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

Steven Biggs: Horticulturist and edible landscaping expert.
  • 4.5 (19)
  • Home & Garden
  • Updated Weekly

Want to grow your own food but need creative ideas so you can get the most from your space and your growing zone? Our passion is the edible garden. We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard. There are many ways to approach edible landscaping. Find out how to harvest enough fruit, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. Get top tips for exotic crops. And learn how to garden in a way that suits any situation. Host Steven Biggs was recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the “green gang” making a difference in Canadian horticulture. His home-garden experiments span driveway straw-bale gardens, a rooftop kitchen garden, fruit plantings, and an edible-themed front yard. He's a horticulturist, award-winning broadcaster and author, and former horticulture instructor with George Brown and Durham Colleges in Ontario, Canada. Get started with one of our fan favourites. Season 6, Episode 10: Big Harvests from a Small Space with a Vertical Vegetable Garden.

  1. Aug 13

    The Indiana Jones of Pawpaws: Neal Peterson’s Remarkable Search

    The revised fig book is now on Kickstarter The special hardcover edition of Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t and registration for the October 15 and 22 Fig Camp are available now. A lower-priced softcover will follow this fall. See the book and Fig Camp options.--- Pawpaw season is nearly here—and this week we’re revisiting a conversation with one of the people responsible for bringing this remarkable fruit back into the spotlight. Neal Peterson is sometimes called the Indiana Jones of pawpaws. After tasting his first pawpaw, he became fascinated by a fruit that had once attracted considerable attention from plant breeders but had largely fallen into obscurity. Peterson dug through old horticultural records and tracked down surviving trees from early breeding programs. Those discoveries became the foundation of his own pawpaw breeding work. In this episode, Emma and Steven talk with Neal about: His first taste of pawpaw—and why it changed the direction of his life His search for nearly forgotten pawpaw varieties How pawpaws grow in the wild Why pawpaws fruit better in sun than in deep shade Pollination and the need for two genetically distinct trees Growing two pawpaw trees in a small garden Choosing early-ripening varieties for colder climates Why wild pawpaws can be very seedy How Peterson bred pawpaws with more flesh and fewer seeds Growing pawpaws from seed Caring for young pawpaw trees Managing suckers from grafted trees Pawpaws are understorey trees in the wild, but that doesn’t mean shade is the best place for fruit production. Neal explains why trees growing in brighter locations are usually more productive. He also shares a wonderfully practical space-saving suggestion: if your garden is small, plant two genetically different pawpaw trees only a couple of feet apart. A 2026 update Neal no longer sells pawpaw trees or fruit directly. He continues his breeding work, and the Peterson Pawpaws website provides growing information and lists nurseries offering his varieties.

  2. Aug 6 ·  Bonus

    Bonus: Remembering Bob Duncan—“Let’s Try It”

    The revised fig book is now on Kickstarter The special hardcover edition of Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t and registration for the October 15 and 22 Fig Camp are available now. A lower-priced softcover will follow this fall. See the book and Fig Camp options.--- Bob Duncan showed Canadian gardeners that the line between possible and impossible isn’t always where we think it is. At Fruit Trees and More, the nursery and demonstration orchard he ran with his wife, Verna, on Vancouver Island, Bob grew figs, lemons, olives, yuzu, loquats, feijoas and many other fruits that gardeners might not expect to see growing in Canada. Bob was also extraordinarily generous with his knowledge. I wrote about his work in my books about growing figs, lemons and olives—and turned to him many times with questions. In this special tribute episode, I’ve gone back through recordings from my visits and conversations with Bob. Some were made while we walked through his garden; others come from longer interviews about citrus and unusual fruit. You’ll hear Bob talk about: His enormous Meyer lemon tree, which produced more than 400 lemons annuallyWhy keeping a citrus tree alive is different from bringing its fruit to harvestHis focus on breba figsGrowing olives on Vancouver IslandWhy yuzu is especially well suited to coastal British ColumbiaThe danger of keeping container-grown citrus too wetThe thinking that led him to try growing these unlikely fruits in the first placeNear the end of one of our conversations, Bob summed up his approach in five words: “So I thought to myself, ‘Let’s try it.’” Bob died on July 20, 2026. My condolences go to Verna, Bob’s family, and the many gardeners who learned from him.  You can read more about Bob’s remarkable life—and find details of the August 24 celebration of life—in his obituary.

