Explore every episode of the podcast Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home Gardening
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to Grow Beets - Ep. 213 | 27 Aug 2024 | 00:27:57 | |
If you didn’t plan for a fall garden and maybe have changed your mind a little bit and want to give it a go, you might be looking for something you can very quickly put into the ground and grow directly from seed. Enter beets. They will happily germinate in almost any temperature of soil and they greatly appreciate the cooler days of fall when they are coming to maturity. They’re not fool-proof, because there is a little effort needed in terms of thinning in most cases and they do need a nice, loose soil to produce those beautiful round roots, but there is nothing that beats the flavor in the fall of a sweet, roasted beet alongside other root vegetables. Or, my go-to snack or addition to my salads, pickled beets, and my new favorite, beets roasted in air fryer. Even my husband admits those are good and he swears beets taste like dirt. So, today on Just Grow Something we’re talking beets! How to grow them, what type to grow for your area, and why does it seem that even when we carefully space our beet seeds out in the garden that we end up having to thin them anyway? So many seedlings! Let’s dig in! References and Resources: Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides - Growing Guide Garden Insect Netting (affiliate) Garden Frost Cloth/Row Cover (affiliate) | |||
| Artificial Intelligence and Gardening Advice - Ep. 212 | 20 Aug 2024 | 00:21:27 | |
I do searches online for gardening topics all the time. I will search key phrases to see if I can come up with topics that people seem to be searching for or gardening questions that may be trending. I even search specific ideas to see if there is new information or research that I’m not aware of. And more and more frequently I’m noticing a disturbing trend. As I look at the search results, often times I will see multiple pages in a row, usually sponsored results, that have the exact same key phrases as the meta description, the little blurb you see under the link that tells you what’s on the page before you click it. When I click on one of those pages I find the page to be full of ads, with very little substance in terms of gardening know how. And the verbiage and style of writing is very mechanical, disjointed, and generic. If I click another one, the page layout is exactly the same and so is the wording. These pages are all designed to look like legitimate gardening blogs or how-to sites, but they all have two things in common – they are meant to earn money from the overwhelming number of ads being displayed and they are all written by artificial intelligence. Today on Just Grow Something we’re diving into AI and gardening advice. Can AI be helpful when asking questions in the garden? Are those answers accurate? And how can we determine whether a source is reliable or not? Let’s dig in. References and Resources Vote for me in the Women in Podcasting Awards! Save on a Magic Mind Subscription with code justgrowsomething20 Just Grow Something Website (justgrowsomethingpodcast.com) | |||
| Summer Succession Planting for a Greater Harvest - Ep. 204 | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:29:44 | |
We are officially in summer in the northern hemisphere and, for many of us, she came in with a bang. It will hit 100 F here today with a heat index of 112 F and it feels like walking in front of a blast furnace stepping out into the sun. This may make you think the summer growing season is a one-and-done situation, especially if you live somewhere further south than me where the temperatures can be even more brutal on a regular basis. I’m here to tell you that’s not the case. In fact, even if you live further north of me where the temperatures are just now finally warm enough to start planting warm-season crops, there are a slew of things that can be grown in the summer vegetable garden that you can plant multiple times to get a greater harvest from the garden. Today on Just Grow Something we’ll talk about the top five crops in different climates that can be successively planted throughout the summer. Whether your warm season is short or you’re gardening in a sauna, I guarantee there is something you can grow multiple times to increase your yield even if it feels like somebody opened the gates of Hades in your front yard. Let’s dig in. References and Resources: Subscribe NowJust Grow Something | The "Why" Behind the "How" of GardeningJune 18, 20244x20300:25:4523.59 MBWhen Are Onions Ready to Harvest? - Ep. 203 I posted a video last week on TikTok and Reels about how to tell if your onions are ready to harvest and there was a lot of feedback. Onions are one of those crops that can take a long time to master and, even then, getting a good harvest can be hit or miss. Which is probably why that video got the response it did. Today on Just Grow Something we’ll go over how to tell if your onions are ready to harvest, when you should wait, and when you should pull them early based on the conditions of the plant. We’ll also talk about what can go wrong with onions causing them to either bolt prematurely or never get to the size we’d hoped. There are lots of intricacies to successfully growing onions but once we understand the things they rely on to produce, it does get easier. A little. Let’s dig in! References and Resources:
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| Focal Point Friday: Understanding Plant Nomenclature - Family, Genus, Species, Variety, and more. | 10 Mar 2023 | 00:12:39 | |
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. Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group | |||
| Ep. 138 - Gardening for Nutrition | 07 Mar 2023 | 00:23:55 | |
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 goal for your garden is to reduce your family’s food budget, like mine was in the beginning, then maybe the things you should prioritize planting are the things your family eats the most or the things that cost you the most in the grocery or at the market. But, if we’re gardening to increase the overall nutrition our family consumes, does that mean we should be focused on planting something other than our most purchased items? And, if it’s all about saving dollars, can we grow things that make us feel fuller longer because they’re more nutritious? Which fruits and vegetables degrade the most from the time they leave the farm to when they hit our plate? Which fruits and vegetables the most nutrient-dense overall? On today’s episode I’ll give you the rundown on some studies that have been done about which vegetables decline in nutrition the fastest, which ones are the most nutrient-dense overall, and what we need to do in our own gardens post-harvest to preserve those nutrients that we’ve worked so hard to grow. Let’s dig in! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow RESOURCES Optimising foods for satiety - ScienceDirect Maximizing the Nutritional Value of Fruits and Vegetables (ucdavis.edu) Harvesting and storing home garden vegetables | UMN Extension | |||
