Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home Gardening | Podcast Guru

Details

Grow a better vegetable garden, whether you're a seasoned gardener or have never grown a thing in your life. Karin helps home gardeners learn to grow their own food using evidence-based techniques and research. She talks all about specific plants, pests, diseases, soil and plant health, mulch, garden planning, and more. It's not just the "how" but also the "why" that makes us better. The goal? For everyone to know how to grow their own food no matter what sized space they have or their experience level. Tune in each week to plan, learn, and grow with your friend in the garden, Karin Velez.

Recent Episodes

Test Before You Amend: Fall Soil Testing and What to Add Now - Ep. 326

In this episode I walk you through why fall soil testing works so well, how to take a sample that tells you the truth, and whether a home test kit is good enough. Then we'll go line by line through a soil test report so you know what pH, buffer pH, phosphorus, potassium, and organic matter are telling you.

38 MIN

Attacking Perennial Weeds in Fall: Find Them, Dig Them, Starve Them - Ep 325

In this episode I'm walking you through why perennial weeds keep coming back, and what the research says about the popular fixes, including vinegar sprays, cardboard and mulch, tilling, and counting on a hard freeze. Then I'll give you a fall and winter game plan that changes depending on whether your winters are frozen, moderate, or mild.

33 MIN

How to Attract Pollinators and Natural Pest Predators with Native Plants - Ep. 324

In this episode I'm walking you through why it's worth making room for native plants in the garden, including what researchers are finding about the decline of butterflies, bumble bees, and the insects that birds depend on.

33 MIN

Overwintering Tender Garden Plants - Ep. 323

Peppers, rosemary, and geraniums are all perennials somewhere in the world, and basil will keep going for a while on a windowsill if you start it right. But whether a plant makes it to spring gets decided mostly before it ever comes through the door.

36 MIN

Seed Saving: Harvesting, Drying and Storing for Next Season - Ep. 322

Whether saved seed grows into the plant you loved is decided at pollination and protected or lost in storage. This episode covers hybrids versus open-pollinated and heirloom varieties, the easiest crops for beginners, why plants only cross within a species (and why squash species matter), how often peppers cross, isolation methods (time, containment, distance), population size for corn, and the three levels of seed saving.

43 MIN