Hey folks, it’s 2019 and this is the 1st episode of season four of the Maritime Gardening Podcast! In this episode, since it’s the time of year when many of us make our decisions about what seeds we are going to buy and grow in our gardens, I thought it would be fun have a discussion about heirlooms and hybrids. I often hear permaculture/no-till/organic gardening gurus talking about heirloom seed varieties, their merits, and why they are the only thing you should grow in your garden. In this episode, I’m going to take that claim to task, and examine the pros and cons of the different seeds types.

If you enjoyed this content, please share this content with like-minded individuals and groups! Also, check out my sponsors (see below) who have provided coupon codes for all my listeners & viewers.

Veseys Seeds (www.veseys.com) offers a coupon code (GAVS19) that alows you to get free shipping on all orders (except those that include “oversize” items) that include at least one pack of seeds, valid until the end of 2019.

Safers is offering 15% off coupon code (code = “maritime”) on all Safers and Chemfree brands offered on Woodstreambrands.ca (for Canada) and saferbrand.com (for U.S.A.). Offer is valid until Feb 2019.

You can also get a 10% discount on all your mason jar fermentation accessories at masontops.com using the coupon code “MARITIME10”.

Image: Big Beef Hybrid 10 – 12 oz Tomato available at Veseys seeds https://www.veseys.com/us/bigbeeftomato.html

This is the last airing of the Maritime Gardening Podcast for 2018. So for this, the end of the third season (but not the last!), I thought it would be fun to bring back Dave Doggett, who was here for the very first episode, and was my co-host for the 1st season! In this episode we catch up a bit, reminisce, rant, and talk about some behind the scenes-type stuff that you may find interesting. Have a listen!

This episode is part two of my interview with author and horticulturalist Dr. Lee Reich, where we discuss his new book, “The Ever Curious Gardener”. In this part of the interview, we focus on Lee’s concept of “sustainability”, and how he puts it into practice, and we also touch on on question that I had while reading his most recent book.

If you want to see Lee Reich on YouTube, go here:

If you want to see or buy any of his books, check out his blog, or just know more about Lee, check out his website here:

Welcome to my Farmden

This episode is part one of a two part interview with author and horticulturalist Dr. Lee Reich, where we discuss his new book, “The Ever Curious Gardener”. In particular, we focus on the topic of soil organic matter, and its relation to tillage, fertilization, composting and mulching.

If you want to see Lee Reich on YouTube, go here:

If you want to see or buy any of his books, check out his blog, or just know more about Lee, check out his website here:

This week I have author Robert Pavlis back again to talk about products that are sold in garden centers everywhere, that are utterly useless in the garden and are a total waste of money. Robert Pavlis is the author of the books: “Garden Myths” and “Building Natural Ponds”, and is currently working on his next book, “Garden Myths, Volume 2”. You can connect with him on his Blogs: www.gardenmyths.com and www.gardenfundamentals.com.

I hear many people say that they don’t have time to garden, but I rarely hear people say that they don’t have time to exercise. Here’s the thing: keeping a garden IS exercise; but of course, you get so much more out of gardening than wasting time on a tread mill. Cancel your over-priced, low value gym membership, and have a listen as I talk about all the benefits of keeping a garden!

I sold my pickup truck this past January and I was worried that it might be difficult to maintain my garden without it. Now, at the end of August, I have to say, I don’t miss it at all. You don’t need a truck to maintain a large backyard garden. In this episode I talk about all the ways to get buy without a gas guzzling truck!

This week we have another new guest: Dr. Joe Schwarcz.of McGill University’s “Office for Science and Society”, which is dedicated to demystifying science and separating sense from nonsense. In this episode we talk about whether it’s better to cook kale or eat it raw, about the upcoming legalization if marijuana (cannabis) in Canada, the “grow your own” options for home gardeners, and all the wild claims of the health benefits of cannabis that are out there on the internet. We also talk about the scientific method, why it is so important today with all the ‘alternative’ sources of information out there on the internet, and how the mission of the McGill Office of Science and Society fits into the mix.

Dr. Joe Schwarcz is Director of McGill University’s “Office for Science and Society” which is dedicated to demystifying science and separating sense from nonsense. He is well known for his informative and entertaining public lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to the science of aging. Professor Schwarcz has received numerous awards for teaching chemistry and for interpreting science for the public. He is the only non-American ever to win the American Chemical Society’s prestigious Grady-Stack Award for demystifying chemistry. He hosts “The Dr. Joe Show” on Montreal radio, has appeared hundreds of times on television and is the author of 16 best sellers. Also an amateur conjurer, Dr. Joe often spices up his presentations with a little magic.

Office of Science and Society Website: www.mcgill.ca/oss

A good deal of the gardening content that you see online today speaks to some notion of self-sufficiency, which one might define as being able to live off one’s own land with minimal external inputs. I find this notion quite intriguing to say the least, and I’d be lying if I were to say that I’d never dreamed of achieving such a goal – but how realistic is that goal? How much food do you need to grow to maintain yourself if it’s all coming from your land? In this episode I do a few “back of the envelope” type calculations to play around with this thought experiment.

I’ve talked about mulch, and you know water is important, but in this episode I discuss why a good mulch is so important for taking advantage of a good rain. I also give a brief update on how my garden is doing at this point in mid-July.