| Focal Point Friday: Follow-up to Sunflowers, Compost and Manure | 03 Mar 2023 | 00:07:18 | |
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. Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group | |||
| Ep. 137 - Growing Celery | 28 Feb 2023 | 00:30:00 | |
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 and mounded in order to get those pale stalks like you’re used to seeing the grocery store, and they don’t tolerate a heavy frost. And even though they don’t like the heat, too much time spent below a certain temperature can actually cause them to bolt. But, if you know how to mitigate all those things, the flavor of homegrown celery can be so much more intense than what you get in the store. Let's dig in! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden Resources: Umbellifer or apiaceae? - Richard Jackson Garden (richardjacksonsgarden.co.uk) Celery / Apium graveolens Herbal Medicine, Health Benefits, Side Effects (medicalhealthguide.com) Everything you didn’t even know you wanted to know about celery - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com) Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides - Growing Guide | |||
| Focal Point Friday: Manure in the Garden | 24 Feb 2023 | 00:05:37 | |
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. Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon 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 fertilizer - MSU Extension | |||
| Ep. 136 - Filling New Raised Beds | 21 Feb 2023 | 00:19:05 | |
Purchasing compost and potting soil can be expensive and new garden beds can take a lot of soil to fill them. Plus, we’ve talked before that commercial compost often needs a little help getting the microbes up and moving again in order to make it biologically active and not just an inert material that’s not helping our plants at all. So, filling a raised bed with nothing but trucked in compost and bags of potting mix just isn’t the way to go. If you’ve gotten behind on building your beds or you’re just now deciding you need to create some, especially if you’re creating a garden for the first time, it’s important to know what to fill those beds with. Today we’ll talk about different techniques we can use to fill those raised beds properly so that the growing medium is not only biologically active, which is helping the plants get the nutrients they need, but also doesn’t break the bank. Ep. 80 - Creating and Managing a Compost Pile Ep. 81 - Talking Compost with Stan "The Compost Man"Slaughter Ep. 82 - Compost Systems for Home Gardeners Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Resources: | |||
| Focal Point Friday: More About Intercropping | 17 Feb 2023 | 00:05:20 | |
For this week’s Focal Point Friday, I answer a question asked by a student in my Plan Like a Pro garden planning course last week. She wanted some clarification on what I mean when I’m talking about intercropping. “Does that mean I plant another crop in between the rows of the other or does it mean the second crop is spaced in the same row as the other crop.” Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group | |||
| Ep. 135 - Growing Potatoes | 14 Feb 2023 | 00:36:26 | |
Potatoes are a staple in many areas of the world, and they can be grown just about anywhere. Your yield definitely improves if you follow a few techniques, but there are so many options: from big long in-ground rows, to raised planters, old bathtubs or wash basins, buckets, grow bags, even pots on your patio. So, even if you don’t have hundreds of row feet of space to grow potatoes for your entire family for a year, most everybody has space to maybe do some fingerling potatoes or some small boiling potatoes for at least a few meals. Of course, there’s a great sense of satisfaction dumping the dirt out of a pot or digging into the soil and pulling up a potato plant and seeing all those potatoes hanging from the root system. And the flavor and texture of new potatoes are just fantastic and really can't be found in the grocery. Ready to grow some spuds? Let’s dig in! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Resources: Hijmans, RJ; Spooner, DM (2001). "Geographic distribution of wild potato species". American Journal of Botany. 88 (11): 2101–12. doi:10.2307/3558435. JSTOR 3558435. PMID 21669641. Potato Production and Consumption Potato: Nutrition facts, recipes, benefits, side effects, and more (msn.com) Soil Temparature Maps | GreenCast | Syngenta (greencastonline.com) | |||
| Focal Point Friday: Are Sunflowers Good or Bad for the Garden? | 10 Feb 2023 | 00:04:58 | |
Jennifer in the Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook group said, “I've seen, several places now, an argument about whether sunflowers are toxic to other plants around them or whether they are soil cleaners. Can you give us the low-down?” This was a great question and one that was asked again just a few days later in our Kansas City Area gardening group, as well. The quick answer is everything you've heard about sunflowers is true! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Resources: Allelopathic Plants. 7. Sunflower | |||
| Ep. 134 - Soil Texture and Composition: How it affects water and nutrients in the garden and how to know what type you have | 07 Feb 2023 | 00:28:21 | |
Different types of soil have different water holding capacities and nutrient availability. Much of this is based on the percentage of three soil particles in the soil composition: sand, silt, and clay. Knowing what the texture of our soil is helps us to know what how water and nutrients move through our soil and the best amendments for our particular soil type and the plants we want to grow. Today we’ll talk about how to test our soil composition and texture by using the jar method or the ribbon method, and what the results mean for you and your garden. Let’s dig in! Get your soil texture download Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify RESOURCES Soil Water Holding Characteristics - Center for Landscape & Urban Horticulture (ucanr.edu) Soils & Plant Nutrients | NC State Extension Publications (ncsu.edu) Soil Texture Analysis “The Jar Test” | Home & Garden Information Center (clemson.edu) Testing Soil Texture by Hand – The Soil Ribbon Test – GrowIt BuildIT | |||
| When Are Onions Ready to Harvest? - Ep. 203 | 18 Jun 2024 | 00:25:45 | |
I posted a video last week on TikTok and Reels about how to tell if your onions are ready to harvest and there was a lot of feedback. Onions are one of those crops that can take a long time to master and, even then, getting a good harvest can be hit or miss. Which is probably why that video got the response it did. Today on Just Grow Something we’ll go over how to tell if your onions are ready to harvest, when you should wait, and when you should pull them early based on the conditions of the plant. We’ll also talk about what can go wrong with onions causing them to either bolt prematurely or never get to the size we’d hoped. There are lots of intricacies to successfully growing onions but once we understand the things they rely on to produce, it does get easier. A little. Let’s dig in! References and Resources:
