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

5:16

Flea and Tick Control Tips

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/05/12

As the weather warms, so do outbreaks of fleas and ticks. Today’s newsletter podcast features an interview with retired veterinarian and Master Gardener Heidi Napier, who talks about these pests, along with a scenic bypass about controlling slugs and snails using less toxic products that won’t harm your kids or dogs.Flea Control TipsThis pest can live indoors and out, as well as on your pets. However, a combination of remedies can reduce a flea population. The trick, though, is to attack the problem

19:26

Can Human Food Also Be Plant Food?

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/05/05

Interview with Robert Pavlis of GardenMyths.com:Can Human Food also be Plant Food? (It depends how you apply it.)(originally aired in Episode 126 of the Garden Basics Podcast)Farmer Fred: What do you give plants to drink besides water and plant food? This question actually has been asked on many social media outlets, and in many gardening groups. And you might be surprised at the number of household kitchen products that are given to plants. Are they worth it? There is one gentleman who actually

12:00

Happy Tomato Planting Day! But Which Varieties?

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/04/28

For years (decades, really), I’ve been promoting April 28 as Official Tomato Planting Day* for our area here in Northern California (Southern Sacramento and Northern San Joaquin Valleys, low foothills, and East Bay). And this time around in 2023, the weather has been very cooperative to make this year’s April 28th celebration an excellent time to start planting tomatoes.Wherever you are in the country, you have your own Official Tomato Planting Day. And it may change from year to year. The factors

22:17

You Grew It. Now Eat It!

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/04/21

The healthiest food you can eat is the food you grow yourself. It doesn’t get any fresher than that. In today’s newsletter podcast, we talk with two Master Gardener/chefs: Kathy Morrison of the daily “Sacramento Digs Gardening” newsletter, and Master Gardener and Chef/instructor Andi MacDonald. Kathy has several recipes using ingredients that just might be maturing in your garden right now. And that’s the thrust of what is published in each Sunday’s edition of the Sacramento Digs Gardening

16:15

Tomato Growing Tips For 2023

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/04/14

For the best tomato growing season ever, we have tips. Just a few tips.Today’s newsletter podcast features excerpts from two episodes of the Garden Basics podcast, Episode 93 with America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, and Episode 259 with Don Shor, proprietor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, CA. two tomato chats with these scenic bypasses for tomato success. As the sign posted at Don Shor’s Redwood Barn Nursery proclaims: IT’S TOO EARLY.Wherever you live, wait

21:15

Backyard Beekeeping Advice

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/04/07

If the idea of raising backyard chickens appeals to you, you just might be mulling over the thought, “Well, why not raise backyard bees, too?”You may have listened to Episode 260 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, featuring urban chicken consultant Cherie Sintes-Glover discuss beginning a backyard chicken raising hobby. Cherie, besides being an urban chicken consultant, is also an apprentice Master Beekeeper. In today’s Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter podcast (above), she talks about

10:28

Jumping Worms: An Update, Again

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/03/31

Jumping worms, and the publicity about them, are spreading. Debbie Flower (America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor) and I talked about this in August of 2021 in Episode 126 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. We provided an update on Episode 217 in August of 2022 (listen to that chat in today’s newsletter podcast). Jumping worms have been in the United States for more than a half century. And they’re moving around the country, with our unknowing help. As Debbie pointed

13:00

If You Can’t Dig Down, Grow Up! Raised Bed &...

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/03/24

In today’s “Beyond the Garden Basics” newsletter/podcast, we revisit a chat we had three years ago with Linda Chalker-Scott, Washington State University Horticulture Professor, author of several outstanding garden books, and one of the forces behind the Facebook group page, “The Garden Professors”. Here, Linda discusses why loading up the bottom of planting containers with pot shards, gravel, styrofoam or other soil displacing items is not a good idea. It’s not even a bad idea. It’s a terrible idea

19:22

How Honeybees Say, "Come and Get It!"

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/03/17

One in every three bites of food you take comes courtesy of a bee. Without their pollination efforts, our diet and our gardens would be, to say the least, boring. In today’s “Beyond the Garden Basics” newsletter/podcast, we talk with Dr. James Nieh, of the School of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego. He and his team have been studying how honeybees communicate with each other, and how their elaborate dance moves are interpreted by the other honeybees in the hive. Basically, if you know where all

4:33

Pepper Seeds Slow to Germinate? Some Speedy Tips.

