Flower Power Garden Hour

Latest Episodes:

Flower Power Garden Hour 40: Farmer Fred Hoffman, Master Gardener and Garden Show radio host May 26, 2019

Show notes

Marlene sits down with "Farmer Fred" Hoffman, renown long time Garden Show radio host, writer and lifetime Master Gardener. Having decades of both practical experience and countless hours with farmers/garden professionals, Fred is an incredible fountain of knowledge, tips, troubleshooting – and a amazing storyteller in the best sense.

Subjects discussed:

Farmer Fred history; Growing up in North Hollywood; From radio to gardening; From Captain Fred to Farmer Fred; Truckers come to the rescue to find Farmer Fred's stolen car; Diazinon experience piques Fred's interest in gardening; Organic heirloom popcorn farming; When to plant tomatoes; Tomato Blossom End Rot and how to treat (or not); Beneficial insects and how to attract; Farmer Fred's favorite tomatoes to grow; Heirloom tomatoes and limited fruit set; Marlene's favorite peppers (Padrone and Shishido); Raised bed construction and irrigation; Companion planting; Malabar spinach – trellis climbing, summer greens; Tomato cages and the Florida Weave; Concrete reinforcement wire in raised beds; Compost, woodchips, straw for pathways and weed control; Strawberries…why Marlene and Fred don't grow; Growing blueberries in metal water troughs; Farmer Fred's best Christmas gift ever; Marlene's greenhouse construction project; Country living; Fred and Marlene's cycling stories

Farmer Fred can found EVERYWHERE:

FarmerFred.com, his website with TONS of articles, how-to guides, tips, and links

KFBK Garden Show every Sunday from 8:00 – 10:00am PST, and available as KFBK Garden Show Podcast

KSTE Get Growing Show every Sunday from 10:00 – 12:00pm PST, and available as KSTE Get Growing Podcast

KSTE Farm Hour every Sunday from 12:00 – 1:00pm PST, and available as KSTE Farm Hour Podcast

Farmer Fred Facebook

Farmer Fred Twitter

Farmer Fred Instagram

Farmer Fred Pinterest

To ask questions for future shows, submit them at Flower Power Garden Hour Facebook page, The Plant Lady Facebook page, or Instagram. You can also email Marlene questions, future show topic requests and feedback at marlenetheplantlady@gmail.com

Flower Power Garden Hour 39: Plant Cuttings May 17, 2019

Show notes

In this episode Marlene delves into making softwood cuttings in order to propagate clones of parent plants. Taking cuttings is a fast and reliable method of obtaining numerous plants from a small amount of source material.

Marlene covers:

Auxin -- primary hormone for root production
Step by step process of how to successfully take a cutting
Common issues people run into with cuttings

Flower Power Garden Hour 38: Listener Q&A Apr 23, 2019

Show notes

Marlene answers a variety of listener submitted questions this week. It's a grab bag of topics this time, including:

How to treat a sparse looking Daphne
How to stop insects from eating sweet basil and tomatoes
Browning Camellias
Yellowing leaves on a tomato plant
Is putting ice cubes on soil an effective method of watering
Pruning of Weeping Cherry tree

Flower Power Garden Hour 37: Lavender, with Tina Reikes of Bear Flag Farm Mar 31, 2019

Show notes

Tina Reikes was not always a farmer. 9/11 caused Tina to reevaluate her life, leading her to deviate from her corporate real estate career to seek something more fulfilling. Never having farmed, but armed with a desire to find a rural based lifestyle, Tina searched for the perfect location. A few years later, Bear Flag Farm was born. 26 acres tucked amongst almond & walnut orchards in the ag town of Winters CA, Tina began her career as a boutique farmer of lavender, olive oil, wine – and to boot, being a world renown wedding venue. Here we discuss Tina's trials & errors of lavender farming, including her favorite varieties, how/when to prune, & the other aspects of her life as a farmer.

