Sometimes it is very difficult to sift through all the information and advice we get as gardeners and to know what exactly we should be doing out there. This source says one thing, that blog says another thing, and the book on our bedside swears those other two are incorrect. What are we supposed to do? Today we’re talking about two specific pieces of advice I was asked about over the weekend that seem to be complete opposites of each other but, in reality, they are two sides of the same coin. O...
Jun 07, 2023•16 min•Season 3Ep. 151
Our pets are part of the family and we hate to see anything happen to them. Let's be sure there's nothing we're doing in the garden that might be hazardous to their health. Today's discussion is all about avoiding the dangers from our compost piles, mushroom compost, mulch, fertilizers and amendments. Episode Resources: Mushroom Toxicity | VCA Animal Hospitals (vcahospitals.com) Tremorgenic Mycotoxins - Moldy Food Strikes Back - CriticalCareDVM Common Garden Dangers for Dogs - BluePearl Pet Hosp...
Jun 02, 2023•7 min
The height of the gardening season in the northern hemisphere is on the horizon which means peak time for gardening questions! Today we dig into why rhubarb might not turn red when ready to harvest, what the numbers on fertilizers mean and why the source matters, battling asparagus beetles, and preventing garden damage from animals during drought. If you've got a gardening question, I'd love to hear it! Send me a message on social media, email me, use the link below to send me a voice message or...
May 30, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 150
Since it's peak tomato growing season in most areas of the northern hemisphere, I thought it would be a good time to revisit an old episode about tomato plant diseases! This is not a comprehensive list, but a discussion of eight of the most prevalent diseases. As always, be sure to check with your local university extension to find out which diseases are most prevalent in your area. This will save you some stress. Let's dig in! Episode Resources: Ep. 99 - Eight Common Tomato Diseases: Identifica...
May 26, 2023•21 min
I spent the better part of my afternoon on Monday pulling Johnsongrass from my tomato field and in between my pole beans, which is what prompted today’s episode. That Johnsongrass is a perennial weed that reproduces both by seeds and by rhizomes and it’s been an aggressive problem for us in one particular field and I thought it would be helpful to give some tips on controlling all types of weeds in your garden. Today we’ll talk about knowing the difference between annual weeds and perennial ones...
May 23, 2023•19 min•Season 3Ep. 149
Tuesday we talked about tomatoes that perform well in short seasons or challenging conditions. I had several listeners reach out and ask about growing in containers and small spaces. There are lots of options for this! On this Focal Point Friday episode, we talk container growing, the different categories of compact tomatoes, and varieties that perform well in just about any small space. References: Tomato Varieties for Short-Season Areas and Challenging Climates - Ep. 148...
May 19, 2023•8 min
For many gardeners the ultimate vegetable to grow is the tomato. There really is something special about the flavor of a fully ripe tomato picked from the vine and brought straight to your plate. Unfortunately, growing tomatoes can be a challenge if you live in an area with a short season. For those of you living in colder regions your growing season for warm-weather crops may be very, very short between frost-free days. Those in very warm climates have the opposite problem; you may need to get ...
May 16, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 148
Does pruning your tomatoes in a certain way increase the yield? Does it really matter? Are there other more important factors involved? I get asked all the time if we prune our tomatoes, how we prune them, how many tomatoes a gardener should expect to get from one plant, etc. Folks tend to get frustrated when it’s not a straightforward answer. Your tomato yield is likely to boil down to a number of factors before you even get to the pruning question. Today's episode digs into the three factors t...
May 12, 2023•12 min
For as long as I can remember I’ve believed that marigolds were the best companion plant for everything. Despite the naysayers touting time and time again that it was all conjecture, I stood by the research I could find that proved otherwise. If you listened to last week’s Focal Point Friday episode you understand the position I’ve found myself in after all these years of companion planting marigolds in and amongst all of my garden plants. To my way of thinking, as long as there wasn’t a proven ...
