The Grow Guide

Fall is in full swing and with only a few more farmer's markets left, The Grow Guide heads to Winnipeg's St.Norbert Farmers Market for this week's "studio." Maggie starts by sharing her harvest of the week — sungold cherry tomatoes — and Dave chats about the trendy, monstera plant. An interesting listener question about composting is timely for anyone cleaning up their fallen leaves. Then it's all about organics. Since 2002, Stefan and his family have been certified organic farmers. He discusses market garden practices home gardeners can implement, deterring pests and insects and the benefits of growing organic.

To connect with Maggie: https://www.instagram.com/fromsoiltosoul/

To connect with Dave: https://www.instagram.com/sagegardenherbs/

To connect with Blue Lagoon Organics:https://www.instagram.com/bluelagoonorganics/?hl=en

Episode 49: Moving plants indoors

Maggie and Dave are back at Sage this week to find inspiration for houseplant season. But before they can dig into the topic, Maggie shares her appreciation for the fours seasons (1:49) while Dave wonders what it would be like to live in a "uni-season". As the conversation turns decidedly to fall, several announcements are made including further details on the upcoming Grow Guide Garden Harvest Swap (3:30) and the upcoming 1 year anniversary of The Grow Guide. As always the show features a hot question from our FB community, and this week Mychal N. asks for suggestions on very low maintenance veggie garden plants (5:17)... something that a lot of of us wonder about! But wait, what about the houseplants? Both Dave and Maggie have favourite plants of the week that relate to this week's theme, each rather different (10:50). Which leads our hosts to the nuts and bolts of episode 49: how to successfully bring summer plants indoors. Timing is discussed first (15:22), followed by some clues on how to figure out what plants are best suited for indoors (16:30) and some steps to reduce stress for plants on the move (18:00). Ever the committed organic gardeners, Maggie and Dave stir-up some advice on using compost on houseplants (23:45), and also tackle the dread question of pests (25:50). Last but not least there is a nice summary of easy "to-do's" during the transition to houseplant season (29:40) and a little shout out to our community thanking everyone who has posted a Grow Guide review (31:55), and a little nudge to anyone who might yet… thanks in advance!

Join the Facebook group to win: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276990892799327/

To connect with Maggie: https://www.instagram.com/fromsoiltosoul/

To connect with Dave: https://www.instagram.com/sagegardenherbs/

To connect with Gardens Manitoba: https://www.instagram.com/gardensmb/

With the Harvest Moon right around the corner, Maggie and Dave focus this week's episode on a GIVEAWAY to the annual Harvest Dinner hosted by the South Osborne Community Co-operative (listen all the way to the end of the episode for your chance to win!). But first, they chat about transitioning into fall and answer a listener's question and when/what to plant when it comes to bulbs. Then the duo chat all about local food systems and the permaculture-focused approach to gardening that Rod, Caitlin and Tiffany take in the community co-operative garden in the heart of Winnipeg. They discuss the history of the community garden, the types of plants they grow, their unique approach to soil rejuvenation and even touch a little bit on hugelkulture.

Join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276990892799327/

To connect with Maggie: https://www.instagram.com/fromsoiltosoul/

To connect with Dave: https://www.instagram.com/sagegardenherbs/

To connect with SSOCC: http://sustainablesouthosborne.ca/

Maggie and Dave continue their garden touring, and set up the podcast studio under a big shade tree in the beautiful English Garden at Assiniboine Park. Summer is starting to shift into fall and your hosts start this week's episode noticing how much the mood has changed in the garden, even in the last week. This does not stop them from being excited about what's next, teasing garden party plans (3:05) and sharing their favourite plants (Sugar Baby watermelon at 3:55 & garlic bulbils at 7:20). Kelly F. posted this episode's timely question of the week, all about bringing herbs indoors (9:08), and Dave and Maggie offer a variety of resources to help gardeners find success with indoor herbs. Then the duo dive right into the topic at hand, chatting up the benefits of fall gardening (13:03), consider timing for fall seed starting (17:48), discuss fertilizing fall garden beds (19:30) and then rank various fall crops in terms of cold tolerance (23:30), including several that have "mind blowing" cold tolerance (33:45)! Finally Dave and Maggie muse on how lessons around fall sowing outdoors can teach us valuable lessons about growing edibles indoors as well (35:05).

Maggie and Dave use the South Osborne Community Gardens as this week's studio space and are blown away by its beauty and sense of community. They start the episode with a few fun announcements coming up soon — a Garden Club Tour (check out sagegarden.ca for more info) and an end of season garden party (date TBD!). Then it's all about their Favourite Varieties, Zephyr summer squash for Maggie (5:30) and the Marimo Moss Ball for Dave (7:24). An awesome listener question about when to plant strawberries (10:10), leads the conversation into caring for them over winter and sourcing zone-specific berries. Then it's all about seed saving (13:25)! Maggie and Dave recap the different types of seeds — heirloom, open pollinated and hybrid (15:25), viability (19:02), annuals vs. perennials (20:00), rookie friendly seeds to harvest (25:36), more challenging seeds to save (30:17), saving seeds from tropical (33:03), tips and tricks to the seed saving process itself (34:23) and storing (39:26).

