The joe gardener Show - Organic Gardening - Vegetable Gardening - Expert Garden Advice From Joe Lamp'l

Regenerative agriculture, permaculture and soil health have come to the forefront of gardening conversations in recent years, but for the layperson, useful definitions for these terms can be elusive. Fortunately, to explain this soil and agriculture terminology in an approachable way, my guest this week is Dr. Jake Mowrer, an expert on all things soil.

Monty Don is the biggest name in gardening in the United Kingdom, and this week he’s my guest for the very special 200th episode of “The joe gardener Show.” In our conversation, he shares his behind-the-scenes experience as Lead Presenter of the No. 1 British gardening show, Gardeners' World during a pandemic and discusses the takeaways from his tour of the United States to film “Monty Don’s American Gardens.”

For the very first episode of The joe gardener Show that’s dedicated solely to growing potatoes, I couldn’t have asked for a better guest than Jim Gerritsen, the founder of Wood Prairie Family Farm in Bridgewater, Maine, where he has grown potatoes organically for 45 years. Jim generously shares everything to know about growing epic potatoes, from before you plant to storing the harvest.  

Hydrangeas are beautiful flowering plants with dramatic blooms that provide color and drama in the summer garden, but they can be fussy if they don’t get the proper care and attention. Proper hydrangea care for late winter is key. Improper pruning and other common mistakes, compounded with difficult weather, can lead to disappointment. Luckily, my podcast guest this week, Lorraine Ballato, is a hydrangea expert who will help you overcome the biggest hydrangea challenges.

When planting a naturalistic garden, is having more plants always better? If you ask Kelly Norris, my podcast guest this week and the author of “New Naturalism: Designing and Planting a Resilient, Ecologically Vibrant Home Garden,” the answer is, unequivocally, “yes.” He is an advocate for biodiverse, abundant landscapes that use every square foot to its maximum potential.

The science behind the relationship between plants and light is complicated, but my guest on this week’s encore episode explains it in an accessible, easy-to-understand way. Her name is Leslie Halleck, and she is an expert on lighting for indoor growing. In our conversation, Leslie explains what gardeners need to know about light to raise houseplants as well as herbs and vegetables indoors.

Before attempting a pest control method that may prove to be unnecessary, ineffective or complete overkill, the first step a gardener should take is to correctly identify the problem. Positive identification of garden pests paired with the appropriate intervention will yield the best results while minimizing or eliminating negative impacts. My guest this week, Susan Mulvihill, has penned a new book on solving common pest problems that will arm you with all the information you need to make the right control decisions.

No-dig gardening is a simple gardening method that many gardeners — who were taught for years that they had to till or turn their gardens annually — still have many questions about. To demystify no-dig gardening and explain its benefits, my guest this week is my longtime friend Charlie Nardozzi, a nationally recognized garden writer, speaker, and radio and television personality.

Many factors affect whether seeds started indoors will grow to become seedlings that are strong and healthy enough to transition into the garden, survive and prosper. On this week’s encore episode, John Porter of The Garden Professors shares his non-negotiables for success when seed starting. 

Indoor seed starting time is nearly upon us, and whether you are starting seeds yourself for the first time in 2021 or you have prior experience, I’m certain you’ll find my discussion with tomato growing expert Craig LeHoullier enlightening. In this encore presentation, Craig and I share tips and tricks to successfully start seeds indoors.

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 the best candidates to successfully employ this easy seed-starting method.

From time to time on the podcast, we’ve touched on growing herbs, but this week’s episode is the first that is dedicated solely to growing herbs. My guest to help us dive into this topic of these workhorse plants for every garden is horticulturist Sue Goetz, whose new book, “Complete Container Herb Gardening,” was published just last month. 

From a large back yard to the tiniest balcony, the garden is a place of refuge, and never has that been more true than in 2020. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, gardeners new and old have realized the many ways that gardening enriches their lives, and how that joy and satisfaction is compounded when they share their bounty and their love of gardening with others. On this week’s podcast, I’m highlighting a few stories about the bright spot that gardening provided in 2020.

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.

Before placing your order online or filling out a seed catalog order form, be sure you are making the best buying decisions. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing tips to help make you a more informed seed shopper. I'll explain what to do before you start, how to process the plethora of seed catalogs arriving at your home or in your email inbox, and the types of seed to look for to meet your needs. I’ll also get into the differences among the various seed companies, large and small, and other sources where you can get seeds for a very low price or even free.

Buying an artificial Christmas tree and reusing it for years may seem like a more environmentally friendly option than buying a real, cut tree every holiday season, but when you dig a little deeper you’ll find that real trees are truly the sustainable choice. In this week’s podcast, I’ll explain the benefits of real trees as well as how to care for a live tree in your home so it retains needles and looks great through Christmas.

The American chestnut tree spanned the eastern United States and numbered in the billions before blight wiped out most of the population. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing my personal affection for the American chestnut and speaking with an expert from The American Chestnut Foundation about what devastated this tree and what’s being done to save it.

While I am a big proponent of learning through experience, I also hone my gardening skills and draw inspiration by regularly dipping into my library of books on horticulture and the natural world. In the nearly two and a half years since I first presented an episode on my favorite books for gardeners, I’ve added more must-haves to my list, and I am sharing them with you this week.

As we approach Thanksgiving, a time for taking stock of all the things we are grateful for, it feels like a good time to reflect on our gardening successes this year. I’ll admit I’m guilty of talking about how challenging this summer was in the garden for many of us while failing to highlight the achievements. This week, I am rectifying that at the suggestion of podcast listener Tom Discordia, who encouraged me to do an episode on everything that went right this year. And I agree. So with that, in this episode, we're showcasing some of your gardening successes in 2020.

When you plant vegetable and flower seeds in your garden, do you ever think about where exactly those seeds came from? Could you even imagine certified-organic seeds being collected from a one-acre farm in the middle of the second-largest city in California? That’s exactly where my guest this week, seed grower and farmer Brijette Peña, trials, breeds and produces the Certified Organic seeds for her business, San Diego Seed Company.

Gardeners know that eating food you grew yourself raises your spirits in a way that few things can. My guest this week, educator and author of The Power of a Plant, Stephen Ritz, recognized the benefit of growing edible plants to enrich students’ bodies and minds in a variety of ways, and his Green Bronx Machine has now inspired a documentary on the far-reaching benefits of raising and sharing nutritious food.

Ornamental grasses are eye-catching, low-maintenance additions to home landscapes that offer color, texture and seasonal interest, but they continue to be underutilized. To share the many benefits of using ornamental grasses, my guest this week is horticulturist, lifelong gardener and author Brie Arthur.

Companion planting has been practiced for centuries, but it’s not always clear why some plants perform better when paired with others. To separate conjecture from facts, my guest this week, horticulturist and author Jessica Walliser, has penned a new book on companion planting strategies supported by science. 

Houseplants bring life to our indoor environment, and caring for them can bring both joy and challenges. To answer how to pick the right houseplants for your home and how to best look after them, joining me this week is Jane Perrone, the host of “On the Ledge,” the No. 1 houseplant podcast on Apple Podcasts. 

Ornamental grasses are now common sights at nurseries and garden centers, but that hasn’t always been the case. One of the earliest advocates of incorporating native and ornamental grasses and grass-like plants into American gardens was horticulturist and landscape designer John Greenlee — a well-known and respected expert in grass ecology known as the “Grassman” or “Grass Guru,” among other monikers —  and he’s my guest on the podcast this week.

The most satisfying triumphs in the garden are built on experimentation and, yes, what many call failures, but what I always call learning opportunities. Perhaps no one I know pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in the garden further than veteran gardener, Meg Cowden of the blog Seed to Fork, so I invited her on the podcast this week to find out what lessons she’s learned from her garden in 2020. 

