Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

Ever get to the end of the growing season and realize your tomato patch didn’t live up to the expectations you had when you planted it in the spring?In this episode we chat with tomato expert Frank Hyman, author of the brand-new book Ripe Tomato Revolution. He shares his top tips to get lots of healthy, homegrown tomatoes—with less work. Frank has over four decades of hands-on experience, as both a farmer and a gardener. He shares a super practical way for home gardeners to prevent disease, along with his easy-to-make, easy-to-use homemade tomato cages. Whether you’re a first-time tomato grower or a seasoned gardener, get ideas to improve your tomato harvest from Frank’s down-to-earth tips and techniques.Hear about: Simple DIYs: tomato cages, and Frank’s “tomato house” concept to prevent diseaseCreating conditions for tomatoes to thrive Mulching like a proWays to support tomato plantsDifferent types of tomato plantsFrank’s personal stories from years on an organic tomato farm Perfect for: urban gardeners, backyard growers, sustainable farmers, and tomato lovers of all levels.Listen now and let’s grow the best tomatoes you’ve ever tasted!If you’re looking for more on staking and supporting tomatoes, check out this great post.  ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Today we continue our cross-Canada tour, chatting with food gardeners, and sharing crop and variety ideas to help you as you plan your 2026 garden.We head to Manitoba, just outside of Winnipeg, to chat with Brent Poole, an avid backyard veggie gardener who has been at it for over 45 years. Along with his own big suburban yard, Brent has a big garden across the street. He loves to experiment with new techniques and new varieties, something he attributes to his background in biology. Brent writes for and is on the board of The Prairie Garden, an annual publication that’s all about gardening on the Canadian prairies. If you garden in a cold climate—or want to make the most of a short growing season—this episode is packed with practical ideas. ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

We continue our cross-Canada tour, chatting with inspiring gardeners to hear about favourite varieties and top crops. Today we head to Regina, Saskatchewan, to chat with Candace Benson, who runs City Street Farms. Candace tells us about how she turns grass into gardens in a city that has a lot of single-family homes—and a lot of front lawns. She shares the story of her business, talks about her process to transform a lawn into a garden, and then talks about favourite veg and flower varieties. You can find Candace online, at citystreetfarms.ca ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Today we’re joined by Helen Battersby, who talks about a gardening book that began as a coping tool. Helen tells us about Margaret Bennet-Alder, who turned to gardening during a difficult family chapter. Inspired by the homemade booklets her son used to manage appointments and medication while rebuilding his life, Margaret began tracking her garden the same way—seasonal tasks, plant sources, and hard-earned gardening lessons. The book, the Toronto Gardener’s Journal, was a shared project with her son. They started with 50 copies. Margaret and her son, and, later, sisters Helen and Sarah Battersby, grew the book into a nationally loved resource, with over 20,000 journals sold across Canada. This is a story about gardens—but also about resilience, care, and the healing power of gardening. ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

We continue our cross-Canada tour, chatting with inspiring gardeners to find out favourite varieties and top crops. Today we chat with Niki Jabbour, a CBC radio gardening expert, one of the creators behind the gardening website savvygardening.com, and the award-winning author of The Year Round Vegetable Gardener, Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden, Veggie Garden Remix: 224 New Plants to Shake Up Your Garden and Add Variety, Flavor, and Fun, and Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden.Niki shares some of her long-time favourite veg varieties, more recent additions to her favourites list, and some varieties with a Canadian pedigree. (Spoiler alert: including one that’s listed in the Slow Fook Ark of Taste.)  ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

