Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

Friday, September 26, 2025

411 Soil Building Tips

Today, we delve into the Garden Basics archive for three segments about the importance of building your soil in the fall. We talk with America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture professor, Debbie...

Friday, September 19, 2025

410 Fall Gardening Tips. How to Water.

We share essential fall gardening tips for both the garden and the orchard. Also, Debbie Flower offers a primer on correct watering techniques. Previous episodes, show notes, links, product informa...

Friday, September 12, 2025

409 Bird-Friendly Gardening

Farmer Fred interviews garden writer Jen McGuinness, author of "Bird-Friendly Gardening," who highlights the urgent need for creating habitats for declining bird populations in North America. Jen shar...

Friday, September 5, 2025

408 Landrace Gardening

Today, we talk with Joseph Lofthouse about landrace gardening, which emphasizes the cultivation of locally adapted crops. Lofthouse shares his methods of developing diverse seed varieties, seed-saving...

Friday, August 29, 2025

407 Low Water Vegetables

Gardeners who want to save water with wise irrigating techniques might consider an unusual approach: plant crops that don't require much water in the first place. Today, Marlene Simon, the Plant Lady,...

Friday, August 22, 2025

Mid-Summer Tomato Report

In this episode, we talk with Don Shor from Redwood Barn Nursery about summer gardening - specifically tomatoes - in the context of this year's mild weather. We share successes with tomato varieties ...

Friday, August 15, 2025

405 Q&A: Who's Eating My Melons? Growing Fava Beans.

Q&A: How to Grow Fava Beans as a cover crop or an edible. Controlling Roof Rats in the Garden (good luck!) Farmer Fred's Ride for the Kids! (https://bit.ly/4lmr09E) Previous episodes, show note...

Friday, August 8, 2025

404 Harvest Day Garden Tips

One of the best places to get your garden questions answered is at the annual gathering of local Master Gardeners, gardening professionals, and horticultural consultants at Harvest Day, held the first...

Friday, August 1, 2025

403 Battling Fusarium Wilt

Why are some of my plants turning yellow and dying? One possibility: fusarium wilt. We address the challenges posed by fusarium wilt, a destructive, soil-borne fungal disease impacting favorite gar...

Friday, July 25, 2025

402 Edible Succulents

In this episode of the Garden Basics podcast, I speak with succulent expert Debra Lee Baldwin about the world of edible succulents. We delve into what defines succulents, their survival in arid condit...

Friday, July 18, 2025

401 Home Landscaping Tips for Fire Safety

We examine the growing wildfire risks for homeowners, particularly in fire-prone areas across the United States. We get insights from Kevin Marini, a UC Defensible Space Advisor. He highlights the imp...

Friday, July 11, 2025

400 Top 4 Garden Topics of All Time

To celebrate Episode 400 of the Garden Basics podcast, we present the four most listened-to garden topics in the history of the podcast. Topics include: starting a victory garden; growing caneberri...

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