Despite the best efforts of gardening educators to debunk poor gardening advice, bad information continues to be shared online and elsewhere by well-meaning, though ill-informed, gardeners. To keep up the fight against bad gardening tips that persist, this week I am sharing once again my conversation about decoding gardening advice, with Dr. Jeff Gillman, a horticultural scientist who puts common gardening recommendations to the test to determine what’s really backed up by science and what advice is a waste of time — or even detrimental.

When many gardeners are picking their last crops for the year and getting ready to say goodbye to their gardens until spring, Niki Jabbour doesn’t slow down when temperatures drop. Though Niki lives in USDA zone 5b in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where winter temperatures can plunge to 0 degrees Fahrenheit, she can harvest fresh vegetables year-round because she implements season-extension practices and structures in her garden.

Starting a new tomato garden in an unfamiliar location poses a number of challenges and can be intimidating, even for experienced gardeners, but it also provides a clean slate and new opportunities for lessons learned. Tomato growing expert Craig LeHoullier moved in January to Hendersonville, North Carolina, and he has much to share about experimenting in his new garden there. 

Of all the gardening seasons, the fall growing season is my favorite. Arugula, beets, broccoli, carrots, lettuce and more — there are so many cool-season vegetables that you can grow in fall and enjoy on your dinner plate. The trick is to know your first frost date and work backward from there to pick the right time to start growing cool-season vegetables either indoors or direct-sown from seed, or transplanted.

I like to encourage risk-taking in the garden because the stakes are usually very low, and we know that “mistake” is another word for “learning opportunity.” However, there are some common gardening mistakes to avoid that you don’t need to learn about the hard way.

What is succession planting? Succession planting is how gardeners make the most of limited space and extend their growing season beyond what’s considered typical of a region. To speak to this topic, I invited succession planting expert Meg Cowden of the blog Seed to Fork on the podcast for a previous episode, and I am reprising that conversation this week because now is when vegetable gardeners are taking steps to have a successful fall garden.

Coming up on the middle of August, it’s clear that the 2020 gardening season is one for the record books — not for its performance, but for its challenges. Having been a gardener my whole life and in professional horticulture for more than 30 years, I can say that this was the year of all years for garden challenges. In this week’s episode, I answer questions that have come in this summer from podcast listeners, the members of the joegardener Facebook group and students in my Online Gardening AcademyTM about their biggest gardening challenges this year so far. For some of these issues, there’s still time to mitigate the problems and get a better outcome, while others will be taken as lessons learned for next year. 

Of all the problems that gardeners run into, having a bigger harvest than you know what to do with is the best problem to have. If you find yourself in this enviable position, you’ll want to listen to my conservation from a few summers back with Theresa Loe on preserving your garden harvest. 

Plant diseases pose one of the biggest challenges that gardeners face, and while it can be tempting to reach for a chemical control, managing plant diseases organically is possible. To speak to that fact, I invited Dr. Jeff Gillman on the podcast a couple of years back, and I am revisiting that conversion this week because now is that time of summer when plant diseases show themselves in a garden that otherwise appeared healthy up until this point.

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 by home gardeners. Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, is one of the country’s largest non-governmental seed banks, with more than 20,000 varieties in its ever-growing collection.

Between keeping up with picking crops and beating back weeds, plant diseases, and pests, it’s common that gardeners feel overwhelmed, especially at the height of summer — or any time of the growing season. But you don’t have to let garden overwhelm get the best of you. This week felt like the right time for an encore presentation of my conversation on reducing garden overwhelm with A Way to Garden’s Margaret Roach, the gardening columnist, author, and podcast host. 

Between my podcast listeners, social media channels, and members of my Online Gardening Academy™, I receive a lot of gardening questions. This week on the podcast, I am answering some of those questions from members of the joegardener® Facebook group.  I’ve invited Erin, my Director of Online Media, to return as co-host for this gardening Q&A episode we're calling Ask Me Anything. In this episode, we're answering your gardening questions. So let’s get started!

One of my favorite gardening activities is plant propagation.  In fact, you could say that it’s what first got me interested in gardening as a young child. Plant propagation is one of the best ways to add more plants to your garden and landscape for free, and it’s a fun way to make more of the plants that you already have.  But understanding some key plant propagation tips is an easy way to make more plants and the key to getting plant propagation right.

I don’t know about you, but here in my Atlanta-area GardenFarm™, disease is already rearing its ugly head. I had a conversation with extension plant pathologist, Dr. Janna Beckerman, of Purdue University to explore the world of plant disease, so she could share with all of us some of the essential plant disease fundamentals and management practices. As with all things gardening, understanding the basics and beyond will make us better equipped for success.

It's safe to say that mid-June is sort of the "honeymoon" phase of gardening. The final cold snaps are behind us. The plants in our landscapes are abundant in foliage. Yet, it's early enough that pest and disease issues haven't left us feeling disheartened. Yet it's what we do now with growing tomatoes, that critical mid-season care, which will keep our plants growing strong through the more challenging times ahead. 

Fair warning: This week, you’re in for a bit of a rant. I’m sharing with you my top 10 gardening pet peeves. No, I don’t mean those things like finding some pest has taken a bite out of an almost perfectly ripe fruit (although, that drives us all crazy too). I mean the human behavior I see far too often that is harmful to the garden, the environment or the gardener. 

For this week's episode, I invited my Director of Online Media back to join me for another Q&A session. We haven't done a Q&A episode in awhile. Erin is my co-host when I have one, and when I want to have a conversation with somebody from my team. Our talks are always fun, and it gives Erin an opportunity to ask me some of the most popular questions that have come in from our community of listeners and viewers over the past few months, around what's going on these days at the GardenFarm™. 

For this week’s episode, I asked my longtime friend, Daron Joffe, to join me. Since early adulthood, Daron has been driven by the belief that the world is a better place when our everyday lives are enmeshed in the act of interacting with the soil through gardening and farming. Through hard work and fortuitous opportunity, he’s crisscrossed the country building farms and gardens and contributing to the agrihood movement, while cultivating food and community Along the way, he’s stacked up an impressive list of far-reaching agricultural accomplishments through his efforts.

This week, I invited one of my longtime friends - and frequent podcast guests - to join me to share some additional weed management wisdom. Today, we explore how to prevent weed overwhelm with a practical organic approach for real results, with Margaret Roach. Applying her practice of a little good, old fashioned research and new-age-y mindfulness can elevate our skills against this eternal garden problem to a Zen Weed Master level.

If there's one gardening subject that I mention more than any other, it's probably mulch. Lots of gardeners still think the primary purpose of mulch is as an aesthetic element - to make garden beds look tidier. That couldn't be further from the truth. When the right material is used and when it's applied properly, mulch is one of the single best things you can do for the health of your plants and soil.

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 subject of managing weeds organically, along with Rodale Institute's Latest Research, Prevention, and Control.

These past few months have been difficult for many of us, but one bright side has been the re-ignited interest in gardening. I’ve heard from so many people who’ve never planted anything before but are eager to grow their own food. Gardeners of all experience levels have been able to spend more time with their hands in the soil too. It’s fair to say that most of us have been or plan to spend time shopping for more plants. But knowing some key garden savvy shopping tips for healthy plants can make all the difference when you plant them.

Soil is my favorite topic. I love all things gardening, and I’ve even hurled myself into a large heap of finished compost. Still, soil is king in my book, and the more we learn about the science behind great soil, soil health, and all of the amazing processes going on under the surface, the more enamored I become.

My guest today is Dr. Jake Mowrer, and this guy spends much of his day researching and exploring the many aspects of soil we have yet to fully understand. Jake earned a Ph.D. in soil fertility and soil chemistry, which ultimately landed him at the Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.

