Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home Gardening

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Succession Planting to Extend the Harvest - Ep. 181 Jan 23, 2024

Show notes

As we start to get our garden plans in order for this year, succession planting is something that absolutely should be included in our calendars and our garden maps. It’s really the best way to ensure not only to do you have more to harvest throughout the season but that you take advantage of open spaces in the garden when one crop ends or the season changes.

Today on Just Grow Something we’ll talk about what succession planting is, how it relates to interplanting and relay planting, and how to successfully schedule your successions to reach your gardening goals, whether that’s to feed your family for the entire year or just be sure you’ve got enough salad ingredients to get you through the summer. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Plan Like a Pro Garden Planning Course

Save 10% and get Free Shipping with code JUSTGROW10 at Planter Box Direct

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Courses | Just Grow Something

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Interplanting to Maximize Your Harvest - Ep. 180 Jan 16, 2024

Show notes

There is a fine line in gardening between overcrowding the plants and making efficient use of space. If we do it right, the plants benefit from each other and we can get way more out of our garden than we ever dreamed. But if we step over that line, we end up with plants competing with each other for space, water, sunlight, and nutrients and our yield is dramatically reduced.

As we start planning our gardens for the year it’s time to take a look at the space we have to work with and plan out our gardens to effectively use that space to our advantage. Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking interplanting or intercropping. This technique not only allows for you to grow more in the exact same space, but can also reduce weeds and conserve water. Let’s dig in.

References and Resources:

Companion Planting Chart | Just Grow Something

Tomato N Uptake (ucdavis.edu)

CDFA - FREP - CA Fertilization Guidelines - Lettuce Nitrogen Uptake and Partitioning

Nitrogen fixation in peas (Pisum sativum) (lincoln.ac.nz)

Some vegetables require less water than others | OSU Extension Service (oregonstate.edu)

Cornell Guide to Companion Planting.pdf (unl.edu)

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Plan Like a Pro Information Sign Up

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How to Choose a Plant Variety - Ep. 179 Jan 09, 2024

Show notes

You may have an idea of what you want to grow in terms of vegetables in your garden – say zucchini and tomatoes, for example. If you open the seed catalog or website to the page for zucchini you may find as many 18 to 25 different varieties to choose from, each with their own unique set of attributes in terms of shape, size, color, growing conditions, disease resistance, pollination type, and more. Move on to tomatoes, well now you’re talking hundreds of varieties in different classes from cherry to beefsteak to sauce types. And that’s just one supplier. It can be overwhelming, and we can fall victim to the dreaded analysis paralysis – spending so much time gathering information while trying to decide that we fail to decide.

Let’s take a little bit of the overwhelm out of the equation by defining what exactly it is we are looking for in each of the types of vegetable or fruits we want to grow before we even dive into the catalogs or walk into the garden center. If you’ve got a list of attributes you’re looking for ahead of time it makes it easier to make a decision about what will do well in your garden, meet your goals, and eliminate some of the distractions. Let's dig in.

Don't forget to answer the question of the month for January: How do you plan your garden each season?

Resources and References:

F1 hybrid - Wikipedia

Home | The Buffalo Seed Company

All-America Selections | AAS Winners | Best New Plants

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Gurney's - America's Most Complete Seed and Nursery (gurneys.com)

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Choosing a Seed Supplier - Ep. 178 Jan 02, 2024

Show notes

It used to be easy to just choose a catalog and order seeds because there were only a handful of choices and, generally speaking, unless you were going to the nursery or garden center to buy seed packets from a kiosk, you were ordering from a physical catalog that you actually got in the mail. But, nowadays, a simple internet search will yield thousands of results from companies all over the world and it’s a little bit more difficult to weed out the bad guys.

So, today we are going to talk about ways to find a legitimate, established, verified seed company whether it’s online, through a catalog, or local to you. And what to do if you encounter a new small business that seems legit and you’d love to support them, but you also want to make sure you don’t get burned. I will also give you a list and links to my favorite suppliers over the years, including my very first catalog purchase. Let’s dig in!

Question of the month: How do you plan your garden each season? Tell me by leaving a voice message, sending an email, responding below (in Spotify), or from the Facebook group!

References and Resources:

True Leaf Market

Bring Your Garden to Life with Rare and Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com)

Home - SeedSavers

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Saving the Past for the Future Urban Farmer | Seeds, Plants and Garden Supplies (ufseeds.com)

Johnny’s Selected Seeds | Supporting Farms & Gardens Since 1973 (johnnyseeds.com)

Harris Seeds: Vegetable Seeds, Flower Seeds, Plants & Growing Supplies

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Capsicum annuum - Wikipedia

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Top Episode 1: Growing Peppers - Ep. 177 Dec 26, 2023

Show notes

Let's revisit the most downloaded episode of this podcast the past three season: growing peppers! Peppers are one of those plants that I get asked about all the time; it’s also one of those vegetables that is a mainstay in many people’s kitchens, and they can be expensive at the grocery store, so knowing how to grow your own is high up on the gardening wish list for a lot of people. So, today we talk all about peppers, both sweet and hot, how to get them to germinate, their feeding requirements, planting, spacing, harvesting and all the usual basics. By the end of this episode, I hope you can fill in the gaps of what’s been going on with your peppers to get you some success or give you the confidence to give them a try if you’re new to the capsicum scene. Let's dig in!

