The Beginner's Garden with Jill McSheehy

You would think something as simple as watering the garden would be easy for home gardeners. But garden irrigation can actually prove tricky to master. How much water does your garden need? Should you hand-water , use soaker hoses , or lay drip lines ? How do you know if your vegetables are getting too much or not enough water? In this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcast , garden expert Joe L...

When we begin our gardens, we imagine what our tomato harvest will look like. But most of the time, we don't anticipate tomato plant problems that often arrive in mid-summer. Beginning gardeners blame themselves and sometimes give up. But they shouldn't . Summer tomato problems are more common than you realize, and thankfully, there are steps you can take to overcome many of these tomato issues. I...

One fun part of gardening is that we get to learn and grow in our knowledge each season. My 2019 spring garden yielded several successes and lessons learned, and I want to share those with you. In this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcast , I identify ten lessons I've learned from my 2019 spring garden. Click below to listen to continue reading.

You've watched your beautiful garlic plants grow for months, and the time nears for harvest. But how do you know when to harvest garlic? And once you harvest, how do you cure and store it? The good news is this: harvesting, curing, and storing garlic is almost as easy as growing it ! You only need to know a few basics and you'll be eating garlic from your own backyard garden for months. In this ep...

I think we'd all say experienced gardeners offer priceless garden wisdom , but there's a group of people first-time gardeners can also learn from that's often overlooked: second-time gardeners. Still with a beginner's mindset, gardeners in their sophomore year recall details experienced gardeners forget. It's kind of like how a mom of a toddler can offer something special to a mom of a newborn tha...

In my first garden, I planted once. I had no aspirations for a year-round harvest. Any harvest would equal a successful garden in my mind. But the second year I added a fall garden , and as I gained more experience I realized I could extend my garden season even further. I began growing more winter crops and I enjoyed expanding my growing season much further than the once-and-done summer harvest....

Growing okra in my garden is one of my favorite vegetables to grow! And it's not just for those of us who live in the southern US. With a little understanding of okra's basic growing requirements, this tasty vegetable can be grown in most areas of the country. Plus, its versatility offers growing options of both raised beds and in the garden. In this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcast and in...

When you discover aphids in your garden, you naturally want to get rid of them -- fast! With a host of organic aphid control solutions available online, how do you know which one to choose? If you're like me, you want something easy. And more important, you don't want your actions to harm your garden or your plants. In this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcast,  I share with you how I tested 3...

Do tomato plants need to be pruned? In my first years of gardening, it seemed everyone told me, "yes." But as I gained more experience and began listening to other gardening experts , I learned that the answer to this question isn't as clear as you'd think. People get passionate about tomato pruning. But I started asking myself, "why?" Is it because this is the way they've always done it? Because...

First-time gardeners must decide: "should I plant in a raised garden bed or in the ground?" Certainly, it's not always an either/or decision. While I've always used a combination of both for many reasons, Jill Winger of the Prairie Homestead converted her in-ground garden to a garden comprised entirely of raised beds. Though a devastating experience of inadvertently poisoning her garden served as...

There are few garden subjects I am more passionate about than mulch. It prevents weeds and regulates moisture in the soil, among its other benefits. But which mulch should you use? Perhaps the most common is shredded leaves, but what if you're like me and you don't have access to deciduous trees? Then what are your options? I've used wood chip mulch, hay mulch, straw mulch, and pine needle mulch,...

On any given day in the garden, you'll find me with earbuds and my phone, listening to my favorite gardening podcasts. What better way to spend a few hours in the garden than to do the thing I love, while learning ways to do it better? As a first-time gardener in 2013, I could not find enough gardening podcasts to fill my time or my thirst for knowledge. Since podcasting was in its infancy, I list...

In the early months of my podcast, I received an email from a veteran gardener from a generation ahead of me. We traded emails frequently and formed a friendship in the years since that first email. Several months ago, he sent me a list he had created called his "12 Garden Rules." With his permission, I share this wise man's gardening wisdom to you. No matter what your age or experience level of g...

If you've ever noticed the eaten leaves of your broccoli, cabbage,  or kale, you've likely encountered one of worms that attacks the brassica family of plants. Even organic gardeners struggle to find ways to control these pests that can decimate your beloved cole crops in short order.  In this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcast, you'll learn 5 organic ways to both prevent and get rid of cabb...

In this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcast , I talk to the author of Vertical Vegetables , Amy Andrychowicz. You may recognize her as the writer behind the web site Get Busy Gardening . Amy is a zone 4b gardener in Minnesota, and she uses vertical gardening to both practically make the most of her small space and aethestically beautify her backyard patio and garden.

About a year ago, I wrote a post about 7 Common Mistakes in Raised Bed Gardening .  It has since become one of the most popular posts here at the Beginner's Garden, and many readers have posted more questions about their raised bed gardens.  So I thought I would visit this topic again and answer some of those questions. In this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcast and in the post below, I dive...

My journey to the ideal tomato trellis system has not been an easy one. It started with using a flimsy round "tomato cage," which couldn't bear the weight of my vining tomato plant loaded with fruit. Then, I turned to the Florida Weave method. This worked beautifully for my Roma tomatoes but not the vining, indeterminate varieties. Finally, I decided to try two other popular methods -- tomato stak...

When beginning gardeners start planning their gardens for the first time, most do not know which vegetables will keep producing all season and which will harvest once and finish.  I know I didn't think about that my first few seasons. But now I understand that some vegetables produce all season and some give a one-and-done harvest. With that knowledge, I am better able to plan my garden to full pr...

On this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcast and in the article below, Emily Leuba from the Crazy Worm Lady shares all you need to know about the fascinating world of composting with worms. 

What can I plant in my garden to keep pests away? Doesn't every organic gardener want to know this? We don't want to use pesticides, so we want to know what herbs deter pests, what flowers deter caterpillars, and what plants repel specific insects that plague our gardens. While scientific research on the topic of companion planting for pest management is still in its infancy, blog posts, books, an...

In this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcas t, I share my top 21 money-saving tips to growing a frugal vegetable garden. Click below to listen or read the article below to learn my 21 tips to saving money gardening, and when you're finished, be sure to share your own tips so we can all benefit!  journeywithjill.net/podcast

Before you go out and buy any soil or compost, here are 4 things to think about to get exactly what you need for your garden on your budget. Don't waste your money on something you don't need! If you've wondered, "How do I start a raised bed garden?" Then these tips will get you started!  

When we start our first gardens, we're full of excitement and hope. But there's another feeling not far behind: fear. What if we make mistakes without realizing it? In this episode of the Beginner's Garden Podcast and the blog post below, I share five common mistakes I see first-time gardeners make. I made them all myself as a beginning gardener, and I want to prevent you from going through those...

Today I'm going to talk to you about low maintenance crops. These are the ones that won't require a lot of baby-sitting. They're easy to grow and manage. In my opinion, they're perfect plants for the first-time gardener to start with, especially when you don't know realistically how much you will be able to manage in the height of the summer and want something low effort.

Maybe you want to try to start seeds indoors for the first time. Or maybe you've tried in the past with little (or no) success. While attempting to start seeds indoors can prove intimidating, once you get the hang of the basics, it's really not as hard as you might think. Though I have been starting seeds indoors for several years, I wanted to ask an expert to weigh in on best practices. In this e...