Another spring brings the excitement of a new garden season. For most of us, that means adding more plants to our landscape. Well, today’s episode is a reminder that your plant choices matter, especially when it comes to supporting biodiversity and wildlife. Guest Uli Lorimer is the Director of Horticulture at the Native Plant Trust. He shared with me his insights and actionable steps any gardener can put into practice.

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 Preservation, Phil Kauth for more of what goes on at Seed Savers Exchange behind the scenes.

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 co-founder of the Seed Savers Exchange, and her passion has helped to preserve hundreds of varieties that might have otherwise been lost to extinction.

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 the East Coast, but this was the first time she had joined me for the podcast.

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 an easy way to get growing - using the straw bale gardening method.

Suffice it to say monarchs have a precarious relationship with milkweed that is literally a matter of life and death. In this episode, we'll talk about monarchs, milkweed, and the remarkable story of their coevolution with Dr. Anurag Agrawal, author of Monarchs and Milkweed. It's an engrossing look at the intricacies of the monarch life cycle and the role a single genus of plant plays in their migration and survival.

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 to since the last podcast episode nearly one year ago. We had much to catch up on and talk about, so today we're learning a lot about what's been going on in this epic tomato growers life, especially in the last few months, as well as some new lessons learned during his busy life on the road, and at home, for his final epic growing season in his own driveway garden.

It never hurts to go back to the basics from time to time, and that’s what today’s episode is all about - the importance of the fundamentals of gardening. My guest, Daryl Beyers, is author of the just-released book on gardening basics - The New Gardener’s Handbook. Daryl earned a degree in landscape design, and you could say he learned gardening skills bit by bit “in the trenches” - as head gardener at estate gardens.

As a gardener, you’ve probably learned that it’s the little things that can sometimes have the greatest impact. Well, this episode focuses on some very little things - nematodes. These microscopic creatures are a part of the soil food web. They play a key role in nutrient cycling, but some of them can also devastate your plants. There’s a lot we still don’t know about these creatures, but I asked expert, Dr. William Crowe, to join me to share the facts on what we do know - the good and the bad.

This week, garden myth-busting expert, Robert Pavlis joined me to talk about gardening products. Robert has a background in chemistry and biochemistry and is an avid gardener as well. He owns and runs a 6-acre botanical garden packed with over 3,000 different species of plants, trees and shrubs. So, he offers some valuable insights when it comes to determining whether or not a product is necessary - or even beneficial - in the garden.

I am a huge fan of this week’s guest, Doug Tallamy. He’s the author of the blockbuster book Bringing Nature Home. It introduced many horticulturists and backyard warriors to consequences - or benefits - of our plant choices. So, I was really excited to sit down with Doug to talk about his brand new book, Nature’s Best Hope.

One thing that fascinates just about every plant lover is the process of propagation, and finding easy ways to make more houseplants, vegetables, and flowers from those plants you already have and love. If you’ve ever tried to propagate a plant, did you know your success rate was just as dependent on the type of plant as on your abilities? There is much more to plant propagation than most people are aware. Plant Parenting author, Leslie Halleck shares her wisdom on today's episode.

If you are a market or small-scale farmer, this episode is for you, but there’s plenty of inspiration for you home gardeners too. This week’s guest is Conor Crickmore. About 12 years ago, Conor exchanged a lucrative career in technology for a successful journey to the life of a market farmer. Here’s the real kicker - neither he nor his wife, Kate, had any real gardening or farming experience at the time.

Houseplants have been a hugely popular trend the past few years, with some plant-a-holics spending big money on a single showstopper. Unfortunately, those plants don’t always fare so well after we bring them home. It’s not for lack of effort from the “plant parent.” It’s usually the result of following bad advice - care tips which are actually houseplant myths. So, what’s the real story and the science behind what your plants really need? Houseplant myth expert, Robert Pavlis joined me this week to break down the facts.

One of my favorite gardening tasks is pruning. In fact, I love it so much that I don’t really consider it a task at all, and it was the focus of my very first joe gardener Show podcast episode. Unfortunately, it’s a subject that tends to confound or intimidate many gardeners. Today’s guest, Steve Bradley, was determined to break the sometimes confusing principles of pruning down to the basics, and his book, The Pruner's Bible, does just that.

Have you ever thought about living exclusively off the land for an entire year? Likely not considering how much of our daily lives revolve around food. For those of us who garden, our passion can also provide food freedom through foraging and harvesting up a healthy bounty for our table. Even so, most of the foods we all eat are heavily-processed, have traveled thousands of miles, and generate a heaping helping of trash. These are the issues which weigh heavily on the mind of today's guest, Rob Greenfield.

It doesn’t matter how big or how small your growing space is, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or have decades of experience under your belt. Every year brings new lessons, challenges, disappointments, and wins in the garden. With the end of another year just around the corner, I wanted to share with you my top gardening takeaways from 2019.

For many gardeners (myself included), the passion for producing our own food and caring for the natural world around us leads us to another hobby - keeping backyard chickens. My guest this week, Lisa Steele, is the go-to authority on that subject. Lisa discusses many aspects of keeping backyard chickens, including the benefits and challenges for gardeners.

Many gardeners have an appreciation for backyard songbirds. It’s a natural fit. As gardeners, we do a lot to invite them into our landscapes with food and shelter. All the more reason it’s concerning to know that many bird species are rapidly falling in their numbers, some at alarming rates. It's time we all learn more about bird population decline and what gardeners can do to help.

How do you define a beautiful garden or landscape? Is it a perfectly manicured space, free of weeds with coordinated blocks of color? Perhaps it’s more relaxed and informal. In this episode, we focus our discussion around native plant design in a post-wild world with Thomas Rainer, author, teacher, and landscape architect. Thomas describes his vision for a garden that is a hybrid of both cultivated design and the wildness of nature. We talk about how we can create a natural garden design that meets our aesthetic requirements yet functions more like landscapes in the wild.

In spite of a very short growing season (the first frost of the year shows up about mid-October, and the last is typically mid-May), Niki Jabbour knows every trick in the book and more to get the most out of her year-round garden. From time tested winners including row covers and cold frames, to her newest addition, a large polytunnel/greenhouse located adjacent to large raised bed vegetable garden. This podcast is an encore edition of our original podcast episode 022 and conversation with Niki from October 2017. Be sure to check out the extensive show notes there, including a lot more pictures of her garden and helpful links.

Over the years I’ve tried my share of gardening tools. Along the way, I’ve spent (and wasted) a lot of money. But it hasn’t been a total loss. Some of those purchases have resulted in the tools I can’t live without, including what I consider my top 12 tools to make your gardening life easier too.

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 was space limitations which led one gardener to get creative and find a different solution. Her approach is the subject of today’s podcast - winter sowing; a simple way to successfully start seeds outdoors.

This week is part two of my conversation with Charles Fishman, author of the compelling book, The Big Thirst. He's a powerhouse of fascinating facts about our planet's water - including some thought-provoking details on our infrastructure and our water spending. Now may be just the time we should be reshaping how we think about water and why paying more might not be so bad. Is the price of water simply so cheap that we take it for granted?

Today’s podcast is just a little bit off-topic. Well, not too far off-topic. After all, the subject of today’s discussion is fundamental to our gardens. It’s fundamental to our very existence. Today, we’re talking about water. More specifically, can we, and how are we conserving water's finite supply in a very thirsty world? My guest today, Charles Fishman, believes that many of our modern-day water issues are due to our collective lack of thinking about 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 way, we’ve met some remarkable people and featured some important issues. So today, I thought I would share with you my top takeaways for gardeners from over the years.

