In this episode Ben chats with Lee Anne Downey of Stonewell Farm (https://www.stonewellfarm.ca/), a lavender growing operation outside Erin, Ontario. Lee Anne is also former President of the Ontario Lavender Association and a current Master Gardener, and she joins Ben to talk about this unique plant the various opportunities it presents for the Canadian gardener. 

Shane Jones is a professor or horticulture, food, and farming at Durham College and the new The Barrett Centre of Innovation in Sustainable Urban Agriculture. Shane is helping to oversee the Barrett Centre's mission: * Enhance the existing urban farm at the Durham College Whitby campus.* Become a source for information, support and coaching for traditionally underserved and marginalized communities when it comes to urban agriculture initiatives including food security. * Create a comprehensive and connected array of educational programs and materials in urban agriculture will be to meet growing employment needs.* Create dozens of new opportunities in the years ahead for students to gain experience working on urban farms and in roles supporting the operations.* Become home to a team of highly respected experts working to establish it as an internationally recognized hub of knowledge around sustainable urban agriculture. 

This week we talking with Helen Battersby: writer, gardener, garden speaker, TorontoGardens.com blogger, Gardener's Journal co-publisher, and a power-walker – though not always in that order! Helen is also a committed volunteer – for more than 18 years with the Toronto Master Gardeners, and as the Director of the international region for GardenComm, Garden Communicators InternationalYou can find Helen at https://www.torontogardens.com/

Returning guest Lorraine Johnson returns to talk with Ben about her new book A Garden for the Rusty Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators, co-authored with Sheila Colla. We talk about species at risk, and the unique relationship between pollinators we depend on and the plants they depend on in turn. https://lorrainejohnson.ca/https://douglas-mcintyre.com/products/9781771623230

Annabel is a lifelong educator, publisher, and environmentalist who is a Founding Chair of ClearWater Farm- the flagship project for Ontario Water Centre and a home for place based learning, educational farming, water conservation, regenerative agriculture, and economic development. Learn more by listening to our conversation and at https://clearwaterfarm.ca/

As Ben and Mark tackle two new gardens, looking to the season ahead.

This week Ben and Mark are celebrating 2022 - Year of the Garden! https://livethegardenlife.gardenscanada.ca/

This week we are chatting Dave Harvey, Executive Director of Park People, a non-profit supporting and mobilizing community park groups, community organizers, non-profits, park professionals and funders who activate the power of parks. Through Canada-wide and city-specific programs and events, funding, resources, research and professional services we help realize the power of parks to build strong communities, healthy environments, and resilient cities.

This is a must listen for anybody dealing with difficult soils: Mark's journey establishing a new garden in the "claybelt" of Markham, ON

This week Producer Lukas is on vacation so we're going straight to air!! Ben and Mark sit down to discuss Cullen's Foods - Ben's venture of more local, more organic, and more transparent foods! Learn more at www.cullensfoods.com

Norm is a cum laude graduate of Ohio State University, and a graduate of the University of Windsor. He has spent his years since graduating teaching, growing cut flowers, and most recently, growing organic greenhouse vegetables. He is the Director of Research and Development for Erieview Acres and likes to pontificate about the benefits of organics – which is why he’s here today!

This week we are chatting with Glenn Munroe, Special Projects Manager at the Compost Council of Canada. Glenn has a background in environmental science and government policy, which has led him to the Council where he recently co-authored the report “Roadmap for Optimizing Carbon in Canada’s Managed Soils” which will be released at the upcoming Summit on Soil Health

This week we are chatting with Nicole Rycroft, Founder and Executive Director of environmental not-for-profit Canopy. In addition to being a member of the UBS Global Visionaries Program, Nicole is an Ashoka Fellow, the recipient of a Canadian Environment Award Gold Medal, winner of the 2020 Climate Breakthrough Award, and a recipient of the Meritorious Service Cross of CanadaWe talk about the importance of old growth forests, the threats facing them, and an update on the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history

This week it's just Ben and Mark and we're talking about the foundations of gardening: soil. Our challenges, and our thinking on this important subject. Plus, what we're working on and the season that was.

In our final week of summer sabbatical we are revisiting another favourite from the archive, Steven and Emma Biggs. Steven is an expert in growing exotic fruits in our northern climate, as author of the Biggs-on-Figs blog where he writes about growing figs among other things, and the book – Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t. At 14, Emma is author of her own “Kid-to-Kid” guide for gardening, Gardening with Emma. Together, Steven and Emma host their own podcast called The Food-Garden Life Show. Originally aired July 15, 2020

Doug Tallamy is a New York Times best-selling author and a professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. We really appreciate Doug's ability to take difficult subjects - such as the biodiversity crisis - and make them deeply understandable to lay-gardeners such as us.

This week we are chatting with Jennifer Reynolds, incoming Editor in Chief at Harrowsmith Magazine. Jennifer’s career has spanned various marketing and communications roles across non-profit and home & garden, including Evergreen Canada and Gardening Life Magazine. She also happened to  start her career many years ago at Weall & Cullen garden centers

This week we are chatting with Steve Barnhart, incoming President of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects and Senior Director at Niagara Parks

This week we are chatting with Jonathan Bruderlein of Ottawa Farm Fresh. Jonathan and this partner Jolianne are organic farmers 10 minutes from downtown Ottawa. Jonathan and Jolianne started farming in Quebec’s eastern township with four draft horses before deciding to take a 3 year sabbatical to travel North America by van touring various organic farms, before re-settling in Gloucester at the east end of Ottawa to establish Ottawa Farm Fresh. Today they run an array of farm events, offer a CSA as well as operate a farm store