Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home Gardening

Latest Episodes:

Updated USDA Hardiness Zone Map - Ep. 172 Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

On November 17th the USDA updated the Hardiness Zone Map based on data from the past 30 years and many of us are now in new zones. So, what does that mean? Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to deep dive into the USDA Hardiness Zone Map; what the zone numbers and colors mean, how to use the map, what’s new and different with this version, what this means for perennials versus annual plants, and how it all ties into changes we may or may not want to make in our garden plans. Let's dig in!

Episode References and Resources:

2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map | USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

Canada's Plant Hardiness Site

Storing the Most Popular Types of Fall Garden Crops: No Freezing, No Canning, No Dehydrating Required - Ep. 162

Ep. 117 - Growing Cut Flowers in the Home Garden with Kathy Gormandy

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Starting Your Own Sweet Potato Slips - Ep. 171 Nov 14, 2023

Show notes

Many home gardeners and market growers alike rely on seed companies and other suppliers for not just our seeds, but also our started plants, roots, or bulbs. Things like garlic, onions, and seed potatoes are often purchased rather than saved from the previous harvest or started at home and sweet potatoes also fall into this category. For years I purchased started sweet potato slips to grow and I often still do, just because of the quantity I need.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to go over three ways we can easily get our own slips started either from our own harvested sweet potatoes or from store-bought ones. It’s easier than you think and even if you need a lot of slips, it takes up less room than you might think. Let’s dig in!

Episode Resources and References:

Ep. 94 - Growing Sweet Potatoes

Ep. 135 - Growing Potatoes

Growing Sweet Potatoes in Missouri | MU Extension

Sweet Potato Starts and Plantings (k-state.edu)

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Fall Amendments for the Spring Garden - Ep. 170 Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

Fall is officially here, and I don’t know about you, but my garden is ready for a bit of a break. But that doesn’t mean the garden soil shouldn’t be doing something in the meantime. We all know testing our soil is the only real way to find out what is lacking in our gardens as far as nutrients are concerned and what the pH level is of that soil. Testing your soil now and adding the appropriate amendments means they will have a chance to break down into the soil, incorporate themselves, and become water soluble which is really the only way they can be absorbed by your plants come spring.

But, how do you know what to add, when to add it, and how much? Today on Just Grow Something we’ll review some of the most easily accessible amendments you can use on your soil right now to give you a better garden next season and help you figure out how much of it to use, based on your own soil test results. Let’s dig in

Episode Resources and References

Ep. 76 - Managing Soil pH in Your Garden

Affects of pH on Nutrient Availability

Soil Acidification

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Microgreen Basics - Ep. 169 Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

Microgreens can be grown at any time of the year with very little in the way of equipment and it is super easy to get started. For many of us home gardeners, the season for salad greens can be short. And I don’t know about you, but I still crave fresh greens in the wintertime. The easiest answer to supplementing our greens is to grow microgreens indoors.

So, today on Just Grow Something we’re getting started with growing microgreens; what supplies you need, which are the easiest ones for beginners to grow, and what you need to know about selecting seeds to use as microgreens. Let’s dig in.

Episode Resources and References:

Check out the selection of microgreens from today's sponsor, True Leaf Market!

Assessment of Vitamin and Carotenoid Concentrations of Emerging Food Products: Edible Microgreens

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Growing Garlic as a Perennial - Ep. 168 Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

Right about now is the time that some of us are looking at getting our garlic cloves into the ground for next summer’s harvest. It really is a pretty simple crop to grow but it seems like seed garlic is getting more and more expensive to purchase. I generally save the best specimens from this year’s harvest and plant it in the fall, but our bulbs this year were far from impressive, none of them really worthy of saving (remember, we save the best and eat the rest) and I found myself having to order a lot of seed garlic this year. So on this episode of Just Grow Something I’m digging further into the idea of a perennial garlic bed.

This is something I explored a couple years ago and that I did unintentionally in my garlic bed from last year. So, I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of different ways to get a perennial harvest from one bed of garlic. It’s not as foolproof as, say, asparagus, where you plant it once and then just continue to harvest for the next 30 years. But, there are a whole host of ways to enjoy that garlic flavor we love while also protecting ourselves from the inflation that seems to be happening with seed garlic. Just one more way to become more self-reliant in our own gardens. Ready to tackle garlic as a perennial crop? Let’s dig in!

Resources and References:

Ep. 40 - Growing Garlic

Ep. 67 - When and How to Plant Your Garlic, Plus Tips for Warmer Climates

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Frost Protection Measures in the Garden - Ep. 167 Oct 03, 2023

Show notes

It’s been an unusually warm start to fall in many areas of North America, my home in west central Missouri is no exception where we’re still seeing temperatures up into the 90s F the past few days. But I know we’re inching closer to our usual first frost date and I’m most certainly going to be prepared because our weather is notorious for changing practically overnight and then changing again.

If you’re somewhere that experiences frost, which is basically anywhere up through USDA Hardiness zone 10, it pays to be prepared for the unexpected. Sometimes you may only have a few hours warning that a frost is coming overnight and scrambling to find everything you need at the last minute and covering plants in the dark is no fun. Especially when the forecast shows a two-week warm up after one night of frost.