What do you think of when you think about your garden? How often do you consider all of the fragrances of the plants in your landscape? Well, this week’s podcast is a celebration of the scentual garden; exploring botanical fragrance, with Ken Druse. Whether subtle or spectacular, plants can emanate fragrance from, not only their blooms, but from foliage and even stems too.

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 interested in saving seeds.

Last week was the first in this two-part conversation with British gardening legend, Charles Dowding. If you missed it, I recommend you start there. That episode focused on Charles’ background and the no-dig garden method for which he is so renowned. Today's discussion focuses on how Charles is using compost for more than just a great soil amendment.

One of the many things I love about hosting this podcast series is the opportunity to talk about a shared love of gardening with experts from various fields and gardeners who come from different experiences and methodologies. This week was all of that and more, because this week, I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with British gardening legend and the guru of no-dig gardening, Charles Dowding.

Here we are in mid-September already. Where did the summer go? I never mourn the end of the summer garden season, but I am getting a bit later start than usual on my favorite garden - the fall garden. So as I now plant in haste, I wanted to share what you should know for fall vegetable garden success, including best plants and tips for cool-season growing.

Invasive pests. With an absence of natural predators - they can wreak serious havoc in our garden and, sometimes our environment. There’s a category of invasive creatures which isn’t lethal to our plantlife, but it still strikes fear in the heart of many gardeners. I’m talking about fire ants, and the sting of these creatures is more than just a painful nuisance. It’s also the cause of the loss of human life every year in the U.S. So, it should come as no surprise, fire ant control is a high priority for many.

Many years ago, I had just bought my first home and, as you might expect, was really excited to get out into the garden and make it my own. The backyard was overgrown with English ivy, so I spent an entire day pruning it back and hauling armloads off the property. Around midnight that evening, I was miserable. I had been so eager to transform my landscape, I hadn’t even noticed the poison ivy tangled in with the English ivy - until hours later when my whole body was covered by a severe reaction.

No matter where you garden, chances are good that you struggle with deer damage. Deer are a constant issue here on my rural 5-acre GardenFarm™ north of Atlanta, GA; but they can be just as prevalent in the midst of urban spaces too. Gardeners often turn to deer-resistant plants as a solution. The fact is, those options are just as vulnerable to a hungry deer. Today, we explore how to protect your garden using deer-resistant design.

Once in a rare while, you attend a presentation that leaves you speechless and amazed. A few years ago, internationally-acclaimed mycologist Tradd Cotter’s presentation at the University of North Carolina Botanic Garden in Charlotte had that effect on me. He was on stage describing the power of mushrooms, and what he shared blew me away.

Last week, we “dug” into the subject of the soil food web with guest Dr. Elaine Ingham. I have long followed and admired Elaine’s work in soil science study, and hearing her describe that it’s actually our plants which are in control of the complex cycle of life beneath the soil surface was fascinating.

Are you ready to get your garden geek on? In today’s episode we’re diving into the deep end on the subject of soil – specifically, understanding the soil food web. If you’ve ever told anyone that you “like to play in the dirt” to describe your love of gardening, I’m willing to bet that this […]

The post 116-Understanding the Soil Food Web, with Dr. Elaine Ingham appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Tomatoes are one of the most popular garden edibles. Unfortunately, they are also one of the most challenging. Highly disease-prone, tomato plants often start strong and set a tantalizing crop of fruit only to transform into a living laboratory for pathogens – practically overnight. This season, I’m growing 43 tomato plants of differing varieties – […]

The post 115-Understanding Tomato Diseases and How to Deal With Them appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Hydrangeas are some of my favorite ornamentals shrubs, and this week’s guest shares my love of this beautiful plant. Well actually, Lorraine Ballato has a special appreciation for all hydrangea varieties, and she has become a recognized expert on the care of this sometimes finicky species. She contributes to many respected horticultural resources, like a […]

The post 114-Understanding Hydrangeas: Pruning, Blooming, Color-Forcing & More appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Whether you’ve got an extensive garden area or just a postage-stamp-sized balcony, you can garden in containers just about anywhere. There are some similarities in techniques for gardening in the landscape versus containers, however there are many key differences for success too. This week’s guest is Karen Chapman, and she’s a sought-after expert in the […]

The post 113-Designing Abundant Container Gardens: Pro Tips for Healthy Plants & Beautiful Combinations appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Water – When it comes to the garden, water can be a blessing and a curse. One year brings heavy rain, while the next might bring severe drought challenges. Mother Nature can definitely wreak havoc on our garden success, but there are steps we can and should take to offset those wild swings in moisture […]

The post 112-Efficient Watering in the Garden and Landscape and Why it Matters appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Recently, I was fortunate to have gardening television legend, Paul James, as my guest at the GardenFarm. He joined me for the filming of an upcoming Season 10 episode of my show Growing a Greener World®, and of course, we had a fantastic time. Paul’s humor is just as sharp as during his Gardening by […]

The post 111-The State of Gardening TV in Changing Times, with HGTV’s Paul James appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

As often as I mention the benefits of mulch, I’ve never devoted an entire episode to the topic – until now. Mulch tends to be an unsung hero in the garden. Yet, mulch and compost are the two most powerful tools that an organic gardener has at his or her disposal. I can’t imagine any […]

The post 110-Why Mulch Matters in Every Garden: What You Need to Know appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Sometimes, you just have one of those weeks. I didn’t intend to share a podcast on garden safety this week, but a series of accidents – and shared experiences of our team – inspired a conversation about all the shortcuts which can put us at risk in the garden. I hope some of these reminders […]

The post 109-Garden Safety: When Shortcuts Have Consequences appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

One thing that fascinates just about every plant lover is the process of propagation, and finding easy ways to make more houseplants, vegetables, and flowers from those plants you already have and love. If you’ve ever tried to propagate a plant, did you know your success rate was just as dependent on the type of […]

The post 108-Easy Ways to Make More Houseplants, Vegetables and Flowers appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Tomatoes. They just might be the hands-down most popular plant for home gardeners, but they sure aren’t easy. Last year, my friend and tomato-growing expert, Craig LeHoullier, joined me for a podcast about his recommended steps for healthy tomatoes. He called it his tomato-care checklist, and it is so packed with good information, that I […]

The post 107-Encore Presentation: Tomato Care Checklist with Craig LeHoullier appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

If you’re a gardener of any level looking for something to make gardening easier and save time – while also keeping things looking sharp – this episode is for you. You won’t find today’s featured items at any garden center, but I use them more than any other accessory in the garden – hands down. […]

The post 106-Livestock Panels: Top 10 Uses in the Garden for This Versatile Material appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 105-Gardening Questions Answered: Expert Advice from Joe Lamp’l appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This week’s guest is Kevin Espiritu, author of the new book – Field Guide to Urban Gardening. Kevin is a self-taught garden guy. Like many of you, he’s figuring things out as he goes along and letting his curiosity be his guide. Kevin doesn’t have a background in horticulture. His introduction to the garden world […]

The post 104-A Field Guide to Urban Gardening, with Kevin Espiritu of Epic Gardening appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 103-How to Create a Backyard Meadow: Simple Steps for Success No Matter the Space appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Save the bees! That’s a statement becoming more commonly heard these days. The decline in honeybee populations has been a hot topic in recent years, but there is another story to be told. Our greatest ally in the home garden and food production across the U.S. isn’t the honeybee at all – it’s actually the […]

The post 102-The Pollinating Power of Solitary Bees, and How to Attract These Gentle Insects To Your Backyard Garden appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Do you love books? I have a fairly large library, and you probably won’t be surprised to learn that it’s comprised of mostly garden-related volumes. One of my favorites has long been A Way to Garden, written 21 years ago by Margaret Roach. So, I’m pretty excited that Margaret has just released a fresh publication […]