  3. Jul 30

    Neighbourhood Foraging: Wild Food for the Gourmet

    The revised fig book is now on Kickstarter The special hardcover edition of Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t and registration for the October 15 and 22 Fig Camp are available now. A lower-priced softcover will follow this fall. See the book and Fig Camp options.--- Wild food doesn’t have to mean subsistence food. Robin Henderson, author of The Neighborhood Forager: A Guide for the Wild Food Gourmet, joins Steve and his daughter Emma to talk about what he calls gastronomic foraging: gathering wild plants for the interesting flavours and foods they bring to the table. Robin grew up hearing family stories about earlier generations who foraged. Later, as urban growth engulfed the area where he lived, he began noticing the abundance of edible plants still growing around him. In this conversation, we explore neighbourhood foraging, gathering food through the seasons—even in winter—and turning familiar wild plants into memorable food and drink. Robin shares ideas for: Elderflower champagne Sumac lemonade Sorrel paste and sorrel soup Spruce beer Dandelion salad and dandelion-root coffee Lambs quarters Winter foraging This interview was originally recorded in 2020 and is co-hosted by Steve’s daughter, Emma Biggs. Book mentioned:  The Neighborhood Forager: A Guide for the Wild Food Gourmet by Robert K. Henderson

  4. Jul 16

    Grow Food Outside the Veggie Patch: Edimentals with Harry Holding

    The revised fig book is now on Kickstarter The special hardcover edition of Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t and registration for the October 15 and 22 Fig Camp are available now. A lower-priced softcover will follow this fall. See the book and Fig Camp options.--- Food plants are usually assigned to the vegetable patch, while ornamental borders are expected to sit there and look respectable. Garden designer Harry Holding sees no good reason for such strict garden zoning. Harry is the author of Eat Your Garden: Edimentals as a Beautiful, Low-Effort Way to Grow Food. Edimentals are plants that are both edible and ornamental, allowing us to grow food throughout a garden without giving up colour, texture, structure, or beauty. Harry is the founder of Harry Holding Studio, and his School Food Matters Garden at the 2023 RHS Chelsea Flower Show received a Silver-Gilt medal and the People’s Choice Award.  In this conversation, Harry explains how edible plants can create a foraging or grazing experience right outside the door. We talk about designing in layers, using constraints to make plant choices easier, and creating ecologically rich plant communities that cover the soil and leave less room for weeds. Harry also shares ideas for small gardens, courtyards, balconies, and containers. His approach is to imagine the space planted first, then carve out the paths, seating areas, morning-coffee spots, and evening gin-and-tonic headquarters. We talk about: What an edimental plant is Why food can be a gateway to connecting with nature Combining edible plants with ornamental garden design Structural plants, seasonal highlights, and ground-cover layers Using colour, texture, height, and growing conditions as useful constraints Designing abundant edible gardens in small spaces Why annual vegetables sometimes struggle in established perennial plantings Questioning gardening rules and learning through experiments How to begin adding edimentals to an existing garden Harry also talks about some fascinating edible ornamentals, including Saskatoon berries, sea kale, sochan, king’s spear, Korean aster, citron daylily, lamb’s ear, hostas, chives, and bladder campion. His parting advice is simple: make a little room, try unfamiliar plants, and grow what brings you joy. A garden should not become another stern supervisor. It should be a place that makes your heart sing.

  5. Jul 2

    Growing Food, Jobs, and Hope with Michael Ableman

    The revised fig book is now on Kickstarter The special hardcover edition of Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t and registration for the October 15 and 22 Fig Camp are available now. A lower-priced softcover will follow this fall. See the book and Fig Camp options.--- In this episode, Steven revisits a 2020 conversation with farmer, author, photographer, and urban agriculture pioneer Michael Ableman. Ableman is the co-founder of Vancouver’s Sole Food Street Farms, an urban farming project that turns city land into productive growing space while creating meaningful work and community connection. His book Farm the City: A Toolkit for Setting Up a Successful Urban Farm shares practical lessons from that work, including how to find land, choose crops, build markets, navigate regulations, raise funds, and engage the community. This is not just a conversation about growing vegetables in unlikely places. It’s about what happens when food growing becomes a way to rethink land, work, dignity, neighbourhoods, and the purpose of a farm. For home gardeners, there’s a useful reminder here: gardens are never only about yield. They can feed people, yes. But they can also create beauty, connection, routine, and purpose.   In this episode: Why urban farming is more than putting raised beds on pavement How Sole Food Street Farms uses farming to create jobs and community What urban farmers need to think about beyond growing crops Lessons from Farm the CityWhy food gardens can be practical, social, and quietly radical What home gardeners can learn from urban farms, even on a much smaller scale