Ep. 114 - Planting Onions to Overwinter
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| Focal Point Friday: Proper Lighting for Seedlings | 03 Feb 2023 | 00:04:19 | |
Welcome back, my gardening friends, to another Focal Point Friday episode, this time covering proper lighting for your indoor seedlings. It's not as complicated as you may think! These quickie episodes are either an important highlight from a previous episode or a quick focus on a current event in the food and agriculture world that I think we should be talking about. Think of these episodes as a way to tickle your brain with one or two ideas to ponder while you’re planning or planting or digging in the garden this weekend. Without further ado, let’s get down and dirty. Enjoy! Reference episode: Ep. 77 - Five Tips to Successful Seed Starting | |||
| Ep. 133 - Growing Onions | 31 Jan 2023 | 00:49:39 | |
Most beginning gardeners struggle with growing full-sized bulb onions for a number of reasons: they don't understand there are different onions for different growing situations and that the nutritional needs for onions at different stages of growth are different from other root vegetables. I struggled with all of this plus not growing the correct type of onion for long-term storage. In this first crop-specific episode of season three, we’re jumping into everything onion, including background information, cultivation both in-ground and in containers, pests and diseases, harvest and storage. Let's dig in! Free Download: Onion Growing Fact Sheet Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Resources: Onion History - National Onion Association (onions-usa.org) Nutrition Information for Raw Vegetables | FDA Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides - Growing Guide Growing Onions: Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Onions | The Old Farmer's Almanac Onion Planting Guide - Dixondale Farms Affiliate Links Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow | |||
| Focal Point Friday: Proper Airflow for Seedlings | 27 Jan 2023 | 00:04:23 | |
Welcome back, my gardening friends, to another Focal Point Friday episode all about proper airflow for the seedlings you may be starting indoors. These quickie episodes are either an important highlight from a previous episode or a quick focus on a current event in the food and agriculture world that I think we should be talking about. Think of these episodes as a way to tickle your brain with one or two ideas to ponder while you’re planning or planting or digging in the garden this weekend. Without further ado, let’s get down and dirty. Enjoy! Reference episode: Ep. 77 - Five Tips to Successful Seed Starting | |||
| Ep. 132 - Average Crop Yield and Plants Per Person: How Much Space Do You Need in the Garden? | 24 Jan 2023 | 00:25:39 | |
It’s often difficult to know exactly how much of each crop to plant, even for experienced gardeners. You’ve had to have been pretty meticulous with keeping track of your harvests to have a firm grasp on how much each of the plants you grew last year actually produced. And then need to average that out over a few years, figure out whether that’s enough for your needs, and then decide on how many plants you’ll need this year based on that average. But how do you figure out how many of something you’ll need if you’ve never grown it before? And if you’re a beginner, where do you even start to figure this all out? That was one of the biggest problems I faced as a new gardener. So, in today’s episode we’ll briefly cover a couple of different ways you can use to figure out how many plants you’ll need to meet your harvest goals this year. It is not exact and it will require some time and patience to get through, but once you have a starting point it gets easier from there. Let’s dig in! ------- My garden planning course, Plan Like A Pro, is open for registration through February 2nd, 2023! Go to https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/pro to get all the details and get started right away on planning your best garden yet! ------- Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify RESOURCES: Vegetable Crop Yields, Plants per Person, and Crop Spacing (harvesttotable.com) Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides Vegetable Planting Calendar | MU Extension (missouri.edu) How Much Should I Plant? Vegetable Yields Per Plant – Bonnie Plants | |||
| Focal Point Friday: Plan Like A Pro | 20 Jan 2023 | 00:10:26 | |
Welcome back, my gardening friends, to another Focal Point Friday episode. On this week’s quickie episode, I am introducing you to my brand-new garden planning course, Plan Like A Pro. I have been working around the clock for almost two months now on videos and downloads and building an online community and I want to give you all the details before we launch next week. It's the time of year when we should be planning our gardens and I want you to have the best garden year yet! Listen as I walk you through everything that is included in this course and how to get on the waitlist for the early bird bonuses. Let’s get down and dirty! Get On the waitlist: Plan Like A Pro | |||
| Ep. 131 - The Basics of Winter Sowing: Seed Starting Outdoors | 17 Jan 2023 | 00:43:41 | |
If you like to start your own seeds for your garden but often struggle with the amount of space it takes up, you’re definitely not alone. Or maybe you’ve wanted to start your own plants but are put off by all the indoor growing requirements? Having the space, the lighting, fans for strengthening the seedlings, keeping a watering schedule, getting them hardened off … starting transplants from seed indoors can feel intimidating or overwhelming. Even for me, someone who has an entire room dedicated to seedlings, with shelves and lights and fans and water systems, I run out of room every single year and need to adhere to a strict schedule to get plants rotated out to the greenhouse to make way for more plants in the basement. Which is why the concept of winter sowing intrigues me. I always wondered why we couldn’t just plant the seeds we wanted to grow out in the garden in the winter and let them naturally come up on their own? Apparently, about 30 years ago someone else had that same question and she came up with a modified way to approach it with great success. Her name is Trudi Davidoff. Trudi refined the winter sowing process, worked with the USDA to coin the terminology and the method and then created a non-profit and spent more than 20 years teaching the Wintersowing Method to anyone and everyone who wanted to learn. I joined the Winter Sowers group on Facebook and watched YouTube videos and read posts from Trudi herself and I am ready to start winter sowing as a way to germinate some of my own seedlings this year. This episode, we’re going to go over the technique of winter sowing, the do’s and don’ts, the basic list of supplies you’ll need and how to get started. It’s meant to be inexpensive and easy. There is really nothing technical about this and I think we can all do this with both vegetables and flowers for our gardens. Let’s dig in! RESOURCES: Links for this episode: Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Focal Point Friday: Top Three Reasons to Grow Your Own Food | 13 Jan 2023 | 00:07:36 | |