The post 101-A Way to Garden: Observations and Lessons, with Margaret Roach appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This week, I continue my conversation with Jack Algiere and we shift our focus to cover crops. If you missed last week’s episode on crop rotation, be sure to check that out too. Jack is the Farm Director of Stone Barns Center, a highly-regarded expert on sustainable farming, and a wealth of information on all […]

The post 100-Understanding Cover Crops: The Basics and Beyond, with Jack Algiere appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

If you live in or ever travel to the New York City area, one place worth visiting is Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. This 85-acre farm is just 30 minutes from the heart of the city, which is hard to believe when you tour its spectacular setting and innovative farming practices. In all […]

The post 099-Understanding Crop Rotation: The Basics and Beyond, with Jack Algiere appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Many gardeners shy away from growing the typical fruit trees and shrubs because of the amount of care and upkeep needed to maintain them, especially when it comes to pest and disease control. Yet some of the more uncommon fruits can be ideal for many gardens because they are so carefree while offering delicious and […]

The post 098-Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden with Lee Reich appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

As winter slowly yields to spring, the call to get our hands into the soil becomes irresistible. These spring tips for vegetable garden success are a valuable guide to the essential steps everyone can and should take for a bountiful and productive garden. Pick the best location You may have heard the phrase, pick the […]

The post 097-Spring Tips for Vegetable Garden Success appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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, […]

The post 096-Tips for Fruit Growing Success: Selection, Maintenance & Advice, with Dr. Lee Reich appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 095-Tomato Seed Starting Update: Innovations and Inspiration, with Craig LeHoullier appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 094-How to Start and Care for Seedlings Indoors: My Steps for Success appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

In this week’s podcast, I’m talking hobby greenhouses with Sheri George. A lifetime master gardener, Sheri has been greenhouse gardening for over 20 years. Her experience has put her in a unique position on what to know before you buy (and after you do) when it comes to setup and growing conditions within the space […]

The post 093-Hobby Greenhouse Considerations: What to Know Before You Buy (and After You Do) appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 092-Vegetable Planting Timeline & More: Joe Lamp’l Responds to Listener Questions appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 091-Starting Seeds Indoors: The Non-Negotiables for Success, Pt. 1 – Encore Presentation appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Whenever the topic of gardening television shows comes up during conversations on my social media channels and as I travel for speaking engagements or filming for my show, Growing a Greener World®, one name is mentioned often – Paul James. The legendary host of HGTV’s first garden-related show, Gardening by the Yard, Paul is my […]

The post 090-Catching up with Paul James, Superstar of HGTV’s Gardening by the Yard appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

At the time of this release, I’m in Phoenix, Arizona as a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the U.S. Composting Council. Not only is this a great event, but it’s made even better since the focus is one of my favorite subjects – compost, of course. In honor of the event, I felt […]

The post 089-Composting Guide A to Z: The Quick and Dirty on Everything Compost – Encore Presentation appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This week’s guest is a legend in the world of organic gardening and farming – Eliot Coleman. Eliot has been a market gardener for over 50 years, yet he remains as excited about his work every day as when he first began. He claims the secret of life is to love what you’re doing – […]

The post 088-The New Organic Grower: 50-Years in the Making, with Eliot Coleman appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This week’s podcast is a slightly different format. I enjoyed a little Q&A session with Erin, my Director of Online Media. She asked me some questions to give you a little behind-the-scenes take on my joe gardener world. For that reason, show notes are a slightly different format too. Unlike all our other show notes, […]

The post 087-An Interview With Joe Lamp’l: What You Didn’t Know About the Joe Behind joe gardener appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

My guest this week is Barbara Damrosh. An icon in the world of gardening, Barbara began her horticultural career in the mid-1970’s and has always been driven by the desire to help others get into gardening. To that end, she published her first of many books, The Garden Primer, in 1988; and she’s spent time […]

The post 086-Timeless Gardening Principles, with Barbara Damrosch appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

A new year begins, and a new gardening season is on the way. Will you be spending any time this month organizing your closet, your finances or any other aspects of daily life? How would you like to feel a little more organized in the garden too? It can make a big difference in your […]

The post 085-Organizing Your Gardening Life – Encore Presentation appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This is an encore episode of 057-What Happened to the G in HGTV? It’s another chance to dive into a question I hear often: “Why aren’t there more gardening shows on TV anymore?” As the host of shows on DIY, HGTV and PBS for the past 17 years – and as executive producer for the […]

The post 084-What Happened to the G in HGTV? – Encore Presentation appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Do you grow plants indoors? Have you tried starting plants from seed or are you thinking of trying this year? In either case, light may be on your mind lately. It’s been on mine, so I invited Leslie Halleck, author of the new book Gardening Under Lights, to join me for this week’s podcast to […]

The post 083-Gardening Indoors: The Science of Light, with Leslie Halleck appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I love garden tools and gadgets. I’ve always been on the hunt for the best garden gear, which means I’ve wasted my fair share of money on some not-so-great options. For the past several years, I’ve even shared my top picks in my joe gardener […]

The post 082-Finding the Best of the Best Gardening Products and Tools appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Now that December has arrived, most of us who garden feel we need to wait out the cold weather to get our hands back in the soil. Seed starting won’t begin for another month or two, but while we enjoy time with our seed catalogs and make plans for next year’s growing season, we can still keep […]

The post 081-Growing Indoors: The Basics of Houseplant Care and Maintenance appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Cooler fall temperatures are great for growing vegetables like broccoli, kale and carrots, but they are also a signal that the time to put our garden to bed is fast approaching. Not too long ago, it was believed that the best practice was to tidy everything up – clearing away all remaining debris and making […]

The post 080-Putting the Garden to Bed: End-of-Season Advice from Margaret Roach appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Have you ever thought about how to grow food without a garden? I’m not talking about tearing out those flowers and shrubs to convert the bed to a vegetable garden. I’m talking about incorporating vegetables in with those aesthetic plants to create an edible landscape. It’s called foodscaping, and my guest this week, Brie Arthur, […]

The post 079-Foodscaping: How to Create an Edible Landscape, With Brie Arthur appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 078-Why Buy Organic Seeds: Fixing a Broken Food System, with Tom Stearns of High Mowing Seeds appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

You may have noticed that I’ve been focusing on native plants a lot lately. They have so much to offer in the garden – both to you, as the gardener, and to the wildlife in your area. I’ve been an advocate for native plants for many years, but a recent trip lit a new fire […]

The post 077-The Beauty and Importance of Native Plants: The Ethos of Mt. Cuba Center appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Lately, I’ve really been focused on identifying all the ways we can attract more wildlife to our gardens. Diversity in our little, individual ecosystems not only helps us to be better gardeners, it strengthens our environment at a national and global level. With that in mind, I invited Dr. John Rowden of the National Audubon […]

The post 076-How to Create a Bird-friendly Yard appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Composting at home leads to many questions from eager gardeners regarding techniques and best practices. Well this week, I wanted to answer some of those very specific – and common – questions posed by members of the joe gardener community. If you’ve been a follower of The joe gardener Show podcast for long, you’ve heard […]

The post 075-Top Questions for Composting at Home: You Asked, Joe Lamp’l Answers appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Now that I’ve shared my recommendations for creating an eco-friendly garden and a resilient garden during the past couple of weeks, I want to talk about how to have and care for a healthy lawn. I know, to many organic gardeners, “lawn” is a dirty word. Incorporating lawn space is often viewed as environmentally irresponsible, but […]

The post 074-How to Have and Care for a Healthy Lawn: Top 7 Non-negotiables appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Would you say you had a resilient garden? Did it stand up to the challenges of this past growing season? This year has been especially difficult for many of us, and while we’re in the middle of my favorite garden time – fall – I’m also already in planning mode for next year. Each season, […]

