Ecological landscape design is the practice of making meadows and gardens that are both pleasing to the eye and functional parts of the ecosystem, providing resources and habitat for essential wildlife. To share the principles of ecological landscape design and why it is so needed, returning to the podcast this week is landscape designer and author Owen Wormser. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to...

How much do you know about the houseplant sitting on your windowsill? My returning guest this week, garden writer and houseplants podcaster Jane Perrone, is here to reveal the little-known histories of plants that have shared homes with us for generations. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without exception to get incredible...

Seeds hold the keys to sustaining life on this planet, and they draw cultural connections between ancestors and their descendants. To discuss her latest book, What We Sow, and the significance of seeds ecologically, culturally and personally, joining me on the podcast this week is Jennifer Jewell of “Cultivating Place.” Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s...

Regenerative agriculture is an alternative to conventional agriculture that focuses on improving soil health for better fertility and moisture retention. The benefit to farmers is increased crop yields at less cost, and the benefit to all of us is more carbon being sequestered in soil to mitigate climate change. To discuss how he discovered regenerative agriculture and how it changed his ranch, joining me on the podcast this week is rancher, regenerative agriculture advocate, and Kiss the...

Once you’ve experienced the joy of raising fruits and vegetables to feed your family, it becomes much easier to imagine what it would be like to become a market farmer who grows enough to maintain a successful business. My guest this week, Conor Crickmore, left his tech career in New York City in 2009 to become a homesteader in upstate New York, and soon after he and his wife, Kate, founded Neversink Farm, a 1.3-acre certified organic farm that is one of the most productive farms per square...

Oaks are what are known as keystone plants due to the pivotal role they play in the food chain. Because so many species rely on oaks for their survival, my guest this week, entomologist Doug Tallamy, Ph.D., calls them “our most essential native trees.” Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results,...

Fall may be here, but the gardening season is far from over. Cool season flowers can be planted now or early next spring to give your garden a pop of color and aroma before most gardens are in bloom. In this week’s podcast, flower farmer Lisa Mason Ziegler shares her tips for what to grow, when and how. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do...

As gardeners, there are many opportunities for us to become better stewards of the environment. On this week’s podcast, I share my ecological garden blueprint: 10 steps for you to take to partner with nature and support the ecosystem. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most...

Natural garden design is growing in popularity, and many more gardeners would like to get on board if only they had a better idea of how to get started. If you’re curious about starting a natural garden with native plants, then you’re in luck, because my guest this week is author and garden designer Benjamin Vogt of Monarch Gardens. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or...

Part of what makes gardening so magical is that every garden is unique. To share how gardeners can identify their personal garden style and achieve their garden goals, joining me this week is garden author, designer and teacher Rochelle Greayer of Pith + Vigor. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without exception to get incredible...

Maintaining my five-acre GardenFarm™ and keeping up with documenting the garden’s progress through the growing season is far from a one-person job. This week, Tobi McDaniel, the GardenFarm manager, joins me on the podcast for the first time to offer a peek behind the curtain and share what her days here are like. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I...

Promoting native insects via gardening is a worthwhile endeavor that is growing in popularity, but just because native insects are good to have in the garden, that doesn’t also mean all non-native insects are bad to have around. My guest this week, environmental studies professor Kaitlin Stack Whitney, Ph.D., encourages gardeners to examine the reasons why some insects are favored while others with similar behaviors are given a bad rap. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5...

Modern homesteading has surged in popularity since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, which triggered in many people a desire to become more self-sufficient and closer to the land that sustains us. To discuss this phenomenon, the benefits of homesteading and how to get started, joining me on the podcast this week is Jill Winger, creator of The Prairie Homestead, a go-to source for homesteading information. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever...

Time spent outdoors in the fresh air tending to gardens has a rejuvenating effect, which gardener, author and video maker Liz Zorab of Byther Farm can attest to better than anyone. Liz joins me on the podcast this week to share how gardening contributed to restoring her health and to talk about the economical, efficient ways that she raises food for her household. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do...

Mushrooms can do some pretty amazing things, and as research continues, we are gaining an even better understanding of the potential of fungi to help us overcome an array of environmental challenges. Mycologist Tradd Cotter joins me on the podcast to share the emerging uses of mushrooms beyond food. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do...

A fall vegetable garden is a treasure too many gardeners miss out on. In fact, fall is my favorite growing season, a time when I can grow an array of cool-season vegetables with relief from the pest and disease pressure that comes with summer. In this week’s podcast, I share the best crops to grow for fall and the knowledge and techniques for a successful season. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do...

Even as more and more gardeners adopt the practices of organic, sustainable and regenerative horticulture, retailers still treat organic gardening products as a niche thing. My guests this week, Back to the Roots co-founders and co-CEOs Nikhil Arora and Alejandro “Alex” Vélez, are working to change that by making organic gardening easy and affordable. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a...

This week you may notice the podcast sounds a bit different than it normally does. That’s because instead of recording indoors, I recorded from my home garden, the GardenFarm™. You can follow me as I walk along and share my observations from the summer so far and my plans for the weeks ahead. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today,...

The plants that we choose to include in our landscapes can be life-sustaining, invaluable resources for our native wildlife or they can just be plants that just look pretty while contributing little to nothing to the ecosystem. My guest this week, entomologist, speaker and author Doug Tallamy, explains how we can make better plant choices for the sake of nature and, in turn, ourselves. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most...

This spring was not a great one for hydrangeas all around the United States, and according to my guest this week, Lorraine Ballato, the problem can be traced back to the wild weather that occurred over the winter. Lorraine shares the reasons your hydrangeas may be struggling, the various degrees of hydrangea cold tolerance, and what options gardeners have to achieve better outcomes. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important...

Though the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, is a probable carcinogen, it remains the most widely used herbicide in the United States. My guest this week, Dr. Chadi Nabhan is here to tell the story behind three court cases that concluded with Roundup maker Monsanto owing large sums to glyphosate users who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever -...

Native gardening is quickly moving from niche to the mainstream, and unfortunately but perhaps expectedly, homeowners associations are the last to catch on. My guest this week, Melinda Soltys, shares what she experienced tussling with her neighborhood’s HOA over her pollinator garden. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without...

Pollinator Week kicks off on June 19th, so I welcomed Kelly Bills, the executive director of Pollinator Partnership, to the podcast to talk about all the great work the organization does and how gardeners can get involved during Pollinator Week and year-round. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without exception to get incredible...

Whether you want to grow a cut flower garden for your own enjoyment or to start a business, you will find Lisa Mason Ziegler’s advice on succession planting with flowers very useful. Lisa, a cut flower growing expert and author, returns to the podcast this week to share her tips. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It’s what I still do today, without exception...

Living under the strictures of a homeowners association can be incredibly stifling for gardeners who want to work outside of the turf lawn and irrigation dynamic, but sometimes gardeners successfully stand up to their HOAs — and lawmakers in some states are making it easier to do so. Native gardener Janet Crouch joins me on the podcast this week to explain how she helped gardeners across Maryland earn the right to plant native. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to...