Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

Ever get to the end of the growing season and realize your tomato patch didn’t live up to the expectations you had when you planted it in the spring?

In this episode we chat with tomato expert Frank Hyman, author of the brand-new book Ripe Tomato Revolution. He shares his top tips to get lots of healthy, homegrown tomatoes—with less work. Frank has over four decades of hands-on experience, as both a farmer and a gardener. He shares a super practical way for home gardeners to prevent disease, along with his easy-to-make, easy-to-use homemade tomato cage...

Today we continue our cross-Canada tour, chatting with food gardeners, and sharing crop and variety ideas to help you as you plan your 2026 garden.

We head to Manitoba, just outside of Winnipeg, to chat with Brent Poole, an avid backyard veggie gardener who has been at it for over 45 years. Along with his own big suburban yard, Brent has a big garden across the street. He loves to experiment with new techniques and new varieties, something he attributes to his background in biology. Brent writes for and is on the board of The Prairie Garden, an annual...

We continue our cross-Canada tour, chatting with inspiring gardeners to hear about favourite varieties and top crops. Today we head to Regina, Saskatchewan, to chat with Candace Benson, who runs City Street Farms. Candace tells us about how she turns grass into gardens in a city that has a lot of single-family homes—and a lot of front lawns. She shares the story of her business, talks about her process to transform a lawn into a garden, and then talks about favourite veg and flower varieties. You can find Candace online, at citystreetfarms.ca

---

Today we’re joined by Helen Battersby, who talks about a gardening book that began as a coping tool. Helen tells us about Margaret Bennet-Alder, who turned to gardening during a difficult family chapter. Inspired by the homemade booklets her son used to manage appointments and medication while rebuilding his life, Margaret began tracking her garden the same way—seasonal tasks, plant sources, and hard-earned gardening lessons. The book, the Toronto Gardener’s Journal, was a shared project with her son. They started with 50 copies. Margaret and her son, and, later, sisters Helen and Sarah Battersby, grew the book into a...

We continue our cross-Canada tour, chatting with inspiring gardeners to find out favourite varieties and top crops.

Today we chat with Niki Jabbour, a CBC radio gardening expert, one of the creators behind the gardening website savvygardening.com, and the award-winning author of The Year Round Vegetable Gardener, Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden, Veggie Garden Remix: 224 New Plants to Shake Up Your Garden and Add Variety, Flavor, and Fun, and Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden.

Niki shares some o...

We continue our cross-Canada tour of inspiring gardeners to find out favourite varieties and top crops.

Today we chat with Dave Hanson, co-host of The Grow Guide podcast, and owner of Sage Garden Greenhouses in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Dave shares some of his favourite veg varieties. He also talks about top herbs, one of his specialties.

Lavender get smoked in a harsh winter? Dave has a suggestion. And if you just can’t get enough cucs, hear what he does.

---

Leafy greens always seem to bolt too quickly? Can’t figure out why your broccoli isn’t forming heads? Choosing vegetable varieties suited to your climate helps avoid these sorts of frustrations.

In this episode, we get variety recommendations from gardening expert and entomologist Linda Gilkeson. Having spent much of her career on programs to reduce pesticide use, Linda is also an avid organic gardener who can garden year-round in her coastal climate.

Her books include Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest and West Coast Gardening: Natural Insect, Weed...

Not sure what to do with a long, skinny, straight-edged garden beside a driveway, patio, or building?

In this episode, we take a long, slender ornamental garden and reimagine the space with edible plants.

The garden we’re thinking about is actually a little sliver of the Joan of Arc Garden in Quebec City. But these same ideas work well in in many home-garden situations.

We talk about:

Do you have a garden where you use traditional annuals, but you want to switch it up for something edible?

Herbs are one option.

In this episode, we look at a space that has a tidy, slightly formal feel.

We replace the tightly clipped shrubs with edible alternatives.

And then we change out the annuals for herbs.

If you’re looking for more on using edible plants instead of traditional bedding plants, check out this post. 

