Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Can You Grow a Peach Tree from Seed?

Thanks for being a paid subscriber to Beyond the Garden Basics! No time to listen to today’s podcast (above) with Ed Laivo? Here’s a summary. And below that, the actual transcript, with pictures, li...

Friday, July 24, 2026

Too Many Peppers? Try This Popular Sweet Pepper Relish Recipe

In today’s podcast (above), we talk with renowned pepperhead Dave DeWitt, author of several hot pepper books (https://amzn.to/4ft6DGH) . We talk hot pepper basics, and Dave adds advice on how to overw...

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

The Best Roses For Cut Flowers

Bullet Points from the Podcast, “The Best Roses for Cut Flowers” * Always cut long stems, not just the spent bloom. Snipping only 1-2 inches when deadheading causes the plant to push out short, croo...

Friday, July 17, 2026

When Should You Prune Your Blueberries?

I just finished pruning my blueberry plants. In July. WHAT?!? Aren’t you supposed to prune them in the winter? It depends. It depends on where you live, the type of blueberry plant you are growi...

Friday, July 10, 2026

How to Plant and Care for a Shade Tree

Beyond The Garden Basics is a reader-supported publication. To receive exclusive posts and complete access to past editions , consider becoming a paid subscriber. Today’s podcast interview foc...

Friday, July 3, 2026

Home Weather Station Setup for Gardeners

Today’s newsletter podcast is a special treat for readers and listeners of the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter/podcast who might also be weather nerds…and what gardener isn’t? It’s an interview wi...

Friday, June 26, 2026

More Heat-Beating Garden Tips

You may recall a couple of weeks ago on June 12, the Beyond the Garden Basics podcast featured myself and America’s Favorite retired horticulture professor, Debbie Flower, talking about protecting you...

Friday, June 19, 2026

Controlling Starthistle, Summer's Most Evil Weed*

Today’s newsletter is all about starthistle, and all the ways you can control this summer weed…organically. If you want to read about chemical controls for starthistle, check out this University of Ca...

Friday, June 19, 2026

Your Garden vs. Summer Heatwaves

We tackle how to help your garden cope with the late spring and all-summer heat waves coming our way in today’s podcast and newsletter. In the first part of the podcast (above), America’s Favorite Ret...

Friday, June 5, 2026

Other Vegetables That Love the Heat

Today’s podcast features Sacramento County Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour, extolling the virtues of growing okra in the summer. Gail’s encyclopedic knowledge of this warm weather cr...

Friday, May 29, 2026

A Deep Dive Into Citrus Containers

Garden book author and citrus expert Lance Walheim, is a big proponent of growing citrus trees in containers. We discuss his techniques in today’s podcast, along with shameless plugs for his new book,...

Friday, May 22, 2026

Your 7 Favorite Beyond the Garden Basics Newsletter Editions

The Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast has been around awhile, with over 450 editions since August of 2022. That’s a lot of gardening info! Checking out nearly four years of newsletters...

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