Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

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...

Friday, May 15, 2026

The No-Turn, Easy Compost Pile

In case you need a refresher course, here are some points about the benefits of using compost in your garden, according to the UC Master Gardeners of Alameda County (https://ucanr.edu/sites/default/fi...

Friday, May 8, 2026

Is This the Longest Lasting Cut Flower? Perhaps. But, Beware.

Is there a better-looking, longer lasting, cut flower than the alstroemeria? Is there a more invasive, underground spreading plant than the alstroemeria? Sometimes, to get to heaven, you have to go ...

Friday, May 1, 2026

All About Basil

In this episode, we discuss the essentials of basil cultivation, highlighting the basil basics for home gardens. We cover basil soil preparation, planting, timing, and a few of the various flavorful b...

Friday, April 24, 2026

Growing Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are one of the most under-appreciated crops you can grow. But it will reward those gardeners who give sweet potatoes what they really need: heat. As you will hear in the podcast with...

Friday, April 17, 2026

Mycorrhizal Activity and Your Plants' Health

Soil mycorrhizae. What is it? If you’ve seen any of the “Avatar” movies, you would know that James Cameron probably has a good grasp of the subject…and you would have a basic understanding of what we ...

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