Down The Garden Path Podcast

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss Joanne's experience at the Garden Bloggers Fling in Philadelphia this September.

The Garden Bloggers Fling began in Spring 2008 as a meet-up for garden bloggers across the U.S. It soon became a must-attend, blogger-run annual event (paused only by the pandemic) hosted by organizers in a different city each year. Today the Fling has grown — while the name has been shortened — to include content creators across the international online garden media. Joanne was one of almost 100 gardeners who visited 15 private and public gardens in three and a half days.

Here are some of the topics covered in this episode:

• How did you first hear about The Fling?
• What is involved?
• How many flings has Joanne attended?
• What were some of the interesting gardens you got to see?
• What was the schedule like? What did you do on the first day?
• The fling is successful thanks to the many industry sponsors including:
  • Garden Media Group
  • Longwood Garden
  • Proven Winners
  • Monrovia
  • Bailey Nurseries
  • The Great Grow Along
• When and where is the next fling: July in the Puget Sound area of Seattle.

Learn more at www.gardenfling.org or search online for #thefling.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss lasagna gardening, also known as no-till gardening.

Here are some of the topics covered in this episode:

• What is lasagna gardening?
• Where can you build a lasagna garden?
• The steps you need to follow to build your own lasagna garden.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing review their top five lawn care tips for fall.

Here are some of the topics covered in this episode:

• When to aerate and/or dethatch
• Top dress with a high-quality compost
• Why it's too late to put down seed
• Applying corn gluten
• Using fertilizer

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing provide some tips and tricks and do's and don'ts for your October garden.

Here are some of the topics covered in this episode:

• How to plant your fall bulbs and garlic.
• Bringing in the annuals and tropicals you'd like to keep for next year or over winter.
• Why not prune and clean up your perennials, trees, shrubs, and leaves?
• How to prepare your lawn for fall and winter.
• Preparing your evergreens and Japanese maples for winter.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Dahlia May Flower Farm

Eco-Lawn grass seed

Lasagna Gardening, season 7 episode 36.

Down the Garden Path Podcast

On Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss some of the pest, disease, and environmental issues which may be causing your fall garden to be a little lacklustre this year.

Here are some of the topics covered in this episode:

• How to identify and treat powdery mildew on susceptible plant, like phlox and ninebark.
• Why leaves and flowers in the landscape are browning so early.
• What is boxwood blight and how to treat it.
• Other boxwood issues to watch out for to keep your boxwood healthy.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing provide some tips and tricks and do's and don'ts for your September garden.

Here are some of the topics covered in this episode:

• Plan your fall bulb display. Buy now for the best selection.
• Continue deadheading your summer bulbs.
• Plant cool and cold-tolerant vegetables.
• What to look for at perennial plant sales.
• When to bring in your tropical plant material.
• Now is the time to apply nematodes and repair your lawn.
• How to treat your crab grass.
• Caring for your deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs.
• How to add fall interest to the landscape.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss a popular and sometimes controversial topic in the garden: mulch.

To mulch or not to mulch, that is the question!

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• What is mulch?
• The different kinds of mulch
• What are the benefits of adding mulch to your garden?
• Ways to use mulch correctly
• Ditching the landscape fabric

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing show you how to keep your garden and landscape thriving during the August heat with tips and tricks and do's and don'ts for your August garden.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• Plan what fall bulbs you'd like to plant for your spring garden. Order now and buy early for the best varieties.
• Source garlic bulbs from a local farmer or reputable seed company to have them ready for fall planting.
• Continue to trim herbs like mint, chives, dill, etc., to encourage flavourful new growth.
• Cover ripening fruit to protect from birds and critters.
• Sow seeds of beans, beets, spinach, and turnips for a fall harvest.
• Check fruits, vegetables, annuals, perennials, trees, and shrubs for pests and diseases and remove, as necessary.
• Use Japanese beetle traps to control populations. Remember, 1 is enough for urban landscapes.
• Apply nematodes in mid-August, or sooner, to control white grub populations in the lawn.
• Continue to deadhead annuals and perennials to promote new blooms.
• Continue fertilizing containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets with a water-soluble fertilizer once every two weeks until Thanksgiving or you dispose of them for the season.
• Apply a new layer of rich compost to garden beds.
• Continue to weed your lawns and hardscapes.
• Remove small errant shoots from topiaries, shrubs, and hedges.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.

Summer has just begun, and forecasters predict it will be one of the hottest summers in recorded history. In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing show you how to keep your garden and landscape cool and colourful in the summer heat with tips and tricks and do's and don'ts for your July garden.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• Pros and cons of the recent hard fast rain and things to consider with your garden and containers.
• Lawns
  • The importance of watering deeply but less frequently
  • The best type of fertilizer for your lawn situation
  • The best time to fertilize
  • Staying on top of weeds
• Perennials/Annuals in the Garden
  • Deadhead perennials to clean up or encourage new growth
  • It may be time to clean up your annual containers and replace individual plants if there is a dead or poor-growing one.
  • Make sure the annual containers are not being over under or overwatered
  • Time to fertilize containers as well
• Shrubs: Pruning spring bloomers after flowering
• Trees: Fertilizing shrubs and trees, the best timing depending on the weather.
• Best ways to deep-water trees; do not rely on rain only
• Matthew and Joanne's vegetable garden
• Don't miss Matthew on Global News Morning this Friday!

After nine seasons and over 340 episodes, Down the Garden Path Podcast is ending its live broadcast on Reality Radio 101.

Although it was the last live broadcast, listeners can find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.

After nine seasons and over 340 episodes, Down the Garden Path Podcast is ending its live broadcast on Reality Radio 101. In this episode, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing look back at Down the Garden Path through the years and recount some of their favourite episodes, topics, guests, and moments since the show first aired on Monday, November 17th, 2014.

What are Joanne and Matthew's future plans for Down the Garden Path Podcast? Tune in to find out!

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• How did Down the Garden Path start nine years ago?
• Where can listeners tune into past radio show episodes?
• Why did Joanne and Matt enter the world of podcasting?
• Why did they decide to leave internet radio?
• What's next for Down the Garden Path Podcast?
• What are some of Joanne's favourite topics?
  • Straw Bale Gardening with Joel Karsten
  • Hellstrip Gardening with Evelyn Hadden
• What are some of Matt's favourite topics?
  • Author's month – great books on several great topics.
• Who are some of Joanne's favourite guests?
  • Repeat guests Jan Johnsen, Julia Dimakos (Gardening Girl), Lisa Steinkopf (The Houseplant Guru) Stephanie Rose (Gardentherapy.ca) Dawn Golloher (Gardens Plus)
• Who are some of Matt's favourite guests?
  • Julia Dimakos (Tea Gardening for Beginners): Their first official, and only other, 'co-host.'
  • Katie Dubow (Garden Trends Reports).
• What are some of Joanne's favourite episodes?
  • Plant-specific shows where they do deep dives
  • Month-in-the-garden episodes
• What are some of Matt's favourite episodes?
  • Launch Party: They announced that they'd published their book based on their month-in-the-garden series.
  • Ask Us Anything and month-in-the-garden series: Matt loved getting questions from listeners, hearing where they're from, and what's exciting in their gardens.
• Other favourites included:
  • From Joanne:
    • The beginning of the radio show with Gary.
    • Recording in the studio
  • From Matt:
    • Finding out about their birthdays.
    • Matt's first episode.
    • The first episode of Down the Garden Path.
• Where can listeners tune into Down the Garden Path Podcast after the last episode airs on June 26th, 2023?
• Can listeners still send in gardening questions? Yes! Let's continue the discussion on Facebook!

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their new book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe! You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.