The Beet: A Podcast For Plant Lovers

Did you know you can walk around your neighborhood and make more plants from the plants you see on the walk? Enter the world of vegetative propagation and watch your garden explode. Connect With Daryl Beyers: Daryl Beyers is the author of upcoming book, The New Gardener’s Handbook and garden instructor at New York Botanical Garden. The New Gardener’s Handbook New York Botanical Garden Buy Birdies...

After transplanting, it’s time to let your plants grow...but you must be there to help them along the way with crucial watering and fertilizing. Learn how Daryl Beyers approaches this part of the growing process in today’s show. Connect With Daryl Beyers: Daryl Beyers is the author of upcoming book, The New Gardener’s Handbook and garden instructor at New York Botanical Garden. The New Gardener’s...

After our seedlings have sprouted, it’s time to get them into the garden...but how? Making a mistake here can spell disaster for your newly-sprouted seeds. Connect With Daryl Beyers: Daryl Beyers is the author of upcoming book, The New Gardener’s Handbook and garden instructor at New York Botanical Garden. The New Gardener’s Handbook New York Botanical Garden Buy Birdies Garden Beds Use code EPICP...

While buying transplants is perfectly fine, it’s fun to start from seeds from a cost, interest, and variety perspective. Learn a few of the crucial steps to starting seeds for 2020. Connect With Daryl Beyers: Daryl Beyers is the author of upcoming book, The New Gardener’s Handbook and garden instructor at New York Botanical Garden. The New Gardener’s Handbook New York Botanical Garden Buy Birdies...

Plant placement is a huge element of your garden’s success. Learn how to select the right plants for the right place in your garden with our guest, Daryl Beyers. Connect With Daryl Beyers: Daryl Beyers is the author of upcoming book, The New Gardener’s Handbook and garden instructor at New York Botanical Garden. The New Gardener’s Handbook New York Botanical Garden Buy Birdies Garden Beds Use code...

Now that we have an understanding of the importance of roots, this episode dives into soil health and how to make sure you give your roots the home they deserve. Connect With Daryl Beyers: Daryl Beyers is the author of upcoming book, The New Gardener’s Handbook and garden instructor at New York Botanical Garden. The New Gardener’s Handbook New York Botanical Garden Buy Birdies Garden Beds Use code...

We grow most of the plants we grow for their shoots and fruits...but often forget about the world beneath the soil...the roots. Learn how to balance your care of both the above and below-ground parts of your plants. Connect With Daryl Beyers: Daryl Beyers is the author of upcoming book, The New Gardener’s Handbook and garden instructor at New York Botanical Garden. The New Gardener’s Handbook New...

This topic may come as a surprise to many of you, but tilling may do more bad than good. Learn why in today’s show with Paul from Aliki Gardens. Connect With Paul Filomena: Paul is the owner of Aliki Gardens, a local San Diego soil company with a focus on creating high-quality soils to support a regenerative agriculture approach. He’s also been involved in cannabis cultivation for 10+ years. Aliki...

 “Feed your soil, not your plants” is an often-repeated mantra, and for good reason. But do plants feed soil as well? Turns out the answer is yes, as Paul from Aliki Gardens explains in today’s show. Connect With Paul Filomena: Paul is the owner of Aliki Gardens, a local San Diego soil company with a focus on creating high-quality soils to support a regenerative agriculture approach. He’s also bee...

In regenerative agriculture, a huge focus is put on the overall health of our soil. But what exactly does soil health mean, and why is it so vital for regenerative ag? Connect With Paul Filomena: Paul is the owner of Aliki Gardens, a local San Diego soil company with a focus on creating high-quality soils to support a regenerative agriculture approach. He’s also been involved in cannabis cultivati...

Bulk density is a phrase I hadn’t heard in relation to soil mixes, so on today’s show Paul from Aliki Gardens explains what it is and why it’s important to know. Connect With Paul Filomena: Paul is the owner of Aliki Gardens, a local San Diego soil company with a focus on creating high-quality soils to support a regenerative agriculture approach. He’s also been involved in cannabis cultivation for...

As we get deeper into soil science and mix creation, Paul talks about why aeration, pore size, and optimal moisture percentages matter so much. Connect With Paul Filomena: Paul is the owner of Aliki Gardens, a local San Diego soil company with a focus on creating high-quality soils to support a regenerative agriculture approach. He’s also been involved in cannabis cultivation for 10+ years. Aliki...

