Just Grow Something | The "Why" Behind the "How" of Gardening

The height of the gardening season in the northern hemisphere is on the horizon which means peak time for gardening questions! Today we dig into why rhubarb might not turn red when ready to harvest, what the numbers on fertilizers mean and why the source matters, battling asparagus beetles, and preventing garden damage from animals during drought. If you've got a gardening question, I'd love to hear it! Send me a message on social media, email me, use the link below to send me a voice message or jump into the Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook group! Episode Resources: Asparagus beetles in home gardens | UMN Extension The Asparagus Beetle: Organic Control Tips – Mother Earth News How and When to Fertilize Your Vegetable Garden | The Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Fertilizer Basics | University of Maryland Extension (umd.edu) Buy One Get One Free from Elm Dirt: Use Code WOLFCREEK Other Resources: Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

Since it's peak tomato growing season in most areas of the northern hemisphere, I thought it would be a good time to revisit an old episode about tomato plant diseases! This is not a comprehensive list, but a discussion of eight of the most prevalent diseases. As always, be sure to check with your local university extension to find out which diseases are most prevalent in your area. This will save you some stress. Let's dig in! Episode Resources: Ep. 99 - Eight Common Tomato Diseases: Identification, Prevention, and Treatment --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

I spent the better part of my afternoon on Monday pulling Johnsongrass from my tomato field and in between my pole beans, which is what prompted today’s episode. That Johnsongrass is a perennial weed that reproduces both by seeds and by rhizomes and it’s been an aggressive problem for us in one particular field and I thought it would be helpful to give some tips on controlling all types of weeds in your garden. Today we’ll talk about knowing the difference between annual weeds and perennial ones, the different ways they spread, and some strategies on how to prevent and control them. In most cases, you are not going to eradicate them completely, so managing them is the name of the game here. In some cases, this could take years and the frustration level may make you want to give up. But trust me when I say even the heaviest weed infestation can be controlled with a plan. Let’s dig in. Episode resources: 33 Lawn and Garden Weeds: How to Identify and Control Them. https://www.bhg.com/gardening/pests/insects-diseases-weeds/types-of-weeds/. How to Get Rid of Garden Weeds Naturally | The Old Farmer's Almanac. https://www.almanac.com/weed-control-techniques. Identify common weeds / RHS Gardening. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/Common-Weeds. How to Identify 25 Common Weed Types and Control Them | HGTV. https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/landscaping-and-hardscaping/12-most-common-weeds-pictures. Weed Persistence: Why Are Weeds So Persistent? - Science ABC. https://www.scienceabc.com/nature/why-are-weeds-persistent.html. Podcast Resources: Buy One Get One Free from Elm Dirt: Use Code WOLFCREEK Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

Tuesday we talked about tomatoes that perform well in short seasons or challenging conditions. I had several listeners reach out and ask about growing in containers and small spaces. There are lots of options for this! On this Focal Point Friday episode, we talk container growing, the different categories of compact tomatoes, and varieties that perform well in just about any small space. References: Tomato Varieties for Short-Season Areas and Challenging Climates - Ep. 148 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

