Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home Gardening

Fall might still feel far off, but if you want a successful fall harvest, now is the time to start those seeds indoors. Today on Just Grow Something, I walk you through the step-by-step timing strategy for indoor seed starting specifically for fall gardening.

Learn how to:

• Calculate back from your first fall frost date to find yoursowing and transplanting windows

• Adjust days to maturity using the “fall buffer” method

• Choose the best crops to start indoors based on your zone and daylight hours

• Utilize strategies for short-season gardeners and season extenders

From understanding the Persephone period to selectingshort-season varieties, this episode equips you with the tools to master indoor seed starting for the fall garden. Let’s dig in!

Fall Buffer Chart:

Planting Window Before Frost: Days to Maturity Adjustment

> 11 weeks: +10% buffer

8–10 week: +20% buffer

5–7 weeks: +40% buffer

3–4 week: +70% buffer

Links:

Your summer garlic and onion harvest are ready, now what? You spent a lot of time and energy getting this crop to maturity, let’s not waste that effort by allowing them to go soft before we get to use them.

Today on Just Grow Something, I give expert tips for harvesting, curing, and storing garlic and onions to keep them fresh through next spring. Learn how to recognize when your crops are ready, the best techniques for drying and storing, and how to avoid spoilage. Plus, I share alternative preservation methods like freezing and dehydrating. Whether you're new to gardening or a seasoned grower, this episode will help you get the most from your harvest.

What You’ll Learn:

• When and how to harvest garlic and onions
• Ideal curing conditions and duration
• How to store for short- and long-term freshness
• Alternative storage techniques (oil, freezing, dehydration)
• The best types for long-term storage

Let’s dig in!

From experimenting with peas shading lettuces to using mint as a living mulch for kale and cucumbers, this week on Just Grow Something I share the successes, tweaks, and surprises of my spring growing season. If you’re looking to maximize yield, minimize weeds, and experiment with companion planting, this episode is packed with all the things. And these can all be repeated for fall! Let's dig in!

What We Cover:

• How to use “high, low, fast, slow” principles in garden planning
• The pros and cons of using mint as a living mulch
• Pairings that worked: Beets & kale, Collards and mint
• What didn't work, maybe?: Kohlrabi & beets
• How my vegetable persona is... okra?!

References and Resources:

Summer gardening should be about sunshine and fresh veggies, not swatting and scratching. So, this week on Just Grow Something we dig into the science and strategy behind controlling two of the most irritating garden pests that go after the gardeners, not our plants: ticks and mosquitoes. Learn which ones are in your region, understand the risks they carry, and implement practical, research-backed solutions to protect yourself and your family while in the garden.

From landscape tweaks to personal protection hacks and a game-changing DIY mosquito trap, this episode has everything you need to enjoy your garden bite-free.

We cover:

• Common tick species by region and associated diseases
• Mosquito types and their disease vectors
• Natural vs. chemical repellent options
• Landscaping tips to deter pests
• How to build a “Bucket of Doom” mosquito trap

Let's dig in!

References and Resources:

In this short and snippy episode, we dig into a classic gardening technique known as the Chelsea Chop. Named after the iconic RHS Chelsea Flower Show, this late spring/early summer pruning method can help home gardeners promote bushier growth, delay blooms for season-long color, and support pollinators with flowering perennials in the garden.

If you’re looking to add more beauty to your veggie garden and boost the productivity of your perennials, this episode is your green-thumb guide to giving those flowers a haircut.

Today on Just Grow Something we're talking:

• What the Chelsea Chop is and why it's done
• Ideal plants for the technique (Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Sedum, Phlox, and more)
• Different pruning strategies and how to choose the right one
• The timing of the chop based on your climate and plant maturity
• Benefits for both aesthetics and garden health (more airflow, fewer pests!)

The Chelsea Chop is more than just a cut—it's a strategic move to shape your garden and support pollinators. Let's dig in!

References and Resources:

There’s a persistent myth floating around on social media that gardening is too expensive to be worth the effort when it comes to saving money on groceries. But what if I told you that with the right strategies, your backyard (or balcony!) garden could not only feed your family but actually save you money?

