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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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. 

Don’t miss out on fresh figs just because you’re gardening in a cold climate.There are many cold-climate fig growers who defy zone boundaries with creative overwintering techniques.Figs can take quite a bit of cold. Not the extreme cold. A creative gardener gets figs through the winter by moderating the extremes.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about fig-growing tactics for cold climates so that you can harvest figs—even if you have zone envy!If you’re looking for more cold-climate fig-growing tips, drop by our fig home page.

Can’t get enough pawpaw fruit? Want to grow a pawpaw tree?If you haven’t tried pawpaw fruit, many people describe the flavour of its silky, yellow flesh as tropical.While it’s the largest fruit native to North America, it’s difficult to find the fruit for sale.  Yet it’s easy to grow.That’s why many gardeners and small farmers plant pawpaw trees.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk with pawpaw expert Adam D’Angelo to get tips on growing pawpaw trees. We talk about:Where to grow pawpaw treesPawpaw tree hardiness (yes, there are pawpaw growers in Canada!)Grafting pawpaw treesHow to grow pawpaw from seedPawpaw breedingWhat makes pawpaw a great fruit crop for home gardeners and small farmersD’Angelo is the founder of Project Pawpaw, a crowd-funded pawpaw research and breeding program.If you’re looking for more on pawpaw, tune into our interview with the Indiana Jones of pawpaw, Neal Peterson, and hear our chat with Toronto pawpaw expert Paul DeCampo. 

When you make only withdrawals—no deposits—you eventually end up in overdraft. It works that way at the bank, with friendships—and with soil.And growing crop after crop in a garden is like making withdrawal after withdrawal. The crops use nutrients. Working the soil affects its structure.Amending soil is like putting money back into the bank. Soil amendments can improve soil structure, soil chemistry, and return nutrients to the soil.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about practical ways home gardeners can improve soil quality with soil amendments. We discuss different types of manures, making compost, using leaves, wood chips, and common products such as bone meal, peat moss, and blood meal.If you’re looking for more on soil, check out this post about how and when to use wood ash in the garden.

Looking for herb garden layout ideas? If you’re planning a herb garden, there are many ways to add herbs to the landscape. You can have a stand-alone herb garden, a herb lawn, herbs mixed with paving, use herbs as bedding plants, weave them into a perennial border, or make a herb container garden on a patio, deck, or paved space.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about ideas for using herbs in home garden landscapes and share their favourite perennial herbs, annual herbs, and exotic herbs.If you’re looking for more on planning a kitchen garden, check out this post on kitchen garden planning.

Leafy greens fizzle out in the summer? Does your lettuce bolt too soon?Find out how to grow more leafy greens in your garden and how to extend your harvest so you can pick fresh salad greens as long as possible.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops ideas for leafy greens, how to plant leafy greens in a home garden or edible landscape, choosing greens crops for ongoing harvest, how to hurry up your spring harvest, and how to slow down bolting—even in hot weather. If you’re looking for more on leafy greens, check out this guide to 5 heat-tolerant salad greens.

Tried growing a potted lemon tree but it didn’t thrive? Citrus expert Byron Martin has the solution. And it’s not difficult.AND he also has recommendations for other unusual potted citrus trees. We talk about finger limes, blood limes, pomelo, sweet lemon, sunquat, kumquat, citron, and more.For all of these citrus trees in pots, proper watering is the key to success. We hear how to water—and what to expect from potted citrus trees in the fall. (Spoiler alert: If your lemon tree drops leaves when you bring it indoors, you’re not alone!)We also find out about Byron’s favourite rootstock for citrus grafting.If you’re looking for more on indoor lemon trees, here’s a guide to growing a lemon tree in a pot (that actually fruits!) 

Don’t have time to spend on fussy fruit crops? Then growing raspberries is something to think about. You can prune raspberries and manage the crop to maximize production. But this is one of those bulletproof crops that can do quite nicely without your help.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about planting raspberries, how raspberries grow, how to prune raspberries, and how to care for them.If you’re looking for more on raspberries, tune in to our chat with Conrad Richter from Richters Herbs about the genus rubus (and learn about raspberry leaf tea!)And here’s more on how to tip-layer blackberries and black raspberries. 

Wondering which flowers you can eat? There’s a wide variety of edible flowers that are easy to grow.You might already have some and just aren’t using them.Edible flowers often come from well-known vegetable, herb, and fruit crops. But there are many that come from ornamental plants too. Even some shrubs and trees.Find out which flowers are edible—and how you can use them to spice up your cooking and have fun with your culinary creativity. In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about their favourite edible flowers, and how to use them.If you’re looking for more fun crops, check out these edible perennials. (You might already be growing some of them!

Wondering which vegetables to grow? Or how to pick suitable varieties for your vegetable garden? If you put some thought into your choices, you can avoid harvest-time disappointments.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops they find worthwhile, along with some favourite varieties. The choices for Donna’s cold prairie garden aren’t always the same as for Steven’s milder growing zone.  Start to narrow down the top choices for your vegetable garden with ideas on crops and varieties for:A reliable harvestSimplicitySuitability for your gardenIf you’re looking for more ideas to plan the perfect kitchen garden, check out these ideas. 

Growing tomatoes from seed? Get the right combination of timing, soil, light, and containers, and you can grow great tomato seedlings at home.There’s more than one way to raise tomato plants from seed. And that means you can do it in a way that fits your growing space.AND make sure to pick a variety you’ll love—because that’s a big reason for growing tomato seedlings. Some of the best tomato varieties are only available as seeds.In this episode, Donna and Steven chat with Gen Z tomato grower Emma Biggs, who has raised tons of tomato plants for her annual plant sale and seed business. They talk about how they grow tomatoes from seed and the varieties they love. (They each do it differently!)If you want more on planting tomatoes from seed, check out the guide to growing tomato seedlings on the website.And say hi—we love to hear what you think.

Do you shut down your garden for the winter? Wondering what vegetables to plant in the winter? If you’re in a northern climate, to grow vegetables in winter you need to give them heat and light…and that usually means high-input greenhouse growing.But there’s another way to approach winter vegetable gardening. And it’s low-tech.The idea is to choose hardy crops and grow them big enough before light levels take a dive. Then keep those hardy crops alive in a protected space—and keep harvesting through the winter.The key to successes is the right combination of crops, varieties, and the spacing.In this episode, find out how to you can harvest winter vegetables in cold-climate home gardens.We’re joined by JM Fortier, co-author of the book The Winter Market Gardener. The books shares years of research at Ferme des Quatre-Temps.Fortier is also founder of The Market Gardener Institute, which offers training for small farmers. He’s founder of the small-farm tool and accessory retailer Growers & Co. ---If you’re looking for more information on seed-starting, vegetable gardening, and growing food at home, drop by the Food Garden Life website and grab the free guide, 20 Small-Space Food-Garden Hacks.And say hi—we love to hear from what you think. 

Wondering when to plant your seeds indoors? Started too early and grown in pots too long before moving to the garden, your seedlings might run out of gas. They stall. But started too late, your seedlings might be midgets when it’s time to plant them in the garden.The right time to start seeds indoors—and have plants that aren’t too big or too small— depends on your crops and your location. It varies from place to place, but there’s a simple way to choose seed-starting dates.In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about when to start seeds indoors so that your vegetable transplants are a good size for transplanting into the garden. They also discuss direct-sowing dates for garden vegetables.If you’re looking for more information on seed-starting, vegetable gardening, and growing food at home, drop by the website and grab the free guide, 20 Small-Space Food-Garden Hacks.