For many gardeners the ultimate vegetable to grow is the tomato. There really is something special about the flavor of a fully ripe tomato picked from the vine and brought straight to your plate. Unfortunately, growing tomatoes can be a challenge if you live in an area with a short season. For those of you living in colder regions your growing season for warm-weather crops may be very, very short between frost-free days. Those in very warm climates have the opposite problem; you may need to get a quick crop in before the days turn so hot you can’t grow anything! And even if neither of these applies to you, you might be in an area that is plagued by heavy pest pressure or foliar diseases that take out your plants fairly early in the season. In any of these cases, you need a tomato plant that will produce quickly and reliably. So, today we’re going to go over what traits you should look for in a tomato variety if you need them to produce quickly and review some varieties that not only match those traits but many that can actually perform well under cool-weather conditions, which is not the norm for most tomato varieties. If you’ve ever struggled with getting tomatoes to produce in your garden before the first frost of the season hits or before the sun tries to cook them on the vine or before the insects and diseases completely destroy your plants, this episode is for you. Let’s dig in. Episode Resources: Vegetable Breeding Program | College of Agricultural Sciences (oregonstate.edu) Moskvich (aka Moskovich) Tomato - Heirloom, Open-Pollinated, non-Hybrid Victory Seeds® – Victory Seed Company Bush Early Girl Tomato – Bonnie Plants Santiam Tomato, Santiam Tomato Seeds - Reimer Seeds Sub Arctic Plenty, Tomato Seeds | Urban Farmer (ufseeds.com) Heirloom Tomato Seed - Oregon Spring | Non-GMO Vegetable Gardening · True Leaf Market Quedlinburger Fruhe Liebe Tomato, Medium-Small Tomato Seeds: Totally Tomatoes 83 Fast-Growing Short-Season Tomato Varieties for Cold Climates – Garden Betty Podcast Resources: Buy One Get One Free from Elm Dirt: Use Code WOLFCREEK Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

Does pruning your tomatoes in a certain way increase the yield? Does it really matter? Are there other more important factors involved? I get asked all the time if we prune our tomatoes, how we prune them, how many tomatoes a gardener should expect to get from one plant, etc. Folks tend to get frustrated when it’s not a straightforward answer. Your tomato yield is likely to boil down to a number of factors before you even get to the pruning question. Today's episode digs into the three factors that are a much bigger consideration in tomato yield than pruning and whether pruning is suited to your specific goals. Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

For as long as I can remember I’ve believed that marigolds were the best companion plant for everything. Despite the naysayers touting time and time again that it was all conjecture, I stood by the research I could find that proved otherwise. If you listened to last week’s Focal Point Friday episode you understand the position I’ve found myself in after all these years of companion planting marigolds in and amongst all of my garden plants. To my way of thinking, as long as there wasn’t a proven detriment to the paring then even if the marigolds weren’t preventing the pests in my garden, they would at least be attracting the beneficial insects that either were good pollinators or that actually preyed on the insects I didn’t want hanging around. And many marigolds have a strong scent and I hoped this would also serve to confuse those pests that plague my crops. Do I still believe all these things? Yes. I will go to my grave defending marigolds as good companion plants because I have the science-backed research to show those benefits. I, as always, will link to boatloads of research in the show notes so you, too, can nerd out about some plant science. But, have I had to take a step back and do a little more research about my beloved companion before I continue to make recommendations to people in their gardens? You betcha. Because science is always evolving and so are we as gardeners and one of my favorite mantras is we don’t know what we don’t know. And sometimes we just gotta admit when we’re wrong. RESOURCES: Insects | Free Full-Text | Conservation Biological Control of Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella): Effects of Two Aromatic Plants, Basil (Ocimum basilicum) and French Marigolds (Tagetes patula) (mdpi.com) Weed and Pest Control: Conventional and New Challenges - Google Books Which companion plants affect the performance of green peach aphid on host plants? Testing of 12 candidate plants under laboratory conditions - Ben Issa - 2016 - Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata - Wiley Online Library Incorporating lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus L.) and marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) as non-host barrier plants to reduce impact of flea beetle (Chaetocnema confinis C.) in cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.) (actajournal.com) Evaluating French marigold as a border insectary plant for the enhancement of beneficial arthropods in sweet corn plantings - ScienceDirect Intercropping of Pak choi (Brassica rapa chinensis) with Marigold flower (Tagetes erecta L.) and Onion (Allium cepa L.) to control foliar pests researchgate.net) "A Proactive Pest Control Calendar and Rearing Beneficial Insects" by Victoria Bolden (upenn.edu) Microsoft Word - Draft-Proceedings_8th DBM Conference_2019 (researchgate.net) Companion planting with French marigolds protects tomato plants from glasshouse whiteflies through the emission of airborne limonene | PLOS ONE Episode Links: Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