May 09, 2023•22 min•Season 3Ep. 147
Companion planting is a great way to deter pests in our garden, specifically for summer squashes. Some plants repel pests like aphids, whiteflies, melonworms and pickleworm. Others are better suited as trap crops, attracting aphids, squash vine borerers, squash bugs and cucumber beetles so we can remove them from the garden and destroy them before they get to our zucchini or yellow squash. It's important to know which pests we're dealing with so we know which plants to use and how to use them. A...
May 05, 2023•11 min
Summer squashes are a staple in most summer gardens. Whether you call them zucchini, courgette, or marrow, they can be easy to grow and very prolific, so they are a great introduction to a successful harvest for new gardeners. Unless you live in an area where pests and diseases are the name of the game: squash vine borers, squash bugs, cucumber beetles, drought, powdery mildew and bacterial wilt can all destroy a squash plant before we get a single fruit. Whether you live where squash grow so pr...
May 02, 2023•33 min•Season 3Ep. 146
Whether we grow our garden from seeds directly in the soil or start out with transplants, there are some distinct advantages and disadvantages to both methods. Today let's break down the five main factors to consider when making this decision. As always, find more gardening information on the Just Grow Something website .
Apr 28, 2023•6 min
The gardening "advice" we get may not always be accurate. Bury a whole egg under your tomato plants? Make a tea from banana peels? What advice is legit and what is bogus? Let's look at the scientific research behind common kitchen scraps that might also be used as garden amendments: banana peels, eggshells, teas leaves and spent coffee grounds. Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram Merchandise |...
Apr 25, 2023•16 min•Season 3Ep. 145
This is the time of year when we not only start to have a lot of yard waste and garden waste but we generally have food waste coming out of our kitchens year round, so now is the perfect time to put all that waste to good use. The average American produces about 1,600 pounds (726 kg) of garbage a year and approximately 75% of this garbage is organic material. That means 1200 lbs of the 1600 pounds of waste produced could be composted. Per person. We don’t want that organic material going to the ...
Apr 21, 2023•10 min
Last summer we talked a little bit about growing extra produce in our gardens specifically for donation. I will leave a link to that episode in this episode description. This week I have the pleasure of interviewing two folks from After The Harvest, an organization here in the Kansas City Metro area that rescues fruits and vegetables from going to waste and donates them to agencies that serve hungry people in the Greater Kansas City area. Their volunteers glean after the harvest, picking what’s ...
Apr 18, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 144
In this timely flashback episode, we go back to episode 91 and talk about hardening off our plants to move them into our garden spaces. Whether we've started them from seed ourselves or we've purchased plants and brought them in, our plants need some time to acclimate. The process is a little different in both cases. And if we're growing plants indoors, we have a different set of circumstances to navigate. Let's talk about transitioning our plants. References: Ep. 91 -Transitioning Your Plants i...
Apr 14, 2023•8 min
One of the best flavors of the summer has to be sweet corn right from the stalk. If it’s picked at the right time and eaten right away, you really don’t need anything on it. It’s just that good. If you’re lucky to find some at the farmers market and can get it home and eat it right away, it’s almost as good. But we can absolutely grow our own even in smallish spaces. And what about growing our own dried corn varieties? There are so many choices when it comes to dent corn, popcorn, and other drie...
Apr 11, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 143
It's spring planting time in areas of North America, or getting close to it, and many of us have the danger of a late frost hitting our gardens after we've spent so much time putting tender annuals in the ground. Let's revisit some options for frost protection in the garden, using both purchased items and those we can find around the house.
Apr 07, 2023•12 min
How do we know as gardeners when the appropriate time is to plant those seeds or transplant our seedlings? There are guidelines on the backs of seed packets and tables and charts online and in books that tell us the supposed correct date to plant those seeds. But this generic information is usually based on the average last frost date for our area. If you’re in an area that doesn’t often get a frost or if you live in a frozen tundra that date can be deceiving. Plus, that information doesn’t take...