References and Resources:

Pharmacological importance of an ethnobotanical plant: Capsicum annuum L - PubMed (nih.gov)

Bell Peppers 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits (healthline.com)

Chili Peppers 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Effects (healthline.com)

6 Ways to Use Epsom Salt in the Garden | Epsom Salt Council

Capsicum annuum (Grossum Group) (Bell Pepper, Green Pepper, Red Pepper, Sweet Pepper) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (ncsu.edu)

Midwest Vegetable Production Guide for Commercial Growers.

Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening, 1978

Damrosch, Barbara; The Garden Primer. Workman Publishing, New York. 1988

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Finding rewrites the evolutionary history of the origin of potatoes (2005)

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Top Episode 2: Growing Potatoes - Ep. 176 Dec 19, 2023

Show notes

Potatoes are a staple in many households. The wonderful thing about Irish potatoes is that they can be grown just about anywhere, in ground or in planters or buckets. They can be a quick shoulder-season crop or they can spend 120 days in the ground, making way for fall-planted crops when they’re done. You can pick them early for baby potatoes, leave them late for storage potatoes, or anything in between, and they are one of the easiest crops for beginners because they are pretty hands off. Which may be why this episode was so popular.

So, let’s revisit your second favorite episode of all time. Ready to grow potatoes? Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Hijmans, RJ; Spooner, DM (2001). "Geographic distribution of wild potato species". American Journal of Botany. 88 (11): 2101–12. doi:10.2307/3558435. JSTOR 3558435. PMID 21669641.

Potato Production and Consumption

Solanum tuberosum (Irish Potato, Irish Potatoes, Pomme de Terre, Potato, Potatoes, White Potato, White Potatoes) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (ncsu.edu)

Potato: Nutrition facts, recipes, benefits, side effects, and more (msn.com)

Soil Temparature Maps | GreenCast | Syngenta (greencastonline.com)

Growing potatoes in home gardens | UMN Extension

ORGANIC POTATO GROWING GUIDE (woodprairie.com)

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Free Download: Onion Growing Fact Sheet

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Top Episode 3: Growing Onions - Ep. 175 Dec 12, 2023

Show notes

Welcome back, my gardening friends, to another episode of Just Grow Something as we count down the top four episodes of all time throughout the month of December. This week we revisit the #3 most listened to episode of this show: Growing Onions.

Onions are such a staple in most kitchens, it's no surprise many gardeners want to grow their own. The problem is they can be a bit tricky if you don't understand the difference in daylength requirements for growing those giant bulbs. Nutrient needs, soil type, water and storage are covered in this episode, all the things I wish I'd known when I made my own feeble attempts at growing onions years ago! Let's dig in.

References and Resources:

Ep. 114 - Planting Onions to Overwinter

(PDF) Traditional and modern uses of onion bulb (Allium cepa L.): A systematic review (researchgate.net)

Onion History - National Onion Association (onions-usa.org)

Nutrition Information for Raw Vegetables | FDA

Explore Cornell - Home Gardening - Vegetable Growing Guides - Growing Guide

Growing Onions: Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Onions | The Old Farmer's Almanac

Onion Planting Guide - Dixondale Farms

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

American Indian Health - Health (ku.edu)

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Top Episode 4: Growing Zucchini - Ep. 174 Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

Over the past season we have welcomed a lot of new listeners from all over the world, so I thought for the month of December it’d be fun to revisit the top four episodes of the past three seasons of this podcast.

We’ll start with your #4 favorite episode of all time: Growing Zucchini and other summer squashes. This is actually an episode from this season so for it to be in the number four spot means you guys were really interested in this information, and I am happy to share it again. I’ve edited it just a little bit to get right to the good bits, so let’s dig in!

Episode Resources and References:

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)

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Follow me on Instagram JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com

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Climbing Seed Prices and Proper Seed Storage - Ep. 173 Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

The seed catalogs for the 2024 gardening season here in North America have begun rolling in and it always makes me excited. One of my favorite things to do on a chilly night is set myself up in my chair by the fire with a hot cup of something tasty, snuggle under a blanket with a stack of seed catalogs and a highlighter, and just peruse the newest hybrids and old favorites, marking the catalog as I go. If you like to do the same, this year you might be in for a little bit of a shock.

If you’re not going for standard, open-pollinated varieties that have been around forever you might be surprised what you find when you start flipping through those pages. Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about how these prices seem to be different from the previous few seasons and how we can cut our expenses in the garden through proper seed storage. If you have leftover seed from this past season, you really want to be sure you’re storing them properly so they will still be good for next season and beyond. We’ll talk the best conditions for storing the seeds in our stash, types of storage containers, and how long each type of seed can be stored. Let’s dig in.

Resources and References:

Ep. 63 - Proper Seed Storage: Moisture levels, storage conditions, containers, and more

Ep. 108 - Basics of Saving Seeds

How to Start Saving Seeds From Your Garden (and Why) - Ep. 159

Six Steps for Saving Seeds From Your Garden

Do Seeds Expire?

Saving Seeds From Your Region to Improve Your Garden (video)

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group