Welcome to this Focal Point Friday episode featuring the top three reasons why you should be growing your own food in your own garden, even if that "garden" is a pot on a windowsill in your kitchen. Think of these episodes as a way to tickle your brain with one or two ideas to ponder while you’re planning or planting or digging in the garden this weekend. Without further ado, let’s get down and dirty. Enjoy! Related episode: Ep. 3 - Why Grow Your Own and How to Preserve the Nutrients if You Don't | |||
| Ep. 130 - Companion Planting and Intercropping: Gaining space in the garden, repelling insects, and other benefits | 10 Jan 2023 | 00:23:25 | |
As we start to plan our gardens for this year, we may realize that we don’t have enough room for everything we want to grow. This is where intercropping and succession planting come in. We’re planting different plants with each other to make the most of our space or we’re planting them one after each other, sometimes with some overlap. And lots of times you will hear these terms used interchangeably or in conjunction with each other. But is intercropping and companion planting the same thing, or do they serve different purposes? To my way of thinking they are two sides to the same coin, each serving their own purpose but in very much the same manner. In today’s episode we’ll dig into the principles of both intercropping and companion planting, explore the differences and similarities between both, and talk about how we can use both methods to our benefit in our gardens. Let’s dig in! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden Companion Planting Chart | Just Grow Something with Karin Velez (justgrowsomethingpodcast.com) Plan Like A Pro | Just Grow Something with Karin Velez (justgrowsomethingpodcast.com) Resources for this episode: CDFA - FREP - CA Fertilization Guidelines - Lettuce Nitrogen Uptake and Partitioning | |||
| Focal Point Friday: Easiest Crops for Beginning Gardeners | 06 Jan 2023 | 00:10:55 | |
Welcome to the first Focal Point Friday episode of season three. Think of these episodes as a way to tickle your brain with one or two ideas to ponder while you’re planning or planting or digging in the garden this weekend. This week, it's all about the easiest crops to grow for beginners. Without further ado, let’s get down and dirty. Enjoy! Related Episode: Ep. 2 - Garden Talk Tuesday: The Basics | |||
| Ep. 129 - Determining New Garden Bed Dimensions | 03 Jan 2023 | 00:38:03 | |
Welcome to season THREE of the Just Grow Something podcast! We’re going to kick off this season with an in-depth look at how to figure out what size garden bed is ideal for you and your gardening space. I have run the gambit of different sizing on beds, both in-ground and raised planters and I’ve finally landed on my preferred sizing and spacing for both. And, guess what? It’s different for both situations! I prefer my in-ground beds to be one size and configuration and I prefer my raised planters to be another in most cases, but there are instances where I change that up, too. So how you do you know what size beds you should be creating? It took me a lot of years to finally land on what my preferences are and what works best for me and if I had asked myself the right questions when I was first starting out, I probably would have landed on those answers a whole lot sooner. Today we’ll talk about the different things you should consider for raised planters and the ones to think about for in-ground beds. And it’s not always the same for both. Let’s dig in! Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Squash Vine Borers and Squash Bugs in Cucumber Plants - Focal Point Friday Ep. 202 | 14 Jun 2024 | 00:14:49 | |
Well, I dropped the ball! This is a follow up to Tuesdays episode about problems in cucumbers. I failed to mention two pests that plague many gardeners - squash vine borers and squash bugs. So, let's remedy this situation! Spend a quick 15 minutes with me while we talk about these pests and how to prevent them. | |||
| Ep. 128 -The Barnyard Language Podcast with Caite and Arlene | 27 Dec 2022 | 01:18:49 | |
Throughout the month of December, we’ve been doing little something different around here where I’ve been treating you to episodes of other podcasts where I was invited to be a guest. This week is the final week of having some honest conversations about different topics related to farming and gardening with other podcasters within the Positively Farming Media podcast group on their shows. And you can’t get any more honest than the Barnyard Language podcast. This one will be a little different than the Drink and Farm episode from last week. If you missed that one, I highly encourage you to go back and take a listen. Caite and Arlene from Barnyard Language focus on issues revolving raising kids on a farm and the struggles that can go with that and they invited me on to talk about gardening with kids. I will warn you their episodes are marked explicit and this one is no exception because if you’ve ever worked in a barnyard, you know the expletives sometimes fly. And with all three of us being on rural internet, some of the audio staggers a little but it’s well worth it to listen to this conversation because there are some really good insights in there. I will link to the Barnyard Language podcast in the show notes so you can find more of Caite and Arlene when you’re through here. Let’s dig in! Barnyard Language: https://barnyard-language.captivate.fm/episodes Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 127 - We Drink and We Farm Things with Bev Ross | 20 Dec 2022 | 00:38:30 | |
Last week you heard my interview with Ashely Constance of the A Little Self Reliant podcast all about compost. This week, we change it up a little bit. We’re going to hear an episode of the We Drink and We Farm Things podcast, affectionately known as Drink and Farm. This podcast is hosted by Bev Ross and Sam Bolton. Sam is on hiatus and Bev invited me and a few others onto the show to talk about some farming firsts. You’ll recognize Ashley Constance in this episode along with our friend Erica Leniczek from the Rural Mindset podcast. These are some great stories and I think you’re going to really enjoy this episode. Of course, I will link to the Drink and Farm podcast in the show notes so you can find more of Bev and Sam when you’re through here. Let’s dig in! Podcast — We Drink & We Farm Things (wedrinkandwefarmthings.com) Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 126 - A Little Self Reliant Podcast | 13 Dec 2022 | 00:34:19 | |