Today on Just Grow Something, we’re busting the myth thatgrowing your own food can’t compete with grocery store prices. We’ll explore how your location, soil type, and choices in the garden can make a huge difference in your return on investment. From essential tools and inputs to skip-the-splurge items and savvy seed saving, we’re diving deep into the real numbers and practical tips that make gardening not just a hobby—but a financially smart one. Let’s dig in!

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why some crops offer more bang for your buck than others
• What you really need to spend money on in your garden—and what you don’t
• How to track your gardening costs and harvest value to measure your savings
• Budget-friendly strategies like starting from seed, making your own compost, and using free or recycled materials
• How to choose crops and garden methods based on your climate and soil type for maximum return

References and Resources:

Welcome to the 250th episode of the Just Grow Something podcast! 🎉
Whether you've been listening since the beginning or just found the show, thank you for being part of this growing community. In this special milestone episode, we're digging into listener-submitted questions on a variety of timely gardening topics.

In this episode:

• When seedlings are ready to transplant (what to look for beyond just "true leaves")

• How to properly plant using the Three Sisters method and why timing is key

• What to do with sprouted or soft seed potatoes and how to plant them successfully

• How to manage Colorado potato beetles while supporting beneficial insects like ladybugs

• When and how to use insect netting effectively in your garden (and how to keep it from blowing away!)

• Winter sowing tips for celeriac and strategies when you can’t start seeds indoors

• Organic pest control tips for pill bugs, armyworms, grubs, and more

• The role of beneficial nematodes in controlling Japanese beetles and other soil pests

These are all real questions from you, my gardening friends, submitted via email, social media, and our Facebook community. If one person is wondering, chances are others are too! Let's dig in!

References and Resources:

Are all bugs in your garden bad news? Not at all! In fact,some insects are your best allies when it comes to pest control and plant health.

Today on Just Grow Something, we’re talking about howto tell the difference between beneficial insects and destructive garden pests—even if you’re not an entomologist. Learn how to identify common bugs based on their behavior, body features, and habitat, and discoverwhich insects you want to attract to your garden and which ones to manage quickly.

Whether you’re a new gardener confused about who’s chewing on your cabbage, or a seasoned grower wanting to attract more natural predators to your space, this episode has practical tips for observing, identifying, andunderstanding the insects in your garden.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• The role of beneficial insects in natural pest control and pollination
• How to visually identify insects based on body shape, wing type, behavior, and feeding habits
• Examples of common garden pests like aphids, squash bugs, and hornworms
• Identification tips for good bugs like ladybugs, parasitic wasps, lacewings, and hoverflies
• Why local resources like university Extension services and conservation departments are your best tool for regional pest and beneficial ID
• How to build a garden that attracts and supports beneficial insects
• Why not all creepy crawlies need to be squished—some are silently helping your garden thrive!

Let's dig in!

References and Resources:

It’s been a while since we’ve done a full crop specific episode and I think this is the perfect time of year to talk tomatoes. We are getting about 500 tomato plants in the ground over the next week so they are on my mind!

So, today on Just Grow Something we’ll walk through the full tomato-growing process—from choosing varieties and starting seeds indoors to troubleshooting common problems and harvesting for peak flavor.

You’ll learn how to choose the right variety for your space, when and how to plant for success, how to deal with pests before they ruin your harvest, and what to do when things don’t go quite as planned (looking at you, blossom-end rot). Let's dig in!

References and Resources:

I promised this week we’d go into the actual techniques of interplanting. One of the main methods I use in my own garden, in helping my clients in their gardens, and what I teach in my Plan Like a Pro course is “high, low, fast, slow.” This little mantra is a great way to combine the plants in your garden to make the most use of all of your space without impeding on the growth of any of the plants.

When done successfully, not only are you taking advantage of mixing the species up to help with pest pressure, but you’re also providing better diversity in the garden in terms of your soil and getting more out of the same garden space. When done incorrectly, though, we can choke out our plants, cause disease issues, invite pests in because we have weak plants and, ultimately reduce our yield.

