Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

Vertical vegetable gardening squeezes more plants into a limited space by making use of space above the ground.

In today’s episode, Steve digs into vertical gardening.

We talk about:

• Top crops for vertical gardening
• The benefits of vertical gardening
• Support structures in a vertical garden
• Materials to make your own trellises and support structures.

***

- 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!

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

Wally Satzewich joins us from Saskatchewan to tell us about Small-Plot Intensive Farming (SPIN Farming.) 

Having studied psychology and ran a taxi franchise, Wally became interested in market gardening. 

So he bought a farm. 

But a conventional market garden wasn’t the right fit for him. That’s because a big operation requires hired help and capital outlay for equipment. 

So Wally and his wife Gail sold the farm—and moved back to the city. To farm—to farm other people’s yards.

And in the process, Wally mapped out a system of best practices called SPIN farming (Small Plot Intensive farming.)

Today he tells us his journey, and what he’s learned along the way.

We talk about:

• Running the 20-acre market garden
• Downsizing and setting up in the city
• The SPIN model and variations on it
• Comparing SPIN farming to commodity farming
• Using the SPIN model in small towns
• Top tips for new urban and SPIN farmers

***

- 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!

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

Andrew Huxsel joins us from St Placide, Quebec to tell us about worm composting. Also known as vermicomposting. 

Andrew runs Vermicbec, a company that sells worms and worm compost.

We talk about:

• How vermicomposting works
• Using vermicompost (a.k.a. worm castings or worm wompost)
• Large scale vs. home-scale vermicomposting
• Top tips for home gardeners wanting to try worm composting (If you’ve tried it and had bug problems, Andrew tells you how to solve the problem) 

***

- 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!

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

It’s planting season here..and the gardening questions are pouring in. 

Here’s the Q + A from our latest live show.

We talk about:

• Favourite tomato varieties
• Support for tomato plants
• Mulch
• Asparagus
• Microgreens
• Lemons
• Artichoke
• Squirrels
• What to do about bolting lettuce

***

- 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!

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

We head to Georgia to chat with 7-year-old Kendall Rae Johnson and her mom, Ursula.

Kendall is the youngest certified farmer in the state of Georgia.

At her aGROWKulture Farm she grows her favourite crops and teaches other kids about gardening.

Kendall has been on Good Morning America, The Ellen Show, and Sesame Street.

Our own connection with Kendall is that we’re fans of the organization KidsGardening. Emma and Kendall were both involved in an event that KidsGardening hosted last year.

***

- 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!

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

We chat with Zach Loeks, an educator and grower who specializes in edible ecosystem design. 

He talks about the two-wheel tractor, a versatile piece of equipment that he says can be used by backyard gardeners, homesteaders, edible landscapers, and in community gardens.

(If you’re about to skip this episode because you don’t want more equipment…stay a while. Zach has insights into soil and tillage too.) 

In this episode we talk about:

• A look at the 2-wheel tractor
• How it’s different from a rototiller
• How home gardeners, landscapers, and homesteaders can use 2-wheel tractors
• What can a 2-wheel tractor do beyond tilling (spoiler alert: they can blow snow and bale hay too!)
• Earthworks for swales, berms, and beds on contour
• Tillage: minimum till vs. no-till

Zach is the author of The Two-wheel Tractor Handbook.

***

- 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!

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

Permaculture Orchard

We chat with orchardist Stefan Sobkowiak who replaced an organic apple orchard with a permaculture orchard at Miracle Farms.
We talk about:

• Why he prefers a permculture planting to a monoculture organic apple orchard
• How can an orchard be a permaculture?
• The system of “trios” he uses as a basic design unit
• Minimizing external inputs
• Using sheep in an orchard
• Timelines for establishing a permaculture orchard
• Using fruiting shrubs under trees
• Planting perennial flowers, herbs, and vegetables underneath fruiting shrubs

When it comes to the idea of permaculture, Sobkowiak says, “It’s just applied common sense.” 

***

- 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!

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

Grow What's in Your Kitchen!
In this episode, we head to Vermont and get great ideas for what we can grow right now, in early spring, using what’s in the kitchen. 

We talk about kitchen-scrap gardening with Em Shipman, Executive Director at KidsGardening.

Em also tells us about Kids Garden Month, with lots of fun activities and prizes for kids.

We talk about:

• Growing small seeds from the kitchen (e.g. citrus)
• Growing large seeds (e.g. mango, avacado)
• Growing roots and tubers and rhizomes (e.g. ginger, sweet potato)
• Things for kids to do in the garden in early spring
• Kids Garden Month

***

- 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!

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

In this episode, we dig into some history, a sad story – and hope.

All this from a tree that was known as the redwood of the east. A towering tree prized for its wood. A tree pivotal to the forest ecosystem.

And by the 1950s, it was thought to be extinct in Ontario.

But it wasn’t extinct. And it’s not extinct now.

We head to southwestern Ontario to find out what the Canadian Chestnut Council is doing to bring the American chestnut back to the landscape. 

Whether you’re a forager, interested in food forests, or want to grow nuts, this is a fun chat.

Our chestnut guide is Ron Casier, chair of the Canadian Chestnut Council.

We talk about:

• The American chestnut, and the place it held in the ecosystem
• Chestnut blight, and its effect on chestnut populations
• The “Canadian” American chestnut
• Breeding disease-resistance American chestnut varieties

***

- 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!

Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot! 

***

Niki Jabbour on how to Make and Use Mini Tunnels

Less frost damage. Fewer bugs. Better growing conditions. 

Mini tunnels have lots of advantages, and they're easy to make and use. 

For this episode, we head to Nova Scotia to chat with vegetable gardening expert Niki Jabbour about how to make and use mini tunnels.

She’s the author of Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden and the creator of the online course How to Build and Use Mini Hoop Tunnels in the Vegetable Garden.

We talk about:

• What mini tunnels are
• Mini tunnels and weather
• Mini tunnels and pests
• Materials to make mini tunnels
• Getting an early start in the spring garden
• Turbo-charging heat loving crops with mini tunnels

***

- 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!