Back in 2020, otherwise known as “the year that shall not be named” growing luffa became this sort of garden craze. I have no idea how it got started, but it seemed like everywhere I looked on social media gardening accounts they were talking about growing luffa. Now, if you didn’t jump onto the luffa bandwagon back then or if you’ve not been successful yet in your luffa growing adventures, you are certainly not alone. Luffa needs a really long growing season and it seems that where you are gard...
Mar 29, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 83
Last week we talked all about what goes into creating and managing your compost pile and then we talked with Stan Slaughter who gave us even more info and talked a little about how beginners can get started composting. Now that we know what the essential components are for an effective compost pile, let’s talk about the different types of compost systems that are out there. Whether you opt for a pile in the corner of the yard (which is still a totally viable option!), or a fancy tumbler, or a ve...
Mar 15, 2022•37 min•Season 2Ep. 82
Kansas City based artist and educator Stan Slaughter has been traveling the country singing songs and sharing stories with kids and adults since 1987. Stan helped create the very first Earth Day celebration in Kansas City and has made “Every Day is Earth Day” his motto ever since. Speaking at Master Gardeners’ groups, teaching adults in compost workshops , singing at water festivals and zoos, and doing thousands of assemblies for more than 400,000 students , Stan takes his message to both kids a...
Mar 11, 2022•37 min•Season 2Ep. 81
Right now, many of us are getting our garden beds ready for the gardening season or if you’re in a warmer climate, your beds may need a refresh before moving on to your next round of planting. In either case, you know I’m going to recommend the use of compost. Not only is compost great at adding nutrients and increasing the soil organic matter, but it’s also a great way to feed the microbiota in the soil that make those nutrients available to your plants and it can act as a fabulous mulch for ke...
Mar 08, 2022•30 min•Season 2Ep. 80
I started gardening when some of my kids were fairly young. The youngest was in kindergarten, but the oldest was already a freshman in high school. But, my mom had my brother and I in the garden when we were still in preschool. In fact, that cover photo for this episode is my brother and I in our backyard garden in Colorado. I don’t remember a whole lot of specific things about being in the garden, but I do remember snippets. The joy of pulling something whole and edible from the dirt, the fun o...
Mar 01, 2022•29 min•Season 2Ep. 81
When you walk into the garden center, that potting soil aisle can be absolutely overwhelming. Potting mix, potting soil, seed starter, soilless medium; the variety and possibilities are endless. Which do you choose? And does it really make a difference when you’re starting your seeds indoors? The answer, like most everything in gardening, is … maybe. Today I’m going to talk about the difference between soilless seed starting mixes and regular potting soil and give you the information you need to...
Feb 22, 2022•22 min•Season 2Ep. 78
It is time, my gardening friends! Many of us are getting our spring seedlings going as we speak. Now whether you’ve been starting your own seeds indoors for years or you are new to getting a jump on the gardening season in this way, it can sometimes be a challenge. One year you may have beautiful, strong plants that take off the moment you put them outside in the garden and the next year you may have spindly weaklings that seem to struggle from the get-go. What gives? There are a lot of factors ...
Feb 15, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 77
I talk all the time about the importance of soil testing and usually we’re chatting about the nutrient deficiencies that can be discovered and amended through those test results. But what we don’t talk about as frequently is one other result you get from a soil test and that’s your soil’s pH. Most garden vegetables do best in a soil pH that’s slightly acidic, generally between 5.8 and 7.0, with a few notable exceptions. But what does that mean? What is soil pH? How does it affect plant growth? A...
Feb 08, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 76
Last week we talked about timing your seed starts for your cool weather crops and that was based mainly on the last average frost date in spring for your area or your average daily temperatures, for you warmer climate folks. But, what about the warm-weather plants? If you determined to save some money in the garden this year by starting your own summer crops from seed instead of buying starts from the local nursery then that is fantastic! Keep in mind a lot of those summer plants take longer to ...
Jan 25, 2022•19 min•Season 2Ep. 75
The start of the new year in the northern hemisphere often turns us toward thoughts of our garden already. Those seed catalogs start rolling in, the days slowly start to get a little bit longer, we start to get a little restless, but it really isn’t time to start those seeds just yet in most areas. This will depend on your growing zone, of course, and when your last spring frost date is, but it will also depend on what you’re planning to grow. So, this first episode of the new year I’m going to ...