Today on Just Grow Something, I’m taking you through how to judiciously combine plant families in your garden beds so you can make the most of the space you have while also benefitting your plants and the soil they’re in. I will give you specific examples of how this is working out in my gardens right now so maybe you can be inspired to do the same in your own garden. Let’s dig in!

EPISODE REFERENCES AND RESOURCES: 

If you’ve been gardening for any amount of time, you’ve likely come across companion planting charts—maybe you’ve seen advice like “plant basil with tomatoes” or “marigolds repel all pests.” But how much of this is actually true?

Companion planting can mean a lot of things, depending on what our goal is. We can either be going for pest repelling properties, keeping weeds down, soil health benefits, or just enhancing flavors or saving space.

Today on Just Grow Something, we’re sorting fact from fiction. Some companion planting practices do have solid science behind them. But many claims are more anecdotal than evidence-based—and in some cases, well-intended pairings might even backfire. I’m looking at you marigolds. Let's dig in!

References and Resources:

Today, we’re diving into a topic that sneaks up on every gardener at some point—pests. Whether they’re crawling, flying, or trotting in on four legs, pests can quickly turn a thriving garden into a frustrated gardener’s nightmare.But here’s the good news: you don’t have to reach for synthetic pesticides to protect your plants.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking all about preparing your garden before the pests show up—using methods that keep your crops safe while still protecting pollinators and beneficial insects. We’ll cover physical barriers, companion planting, organic sprays, soil health, and even a few tips for keeping the bunnies and deer at bay.Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

One thing I am often asked by beginning gardeners is, “what is the easiest thing for me to grow?” Some of us just dive right in to gardening headfirst, attempting to grow whatever our favorite veggies are, regardless of how easy or difficult it is. Or without even considering that one might be more difficult than others. That was me and ignorance is definitely bliss until you are unsuccessful, and then it’s just frustrating.So, today on Just Grow Something I’m going to cover some of the easiest things for a brand-new gardener to grow, whether it’s in garden beds, raised planters or pots. We’ll take about which growing zones they are appropriate for, what type of light requirements they have, and any specific requirements they prefer like temperature or how they germinate. Just because they’re easy doesn’t mean they won’t appreciate a little attention to their preferences and that will only make them easier for you to get them to maturity. This is a great episode to share with a new gardening friend! Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

I will never forget the first time I successfully started my own transplants from seed indoors and they actually looked healthy and strong. I was so excited to get those tomato plants out into my garden and lovingly transferred them from their little pots out into the garden, got them all watered in, and was so excited about the money I had just saved by doing it myself instead of going to the garden center.

Three days later those plants were flopped over flat on the ground, looking like they had seen a hard frost over night even though I knew they hadn’t. Those plants took weeks to bounce back and started producing way later than they should have. That very next year I did it again, only this time it was cabbage and the plants got completely sun bleached and they never bounced back at all. They dropped most of their leaves and just didn’t grow.

In both cases, I had failed to give the plants adequate time to acclimate to their surroundings, moving them way too quickly from the indoor seed-starting setup with its perfect lighting, perfect temperatures, and protection from the elements right out into the full sun, gusting winds and wild temperature swings typical for our gardens here in the spring.That process of acclimating our plants to the outside world is called hardening off and nobody had every told me anything about this. It seems obvious if we think about it in terms of anything else in our world. If we live somewhere warm and travel someplace cold, our bodies need to time to acclimate to our new surroundings or need adequate protection to help with the transition. If we need it, our little plants need it, too.

So, today on Just Grow Something we’re walking step-by-step through how to transition your plants into the garden, whether you started them yourself or you bought them somewhere else. Will it always end in disaster if you don’t do this, no, not always. But the number of times it has ended in disaster for me has me checking myself every time I think I don’t have the patience to wait a week before putting my plant babies in the ground. Let’s dig in.

References and Resources:

Many traditional "old-wives' tales" and "farmer's wisdom" about planting and gardening are actually based on phenology, the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals in relation to climate and weather.