Companion planting is a great way to deter pests in our garden, specifically for summer squashes. Some plants repel pests like aphids, whiteflies, melonworms and pickleworm. Others are better suited as trap crops, attracting aphids, squash vine borerers, squash bugs and cucumber beetles so we can remove them from the garden and destroy them before they get to our zucchini or yellow squash. It's important to know which pests we're dealing with so we know which plants to use and how to use them. And I'll bet many of us have used one specific plant incorrectly as a companion plant for our area, and that includes me! Let's dig in to the best, and worst, companion plants for zucchini and other summer squashes. Resources: Companion planting with French marigolds protects tomato plants from glasshouse whiteflies through the emission of airborne limonene | PLOS ONE Virginia State University College of Agriculture | Companion Planting melonworm - Diaphania hyalinata (ufl.edu) Can the introduction of companion plants increase biological control services of key pests in organic squash? - Lopez - 2022 - Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata - Wiley Online Library ⁠9 of the Best Companion Plants to Grow with Zucchini (gardenerspath.com)⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

Summer squashes are a staple in most summer gardens. Whether you call them zucchini, courgette, or marrow, they can be easy to grow and very prolific, so they are a great introduction to a successful harvest for new gardeners. Unless you live in an area where pests and diseases are the name of the game: squash vine borers, squash bugs, cucumber beetles, drought, powdery mildew and bacterial wilt can all destroy a squash plant before we get a single fruit. Whether you live where squash grow so prolifically that you're sneaking onto your neighbor's porch at night to drop off a bag full or you're battling invaders to get a single harvest, today's episode has you covered with techniques for planting and protecting our coveted summer squash. Let's dig in! Episode links: Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something Episode Resources: American Indian Health - Health (ku.edu) FoodData Central (usda.gov) Cucurbitacin - Wikipedia Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides - Growing Guide Cucumber, Squash, Melon & Other Cucurbit Insect Pests | Home & Garden Information Center (clemson.edu) Squash, Zucchini and Summer | College of Agricultural Sciences (oregonstate.edu) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

Whether we grow our garden from seeds directly in the soil or start out with transplants, there are some distinct advantages and disadvantages to both methods. Today let's break down the five main factors to consider when making this decision. As always, find more gardening information on the Just Grow Something website. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

The gardening "advice" we get may not always be accurate. Bury a whole egg under your tomato plants? Make a tea from banana peels? What advice is legit and what is bogus? Let's look at the scientific research behind common kitchen scraps that might also be used as garden amendments: banana peels, eggshells, teas leaves and spent coffee grounds. Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram Merchandise | Just Grow Something RESOURCES Comparative Study of Various Organic Fertilizers Effect on Growth and Yield of Two Economically Important Crops, Potato and Pea (scirp.org) Effects of banana peel compost rates on Swiss chard growth performance and yield in Shirka district, Oromia, Ethiopia - ScienceDirect Preparation of nano-fertilizer blend from banana peels | SpringerLink BIO-ORGANIC LIQUID FERTILIZER PRODUCTION FROM CHICKEN MANURE AND BANANA PEELS AND EVALUATING ITS EFFECTIVENESS ON LETTUCE (Lactuca sativa L.) UNDER HYDROPONIC CONDITION. (haramaya.edu.et) HEN EGGSHELL WASTE AS FERTILIZER FOR THE GROWTH OF PHASEOLUS VULGARIS (COW PEA SEEDS) Chicken eggshells as a soil amendment and their relationship with the morphological response of mustard plants (Brassica juncea, L.) - IOPscience The use of spent coffee grounds in growing media for the production of Brassica seedlings in nurseries | SpringerLink Agriculture | Free Full-Text | Spent Coffee Grounds Applied as a Top-Dressing or Incorporated into the Soil Can Improve Plant Growth While Reducing Slug Herbivory (mdpi.com) Acute Toxicity of Experimental Fertilizers Made of Spent Coffee Grounds | SpringerLink Impact of spent coffee grounds as organic amendment on soil fertility and lettuce growth in two Mediterranean agricultural soils: Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science: Vol 64, No 6 (tandfonline.com) Biblioteca Digital do IPB: Effect of fresh and composted spent coffee grounds on lettuce growth, photosynthetic pigments and mineral composition Use of Spent Coffee Ground Compost in Peat-Based Growing Media for the Production of Basil and Tomato Potting Plants: Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis: Vol 47, No 3 (tandfonline.com) Applying spent coffee grounds directly to urban agriculture soils greatly reduces plant growth - ScienceDirect --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

