Food Garden Life: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping
Food & Cooking Podcasts
Want to grow your own food but need creative ideas so you can get the most from your space and your growing zone? Our passion is the edible garden. We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard. There are many ways to approach edible landscaping. Find out how to harvest enough fruit, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. Get top tips for exotic crops. And learn how to garden in a way that suits any situation. Since they collaborated to write their 2011 book No Guff Vegetable Gardening, hosts Donna Balzer and Steven Biggs have put a practical and fun spin on food gardening and edible landscaping. Donna is a horticulturist, educator, former CBC Radio host, and award-winning TV host. Her passion is growing and cooking food. Steven was recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the “green gang” making a difference in horticulture. His home-garden experiments span driveway straw-bale gardens, a rooftop kitchen garden, fruit plantings, and an edible-themed front yard. Show co-founder Emma Biggs (Steven’s Gen Z, tomato-crazy daughter) drops in for an occasional show. Join us every Thursday. On the first Thursday of the month we bring in an innovator or expert. Other weeks we dig into a specific crop or another edible-gardening topic. Get started with one of our fan favourites. Season 6, Episode 10: Big Harvests from a Small Space with a Vertical Vegetable Garden.
Location:
Canada
Genres:
Food & Cooking Podcasts
Description:
Want to grow your own food but need creative ideas so you can get the most from your space and your growing zone? Our passion is the edible garden. We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard. There are many ways to approach edible landscaping. Find out how to harvest enough fruit, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. Get top tips for exotic crops. And learn how to garden in a way that suits any situation. Since they collaborated to write their 2011 book No Guff Vegetable Gardening, hosts Donna Balzer and Steven Biggs have put a practical and fun spin on food gardening and edible landscaping. Donna is a horticulturist, educator, former CBC Radio host, and award-winning TV host. Her passion is growing and cooking food. Steven was recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the “green gang” making a difference in horticulture. His home-garden experiments span driveway straw-bale gardens, a rooftop kitchen garden, fruit plantings, and an edible-themed front yard. Show co-founder Emma Biggs (Steven’s Gen Z, tomato-crazy daughter) drops in for an occasional show. Join us every Thursday. On the first Thursday of the month we bring in an innovator or expert. Other weeks we dig into a specific crop or another edible-gardening topic. Get started with one of our fan favourites. Season 6, Episode 10: Big Harvests from a Small Space with a Vertical Vegetable Garden.
Twitter:
@foodgardenlife
Language:
English
Website:
https://www.foodgardenlife.com/
Episodes
Saskatoon Berries: Tough as Nails (as this Zone 2 Grower Explains)
5/2/2024
Wondering about fruit to grow in a cold climate?
Today we head to Alberta, to find out how to grow saskatoon bushes. Arden Delidais grows in Zone 2—and doesn’t get any winter dieback on her saskatoon berries.
Delidais’ orchard and winery, DNA Gardens, has a number of cold hardy crops including saskatoon berries, apples, plums, rhubarb, currants, and haskaps.
Saskatoon bushes (Amelanchier alnifolia) are native to North America. (South of the border you might hear them referred to as juneberry or shadbush.)
Delidais tells Steve and Donna about:
If you’re looking for more on saskatoons, here’s a guide to growing them.
-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!
Duration:00:37:47
Skip the Transplants? How to Direct Sow Seeds
4/25/2024
Have you tried direct sowing but didn’t get good results? Wondering how to direct sow seeds?
Direct sowing—a.k.a. direct seeding or direct planting—is when we sow seeds straight into the garden. We skip starting transplants indoors.
It gives better results for some crops—because there’s no transplanting shock. And that’s great, because it saves you the hassle of growing transplants.
But some crops need extra growing time…and that’s where transplants make sense. Or sometimes, hot summer weather causes spotty germination outdoors, meaning transplants are a better option.
To ace your direct seeding, you need to know which crops it works with—and how to do it.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:
If you’re looking for more ideas for planting your vegetable garden, here’s an article with 7 Vegetable Garden Layout ideas.