Many traditional planting rules are based on biological indicators—when certain plants leaf out or bloom, or when specific animals become active. These signals reflect cumulative temperature trends and help predict when conditions are right for planting, pruning, or harvesting.

Today on Just Grow Something we’ll do a breakdown of common gardening wisdoms across different regions, why they work, and how they can help gardeners time their planting based on natural cues. We’ll even check out some of these wisdoms from a few regions outside the U.S., namely Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K., to see how they compare. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

At the beginning of the year, I asked you think about why you garden. Whether it’s a hobby, our family’s main source of food, or anything in between, I maintain that understanding why you garden is really important to planning the garden and defining a budget.

But, what about the garden being more than just a source of food, exercise, or a connection to nature. What if it were something more?

That’s the question that Bailey Van Tassel has asked and answered. Bailey is the founder of the Kitchen Garden Society and author of the recently released book, Kitchen Garden Living. She has taken an approach to gardening that is not just seasonal in nature but all-encompassing in its seasonality, growing not just food but friendships, gifts, and time with family.

Today on Just Grow Something, I sit down with Bailey and chat all things kitchen garden, flavor gaps, winter bulk, and moving a garden from one climate to another. We also get into her book and her unique way of determining exactly what gets prioritized in her garden beds using playing cards and the game of Poker. Let’s dig in.

References and Resources:

Success with starting seeds indoors comes down to a handful of factors: your materials and technique, soil temperature, air temperature, light, and air flow. How we approach each of these will determine how successful our outcome is. Just like any new skill, starting seeds indoors and successfully getting them to the transplant stage takes practice. Last week we talked about the supplies we need to get started. This week, we’re covering how to use them.

Today on Just Grow Something, we’re going to run through what I would consider to be best practices in terms of each of these factors. We’ll talk about the optimal way to approach seed starting and talk about where we can go wrong. By the end you’ll be able to decide for yourself whether you should tackle indoor seed starting as a beginner or where you can improve if you’ve been there before. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Free Seed Starting eBook: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/seedbook

Garden Planning Workbook: https://www.justgrowsomething.com/shop/p/just-grow-something-garden-planning-workbook

Seed Starting Supplies Options (aff):

https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething/list/2C6VB08JWCYZ9?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_PQ0YZ9H0SFS3SM5RXCH5

FIRST TEN ORDERS IN FEBRUARY: Save 40% on your Magic Mind subscription! https://magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHING40 with code GROWSOMETHING40

We talked last week about how to time our seed starting so we can get a jump on the gardening season without being too early or too late. This week we’re focusing on what we need in terms of supplies to get those seeds going.

There are tons and tons of options out there from the plain basics to the super fancy and everything in between. There is also a wide range in terms of how expensive those options are.

Today on Just Grow Something we’ll talk about the six things I think you need for basic seed starting and then the items that are either nice to have’s but not necessary or downright scams. If you’ve thought about starting your own seeds indoors but shied away because it seemed like you needed way too much equipment, we’re going to demystify that today. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources

Free Seed Starting eBook: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/seedbook

Garden Planning Workbook: https://www.justgrowsomething.com/shop/p/just-grow-something-garden-planning-workbook

Seed Starting Supplies Options (aff):

https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething/list/2C6VB08JWCYZ9?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_PQ0YZ9H0SFS3SM5RXCH5

Once those seed orders are rolling in, your garden plan is shaping up, and the days slowly get a little bit longer, we start to get restless. We want to get our hands in the dirt! This leads to the temptation to get started on our indoor seed starting, but for most of us it really isn’t time to start very many of those seeds just yet. This will depend on your growing zone, of course, and when your last spring frost date is if you have one, but it will also depend on what you’re planning to grow.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to narrow down, step-by-step, how to time your seed starting whether you’re just dipping your toe in or have been doing it for a while. It does take practice to get the timing right and there is no foolproof plan because conditions change from year to year. But by the end you will know exactly what steps to take to get yourself as close to target as possible so you don’t have 18” tomato plants begging to be planted a full three weeks before it’s warm enough for them to go outside...speaking from experience. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Last week we defined our “why” for gardening as a way to help determine our goals. Part of that goal requires us to think about the types of things we want to grow in our garden and the number of people we’re feeding in our family or whomever we are growing for. This also helps determine how much space we need for the garden to meet those goals and whether or not our existing space is big enough, or even too big.

