PODCAST

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast

Farmer Fred

Picking up where the Garden Basics podcast left off. gardenbasics.substack.com

leisure home & garden

All Episodes

13:00

Can Vitamin B1 Help New Garden Transplants?

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/10/10

Beyond The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is a reader-supported publication. To receive the complete posts, have access to over 200 previous editions, and help keep the good gardening information coming your way, please become a paid subscriber.Early fall is for planting, as we are fond of saying. The days are cooler, and the soil is still warm. Those are ideal conditions for a healthy start of new cool season annuals, perennials, trees, and shrubs.If you’re at the nursery this weekend checking out

11:45

The Disease Triangle

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/10/06

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.comBack in elementary school in Southern California, there once was a visit from a local firefighter who had Smokey the Bear in tow with him (I felt sorry for whoever was in that outfit. It was a hot day). Because, as Smokey would remind us daily on TV public service announcements, “Remember, Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires.” The purpose was to explain to us fifth graders the fire triangle: that you need three

28:17

Grow A Yardful of Phytonutrients

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/10/03

Today’s newsletter and podcast originally appeared here back in September of 2022, and it was one of the most popular posts here in the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter. Eating healthy food - and the healthiest food you can eat is the food you grow yourself - is a perennial concern. So, for those of you who didn’t hear or read this three years ago - or would like a refresher course - here it is again. Remember, paid subscribers have access to all the previous Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter

20:25

Feed Your Soil, Cool Season Edition

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/09/26

We are transitioning from the summer gardening season to cool season vegetables and flowers. However, maybe you don’t want to put in cool season crops. A word to the wise: don’t leave your fading summer garden lingering (or drooping) in the garden; doing that invites insect and disease pests to overwinter in that standing debris. In its place, there are some inexpensive and easy things you can do that will not only minimize pest problems for the following year, but also feed your soil and make it

13:09

Who's Eating the Tomatoes?

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/09/05

Don from Indiana has a late summer visitor to his tomato plants. He is not pleased:“I flicked 10 of these “bad boys” off one of my tomato plants last night. Ten!I look at this plant every day. I water it every day. I pick and eat tomatoes off it every day. Every day!How did so many appear seemingly overnight?I believe it is a Tobacco Hornworm caterpillar (Manduca sexta).There were actually 11 of them on the plant, but I left the one that had been parasitized. That’s the one with what looks to be

4:25

More Tips for a Successful Garden

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/08/22

While editing Episode 406 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast (out now), I was taking copious notes, about all the great garden tips Don Shor and I discussed in an episode that was ostensibly a chat about growing tomatoes this summer (we both like Cupid, despite its propensity to sprawl). In fact, it was the most notes I have ever taken for any episode. Were you taking notes, too, while listening? If so, I hope you weren’t driving. But I’ll make it easier for you: check out the transcript

3:24

This Newsletter is for the Birds

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/08/15

In the podcast (above) retired UC Farm Advisor Rachel Long has tips for attracting songbirds to your property.They're nice to look at, sing wonderfully and eat insects.No, we're not talking about the Dixie Chicks on a fad diet.It's the gardener's best friends, a backyard filled with birds.We're talking about the family inhabited by warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates, characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings.Yes, real birds will nibble on your cherries and grapes (that's why there's

40:59

Garden Tips from the Experts

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/08/08

One of the best places to get your garden questions answered (or pick up the 2026 Sac Co Master Gardener Gardening Guide and Calendar) is at the annual gathering of Master Gardeners, gardening professionals, and horticultural consultants at Harvest Day, held the first Saturday of August each year at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center in Sacramento County. And last Saturday was no exception. A question I posed to several dozen of the pros there was this: “What is the one garden tip you would like

34:06

Drip Irrigation: How Long Do I Water?

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/07/25

90% of all plant problems are water related, either too much or too little. Compounding the problem: gardeners who are operating a drip irrigation system but using a sprinkler mentality.The Beyond The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter is a reader-supported publication. Both free and paid subscribers are welcome here!Talking to gardeners, after describing a plant problem, they will be asked: "How are you watering that plant?" More often than not, if the answer is, "drip irrigation", they will

8:26

Aromatic Plants, and Roses Too!

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/06/27

This edition of the newsletter is a deeper dive into this week’s Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, Episode 398, “Aromatic Plants, Plus Roses!” Here, we’ll see what these “shows for the nose” look like, along with more details about these aromatic plants, as selected by a group of Sacramento County (CA) Master Gardeners. Plus we take a look at some of the most fragrant roses, as selected by Master Rosarian Charlotte Owendyk.Beyond The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is a reader-supported

10:43

Grow a Gratitude Garden

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/06/20

The above audio track is from a long time ago, when things were - at the very least -tense. It was during the initial panic as COVID-19 struck the United States, back in May of 2020. The confusion around COVID-19 was my impetus for starting the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. At that time, there were a lot of people developing a sudden interest in gardening, thinking they might be stuck at home for who knows how long? And, people were stressed. That was my reason for recording the segment

6:26

Prune Off Tomato Flowers?

