The Grow Guide The Grow Guide

With Maggie's baby due date literally days away, this is the last episode of our official spring season... and we've packed this week's pod full of awesome Earth-honouring gardening info! First up, we get a glimpse under the mulch in Dave and Maggie's gardens after our start-and-stop spring. Then we get to hear about a little season-extending experiment in Maggie's greenhouse and a mini potato planting tutorial from Dave, as part of our favourite things segment. Our listener question of the week addresses timing when it comes to transplanting community-sown seedlings, a topic that a number of people have been asking about. Then, our guest Melanie Mercier from Araucaria Gardening Services shares a deep dive into how she tackles transforming manicured urban lawns into flourishing gardens that are not only gorgeous but specifically designed to host and support the diverse organisms that make up a healthy ecosystem. 

Gardening can be a big investment of both time and money, so this week Dave and Maggie brainstorm practical ideas to extend the gardening budget, while also making planting simpler and easier-care. Before the thrift-minded back and forth, your hosts note what they see in their zone 3 gardens now that the snow has melted, Maggie gets real about the imminent arrival of her baby and we learn about when to pull back mulch as Dave and Maggie answer this week’s listener question. 

Ever wonder if you could grow grains in your home garden? This week we are joined by certified organic grain farmers Dan and Fran DeRuyck who walk us through the many questions that come up as we contemplate a world full of backyard micro-farms. The conversation takes us to many interesting places, with lessons on cover cropping, the value of regionally adapted seeds and heirlooms, companion planting, the strengths of an organic approach and ultimately the challenge of yields and processing of grains.  

For gardeners in northern climates, April is the in-betweener month: not quite time to get into the outdoor dirt, but it feels so close! Our guest today is Alberta-based garden coach Sharon Murphy, who is here to help us take advantage of this final opportunity to plan and prepare for our best gardens yet. Sharon has “chlorophyll” in her blood, having grown up in a family greenhouse business and then later operated a cut flower farm on a tropical island. Needless to say, she is a fearless garden problem solver and here to share a wide range of tips with Grow Guide listeners. 

With colder weather hanging on in Manitoba, it feels all the more compelling to dream about the incredible range of edible plants that can be grown across Canada. Our guest, Annette Clarke, from Exotic Fruit Nursery in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, takes us on a virtual field trip to her farm and greenhouse where we learn about remarkable fruits and how we can grow them in colder zones. Some of the topics covered include Chocolate Vines, Blue Sausage Fruit, Persimmons, Mulberries and Pawpaw!

Spring is officially here and Dave and Maggie are thrilled to be back behind the Grow Guide mics. The show kicks off with some BIG news: Maggie is expecting a baby, due this April! Maggie shares some of the ways her spring arrival will change her 2023 gardening strategies, but there is no holding her back and she is fully embracing the beautiful season ahead. After getting good and caught up, Dave and Maggie spend the second part of the show comparing notes on their seed-starting process, answering a series of questions that bring to life the fundamentals of seed-starting, and then some!