We continue our cross-Canada tour of inspiring gardeners to find out favourite varieties and top crops.Today we chat with Dave Hanson, co-host of The Grow Guide podcast, and owner of Sage Garden Greenhouses in Winnipeg, Manitoba.Dave shares some of his favourite veg varieties. He also talks about top herbs, one of his specialties.Lavender get smoked in a harsh winter? Dave has a suggestion. And if you just can’t get enough cucs, hear what he does. ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Leafy greens always seem to bolt too quickly? Can’t figure out why your broccoli isn’t forming heads? Choosing vegetable varieties suited to your climate helps avoid these sorts of frustrations.In this episode, we get variety recommendations from gardening expert and entomologist Linda Gilkeson. Having spent much of her career on programs to reduce pesticide use, Linda is also an avid organic gardener who can garden year-round in her coastal climate.Her books include Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest and West Coast Gardening: Natural Insect, Weed and Disease Control.Linda gardens on Salt Spring Island, one of the Gulf Islands off the coast of British Columbia. She describes her growing conditions as coastal Pacific Northwest. Her variety recommendations are for these conditions.But even if you’re not in the Pacific Northwest, I suggest you tune in. You’ll hear about tomato varieties that produce when it’s too cold for most others to set fruit. Did you know there are three broad groups of broccoli? And get Linda’s vegetable gardening words of wisdom.Click here to see Linda’s list of top vegetable varieties.Find Linda online at lindagilkeson.caIf you’re looking for sources and tips about ordering vegetable seed, check out the post about where to get vegetable seed.   ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Not sure what to do with a long, skinny, straight-edged garden beside a driveway, patio, or building?In this episode, we take a long, slender ornamental garden and reimagine the space with edible plants.The garden we’re thinking about is actually a little sliver of the Joan of Arc Garden in Quebec City. But these same ideas work well in in many home-garden situations.We talk about:Crop ideas (kales, Thai basil, borage, shiso, and fern-leaf parsley)Groupings vs. individual plantsUrns for adding height an interest in this skinny spacePlants that last into the fall vs. plants that fade with fall weatherIf you’re looking for more on edible flowers like borage, check out this article about edible flowers.  ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Do you have a garden where you use traditional annuals, but you want to switch it up for something edible?Herbs are one option.In this episode, we look at a space that has a tidy, slightly formal feel.We replace the tightly clipped shrubs with edible alternatives.And then we change out the annuals for herbs.If you’re looking for more on using edible plants instead of traditional bedding plants, check out this post.  ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Wondering about adding edible plants to an existing gardening without spoiling the aesthetic?With the right plant choice, along with an understanding of how the space is used, you can add edible plants without spoiling the looks.In this episode, we take a public space and reimagine it with edibles.It’s a big space, with lots of lawn. We talk about plant choice for this shady spot, and about plant placement that doesn’t interfere with how this space is used. We include: Edibles as bedding plants Using height to make a focal point Edibles for colour Edible perennials Fruit for shadeIf you’re looking for more on crops for shade, check out this post.  ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Thinking of veggies for your container garden? Or planter boxes with herbs? In this episode, we look at a patio surrounded by planter boxes that are filled with red geraniums...nothing but red geraniums.Our goal? Transform this linear container garden from a continuous line of red into something varied, colourful—playful—and edible.Hear two different approaches to reimagining the planter boxes so that they’re a low-maintenance edible container garden.If you’re looking for more on the sub-irrigated planters from this episode, find out more here.  ***Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.And say hi—we love to hear what you think! ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Got a spot you’d like to use to grow food but not sure where to start?In this episode, we tackle a bare space with hard clay, in zone 3.Let’s not forget the deer and rabbits. Oh, and there’s a narrow “hell strip” that’s needs to be planted too.The good news is that there are lots of ways to add edibles to a garden. The way to start is by choosing a creative direction, and then getting started.We work through two entirely different approaches to this space.First, we explore a low-maintenance “grazing” garden with perennials. Next, we think about how to use a potager style in this space.For the plant palette we’re including options for:·         Partial sunlight·         Good cold tolerance for perennials (zone 3!)·         Less attractive to deer·         Plants that give options for adding colour, texture, and heightIf you’re looking for fruits, vegetables, and other plants that you can grow in the shade, here’s a post to get you started. ***-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Think your climate is too cold to grow tender fruit? Find out how this grower harvests peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, and more…despite winter temperatures that can dip to -38°C (-36°F) and a short summer.In this episode, Donna and Steven chat with Saskatchewan fruit grower Dean Kreutzer.  