Jan 18, 2022•27 min•Season 2Ep. 74
Hello my gardening friends. I hope you are having a wonderful start to the new year thus far. Right now, I am working on all kinds of new things for the second season of the Just Grow Something podcast along with some other projects all designed to help you get the most out of your garden in 2022. Because of this, I will be taking a few weeks off from recording new episodes and, instead, will be replaying a few of the most downloaded episodes from season one. Hopefully, these episodes will get y...
Jan 11, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Hello my gardening friends. I hope you are having a wonderful start to the new year thus far. Right now, I am working on all kinds of new things for the second season of the Just Grow Something podcast along with some other projects all designed to help you get the most out of your garden in 2022. Because of this, I will be taking a few weeks off from recording new episodes and, instead, will be replaying a few of the most downloaded episodes from season one. Hopefully, these episodes will get y...
Jan 04, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 74
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: testing your soil is the best way to find out what is lacking in your garden as far as nutrients are concerned and the earlier you test it, the better. Testing your soil in the off-season before spring rolls around gives you an earlier start toward correcting any deficiencies. Fall and winter are the best times to amend your soil with organic components because they will have a chance to break down into the soil and incorporate themselves so they are re...
Dec 28, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 73
This episode let’s reflect a little bit on our gardens this past year. What went well? What didn’t? I refer to these as wins and lessons, not losses, because every activity in the garden is a learning experience. Some are just a little bit less pleasant than others. Even though they may not have been productive in the sense of producing a harvest, they will always be productive in the sense of bettering our future gardens and gardening experiences. Today I will happily review with you what went ...
Dec 21, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 72
You’ll notice my tone is slightly different today and that’s due to the nature and seriousness of the topic I want to explore with you. Specifically, regarding the recently unsealed 54-count indictment against an organized crime syndicate in the southern U.S. relating to the horrible treatment of people they brought across the border to work on farms and who, subsequently were treated as slaves. If you saw my stories on Instagram this week you got to see my rant on this topic and, honestly, this...
Dec 14, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 71
One of the problems of being a home gardener in many climates is that the season for salad greens can be short. Either you’re in a climate that gets way too hot in the summer to grow decent greens or you’re in a climate that has a very short growing season and it gets too cold too quickly. And, even if you’re in a climate where you can grow through the winter, you may not have enough space outside to get those greens to full size before your Persephone period hits and they stop growing. The answ...
Dec 07, 2021•14 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Way back in episode one, the introduction episode, I briefly mentioned that my love of gardening, and my naivety of how easy it was, was partly responsible for the beginnings of our farming adventures. During that episode I mentioned we started selling to the public through a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture program. I also mentioned I would eventually do an entire episode on what that is and, well, here we are 68 episodes later and I’m finally getting there! So, what is a CSA? How is it d...
Nov 30, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 69
As we start thinking about our gardens for next season, we may not just be looking at fruits and veggies and herbs. Many of us like to plant our landscape and the areas surrounding our vegetable gardens with plants that are beautiful to look at. Maybe they’re for cutting flowers and bringing into the house or maybe they’re just for some added color and beauty while we spend our time outside. It may also be for curb appeal. Unfortunately, there are many species that get planted that are considere...
Nov 23, 2021•21 min•Season 1Ep. 68
It’s that time of year! This evening I will be binge watching whatever show the Mean Farmer and I decide upon while maniacally separating clove after clove of garlic. We’re planting close to 15 pounds of garlic this year, a combination of both hard neck and soft neck varieties. Depending on the variety, that’s anywhere from 25 to 40 cloves per pound. Which all need to be separated from their heads to get ready to plant. So, we will be enjoying the smell of the stinking rose this evening while we...
Nov 16, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 67
The past few weeks we've talked about the fall garden and overwintering in the garden. Some of our gardens have already seen a hard freeze or snow, some a killing freeze but still have plants going strong, and some don't see a freeze at all but simply go dormant. This week we’re going to talk about the three things to do at the end of your garden season to get you off to the best start NEXT year. These things are going to help you better prevent and manage pests and disease in the garden as well...