This is the time of year when we not only start to have a lot of yard waste and garden waste but we generally have food waste coming out of our kitchens year round, so now is the perfect time to put all that waste to good use. The average American produces about 1,600 pounds (726 kg) of garbage a year and approximately 75% of this garbage is organic material. That means 1200 lbs of the 1600 pounds of waste produced could be composted. Per person. We don’t want that organic material going to the landfills and causing methane gases to add to the atmosphere, so let’s talk about the basic ingredients of a compost pile. Resources: Ep. 80 - Creating and Managing a Compost Pile Ep. 81 - Talking Compost with Stan "The Compost Man"Slaughter Ep. 82 - Compost Systems for Home Gardeners Ep. 106 - Introduction to Vermicomposting (Worm Farming!) What is Vermicompost and Why Should We Care? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

Last summer we talked a little bit about growing extra produce in our gardens specifically for donation. I will leave a link to that episode in this episode description. This week I have the pleasure of interviewing two folks from After The Harvest, an organization here in the Kansas City Metro area that rescues fruits and vegetables from going to waste and donates them to agencies that serve hungry people in the Greater Kansas City area. Their volunteers glean after the harvest, picking what’s left in farmers’ fields and picking up already harvested leftover produce. They bring together volunteers, growers, financial donors and food agencies all participating in fighting hunger, improving nutrition and reducing food waste. Our farm has donated to After The Harvest for years at one of our local farmer’s markets and I was happy to reach out get them on this show to not only spread their mission here locally but to speak to you about how you can get involved in whatever organization facilitates the movement of fresh fruits in vegetables in your area to the people who need it the most. So, take a listen to my conversation with Brooke and Clay from After The Harvest and maybe think about the ways you can be helping this movement in your own area with produce from your own garden. Let’s dig in. RESOURCES: Ep. 95 - Grow a Row to Donate After the Harvest | Healthy Food for Hungry People » After the Harvest (aftertheharvestkc.org) Volunteer » After the Harvest Gleaning Calendar Laws, Resources, & Organizations for Gleaning & Food Recovery - National Gleaning Project Map of Gleaning & Food Recovery Organizations in the USA (nationalgleaningproject.org) Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming MediaPodcast Playlist on Spotify --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

In this timely flashback episode, we go back to episode 91 and talk about hardening off our plants to move them into our garden spaces. Whether we've started them from seed ourselves or we've purchased plants and brought them in, our plants need some time to acclimate. The process is a little different in both cases. And if we're growing plants indoors, we have a different set of circumstances to navigate. Let's talk about transitioning our plants. References: Ep. 91 -Transitioning Your Plants into Your Garden --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

One of the best flavors of the summer has to be sweet corn right from the stalk. If it’s picked at the right time and eaten right away, you really don’t need anything on it. It’s just that good. If you’re lucky to find some at the farmers market and can get it home and eat it right away, it’s almost as good. But we can absolutely grow our own even in smallish spaces. And what about growing our own dried corn varieties? There are so many choices when it comes to dent corn, popcorn, and other dried corn types that we can use for corn meal and even just for decoration. You’ve probably seen beautiful glass-colored heirloom varieties in catalogs that are almost too pretty to be believed. But what you also may have seen in the seed catalogs next to the sweet corn are little letters like su and sh2 or terms like synergistic or sugar-enhanced. What does all that mean and is it genetically modified? Today we’re going to figure out exactly what it takes to grow both sweet corn and dried corn, all the differences between the two categories and the corn varieties within them, what can plague corn plants and how to harvest and store it. Let’s dig in! Resources: How to tell the difference between types of corn - Farm and Dairy American Indian Health - Health (ku.edu) Native American Indians and their use of Corn Growing Heirloom Corn Varieties - Little House on the Prairie Corn 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits (healthline.com) What are the differences between the various types of sweet corn? | Horticulture and Home Pest News (iastate.edu) How To Avoid Corn Cross Pollination - Our Stoney Acres How to Grow Sweet Corn - Farmers' Almanac - Plan Your Day. Grow Your Life. (farmersalmanac.com) Organic Insect Management in Sweet Corn - SARE Dent, Flint & Flour Corn (southernexposure.com) Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

