Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

Why should we, here in the warm, sunny areas of the United States, have all the fun growing citrus? If you're in snow blower tune-up mode now, you could also be growing citrus trees such as lemons, limes and more…indoors! We talk with the man who literally wrote the book on citrus, Lance Walheim, about how to successfully grow citrus inside your house during the winter.
You’ve heard me yammer on about the benefits of using leaves as a mulch in your garden. But have you heard about garden tools that can pick up, mulch and bag all those leaves at one time? All you have to do is empty it on your garden bed. We’ll find out about how easy it is to use a combination leaf blower/vacuum, mulcher and bagger, freeing up a lot of your time. Brad Gay of JB's Power Equipment in Davis, CA explains how convenient they are to operate.

It’s Episode 54 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you by Smart Pots. And we will do it all in under 30 minutes.…

Links:
Four Winds Growers: advice for indoor growing of citrus
UC Mulch Materials Research Report
Meyer lemon picture courtesy Tomorrow’s Harvest

More info including live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred.

Got a garden question? E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. 

All About Farmer Fred:
Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook:  "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from possible links mentioned here.

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.

It’s Fabulous Fruit Friday! Ed Laivo of Tomorrows Harvest tells us about one of the most peach leaf curl resistant varieties of a peach or nectarine that you can grow at home: the Frost Peach. Plus, Ed and I do a deep dive into the mulch pile, singing the praises of topping your garden with wood chips, tree trimmings and more. Don’t worry, we won’t sing. But we do harmonize on how mulch can make your gardening chores a lot easier! Plus, our favorite retired college horticulture professor, Debbie Flower, explains why feeding your plants too much fertilizer is not doing them any good at all. In fact, you may be shortening the life of the plant by overfertilizing. Read and follow all fertilizer label instructions. I recommend using a slow-release organic fertilizer.

It’s Episode 53 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you by Smart Pots and Tomorrow's Harvest. And we will do it all in under 30 minutes.…let’s go!

Links:
The Frost Peach at Tomorrow's Harvest
Smart Pots Fabric Plant Containers
Guide to Mulching
Landscape Plants: Fertilizing and Watering
The Home Orchard by Chuck Ingels (excellent fruit tree book)

More info including live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred.

Got a garden question? E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. 

All About Farmer Fred:
Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook:  "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from possible links mentioned here.

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.

If you have a pollinator friendly garden, you have all sorts of beautiful flowering plants. Why not bring some of that outdoor splendor indoors? Today, on the Garden Basics podcast, the appropriately named horticulture professor, Debbie Flower, offers tips on how best to harvest and prepare cut flowers for an indoor display (that's a combination of zinnias with garlic & onion flowers in the picture).
Also, for those of you living in colder climates, you might have some backyard chickens. How are you gonna warm this winter? Chicken expert Nicole Gennetta of Heritage Acres Market in Colorado has tips. And, as a retired firefighter, she has some very important advice on keeping your chickens and your property from becoming, barbecued, shall we say, due to heat lamp issues. And, how to keep your chicken’s water from freezing in the cold months ahead.
It’s Episode 52 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. Brought to you by Smart Pots. And we will do it all in under 30 minutes.
Links:
Help Your Cut Flowers Live Longer
Heritage Acres Market
Side Mount Chicken Water Nipples
Submersible Heater for Chickens' Water Supply
Sweeter Heater (infrared overhead heater for chicks)
Essential Nutrients chicken seed blend
Backyard Poultry Health Guide

More info including live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred.

Got a garden question? E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. 

All About Farmer Fred:
Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook:  "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.

Thinking about buying a rototiller? How about purchasing a chipper/shredder instead? It’s a machine that will make easy work of chopping up your garden clippings, including tree limbs, into the greatest mulch you could possibly own. The latest research shows that rototilling your soil actually damages soil structure and the soil biology. On the other hand, the end result of using a chipper/shredder is going to provide you with a quality of mulch that we like to call, gardeners gold. We get buying tips on chipper/shredders from Brad Gay at JB's Power Equipment in Davis, CA.
Also, it’s Fabulous Fruit Friday. Ed Laivo of TomorrowsHarvest.com tells us about one of the sweetest pieces of fruit you can grow at home: the Candy Sprinkles Nectarine (that's what you see in today's picture).

