Heirloom seeds are treasure troves of genetic diversity and hold stories that span generations and help us understand food cultures around the world. My guest this week, Adam Alexander, aka The Seed Detective, does the important work of identifying and saving rare and remarkable vegetable seeds and uncovering their stories. Adam is a producer of […]
Winter sowing is an easy and fun way to scratch the gardening itch in the coldest months while also getting a head start on growing flowers and cool-season crops that will then take off in spring. In this week’s encore episode, I explain how winter sowing works and identify the types of seeds that are […]
Have you ever compared a packet of conventional seeds and a packet of organic seeds and wondered what the difference truly is? My guest this week — to demystify what it means when seeds are organic — is Tom Stearns, a pioneer of growing and selling organic seeds. Tom Stearns is the founder and owner […]
Starting seeds indoors is a great way to get a jump on the growing season, save a ton of money, and grow out varieties that you normally can’t find in a nursery. In this video, I share the basics of indoor seed starting to easily and successfully sow seeds. Seeds can be […]
There is an easy way to tell if the seeds inside an old seed pack are still good — before going through the time and trouble of planting the seeds in the garden to find out. In this video, I’ll show you how to check seeds for viability and test their germination rate. […]
Every seed has a story to tell, if someone will listen. This week, I asked Sara Straate, the seed historian for Seed Savers Exchange, to come on the show and explain the work that goes into tracing the history of heirloom seeds that, in many cases, came to the exchange after being saved for generations […]
One of the inevitabilities of gardening is the presence of weeds. There are lots of poor weed management approaches out there, many of which have been used for decades. So, I thought it was high time to explore the not-so-wonderful world of weeds, and I invited Dr. Andrew Smith to share his expertise on the […]
Last week, I spoke with Dianne Ott Whealy, the co-founder of Seed Savers Exchange, to discuss the history of that important organization. SSE is approaching its fiftieth year of operations, so there was much more to the story to be explored. For that, we continued the conversation with this week’s guest – SSE Director of […]
You might be like a lot of gardeners these days who are eager to experiment with different varieties of their favorite crops. Well, the odds are pretty good that the unique variety you’re excited to try this year is available to you thanks, in large part, to this week’s guest. Diane Ott Whealy is the […]
If you’re into organic seeds or growing seeds of varieties that are out of the ordinary, you’ve probably heard of this week’s guest. Ira Wallace of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE) is truly an icon and a powerful force in the seed world. I’m fortunate to catch up with Ira at various garden events along […]
With all that is going on in our world during these recent weeks, more folks than ever are feeling drawn to gardening. The confidence that comes with growing your own source of healthy food is appealing, of course, but the garden also provides a refuge through periods of anxiety. Well, this week’s episode focuses on […]
This week, I’m catching up with Epic Tomatoes author Craig LeHoullier. I’m proud to call him a good friend and happy that he’s a frequent guest on this podcast. But a lot has changed in the Tomato Guy’s world during the past few months, and many of you have wondered what Craig has been up […]
I love starting seeds indoors. It’s a great way to get a jump start on the season – to play in the soil even when the temperatures outdoors are sub-freezing. Growing seedlings indoors can be a little tricky though. Plus, those seed trays take up space that not all homeowners are fortunate to have. It […]
This summer, the crew and I wrapped up filming for the tenth season of our Emmy Award-winning show, Growing a Greener World®. It has been humbling to look back and really let it sink in that we’ve been creating these episodes for an entire decade. Not many shows last so long these days. Along the […]
Do you save seeds? These days, more and more gardeners are interested in keeping seeds from the plants in their garden, but it’s a process that can be intimidating. For this week’s episode, I invited Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and master seed saver, Bill McDorman, to share his expertise for anyone […]
Between my podcast listeners and members of my e-newsletter and social media channels, I receive a lot of gardening questions. This week, I’m highlighting questions asked by students of my new Beginning Gardener Fundamentals course. I introduced the course at the beginning of this year to teach the fundamental garden basics I’m asked all the […]
When you hear the term “meadow” what do you envision? For most people, the picture in their mind’s eye is a sweeping field of grasses and multi-colored blooms. The thing is, a meadow doesn’t require much space, and it could become a favorite spot in any urban garden setting. Meadows aren’t difficult to create, and […]
Do you grow fruit? Berries and fruit trees are often under-appreciated in the world of gardening, but it’s my topic this week with guest, Dr. Lee Reich. An expert on many thing gardening – such as composting and the no-till approach – Lee’s greatest passion is growing fruit. Lee has written several books on gardening, […]
For this week’s podcast, I’m catching up with a good friend and frequent guest, Craig LeHoullier. Craig is responsible for the revival and development of many favorite heirloom tomato varieties, and he is a pioneer in a dense-planting technique for seed starting. Craig is always experimenting. One of his recent projects involves testing germination rates […]
For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s seed-starting season. Starting seeds indoors is a great way to start gardening even though your garden outdoors may be covered in snow. It also provides you with better control over the health of the plants you will add to your garden – and is the perfect […]
For this week’s podcast, I polled the joe gardener Facebook Group to ask what garden questions they would like answered. This is a great community of engaged and supportive gardeners. There is never a shortage of questions. Here, I selected the most commonly-asked topics (some of which I’m asked frequently through my other social media […]
Last year, I shared a podcast series devoted to starting seeds indoors. It has been incredibly popular as more and more gardeners develop an excitement for this aspect of gardening. In fact this year, I’ve been hearing from even more of you who are starting seeds for the first time or who missed this series […]
Why buy organic seeds? How much do you even think about the seeds you buy? Did you know that most seeds are grown with a lot of chemicals? You may never have considered the differences between non-organic and organic seed, but after this podcast episode, I predict you won’t look at seeds the same way […]
Here in the southeast, our warm temperatures mean that tomato season is coming to a close. If you find yourself in the same boat, this podcast is right up your alley. I invited my honorary co-host, Tomato Guy Craig LeHoullier to join me for a discussion about the highs and lows of this particularly odd tomato […]
In this podcast, I explore succession planting techniques with my guest, Meg Cowden. Meg and her husband are well-versed in the art of succession planting. Living in southern Minnesota, on the outskirts of Minneapolis, they garden in USDA Hardiness Zone 4B. While many gardeners in a Zone 4 environment see their season as Memorial Day through […]
As we close out 2017, it’s time to talk about what’s ahead for the new year. With 52 new weekly episodes, we have a lot of great content planned for you. And it’s not only the podcasts. Some other enhancements are in the works as we plan for the best user experience yet for joe […]
This episode is packed right from the start with interesting information about heirloom tomatoes, past, present and future. Our resident Epic Tomato growing expert, Craig LeHoullier is back for this part II conversation we started with episode 3. It was all about his process of how he grows over a ton of produce […]
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