Throughout the month of December, we are doing little something different around here. I am treating you to several episodes of some other podcasts where I was invited to be a guest. These will be some honest conversations about different topics related to farming and gardening with other podcasters within the Positively Farming Media podcast group on their shows. Last week you heard my interview on the Rural Woman Podcast with Katelyn Duban and if you missed it, I highly encourage you to go back and listen. This week, I’m Ashley Constance of the A Little Self Reliant podcast! You may remember Ashley from episode 98 all about getting started in homesteading no matter where you are. During my episode on Ashley’s podcast we talked all about compost. She asked some great questions and I’m super happy to share that episode with you. Of course, I will link to the A Little Self Reliant podcast in the show notes so you can find more of Ashley when you’re through here. Let’s dig in! Free Garden Planning Basics Download Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 125 - The Rural Woman Podcast with Katelyn Duban | 06 Dec 2022 | 00:57:12 | |
Throughout the month of December we’re going to do something a little different around here. I am going to treat you to several episodes of some other podcasts where I was invited to be a guest. I hope you’ll enjoying hearing some honest conversations about different topics related to farming and gardening as I speak with other podcasters within the Positively Farming Media podcast group on their shows, some of whom you’ve heard interviewed on this podcast. So, without further ado let’s jump into this week’s episode. You heard Katelyn Duban of the Rural Woman Podcast on this show back on episode 88, where we talked about the ups and downs she went through while expanding her garden as a new gardener. I was a guest on Katelyn’s show talking at length about how I got started in gardening and farming and I’m super excited to share that episode with you here. I will link to the Rural Woman podcast in the show notes so you can find more of Katelyn when you’re through here. Let’s dig in! Get My Free Garden Planning Basics Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 124 - Q & A: Is market gardening worth it? Is it too late to plant garlic? How do I know if my strawberries are dormant? | 29 Nov 2022 | 00:21:49 | |
Let's do a Q & A! We’ll talk about whether or not market gardening is worth it, both from a personal satisfaction standpoint and from a monetary one, explore whether or not it’s too late in some areas to plant garlic, find out how to tell when your strawberries have gone dormant, and talk about a very interesting tip I learned about growing fruit trees in colder climates. You bet I’m going to be taking advantage of this little tidbit of information! Let’s dig in. Grow Guide Podcast E146: Inspiration For Adding Figs, Lemons and Olives to Your Northern Garden with Steven Biggs — The Grow Guide (thegrowguidepodcast.com) Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 123 - 2022 Gardener's Gift Guide | 22 Nov 2022 | 00:36:17 | |
‘Tis the season! We’re moving into the time of the year when gift giving is on everybody’s mind. Whether you’re looking for gift ideas for the gardeners in your life or if your loved ones are asking for gift ideas for YOU, I’ve got a bunch of ideas in a variety of price ranges. Some of these are things that are on my own wish list and some of them are things I already own that I swear by or I upgraded to this year. This is a fun episode and hopefully you’ll come away with some great gift ideas for your favorite gardeners and maybe even yourself. Let’s dig in! Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 122 - Planning a Drought-Resistant Garden: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques | 15 Nov 2022 | 00:34:40 | |
This week we’re talking about how to use less water in the garden. We are still in drought conditions here in west central Missouri, it was a hard gardening year for sure, but I also know when I lived in northern California that water conservation was always a topic of discussion and that was 30 years ago. Many of you live in areas where water is just naturally scarce, and restrictions are always in place. So how do we, as gardeners, balance a need to grow our own food and in some instances food for others with the need to use less of a very precious resource. We’ll talk about tips, tricks, and techniques to keep your garden growing with less water input from the gardener. On that same note, the question of the week involves choosing drought-tolerant varieties of plants and whether or not that benefit has any drawbacks, specifically how well the plant is then able to tolerate very wet conditions. So, if your garden is full of drought-tolerant plants and you’re suddenly inundated with several days of rain are you sunk? And in the DRL, it’s serious freeze protection, the Moth, and a flashback to the 80s. Let’s dig in! Resources: Book: “How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth” Soil Texture Analysis “The Jar Test” | Home & Garden Information Center (clemson.edu) Ep. 108 - Basics of Saving Seeds Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 121 - Transitioning from Military to Farming, with Arcenio Velez | 11 Nov 2022 | 00:28:47 | |
There’s something to be said for military life. It’s regimented. There’s a strict hierarchy, there’s a chain of command, there are orders to follow, and you know day in and day out what your duties are. And if you’re someone who fits well into that sort of lifestyle and the mindset that’s necessary to take on the demands of being in that lifestyle, it can often be very, very difficult to transition back to civilian life where those things don’t always hold true. There are a lot of military servicemembers who have seen and done things that make it almost impossible to functional in regular society. Working in agriculture in some way, whether it’s with crops or livestock or machinery or whatever, can help with the transition. It’s been proven. In today’s interview we talk a little bit about why the unexpected parts of farming, that just don’t seem to meet the definition of a regimented lifestyle, actually fall right in line with what a veteran may be comfortable with. Let’s dig in! RESOURCES: FARMER VETERAN COALITION (farmvetco.org) Veterans & Beginning Farmers – National AgrAbility Project Veterans to Farmers | Turning Protectors Into Providers Veteran's Farming Initiative (veteransfarming.org) Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 120 - Growing for Farmers Market, Part Two: Planning, Planting and Pricing | 09 Nov 2022 | 00:41:59 | |
This episode is the second of two parts talking about growing for farmer’s market. This week we’re digging into changes to your garden plan and other considerations around planning, planting, and pricing the produce you want to take to market. When I first started, I really thought it was just a matter of increasing the volume of what I grew, but it turned out to be a little bit more complicated than that. It’s not hard, but the amount of space you have to work with is going to dictate what you grow and how you grow it and that requires planning. Then once you get to harvest, how the heck do you decide what to charge? Let’s dig in! Resources: Vegetable Crop Yields, Plants per Person, and Crop Spacing (harvesttotable.com) Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 119 - Growing for Farmers Market, Part One | 03 Nov 2022 | 00:42:04 | |