It's spring planting time in areas of North America, or getting close to it, and many of us have the danger of a late frost hitting our gardens after we've spent so much time putting tender annuals in the ground. Let's revisit some options for frost protection in the garden, using both purchased items and those we can find around the house. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

How do we know as gardeners when the appropriate time is to plant those seeds or transplant our seedlings? There are guidelines on the backs of seed packets and tables and charts online and in books that tell us the supposed correct date to plant those seeds. But this generic information is usually based on the average last frost date for our area. If you’re in an area that doesn’t often get a frost or if you live in a frozen tundra that date can be deceiving. Plus, that information doesn’t take into consideration the fluctuations we see in our temperatures and weather patterns each season or the ever-changing climate. In nature, seeds just know when to sprout at the right time based on the cycling of the seasons. There proper germination is based on factors like moisture levels, light availability and, most importantly, soil temperature. Today we’ll talk about optimal soil temperatures for both cool season and warm season crops, for both seed germination and transplant growth, how that compares to our average air temperatures, how to properly test your soil temperature and where to find historic soil temperature data for your area so you can more effectively plan your planting dates. Let’s dig in. Resources: Soil Temperature and Seed Germination (psu.edu) Soil Temp Planting V2docx (wisc.edu) Mineral Nutrition of Plants: Principles and Perspectives | SpringerLink 7 facts you didn’t know about soil temperature (farmprogress.com) Soil Temperature and Planting Crops (harvesttotable.com) Soil Temperature Maps | GreenCast | Syngenta (greencastonline.com) Taylor Precision Products Standard Grade Thermometer (Amazon affiliate link) Get a Free Bloom Juice from Elm Dirt: Use Code JustGrow Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

Let's round out our mushroom discussions with some good 'ol compost! What is mushroom compost, is it good for our gardens, and how do we use it? Can we use the substrate from our own homegrown mushrooms and how is that different from the commercially available bags in the store? Spend a few minutes with me today to discover mushroom compost. Resources: Mushroom Compost: The Bad, The Good and The Beautiful - Compost Magazine Analysis of Fresh Mushroom Compost in: HortTechnology Volume 20 Issue 2 (2010) (ashs.org) Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

Last week we talked all about growing mushrooms but that was all based on research and nothing to do with my own personal experiences. Even though my husband has always wanted to create a “fungus of the month club” to go along with our CSA program, we’ve never quite gotten there. I have worked with multiple mushroom growers over the years as vendors at our local farmer’s markets and have yet to even grow mushrooms from a kit! I just support them at their stands when I get a craving for a cremini. So, I thought it would be super helpful to hear from not one, but two different mushroom growers about how they got started growing and where they’ve gone from there. Technically, it’s three growers because one brought along their production manager, and they were all a wealth of information. RESOURCES: MyCo Planet - Fresh Gourmet Mushrooms (mycoplanetkc.com) Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something Get 10% off with code JUSTGROW at Truly Garden --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message

On this week's Focal Point Friday episode, we're revisiting the basics of plant nutrients. Good plant growth is directly correlated to good plant nutrition. The efficiency with which a plant uses the nutrients in the soil varies greatly according to the composition of your soil, water availability, soil temperatures, and so much more. But it’s important to know how the most essential nutrients work so you can choose soil amendments and fertilizers, if necessary, that will most benefit what you’re growing. Knowing which nutrients your plant relies on most and which stages of growth are most demanding will help you get the most out of your garden without negatively affecting the plants or the soil. Just like it’s possible to be lacking in nutrients, it is possible to have too much of a good thing! Say Thank You! Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com Merchandise | Just Grow Something  Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/justgrowsomething/message