Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

Can bermudagrass be controlled, or is it forever? America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, has tips for converting a bermudagrass turf area into another lawn type or to control it to the point you can use that area to expand your garden.  Organic advocate Steve Zien tells us how plants communicate to get the nutrients they need and to ward off invading pests. And,...

We’ve often said here that when designing your garden plan, make sure the edible garden is visible from the kitchen window. Today, we expand on that: tips for planning a garden so that the most beautiful spots outside are visible from the room inside in which you spend the most time. Think of it as the "easy chair garden". Master Gardener Pam Bone has some ideas for you on that. Speaking...

Are fertilizers overused? That’s what America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, says. She also deciphers all that information on a fertilizer label so you know exactly what’s in it and what it will do, if anything, for your plants. Meanwhile indoors, spring is the time for repotting houseplants. We chat with the author of “Houseplant Warrior”, Raffaele DiLallo about...

You’ve heard of No-Till gardening. How about No-Dig gardening? Or creating a Lasagna garden? Emily Murphy, author of the book, Grow Now, explains. In our Question and Answer segment, one listener wants to know if it is too late to plant potatoes, and how to prepare the soil for potatoes? As we like to say on this podcast, it depends. Master Garden Gail Pothour has the answer, with all the variable...

Spring isn’t just for outdoor garden tasks. Your houseplants need some springtime love, as well. We chat with the author of “Houseplant Warrior”, Raffaele DiLallo about your houseplants’ needs for the right light, the right humidity, and he has a list of easy care houseplants for low light conditions. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Raffaele also has houseplant advice for those who must muddle through c...

We pay a visit in today’s episode to the lush yards of a couple of notable gardeners. We chat with America’s favorite retired college horticulture professor, Debbie Flower, in her garden, about what you should think about before you start your first garden: a checklist, if you will. It’s like learning from the mistakes of others. Or, to put it more politely, we're sharing garden wisdom. And,...

Get your day off to a healthy start by adding fresh-picked berries - blackberries, raspberries, blueberries - to your breakfast.  Here in California, harvest season for those are perhaps six weeks away.  And wherever you live, you can probably grow some kind of berries. We covered growing blueberries back in Episode 67 . Today, in Episode 182, we talk with Master Gardener and accomplished home bla...

There are two very contemplative aisles that gardeners can encounter at big box stores or a well-stocked Garden Center…and that’s the drip irrigation parts aisle, and the garden pesticide aisle. Next time you go, check those aisles out. You’ll always find a gaggle of people, just staring at the products. Staring. Wondering. Considering. Contemplating. Today, Debbie Flower and I try to get you movi...

It’s "bat day" here on the Garden Basics podcast. By the way, we’re talking about the flying mammal, not the Louisville Slugger.   Bats! They are a good friend of every gardener and farmer. Why? Because they’re eating a lot of the flying pests that otherwise would be chowing down on your crops and flowers… or you. We talk with noted bat expert, the University of California’s Rachael Long...

The Poop Loop. No, we’re not talking about the reference in SpongeBob Squarepants (but we will have a link to that in the show notes). We’re not referring to a leash accessory that holds your dog's poop bag so you can finally be hands free to chat on your phone during your daily walks! (you’ll have to look that one up yourself). Nor is this an explanation of composting toilets. You’re going t...

How in tune with nature are you? Probably more than you think, if you’re a gardener. We talk with Emily Murphy, author of the new garden book, Grow Now , about your NQ, your Nature Quotient. Plus, we talk with her about front yard gardening, the actual definition of full sun, and the special hands of a gardener.  Got new, colorful spots on the leaves of your annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs?...

If you have a small yard, or crummy soil or even just a sunny patio, you can grow tomatoes…in containers! If you have an area around the outside of your home that gets six hours or more of sun a day during spring and summer, you can be serving garden-fresh, container-grown tomatoes at meal time. However, there are some tomato varieties that are better suited for growing in large pots. Our favorite...

Looking for easy to grow succulents for a wide variety of climates? We cover the basics for growing these unthirsty plants both outdoors and indoors. Spice up your salsa garden this year with the tomato relative, tomatillos. We have tips, and a warning. We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory.  It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred po...