On today’s episode of Just Grow Something we’ll review what the USDA Hardiness Zone map actually means, what temperatures differentiate a frost from a freeze, which crops can survive an initial frost, and different options for frost and freeze protection in the garden. By the end you should have a pretty good idea of what you’ll need to have on hand based on your hardiness zone, what you’re growing in the garden and how much work you want to put into to protecting your plants from the cold. Let’s dig in!

Resources and References:

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

2023 Frost Dates: First and Last Frost Dates by ZIP Code | The Old Farmer's Almanac | Almanac.com

Portable Mini Greenhouse

Pop-Up Mini Greenhouse

Five Crops to Plant in Fall for Winter Harvest, Zone by Zone - Ep. 163

Crops to Plant in Fall and Harvest in Spring - Ep. 164

Get Magic Mind: Use code JustGrow20 at checkout

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When to Plant Your Cover Crops - Focal Point Friday Sep 29, 2023

Show notes

We talked all about cover crops in the last episode: why we should use them and which crops perform what job. Let's chat today about when each of those crops should go into the ground for best results.

Don't forget you can get a garden cover crop mix from True Leaf Market here:

Check out True Leaf Market’s Cover Crop Mix

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Getting Started with Cover Crops - Ep. 166 Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

As the growing season is winding down in many areas, we may be looking at some bare empty spaces in our gardens and wondering what to do with them. Should you just mulch it over? Add fresh compost and let it sit? How about a cover crop?

Using a cover crop gives back a ton of benefits: improving soil structure, preventing erosion, acting as a living mulch, and adding nutrients back into the soil. And, yes, this can be done in both in-ground beds and raised planters. What you plant and what you do with it when it’s done all depends on what you want to get out of it, so today we’ll cover all the options to help you figure out which crops work best for your individual garden needs. Let’s dig in!

Karin's Recommendations for Cover Crops:

Preventing soil erosion and providing weed control: clover, mustard, oats, peas, daikon radish, winter rye, and vetch.
Nitrogen fixation: alfalfa, clover, chickpeas/garbanzos, field peas, soybeans, lentils, and vetch.
Green manure: buckwheat, clover, mustard, oats, peas, radish, winter rye, wheat, barley, and vetch.
Creating biomass: alfalfa, mustard, oats, peas, rye, wheat and barley.
Breaking up the soil: alfalfa, clover, and daikon radish.
Attracting beneficial insects: alfalfa, buckwheat, clover, mustard, and hairy vetch in its second year when it flowers in the spring.
Forage: Alfalfa, clover, and mustard. (Mustard is a brassica so if you have animals that are sensitive to plants in that family, like rabbits, you may want to avoid that one.)

Episode References and Resources:

Get Magic Mind: Use code JustGrow20 at checkout

Check out True Leaf Market’s Cover Crop Mix

Marigolds as Companion Plants

The Great Marigold Debate: Friend or Foe?

Terminating Cover Crops | Southern Cover Crops Council

Using Cover Crops and Green Manures in the Home Vegetable Garden – Wisconsin Horticulture

Tips for Planting Cover Crops in Home Gardens (psu.edu)

Cover crops and green manures in home gardens | UMN Extension

Farm Seed & Cover Crops | Comparison Chart (PDF) | Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com)

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Overlooked Edibles: Parts of Our Garden We Didn't Know We Can Eat - Ep. 165 Sep 19, 2023

Show notes

Obviously, we grow our vegetable gardens so we can harvest most of the plants to eat. Yes, some of them are pretty flowers and foliage that are a feast for the eyes, but mainly we just want to eat, right? I generally subscribe to the idea that no parts of the plants we grow should be wasted. If it’s not something we’re going to eat, that green matter needs to go into the compost pile so it can go back into the soil and grow more yummy veggies for my plate.

Turns out I’ve been doing the eating part all wrong. Many of the vegetables and some of the fruits and flowers offer more edible parts beyond the commonly harvested portion than I ever realized. And this is actually pretty important when we think about the number of people who go without nutritious food every day. The more of each of these plants we can eat, the better our nutrition is and the better able we are to truly nourish our friends and family with the food we’re growing.

Today on Just Grow Something we're jumping into some of the overlooked edibles in our gardens, the parts of the plants we didn’t know we can eat. Let’s dig in!

Episode Resources:

Try Magic Mind and get 50% off a subscription for a limited time with code JustGrow20

7 Ways to Eat Zucchini Greens - Our Permaculture Life

Zucchini, You Can Eat the Stems, Too. – Lower Valley Assembly

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Growing Garlic in Warm Climates - Focal Point Friday Sep 15, 2023

Show notes

Garlic needs specific conditions to grow and, often times, gardeners in warmer climates have a hard time meeting those conditions. Let's talk about some tips and tricks to making sure the conditions are right for growing garlic in your garden and one way to cheat the system!

Reference episode: Ep. 67 - When and How to Plant Your Garlic, Plus Tips for Warmer Climates

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