
Joe Gardener Blog
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Hi, I'm Joe! At joegardener.com - we've created an ever-growing site dedicated to all things gardening and horticulture through the best how-to videos, podcasts, online courses, and blog posts available. So no matter if you're a wanna-be gardener or one with years of experience under your belt, if you're open to learning more about this amazing world of gardening, you've..
Joe Gardener Blog
1w ago
Yard maintenance rules and laws created decades ago, before people and governments were attuned to the ecological damage wrought by climate change and habitat loss, continue to be blindly enforced in suburban and urban neighborhoods. My guest this week, Ontario gardener Wolf Ruck, has fought hard to defend his right to use his yard to sequester carbon and reduce biodiversity loss, a battle that is ongoing. Wolf lives in the City of Mississauga, which is just to the west of Toronto, Ontario’s capital city. For several years now, he has been appealing the city’s efforts to enforce its bylaws on ..read more
Joe Gardener Blog
3w ago
Margaret Roach, the New York Times gardening columnist and host of the podcast “A Way to Garden,” is back with me again to discuss what’s new in her garden and what she’s planning for in 2025. Margaret is a repeat guest many times over and a listener favorite who always has interesting observations to share. Margaret has written her New York Times column, In the Garden, for five years. She comes from a journalism background, which taught her to research thoroughly before writing anything. She also learned to become a good interviewer and listen carefully. Among her past jobs are ..read more
Joe Gardener Blog
3w ago
Preparing for seed starting season well ahead of time and becoming better organized will save you headaches and money in the months to come. This week, I’m sharing how I prepare and the new efficient seed organization system that I have adopted. I have made changes this year to my seed organization that have been a game-changer. I’ve become better organized all while spending less money and gaining a ton of peace of mind. The organization system is inspired by Amazon warehouses and how they track and manage their inventory. I learned about this through my neighbor Zen, a great ..read more
Joe Gardener Blog
3w ago
Farmer and author Ben Hartman proves it doesn’t take a ton of space to grow enough food to sustain a business. Ben joins me on the podcast to explain how he maximized efficiency on his lean micro farm to grow enough crops to satisfy his most loyal customers while reducing the effort and resources required to be successful. Ben and his wife, Rachel Hershberger, run a small urban farm in Goshen, Indiana, that they named Clay Bottom Farm, where they grow specialty crops to be sold locally. They farm on just a third of an acre, ensuring that every square ..read more
Joe Gardener Blog
3w ago
Rewilding a home landscape to support wildlife and increase biodiversity is a noble and worthwhile effort and should be every property owner’s right. However, ill-advised local ordinances that favor tidiness over ecology can make a native garden a target for fines and prosecution. On this week’s podcast, native gardener Craig Sinclair explains how he went to bat for his garden and overcame the forces that would see it plowed under and sodded over. Craig and his wife, Beth, are residents of Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada. Wanting to overcome the feeling of helplessness that climate change and bio ..read more
Joe Gardener Blog
1M ago
Starting a native, organic garden is a big step on the ecological gardening journey, and once you’ve made it that far, you’ll have even more questions than you did before. Garden designer Kelly Norris joins me to shed light on what comes next and discuss his new book, “Your Natural Garden.” Kelly is a gifted writer and an incredible horticulturist who gardens in Des Moines, Iowa. He has both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in horticulture from Iowa State University and is the former director of horticulture and education at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden. His earlier ..read more
Joe Gardener Blog
1M ago
Germinating native flower seeds is more involved than the seed starting you may be used to, but it’s not hard and it will scratch your gardening itch in winter. Wild Seed Project founder Heather McCargo joins me to explain how to start native flower seeds and the biodiversity benefits that it provides. Heather served as the executive director of the nonprofit Wild Seed Project from 2014 to 2021. She is also the lead author of the first Wild Seed Project guide, Native Trees for Northeast Landscapes, wrote the Maine Department of Transportation native plants handbook and was the founding editor ..read more
Joe Gardener Blog
2M ago
In the soil under our feet, amazing things go on that we don’t get to see. The more we learn about the hidden life of roots, the greater our understanding of how plants obtain the water and nutrients they need to grow. Landscape designer and author Robert Kourik joins me on the podcast to explain what roots and other organisms are up to beneath the soil’s surface. Robert is a pioneer of edible landscaping and a self-taught garden designer. He began his career in natural landscape design and maintenance in 1974 with one of the country’s first sustainability-oriented organic gardening ..read more
Joe Gardener Blog
2M ago
Spring’s flower garden starts with fall bulb planting. To share everything you need to know to plant and grow flowering bulbs successfully, Brent Heath of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, the celebrated mail-order bulb company, joins me on the podcast. Brent and his wife, Becky, are flowering bulbs icons. Brent’s family has been growing bulbs since 1900 in Gloucester, Virginia, and he is a wealth of knowledge on planting, choosing and maintaining flowering bulbs. Brent is a daffodil hybridizer and a naturalist who teaches how to garden in an earth-friendly way that benefits the bees, birds and b ..read more
Joe Gardener Blog
2M ago
Eye injuries in the garden may not be top of mind when weeding and harvesting, but gardeners should be in the habit of taking precautions. To identify the risks to our eyes that gardening poses and share ways to prevent injuries, joining me on the podcast this week is retinal surgeon Dr. C. Kiersten Pollard. Kiersten is a board-certified ophthalmologist in western Colorado, fellowship-trained in medical and surgical management of diseases of the retina and vitreous. As an ophthalmologist and MIT-trained neuroscientist, she has published research papers and worked in several research laboratori ..read more