It’s very easy to overdo it, especially in the first few years because you don’t know how many plants you need in order to get the volume you want your garden to produce. It’s also very easy to plant too much of one thing and not enough of another and leave yourself overloaded or coming up short. I was guilty of not planting enough leafy greens the first few years but way overplanting the cucumbers and I very quickly had to learn how to make pickles, something my family still does not eat in abundance.

Today on Just Grow Something we’ll talk about how to determine the number of seeds or plants that you for your garden in order to achieve the harvest you want so you can more accurately plan your garden space and leave nothing behind. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Plan Like a Pro Course: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/pro

MU Extension Vegetable Planting Calendar: https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g6201 (click to download .pdf to the right of the page) Plan By Yield Chart: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/yield

Okay, my gardening friend, tell me this: why are you gardening? Did you start gardening during the pandemic because everything was locked down and you were at home all the time and needed some sort of contact with another living thing and that living thing ended up being plants? Or is gardening something you grew up doing and just automatically continued as an adult? Do you garden to reduce the family food budget or maybe your goal is to grow all your family’s produce for the entire year? Maybe it’s just a way to get outside and get some fresh air and exercise and it just feels good to tend to something.

In order to know what we want out of our garden, we have to know why we’re gardening. That “why” is going to help us determine our goals. It’s also going to help dictate exactly how ambitious we get in terms of what we grow, how much space we use, how much we’re willing to invest, the types of tools and supplies that we buy, all the things.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to look at our “why” and how knowing that answer can help us set our goals for this gardening season and maybe even our budget. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Plan Like a Pro course: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/pro

I went back through the episodes for this season and looked at the statistics to find which episodes really stood out for you guys this year and thought I would share those so, if you really need a garden podcast fix this week you could jump back and listen to one of those. There was one surprise on the list that I will cover at the end and one all-time favorite, but first let’s look at the top 5 for 2024.

I will leave links to each of these episodes in the episode notes and it was also in this morning’s email for your convenience!

References and Resources:

If you’ve ever had shrunken ends on your zucchini or curled ends on your cucumbers, then you have seen the results of a lack of pollination. This doesn’t always mean we don’t have enough pollinators, sometimes it means the pollinators couldn’t do their job for some other reason, like heat, humidity or the density of our plants.

But, it is becoming more and more common for us to see a lack of pollinators in our vegetable gardens. Neighboring pesticide users, invasive species, widespread habitat loss, or disease can all affect the diversity of insects we want in our gardens and these aren’t often things we can control. But we can control what happens in our own yards and garden spaces and use that control to help out the pollinator insect population. If we understand some of the strategies to help pollinators, we can also positively affect the number of predatory insects we draw to our gardens which falls right in line with the Integrated Pest Management strategies we talked about last week.

Today on Just Grow Something we’ll talk about why we might have a lack of pollinators in our garden and strategies to correct that, five annual and five perennial plants that attract pollinators to a vegetable garden, along with their benefits, the pollinators they attract, and growing tips. We’ll also cover which of those attracts predatory insects to the garden to help with some of that pest pressure many of us seem to face. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

I didn’t grow up learning how to cook. When I say I had no idea how to season my food as a young adult, I mean NO idea. I didn’t even use salt and pepper. It took me years to not just learn how to cook from a practical application standpoint, but also how to use herbs and spice blends.

When I started gardening, growing herbs wasn’t at the top of my list. I didn’t really think there could be much difference between the dried stuff I bought in the store and using it fresh out of the garden. I started to grow them to include in our CSA boxes and on our market stands. When I had leftovers that maybe didn’t sell at the market that day, I brought them into my own kitchen and began to learn how fresh use differed from dried use.

