Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home Gardening

Latest Episodes:

Crops to Plant in Fall and Harvest in Spring - Ep. 164 Sep 12, 2023

Show notes

This week, let’s take a different approach and talk about things to plant now and through the late fall to get a jump on the spring harvest or even harvest in the summer.

The timing of these plantings is going to vary by the region you garden in but the concepts are the same. Plant something now and let it get well-rooted, allow it to go dormant, then as the daylength increases in the spring watch it bounce back up with growth as soon as the conditions are right with no effort on our part in the spring.

This does a couple of things for us: allows us to put our early spring gardening hours elsewhere, often toward crops that need a little extra effort anyway, and gives us an even earlier harvest than we would typically see if we usually need to wait for the ground to thaw or warm up before working in our garden beds. Many of these things are particularly important for those of us in temperate or cold-weather climates but gardeners in warmer zones can take advantage of this, too, depending on the crop.

On today’s episode of Just Grow Something we’ll talk garlic, onions, root veggies, sprouting broccoli or broccoli raab, cold-hardy greens, and more that you can set and forget for a harvest next year. 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

Ep. 114 - Planting Onions to Overwinter

Ep. 133 - Growing Onions

Ep. 118 - Cover Crops in the Home Garden

Untreated Onion Sets | Sprout Mountain Farms

Soil Temparature Maps | GreenCast

Taylor Soil Thermometer

Truly Garden Cover Crop Seed Mix

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

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JustGrowSomethingPodcast.com

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Five Crops to Plant in Fall for Winter Harvest, Zone by Zone - Ep. 163 Sep 05, 2023

Show notes

If you live in an area that sees hard freezes in winter and sometimes extremely low temperatures, then you might think there isn’t anything you can grow for harvest in the winter. Not so! Even if you live in areas where the ground is routinely frozen solid for months on end, you can keep some crops in the ground and, with some effort, harvest some of those during at least the early parts of winter before bringing the final harvest indoors.

If you live in an area where you can grow food year-round you might not be aware of what crops are best for you to grow in your climate at the coldest and darkest time of the year.

There are two main factors that go into what you can grow in your garden through the winter: your weather conditions and your number of daylight hours.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about crops that are contenders for being planted in the fall, harvested in the winter, whether you’re in a warmer area with plenty of daylight, or don’t have much daylight and it gets super cold. Let’s dig in!

Episode Resources and References:

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

Sunset and sunrise times for any location - Free calendars and calculator (sunrise-sunset.org)

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

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Direct Sowing Seeds in Late Summer Heat - Focal Point Friday Sep 01, 2023

Show notes

We've talked about transplanting fall crops in the late summer heat, but what about sowing those seeds directly into the garden? Soil temperature is a real concern here, so today we'll spend a few minutes reviewing the optimal germination temperature for direct-sown fall garden crops and a few tricks for reducing the soil temperature more quickly.

Resources:

Taylor Precision Products Standard Grade Thermometer

Soil Temperature and Seed Germination (psu.edu) Ep. 142 - Planting by Soil Temperature vs Air Temperature: When's the best time to plant?

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Storing the Most Popular Types of Fall Garden Crops: No Freezing, No Canning, No Dehydrating Required - Ep. 162 Aug 29, 2023

Show notes

Late summer and all through fall are the times many gardeners are harvesting crops they want to keep for the long-term to use throughout the winter. How do we harvest and store these vegetables to be sure they retain their flavor, texture, and nutrient value? Today we'll discuss basic cold storage of the most popular types of fall garden crop: no refrigeration, no freezing, no canning, no dehydrating. Just what you can rig up in your basement, a closet, a garage or, if you’re lucky, a root cellar. Each category of crop has its own preference for long-term storage conditions and it’s well worth making sure you have these areas figured out and set up ahead of time so you can keep the bounty going for as long as you can. Let's dig in!

References and Resources:

Ep. 42 - Just Grow Carrots Ep. 48 - We Got the Beet! Ep. 94 - Growing Sweet Potatoes Ep. 52 - Cabbage Ep. 34 - Garden Talk Tuesday: Winter Squash Ep. 133 - Growing Onions

Just Grow Something Website

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Shade Options for Late Summer Transplants - Focal Point Friday Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

When talking about protecting our summer transplants from excessive heat to get them through to a fall harvest, we can't overlook the possibilities of shade. Temporary shade structures in the late summer garden can help protect our transplants, but it doesn't always require us to purchase or create something! On this Focal Point Friday episode, we spend just five minutes discussing six different options for protecting our fall transplants from too much sun.

