WHEN GROWING from seed, the list of decisions starts with what turns out to be the simplest question of all: which variety of bean or tomato or zinnia to order. But then things get more complicated, questions like figuring out when to start what, and whether any of your choices need any special pre-treatment or particular conditions to germinate—including what germinating medium to use. We’ve all heard the recommendation to use less peat, the standard for seed starting until relatively recently, when this non-renewable resource has been under scrutiny. But what peat substitutes work and don’t? That’s just one of the many questions that today’s guest, Joe Lamp’l answers on social media and in the “Master Seed Starting” online course he offers about his favorite topic, growing from seed, and it’s one we explored together. Joe is host of the popular “Joe Gardener” podcast and creator of a suite of online gardening courses. Or perhaps you know him from his former Emmy-winning public television program, “Growing a Greener World.” Joe gardens in the Atlanta area, and I don’t know any other home gardener who starts more seeds each season. He’s also the author of “The Vegetable Gardening Book: Your Complete […]

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WHAT DO YOU SAY we explore expanding our herb-gardening efforts to include some goodies to fill those jars in the spice rack, too? Most of us have probably grown cilantro, for instance, with its distinctive-tasting bright green foliage, but I suspect few of us have harvested coriander seed, the other possible crop that same species of plant can yield. Sarah Kleeger of Adaptive Seeds has been adding coriander and various other spice-rack possibilities to her garden, farm and seed catalog, like anise (above, in flower) and caraway and more, all plants that are also ornamental and beloved by the creatures she calls “our garden friends,” from beneficial insects to birds. In 2009, Sarah Kleeger and Andrew Still (pictured below; photo by Shawn Linehan) founded Adaptive Seeds, their certified-organic, farm-based seed company near Sweet Home, Ore., whose mission is to steward rare, diverse, and resilient seed varieties for ecologically minded farmers, gardeners, and seed savers. All their varieties are open-pollinated and adapted to the Pacific Northwest and other short-season Northern climates, including selections of some garden-grown spice rack favorites that are our topic today, along with some unusual leafy green herbs you may not have tried, either. Read along as you […]

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‘THE DREAM has always been a rainbow of peas.” That’s what Dylana Kapuler, co-owner of Peace Seedlings, said to me more than a decade ago, and that dream continues to fuel a passion for breeding colorful, edible-podded peas at the organically managed, Oregon-based seed company. Ready to think beyond your basic green pods and expand your palette to purple and yellow and even reddish shades, including ones with flowers and gorgeous colors that hummingbirds especially love, too? Dylana Kapuler and Mario DiBenedetto, who founded Peace Seedlings in 2008 after helping Dylana’s parents, Alan and Linda Kapuler, with their longtime seed-breeding project called Peace Seeds, have built on the impressive legacy of Alan’s decades of organic seed breeding—including colorful peas. They also have lots of other legumes, including 15 kinds of edamame, and we talked about how easy those are to grow, too, among other catalog features. Their catalog is old-school style: Browse the variety list on their website, write up your order, and put it and your check for seeds and shipping in an envelope. Read along as you listen to the Feb. 9, 2026 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to […]

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GOLDENRODS are powerhouses—keystone plants that serve as hosts for more than 100 species of butterflies and moths, and as rich, late-season sources of pollen and nectar for countless beneficial insects. As if that were not enough, they also produce seed that supports various birds. Now Mt. Cuba Center, the native plant garden and research institution in Delaware, has published the results of its three-year trial of 70 different goldenrods—and their manager of horticultural research, Sam Hoadley, detailed for me what they learned about the best goldenrods (like Solidago sphacelata, above) and how to use them in your garden. Sam is the Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba Center, where he evaluates native plant species, old and new cultivars, and hybrids in the famed Mt. Cuba Trial Garden. I always look forward to our conversations and to getting his first-hand insights into each genus they explore there, and Sam will also be presenting a virtual class on goldenrod Feb. 18 at 6:00-7:30 PM (information on that is here on the Mt. Cuba website). Read along as you listen to the Feb. 2, 2026 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future […]

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IT WAS 1 DEGREE Fahrenheit outside when I looked at my electronic weather station readout the other morning, a perfect time for some winter-defying tactics like talking tomatoes. Organic seed farmer and breeder Don Tipping of Siskiyou Seeds in Oregon joined me for a colorful, warming conversation, because after trialing 55 tomato varieties last season, Don has some goodies to recommend—and some advice on growing your best tomatoes ever, including ones that actually store well long after harvest. Yes, storage tomatoes (like the ones hanging above). Don Tipping founded Siskiyou Seeds, a family-run farm-based organic seed company, in 1997. Siskiyou is a farm with a view situated at 2,000 feet of elevation in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southwest Oregon, and features something like a thousand varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers in its impressive collection. Read along as you listen to the Jan. 26, 2026 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here). a diversity of tomatoes, with don tipping Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:27:10 Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify Margaret Roach: Hi, Don, how are you? […]