Flower Power Garden Hour 36: Listener Q&A….Vegetable Focus Mar 16, 2019

Show notes

A listener questions episode this week focusing on vegetables:

Does cornmeal work as a pre-emergent herbicide
Why does broccoli bolt? What is bolting?
Do eggshells and/or diatomaceous earth effectively kill snails and slugs?
Use of heat mats to start seeds
My go-to soil amendments for vegetable garden soil preparation – and when to use

Flower Power Garden Hour 35: Vermiculture – How to raise Composting Worms Feb 24, 2019

Show notes

Kate Waldo owns Worm Fancy, a business focused on diverting food waste going into our landfills. She began by working with schools, and implementing local programs which yielded some astounding results – in some cases a 3x reduction in daily trash volume. The scale and applicability of raising composting worms varies widely – from single family home use, to schools & business, to large scale ag operations. Here Kate walks through steps to start and guidance about how to be successful with raising your own composting worms.

Types of containers to use (stackable tray systems; Rubbermaid containers)
How to set up containers -- bedding, feeding, moisture
Ideal type of worm for composting (Eisenia fetida, aka Red Wigglers)
Temperature range
How to sort worms for harvesting – YouTube video on Light Sorting worms

Pre-configured bins or stackable trays for raising worms can be purchased at Worm Fancy, as well as worms to start your population and bulk castings.

Worm Fancy can be found on Instagram @wormfancy

Flower Power Garden Hour 34: Tomato Expert, Brad Gates Feb 14, 2019

Show notes

A highly anticipated episode, featuring world renown tomato expert, Brad Gates. Based in Napa Valley, Brad owns Wild Boar Farms where he fastidiously spends years creating new varieties of exotic tomatoes, optimized to be "stunning looking tomato varieties with extreme flavor." To bring a new variety to market, it takes Brad on average 6-7 years of breeding for the desired traits and selecting the strongest plants each season to begin the following generation. Using fully organic and sustainable farming techniques, Wild Boar is 100% not GMO. Landscape/construction by trade, plant geneticist by proxy – Brad is known for his spectacular tomatoes such as Brad's Atomic Grape, Black Beauty, Dark Galaxy and Blue Gold.

Over 60 varieties of Brad's tomato seeds can be purchased at Wild Boar Farms, and plants can be purchased seasonally at select Northern CA nurseries (see website for detail)

Brad can be found on Instagram @wildboarfarms and Facebook

Flower Power Garden Hour 33: Bees – How to start and maintain a colony Jan 23, 2019

Show notes

This is a much requested and anticipated episode with a deep dive on bees. Bee expert Dave Watson joins the show to share best practices for successfully raising bees. Dave provides a step by step process on how to set up your hive (including terminology/equipment), proper maintenance, location considerations, how to smoke bees, how to split colonies, pest/disease control, and much more (including hive social dynamics).

Dave is a fantastic teacher – this show serves as the How-To guide for those looking to get into beekeeping or seasoned beekeepers looking to expand their existing knowledge.

As part of his business, Dave helps people by removing bee swarms. This unique phenomena is discussed near the end of the podcast, with Dave sharing some of his best stories.

Check out Dave's Facebook @ DRWatsonapiaries

Dave sells his NorCal Gold Country honey at The Golden Gecko, where he also teaches beekeeping classes

Other valuable resources are the Sacramento Area Beekeepers Association and their Facebook page (here)

Flower Power Garden Hour 32: Roses Deep-Dive, Part 1 Jan 11, 2019

Show notes

This is part 1 of 2 that comprises a comprehensive breakdown of anything and everything about roses, with a focus on bare-root. Here Marlene covers:

Types of roses: Old English, ramblers, climbers, hybrid teas, grandifloras, floribundas, moss rose

Purchasing: What to look for when buying bare-root roses

Planting: Bare-root, actively growing roses, grafted versus non-grafted, soil, temperature range, drainage tolerance, sun requirements, when to plant, techniques of successful planting

Pruning: When to prune depending on type and area, techniques, preventing disease transfer

Flower Power Garden Hour 31: Listener Q&A….Cold Weather Prep Nov 22, 2018

Show notes

A listener questions episode this week featuring:

African violets….tips for re-potting
Succulent protection in cold weather and frost
All about Rue (Ruta graveolens)….growing tips
Mushroom infestation…potential diagnosis and recommendations
Pest control (beetles)…how to selectively predate their larvae

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected