Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home Gardening

If you’ve ever had that one magical week where the garden is giving you exactly what you want - some lettuce, a few carrots, a handful of beans, a couple tomatoes - and then two weeks later you’re drowning in zucchini while everything else is kind of between harvests ... Today we’re fixing that. Because the goal for a lot of home gardeners isn’t “the biggest harvest possible on one weekend.” The g...

If you’ve ever stared at a seed catalog in January and thought, “I want all of it,” and then somehow ended up with a garden that felt chaotic by mid-summer, today’s episode is for you. Because most “garden planning” advice starts with the fun part—varieties, colors, wish lists—and then we wonder why the plan falls apart when real life shows up. So today on Just Grow Something, we’re going to flip...

We’ve reached the end of another gardening year. Maybe your garden was spectacular. Maybe it was just so-so. Maybe it was an absolute disaster in certain beds and you’re still a little salty about the squash vine borers. However it went, this is a powerful moment in the gardening calendar. Today we’re going to slow down and talk about taking time to reflect on the past season, reset your expectati...

Seed catalog season is fun, but it can also be overwhelming. If you’ve ever ordered way more seed than you can possibly plant, chosen a variety that just did not perform in your climate, or gotten confused by all the codes, abbreviations, and marketing language this episode is for you. Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about how to read a seed catalog. We’ll cover: 1. Why seed catal...

Winter sowing is a seed-starting method that sounds a little bit wild the first time you hear it but makes sense if you think about it from a horticultural standpoint. Basically you are sowing seeds in recycled containers like milk jugs and placing them outside in the winter as a very hands-off way of starting your spring garden. If you’ve ever: • Run out of space under grow lights • Been frustrat...

When the garden beds are frozen, the days are short, and you’re staring at bags of store-bought salad mix, it can feel like fresh homegrown food is a long way off. But it doesn’t have to be. Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking about growing herbs and leafy greens indoors in winter—on a windowsill, under a simple grow light, or with one of those countertop indoor garden systems If you’ve eve...

Prepare for seed season with practical tips on reviewing your garden's performance, taking seed inventory, and ordering smarter for a more successful growing year. Today on Just Grow Something we walk through the essential steps to get ready for seed season: how to reflect on what worked (and didn't) in your garden, take a proper seed inventory, and create a more intentional seed order when the fl...

Today we’re talking about one of my least favorite but probably most important fall garden rituals: the great garden clean-up. This is the part of the year where we get to close one chapter of the garden season and start quietly writing the next chapter. Now that most of the chaos of the garden is done, it's time to be putting things in order, protecting the soil, and setting yourself up for succe...

The frost has settled, most of the garden has gone to sleep, and now we’re turning our attention to what’s left — the fruits (and roots) of our labor. I’m talking about how to store and preserve that late-season harvest, so all your hard work continues to pay off well into winter. Today on Just Grow Something We’ll look at how long certain crops can remain in the garden, essentially in storage mod...

If your forecast is flirting with frost and you still have all those lovely greens and root veggies out there, don’t panic, prepare. Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking row cover and low tunnels: what to buy, how to set up fast, how to vent so you don’t cook your greens, and exactly which fabrics and plastics can squeeze out one more month of salads, herbs, and even late summer crops like b...

Whether you live in a climate that allows for a veery long growing season or you’re like me and need to cram as much growing into a shorter season as possible, cloning is a shortcut to making the most of our best plants. In some cases it even makes sense to overwinter some of those plants so next season starts off weeks ahead of schedule. So, today on Just Grow Something, we’re talking about the i...

Now is the time to be getting our garlic, shallots and even onions planted in some places. If you can give me one good hour in the garden this month, you can set yourself up for big flavor next summer. Today on Just Grow Something were going to walk through planting garlic and shallots and some tips on where it’s okay to even plant onion sets for a summer harvest. We’ll talk about when to plant fo...

Fallen leaves in the garden will blanket the soil, slow weeds, and shelter a whole mini-wildlife community. Many native butterflies, moths, beetles, and even some queen bumble bees ride out winter tucked into leaf litter and hollow stems. When we keep some of that litter in place, we’re giving next spring’s pollinators a head start. That's the idea behind the National Wildlife Federation "Leave th...

