This month on Down the Garden Path podcast, landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing begin their month-long look at edible gardening. In this episode, all-star guest Julia Dimakos returns to the podcast to discuss growing herbs and her new e-book How to Plan a Vegetable Garden, available now at www.juliadimakos.com

About Julia Dimakos

Julia gardens in 7000 square feet in Mono, Ontario, continuing in the formal kitchen garden style. She has been growing vegetables and writing about gardening for over 10 years and has been published in Canadian Organic Grower magazine twice.

She loves to inspire others to have their own vegetable gardens by showing them the simpler side of gardening. She enjoys teaching others, speaking, and holding workshops. You can read her blog at www.juliadimakos.com.

Don't miss our conversation on growing herbs with Gardening Girl Julia Dimakos.

Some of the questions and topics covered:

• What are the best conditions to grow herbs inside?
• What herbs are easiest to grow?
  • Easiest to grow: Dill, cilantro, basil, thyme, ginger (from store-bought rhizome), sweet marjoram
• Is it hard to start herbs from seed?
  • Harder to grow from seed: parsley, sage, oregano, lavender, savory (summer or winter), lemongrass
• Is it better to buy herbs for indoors vs. starting from seeds?
  • Better to purchase as a plant: rosemary, mint, lovage
• What conditions do we need to have to grow herbs outside?
• Is there a special fertilizer required for herbs?
• Should we use organic fertilizer when feeding herbs and other edibles?
• What are some of the common pests and diseases herbs are susceptible to?

You can find Julia online here, as well as on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

You can also listen to past Down the Garden Path podcasts featuring Julia:

Growing Under Lights

Digging Deep with Veggies

Growing Indoors

Autumn Edibles

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.

And Matthew Dressing is a horticulturist and landscape designer. He owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, Joanne and Matthew do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and helpful topics. Their goal is to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.