How to Grow Figs. Live online class. June 23, 2025. Find out more.
***
Not sure what to do with a long, skinny, straight-edged garden beside a driveway, patio, or building?
In this episode, we take a long, slender ornamental garden and reimagine the space with edible plants.
The garden we’re thinking about is actually a little sliver of the Joan of Arc Garden in Quebec City. But these same ideas work well in in many home-garden situations.
We talk about:
If you’re looking for more on edible flowers like borage, check out this article about edible flowers.
***
- Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
- Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Are you thinking of growing a potted olive tree? Or maybe you already have one…but you’re still waiting for olives. Olive trees are tough as nails. They can take more cold than many people realize. And they’re really beautiful, too. Put these all together, and you have a great potted plant for a cold-climate garden.
In my new book, Grow Olives Where You Think You Can't, I tell you everything you need to know to successfully grow an olive tree in a pot!
***
Do you have a garden where you use traditional annuals, but you want to switch it up for something edible?
Herbs are one option.
In this episode, we look at a space that has a tidy, slightly formal feel.
We replace the tightly clipped shrubs with edible alternatives.
And then we change out the annuals for herbs.
If you’re looking for more on using edible plants instead of traditional bedding plants, check out this post.
***
- Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
- Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Wondering about adding edible plants to an existing gardening without spoiling the aesthetic?
With the right plant choice, along with an understanding of how the space is used, you can add edible plants without spoiling the looks.
In this episode, we take a public space and reimagine it with edibles.
It’s a big space, with lots of lawn. We talk about plant choice for this shady spot, and about plant placement that doesn’t interfere with how this space is used. We include:
If you’re looking for more on crops for shade, check out this post.
Thinking of veggies for your container garden? Or planter boxes with herbs?
In this episode, we look at a patio surrounded by planter boxes that are filled with red geraniums...nothing but red geraniums.
Our goal? Transform this linear container garden from a continuous line of red into something varied, colourful—playful—and edible.
Hear two different approaches to reimagining the planter boxes so that they’re a low-maintenance edible container garden.
If you’re looking for more on the sub-irrigated planters from this episode, find out more here.
***
Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Got a spot you’d like to use to grow food but not sure where to start?
In this episode, we tackle a bare space with hard clay, in zone 3.
Let’s not forget the deer and rabbits. Oh, and there’s a narrow “hell strip” that’s needs to be planted too.
The good news is that there are lots of ways to add edibles to a garden. The way to start is by choosing a creative direction, and then getting started.
We work through two entirely different approaches to this space.
First, we explore a low-maintenance “grazing” garden with perennials. Next, we think about how to use a potager style in this space.
For the plant palette we’re including options for:
· Partial sunlight
· Good cold tolerance for perennials (zone 3!)
· Less attractive to deer
· Plants that give options for adding colour, texture, and height
If you’re looking for fruits, vegetables, and other plants that you can grow in the shade, here’s a post to get you started.
Think your climate is too cold to grow tender fruit?
Find out how this grower harvests peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, and more…despite winter temperatures that can dip to -38°C (-36°F) and a short summer.
In this episode, Donna and Steven chat with Saskatchewan fruit grower Dean Kreutzer.
We talk about:
Kreutzer and his wife run Over the Hill Orchards in Saskatchewan.
If you’re looking for more on cold-hardy fruit, check out this post on Saskatoon Berries.
***
-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Do you have more seeds and plants than you can fit into your garden?
It’s a common problem for the enthusiastic food gardener!
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about finding more growing space so that you can fit more crops into the same space.
Get ideas for:
If you’re looking for more on garden planning, check out these 7 vegetable garden layout ideas.
***
-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Want to grow great tomatoes?
With the right transplanting and care, your tomatoes will be off to a great start.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:
If you’re looking for more on how to support tomato plants, check out this article.
-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Wondering when to plant vegetables? Not sure what to plant first?
You don’t need to plant everything at once.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about when to plant vegetables, and the Canadian tradition of planting the garden over the Victoria Day (May 24) weekend.
(Sometimes it makes sense…though not for all crops in all zones.)
If you’re looking for more on planting vegetables, check out this article on direct seeding.
***
-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Your vegetable seedlings can look great indoors. Then fall like dominoes in the garden.
If they’re not hardened off.
But if you harden off seedlings, they stand a much better chance once you plant them in the garden.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:
If you’re looking for more on growing vegetables from seed, check out post on how to direct seed vegetables.
-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Wondering about fruit to grow in a cold climate?
Today we head to Alberta, to find out how to grow saskatoon bushes. Arden Delidais grows in Zone 2—and doesn’t get any winter dieback on her saskatoon berries.
Delidais’ orchard and winery, DNA Gardens, has a number of cold hardy crops including saskatoon berries, apples, plums, rhubarb, currants, and haskaps.
Saskatoon bushes (Amelanchier alnifolia) are native to North America. (South of the border you might hear them referred to as juneberry or shadbush.)
Delidais tells Steve and Donna about:
If you’re looking for more on saskatoons, here’s a guide to growing them.
