how t...
May 06, 2025•56 min•Season 5Ep. 248
I promised this week we’d go into the actual techniques of interplanting. One of the main methods I use in my own garden, in helping my clients in their gardens, and what I teach in my Plan Like a Pro course is “high, low, fast, slow.” This little mantra is a great way to combine the plants in your garden to make the most use of all of your space without impeding on the growth of any of the plants. When done successfully, not only are you taking advantage of mixing the species up to help with pe...
Apr 29, 2025•1 hr•Season 5Ep. 247
If you’ve been gardening for any amount of time, you’ve likely come across companion planting charts—maybe you’ve seen advice like “plant basil with tomatoes” or “marigolds repel all pests.” But how much of this is actually true? Companion planting can mean a lot of things, depending on what our goal is. We can either be going for pest repelling properties, keeping weeds down, soil health benefits, or just enhancing flavors or saving space. Today on Just Grow Something, we’re sorting fact from f...
Apr 22, 2025•40 min•Season 5Ep. 246
Today, we’re diving into a topic that sneaks up on every gardener at some point—pests. Whether they’re crawling, flying, or trotting in on four legs, pests can quickly turn a thriving garden into a frustrated gardener’s nightmare.But here’s the good news: you don’t have to reach for synthetic pesticides to protect your plants. Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking all about preparing your garden before the pests show up—using methods that keep your crops safe while still protecting pollinat...
Apr 14, 2025•40 min•Season 5Ep. 245
One thing I am often asked by beginning gardeners is, “what is the easiest thing for me to grow?” Some of us just dive right in to gardening headfirst, attempting to grow whatever our favorite veggies are, regardless of how easy or difficult it is. Or without even considering that one might be more difficult than others. That was me and ignorance is definitely bliss until you are unsuccessful, and then it’s just frustrating.So, today on Just Grow Something I’m going to cover some of the easiest ...
Apr 08, 2025•39 min•Season 5Ep. 244
I will never forget the first time I successfully started my own transplants from seed indoors and they actually looked healthy and strong. I was so excited to get those tomato plants out into my garden and lovingly transferred them from their little pots out into the garden, got them all watered in, and was so excited about the money I had just saved by doing it myself instead of going to the garden center. Three days later those plants were flopped over flat on the ground, looking like they ha...
Apr 01, 2025•22 min•Season 5Ep. 243
Save 20% on the already discounted subscription price of both the Magic Mind Mental Performance and Sleep shots at https://magicmind.com/GROWMAR and use code GROWMAR at checkout. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces about 4.9 pounds (2.2 kg) of garbage per day. That’s almost 1800 lbs. per year, or 816kg. And over 56% of this garbage is food, yard waste, paper or paperboard. That means over 1,000 lbs. of the municipal waste produced in the U.S. could be ...
Mar 25, 2025•33 min•Season 5Ep. 242
Many traditional "old-wives' tales" and "farmer's wisdom" about planting and gardening are actually based on phenology, the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals in relation to climate and weather. Many traditional planting rules are based on biological indicators—when certain plants leaf out or bloom, or when specific animals become active. These signals reflect cumulative temperature trends and help predict when conditions are right for planting, pruning, or harvesting. Today on Just...
Mar 18, 2025•22 min•Season 5Ep. 241
Save 20% on your Magic Mind subscription ! https://magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHING20 with code GROWSOMETHING20 One of my goals this year for the garden is to focus a little bit more on the aesthetics of the garden, rather than just the functionality of it. I really feel like I can get more enjoyment from the gardens if I enjoy how they look and enjoy spending time in them not for just planting and weeding and harvesting, but just for the sheer joy of it. One of the ways I think I can do this is by a...
Mar 11, 2025•35 min•Season 5Ep. 240
At the beginning of the year, I asked you think about why you garden. Whether it’s a hobby, our family’s main source of food, or anything in between, I maintain that understanding why you garden is really important to planning the garden and defining a budget. But, what about the garden being more than just a source of food, exercise, or a connection to nature. What if it were something more? That’s the question that Bailey Van Tassel has asked and answered. Bailey is the founder of the Kitchen ...
Mar 04, 2025•36 min•Season 5Ep. 239
Last chance for the special Magic Mind offer for themonth of February where you can save 40% off your subscription: https://magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHING40 Knowing when and how to pot up your seedlings can make all the difference in their health and success when they finally reach the garden. This is usually something we only have to worry about when starting our own seedlings ahead of the gardening season. But you may find if you buy warm-weather plants from the garden center too early, that they...