The post 073-How to Create a Resilient Garden: 10 Key Principles appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Having seen many gardens over the years, I’ve been on a mission to inspire people to think more towards eco-friendly gardening. My experiences led me to write a book, The Green Gardener’s Guide: Simple, Significant Actions to Protect & Preserve Our Planet focusing on creating an eco-friendly garden and landscape.     In the book, I […]

The post 072-Creating an Eco-friendly Garden & Landscape: 7 Key Tenets appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Here at the GardenFarm™, I proudly display a sign that designates my five-acre property as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. What does that designation mean and where does it come from? Well, I dive into that with this week’s guest, David Mizejewski of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). David, who considers himself a nature geek since […]

The post 071-Gardening for Wildlife: How-to Create an Inviting Habitat, with NWF’s David Mizijewski appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Decoding gardening advice is a never-ending challenge. Some gardening advice you receive is good – some, debatable, and too often, just plain wrong. Unfortunately, even the bad advice is frequently repeated by new and experienced gardeners alike. My guest this week, Dr. Jeff Gillman – Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, wrote a book […]

The post 070-Decoding Garden Advice: Good, Debatable or Just Plain Wrong, with Jeff Gillman appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Today’s episode dives into some of the interesting facts of the foods we all eat. My guest, Dr. Jeff Gillman, is Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, and he recently began his own podcast show “The Plants We Eat” which features the unique aspects and history of common garden edibles. We rarely consider, or […]

The post 069-The Fascinating Facts Behind the Plants We Eat, with Jeff Gillman appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Last week, we began a two-part series on garden pest predators with Jessica Walliser and discussed the predator/prey cycle taking place in all our landscapes as well as the cues that signal to good bugs that a meal is available. If you haven’t checked out that episode, I recommend you begin there before diving in this […]

The post 068-Top Predatory Beneficial Insects and How to Attract Them, Pt. 2 appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

How well do you know the insect world of your garden? Can you tell the good bugs from the bad bugs? Did you know there are prey and predator insects? This week’s guest, Jessica Walliser, used to be a bug hater. As a horticulturist, she was trained that bugs were the enemy, and she spent […]

The post 067-Predatory Beneficial Insects: Feared Foes of Garden Pests, Pt. 1 appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Recently, my podcast featured some of my favorite garden books.  In this episode, I talk with the author of one of those books. Barry Estabrook is a multi-James Beard Award-winning author, and one of his most renowned titles, Tomatoland, is a favorite among my extensive library. When I first read Tomatoland, I couldn’t put it […]

The post 066-Tomatoland: The Dirty Truth of the Tasteless Tomato, with Barry Estabrook appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your garden – by out of control growth or disease or an abundance of crops? You aren’t alone. Nearly all of us feel garden overwhelm at some point during the growing season –  and some of us feel that way frequently through the summer months. This week, I talk […]

The post 065-Tips For Reducing Garden Overwhelm, With Margaret Roach appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 064-Tomato Growing Season Lookback: Lessons Learned With Craig LeHoullier appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Plants need nutrients, but how and when you provide those nutrients can make more difference than you might realize. Let’s explore some facts on garden fertilizer which, when put to use in your landscape, can make a significant difference in the color, production and vigor of all your plants. Fertilizer provides nutrients which are key […]

The post 063-Garden Fertilizer Basics: What to Know Before You Grow appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

If you know anything about me by now, you know that I love the world of gardening. I’ve been involved as a hobbyist, horticulturalist, public speaker, and/or TV host since the age of eight. Formal education helped to get me where I am today, but I’m also a big believer in learning through experience. My […]

The post 062-Great Garden Reads: Must-Have Books For Every Gardener appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

We all know how hectic summer can get, and for me, this summer is certainly no exception. Filming for Season Nine of Growing a Greener World®, keeping up with the many happenings and garden growth at the GardenFarm™, planning upcoming projects for joe gardener – whew! I’ll be the first to admit, I’m long on […]

The post 061-A Day In The Life At The GardenFarm: Audio Journal Encore Edition appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Managing wildlife pests in the garden and landscape is a challenge for all gardeners. It’s not just those of us in rural areas who deal with damage from deer, rabbits, raccoons, moles, and other furry foragers. These creatures have a solid foothold in metropolitan areas as well. So, what to do to protect your garden? […]

The post 060-How to Control Nuisance Wildlife in the Garden: Deer, Rabbits, Moles & More appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This week, my podcast guest was Dr. Holly Scoggins. Holly is Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech and Director of the campus’ Hahn Horticulture Garden. She is also a member of the esteemed Garden Professors Group. I was curious to hear Holly’s take on the state of horticultural education and job […]

The post 059-Learning the Business of Horticulture: Using Education With Innovation For New Opportunities appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This week, I spoke with Mark Highland of Organic Mechanics. Mark is passionate about soil and has quite the pedigree, having graduated from the Masters Program at Longwood Gardens. Well-versed in the basics of biochar, he’s also recently written Practical Organic Gardening – The no-nonsense guide to growing naturally. It’s a book packed with insight on […]

The post 058-Biochar Basics and More: Digging Deeper Into the Science of Soil appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Do you ever wonder what happened to the G in HGTV? I used to love weekend binge-watching favorite gardening episodes on HGTV. We, as gardeners, used to have a wide variety of garden TV shows to feed our passion, but that is just no longer the case. Ten years ago as part of my syndicated […]

The post 057-What Happened to the G in HGTV? appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

I have a love/hate relationship with tomatoes. This year, I have 32 tomato plants in spite of knowing that tomatoes are notorious for being a lot of work in the garden. Still, in these early days of summer, everything is growing strong, looking great and setting fruit; so it’s easy to start feeling a little […]

The post 056-Tomato Care Checklist with Craig LeHoullier appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Vacation season has arrived, and if you’ve got a trip planned, you need to take some key steps to prepare your garden for your absence. After all, you’ve probably invested more than your fair share of time (and money!) nursing your plants through a difficult spring, getting new vegetables established, and planting up those containers. […]

The post 055-Vacation Preparation For Plants: What To Do Before You Go appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

We all love bringing new flowers, trees and shrubs home from the garden center. These plants add color, texture or flavor to our landscape – sometimes all of the above. Unfortunately, they leave a less desirable legacy too – a pile of empty plastic nursery pots and trays. You might say this is the darkest […]

The post 054-Plastic Nursery Pots – Greening Up The Darkest Side of Gardening appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This week, I take a look back at a conversation on conservation – with Nan Sterman, co-author of Water-wise Plants for the Southwest and expert on waterwise gardening. Although she spent some years away, Nan grew up in and returned to southern California and has become known as a water-wise guru. Nan speaks frequently on water […]

The post 053-Waterwise Gardening With Nan Sterman appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

In this week’s episode, I revisit a conversation with one of my hero’s – Maria Rodale, on why organic matters. Maria is a lifelong advocate of organic farming and gardening and is third generation in a legacy of commitment to organic agricultural practices. Although her family is now iconic in the world of health and […]

The post 052-Why Organic Matters – with Maria Rodale appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Just about everyone loves blueberries, but this week’s guest – Dr. Lee Reich – might just be blueberry-obsessed. Lee knows how to grow bountiful blueberries and has been perfecting best practice techniques for over 30 years on his small farm in New York state. Beyond bearing delicious fruit, blueberries are also an attractive addition to […]

The post 051-How to Grow Bountiful Blueberries – Key Steps with Lee Reich appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This week, I continue my conversation with the Bug Lady, Suzanne Wainright-Evans. Suzanne is an entomologist and industry leader in the movement to utilize biocontrols – putting beneficial insects to work before reaching for pesticides. This is Part Two of our biocontrols discussion, so if you missed Part One, start there. The information in Part […]

