The Simple Garden Life

Jim and Mary cover the topic of hardening off vegetable and flower transplants in the spring. Hardening off tender young plants is seedlings is vital getting them off to a healthy strong start outdoors. Learn how to harden off your plants safely, and why it is so important for a great garden season.

See how easy growing vegetables in straw bales can be! Jim and Mary take you through the steps of setting up a straw bale planter, all while covering how to set your bales up for success with a simple approach that makes it easy and uncomplicated to grow.

Jim and Mary walk listeners through the process of planting, growing and maintaining a strawberry crop. From June bearing to everbearing varieties, strawberries are a great perennial crop to plant to enjoy for years of fresh berries!

See the best methods for collecting and using rain water for your garden, flowerbeds & landscape - and why it's one of the best ways to water your plants! Using rain water for your landscape is not only a great way to conserve on your city, well or community water supplies, it also has huge benefits for your plants. In fact, more advantages than you might ever imagine!

Jim and Mary discuss the 5 best ways to use compost in your garden and flowerbeds. Compost is the key to adding healthy nutrients to your soil naturally. It’s full of life and teeming with beneficial bacteria and organisms. All of which work to rejuvenate and re-energize tired soil and help keep it productive. But how effective it is at helping your soil and plants really depends on how you use it...

Jim and Mary take a look at how to plant and maintain a perennial crop of asparagus. Asparagus can grow and produce for 20 years or more, but the key to success is planting it right from the start! See where to locate your crop, select the right varieties, how to prepare the soil, and when and how to harvest for best results.

Jim and Mary are back for Season 2 of the Simple Garden Life Podcast. Listen as they talk about the benefits of saving egg shells and coffee grounds in the winter, and how to use them to power your soil and plants this spring and summer!

Jim and Mary take a look at dividing perennials in the fall, including when and how to divide, and why it is so important for keeping your flowerbeds healthy and weed free.

Jim and Mary take you through the process of how to plant a fall cover crop in your garden, and why it is so important. Cover crops not only protect your garden's soil through winter, they also help keep weeds at bay, all while recharging your garden's soil.

A look at how to deadhead flowers to keep both your annuals and perennials strong and vibrant. Jim and Mary talk about the age-old practice of deadheading flowers.

Jim and Mary discuss when and how to fertilize a garden to get the most from your crops. See when you should start to power up young transplants and seedlings, and what the best fertilizers for vegetable crops are.

Jim and Mary discuss succession planting in the garden, and how to get the most from your space with multiple plantings.

Jim and Mary discuss how to create gorgeous container plants by using perennial plants instead of annuals. Learn how to create beautiful potted plants year after year without spending a dime!

Jim and Mary discuss 8 simple but effective garden tools that should be in every gardener's tool shed. These 8 tools are not only inexpensive, they can also help you to a stronger, healthier garden - and a happier you!

Jim and Mary discuss their favorite heirloom tomatoes to grow in the garden. From fresh eating, to making sauce, pasta, juice and more - listen in to find out which tomato varieties are best to grow, and why.

Jim and Mary discuss their best secrets to keep your hanging baskets looking great from spring until fall. From selecting the right plants, to proper watering and fertilizing, see how to have the best hanging baskets on the block!

Jim and Mary discuss growing vegetable in 5 gallon buckets, and how easy it is to grow nearly any type of vegetables you can dream of in containers. See their top tips and hints for growing in 5 gallon buckets - and how to make it look beautiful too!

Jim and Mary take a look at the secrets behind keeping your flowerbeds weed free, and how to do it without working hours every day at it!

Jim and Mary cover how to get your vegetable garden off to the best start possible with 7 key planting day secrets! How you plant on planting day can have a big impact on your garden's success.

Jim and Mary discuss their top tips for how to grow your best crop of cucumbers. Whether growing in a garden, in raised beds, or containers, see how to get the most from your cucumber plants

Jim and Mary discuss how to make compost tea, and its many uses in the vegetable garden, flower beds, and for fertilizing hanging baskets, container plants, herbs and more. Compost tea is easy to make, 100 % organic, and best of all free!

Jim and Mary cover how to create a Raised Row Garden this spring, and how to maintain it year round! The Raised Row garden method continues to grow bigger every year, and it’s easy to see why. It makes gardening fun, all with a simple, low-maintenance and entirely organic approach. Even better, it doesn’t require anything more than the most basic of tools. There is no need for a rototiller. Nor wi...

Worm castings are quite simply one of the most powerful, incredible, plant-energizing & soil fertilizing ingredients you can use. And, they are 100% organic! Learn how to use worm castings to power all of your flower and vegetable plants to new heights this year!

Weeds can turn a gorgeous garden into an eyesore in just a few weeks. In addition, they can also choke the life out of your plants, competing for the same vital resources (water, nutrients, light and oxygen) that your vegetable plants do. Learn how to stop weeds in your garden for good as Jim and Mary go through the 4 simple secrets to eliminating weeds from a vegetable garden.

Jim and Mary take a look at the secrets to creating and maintaining a great compost pile. Compost is an amazing organic powerhouse of nutrients. Nutrients that help to keep soil loose, workable, and most importantly, completely energized. When it comes to growing healthy plants, compost is a must-add ingredient to your soil!