Join the Facebook group to win: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276990892799327/

To connect with Maggie: https://www.instagram.com/fromsoiltosoul/

To connect with Dave: https://www.instagram.com/sagegardenherbs/

To connect with Gardens Manitoba: https://www.instagram.com/gardensmb/

Are your plants tired of the heat? Maggie and Dave's certainly are and they're dedicating this week's episode to the 2018 Heat Wave! Before they jump into the good stuff, they announce the winner of the cucamelon giveaway and answer a listener's question about planting crops at this time of year. Turns out, there's tons of great options for you to sow even in the second week of August. The duo breakdown the heat conversation into four categories: physiological impacts of heat to plants, maintaining them, diseases that occur and heat-loving insects.

Join the Facebook group to win: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276990892799327/

To connect with Maggie: https://www.instagram.com/fromsoiltosoul/

To connect with Dave: https://www.instagram.com/sagegardenherbs/

To connect with Gardens Manitoba: https://www.instagram.com/gardensmb/

The Grow Guide is back this week with the second part of our cannabis series. Manitoban grower, Mike Mailman shares his wisdom with us again, but this time the conversation is geared toward growing. Mike discusses how he grows cannabis for his patients and the logistics that come with it. Then he gets into how YOU, home gardeners, can grow productive plants come legalization in October. We apologize for the crickets tune in today's episode as they were noisy as can be while we were recording!

Join the Facebook group to win: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276990892799327/

To connect with Mike: https://www.instagram.com/medimailman/

To connect with Maggie: https://www.instagram.com/fromsoiltosoul/

To connect with Dave: https://www.instagram.com/sagegardenherbs/

To connect with Gardens Manitoba: https://www.instagram.com/gardensmb/

The end of July is bringing us to an awesome 2-parter episode geared toward cannabis — a plant of mystery! Maggie & Dave welcome on fellow Manitoban, Mike Mailman, who shares the successes and struggles that comes with growing marijuana in today's changing climate. This epic conversation discusses everything from the politics of the plant to its many healing properties to Mike's personal connection to using cannabis as a medicine. Tune in next week for Part 2 where we dive into growing cannabis as a home gardener!

Join the Facebook group to win: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276990892799327/

To connect with Mike: https://www.instagram.com/medimailman/

To connect with Maggie: https://www.instagram.com/fromsoiltosoul/

To connect with Dave: https://www.instagram.com/sagegardenherbs/

To connect with Gardens Manitoba: https://www.instagram.com/gardensmb/

For the first time ever, Maggie and Dave move their "studio" to a public orchard in the heart of Winnipeg at The Forks. Apple trees, raspberry bushes and hungry squirrels join the duo for this episode all about cucumbers. This week's favourite varieties (3:10) are Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries and Aussie Sweetie Basil. And an awesome listener question about the differences between partial and full sun (7:20) leads to a conversation about the exact number of hours of sun each description requires. Then it's all about cucumbers! Dave walks us through soil temperatures for direct seeding (13:15), transplanting methods (13:50) and the wide variety of cucumbers plants (15:00). Maggie shares her struggles with her own jungle-like cucumber plants (19:50) and the two of them break down the difference between vining and bushing varieties. She also shares a few secrets to making DIY supports (21:20) for overgrown cucs. Then Dave finishes off the episode with his favourite cucumbers for container growing (23:33), what type of compost to feed plants (26:25), harvesting (27:30), male and female plants (29:30) and then announces a spontaneous GIVEAWAY!

Join the Facebook group to win: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276990892799327/

To connect with Maggie: https://www.instagram.com/fromsoiltosoul/

To connect with Dave: https://www.instagram.com/sagegardenherbs/

To connect with Gardens Manitoba: https://www.instagram.com/gardensmb/

Dave and Maggie are back this week in their outdoor "studio space" at Sage Garden Greenhouses. The duo start off the episode with a big THANK-YOU to all you listeners from around the world (0:57). Then it's into their Favourite Varieties of the Week (2:10). Dave chats about the vanilla bean plant (did you know it's in the orchid family?!) and Maggie shares one of her recent harvests, the very cool and purple-looking islander pepper (5:40). The Question of the Week focuses on squash (8:13). Join the Facebook group — link below — to ask your own question! Then it's into this week's wonderful guest, Mick Manfield (11:45).

Mick starts off by defining what exactly square foot gardening is (13:10) and how you can try it out whether you have a big space or a little one. From there, Mick touches on the supplies needed (14:40), soil mixture (15:20), adapting this technique for your physical abilities (17:00), weeding (18:45), the difference between square foot gardening and raised beds (20:10), the grid system (22:48), keeping the soil moist (24:22), fertilizing (25:28), vermiculite (26:11), adding compost (27:29), selecting proper varieties (31:10), perennial varieties (34:10), vertical growing (36:34).

To join the Facebook community group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276990892799327/

To connect with Maggie: https://www.instagram.com/fromsoiltosoul/

To connect with Dave: https://www.instagram.com/sagegardenherbs/

To connect with Gardens Manitoba: https://www.instagram.com/gardensmb/