We talk about:Fruit adapted to cold climatesUsing unheated greenhouses to grow tender fruit, grapes…and figsHeat sinks and insulated tarpsCapturing heat from the ground—without an elaborate geothermal heating systemKreutzer and his wife run Over the Hill Orchards in Saskatchewan.If you’re looking for more on cold-hardy fruit, check out this post on Saskatoon Berries. ***-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Do you have more seeds and plants than you can fit into your garden?It’s a common problem for the enthusiastic food gardener!In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about finding more growing space so that you can fit more crops into the same space.Get ideas for:Growing in ungardenable spaces…like the root-infested space next to hedgesReducing space used by pathwaysTiering crops in a gardenUsing paved areas, decks—and stairs!If you’re looking for more on garden planning, check out these 7 vegetable garden layout ideas.  ***-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Want to grow great tomatoes? With the right transplanting and care, your tomatoes will be off to a great start.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:Transplanting tomato seedlingsProtecting transplants from cold spring weatherHow to stake, train, and support tomato plantsPruning tomato suckersWatering and feedingTomato challenges, including pests, diseases, and blossom end rot.If you’re looking for more on how to support tomato plants, check out this article. -->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Wondering when to plant vegetables? Not sure what to plant first?You don’t need to plant everything at once.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about when to plant vegetables, and the Canadian tradition of planting the garden over the Victoria Day (May 24) weekend.(Sometimes it makes sense…though not for all crops in all zones.)If you’re looking for more on planting vegetables, check out this article on direct seeding. ***-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time! -->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates. -->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Your vegetable seedlings can look great indoors. Then fall like dominoes in the garden.If they’re not hardened off.But if you harden off seedlings, they stand a much better chance once you plant them in the garden.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:What hardening off meansWhy harden off seedlingsHow to harden off seedlingsWhen to harden off seedlingsHarden off seedlings in a greenhouseIf you’re looking for more on growing vegetables from seed, check out post on how to direct seed vegetables. -->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Wondering about fruit to grow in a cold climate?Today we head to Alberta, to find out how to grow saskatoon bushes. Arden Delidais grows in Zone 2—and doesn’t get any winter dieback on her saskatoon berries.Delidais’ orchard and winery, DNA Gardens, has a number of cold hardy crops including saskatoon berries, apples, plums, rhubarb, currants, and haskaps.Saskatoon bushes (Amelanchier alnifolia) are native to North America. (South of the border you might hear them referred to as juneberry or shadbush.)Delidais tells Steve and Donna about:How to prune saskatoon bushesSaskatoon varietiesSaskatoon pests and diseasesHow to propagate saskatoon berriesHow to use saskatoon fruitIf you’re looking for more on saskatoons, here’s a guide to growing them. -->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Have you tried direct sowing but didn’t get good results? Wondering how to direct sow seeds?Direct sowing—a.k.a. direct seeding or direct planting—is when we sow seeds straight into the garden. We skip starting transplants indoors.It gives better results for some crops—because there’s no transplanting shock. And that’s great, because it saves you the hassle of growing transplants.But some crops need extra growing time…and that’s where transplants make sense. Or sometimes, hot summer weather causes spotty germination outdoors, meaning transplants are a better option.To ace your direct seeding, you need to know which crops it works with—and how to do it.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:Why and when to direct sowWhen it makes sense to grow transplants instead of direct sowingHow to direct sow seedsWhat crops are best for direct sowingIf you’re looking for more ideas for planting your vegetable garden, here’s an article with 7 Vegetable Garden Layout ideas.     -->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.

Want to harvest more veg from the same amount of space? You can get lots more from a small space by growing in containers. (If you get it right…but that’s not difficult!)If you get these 4 things right, you’re on the road to container gardening success: The right containerGood soilA suitable locationProper careIn this episode, Donna and Steven share top tips for container gardening success, including choosing pots, selecting soil, finding a suitable spot, and caring for your container vegetables.If you’re looking for more on container gardening, here are top container garden crops.  ---Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!Grab the free e-book: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks.Find out more about the Canada Gardener’s Journal: It’s a gardening journal, gardening log, and garden planner—with an all-Canadian sources list.