The post 050-Organic Pest Control: Beneficial Insects And Beyond appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This week’s guest is Suzanne Wainwright-Evans, the Bug Lady of Bug Lady Consulting. To say that Suzanne – an entomologist and expert on biocontrol who I’ve known for many years and interviewed multiple times – is a wealth of information… well, that would be a true understatement. Our conversation is so jam-packed with pest management […]

The post 049-When Good Bugs Eat Bad Bugs: The Business of Beneficial Insects appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

In today’s podcast, I’m joined by Lee Reich, and we explore some of the subjects in his new book, The Ever Curious Gardener – Using a Little Natural Science for a Much Better Garden. As curious gardeners, Lee and I are always pursuing the “why” behind the workings of the garden. I believe this drives […]

The post 048-The Simple Science Behind Great Gardening, with Lee Reich appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Craig LeHoullier has been a frequent guest of this podcast series. He joins us again today to follow up on our early 2018 series on seed starting. If you missed that series, I recommend you start there, so you have context for this discussion on tomato seedling. In this podcast, we check in on how […]

The post 047-Tomato Seedling Mistakes with Craig LeHoullier appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Spring – it’s what we, as gardeners, eagerly anticipate all winter long. Yet, when it arrives, it can be so overwhelming. The spring season moves quickly, and there are lots to accomplish. No matter how I try to prepare, each year comes with a renewed sense of overwhelm. So, how do you stay organized in […]

The post 046-Organizing Your Gardening Life appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 045-Succession Planting: Practical Tips For Growing More Food appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Welcome to the last in our series on raised bed gardening. As you probably know by now, we received so many responses from my email group that this raised bed podcast turned into a three-part series. If you would like to join the conversation and contribute to future topics, I invite you to click the red […]

The post 044-Raised Bed Gardening, Pt. 3: Animal Control & More appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

In this podcast, we continue our discussion on raised bed gardening. In case you missed it: I had invited my email group to send me any questions they hoped I would answer on the topic of raised bed gardening. I received a huge response, many from folks who plan to start raised bed gardening for […]

The post 043-Raised Bed Gardening, Pt. 2: Perfect Soil Recipe appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Are you building a raised bed garden, or are you looking to improve your raised bed crops? You have come to the right place. Earlier this year, I invited my email group to send me any questions they would like me to answer on the topic of raised bed gardening. Little did I expect the […]

The post 042-Raised Bed Gardening, Pt. 1: Getting Started appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Susan Morrison is a landscape designer and author of the new book, The Less is More Garden – Big ideas for designing your small yard. She joins us for this podcast to discuss some of her fascinating ideas and philosophies for small space garden design. While her book is tailored to small space gardens, I […]

The post 041-Small Space Garden Design appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

It’s late winter. Maybe you’ve started your seeds indoors, but it will be several more weeks before those frost-free days when you can get them in the ground. Maybe you’re browsing through those plant catalogs or websites and making plans for some additions to your landscape. There’s more you can do now – some spring garden […]

The post 040-Prepping Your Garden For Spring: 10 Things To Do Now appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Welcome to Part Three of Starting Seeds Indoors: The Non-Negotiables for Success series. Hopefully, you have already enjoyed Part One and Part Two , during which we spoke with Craig LeHoullier to learn the seed-starting techniques he has developed during the past 20-plus years. Parts One and Two provided lots of basic (and in-depth) information on seed […]

The post 039-How-to Start Seeds Indoors: Digging Deeper, Pt. 3 appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

In this podcast, we continue our seed starting discussion with guest Craig LeHoullier. In Part One of the Starting Seeds Indoors: The Non-Negotiables for Success series, we brought the seeds from initial planting through germination. We also touched on how to harden off seedlings as well as methods for providing moisture and light.At this point in […]

The post 038-How to Start Seeds Indoors: The Non-Negotiables for Success, Pt. 2 appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Have you considered starting plants like tomatoes, eggplants, lettuce, and herbs from seed but worried that it was too hard and that you would kill them before they even get started?  According to Craig LeHoullier, a frequent podcast guest, and joe gardener® blog team contributor, you’re not alone; but don’t let this hold you back […]

The post 037-Starting Seeds Indoors: The Non-Negotiables for Success, Pt. 1 appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Today’s gardening podcast and show notes concludes this three-part series, Garden Myths Busted. We’re so grateful to Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott for her willingness to share her wisdom here. As with the previous two show note posts, the following summary is taken from Linda’s responses in this current podcast episode to my questions of various garden […]

The post 036-Gardening Myths BUSTED, Pt. 3 with Linda Chalker-Scott appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

In this podcast, Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott continues to shed light on some of the most common gardening myths. Today we’re covering a diverse range of topics including controlling Japanese beetles, companion planting, composting techniques, watering, why not to use baking soda for disease control, and do scarecrows work? The following commentary is derived from today’s […]

The post 035-Gardening Myths BUSTED, Pt. 2 with Linda Chalker-Scott appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

As gardeners, we are always looking for tips and tricks to keep our plants healthy and make our gardens look as beautiful as possible. But have you ever wondered if the advice you’ve taken from someone is based on science? How do you know which is the good? Do some remedies do more harm than […]

The post 034-Gardening Myths BUSTED, Pt. 1 with Linda Chalker-Scott appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

While the end of the year is often associated with the holiday season and gathering with family and friends, for many gardeners, it’s the start of their next great garden – thanks to the arrival of seed catalogs. Surrounded by a plethora of newly arrived seed catalogs, it can feel overwhelming yet exhilarating. So how […]

The post 033-Savvy Seed Catalog Shopping appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 032-What’s Ahead for 2018 appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Learning Botanical Latin 101 is the gold standard for gardeners who really want to start expanding their knowledge of plant names. But finding resources for learning the official language of plants can be a challenge. Few classes are offered to the public around the country on the topic (Botanical Gardens are your best bet), and […]

The post 031-Botanical Latin 101: The Non-Geek’s Guide to the Language of Plants appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

I’m a sucker for the next great gardening gadget. But I hate to waste money. I’ve wasted a lot of money. So finally, after too many times getting sucker punched, I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. Suffice it to say I was sick and tired of taking the bait on […]

The post 030-Best Gardening Products Ever: Gear, Tools & Resources We Can’t Live Without appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

We all make mistakes. Unfortunately, it’s the fear of making them that often stops us in our tracks. Even worse – it precludes great discoveries, opportunities and success that only comes from action. While being cautious is a good thing, since the consequences of a bad decision can be serious, gardening mistakes rarely carry such […]

The post 029-My Five Biggest Gardening Mistakes of All Time (and What I Learned From Them) appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Now that the Thanksgiving week is behind us, I typically start to reflect on all the things that happened during the year that went well, and those things that, well, have room for improvement. In the garden, it was a good year overall. But the wet, humid weather this summer wreaked havoc on my organic […]

The post 028-The Role of Minerals in Making Great Soil appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This episode is a fascinating discussion with one of the great chefs and thought leaders of our time. What Dan Barber so passionately and eloquently shares in this podcast I cannot do justice by trying to translate it into show notes. So I won’t. To fully appreciate Dan’s message here, it needs to be heard, […]

The post 027-Changing the Way America Eats with Dan Barber appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

I consider leaves to be Mother Nature’s greatest gift to gardeners. Beyond their unparalleled beauty when they peak in a kaleidoscope of fall color we all enjoy; real gardeners know the greatest gift is still to come when we use those leaves as mulch or in compost. While there is no dispute over the spectacular […]

The post 026-Using Leaves as Mulch & Compost (and Why Leaves Change Color & Shed) appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

While we love our trees, we often (and unknowingly) do things that can lead to their early demise. This podcast and post discuss five big tree care mistakes (and some of the other most common) that are usually at the root of the problem. Jamie Blackburn, ISA Certified Arborist, was our guest expert for today’s […]