Welcome to the tug-of-a-war season. Is it late winter, or early spring? Will daytime highs be in the 60’s and 70’s? Or will the overnight lows dip below freezing? Or both? Deciduous fruit trees, such as peaches, apples, plums, apricots and more everywhere get confused when sunny, mild days are followed by a few freezing nights. And if those trees are blooming, and a frost or freeze is predicted, y...

In this episode, our favorite retired college horticultural professor, Debbie Flower, and myself, offer a wide variety of garden tips to get your yard ready for spring. And it’s kind of a special episode, too. It was recorded live, at the Folsom, California Garden Club, where nearly 100 gardeners gathered to also pepper us with questions. Many of these questions, as well as the topics we covered,...

For many gardeners in USDA Zones 7. 8, 9 and 10, March is the month for new beginnings. The weather is warmer, trees and shrubs are blooming. But wait a minute… it’s still winter. Jack Frost can still be nipping at your plants, setting back the progress of new buds, flowers and leaves. On today’s Garden Basics, we have late winter and early spring frost protection tips for your new and established...

It’s that time of year. You’re thinking about what to plant in your spring and summer garden. You’re looking at all those empty plant containers in your yard and asking yourself, what flowers or vegetables should I grow? But are those containers really empty? If you still have last year’s potting soil in those containers, you might be wondering, do I need to toss that expensive soil into the garde...

Deciduous fruit trees are starting to wake from their winter slumber in warmer areas of the United States, with the rest soon to follow. Why not bring some of that flower show indoors? Today, we get tips on how to get fruit tree branches and other spring flowering plants to bloom on your dining room table, as well as tips for spring flowering shrubs and trees that will look great in your landscape...

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the greenhouse lately, starting tomato, pepper and onion seeds. You don’t have to be a gardener for very long to realize the advantages of having a backyard hobby greenhouse. It's an ideal place to start seeds, get cuttings to root. A greenhouse is also great for overwintering tender plants.  We talk with Mark Seibert of Sturdi-Built greenhouses in Oregon a...

Keep your seed catalogs open! Today, we pick up where we left off on the last episode of Garden Basics (168)  where we were talking with Master Gardener Gail Pothour at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center  about the All-America Selections vegetable varieties that did well over the years here in Northern California. Many of those varieties received national recognition, too.   Today, we have more awa...

If this is the year that you start your vegetable garden from seeds, you have some choices to make before too long. Which tomato, pepper, squash, melon, eggplant and okra varieties should you plant?  We talk with vegetable expert and Master Gardener Gail Pothour about the All America Vegetable selections that have been the top performers for her and other Master Gardeners. And we will have a revie...

We recently spoke with Andrew Bunting of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society about garden resolutions, and the Philadelphia Flower Show, which will be held this coming June. Go back to Episode 159 of the Garden Basics podcast to find out more about those topics.  We also talked about the interest in gravel gardening back east and in the midwest. If you are a subscriber to the Garden Basics “Bey...

Winter rose care season is here for many of us. Besides pruning, weed killing may be on your list of things to do in the rose bed. But before you reach for that spray bottle of weed killer, listen to what Master Rosarian Charlotte Owendyk has to say. Plus, she has alternatives for thwarting weeds among your rose bushes. It’s also the time of year for transplanting many perennials and shrubs. Debbi...

Yes, it is a little late for a New Year’s Resolution, but here’s one that is better employed late than never: take better care of your garden tools. And, It’s not just keeping them clean. On today’s episode of Garden Basics, Debbie Flower gets into the how’s and why’s of properly maintaining your garden tools…including storage and sharpening advice…and yes, the proper cleaning of your tools. Plus,...

For many backyard gardeners right now in USDA Zone 9, it’s citrus fruit harvest time. And before you know it, everybody will be in fruit picking mode come summer. Do you have the right equipment for harvesting fruit? Do you know the best ways to do it to help insure that the fruit will last longer in the kitchen? We talk with a fruit picking expert who has organized a tree fruit gleaning program t...