This episode we’re going to get started with selling at farmer’s markets. This subject will be a two-parter. Planning a garden with the intention of selling some of it is different than just selling the extra you happen to grow, and we’ll talk all about all those details in part two. Today we’re going to walk through all the things I didn’t take into consideration before I started selling our produce in our CSA program and at multiple market stands. This is quite literally a “I did it all wrong so let me tell you how not to do it” episode! In the question of the week, we’re talking green sweet potatoes. And in the DRL, it’s vintage camper life, crawdads, and a vegan running coach. Let’s dig in. Camping, Campgrounds & Campsites | Camping Reservations | KOA Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Problems with Cucumbers - Ep. 201 | 11 Jun 2024 | 00:33:52 | |
The summer gardening season is just about in full swing here in the northern hemisphere and cucumbers are definitely a crowd favorite. Whether you’re growing the for slicing, snacking, or pickling, a properly managed cucumber vine can be very productive. But it seems like when things go wrong with cucumbers, they go really wrong. Whether it’s dying plants, funky looking fruit, diseases, or other issues with our favorite cucurbit, we do have preventions and solutions. Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking all about the problems we might have with cucumbers – pests and diseases, nutrient challenges, strange deformities, and more. By the end you should have a firm grasp on how to prevent these problems from occurring and how to recognize what you’re dealing with when they do. Let’s dig in! References and Resources: Identifying Nutrient Deficiencies in Your Garden Plants
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| Ep. 118 - Cover Crops in the Home Garden | 25 Oct 2022 | 00:31:56 | |
This episode we’re digging into how to use cover crops in our home gardens. I kept saying I needed to do a full episode on this and we’re doing it today. This is not reserved for just big farms with thousands of acres of land. Using a cover crop in the home garden is beneficial in all kinds of ways and can be tailored to what you need: improving soil structure, preventing erosion, as a living mulch, to add nutrients back into your soil, or all of the above. This is effective for both in-ground beds and raised planters. What you plant and when you plant it, and what you do with it when it’s done all depends on what you want to get out of it, so we’ll cover all the options and techniques for planting and terminating those crops and which crops work best for our individual garden needs. And the question of the week is a two-parter! It’s about pruning nectarine trees and when to apply copper sprays or dormant oils. And how do you tell if a tree is dormant versus maybe, just dying? Let’s dig in! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Cover Crop Collection for Planting - 9 Packets of Popular and Hardy Cover Crops Blend of Gardening Cover Crop Seeds: Hairy Vetch, Daikon Radish and More COVER CROP Premium Blend- Hairy Vetch, Crimson Clover, Peas, White Oats Resources: Terminating Cover Crops | Southern Cover Crops Council Using Cover Crops and Green Manures in the Home Vegetable Garden – Wisconsin Horticulture Tips for Planting Cover Crops in Home Gardens (psu.edu) Cover crops and green manures in home gardens | UMN Extension Farm Seed & Cover Crops | Comparison Chart (PDF) | Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com) | |||
| Ep. 117 - Growing Cut Flowers in the Home Garden with Kathy Gormandy | 21 Oct 2022 | 00:36:26 | |
This episode we are digging into growing cut flowers in our garden. I am not a flower farmer, I’m a mediocre flower grower at best, but I love having cut flowers in my house and I’m determined to grow my own at some point. And since right now is the time we should be preparing our beds for the spring, and flower beds would be no exception, I thought it was the perfect time to talk to an expert. Kathy Gormandy is a cut flower farmer and the owner of P and K Farms, a 3-acre farmstead in southern Alabama. P and K Farms is a small sustainable family farm offering seasonal cut flowers, arrangements, and event work and Kathy got her start selling flowers at the farmers market just as a way to attract attention to her vegetable stand. She quickly realized the demand for those flowers outpaced any vegetable she could grow, and her flower farming journey began. I sat down with Kathy to get advice on the easiest flowers to start with, perennials make good cut flowers, tips for how to keep blooms coming on all season long, the best soil conditions for growing flowers, and more. I got so much good information from this conversation and already have my wish list going for what I want to plant here for my own homegrown bouquets. Get ready to take notes because Kathy is a wealth of information and a joy to listen to. Let’s dig in! Get the book - David’s Farm: Healthy Soil Kathy Gormandy (@kathyzitnik) • Instagram photos and videos Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon | |||
| Ep. 116 - Asparagus: Prepare in Fall, Plant in Spring | 18 Oct 2022 | 00:46:31 | |
Asparagus is a fantastic perennial, with healthy beds lasting as long as 30 years. Asparagus crowns are planted in spring, but the fall is when you want to prepare the bed. So, today we’ll go over everything you need to know about planting and growing asparagus so you can get your beds prepped in time and place those orders for spring crowns. In the question of the week, we’re talking another favorite perennial – strawberries! Lots of questions around winter requirements these juicy beauties, so I’ll give you the lowdown on what you should be doing for them on the off season. In the DRL we’re talking down time, Southern Living, and Elyse Myers; and I’ve got a correction from last week. Let’s dig in! Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Resources: Funny Cuz It's True with Elyse Myers (chtbl.com) Episode 60 – Fall Planted Strawberries asparagus | Description, Major Species, Vegetable, & Facts | Britannica NParks | Asparagus officinalis Asparagus Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits (verywellfit.com) Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides - Growing Guide | |||
| Ep. 115 - Preparing the Garden for Winter (and Spring!) | 11 Oct 2022 | 00:39:17 | |
Depending on where you garden you may have just had your first frost or even a hard freeze. If you are one of my warm-climate gardeners, you’re steadily marching toward the time of year when plants begin to go dormant or, if you don’t have a Persephone Period, the time of year when growth slows dramatically. Now is the time to take advantage of that period of time to either put the garden to bed for the winter or to get it ready for spring, or both! Today we’re talking about what to do to get your garden ready for winter slumber, even if you’re overwintering plants in those beds, and how doing these activities now will absolute get you to a better start in the spring. It took me many years to realize just how much better my season starts in spring if I do some of the prep work now. My mental state and my garden soil both thank me for it. We’re also chatting about the question or comment that I’ve gotten the most this fall from gardeners at the market stand and, of course, since this is Missouri, it obviously has to do with growing tomatoes…or maybe not growing tomatoes. I’ll weigh on why this year was such a horrible year for growing tomatoes here and what you can do in your own garden to give yourself a better chance at harvesting your most loved fruit or veggie. Let’s dig in! Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Resources: | |||