Resources:

Fall Garden Transplants: Tips for Success in the Heat - Ep. 161

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Fall Garden Transplants: Tips for Success in the Heat - Ep. 161 Aug 22, 2023

Show notes

If you’re somewhere where Mother Nature is currently trying to cook you, what do you do to prepare and transplant crops that prefer cooler weather than what you've got? Do you wait? Do you forge ahead and just keep your fingers crossed? Today we’ll talk about how to mitigate the heat when trying to transplant fall crops including the reason why I actually didn’t get any of my plants in the ground last week and, instead, am transplanting now when it’s even hotter. Our heat index yesterday was 125F and I am not worried about my plants. We’ll talk about why. Let’s dig in!

Episode Resources:

Basic Research and Applications of Mycorrhizae - Gopi K. Podila - Google Books

Influence of drought hardening on the resistance physiology of potato seedlings under drought stress - ScienceDirect

Ep.101 - How to Prepare and What to Grow in Your Fall Garden

Steps For Growing a Fall Garden

An Interview with Karin from the Just Grow Something Podcast! - The Girly Homesteader Podcast | Podcast on Spotify

Episode 89 - Life. with Karin Velez - The Rural Mindset Podcast | Podcast on Spotify

Just Grow Something with Karin Velez (justgrowsomethingpodcast.com)

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More Fermenting Basics - Focal Point Friday Aug 11, 2023

Show notes

Let's throwback to my first episode on fermenting and talk a little bit more about the basics. What are those bacteria doing? How safe is fermentation? Let's talk pickling versus fermenting, veggies versus fruits, and cold storage.

Episode Resources:

Ep. 113 – Dehydrating, Cold Storage, and Fermenting: More Ways to Store Your Harvest

Just Grow Something with Karin Velez (justgrowsomethingpodcast.com)

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Getting Started in Fermenting - Ep. 160 Aug 08, 2023

Show notes

Fermenting foods can be a fun and rewarding way to both preserve the harvest and enhance the flavors of our garden bounty. If you're a beginner looking to get started with fermenting your own foods, I’ve discovered it’s not hard, but there are some essential things to know. Today on Just Grow Something we’ll look at the key tenants behind fermenting foods, the basics of getting started, what types of equipment are necessary and what are just nice-to-haves. Ready to start fermenting? Let’s dig in!

Episode Resources and References:

Preserving Episodes | Just Grow Something with Karin Velez

Plan Like a Pro Fall Registration

Fermented Vegetables Book

Fermenting Supplies Kit

National Center for Home Food Preservation | How Do I? Can (uga.edu)

Health benefits of fermented foods: Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition: Vol 59, No 3 (tandfonline.com)

Health benefits of fermented foods: microbiota and beyond - ScienceDirect

Eating Fermented: Health Benefits of LAB-Fermented Foods (mdpi.com)

Are Fermented Foods Effective against Inflammatory Diseases? (mdpi.com)

Just Grow Something with Karin Velez (justgrowsomethingpodcast.com)

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Avoiding Disease in Saved Seeds - Focal Point Friday Aug 04, 2023

Show notes

It's always best to start with saving seeds from your healthiest plants. But what if disease is unavoidable? In this throwback to episode 62, we talk about the two best treatments for saving seeds from plants infected with disease.

Episode Resources:

Hot Water Treatment for Seeds – Louisiana State University Ep. 62 - Properly Saving Seeds in Your Garden Just Grow Something with Karin Velez (justgrowsomethingpodcast.com)

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How to Start Saving Seeds From Your Garden (and Why) - Ep. 159 Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

If you were gardening in 2020 you likely remember the shortage of seeds that happened when the world shut down and suddenly everybody was growing a garden. Many seed companies were overwhelmed with the influx of orders and that shortage continued into the 2021 season. There’s nothing more disappointing than to peruse a beautiful seed catalog and make out your list of favorites to grow, only to be told the company is sold out.

Enter seed saving. If you grow heirloom or open-pollinated varieties, you can avoid this problem all together by saving your own seeds. Not only is it cost effective but often times you are creating a stronger strain that is going to work particularly well in your garden each subsequent year because the parent plant has been exposed to, and survived, everything your climate can throw at it.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re digging into why we should add seed saving to our list of garden tasks, even if it isn’t for every variety we grow in our garden. We’ll talk about the practice of saving seeds, including plant selection and pollination control, and go step-by-step into how to extract, clean, dry, and store those precious commodities to be sure we have plenty of options for our gardens for years to come. Let’s dig in.

Episode Resources:

Plan Like a Pro is open for fall registration! Get started here:

Plan Like A Pro | Just Grow Something with Karin Velez

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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

Chart of Seed Viability and Simple Seed Germination Test

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon

Positively Farming Media Podcast Playlist on Spotify

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