Feb 25, 2025•43 min•Season 5Ep. 238
Success with starting seeds indoors comes down to a handful of factors: your materials and technique, soil temperature, air temperature, light, and air flow. How we approach each of these will determine how successful our outcome is. Just like any new skill, starting seeds indoors and successfully getting them to the transplant stage takes practice. Last week we talked about the supplies we need to get started. This week, we’re covering how to use them. Today on Just Grow Something, we’re going ...
Feb 18, 2025•24 min•Season 5Ep. 237
FIRST TEN ORDERS IN FEBRUARY: Save 40% on your Magic Mind subscription ! https://magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHING40 with code GROWSOMETHING40 We talked last week about how to time our seed starting so we can get a jump on the gardening season without being too early or too late. This week we’re focusing on what we need in terms of supplies to get those seeds going. There are tons and tons of options out there from the plain basics to the super fancy and everything in between. There is also a wide ran...
Feb 11, 2025•33 min•Season 5Ep. 236
Once those seed orders are rolling in, your garden plan is shaping up, and the days slowly get a little bit longer, we start to get restless. We want to get our hands in the dirt! This leads to the temptation to get started on our indoor seed starting, but for most of us it really isn’t time to start very many of those seeds just yet. This will depend on your growing zone, of course, and when your last spring frost date is if you have one, but it will also depend on what you’re planning to grow....
Feb 04, 2025•25 min•Season 5Ep. 235
Get 45% off the Magic Mind Mental and Sleep Performance bundle with my link: https://www.magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHINGJAN All this month we’ve been talking about garden planning because it’s that time. The slower month of January means taking the time to really figure out what we want to grow in the garden and last week we talked about how to fit it all in. This week, we’re talking about my secret weapon to keeping on track – the humble calendar. This may not seem like a big deal but, let me tell ...
Jan 28, 2025•33 min•Season 5Ep. 234
Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with with my link: https://www.magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHINGJAN If you have struggled in the past with how to fit all the plants you want to grow into the space you have available for gardening, you are not alone. It’s probably the number one question I get from clients when I step into their yards: how do I lay out my plants so they all fit? This not something that is intuitive or easy to figure out without a lot of trial and error, so don’t feel bad if you have ...
Jan 21, 2025•29 min•Season 5Ep. 233
Last week we defined our “why” for gardening as a way to help determine our goals. Part of that goal requires us to think about the types of things we want to grow in our garden and the number of people we’re feeding in our family or whomever we are growing for. This also helps determine how much space we need for the garden to meet those goals and whether or not our existing space is big enough, or even too big. It’s very easy to overdo it, especially in the first few years because you don’t kn...
Jan 14, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 232
Okay, my gardening friend, tell me this: why are you gardening? Did you start gardening during the pandemic because everything was locked down and you were at home all the time and needed some sort of contact with another living thing and that living thing ended up being plants? Or is gardening something you grew up doing and just automatically continued as an adult? Do you garden to reduce the family food budget or maybe your goal is to grow all your family’s produce for the entire year? Maybe ...
Jan 07, 2025•23 min•Season 5Ep. 231
I went back through the episodes for this season and looked at the statistics to find which episodes really stood out for you guys this year and thought I would share those so, if you really need a garden podcast fix this week you could jump back and listen to one of those. There was one surprise on the list that I will cover at the end and one all-time favorite, but first let’s look at the top 5 for 2024. I will leave links to each of these episodes in the episode notes and it was also in this ...
Dec 31, 2024•10 min
Save up to 48% on your Magic Mind subscription! https://magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHING20 with code GROWSOMETHING20 Depending on where you live your gardening season may just be winding down or at least slowing a little bit or it may have been done for a couple of months now. This is a great time to take a deep breath, recover from the busyness and demands of the garden, and then to look back and reflect. Planning for next year’s garden will be happening soon enough and I know some of you have alrea...
Dec 24, 2024•26 min•Season 4Ep. 230
If you’ve ever had shrunken ends on your zucchini or curled ends on your cucumbers, then you have seen the results of a lack of pollination. This doesn’t always mean we don’t have enough pollinators, sometimes it means the pollinators couldn’t do their job for some other reason, like heat, humidity or the density of our plants. But, it is becoming more and more common for us to see a lack of pollinators in our vegetable gardens. Neighboring pesticide users, invasive species, widespread habitat l...
Dec 17, 2024•34 min•Season 4Ep. 229