As I record this, tonight will be a full moon. In fact, it’s the Harvest Supermoon here in the northern hemisphere. And it’s very possible that your online gardening group is absolutely abuzz with advice that tomatoes grow better if you plant them in the days leading up to the full moon and your beets grow more voluptuous if you plant them after the full moon. But does gardening by the moon actual...

For this final episode in our Raised Bed series, we’re talking about how to plan your raised bed garden. If you’ve never grown in a raised bed, there are some nuances to the planning and planting aspect, no matter what material you built the bed from. And if you’re already gardening in raised beds, but it turned into a jungle by July and a desert by August, this episode is also for you! So, today...

All this month we've been talking about creating new raised beds, what materials to use, and how to fill them. So, I thought it would be fitting to have on an expert on the subject. Scott Wilson, otherwise known as Gardener Scott on YouTube, has been building and growing in raised beds for two decades and has taught others to do the same as both a Master Gardener and a garden educator. His new boo...

This week we tackle one of the biggest questions in raisedbed gardening – how to fill it! It can be daunting, staring at this gaping box, trying to figure out how you’re going to fill 18” or even 36” of depth without going broke. So, today on Just Grow Something, we’re digging into the dirt – literally – on how to fill your new raised bed. We’ll cover the different materials you can use to get you...

Thinking about building raised garden beds but not sure what materials to use? Today on Just Grow Something we dig into all the options for raised bed construction, from wood, stone, and galvanized steel to creative choices like reclaimed materials, fabric grow bags, and more. We’ll talk about the pros and cons of each, including cost, durability, aesthetics, and safety concerns like chemical leac...

If you are considering adding your first raised bed or yourfiftieth to your garden for next season, now is the time to be doing it. A new raised planter is going to have to be filled and that material is going to have to break down a bit before it can be planted in order to make the nutrients available to your plants. This is NOT something we want to put together at the last minute in the spring j...

It's late August, the time of year when the garden can be just as likely to flourish as it is to fizzle out. I know all too well the rollercoaster of emotions we gardeners feel at this point in the season: you're hot, tired, maybe a little bit over it, and those early-season mistakes are showing their faces. But don’t give up! Today on Just Grow Something we dig into the common issues that crop up...

This week we’re on a blooming adventure into the world of roses. Okay, that was cheesy, but if you’ve ever struggled with roses or thought they were too fussy for your garden, this episode is for you. Joined by Robin Jennings from Heirloom Roses, I explore the super interesting history of thisfamily-owned company, from its humble beginnings as a backyard hobby to becoming the only U.S. nursery lic...

Is your summer tomato crop struggling with strange spots, brown mushy bottoms, or mysteriously vanishing leaves? You’re not alone! Mid-season brings a whole host of challenges for tomato gardeners, but with a little know-how, you can keep your plants thriving through to fall. Today on Just Grow Something, I dig deep into the four biggest summer tomato problems: blossom end rot, tomato hornworms, n...

Have you noticed a white, powdery coating on your cucumbers or yellow-spotted leaves on your tomatoes? Mid-summer fungal diseases like powdery mildew, blight, and leaf spots can devastate your garden if left unchecked. Today on Just Grow Something , I break down commonsummer fungal diseases and why they appear in wet, humid conditions, organic treatment methods, including milk sprays and baking so...

In this eye-opening episode, I unpack the shocking truth about nutrient loss in modern fruits and vegetables. A 2023 review found that today’s produce contains significantly fewer vitamins and minerals than in decades past. Some nutrients have dropped by up to 80% since the 1950s! We explore how industrial agriculture, depleted soils, and synthetic fertilizers have impacted our food and, more impo...

This week I share how to take your fall garden from conceptto cultivation. Learn when to plant, what to grow, and how to extend your harvest well into winter. Discover why fall gardening is more than just practical - it's backed by science and perfect for nutrient-dense, flavorful produce with fewer pests! What You’ll Learn: The science behind why fall gardens are nutritionally and logistically sm...