---

Wondering about adding edible plants to an existing gardening without spoiling the aesthetic?

With the right plant choice, along with an understanding of how the space is used, you can add edible plants without spoiling the looks.

In this episode, we take a public space and reimagine it with edibles.

It’s a big space, with lots of lawn. We talk about plant choice for this shady spot, and about plant placement that doesn’t interfere with how this space is used. We include:

Thinking of veggies for your container garden? Or planter boxes with herbs? 

In this episode, we look at a patio surrounded by planter boxes that are filled with red geraniums...nothing but red geraniums.

Our goal? Transform this linear container garden from a continuous line of red into something varied, colourful—playful—and edible.

Hear two different approaches to reimagining the planter boxes so that they’re a low-maintenance edible container garden.

If you’re looking for more on the sub-irrigated planters from this episode, find out more here. 

***

Got a spot you’d like to use to grow food but not sure where to start?

In this episode, we tackle a bare space with hard clay, in zone 3.

Let’s not forget the deer and rabbits. Oh, and there’s a narrow “hell strip” that’s needs to be planted too.

The good news is that there are lots of ways to add edibles to a garden. The way to start is by choosing a creative direction, and then getting started.

We work through two entirely different approaches t...

Think your climate is too cold to grow tender fruit?

Find out how this grower harvests peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, and more…despite winter temperatures that can dip to -38°C (-36°F) and a short summer.

In this episode, Donna and Steven chat with Saskatchewan fruit grower Dean Kreutzer.  

We talk about:

Kreutzer and his wife run Over the Hill Orch...

Do you have more seeds and plants than you can fit into your garden?

It’s a common problem for the enthusiastic food gardener!

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about finding more growing space so that you can fit more crops into the same space.

Get ideas for:

If you’re looking for more on garden planning, check out these 7 vegetable garden layout i...

Want to grow great tomatoes?

With the right transplanting and care, your tomatoes will be off to a great start.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:

If you’re looking for more on how to support tomato plants, check out this article. 

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of hom...

Wondering when to plant vegetables? Not sure what to plant first?

You don’t need to plant everything at once.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about when to plant vegetables, and the Canadian tradition of planting the garden over the Victoria Day (May 24) weekend.

(Sometimes it makes sense…though not for all crops in all zones.)

If you’re looking for more on planting vegetables, check out this article on direct seeding. 

***

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home...

Your vegetable seedlings can look great indoors. Then fall like dominoes in the garden.

If they’re not hardened off.

But if you harden off seedlings, they stand a much better chance once you plant them in the garden.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:

If you’re looking for more on growing vegetables from seed, check out post on how to direct seed vegetables. 

-->Join the 5...

Wondering about fruit to grow in a cold climate?

Today we head to Alberta, to find out how to grow saskatoon bushes. Arden Delidais grows in Zone 2—and doesn’t get any winter dieback on her saskatoon berries.

Delidais’ orchard and winery, DNA Gardens, has a number of cold hardy crops including saskatoon berries, apples, plums, rhubarb, currants, and haskaps.

Saskatoon bushes (Amelanchier alnifolia) are native to North America. (South of the border you might hear them referred to as juneberry or shadbush.)

Delidais tells Steve and Donna about:

Have you tried direct sowing but didn’t get good results? Wondering how to direct sow seeds?

Direct sowing—a.k.a. direct seeding or direct planting—is when we sow seeds straight into the garden. We skip starting transplants indoors.

It gives better results for some crops—because there’s no transplanting shock. And that’s great, because it saves you the hassle of growing transplants.

But some crops need extra growing time…and that’s where transplants make sense. Or sometimes, hot summer weather causes spotty germination outdoors, meaning transplants are a better option...

Want to harvest more veg from the same amount of space? You can get lots more from a small space by growing in containers. (If you get it right…but that’s not difficult!)

If you get these 4 things right, you’re on the road to container gardening success: 

In this episode, Donna and Steven share top tips for container gardening success, including choosing pots, selecting soil, finding a suitable spot, and caring for your container vegetables.

If you’re looking for more...

Don’t miss out on fresh figs just because you’re gardening in a cold climate.

There are many cold-climate fig growers who defy zone boundaries with creative overwintering techniques.

Figs can take quite a bit of cold. Not the extreme cold. A creative gardener gets figs through the winter by moderating the extremes.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about fig-growing tactics for cold climates so that you can harvest figs—even if you have zone envy!

If you’re looking for more cold-climate fig-growing tips, drop by our fig home...

Can’t get enough pawpaw fruit? Want to grow a pawpaw tree?

If you haven’t tried pawpaw fruit, many people describe the flavour of its silky, yellow flesh as tropical.

While it’s the largest fruit native to North America, it’s difficult to find the fruit for sale.  

Yet it’s easy to grow.

That’s why many gardeners and small farmers plant pawpaw trees.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk with pawpaw expert Adam D’Angelo to get tips on growing pawpaw trees. 

We talk about:<...

When you make only withdrawals—no deposits—you eventually end up in overdraft. It works that way at the bank, with friendships—and with soil.

And growing crop after crop in a garden is like making withdrawal after withdrawal. The crops use nutrients. Working the soil affects its structure.

Amending soil is like putting money back into the bank. Soil amendments can improve soil structure, soil chemistry, and return nutrients to the soil.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about practical ways home gardeners can improve soil quality with soil amendments. 

We di...

Looking for herb garden layout ideas?

If you’re planning a herb garden, there are many ways to add herbs to the landscape. You can have a stand-alone herb garden, a herb lawn, herbs mixed with paving, use herbs as bedding plants, weave them into a perennial border, or make a herb container garden on a patio, deck, or paved space.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about ideas for using herbs in home garden landscapes and share their favourite perennial herbs, annual herbs, and exotic herbs.

If you’re looking for more...

Leafy greens fizzle out in the summer? Does your lettuce bolt too soon?

Find out how to grow more leafy greens in your garden and how to extend your harvest so you can pick fresh salad greens as long as possible.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops ideas for leafy greens, how to plant leafy greens in a home garden or edible landscape, choosing greens crops for ongoing harvest, how to hurry up your spring harvest, and how to slow down bolting—even in hot weather. 

If you’re looking for m...

Tried growing a potted lemon tree but it didn’t thrive?

Citrus expert Byron Martin has the solution. And it’s not difficult.

AND he also has recommendations for other unusual potted citrus trees. 

We talk about finger limes, blood limes, pomelo, sweet lemon, sunquat, kumquat, citron, and more.

For all of these citrus trees in pots, proper watering is the key to success. We hear how to water—and what to expect from potted citrus trees in the fall. (Spoiler alert: If your lemon tree drops leaves when you bring it indo...

Don’t have time to spend on fussy fruit crops? Then growing raspberries is something to think about. 

You can prune raspberries and manage the crop to maximize production. But this is one of those bulletproof crops that can do quite nicely without your help.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about planting raspberries, how raspberries grow, how to prune raspberries, and how to care for them.

If you’re looking for more on raspberries, tune in to our chat with Conrad Richter from Richters Herbs about the genus rubus (and learn about...

Wondering which flowers you can eat? There’s a wide variety of edible flowers that are easy to grow.

You might already have some and just aren’t using them.

Edible flowers often come from well-known vegetable, herb, and fruit crops. But there are many that come from ornamental plants too. Even some shrubs and trees.

Find out which flowers are edible—and how you can use them to spice up your cooking and have fun with your culinary creativity. 

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about their favourite edible flowers...

Wondering which vegetables to grow? Or how to pick suitable varieties for your vegetable garden? If you put some thought into your choices, you can avoid harvest-time disappointments.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops they find worthwhile, along with some favourite varieties. The choices for Donna’s cold prairie garden aren’t always the same as for Steven’s milder growing zone.  