| Ep. 114 - Planting Onions to Overwinter | 04 Oct 2022 | 00:40:09 | |
This episode we’re going to tackle one way to grow onions for spring, depending on our location. We haven’t done a full onion episode yet and I promise we will because there’s a lot to unpack there, but since now is the time to get some types of onions in the ground depending on your goals, we’ll cover some of the basics and the how and why for overwintering. We’ll also review the Question of the Week, which is actually more of a discussion than a question surrounding the difference between hardiness zone and climate and how growing degree days are affected by each of those. Understanding each of these terms and how your garden will react to each can go a long way toward better timing of your succession plantings in the garden. Let’s dig in! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow References: DK Earth: Climate Zones (factmonster.com) Map & Key Features of Long-Day, Intermediate-Day & Short-Day Onions (johnnyseeds.com) | |||
| Ep. 113 – Dehydrating, Cold Storage, and Fermenting: More Ways to Store Your Harvest | 27 Sep 2022 | 00:48:11 | |
This week we’re back to preserving our harvest! This episode we’ll talk about ways to dehydrate your fruits and veggies and how to use them when you’re ready, the basics of cold storage including temperature, light, and humidity requirements, and look a little bit at fermenting your garden goodness and whether or not that’s a viable way to actually store produce or just good for our gut health. I respond to a comment I got on TikTok about pressure canning: spoiler alert, opinions are not backed by science. And in the DRL we’re talking hydroponic lettuce, succession planting, and doing hard things. Let’s dig in! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Resources: Book: Plant, Grow, Harvest, Repeat by Meg McAndrews Cowden Podcast: We Can Do Hard Things What Are Fermented Foods? - Heart Foundation How To Ferment Vegetables (the Ultimate Guide) - Fermenters Kitchen | |||
| Ep. 112 - Modifying Fruit Recipes for Canning and Topping Tomato Plants | 20 Sep 2022 | 00:17:48 | |
Karin's voice is shot! So, instead of talking about preserving our harvest through cold storage, dehydrating and fermenting like promised, this episode will be focusing on something shorter and sweeter: can you safely modify a recipe for preserving fruit in a water-bath canner by using less sugar? We'll also talk about why and how to prune or "top" your tomato and pepper plants as we get closer to first frost or the Persephone period. The goal is to save some energy for those developing fruit to get to maturity before the season ends. Let's dig in! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Resources: Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving The Ball Jar Store – Jars, Appliances, Accessories National Center for Home Food Preservation (uga.edu) | |||
| Ep. 111 - Preserving Basics, Part Three: Pressure Canning | 13 Sep 2022 | 00:32:43 | |
Okay, here we go. The big beast: pressure canning. I know it can seem scary to have a giant pot on your stove that you think could explode at any moment and that fear probably stems from pictures you’ve seen of pressure canners doing just that: lids embedded into ceilings and exploded contents all over the walls. I’m here to tell you pressure canning is perfectly safe if you follow the instructions. And modern pressure canners have all kinds of safety features designed to keep you from destroying your kitchen even if you do screw something up. I’ve been pressure canning for about a decade and I’ve never had an incident in my kitchen. Ever. Even when I was first starting out and didn’t have a clue what I was doing and was just reading the instructions from a book. There are a lot of reasons you may want to pressure can, not the least of which is the much wider variety of things you can preserve over water-bath canning. You don’t need to worry about acidifying foods before preserving them and you can actually can whole meals in a jar for emergencies, if you’re so inclined. My favorite thing to pressure can? Green beans, plain and simple. But this year I’m going deeper into beans and meats and all kinds of stuff to hedge my bets against winter power outages in our rural area. And I’m super excited to try new things. So, before you decide that pressure canning isn’t a viable option for you or if you’ve just been too scared to try it because it just seems dangerous, hang out with me today while we go over the basics of pressure canning, do’s and don’ts, the must haves and the nice-to-haves, and all the resources you could ever need to do it all safely and effectively. Let’s dig in. Question of the week: multiple questions! Garlic and Why Is My Garden Suddenly Dying? Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify RESOURCES: Use Code JUSTGROW for a free bottle of Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving | |||
| Ep. 110 - Preserving Basics, Part Two: Water-Bath Canning | 06 Sep 2022 | 00:29:55 | |
Last week we talked about the basics of freezing your garden harvest or your extra haul from the farmer’s market and that’s definitely an easy way to get started. But, if you’re really serious about preserving your food and hedging your bets against power outages or you just enjoy the texture of canned foods over frozen, the entry-level process for canning is the boiling water bath. This type of canning only requires a few special pieces of equipment that are readily available and relatively inexpensive. The process of water-bath canning is pretty straightforward, but food safety is always important so we’ll talk about what equipment you need and what are nice-to-have, the process of canning, what is safe to can in boiling water and what needs pressure canning, and lots of resources to help you find safe, tested recipes to get you started on your canning journey. Let’s dig in. Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify RESOURCES: Use Code JUSTGROW for a free bottle of Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving The Ball Jar Store – Jars, Appliances, Accessories | |||
| Ep. 109 - Preserving, Part One: Freezing | 30 Aug 2022 | 00:37:36 | |
