Hort Culture

What does crop insurance look like for specialty crop growers, micro farms, and small-scale producers? In this episode of Hort Culture, the team welcomes Eston Williams, Navigator Project Specialist with the Southern Risk Management Education Center at the University of Arkansas, for a conversation about an often-overlooked side of horticulture: managing risk.

Eston shares stories from his upbringing on a Tennessee farm, his decades of work with USDA and NRCS, and his current role helping growers navigate crop insurance and risk-management resources. The conversation explores why insurance isn't just for large corn and soybean operations, how whole-farm and micro-farm coverage can benefit specialty crop growers, and why good recordkeeping and understanding your operation are so important.

The team also digs into some of the unique challenges facing horticulture producers, including cut-flower growers, value-added products, farmers-market operations, and even emerging agricultural enterprises like aquaculture. Along the way, Eston explains his role as a "navigator"—connecting growers with the right experts and resources when he doesn't have the answer himself.

It's an episode about protecting the work that goes into growing food, flowers, and other agricultural products—and making sure smaller and specialty growers know that risk-management resources are available to them, too.

USDA Risk Management Agency — Specialty Crops

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP)

Micro Farm Program

Find a Crop Insurance Agent

RMA WFRP & Micro Farm Roadshow Resources

USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA)

On this episode of Hort Culture, Ray, Alexis, Jessica, and Brett chat with Bryan Brady, Senior Extension Associate for Cultivate Kentucky, about everything from summertime Kentucky heat to the less-than-glamorous world of food safety and produce outbreaks. They dive deep into the biology of resilient microscopic parasites like Cyclospora, why standard wash water sanitizers can accidentally spread trouble across large batches of shredded lettuce, and how the lengthy incubation period makes these outbreaks so tough to trace. The crew also explores the intricacies of agricultural water risks, third-party GAP audits, and why buying local helps keep supply chains short and manageable compared to massive commercial operations.

Bryan Brady, Cultivate Kentucky Senior Extension Associate

The Kentucky Produce Safety Program

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In this episode of the Hort Culture podcast, hosts Alexis, Brett, Jessica, and Ray chat with Dr. Qinglu Ying from the University of Kentucky all about controlled environment agriculture (CEA). They dive into how greenhouse growing is booming across Kentucky, share a few laughs about dealing with classic Kentucky humidity, and break down practical grower challenges. The crew also explores the shift toward sustainable soilless media like wood bark and fiber, plus how cutting-edge LED lighting can actually boost plant health and antioxidants. They wrap things up with details on the upcoming Appropriate Tools and Technologies Field Day on August 25th and some great new extension resources for local growers.

Center for Crop Diversification-Greenhouse Resources

2026 Appropriate Technologies Field Day

University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension

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We are joined by Dr. Greg Davis to talk about how plants affect our daily lives and health. Greg is a long time listener and radio show host of Dr. Greg on Medicine! 

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Join Brett and Alexis to hear about how the CCD thinks about grant opportunities and their recent SERME project and its potential impacts for farmers of KY.

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Summer gardens are in full production, but extreme heat and changing weather patterns can create challenges for even the most experienced gardeners. In this episode of Hort Culture, Ray and Jessica discuss what they're seeing across Kentucky gardens as temperatures climb and crops begin producing.

The conversation covers how prolonged heat affects common garden vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, green beans, berries, melons, and pumpkins. They explain common heat-related issues such as blossom drop, delayed ripening, leaf roll, blossom-end rot, sunscald, bitter cucumbers, uneven pollination, and reduced fruit set. The hosts also share practical strategies for helping gardens withstand summer stress through proper watering, mulching, thoughtful pruning, shade management, and variety selection.

Along the way, they swap stories from their own gardens, including Jessica's children's "play garden," preserving the summer harvest, county fair gardening, and the excitement—and occasional frustrations—that come with growing your own food.

They wrap up by looking ahead to fall gardening, discussing why July is the time to begin planning and planting cool-season crops like carrots, spinach, broccoli, kale, and other fall favorites.

Whether you're managing a backyard vegetable patch or simply trying to keep your tomatoes happy through the hottest days of summer, this episode is packed with timely tips to help your garden continue producing despite the heat.

Help your garden weather a heatwave

Keep gardens thriving through the heat

Heat Causes Problems With Garden Produce

How to protect yourself and your plants during extreme heat

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Join Brett and Alexis to hear about how the CCD thinks about grant opportunities and their recent SERME project and its potential impacts for farmers of KY.

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In this episode of Hort Culture, Brett and Ray are joined by Dr. Cindy Finneseth from the University of Kentucky to discuss community horticulture, urban agriculture, and supporting new growers across Kentucky. Dr. Finneseth shares how her role focuses on helping beginning and small-scale producers navigate production, marketing, and business planning while connecting them with Extension resources. The conversation highlights the diversity of Kentucky horticulture, the growth of urban and small-scale farming, and innovative production methods that allow growers to produce crops year-round. The group also discusses challenges such as labor, financing, and scaling operations, while emphasizing the importance of collaboration among growers, Extension specialists, and industry partners. Overall, the episode showcases the opportunities and innovation driving Kentucky’s horticulture industry and the strong consumer interest in locally grown products.

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In this episode of Hort Culture, the hosts dive into practical botany vocabulary that gardeners, plant enthusiasts, and curious learners can use to better understand the plants around them. Through a lively and humorous discussion, they explain key botanical terms such as petiole, midrib, leaf margin, simple versus compound leaves, deciduous plants, allelopathy, monoecious and dioecious reproduction, grafting terminology, vivipary, and plant nodes. Along the way, they connect these concepts to real-world gardening situations, from identifying trees and selecting cover crops to growing asparagus, saving seeds, grafting fruit trees, and managing tomato plants. The episode blends plant science, gardening advice, and entertaining anecdotes to help listeners build their botanical vocabulary while gaining a deeper appreciation for how plants grow, reproduce, and interact with their environment.

University of  Kentucky Master Gardener Basic Botany

OSU Botany Terminology

Utah State University Tree and Botanical Glossary

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Join the Hort Culture crew as they dive into the importance of mid-season scouting and monitoring for gardeners and growers as summer production ramps up. Blending their usual humor with practical advice, they discuss how regularly observing plants can help identify issues with insects, diseases, water management, nutrient deficiencies, and environmental stress before they become major problems. The conversation covers scouting techniques such as checking both the tops and undersides of leaves, monitoring field edges and interiors, recognizing abnormal plant growth, and using tools like moisture sensors, sticky traps, and extension resources to make informed management decisions. Throughout the episode, the hosts emphasize that successful plant care starts with knowing what “normal” looks like in your garden and consistently paying attention to changes, helping growers make timely, effective decisions while avoiding unnecessary treatments.

IPM Scouting Guides for Common Problems of Vegetable Crops

Kentucky Pest News

UK Ag Weather Center

UK Integrated Pest Management Program

MyIPM App for Vegetables

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