-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!
Duration:00:33:41
Vegetables in Pots: How to Ace Your Container Garden
4/18/2024
Want to harvest more veg from the same amount of space? You can get lots more from a small space by growing in containers. (If you get it right…but that’s not difficult!)
If you get these 4 things right, you’re on the road to container gardening success:
In this episode, Donna and Steven share top tips for container gardening success, including choosing pots, selecting soil, finding a suitable spot, and caring for your container vegetables.
If you’re looking for more on container gardening, here are top container garden crops.
Duration:00:35:32
Figs not Winter Hardy? Here are Creative Ways to Grow Figs in Cold Climates
4/11/2024
Don’t miss out on fresh figs just because you’re gardening in a cold climate.
There are many cold-climate fig growers who defy zone boundaries with creative overwintering techniques.
Figs can take quite a bit of cold. Not the extreme cold. A creative gardener gets figs through the winter by moderating the extremes.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about fig-growing tactics for cold climates so that you can harvest figs—even if you have zone envy!
If you’re looking for more cold-climate fig-growing tips, drop by our fig home page.
Duration:00:22:17
People go Bananas for This Fruit! How to Grow a Pawpaw Tree
4/4/2024
Can’t get enough pawpaw fruit? Want to grow a pawpaw tree?
If you haven’t tried pawpaw fruit, many people describe the flavour of its silky, yellow flesh as tropical.
While it’s the largest fruit native to North America, it’s difficult to find the fruit for sale.
Yet it’s easy to grow.
That’s why many gardeners and small farmers plant pawpaw trees.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk with pawpaw expert Adam D’Angelo to get tips on growing pawpaw trees.
We talk about:
D’Angelo is the founder of Project Pawpaw, a crowd-funded pawpaw research and breeding program.
If you’re looking for more on pawpaw, tune into our interview with the Indiana Jones of pawpaw, Neal Peterson, and hear our chat with Toronto pawpaw expert Paul DeCampo.
Duration:00:36:34
Is Your Soil in Overdraft? Find Out How to Amend Soil
3/28/2024
When you make only withdrawals—no deposits—you eventually end up in overdraft. It works that way at the bank, with friendships—and with soil.
And growing crop after crop in a garden is like making withdrawal after withdrawal. The crops use nutrients. Working the soil affects its structure.
Amending soil is like putting money back into the bank. Soil amendments can improve soil structure, soil chemistry, and return nutrients to the soil.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about practical ways home gardeners can improve soil quality with soil amendments.
We discuss different types of manures, making compost, using leaves, wood chips, and common products such as bone meal, peat moss, and blood meal.
If you’re looking for more on soil, check out this post about how and when to use wood ash in the garden.
Duration:00:38:55
Where to Grow Herbs: Herb Garden Layout and Design Ideas
3/21/2024
Looking for herb garden layout ideas?
If you’re planning a herb garden, there are many ways to add herbs to the landscape. You can have a stand-alone herb garden, a herb lawn, herbs mixed with paving, use herbs as bedding plants, weave them into a perennial border, or make a herb container garden on a patio, deck, or paved space.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about ideas for using herbs in home garden landscapes and share their favourite perennial herbs, annual herbs, and exotic herbs.
If you’re looking for more on planning a kitchen garden, check out this post on kitchen garden planning.
Duration:00:34:12
Planting Greens for a Continuous Harvest: Crops + Tips for Growing Greens
3/14/2024
Leafy greens fizzle out in the summer? Does your lettuce bolt too soon?
Find out how to grow more leafy greens in your garden and how to extend your harvest so you can pick fresh salad greens as long as possible.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops ideas for leafy greens, how to plant leafy greens in a home garden or edible landscape, choosing greens crops for ongoing harvest, how to hurry up your spring harvest, and how to slow down bolting—even in hot weather.
If you’re looking for more on leafy greens, check out this guide to 5 heat-tolerant salad greens.