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EVERY YEAR when I get to the sweet pea listings in the seed catalogs, I think: This is the year, the year I’ll organize some supports in the garden for them, and indulge in their unmatched extravagance of color and fragrance. Matt Mattus doesn’t hesitate one second, or have to think twice about sweet peas ever. They are always on the list in his Massachusetts garden, grown both as cut flowers and elements of beds and borders. Matt, author of “Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening” (affiliate link) and also of “Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening,” gardens at his Worcester, Mass., home. Matt is the third generation of his family to live and garden there, in the same house with its two-acre landscape. He’s had a career as a graphic artist and toy designer at Hasbro for many years, but for at least as long he’s been passionately designing garden scenes and experimenting with one genus or another in his garden and greenhouse, where he can’t resist the impulse to try every last species or variety of something that he can get his hands on. Read along as you listen to the Jan. 8, 2024 edition of my public-radio […]

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UNTIL I MET James Young, early in 2025, it hadn’t really registered in my brain that some of the familiar annuals I grow from seed, like cosmos and marigolds and even purple basil or black hollyhock (above), could also double as dye plants. James is co-owner of Grand Prismatic Seed, a gorgeous and information-packed online seed catalog based in Northern Utah, where plants that offer natural dyes are one specialty alongside regional natives and High Desert-adapted edibles and flowers. James is passionate about the fiber arts, and he’s been an expert knitter since high school and is also deep into the art and science of natural dyes, whether sourced from garden plants or foraged ones. In 2016, James co-founded Grand Prismatic with Guy Banner, a horticulturist at Red Butte Garden and Arboretum at the University of Utah, who works part time at their seed company. Read along as you listen to the Jan. 12, 2026 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here). natural-dye plants, with james young Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:26:35 | Recorded on January 9, […]

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I’M LETTING myself be transported away from the winter scene outside my window, burying my nose not in the snow but instead in the spring-into-summer possibilities depicted in seed-catalog pages. I have familiar, favorite varieties I grow every year—but I’m also looking for some new-to-me possibilities, and Lane Selman of the Culinary Breeding Network at Oregon State University always has some delicious suggestions. Lane, a professor of practice at Oregon State, founded the Culinary Breeding Network in 2012, a collaborative community of plant breeders, seed growers, farmers, produce buyers and chefs collaborating to improve vegetables and grains by creating, identifying and promoting outstanding cultivars—especially organic ones. Among Lane’s personal plant passions are edibles from Italian culinary traditions, including a diversity of radicchio, and I was eager to get her suggestions for our 2026 gardens. (Above, a new kale from Johnny’s Selected Seeds that she has her eye on, called ‘Unicorn.’) Read along as you listen to the Jan. 5, 2026 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here). must-try seeds, with lane selman Download file | Play in new […]

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I PUT OUT my first bird feeder of the season around Thanksgiving or so each year and get the party started. But there’s more to feeding the birds than just filling the feeders, like how to keep them safe in the age of increased disease transmission, or how to provide essential water in the coldest months, and of course, much-needed tactics for outsmarting the squirrels. Smart bird feeding and more bird-related wisdom was the topic of conversation I had in December 2022 with Julie Zickefoose, that I’m featuring in encore on the podcast. I’m always delighted to talk to Julie Zickefoose, who is a wildlife rehabilitator and artist and author of various books, including a favorite of mine, “Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay” (affiliate link).  Julie lives and gardens on an 80-acre wildlife sanctuary in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio. Plus: Enter to win a copy of “Saving Jemima” by commenting in the box at the bottom of the page. Read along as you listen to the Dec. 29, 2025 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and […]

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THE EARLIEST REFERENCES to humans cultivating trees date back to maybe 6000 BC, and there are records of tree-care tactics in the Bible, too, and from ancient Egypt. These person-to-tree interventions were the start of the science and art of arboriculture, and our best practices of pruning and other how-to have evolved in each successive era to the methods we know today. I took a look backward in history, and also explored some current recommendations, with Melissa Finley, New York Botanical Garden’s Thain Curator of Woody Plants, and also curator of NYBG’s Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. Woody plants are Melissa’s passion; she is a certified arborist, and was a forester with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation before joining NYBG four years ago. Read along as you listen to the Dec. 22, 2025 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here). woody plant history and how-to, with melissa finley Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:26:43 Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify Margaret Roach: How are you in this craziest of winters so far, huh? [Laughter.] Up […]

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