The post 025-Five of the Biggest Mistakes in Tree Care appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Who knew a childhood introduction to Japanese maples would turn into a thriving business for two young brothers? Matt and Tim Nichols of Hendersonville, NC never doubted that someday they would turn that passion into a thriving Japanese maple nursery business.     Fueled by their grandmother’s Japanese maple-filled yard, and their dad’s weekend ritual […]

The post 024–Japanese Maples: A Passion and Profession with Matt & Tim Nichols appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Does your garden or landscape attract pollinators? Attracting – and protecting – pollinators is something many of us have become more concerned about in recent years and for good reason. The combination of wide-scale pesticide use and habitat loss are two of the biggest culprits to the problem. While it’s unfortunate that we are facing […]

The post 023-Attracting and Protecting Pollinators with Eric Mader appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

I am a year-round vegetable gardener. I take pride in that. But it’s no big deal really. I live in Atlanta. Winters rarely get cold enough for snow to even stick around (on those rare times we even get any). And then there’s Niki Jabbour. She’s the real year-round vegetable gardener. She easily earned that […]

The post 022-The Year-round Vegetable Gardener with Niki Jabbour appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Understanding how plants work has been one of the most liberating experiences of my gardening profession and avocation. While I will always remain curious, especially when it comes to plants, I will never know it all. Nor do I want to. What’s the fun in that? However, having a sound basis from which to draw […]

The post 021-How Plants Work with Linda Chalker-Scott (The Science behind Plants) appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Acclaimed gardener and passionate bird enthusiast Margaret Roach will often say that the birds taught her how to garden. Accordingly, she found herself gardening for the birds. Over time, Margaret created a 365 day-a-year bird-friendly garden that also provided year-round beauty. Today, countless birds and over 1000 people a year visit her stunning 2-acre wildlife […]

The post 020-Gardening for the Birds with Margaret Roach appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

This podcast episode format is a first for me and quite a departure from our usual format. In this episode, I take the mic and recorder outside for a behind-the-scenes day in the life at the GardenFarm™. I’m calling it an “audio journal” – snippets of a typical weekend Saturday for me. From the time […]

The post 019-GardenFarm Audio Journal – First Day of Fall, 2017 appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

For any veteran lover of great gardening television shows, HGTV’s A Gardener’s Diary with Erica Glasener will always hold a special place. Such is the case for me. Even though the show aired its final season in 2006, viewers long for a way to watch any or all the episodes again. Unfortunately, HGTV, the owner […]

The post 018-HGTV’s A Gardener’s Diary with Erica Glasener appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Over my many years of traveling the country touring gardens both great and small, I’ve managed to summarize what I believe are the five biggest garden mistakes made by gardeners in their home landscapes and gardens. They also happen to be some of the most common. In speaking with horticulturists and gardeners at every level, […]

The post 017-The Five Biggest Mistakes Gardeners Make appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

If I were only able to give one piece of gardening advice, it would be to feed the soil (and let the soil feed the plants). The essence of any garden’s success begins and ends with the soil. And the best way to build the health of any soil is with compost – the greatest organic […]

The post 016-Composting Guide A to Z: The Quick and Dirty on Everything Compost appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Over my long career in horticulture and gardening media, I’ve had the privilege of meeting pretty much all my heroes – the people that really walk their talk and that I truly respect and admire. In my short list of standouts is Margaret Roach.     Our kindred spirits have united us as good friends. […]

The post 015-Life Lessons on Gardening and Design with Margaret Roach appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Several years ago, I was challenged to offer my top money saving garden tips. At the time, the economy was down and a lot of people started growing their own food to try and save on their grocery bill. Unfortunately, a lot of that was often spent gearing up, negating any savings they could have […]

The post 014-Top Tips for Saving Money in the Garden appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Get two gardening-crazed geeks together for any amount of time, and you’re sure to hear the confessions of an obsessed composter (or two). Such was the case with my recent conversation with Lee Reich, Ph.D. – initially planned with a focus on backyard composting     My intent for this episode with Lee was to […]

The post 013-Backyard Composting – Confessions of an Obsessed Composter with Lee Reich appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

When it comes to bringing nature home, no one understands the critical relationships between native plants and the creatures that depend on them better than expert on garden insects, Doug Tallamy Ph.D. A professor at and chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware; Doug is also […]

The post 012-Beneficial Garden Insects – Bringing Nature Home with Doug Tallamy appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Understanding plant propagation basics will equip any backyard gardener or a weekend warrior with the skills they need to confidently take on the exciting and rewarding activity of making more plants for free.       The following information has been provided by our podcast guest for this episode, Brie Arthur. Brie’s extensive experience as […]

The post 011-Plant Propagation Basics – With Brie Arthur appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

When it comes to preserving food, it’s probably not a topic you’d expect to hear on this podcast. But is should be. You see, if you do the things we teach on this show, videos, and blog posts, you will have a bumper harvest right about now. And you will indeed be thinking (a lot) […]

The post 010-Preserving the Harvest with Theresa Loe appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

When it comes to maintaining a healthy garden, organic disease control comes down to a few main options.     In this podcast episode, we close out our 3-part series with Dr. Jeff Gilman. This time, we’re discussing the most common steps anyone can take towards organic disease control for creating and keeping a healthier […]

The post 009-Organic Disease Control with Jeff Gillman appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

In this podcast, we’re talking organic pest control with Dr. Jeff Gillman. While currently the Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens in Charlotte North Carolina, Jeff has spent his career getting to the truth behind the rhetoric in matters involving both the garden and the environment.     Jeff holds a master’s degree in […]

The post 008-Organic Pest Control with Jeff Gillman appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

In this podcast, we talk organic weed control with Dr. Jeff Gillman. While currently the Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens in Charlotte North Carolina, he’s spent his career getting to the truth behind the rhetoric in matters involving both the garden and the environment.     Jeff holds a master’s degree in entomology […]

The post 007-Organic Weed Control with Jeff Gillman appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Today we’re talking about the common denominator all gardeners face, the one thing that impacts everyone equally when it comes to maintaining our gardens and landscapes and that’s the unavoidable issue of weeds and how to best eradicate them from our lives – or at least our gardens. Fear not – a weedless garden is […]

The post 006-Weedless Gardening with Lee Reich appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Now that your tomatoes are settled into their beds (or pots), you can breathe a sigh of relief as you dream about the vine-ripe bounty that’s sure to come. Or is it? There may be tomato problems lurking in your future. Don’t get too comfortable patting yourself on the back for a job well done […]

The post 005-What’s Wrong With My Tomato? Mid-Season Care With Craig LeHoullier appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

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 […]

The post 004-Heirloom Tomatoes: Past, Present and Future with Craig LeHoullier appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Growing epic tomatoes likely makes it on to every vegetable gardeners wish list sooner or later. Fortunately, we now have someone who wrote the book on it, literally. Our featured guest for this episode, Craig LeHoullier wrote my new favorite book – a tomato growing guide: Epic Tomatoes; How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties […]

The post 003-Growing Epic Tomatoes with Craig LeHoullier appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

Over the years, I’ve learned a thing or two about what makes a garden look good not only throughout the year but from one year to the next. In fact, I’ve distilled it down to five steps to your best garden ever. And why what you do now matters most for getting there. Get the […]

The post 002-Vegetable Garden Tips – Five Steps to Your Best Garden Ever appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.

I’m starting off our new podcast series with this episode dedicated to pruning 101 – the pruning basics from A to Z because when it comes to pruning, there’s more to know than just taking your shears or loppers to a plant whenever and wherever you want. A lot more if you want to do […]

The post 001-Pruning 101:
The Pruning Basics From A to Z appeared first on joe gardener® | Organic Gardening Like a Pro.