Start to narrow down the top choices for your vegetable garden with ideas on crops and varieties for:

If you’re looking for more...

Growing tomatoes from seed? Get the right combination of timing, soil, light, and containers, and you can grow great tomato seedlings at home.

There’s more than one way to raise tomato plants from seed. And that means you can do it in a way that fits your growing space.

AND make sure to pick a variety you’ll love—because that’s a big reason for growing tomato seedlings. Some of the best tomato varieties are only available as seeds.

In this episode, Donna and Steven chat with Gen Z tomato grower Emma Big...

Do you shut down your garden for the winter? Wondering what vegetables to plant in the winter? 

If you’re in a northern climate, to grow vegetables in winter you need to give them heat and light…and that usually means high-input greenhouse growing.

But there’s another way to approach winter vegetable gardening. 

And it’s low-tech.

The idea is to choose hardy crops and grow them big enough before light levels take a dive. Then keep those hardy crops alive in a protected space—and keep harvesting through the winter.

Wondering when to plant your seeds indoors? Started too early and grown in pots too long before moving to the garden, your seedlings might run out of gas. They stall. But started too late, your seedlings might be midgets when it’s time to plant them in the garden.

The right time to start seeds indoors—and have plants that aren’t too big or too small— depends on your crops and your location. It varies from place to place, but there’s a simple way to choose seed-starting dates.

In this episode, Donna and Steven tal...

Got seedlings that look like stilt-walkers? Are your seedlings leggy? Leggy seedlings don’t have as much chance of success once you transplant them into the garden…if they even make it that far.

The best way to solve the problem of spindly seedlings is to prevent them from getting that way in the first place.

Set up your seed-starting area so you can give seedlings good light, an appropriate temperature, a suitable potting soil, and good containers.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about best practices so that you can grow comp...

 Seed catalogues are arriving already! Find out what you need to know to make good seed-shopping choices. 

In this episode, Steven and Donna share seed-shopping tips and talk about common seed-related terms.

Not sure if untreated seed is organic? Wondering what "heirloom" really means? Tune in to find out about seed terminology and crop related lingo.

---

Damson plums: Sometimes they're simply called damsons. Their rich flavour makes them a culinary gem. Even though they're not difficult to grow, the fruit is rarely available commercially.

Find out how to grow damsons.

Sarah Conrad Gothie, Author of Damsons: An Ancient Fruit in the Modern Kitchen joins us to talk about the history of damsons, how to grow damsons, and how to use them in the kitchen. (Spoiler alert: They make a marvellous gin!)

---

We head to the UK to chat with homesteader Kim Stoddart about how to grow a resilient vegetable garden.

We talk about:

Kim is an award-winning writer, journalist, and educator. Her new book is The Climate Change Garden: Down to Earth Advice for Growing a Resilient Garden. 

---

Brad Lancaster is a permaculture and regenerative design consultant and educator. His specialty is sustainable landscapes. 

We chat with Brad about using the landscape to harvest rainwater. And about using the landscape as a living air conditioner. 

Brad also talks about a very inspiring project that he helped spearhead, a community food forest.

We talk about: 

Vertical vegetable gardening squeezes more plants into a limited space by making use of space above the ground.

In today’s episode, Steve digs into vertical gardening.

We talk about:

---

Wally Satzewich joins us from Saskatchewan to tell us about Small-Plot Intensive Farming (SPIN Farming.) 

Having studied psychology and ran a taxi franchise, Wally became interested in market gardening. 

So he bought a farm. 

But a conventional market garden wasn’t the right fit for him. That’s because a big operation requires hired help and capital outlay for equipment. 

So Wally and his wife Gail sold the farm—and moved back to the city. To farm—to farm other people’s yards.

And in the process, Wally mapped out a system o...

Andrew Huxsel joins us from St Placide, Quebec to tell us about worm composting. Also known as vermicomposting. 

Andrew runs Vermicbec, a company that sells worms and worm compost.

We talk about:

---