  6. Jun 18

    What to Plant After Garlic and Peas: Succession Crops for Summer and Fall

    The revised fig book is now on Kickstarter The special hardcover edition of Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t and registration for the October 15 and 22 Fig Camp are available now. A lower-priced softcover will follow this fall. See the book and Fig Camp options.--- Once garlic comes out of the garden, you’re left with a useful patch of open soil and one big question: what goes there next? In this episode, we talk through summer succession planting using garlic harvest as the seasonal peg. He explains how timing, climate, heat, dry soil, and first frost dates all affect what you can plant after garlic or after any early crop that frees up garden space. You’ll learn which crops are easiest to direct seed in summer, when transplants are a better bet, and how to use shade, boards, mulch, and row cover to improve germination and protect young plants. Topics include: Why garlic harvest timing varies by regionDirect seeding vs. starting transplantsHow to deal with dry soil, heat, strong sun, and crustingEasy summer succession crops such as bush beans, basil, dill, rapini, and greensCrops for fall harvest, including spinach, beets, carrots, turnips, winter radishes, kale, and Asian greensWhy bush snap beans are a better follow crop than pole or dry beansHow to decide whether cucumbers and summer squash are worth planting after garlicTips for short-season and cold-climate gardenersA simple “succession seed bin” system to make replanting easierSuccession planting doesn’t have to mean filling every inch perfectly. It’s about using open space in a way that fits your garden, your season, and your available energy.

  7. Jun 4

    An Olive Tree in a Suitcase

    The revised fig book is now on Kickstarter The special hardcover edition of Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t and registration for the October 15 and 22 Fig Camp are available now. A lower-priced softcover will follow this fall. See the book and Fig Camp options.--- I once flew home with an olive tree in a suitcase. Maybe not what the average traveller would do, but I was visiting a nursery that had a variety I wanted…which says something about my priorities. Even where olive trees aren’t winter hardy, they make superb potted plants. Their silvery foliage shimmers in a breeze, they look beautiful on a patio, and they make a cold-climate garden feel just a little more civilized. Olive trees are tough, forgiving, and well suited to pots. The trick is remembering that a pot changes everything, especially in winter. And while getting olives isn’t guaranteed, there are practical ways to improve your odds. In this episode, I talk about growing olive trees in pots where they’re not normally hardy: why to grow them, where to put them, how to overwinter them, and what helps them fruit. Want more? My 2026 Olive Camp recordings are available here. Or check out my book Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, available at FoodGardenLife.com or on Amazon.

  8. May 20

    Common Quince: The Fragrant Fruit Too Few Gardeners Grow

    The revised fig book is now on Kickstarter The special hardcover edition of Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t and registration for the October 15 and 22 Fig Camp are available now. A lower-priced softcover will follow this fall. See the book and Fig Camp options.--- Common quince is beautiful, fragrant, useful in the kitchen—and still surprisingly uncommon in Canadian gardens. In this episode, I talk with Matt Soltys, The Urban Orchardist, about why this old fruit deserves another look. Matt shares what he’s seeing as he visits urban fruit trees across southern Ontario: backyard quince trees, older pawpaws, locally adapted genetics, and overlooked trees that could become the foundation of future breeding work. We talk about common quince as a small garden tree, how it differs from Japanese quince, why one tree can be plenty, how the fruit is used, its role as pear rootstock, and simple pruning ideas for healthier fruit trees. In this episode, we cover: Growing common quince in cold-climate gardens Why quince is such a good fit for home gardeners The difference between common quince and Japanese quince Quince preserves, cider, and other kitchen uses Fruit-tree breeding and locally adapted genetics Pawpaws, pears, and other unexpected urban fruit trees Pruning quince and other backyard fruit trees

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About

Want to grow your own food but need creative ideas so you can get the most from your space and your growing zone? Our passion is the edible garden. We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard. There are many ways to approach edible landscaping. Find out how to harvest enough fruit, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. Get top tips for exotic crops. And learn how to garden in a way that suits any situation. Host Steven Biggs was recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the “green gang” making a difference in Canadian horticulture. His home-garden experiments span driveway straw-bale gardens, a rooftop kitchen garden, fruit plantings, and an edible-themed front yard. He's a horticulturist, award-winning broadcaster and author, and former horticulture instructor with George Brown and Durham Colleges in Ontario, Canada. Get started with one of our fan favourites. Season 6, Episode 10: Big Harvests from a Small Space with a Vertical Vegetable Garden.

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