Duration:00:45:31
Grow an Indoor Lemon Tree + MORE Exotic Potted Citrus Trees
3/7/2024
Tried growing a potted lemon tree but it didn’t thrive?
Citrus expert Byron Martin has the solution. And it’s not difficult.
AND he also has recommendations for other unusual potted citrus trees.
We talk about finger limes, blood limes, pomelo, sweet lemon, sunquat, kumquat, citron, and more.
For all of these citrus trees in pots, proper watering is the key to success. We hear how to water—and what to expect from potted citrus trees in the fall. (Spoiler alert: If your lemon tree drops leaves when you bring it indoors, you’re not alone!)
We also find out about Byron’s favourite rootstock for citrus grafting.
If you’re looking for more on indoor lemon trees, here’s a guide to growing a lemon tree in a pot (that actually fruits!)
Duration:00:46:24
Hands-Off Crop: Growing Raspberries (they do FINE without your help!)
2/29/2024
Don’t have time to spend on fussy fruit crops? Then growing raspberries is something to think about.
You can prune raspberries and manage the crop to maximize production. But this is one of those bulletproof crops that can do quite nicely without your help.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about planting raspberries, how raspberries grow, how to prune raspberries, and how to care for them.
If you’re looking for more on raspberries, tune in to our chat with Conrad Richter from Richters Herbs about the genus rubus (and learn about raspberry leaf tea!)
And here’s more on how to tip-layer blackberries and black raspberries.
Duration:00:34:55
Edible Flowers: Flowers You Can Eat (and how to use them)
2/22/2024
Wondering which flowers you can eat? There’s a wide variety of edible flowers that are easy to grow.
You might already have some and just aren’t using them.
Edible flowers often come from well-known vegetable, herb, and fruit crops. But there are many that come from ornamental plants too. Even some shrubs and trees.
Find out which flowers are edible—and how you can use them to spice up your cooking and have fun with your culinary creativity.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about their favourite edible flowers, and how to use them.
If you’re looking for more fun crops, check out these edible perennials. (You might already be growing some of them!
Duration:00:30:09
Vegetables to Grow: Choose What’s Best for Your Vegetable Garden
2/15/2024
Wondering which vegetables to grow? Or how to pick suitable varieties for your vegetable garden? If you put some thought into your choices, you can avoid harvest-time disappointments.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops they find worthwhile, along with some favourite varieties. The choices for Donna’s cold prairie garden aren’t always the same as for Steven’s milder growing zone.
Start to narrow down the top choices for your vegetable garden with ideas on crops and varieties for:
If you’re looking for more ideas to plan the perfect kitchen garden, check out these ideas.
Duration:00:48:57
How to Grow Tomatoes from Seed: When and How (+ Top Varieties!)
2/8/2024
Growing tomatoes from seed? Get the right combination of timing, soil, light, and containers, and you can grow great tomato seedlings at home.
There’s more than one way to raise tomato plants from seed. And that means you can do it in a way that fits your growing space.
AND make sure to pick a variety you’ll love—because that’s a big reason for growing tomato seedlings. Some of the best tomato varieties are only available as seeds.
In this episode, Donna and Steven chat with Gen Z tomato grower Emma Biggs, who has raised tons of tomato plants for her annual plant sale and seed business. They talk about how they grow tomatoes from seed and the varieties they love. (They each do it differently!)
If you want more on planting tomatoes from seed, check out the guide to growing tomato seedlings on the website.
And say hi—we love to hear what you think.
Duration:00:29:50
Winter harvest: Which vegetables to grow in winter and how to do it
2/1/2024
Do you shut down your garden for the winter? Wondering what vegetables to plant in the winter?
If you’re in a northern climate, to grow vegetables in winter you need to give them heat and light…and that usually means high-input greenhouse growing.
But there’s another way to approach winter vegetable gardening.
And it’s low-tech.
The idea is to choose hardy crops and grow them big enough before light levels take a dive. Then keep those hardy crops alive in a protected space—and keep harvesting through the winter.
The key to successes is the right combination of crops, varieties, and the spacing.