Today on Just Grow Something, we cover the top 10 most versatile herbs to grow at home that are good for fresh and dried use, how to change how you use herbs depending on if they’re fresh or dried, how to dry them without a dehydrator, and how to use them in spice blends to kick that flavor up in the kitchen throughout the entire year. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

As we head toward the end of fall and into winter it’s time to start using some of what we’ve stored from the garden. Bountiful fall harvests of things like onions, potatoes, carrots, and beets, whether we grew them ourselves or managed to snag some from the local farmers market or CSA, can absolutely be stored up for long-term use. In fact, many of us count on these harvests or market scores to feed our families throughout the winter.

But it can be very disheartening to go into your pantry or basement to pull out sweet potatoes for a big family holiday meal, only to find they’ve gone soft or moldy. Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to cover proper winter storage of fall harvested vegetables and we’ll talk about some of the fruits, too. There are plenty of things we can store with no special equipment or storage facility, just a cool dark area may be all you need. But understanding the difference between what your potatoes want, versus what your sweet potatoes want, can make all the difference in the world when it comes to how long you can enjoy those goodies before planting again in the spring. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

It is November, which means we are firmly seated in fall and many of us have seen the total demise of our gardens. In fact, some of us have had several weeks since we saw anything green out there and it’s kind of depressing! Have no fear, there is a way to get a fresh green pick-me-up in the kitchen even when the outside seems bleary – three ways, in fact!

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to cover three ways to grow nutritious greens indoors. This can absolutely be done year-round, but it’s especially poignant in the late fall and through the winter. Especially if you live somewhere like I do where it’s a bit bleak and dreary outside and your body is just craving something fresh. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources: (some links are affiliates and I'll earn a small commission ... thank you!)

If you’ve been watching my social media accounts you’ve seen me posting about my recent trip to Puerto Rico. I was hoping to see what backyard gardeners were growing in a tropical region and also get an idea of what crops are economically significant to the region and I was actually surprised by what I learned.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about what crops are prevalent in Puerto Rico and how we can duplicate some of that in our own homes even if we live somewhere that is decidedly NOT tropical. We’ll also reveal your answers to the October question of the month: what was your biggest failure in the garden this year? Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Adding the right soil amendments in the fall is a great way to set up your garden for success in the spring. By incorporating amendments now, you give them time to break down and integrate into the soil, providing nutrients and improving soil texture for the next growing season.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to breakdown the best amendments for addressing specific nutrient deficiencies, as well as general-purpose options that we can add to our soil now to benefit our garden in the spring. Let’s dig in!

Question of the Month: What was your biggest failure in the garden this year?

References and Resources:

Last week we talked onions, this week it’s another allium, garlic. The timing on planting onions in the fall is just about the same as when we plant our garlic for overwintering and garlic spends just about as much time in the garden as those fall-planted onions do.

Just like our onions, there are specific considerations for growing garlic – the right variety, the right soil, specific planting depth and spacing, planting time, and nutrients. If this all sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because those are all the same things we said are important for growing onions. Amazing how plants in the same family have some of the same concerns!

Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking tips for planting garlic by climate type. Whether you’re in zone 3 or zone 10 you can grow garlic, but what kind and when and how you plant will be vastly different and will greatly affect your success. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources

This is the episode so many of you have asked for and now is the perfect time because, in most locations, this is the time to be planting onion sets or seedlings to overwinter and harvest the next summer. Successfully growing full-sized onions for fresh eating and for storage seems to allude many of us, I had trouble with it the first few tries, for sure, and I think it boils down to a couple of things. First is planting depth and spacing, second is soil texture and nutrients, and third is the timing of the planting. Bonus points if you actually know which type of onions you should be planting in terms of long-day and short-day or day-neutral.

If none of what I just said made any sense to you, you’re not alone. So, today on Just Grow Something we’re going to review the very basics of growing onions but then dig deep into the techniques you can use for getting them planted now to successfully harvest those nice full fat onions in the spring. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

The fruits and veggies coming from our gardens are not the only things we can dry and store in the off-season. Think about the vibrant colors from the flowers in our yards and containers. We can absolutely preserve that beauty to use year-round, or at least to display through the dreary winter season, by simply air-drying them.