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/03/10

In today’s Newsletter podcast, we revisit some advice given to us by America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, on how to get your pepper seeds to germinate more quickly, which can take up to three weeks before you see green leaves popping up above the soil surface. We were talking to the Elk Grove Garden Club last month, a wide-ranging conversation, which included how to tell if those old vegetable or flower seeds you have tucked away in a drawer will germinate or

13:09

The Scoop on Worm Poop

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/03/03

In today’s newsletter podcast, we delve into the world of earthworms and red wrigglers with garden writer Amy Stewart, who authored the 2005 book, “The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms”. We recorded our chat back when the book was released, at her home (then) in Eureka, in northwest California. But we’re not here on the printed page to praise earthworms (although they are highly deserving of it), but to discuss their close relatives, the red wigglers, an excellent worm for

6:02

Vegan Split Pea Soup

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/02/24

Here is Andi MacDonald’s “More Than Basic Split Pea Soup” vegan recipe. It serves 6-8 people. She explains its origins:“My Aunt Carol lived on the Central Coast of California. When we visited, my father took us to Pea Soup Andersen’s restaurant in Buellton, where we dined on endless bowls of pea soup. Ten-year-old me thought that this was the height of culinary genius. I went back a few years ago and concluded that the soup was okay, bit it needed more oomph. That’s what this version is: basic

4:45

Freeze Damaged Plants? Embrace the Ugly.

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/02/17

Newsletter podcast excerpted from Episode 253 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. Recorded live, at the Elk Grove, CA Garden Club.Please note that the words below originated as a recent garden column in the Lodi (CA) News-Sentinel. Those of you in Michigan, Minnesota, Maine and other states where there are hardware stores that stock snowblowers year round can quit snickering at our plant panic when temperatures dip into the 20’s. Still, the advice holds true for wherever you live: give

13:05

Winter is Rose Pruning Time

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/02/03

Rose Pruning Time is Here Mid to late winter is rose pruning time, wherever you can grow roses. Here in California and in other USDA Zone 9 areas, mid-December through Super Bowl Sunday (usually the second week in February) is ideal. For colder rose-growing climates, late February through the early rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament (mid to late March) is pruning time. Former sportswriter and current Master Rosarian Debbie Arrington supplied those dates. Listen to the above podcast for

8:18

Drain That Rain!

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/01/20

“Where does the water go?” That’s a question I frequently ask myself while bicycling throughout the region, staring at rain-soaked suburban yards. This is also a question homeowners should ask themselves before, during, and after the rainy season.One of the best pieces of advice I can offer any new homeowner: before you spend any time and money on landscaping projects or a garden, live with the existing property for a year. This allows you to take monthly pictures of the area where you want a future

9:29

Bypass or Anvil Pruners? We Ask the Experts.

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2023/01/06

In today’s newsletter podcast (above): America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, discusses the pros and cons of bypass and anvil pruners; and the best tool for sharpening pruners.This time of year, stroll down the tool aisle of any garden center and you'll find a vast array of cutting instruments, all designed with the backyard gardener in mind. Blade heads of short-handled pruners and long-handled loppers usually come in two different styles: bypass and anvil. Bypass

14:33

Ant Control

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2022/12/30

The recent bout of colder, wetter weather means ants 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, including her home recipe for lethal outdoor ant bait:1 part boric acid (1 teaspoon, e.g.) - available at most garden centers9 or 10 parts sugar (9 or 10 teaspoons sugar)Add

5:42

Poinsettia Pointers

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2022/12/23

In today’s newsletter podcast: Back in November of 2020, we chatted about poinsettia plant basics, with Bill Eisley, a wholesale grower of poinsettia plants in Auburn, CA. Searching for that last minute Christmas gift? Many stores, including supermarkets, are now offering red and ivory-colored poinsettias, tropical plants native to Mexico, that are showstoppers this time of year for any dining room table. Even more colorful varieties are available at area nurseries and garden centers.Don’t grab and

25:24

All About Fruit Tree Chill Hours, and More

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2022/12/16

What are Fruit Tree Chill Hours? Do They Matter?In today’s newsletter podcast (Above. Originally aired in Episode 105 of Garden Basics), Tom Spellman of Dave Wilson Nursery explains the term “chill hours” and how cold winter temperatures helps production on many deciduous fruit trees, especially apples. Chill hours refer primarily to low temperatures (usually between 32 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit) during a fruit tree’s dormant months in the winter. But Tom Spellman is throwing a monkey wrench into

5:57

2023 All-America Plant Selections Winners

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast ·

2022/12/09

In today’s newsletter podcast: Diane Blazek, Executive Director of All-America Selections (AAS) and the National Garden Bureau, explains how a plant is selected to become an All-America Selection winning plant.In Episode 243 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Podcast, Diane goes into the details of each of the winning plants in the 2023 AAS plant competition. Give it a listen while looking at the pictures and comments. More info, plus 90 years worth of previous winners, at the AAS website.

144 results

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

詭哭郎嚎

郎祖筠 & FMTaiwan製作團隊

Ron en Erik Podcast

Ron en Erik

Poor Man"s Pinball Podcast

Poor Men Ian and Drew

WeAreChange on Odysee

WeAreChange