MaritimeGardening.com

In this episode Niki Jabbour tells us everything we need to know about container gardening. Niki Jabbour is the award-winning, best-selling author of four books including The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener and Growing Under Cover. She’s a two-time winner of the prestigious American Horticultural Society Book Award. Niki is also the creator and long-time host of …

I keep a large garden with many beds, and I try hard to rotate what I grow in those beds every year – but there are some gardening gurus who claim that crop rotation is not necessary to have a good garden. In this podcast I lay out all the reasons why I think it …

It’s the beginning of May and everyone is wondering if their soil is good enough for the coming growing season! Thankfully we have author, teacher, master gardener, man of science and myth-buster Robert Pavlis – fresh off writing his new book: “Soil Science for Gardeners” – to help us improve our understanding of how we …

In this episode of the Maritime Gardening Podcast, Stefan Sobkowiak joins us to discuss permaculture, and how he uses it in his orchard. Farmer, permaculturalist, teacher, biologist, designer, author and speaker; Stefan Sobkowiak has presented more than 500 seminars and workshops to a whole range of public audiences. In addition to teaching at McGill University …

Straw bale gardens are all the rage these days. People seem to love this seemingly easy way to grow vegetables in bales of straw – but is it all it’s cracked up to be? Thankfully we we author, teacher, master gardener, man of science and myth-buster Robert Pavlis to help us separate fact from fantasy. …

It’s early February, and this time of year many of us start really thinking about the coming spring, and what form this year’s garden will take. In this episode I talk about some key considerations that are worth thinking through before ordering your seed. These are: 1) Where is the sun, and how much do …

In this episode I talk about why it’s just as important to develop your knowledge and skills in the kitchen as it is in the garden. Every year we gardeners use our knowledge and skill to grow food – and then we have to figure out what to do with it. By improving as cooks, …

In this podcast I bring back Dave Doggett – my original co-host for the podcast – and we talk about how this year has gone for the show, where it’s going next year, and a little bit about the value and savings associated with keeping a garden. If you enjoyed this content, please like, share …

Better soil means better gardens – but did you know that your soil is alive? Did you know that there’s more organisms in a teaspoon of soil than there are people on the earth? Well I didn’t know that – but my guest – soil scientist Keith Reid knows that, and many other things about …

It’s always a shame to see things that you’ve grown go to waste – yet this is an experience of many new gardeners. They plant too much of one thing, and can’t keep up with the production, and can’t give it away fast enough, so it ends up in the compost bin. What a shame! …

There is an estimated 1 quadrillion ants in the world. That’s 1,000,000,000,000,000! So if you have a garden, you probably have ants, and you most likely have more than one kind of ant in that garden, since there is about 12,000 species of ant in the world, with new ones still being discovered. So, suffice …

A big part of gardening is problem solving. The process begins with identifying a problem, and them coming up with a solution. Sounds easy, but sometimes the problem is hard to pin down, and the solution can be even harder to prescribe. None of this is made any easier by bad advice from others, the …

Summer is here, the heat is on, and from this point of the growing season onward, having a good garden is all about maintaining the moisture levels in your soil. Thankfully, in this episode we have the perfect guest to help us improve our understanding of how water behaves in soil systems. Keith Reid is …

The viewers have asked me to do an episode on ornamental plants once and a while – so in this episode I’m going to talk about roses with Bob Osborne. Bob is the author of “HARDY ROSES: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE FOR HIGH LATITUDES AND ALTITUDES, and president at Corn Hill Nursery Ltd. in New Brunswick, …

Gardening is a learning process, but many of us choose to learn the hard way. Instead of devouring all the information that we can find from experienced gardeners BEFORE trying to garden, we do the opposite, and spend years spinning our wheels with trial and error. Eventually we find our way to studying to try …

In this episode, I talk to Keith Reid, author of the book: “Improving Your Soil”. We talk a little bit about his book, and why he wrote it – and then he answers a good smattering of soil-related viewer questions (as well as a couple of my own). Keith has been fascinated with soil from …

Farmer, permaculturalist, teacher, biologist, designer, author and speaker; Stefan Sobkowiak has presented more than 500 seminars and workshops to a whole range of public audiences. In addition to teaching at McGill University for 8 years, he worked as a biologist and designer in his landscape design practice for 20 years specializing in wildlife habitat designs. …

Canada’s Food Price Report 2020 is released jointly by Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph. The report speaks to predictions that were made using historical data sources, machine learning algorithms, and predictive analytics tools developed over many years (link below). In this episode I talk about rising food prices, and what you can do …

Another season of MPG has come to its end, and like last year, I thought I’d bring Dave Doggett, who was my co-host from seasons 1&2, back on the show for some laughs and to tell us about his plans to make lots of new episodes for his podcast (maritimeoutdoorsman.com) in 2020. I also talk …

There are three key things needed for success in a vegetable garden: sun, water and soil. All three are essential, but the third is arguably where the gardener’s efforts can have the greatest effect. In this podcast I discuss building the soil: how soil is a term that we use to refer to a very …

Jamie Simpson is a forester, lawyer, and writer with a passion for exploring our natural world. He is the author of Restoring the Acadian Forest: A Guide to Forest Stewardship for Woodlot Owners in Eastern Canada, and Journeys through Eastern Old-growth Forests, and his latest book is Eating Wild in Eastern Canada. In this episode …

Ever notice that the birds seem to know more than you when it comes to the natural world? That’s phenonolgy! Don’t worry – If you spend a lifetime learning – you just might know as much as a bird by the time you’re old enough to pass that knowledge on to the next generation! In …

This is not my first rant about the raised bed fad that seems to have made everyone go gaga in recent years, and I doubt it will be the last! If you’re considering building a new garden, or expanding your garden, and think that raised beds will be a panacea for all your gardening cares, …

In this episode we catch up with author, blogger, teacher, YouTuber and Master Gardener Robert Pavlis! We have a great conversation about things you don’t need to buy, and Robert also talks about his next book (coming late December 2019) that’s all about soil science. If you enjoyed this content, please share this content with …

Last week we had a wonderful guest in biologist and educator Stefan Sobkowiak. Stefan’s film, “The Permaculture Orchard: Beyond Organic”, offers an inspiring and informative look at his Permaculture Orchard in South West Quebec. In the film, Stefan shares his experience transforming a conventional apple orchard into an abundance of biodiversity that virtually takes care …