There are lots of ways we can use those cut flowers, ornamental grasses, and even edible flowers and herbs in our home décor and pantry. Yes, you’ve got the typical dried flower arrangement in the form of a bouquet, but what about centerpieces, wreaths, swags or other purposes like tea blends or simmer pots?

Today on Just Grow Something we’ll talk about the conditions we need to properly dry our florals and other cuttings from the garden, when and how to properly harvest them specifically for this purpose, how to properly store them so they retain their color, and some usage ideas. Why shouldn’t we use all the colors of our summer garden to brighten up our indoor spaces as we move through fall and into winter? Let’s dig in!

Question of the month: What was your biggest failure in the garden this season?

References and Resources

As we start to wind down the summer gardening season it’s a great time to be adding compost to your beds to help give the soil a boost. Letting the compost break down over the winter gives it adequate time to become activated with all the little microorganisms that are so important for delivering nutrients to our plants in the soil.

But, purchasing compost, especially really good compost, can be pricey and the bigger your garden, the higher the price tag! It’s hard to justify sometimes because some of us are growing our own gardens so we can save money on our food budget, not pay more to amend the soil than it would cost us to just buy our veggies at the grocery store. And if we opt for budget compost we may find not only is the texture and quality definitely fit the price point, but our plants aren’t getting much out of that soil the following season which is a complete waste of money.

I also understand that not everybody has room for a big compost pile in their yard, you may not even have a yard and are gardening in containers on a patio or porch, but you still want the best amendments for your soil and everybody has kitchen waste that can be used to feed our garden soil.

So, today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about the absolute easiest and least messy ways to build a small compost pile or composting system for your garden regardless of where you are. It may not be everything you need to add to your garden, depending on the size you’re working with, but it will absolutely reduce the need for having to purchase as much and you’ll be diverting waste from the landfill and helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the process. Let’s dig in.

References and Resources:

As the fall season is practically upon us and the pumpkin spice gods are already blessing us with their bounty, it’s time to get your garden ready for the changing weather. Fall gardening can look very different depending on your climate, but no matter where you live, the changing season means there are some important tasks to attend to for the success of your garden now and into the spring.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re tackling your fall garden checklist. Whether you’re buttoning up your garden for winter, transitioning into a cool-season planting cycle, or continuing to harvest year-round, today’s episode breaks down fall gardening tasks for three different groups of gardeners: Zones 3 and 4, Zones 5 through 9, and Zones 10 and 11. Let’s dig in!

Question of the Month: What was your biggest success in the garden this season?

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Last week on the podcast we talked about which seeds we should be saving from the garden, how mature the fruits need to be when we harvest seeds and a bit about how to dry and test them. This week, we’re focusing on storing them properly.

When we get seeds from a catalog or other seed supplier, they’ve often gone through a set of steps that we may not be duplicating at home with our own saved seeds. Seed suppliers are required to test their seeds not just for germination percentage, but also for diseases and moisture content. These tests ensure that we’re not brining outside diseases into our gardens and make sure the seeds we get will maintain their integrity in storage without spoiling.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about how we can achieve the same results in our own seed collection. If you garden where certain diseases are prevalent you certainly don’t want to saving that disease to plant again with your seeds the next year. We also want to be sure our seeds remain intact in storage and we don’t open up a fuzzy, moldy mess when it’s time to plant in the spring. Let’s dig in!

Question of the Month: What was your biggest success in the garden this season?

Saving seeds from our gardens to use the next spring it is a great way to not only help our budget out a little bit but also to give ourselves some food security and doesn’t sound like it should be a very difficult task. At that point we’re not relying on someone else to grow our seeds for us that we have to buy over and over again. Just collect the seeds from whatever you want to keep, rinse them, dry them, and pack them away for next year, right?

Well, yes, but also, no. The method I just described can absolutely mean you’ll have beautifully preserved seeds that have fantastic germination the next season and yield a bounty of exactly what you thought you were planting. But it’s equally possible that you’ll open the seed packet the next season to find fuzzy gray fungus or black moldy growth on your seeds, or seeds that don’t sprout properly, or maybe they sprout and you get midway through the gardening season and the fruit on the plant look nothing like the ones you saved the seeds from.