It’s all on Episode 51 of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred. Brought to you by Smart Pots and Tomorrows Harvest. Visit smartpots.com/fred for more information and a discount on the original, lightweight, long-lasting fabric plant container, made in the USA. Interested in the Candy Sprinkles Nectarine, as featured on Fabulous Fruit Friday? Visit TomorrowsHarvest.com for more information. Who knows? There might even be a discount coupon waiting for you there! (Spoiler alert: It's GBSPRINKLE)

Links:
BCS chipper/shredder video
Rototilling can damage soil
Reasonably Priced Soil Testing:
University of Massachusetts/Amherst
Colorado State University
Candy Sprinkles Nectarine from Tomorrow's Harvest

More info including live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred.

Got a garden question? E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. 

All About Farmer Fred:
Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook:  "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.

We continue our discussion of easy to grow cool season vegetables with Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour. Last episode, we discussed the easy greens to start in your garden now in USDA Zones 7, 8 and 9. This time, we talk about easy root crops to grow, like carrots, turnips, beets and radishes. Plus tasty fall and winter above ground vegetables like sugar snap peas, snow peas and broccoli. Gail has a list of her favorite varieties to grow for gardeners just starting out. Also, we bounce around the topic of using rubber mulch in the yard, with our favorite retired horticulture professor, Debbie Flower.

It’s Episode 50 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you by Smart Pots,  and we will do it all in under 30 minutes.

Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday. It's available wherever podcasts are found.
Got a garden question? Call and leave a question, or text us the question: 916-292-8964. E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. Be sure to tell us where you are when you leave a question, because all gardening is local.

All About Farmer Fred:
 Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook: "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube
More podcast info including episodes, live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.

Looking for easy care, tasty, cool season vegetables to plant now? Look no further than all the nutritious, green leafy crops that love the fall weather. Today, we’re talking the basics for growing lettuce, spinach, chard, cabbage, Chinese greens, and kale, with great growing advice from Master Gardener Gail Pothour, who's also a vegetable expert. And we are introducing a new segment to the show: Fabulous Fruit Friday, presented by Tomorrow's Harvest! We’ll be showcasing each Friday a tasty variety of fruit that you can grow in your own yard, with a taste that beats anything found in a grocery store. Today: the Scarlet Halo Peach. Plus, tips for growing your backyard orchard. We’ll be talking with fruit tree expert, Ed Laivo of Tomorrow's Harvest.  Welcome to Fall, Welcome to Garden Basics with Farmer Fred…and we will do it all in under 30 minutes. Let’s get started!

Links:
Jericho Lettuce (pictured)
Row Covers and Frost Cloth
Cold Frames
All America Selections Winners

Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday. It's available wherever podcasts are found.
Got a garden question? Call and leave a question, or text us the question: 916-292-8964. E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. Be sure to tell us where you are when you leave a question, because all gardening is local.

All About Farmer Fred:
 Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook: "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube
More podcast info including episodes, live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.

The hot trend of spring is back, this time for fall. The trend? The home-based, back-to-the- land movement, where more and more people are starting a garden. Just as what happened in the spring, nurseries right now are seeing cool season vegetables and flowers flying off the shelves, especially for USDA Zones 7, 8 and 9. For those of you in colder climates, it might mean putting the backyard garden to bed and maybe doing some indoor gardening. 

But before you put that garden to bed, or if you are not planning on growing any cool season vegetables or flowers, give your garden soil a great big goodnight kiss, by growing a cover crop (such as the one pictured, raised beds that contain cover crops of fava beans, clover and oats) or covering your garden bed in fallen leaves, improving it for next spring. Soils expert Steve Zien tells you how.

Blueberry plants will soon start appearing in USDA Zone 9 nurseries, with more to follow as spring approaches next year. We’ve got tips on choosing, planting and pruning blueberries from one of the nation’s foremost blueberry plant growers, Dave Wilson Nursery and their blueberry experts, Tom Spellman and Phil Pursel.

Black widow spiders…what are they good for? Plenty, if you have a garden. Debbie Flower explains.

It’s Episode 48 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you by Smartpots. And we will do it all in under 30 minutes. Let’s go!

Links:
Steve Zien's webinar, "Healthy Soil, Happy Landscape"
Peaceful Valley Farm Supply Cover Crop Seed Selections
Peaceful Valley Farm Supply Cover Crop Solutions Chart
Dave Wilson Nursery's How to Grow Blueberries in Containers
Dave Wilson Nursery's Blueberry Varieties
Farmer Fred Rant: Blueberries Are Part of a Heart-Healthy Garden
UC IPM information on Black Widow Spiders

Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday. It's available wherever podcasts are found.
Got a garden question? Call and leave a question, or text us the question: 916-292-8964. E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. Be sure to tell us where you are when you leave a question, because all gardening is local.

All About Farmer Fred:
 Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook: "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube
More podcast info including episodes, live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.