Apr 04, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 142
Let's round out our mushroom discussions with some good 'ol compost! What is mushroom compost, is it good for our gardens, and how do we use it? Can we use the substrate from our own homegrown mushrooms and how is that different from the commercially available bags in the store? Spend a few minutes with me today to discover mushroom compost. Resources: Mushroom Compost: The Bad, The Good and The Beautiful - Compost Magazine Analysis of Fresh Mushroom Compost in: HortTechnology Volume 20 Issue 2 ...
Mar 31, 2023•7 min
Last week we talked all about growing mushrooms but that was all based on research and nothing to do with my own personal experiences. Even though my husband has always wanted to create a “fungus of the month club” to go along with our CSA program, we’ve never quite gotten there. I have worked with multiple mushroom growers over the years as vendors at our local farmer’s markets and have yet to even grow mushrooms from a kit! I just support them at their stands when I get a craving for a cremini...
Mar 28, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 141
On this week's Focal Point Friday episode, we're revisiting the basics of plant nutrients. Good plant growth is directly correlated to good plant nutrition. The efficiency with which a plant uses the nutrients in the soil varies greatly according to the composition of your soil, water availability, soil temperatures, and so much more. But it’s important to know how the most essential nutrients work so you can choose soil amendments and fertilizers, if necessary, that will most benefit what you’r...
Mar 24, 2023•10 min
This week, we’re digging into a topic I have been asked numerous times to cover and really couldn’t because I’d never grown them! With names like puffball, stinkhorn, enoki, paddy straw, shaggy mane, and more, I didn’t even know where to begin to research how to grow them much less do a deep dive into the ethnobotany of the crop. I’m talking about mushrooms. This is not going to be my typical crop specific episode because the rabbit hole I went down made me realize the awesome complexity of what...
Mar 21, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 140
Welcome back, my gardening friends, to another Focal Point Friday episode. Let’s spend just a few minutes together reviewing a snippet of info from a previous episode, highlighting a new topic, or quickly focusing on a current event in the food and agriculture world. This week's focus is weed management. The main strategy to keep weeds out of the garden: prevention! Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on I...
Mar 17, 2023•6 min
Foliar feeding has been the subject of a little bit of debate over the years, both in the horticultural space and as far as online gardening information goes. The practice of foliar feeding or foliar fertilization essentially involves applying water-based nutrients to the leaves of our plants to enhance their nutrition. In the home garden this can be done with a spray bottle or a pump sprayer or by using an attachment at the end of our hose that feeds the liquid into the water as it passes throu...
Mar 14, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 139
What exactly does that name on the plant tag or seed packet mean? How does that affect what we plant and how or where we plant it? On this Focal Point Friday, let's go way back to Episode 6 to demystify plant nomenclature and the differences between open-pollinated, heirloom, and hybrid. Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something...
Mar 10, 2023•13 min
Did you know that poor diet is the leading cause of disease worldwide? Diets low in fruits and vegetables contribute significantly to some of the world’s most widespread and debilitating nutrient-related disorders. Which is why many of us garden. We want to include those fruits and vegetables in our diet. And, if we have limited space, we need to be particular about what we’re planting. When I help people plan their gardens, I’m always reminding them to go back and review their “why”. If your go...
Mar 07, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 138
On this week's Focal Point Friday episode, I'm following up with questions and comments I got about some recent episodes about phytoremediation, commercial compost, and using manure in the garden safely. Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something...
Mar 03, 2023•7 min
Celery is a cool-season crop that can be a bit finicky about its growing conditions. If carrots are divas, then consider celery Goldilocks: not too hot, not too cold, but just right! On today’s episode I give you the lowdown on growing your own celery at home and this includes those of you who live in warmer climates. The main consideration for celery is it takes a really long time to grow from seed and it can be a water hog if you want those big plump stalks. Some varieties need to be trenched ...
Feb 28, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 137
What manures are "safe" to use in the garden and which ones need to be composted? The question came from a listener and the answer may surprise you. Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Resources: Animal-Manure-in-the-Garden.pdf (wsu.edu) Bunny honey: Using rabbit manure as a fert...
Feb 24, 2023•6 min