In this episode, find out how to you can harvest winter vegetables in cold-climate home gardens.
We’re joined by JM Fortier, co-author of the book The Winter Market Gardener. The books shares years of research at Ferme des Quatre-Temps.
Fortier is also founder of The Market Gardener Institute, which offers training for small farmers. He’s founder of the small-farm tool and accessory retailer Growers & Co.
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If you’re looking for more information on seed-starting, vegetable gardening, and growing food at home, drop by the Food Garden Life website and grab the free guide, 20 Small-Space Food-Garden Hacks.
And say hi—we love to hear from what you think.
Duration:00:31:57
Not Sure When to Start Seeds Indoors? Here’s how to Pick Seed-Starting Dates
1/25/2024
Wondering when to plant your seeds indoors? Started too early and grown in pots too long before moving to the garden, your seedlings might run out of gas. They stall. But started too late, your seedlings might be midgets when it’s time to plant them in the garden.
The right time to start seeds indoors—and have plants that aren’t too big or too small— depends on your crops and your location. It varies from place to place, but there’s a simple way to choose seed-starting dates.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about when to start seeds indoors so that your vegetable transplants are a good size for transplanting into the garden. They also discuss direct-sowing dates for garden vegetables.
If you’re looking for more information on seed-starting, vegetable gardening, and growing food at home, drop by the website and grab the free guide, 20 Small-Space Food-Garden Hacks.
Duration:00:42:47
Prevent Leggy Seedlings and Grow Transplants Like an Expert
1/18/2024
Got seedlings that look like stilt-walkers? Are your seedlings leggy? Leggy seedlings don’t have as much chance of success once you transplant them into the garden…if they even make it that far.
The best way to solve the problem of spindly seedlings is to prevent them from getting that way in the first place.
Set up your seed-starting area so you can give seedlings good light, an appropriate temperature, a suitable potting soil, and good containers.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about best practices so that you can grow compact, healthy vegetable seedlings at home.
If you’re looking for more information on seed-starting, vegetable gardening, and growing food at home, drop by the website and grab the free guide, 20 Small-Space Food-Garden Hacks.
And say hi—we love to hear from what you think.
Duration:00:24:26
Seed Smarts: Lingo and Tips for Seed Shopping (Is that untreated seed organic?)
1/11/2024
Seed catalogues are arriving already! Find out what you need to know to make good seed-shopping choices.
In this episode, Steven and Donna share seed-shopping tips and talk about common seed-related terms.
Not sure if untreated seed is organic? Wondering what "heirloom" really means? Tune in to find out about seed terminology and crop related lingo.
Duration:00:36:46
Damson Plums: This Forgotten Fruit Combines Dry, Sweet, Spicy, and Bitter (and makes great gin!)
1/4/2024
Damson plums: Sometimes they're simply called damsons. Their rich flavour makes them a culinary gem. Even though they're not difficult to grow, the fruit is rarely available commercially.
Find out how to grow damsons.
Sarah Conrad Gothie, Author of Damsons: An Ancient Fruit in the Modern Kitchen joins us to talk about the history of damsons, how to grow damsons, and how to use them in the kitchen. (Spoiler alert: They make a marvellous gin!)
Duration:00:35:07
SPRING Finale: How to Grow a Climate-Change Veggie Garden
6/15/2023
We head to the UK to chat with homesteader Kim Stoddart about how to grow a resilient vegetable garden.
We talk about:
Kim is an award-winning writer, journalist, and educator. Her new book is The Climate Change Garden: Down to Earth Advice for Growing a Resilient Garden.
Duration:00:33:32
Harvest Rainwater for Your Garden and Landscape
6/8/2023
Brad Lancaster is a permaculture and regenerative design consultant and educator. His specialty is sustainable landscapes.
We chat with Brad about using the landscape to harvest rainwater. And about using the landscape as a living air conditioner.
Brad also talks about a very inspiring project that he helped spearhead, a community food forest.
We talk about:
Brad is the author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond.
Duration:00:30:46