-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Have you tried direct sowing but didn’t get good results? Wondering how to direct sow seeds?
Direct sowing—a.k.a. direct seeding or direct planting—is when we sow seeds straight into the garden. We skip starting transplants indoors.
It gives better results for some crops—because there’s no transplanting shock. And that’s great, because it saves you the hassle of growing transplants.
But some crops need extra growing time…and that’s where transplants make sense. Or sometimes, hot summer weather causes spotty germination outdoors, meaning transplants are a better option.
To ace your direct seeding, you need to know which crops it works with—and how to do it.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:
If you’re looking for more ideas for planting your vegetable garden, here’s an article with 7 Vegetable Garden Layout ideas.
-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!
-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.
Want to harvest more veg from the same amount of space? You can get lots more from a small space by growing in containers. (If you get it right…but that’s not difficult!)
If you get these 4 things right, you’re on the road to container gardening success:
In this episode, Donna and Steven share top tips for container gardening success, including choosing pots, selecting soil, finding a suitable spot, and caring for your container vegetables.
If you’re looking for more on container gardening, here are top container garden crops.
Don’t miss out on fresh figs just because you’re gardening in a cold climate.
There are many cold-climate fig growers who defy zone boundaries with creative overwintering techniques.
Figs can take quite a bit of cold. Not the extreme cold. A creative gardener gets figs through the winter by moderating the extremes.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about fig-growing tactics for cold climates so that you can harvest figs—even if you have zone envy!
If you’re looking for more cold-climate fig-growing tips, drop by our fig home page.
Can’t get enough pawpaw fruit? Want to grow a pawpaw tree?
If you haven’t tried pawpaw fruit, many people describe the flavour of its silky, yellow flesh as tropical.
While it’s the largest fruit native to North America, it’s difficult to find the fruit for sale.
Yet it’s easy to grow.
That’s why many gardeners and small farmers plant pawpaw trees.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk with pawpaw expert Adam D’Angelo to get tips on growing pawpaw trees.
We talk about:
D’Angelo is the founder of Project Pawpaw, a crowd-funded pawpaw research and breeding program.
If you’re looking for more on pawpaw, tune into our interview with the Indiana Jones of pawpaw, Neal Peterson, and hear our chat with Toronto pawpaw expert Paul DeCampo.
When you make only withdrawals—no deposits—you eventually end up in overdraft. It works that way at the bank, with friendships—and with soil.
And growing crop after crop in a garden is like making withdrawal after withdrawal. The crops use nutrients. Working the soil affects its structure.
Amending soil is like putting money back into the bank. Soil amendments can improve soil structure, soil chemistry, and return nutrients to the soil.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about practical ways home gardeners can improve soil quality with soil amendments.
We discuss different types of manures, making compost, using leaves, wood chips, and common products such as bone meal, peat moss, and blood meal.
If you’re looking for more on soil, check out this post about how and when to use wood ash in the garden.
Looking for herb garden layout ideas?
If you’re planning a herb garden, there are many ways to add herbs to the landscape. You can have a stand-alone herb garden, a herb lawn, herbs mixed with paving, use herbs as bedding plants, weave them into a perennial border, or make a herb container garden on a patio, deck, or paved space.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about ideas for using herbs in home garden landscapes and share their favourite perennial herbs, annual herbs, and exotic herbs.
If you’re looking for more on planning a kitchen garden, check out this post on kitchen garden planning.
Leafy greens fizzle out in the summer? Does your lettuce bolt too soon?
Find out how to grow more leafy greens in your garden and how to extend your harvest so you can pick fresh salad greens as long as possible.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops ideas for leafy greens, how to plant leafy greens in a home garden or edible landscape, choosing greens crops for ongoing harvest, how to hurry up your spring harvest, and how to slow down bolting—even in hot weather.
If you’re looking for more on leafy greens, check out this guide to 5 heat-tolerant salad greens.
Tried growing a potted lemon tree but it didn’t thrive?
Citrus expert Byron Martin has the solution. And it’s not difficult.
AND he also has recommendations for other unusual potted citrus trees.
We talk about finger limes, blood limes, pomelo, sweet lemon, sunquat, kumquat, citron, and more.
For all of these citrus trees in pots, proper watering is the key to success. We hear how to water—and what to expect from potted citrus trees in the fall. (Spoiler alert: If your lemon tree drops leaves when you bring it indoors, you’re not alone!)
We also find out about Byron’s favourite rootstock for citrus grafting.
If you’re looking for more on indoor lemon trees, here’s a guide to growing a lemon tree in a pot (that actually fruits!)
Don’t have time to spend on fussy fruit crops? Then growing raspberries is something to think about.
You can prune raspberries and manage the crop to maximize production. But this is one of those bulletproof crops that can do quite nicely without your help.
In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about planting raspberries, how raspberries grow, how to prune raspberries, and how to care for them.
If you’re looking for more on raspberries, tune in to our chat with Conrad Richter from Richters Herbs about the genus rubus (and learn about raspberry leaf tea!)
And here’s more on how to tip-layer blackberries and black raspberries.
