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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

Farmer Fred

Picking up where the Garden Basics podcast left off. 

gardenbasics.substack.com

Beyond the Garden Basics Podcast

If we sound excited, we are! It’s getting close to tomato planting time! In this week’s podcast and newsletter, Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, CA and I discuss this year’s unusual weather, emphasizing the importance of proper soil temperature and patience when planting. Don shares insights on different tomato varieties, explaining determinate, indeterminate, and heirloom types, alongside effective watering and mulching techniques for possible drought conditions. We offer tips for new gardeners, encouraging variety and restraint in their tomato-growing journey.

 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

The 2026 Tomato Preview Show!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com

Farmer Fred interviews horticulturist and commercial citrus grower Lance Walheim about the history and cultivation of citrus fruits, covering varieties, growing tips, pest challenges, and the joys of homegrown citrus.

Growing Citrus Trees in a Non-Citrus Environment

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com

If you’re looking for a superfood to grow, it’s hard to beat blackberries. They can be grown in just about every state in the United States. They’re highly adaptable, and they thrive in USDA zones from 4 all the way up through 10. Here in California, in USDA zone 9, they do quite well. They grow nearly anywhere that has enough sun.

Today, we talk with Master Gardener and berry expert Jeff Smoker, who has tips for growing blackberries.

Blackberries are considered a superfood.

According to North Carolina State University, a superfood is so-called because it has a high ratio of nutrients to calories, and that is a perfect description of a blackberry.

According to North Carolina State University, blackberries are low in fat and sodium. They make a very heart-healthy snack. They’re loaded with fiber, 7.6 grams per 100 per cup. Only 62 calories per cup. Carbohydrates, 13 or 14 grams. Less than 7 grams of sugar. Less than 1 gram of fat. And they even has 2 grams of protein. Plus, they are loaded with vitamin C, manganese, vitamin K, vitamin E, potassium. They’re high in antioxidants, which reduce free radicals, combat oxidative stress, and may protect against cancer, heart disease, and cognitive decline.

Tips For Growing Blackberries

We talk about water safety and rain barrels with Sacramento County Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour who swears up and down on her stack of Ruth Stout gardening books that she would NEVER drink water from a rain barrel…nor would she water her edible plants with it.

What’s a gardener to do? 
 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

How Safe is Rain Barrel Water? When to Plant Warm Season Vegetables and Flowers.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com

In this podcast episode, I speak with Staci and Jeremy Hill, authors of "The Preserver's Garden," at their 11-acre farm Gooseberry Bridge in the Ozark Mountains. We explore their transition from urban life to sustainable farming, emphasizing self-sufficiency and healthy eating through preserving homegrown food.

The Preserver's Garden

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com

What is Backyard Orchard Culture? According to Dave Wilson Nursery, the goal of Backyard Orchard Culture is the prolonged harvest of tree-ripe fruit from a small space. This means planting close together several fruit varieties that ripen at different times and keeping the trees small by summer pruning.

According to today’s podcast guest, Ed Laivo, the backyard garden is not a place for a commercial orchard, where all the fruit and nut trees are planted 20 feet apart and get 20-30 feet tall. For thirty years, Ed has championed the idea that the backyard gardener needs only to grow enough fruit to feed the family, as safely and economically as possible.

What is Backyard Orchard Culture?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com

Some passersby or visitors might think you have a yard full of shiny coffins in your front or backyard. 

OK, using large steel cattle watering troughs as gardening containers might not appeal to those who heed form and design before function. But that staple of rural areas for supplying water to horses, cattle, and sheep is also damn practical for the gardener looking to remain more upright while working with food and flower crops. 

Opting for watering troughs as large garden containers also helps avoid vexing in-ground soil issues such as perpetually soggy clay soil, rocks, thin soil, as well as soil that might be rife with pests (hello, gophers!) and soil-borne diseases such as verticillium wilt, nematodes, fusarium and more. Besides, you can mute the “coffin comments” by prettying them up…with the right paint.

In today’s newsletter podcast, we talk with Sacramento County Master Gardener Gail Pothour about using steel watering troughs as large containers for food and flowers. Not only does she have them in her own yard, she and her fellow Master Gardeners at the vegetable section of the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center in Sacramento County, California are showing visitors their value for growing vegetables, annuals, and perennials.

Beyond the paywall in both the podcast and newsletter today, we discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using regular steel and galvanized steel as containers for edible crops. One of the big drawbacks to galvanized steel: the chances of zinc leaching into the soil and into the roots of your plants…and then into you. We will look at the available scientific literature (and there’s not much, really) that discusses the dangers of using a container made from galvanized steel.

Also, we will delve into the important topic of how to have easier drainage from containers to avoid standing water. And, from “The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions” Department: what some gardeners do, thinking they are helping the water draining situation, when in reality, they may be creating more problems, causing water to collect in the containers, leading to possible root rot. 

And, of course, paid subscribers get a transcript of the podcast, corrected by an actual human!

Paid subscribers are about to find out if their galvanized stock tanks serving as raised vegetable garden beds are slowly killing them. Don’t be left out!

Stock Tank Gardening

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com

Today’s podcast here on Beyond the Garden Basics is all about grapes. We have two interviews with two Sacramento County UC Master Gardeners, who specialize in grape selection, planting, trellising, feeding, watering, protecting, and harvesting both wine grapes and table grapes. You’re going to discover the best disease and heat resistant varieties, the best tasting grape varieties, and detailed information about pruning both table grapes and wine grapes.

And if ever there was a podcast that screamed for pictures, charts, graphics, and more. It’s this one. To the rescue is the original newsletter that contains this podcast, Beyond the Garden Basics, which you can find with an easy search or just to Substack dot com. In the newsletter, we’ll have more explanations about what we talk about in the podcast, including diagrams explaining the various pruning techniques for grapes, best performing grape varieties, and links to grape growing advice from universities throughout the country.

All About Grapes

Please share this with any of your friends or family embarking into the exciting world of backyard gardening, especially starting a food garden!

America’s Favorite Retired College Horticultural Professor, Debbie Flower, and I explored these “lessons learned the hard way” (aka “Garden Wisdom”) back in 2022.
 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

First Food Garden? New Garden? We Have Tips.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gardenbasics.substack.com

Blueberries Grow Well in Containers

At our former residence, the blueberry harvest from our six plants was outstanding; there was plenty for us, as well as the birds (note: add netting). The six southern highbush varieties that we planted there included Sharp Blue, Jubilee, South Moon, Blue Ray, Sunshine Blue and Misty. That was about 10 years ago.

The 2026 Tomato Preview Show!

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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