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/06/13

One question I have been getting a lot of lately: Should I prune off (snip off, pinch out) the first tomato flowers that appear, in order to get more tomatoes later?Those early tomato flowers, especially if the weather doesn’t cooperate, will fall all by themselves, thank you. Your assistance is not needed.In today’s newsletter podcast (above), Sacramento County Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour explains the myths behind pruning off tomato flowers.Flower drop and tomato fruit set

22:29

Growing Microgreens

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/06/06

Today’s Beyond the Garden Basics Newsletter expands upon a topic we were briefly discussing in Episode 395 of the Garden Basics Podcast, “Survival Garden Basics”. In this case, the short chat was about the value of microgreens, and how they are easy to grow, and because of their small size, super-packed with nutrients. In today’s “Beyond the Garden Basics” newsletter podcast (above), Sacramento County (CA) Master Gardener Gail Pothour discusses how to grow and harvest microgreens, and how they can

1:32

What Exactly is a Grocery Store "Vine-Ripened" Tomato?

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/05/30

If you’re reading this as May turns into June, and you live in the West, you know you’re going through a heat wave, including triple digit temperatures in parts of California. A more widespread - and longer - heat wave is expected in mid-June. And, long range forecasts are calling for a much hotter summer (July through September) than usual throughout most of North America. This is not good news for your south and west facing backyard tomatoes, especially.Give a listen to today’s newsletter podcast

2:23

More Effective Raised Bed Drip Irrigation Techniques

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/05/16

Both free and paid subscribers have full access to the Friday edition of the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter. Because cutting off free subscribers in the middle of a newsletter isn’t a nice thing to do.At the top of the page: an excerpt of a conversation with Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery about growing tomatoes with drip irrigation in raised beds from Episode 288 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast.Another podcast episode that really delves into drip irrigation was Episode 227,

22:15

Peppers Worth a Try

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/05/02

In Episode 390 of the Garden Basics podcast, Master Gardener Gail Pothour offered some great tips for growing peppers this spring and summer. We also discussed sweet, warm and hot pepper varieties that might be worth a try in your own garden. That portion of our discussion is also in the newsletter podcast at the top of the page.Also in today’s newsletter podcast, Diane Blazek, the Executive Director of the All America Selections plant winners, talks about her favorite award-winning, not-so-hot

14:33

Indoor/Outdoor Ant Control Tips

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/03/07

A bout of colder, wetter weather means ants will have begun their march towards the warmth and comfort of your house, greenhouse or outbuildings. In today’s newsletter podcast, America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, lists many ways to control ant populations, both indoors and outdoors. She includes her home recipe for a lethal (but only lethal for ants) outdoor ant bait:1 part boric acid (1 teaspoon, e.g.) - available at most garden centers9 or 10 parts sugar (9 or

63:20

Backyard Chickens - How to Choose Them, How to...

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/02/28

In Ep. 381 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, Urban Chicken Consultant Cherie Sintes-Glover offered tips on how to protect your backyard chicken flock against the spread of the current version of avian influenza, the deadly H5N1, also known as the Bird Flu.The discussion on the Garden Basics podcast about protecting your flock from the bird flu took up about a half hour. At the top of this newsletter is our full conversation, which is over an hour in length, and touches on many aspects

5:20

Valentine's Day Garden Gifts

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/02/14

If you’re reading this today, Friday morning, a gentle reminder: did you forget today is Valentine’s Day? Oops. If you are about to scurry out the door for a "run to the supermarket" or "the trip to the hardware store" to find something romantic for your gardening sweetheart, take your phone with you, especially if you’re headed to the flower shop. You may need to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance when you see the cost of a florist’s bouquet. A dozen long-stemmed roses, in a nice vase, can easily cost you

17:50

Persimmon Tips from the Pros

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2025/02/07

Recently, a listener’s question did not get fully answered on Episode 378 of the Garden Basics podcast. Katie was asking about how to thwart the squirrels and raccoons that attacked her persimmon tree fruit. But she included this little scenic bypass: “So when the persimmon tree we’ve waited on for NINE years to fruit (it did get fruit in years 6, 7, and 8, but they all dropped. Overwatering? Underwatering?) — when said persimmon developed abundant fruit this year and it began to ripen, I decided

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