This time of the gardening season is likely the time you’re seeing a bounty of goodness coming from your garden, especially if you’re in a climate where the summer heat is starting to wane just a little bit. This usually signals to my garden that it’s time to make one last hard push to reproduce, so the tomatoes and peppers and other summer plants start to push out all kinds of fruit. This is also the time when later planted warm-weather crops start to put on their fruit. I planted my Amish Paste tomatoes late this year purposefully in order to delay the onset of fruit until I would be more prepared to handle preserving. But that’s not to say there haven’t been periods over the gardening season where I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of produce coming in the house and my go-to method for preserving during the hottest and busiest time of the garden season is freezing. (This is also a good way to preserve a bounty that you find at the farmers market unexpectedly and maybe you don’t have your canning game together yet.) Freezing is like the entry level way to preserving your harvest because it’s the easiest, it can be done in very small batches, and it doesn’t require anything in the way of special equipment. There are pros and cons to every preservation method and freezing is no exception, but if you need a way to put something up quickly and easily, you really can’t go wrong here. Today we’ll review the basics of freezing, what you’ll need to freeze produce successfully, the reason behind blanching and which veggies can maybe skip the hot water bath, and more. Let’s dig in. Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify RESOURCES: Use Code JUSTGROW for a free bottle of Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving National Center for Home Food Preservation (uga.edu) Save 20% on your Black Rifle Coffee Club subscription The Freelance Fairytales Podcast — The Freelance Fairy (alexfasulo.com) | |||
| Celebrating 200 Episodes: Ask Me Anything! - Ep. 200 | 04 Jun 2024 | 01:05:20 | |
Welcome to the 200th episode of the Just Grow Something podcast, my gardening friends! I launched this podcast back in February of 2021 as a way to pass on the gardening knowledge I had gained from my experiences on our own homestead and farm and what I had learned as I worked my way through my horticulture degree at Oregon State University. I’ve continued to learn along the way and pass on as much of that to you as I reasonably can in the 30 minutes or so a week we spend together here, as well as Reels and TikTok videos, the articles I write over on the website, the Facebook group and probably a few places I’m forgetting about. Getting into the rhythm of coming up with a topic each week, recording, editing, and publishing that episode, plus trying to put creatives together to post to social media to promote those episodes took some time and I still don’t’ always get the social media part of it right! Some of you have been along for the ride since day one, some of you are brand-new; no matter where you fall on that scale, I am sincerely happy you are here and we can all be learning and growing as gardeners together. This season I’ve been asking you a question each month to send in your answers but today, you are asking the questions and I am doing the answering. To celebrate 200 episodes, I did an “ask me anything” and you all had some great questions. Some about gardening, some about the business of farming, some personal, and I am here to answer them all. Let’s dig in! | |||
| Ep. 108 - Basics of Saving Seeds | 23 Aug 2022 | 00:35:17 | |
This is the time of year when most gardeners in the Northern Hemisphere begin preserving their harvest. Summer's bounty is giving one last push and the cooling temperatures mean the fall garden is ramping up. Over the next few weeks, we'll talk about preserving that harvest, and this week is no different. But, instead of talking fruits and veggies for eating we're talking seeds for growing. Saving seeds from our own gardens can have many benefits. Not only are we ensuring we have enough seeds for next seasons garden, hedging your bets against shortages (see also: The Year That Shall Not Be Spoken Of), but seeds we save and replant year after year will also be better suited to our unique climate and gardening situation. But knowing which seeds to save can give us a little trouble. Will it produce the same fruit we harvested it from or something different? Did it cross-pollinate with something else or is it self-pollinating? And how long will they last in storage before I need to refresh my seed stash? We dig into all this and more while talking the basics of saving seeds on today's episode. Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify RESOURCES: Episode 62 - Properly Saving Seeds in Your Garden (This one is a deeper dive into some of the minutia of saving seeds) Episode 63 - Proper Seed Storage: Moisture levels, storage conditions, containers and more (prepare to geek out!) Join the Black Rifle Coffee Club. Save 20% and caffeinate alongside me while providing for military troops and first responders! | |||
| Ep. 107 - Worm Farming with Lauren Cain of Elm Dirt | 19 Aug 2022 | 00:33:33 | |
On Tuesday we talked all about the benefits of composting with worms and the basics of how to get started. Today, we talk to an expert. Lauren Cain is the founder and owner of Elm Dirt, a local Kansas City area company specializing in worm castings and products derived from those worm castings. Lauren’s company got its start in an unexpected way and, like all things at the beginning of 2020, took a turn she did not expect. From vermicomposting in her home to worm farming in a warehouse, her company and its products have grown leaps and bounds in just two years and with very good reason. I’ve gotten to use the products Elm Dirt sells and have been so fascinated by and impressed with the results that I’m ready to start my own worm bins here at home. I’m confident this conversation will absolutely have you convinced that worm castings and the products made from them should be an essential part of your garden plan going forward. Let’s dig in. Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify RESOURCES: Get a free bottle of Bloom Juice with any purchase by using code JustGrow at checkout: Elm Dirt Book: Worms Eat My Garbage From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste (epa.gov) | |||
| Ep. 106 - Introduction to Vermicomposting (Worm Farming!) | 16 Aug 2022 | 00:27:54 | |
One thing I’ve been interested in starting for quite some time is vermicomposting, or worm farming, or composting with worms. Whatever you want to call it, composting with worms is a fantastic way to get rid of any food scraps out of your kitchen while creating a beautiful soil amendment for your garden. Having a worm bin in the basement where it can be easily accessed is a great way to give those scraps from the kitchen a purpose much more quickly than if we were adding them to a big compost pile outside. Today we talk all about the basics of worm farming: how to build a bin, what to add, how many worms and what type, and more! Question of the week: How to time the tomato harvest (spoiler alert: it depends!). Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Resources: USDA ARS Online Magazine Recipe for Flavorful Tomatoes How to Make Your Tomatoes Taste Better Instantly | Glamour How to Create and Maintain an Indoor Worm Composting Bin | US EPA | |||