So, today on Just Grow Something we’re going to dig into which plants you should and shouldn’t be saving seeds from, how to properly collect, clean, and dry those seeds in order to best guarantee your success the next season, and how to quickly test them before you store them to know if they’re viable. Let’s dig in!

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If you have intentions of growing garlic for next year, now is the time to be ordering your seed garlic. Garlic needs about six months in the ground to get to maturity so, here in the northern hemisphere, we may be planting our garlic as early as mid-September in some areas.

With the plethora of catalogs and websites and garden centers offering garlic to gardeners, how do you know what variety of garlic to choose? And should you be choosing hard neck, or soft neck, or that look-a-like Elephant garlic?

Today on Just Grow Something we’re gonna' figure it out. We’ll talk about the differences between the types of garlic, and what might make you want to choose one variety over another – whether it’s to do with flavor, storage, disease resistance, or something else entirely. Let’s dig in!

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If you didn’t plan for a fall garden and maybe have changed your mind a little bit and want to give it a go, you might be looking for something you can very quickly put into the ground and grow directly from seed. Enter beets. They will happily germinate in almost any temperature of soil and they greatly appreciate the cooler days of fall when they are coming to maturity. They’re not fool-proof, because there is a little effort needed in terms of thinning in most cases and they do need a nice, loose soil to produce those beautiful round roots, but there is nothing that beats the flavor in the fall of a sweet, roasted beet alongside other root vegetables. Or, my go-to snack or addition to my salads, pickled beets, and my new favorite, beets roasted in air fryer. Even my husband admits those are good and he swears beets taste like dirt.

So, today on Just Grow Something we’re talking beets! How to grow them, what type to grow for your area, and why does it seem that even when we carefully space our beet seeds out in the garden that we end up having to thin them anyway? So many seedlings! Let’s dig in!

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I do searches online for gardening topics all the time. I will search key phrases to see if I can come up with topics that people seem to be searching for or gardening questions that may be trending. I even search specific ideas to see if there is new information or research that I’m not aware of. And more and more frequently I’m noticing a disturbing trend.

As I look at the search results, often times I will see multiple pages in a row, usually sponsored results, that have the exact same key phrases as the meta description, the little blurb you see under the link that tells you what’s on the page before you click it. When I click on one of those pages I find the page to be full of ads, with very little substance in terms of gardening know how. And the verbiage and style of writing is very mechanical, disjointed, and generic. If I click another one, the page layout is exactly the same and so is the wording. These pages are all designed to look like legitimate gardening blogs or how-to sites, but they all have two things in common – they are meant to earn money from the overwhelming number of ads being displayed and they are all written by artificial intelligence.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re diving into AI and gardening advice. Can AI be helpful when asking questions in the garden? Are those answers accurate? And how can we determine whether a source is reliable or not? Let’s dig in.

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There is something very satisfying about growing your own food, for sure, and being able to walk out into the garden to pick your lunch or your dinner. But, in the dead of a Midwest winter, the ability to be able to “shop” your own pantry for the things you eat the most, that you grew, that is a whole other level.

So, today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about the basic necessities you need for starting your own canning adventure. We’ll mostly focus on boiling-water canning and what can be safely canned in that manner, but since I jumped head first into pressure canning just a year after I started water-bath canning, we’ll touch on some of the differences in case, you too, are big on confidence but maybe a little shy on knowledge. Let’s dig in!

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Over the past decade or so there has been much debate about whether open-pollinated and heirloom varieties should be the preferred choice for gardeners over hybrids. And there's been even louder discussion (arguments) over GMOs or genetically engineered plants. Why all the fuss?

We're getting a bit sciencey today. I mean, more than usual. We're discussing the difference between all these types of plants, when and how they are appropriate to use in our home gardens, and what, if any, implications genetic engineering has on our choice of food at the grocery store and the farm stand.

Let’s dig in!

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