Garden Guys

Spring rains are falling, soft and sound, While onions nestle in the ground. Planting tips? We've got a few, But warnings? Well—they won't stop you. You'll buy too much, and that's just fine, With garden dreams on down the line. Darrin's worms are thriving still, Turning scraps with quiet skill. Foliar sprays—do they hold weight? Let’s dig in, investigate. And garden tomatoes,...

Gettin' ready to garden! As Tom and Darrin start seeding cold-season crops in their gardens, they (try to) offer some tips for success. That led to a discussion on what "eating locally" looks like, how different cultures define it, and how we here in the United States take a different viewpoint than those across the world. And a VERY challenging Listener Challenge for the week!

Darrin loves him some peppers, but unfortunately, we discover that Tom may not be able to take the heat. This week, we follow the history of the pepper and how it made its way into Colorado and New Mexico, and eventually into Darrin's garden. And there’s a new listener challenge: try pocket gopher yoga (serenity now...)! And we almost forgot: the Garden Guys have a new product line of locally...

Sorry to be a punny bunny, but what's a better time to hear about carrots than Easter weekend? Darrin and Tom jump (again, see what I did there?) through time into the origin story of one of their garden favorites: carrots.  Why are they orange? Where did they originate?  And of course some tips on how to grow them in southwest Colorado.  With the planting calendar hovering on the “possible”,...

Tom was lucky enough to interview Peter Del Tredici PhD, botanist, author, and senior research scientist Emeritus at the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University, while he was here for the Durango Botanic Gardens "DurangoScape Climate Conference". While not all about veggies and edibles, Dr. Del Tredici provided some fodder for Darrin and Tom to discuss.

Tom and Darrin dive into the mysterious history of the potato, and find that Darrin may have familial connections (Antoine-Augustin Parmentier) in the winding story of how it got popularized in France. We also share tips for planting some of your own. Plus a Listener Challenge!

We are back with our weekly show the first Saturday of April but we wanted to give ya all a bit of garden love, and of course it's all about seeds! And don't forget our annual Heritage Seed Sale on Sunday, March 9th at the Fairgounds in Durango. 10am to 2pm. Come early and buy lots!

The Garden Guys are back for their annual Thanksgiving show, with Tom and Darrin talking about their successes (tomatoes and mizuna) and their failures (irrigation and sweet potatoes) from their 2024 garden season. Reminders come up about what to do in fall gardens and how to share your prized veggies even though you want to hold on to them. Happy Thanksgiving. Eat some local food!

For the final show of the 2024 growing season, Darrin and Tom wanted to end it with a bang by flying over to McElmo canyon on the Extension helicopter for a site visit in the fields of the Pueblo Seed and Food Company. Dan Hobbs was kind enough to stop his chores to give us a tour of some of their fields and talk about everything from chili peppers, corn, grains, to the challenges and success of r...

It’s late season already and we go for broke talking about successes and failures in the garden this year. Listen for some tips about what to be looking at for garden chores during the later part of summer - what you can still plant in those empty spots and essential cleanup tips (Get those weed seedheads!).  All in all, your gardens should be riding the momentum of the warm months as we head into...

Did you miss us? We missed you! After a couple weeks off, Tom and Darrin are back on air as we venture off to Montezuma County and McElmo Canyon to visit David Temple and Trees of Trail Canyon. David is an amazing human (and storyteller!) and hopefully you all will feel his passion and love for all things trees - especially those that produce fruit and nuts!

Eddie Rabbitt was right - nothin' better than a rainy night. Another wacky June with cool temps and all sorts of moiture to end the month - there are many benefits to all this rain, but in the garden you also need to keep the airflow going to avoid some waterborne issues. Oh, and it wouldn't be a complete show without some amazing bacteria facts from Tom. They (Tom AND bacteria) never ceas...

It's not that we're lazy - just busy. And mostly out of town. And Darrin's dealing with a deer in his yard that found their strawberries and he's grumpy. But back in 2022 we went out to Mancos to interview Mike Nolan from Mountain Roots Farm. Mike has been a longtime veggie farmer in SW CO and with his partner Mindy Perkovich they are at the forefront of vegetable and flower produc...

Yup. I took high school French. Can't you tell? This week we redeem ourselves from the depths of the manure from last week and rise to the beauty and function that flowers provide for our landscape.  Darrin and Tom will go through the list of our favorite flowers and why we plant them. They provide great services (other than beauty) that can help your garden thrive!

You may think that Tom and Darrin talk crap every week, but this week we actually do! All kinds of it: manure, meadow muffins, cow pies...chickens, alpacas, llamas and bats. We'll go over all things excrementum and how we, as gardens, can utilize (or be cautious of) its powers.

Tom and I put the jokes aside this week and welcome you to listen to a topic that resonates with many of us. Deeply. Emotionally. And if you haven't watched it yet, find 45 minutes and watch the recently released Colorado movie: Legacy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b75IPokq28E - it will give you a better appreciation of what our farmers and ranchers go through - every, single, day. We were...

Ugh. You get all excited to garden and in comes the pill bugs, pocket gophers, and mushrooms. Wait. Mushrooms? Listen to learn more - and maybe commiserate.

We filled out our permission slips and got to go on ANOTHER field trip! Tom and Darrin got to buddy-up and visit Scott Smith and his 2 year-old greenhouse east of Durango. Sampling ready-to-eat herbs, kale, carrots, and artichokes made us a bit envious of the early harvests, but not sure we're ready for all that work!

Paul Simon once wrote "...and touched the sound of silence". Well, we know that he wasn't applying compost to his garden because scientists are now able to "hear" all the bacteria and fungi that love that organic matter. The Garden Guys delve into microorganisms and the ways they help our bodies and our garden beds - and how those two are so similar.

Free advice and crisis mitigation. For plants. Learn what to look for with all those seedlings in the nurseries and farmers market. All the spring questions are flowing, and so are the sarcastic answers this week on Garden Guys.

One of our favorite places (Manna Garden in Durango) with one of our favorite people (Brooke Frazer)! The Manna Gardens are prepping for the upcoming seedling sale happening next weekend (May 10-12).  She shares some of the varieties that will be available, as well as touching on the history of Manna and the wealth of services it provides for the local community. 

When it comes down to very basics, it's all about the carbon. The building block of really, everything. The basis of much of life on the planet, and how it relates to the growth cycle, microorganisms in the soil and the planetary carbon cycle which is having some hiccups as of late.

Join the Garden Guys (Darrin and Tom) for the season opener!  Spring is here and so are the chores. How do you procrastinate? What do you do first? And what’s your view on using Dibble Boards? Because you will definitely get ours! We all have work to do, so let’s just talk about it. Oh, and Darrin got worms! They may not be as hardy and strong as Tom's but they're learning (and so will you...

As spring is just around the corner, we just wanted to step outside and admit that another planting season will soon be upon us.  On this episode, Tom and Darrin discuss the finer points of “dialing-in” your early-season planning when it comes to new plant choices, and adjusting for mistakes from last year.  We also go over details about our new favorite winter squash. And if that wasn’t exciting...

We're back and better than ever! Well, maybe not 'ever', but we are back for one show right before Christmas hits. Darrin and Tom have interrupted their hibernation to come give you tips on LMG’s (Last Minute Gifts)  as well as a list of other (somewhat related) garden subjects. Learn about last year’s failures and find tips for next year’s mistakes in the garden! And look for our upco...