Garden Basics with Farmer Fred

If this is the year that you start your vegetable garden from seeds, you have some choices to make before too long. Which tomato, pepper, squash, melon, eggplant and okra varieties should you plant? …

We recently spoke with Andrew Bunting of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society about garden resolutions, and the Philadelphia Flower Show, which will be held this coming June. Go back to Episode 159…

Winter rose care season is here for many of us. Besides pruning, weed killing may be on your list of things to do in the rose bed. But before you reach for that spray bottle of weed killer, listen to…

Yes, it is a little late for a New Year’s Resolution, but here’s one that is better employed late than never: take better care of your garden tools. And, It’s not just keeping them clean. On today’s …

For many backyard gardeners right now in USDA Zone 9, it’s citrus fruit harvest time. And before you know it, everybody will be in fruit picking mode come summer. Do you have the right equipment for …

'Tis the season for expectant backyard gardeners. You’ve begun to sow seeds of warm season annuals and vegetables indoors, especially pepper and tomato seeds. But when will those little seeds begin t…

In USDA Zones 8, 9 and 10, it’s Rose Pruning Season! And soon enough after frost season passes, everyone else across the country will be faced with the challenge of tackling an overgrown, aging, rose…

You can grow them indoors and outdoors; they’re easy to care for; and, are very unique and colorful! But which ones are the easiest to care for? We’re talking about succulents today with renowned exp…

Welcome to the new year, and our latest Greatest Hits episode, featuring those segments that you spent the most time enjoying,  in record numbers in 2021. Among the top listened to segments last year…

Eat less sugar. Eat more fiber. Eat out of the garden more! Have you set your New Year’s resolutions yet?  We’ll talk with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Andrew Bunting about some good gard…

Life, as I am fond of saying, is too short to put up with a problem plant. Today, the very alive Debbie Flower, who is no problem at all, talks about when to pull the plug on the dying plants in your…

A listener in St. Louis wrote in to ask, “Is it OK to put the stems and leaves of what’s left of the summer vegetable garden in a compost pile?” Retired college horticulture professor Debbie Flower a…

Did you ever pull a sick, root-bound plant out of a too-small plastic or ceramic container and look at the root ball? All those thick roots, going round and round, along the sides and throughout the …

Farmer Fred Garden Rule #1: Bermudagrass is forever. You think I’m kidding? Ask any gardener who is battling this triple threat weed, which can reproduce and spread via seed, stems and rootstocks.

Ret…

One gardening trend that is beginning to take hold throughout the country is reducing the size of your lawn. What is our attraction to lawns in the first place? We talk with author Thomas Mickey. He …

Just as all gardening is local, all weeds are local, too. And we are hearing from many of you about your yard’s nightmare weeds, especially ones that can be mistaken for clover, and you let it go…unt…

Some of you, especially in USDA Zone 9 where freezing temperatures haven’t occurred yet, you may still have green and partially red tomatoes, clinging to life, in your backyard garden. Will they ripe…

Today we feature two garden crops that may still be lingering at your place, outdoors or indoors. It’s popcorn and pumpkins.

The Plant of the Week is that Halloween decoration that’s collecting mold o…

Gardeners everywhere have a certain weed that drives them up the wall. Today, we talk about one that can literally climb a wall: field bindweed.  Although it's in the morning glory family, don’t be f…

Today we tackle a question from a listener who asks, why were my tomato seedlings last spring so skinny? Debbie Flower and I run through all the possibilities, and it turned out to be a very good tom…