Horticulture expert Debbie Flower rejoins us for Part 2 of Understanding the Language of Seed Packets. This time around, she has good planting instructions for what to do if that seed packet says things like, "darkness aids germination" or "requires light for germination". And, when it says "keep seedbed evenly moist, but how much water do you apply? And, just about every seed packet has instructions on thinning the seedlings, but don't tell you how to thin. Debbie Flower just might change the way you've been doing that. And we talk about something seed packets seldom tell you: how to save leftover seeds for best germination in the years ahead. And, how to test them to see if they are still viable.

And there's more on this edition of Garden Basics:

Across the country, many states are entering drought status. Watering restrictions might happen, again. If they do, there are a lot of suspicious characters who want to sell you drought cures for your plants. Do any of them work? Washington State Horticulture Professor Linda Chalker-Scott talks about what works, and doesn't work, to help get your garden through a drought.

And, nursery owner Julia Oldfield tells us how to combine plants to create a beautiful cool season flower garden, either in the ground, or in containers to keep the beneficial insects and pollinators happy. And to get smiles from anyone who passes by. It's the thrill, chill, spill garden.

It's all on Episode 47 of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred: Part 2 of Understanding Seed Packets.  And we will do it all in under 30 minutes. Links:
 More garden seed packet terminology here.
Great books on saving your own seeds, including Suzanne Ashworth's best selling, "Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, 2nd Edition".

Linda Chalker-Scott is the author of award-winning garden books, including "The Informed Gardener," "The Informed Gardener Blooms Again,"How Plants Work," and much more.
 
Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday. It's available wherever podcasts are found.
Got a garden question? Call and leave a question, or text us the question: 916-292-8964. E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. Be sure to tell us where you are when you leave a question, because all gardening is local.

All About Farmer Fred:
 Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook: "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube
More podcast info including episodes, live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.

A seed packet might say, “Plant in spring, but if you live in a mild climate, sow in fall.” What is a mild climate? Do you live in a mild climate? You might think so, but the folks at that seed company might disagree. On this episode of Garden Basics, our favorite retired College horticulture professor Debbie Flower tackles that as well as what can be other very confusing terms on a seed packet. Things like, “days to harvest”, bolting, scarify, stratify, and more. Plus, tips on how to store seeds so they'll last for years.
It’s all on Episode 46 of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred: Understanding Seed Packets, Part 1

Links:
Great books on saving your own seeds, including Suzanne Ashworth's best selling, "Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, 2nd Edition".

Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday. It's available wherever podcasts are found.
Got a garden question? Call and leave a question, or text us the question: 916-292-8964. E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. Be sure to tell us where you are when you leave a question, because all gardening is local.

All About Farmer Fred:
Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook:  "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube
More podcast info including episodes, live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.

Ripping out your summer garden to make room for the fall vegetable and flower garden? Before you stick one broccoli plant or calendula flower in that space, you need to improve your soil. It’s tired! How do you perk it up? One way: let a portion of your garden lay fallow for the summer, as is that bottom raised bed in the picture. But the soil is being replenished, courtesy of all the mulch on top of the bed.
Soils expert Steve Zien has faster acting tips for increasing the amount of microbial activity that’s taking place in your soil. And that’s one of the secrets to a bountiful harvest of fruits, vegetables and flowers.

We discuss the importance of testing your soil with a pH test kit and an N-P-K test kit, before making any amendments. To lower the pH, Zien suggests soybean meal, hydrolyzed fish fertilizer or earthworm castings. I like soil sulfur to lower the pH. To raise the pH, Zien suggests oyster shell lime or ground limestone.

Reasonably Priced Soil Testing:
University of Massachusetts/Amherst
Colorado State University

Use a soil probe or the Soil Sleuth to determine soil moisture before adding plants. Or, use my favorite moisture meter.

Zien says the best soil amendments include earthworm castings or good quality compost, which can be placed on top of the garden bed.

More information about Steve Zien's web presentation about soil health can be found here.

Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, CA has a quick tip: don’t leave those plants you just purchased in 6-packs stay in that container for more than a day or two. Move them up to 4” pots and a good quality potting soil if you can’t get them in the ground right away.

It’s all on Episode 45 of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred: Feed Your Soil: the cool season garden edition, brought to you by Smart Pots. Visit smartpots.com/fred for more information and a discount on the original, lightweight, long-lasting fabric plant container, made in the USA.  And we will do it all in under 30 minutes.

More info including live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred.

Got a garden question? E-mail: [email protected] or, leave a question at the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram locations below. 

All About Farmer Fred:
Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook:  "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics  Newsletter.