Nov 09, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 66
We’ve talked about cloning plants by taking cuttings to save our favorite garden specimens over the winter while taking very little space. But, what about bringing plants in to overwinter in a dormant state or even keeping them productive? If you’ve got the space, there are several techniques for overwintering your most productive garden plants to either continue the bounty all winter long or to keep them alive and ready to go back outside in the spring to get a jump on the season and start prod...
Oct 19, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 65
So, we talked last week all about saving seeds from your best garden specimens to use in your garden next season. But, what about that big, beautiful, healthy plant that's just produced loads of veggies for you all season long? Don't you wish you could bring it inside and then bring it back out next year? Well, you can! And you can do it without taking up the entirety of your window space indoors and without having a greenhouse. The process of taking cuttings from a healthy, productive plant and...
Oct 12, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 64
This Focal Point Friday episode is the second in our two-parter on saving seeds. Tuesday’s episode focused on which plants you should be saving seeds from, how to properly collect and clean those seeds and how to hedge your bets against carrying over diseases on or in your seeds. This episode focuses on seed storage, whether it's seed saved from your own garden or over purchased from a supplier. Leftovers from spring? No problem. We’ll talk about proper moisture level for saved seeds and how to ...
Oct 08, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Have you decided this is the year you’ll start saving seeds from your garden? Or, maybe you’ve saved seeds in the past and have had some problem with viability or germination the next season. I mean, it doesn’t sound like it should be a difficult task. Just collect the seeds from whatever you want to keep, rinse them, dry them, and pack them away for next year, right? Well, sure! And while following this simple method can absolutely mean you’ll have beautifully preserved seeds that have fantasti...
Oct 05, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 62
It's October! And October 1st is the first Friday of the month which means another Can You Dig It? episode. This month we talk unknown plants in the garden that turn out to be lilies (and edible) and when to start saving seeds. This is also a precursor to next week's double episodes on seed saving. Great information here and more to come. So, let's dig in! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Ep. 40 - Growing Garlic...
Oct 01, 2021•16 min•Season 1Ep. 61
Traditionally, home gardeners have planted bare-root strawberry plants in the garden and had to wait an excruciating year to pick their first ripe berry. But, most commercial farms plant exclusively in the fall and harvest their first berries in the spring. On this episode, Karin talks about how the home gardener can use this technique to get a perennial strawberry bed producing earlier, the difference between the strawberry plant types, and more. Check the links below for sourcing rooted strawb...
Sep 28, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Have you been keeping notes all season long in a garden journal? Have you kept track of your varieties, harvests, weed pressure, insect pests, weather conditions, etc? No? No worries! Right now is the time to make some annotations about your gardening season to help put you on the right track for next year's garden. Doesn't need to be fancy, but the more you write down now the less you'll have to rely on hindsight to give you an accurate portrayal of what happened this year so you can make corre...
Sep 24, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 59
This Garden Talk Tuesday we’re digging into growing a favorite fall decoration of many people – mums or, more accurately, chrysanthemums. Now you absolutely can grow these fall flowers in your garden year-round but you need to know what you’re planting. Is it possible to plant the mums you get from your garden center and have them come back each year? The answer is: it depends. Knowing the difference between a garden or hardy mum and a nursery or florist mum is going to make all the difference h...
Sep 21, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Did you plant pumpkins this year? What about winter squashes? One of the questions I usually get around this time of year about pumpkins and other winter squash is, “how do I know when it’s ready to pick?” There’s nothing worse than waiting all season long for that huge vine to flower and produce these beautiful fruit, only to harvest it way too early because it looked ready or leave it out there too long and the bugs or ground rot gets to it. So, today we’re going to talk really quickly about t...
Sep 17, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 57
I've talked about using these before, but what's the difference between a row cover, a frost cover, and insect cover? What about shade cloth? This episode we'll dig into the different materials available commercially to purchase for each of these tasks in your gardens, which ones are multi-purpose and which ones aren't, the accessories that go along with them and what alternatives you may have just laying around your home. Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you ca...
Sep 14, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 56