Ever wondered how a commercial soil company creates a mix? Wonder no more, as Paul from Aliki Gardens outlines how he came up with his most popular blend, Freyja’s Mix. Connect With Paul Filomena: Paul is the owner of Aliki Gardens, a local San Diego soil company with a focus on creating high-quality soils to support a regenerative agriculture approach. He’s also been involved in cannabis cultivat...

I grew cabbages this past fall that absolutely blew up, thanks in part to some soil that I was testing from a local San Diego company, Aliki Gardens. I got Paul from Aliki on the show to talk about what happened. Connect With Paul Filomena: Paul is the owner of Aliki Gardens, a local San Diego soil company with a focus on creating high-quality soils to support a regenerative agriculture approach....

Let’s think beyond basic garden salads in the kitchen, and who better to tell us than Chris Starkus, who has been a professional chef for over 25 years. He shares a few of his favorite creative ways to use your garden produce in the kitchen. Connect With Chris Starkus: After being a professional chef for 25 years, Chris Starkus pivoted his career and became an eco-entrepreneur, partner and CSO of...

Food preservation is key if you’re a gardener. Even if you’re planning your garden well, you’ll end up with extra produce - and that’s fantastic...as long as you know how to preserve it. Chris Starkus joins us to share a few of his favorite ways to preserve food. Connect With Chris Starkus: After being a professional chef for 25 years, Chris Starkus pivoted his career and became an eco-entrepreneu...

Did you know a common defrosting method in commercial kitchens uses 125 gallons of water per pound frozen food? That’s appalling, and Chris Starkus quite literally changed his career to become the Chief Sales Officer of Boss Defrost, an innovative way to defrost food using 98.5% less water. Connect With Chris Starkus: After being a professional chef for 25 years, Chris Starkus pivoted his career a...

It’s always a good idea to use as much of your own produce in your kitchen. After all, that’s why we grow it, right? But what about other ways we can use the plants that we grow in the garden? Chris Starkus joins us to discuss some of his favorite ways. Connect With Chris Starkus: After being a professional chef for 25 years, Chris Starkus pivoted his career and became an eco-entrepreneur, partner...

Today we zoom out and talk about larger issues than our veggie gardens: urban popular growth and how that impacts food security and sourcing in urban centers. Of course, one good solution is to grow more of your own...but is that enough? Connect With Chris Starkus: After being a professional chef for 25 years, Chris Starkus pivoted his career and became an eco-entrepreneur, partner and CSO of Boss...

We’re living in interesting, volatile times in terms of our global climate, and water sourcing and scarcity is a major part of that. Learn what dry farming is, and how Chris Starkus approaches water security on his farm, Lost Creek Micro Farm. Connect With Chris Starkus: After being a professional chef for 25 years, Chris Starkus pivoted his career and became an eco-entrepreneur, partner and CSO o...

Chef Chris Starkus is back on the podcast to talk about his new career change as well as some thoughts on his farm, Lost Creek Micro Farm. Today’s episode features an update about the farm as well as his plans for the future. Connect With Chris Starkus: After being a professional chef for 25 years, Chris Starkus pivoted his career and became an eco-entrepreneur, partner and CSO of Boss Defrost.  H...

I recently traveled to the UK to visit Charles Dowding, the godfather of the no-dig movement. Here is what I learned. Learn More: Watch the full tour of Charles Dowding's garden Buy Birdies Garden Beds Use code EPICPODCAST for 10% off your first order of Birdies metal raised garden beds, the best metal raised beds in the world. They last 5-10x longer than wooden beds, come in multiple heights and...

What are your goals in the garden this year? In this episode, I share what I'm planning for this year, including more cooking from the garden. Buy Birdies Garden Beds Use code EPICPODCAST for 10% off your first order of Birdies metal raised garden beds, the best metal raised beds in the world. They last 5-10x longer than wooden beds, come in multiple heights and dimensions, and look absolutely ama...

Kalanchoe’s bright blooms are the perfect way to cheer up a gloomy winter. This succulent comes in a rainbow of flowers that thrive for months, including the cold season. When not flowering, it’s a handsome plant with broad and chunky deep green leaves. And knowing how to propagate kalanchoe will help you have as many as you want! Learn More: How to Propagate Kalanchoe: Plenty of Petals Buy Birdie...

Punica granatum, the pomegranate tree, is a tree in a class of its own. Producing an unusual fruit filled with little arils or sacs of sweet juice, this tree originated abroad and has become a hit in the United States. Learn More: Pomegranate Tree: A Festive Winter Harvest Buy Birdies Garden Beds Use code EPICPODCAST for 10% off your first order of Birdies metal raised garden beds, the best metal...