Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

Steven Biggs: Horticulturist and edible landscaping expert.

Want to grow your own food but need creative ideas so you can get the most from your space and your growing zone? Our passion is the edible garden.

We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard.

There are many ways to approach edible landscaping. Find out how to harvest enough fruit, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. Get top tips for exotic crops. And learn how to garden in a way that suits any situation.

Host Steven Biggs was recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the “green gang” making a difference in Canadian horticulture. His home-garden experiments span driveway straw-bale gardens, a rooftop kitchen garden, fruit plantings, and an edible-themed front yard. He's a horticulturist, award-winning broadcaster and author, and former horticulture instructor with George Brown and Durham Colleges in Ontario, Canada.

Get started with one of our fan favourites. Season 6, Episode 10: Big Harvests from a Small Space with a Vertical Vegetable Garden.

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268 episodes
Updated Thursday

Episodes268

Newest first

Nov 17, 2022 · 1 hr 10 min
Great Herbs for Indoor Growing (Ditch the Scorched Rosemary!)
Dave Hanson from Sage Garden Greenhouses in Winnipeg, Manitoba tells us about growing herbs indoors.Dave has joined us here on the show before to talk about exotic edibles. Along with Sage Garden Greenhouses (https://sagegarden.ca), he co-hosts The Grow G
Nov 10, 2022 · 46 min
School Garden Kicks Off with Celebrity
Taking Math to the GardenIt started with a math lesson. A very boring math lesson.Educator Sonya Harris was trying to get a concept to stick. And the thing that got it to stick was the garden.A non-gardener, she saw how it could help kids take in ideas. B
Nov 3, 2022 · 1 hr 2 min
How to Prune Fruit Trees + Apple Tasting 101
Discover the Next Great AppleSusan Poizner, founder of Ben Nobleman Community Orchard (https://communityorchard.ca) in Toronto, talks about the upcoming apple-tasting fundraiser event for the orchard. Poizner is a college instructor, author of Grow Fruit
Oct 27, 2022 · 24 min
Electric Saws and Giant Pumpkins
We chat with giant vegetable grower Norman Kyle from Ennismore, Ontario.Kyle will have a number of his giant vegetables on display at the 2022 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (https://www.royalfair.org) in Toronto, November 4-13.We talk about:* His 1,659-p
Oct 20, 2022 · 26 min
75 Frost-Free Days and Bird Song Just After Midnight
We chat with artist, filmmaker, and gardener Arlin McFarlane in Whitehorse, Yukon about gardening in cold climates.McFarlane produced the gardening show The Curious Gardener (http://thecuriousgardener.ca), about Yukon farmers and gardeners.We talk about:*
Oct 13, 2022 · 13 min
Potted Lemons for Cold-Climate Gardens
Steven explains why lemons are his top citrus choice for cold climates.He talks about:* How cold lemon trees can get* How cold the fruit can get* Fruiting and flowering* Using lemon leaves in the kitchen* How big potted lemon plants will get* His favourit
Oct 6, 2022 · 1 hr 2 min
Grow Spices + How to Store Food
Grow Your Own SpicesIn the first part of the show, we chat with Tasha Greer about how to grow your own spices. She’s the author of the book Grow Your Own Spices. We chat about:* The difference between a herb and a spice* Spice-growing ideas for this time
Sep 29, 2022 · 30 min
Attractive Food Gardens, Scrappy Plants, and Outreach
We chat with Adina Oosterwijk, the Community Greening Officer at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australia.We talk about:* Home food gardens that are productive and aesthetically pleasing* A tomato festival* The Royal Botanic Garden (https://www.rbgs
Sep 22, 2022 · 38 min
Home-Scale Forest Garden
We chat with author and market gardener Dani Baker about forest gardening.Baker has created a forest garden on her USDA Zone 4 farm. She shares her tips for making a forest garden, whether it’s an acre or just a few square feet.We talk about:* Permacultur
Sep 15, 2022 · 41 min
2022 Tomato Roundup
2022 Tomato RoundupSteven and Emma take a look at the 2022 tomato crop.We chat about:* What’s new in the tomato patch* Growing methods* Top varieties* Tomato seed saving* Favourite tomato recipes
Sep 8, 2022 · 1 hr
Garlic-Infused Vodka and a Cricket Rodeo
Toronto Garlic FestivalIn the first part of the show, we chat with Peter McClusky about garlic. He’s the founder of the Toronto Garlic Festival (https://torontogarlicfestival.ca), now in its 12th year. We chat about:* The hardneck garlic grown in Ontario,
Sep 1, 2022 · 24 min
Recipes in Bloom
We chat with Pittsburgh author and horticulturist Denise Schreiber about edible flowers.Schreiber is the author of the book Eat Your Roses.We talk about:* Common edible flowers* Lesser-known edible flowers* Top tips for edible flowers* Edible-flower recip
Aug 25, 2022 · 16 min
Helping Kids Understand Light...with Skittles!
We chat with Darryl Nelson and his teenage son, Aden, about light and gardening under lights.Darryl and Aden tell us how they taught children about light at a children’s event at a local museum. (Spoiler alert: it involved colourful Skittles candy.)Darryl
Aug 18, 2022 · 35 min
Land Conservation, Public Access, and Figs!
Land ConservationWe chat with Jack Spruill, whose farm is is on the shore of North Carolina’s Albemarle Sound, the largest freshwater sound in the world.Spruill plans to donate the farm to an organization that will maintain public access, with the land us
Aug 11, 2022 · 1 hr
Father and Son Brook Trout Quest
Time Outdoors…and TroutYou probably never expected to hear about polar bears on The Food Garden Life Show.Today’s show is a bit of a departure from our usual focus on plants. We continue with our focus on food, the outdoors, and the human story.Time Outdo
Aug 4, 2022 · 1 hr 1 min
Seasonal Garden Tips + Wild and Specialty Foods
Summer in the GardenIn the first part of the show, we chat with landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing, hosts of the Down the Garden Path radio show and podcast (https://downthegardenpath.libsyn.com).We talk about:* Seasonal gardening tips*
Jul 28, 2022 · 29 min
Kitchen Gardening: Grow Leftover Greens, Stalks, Seeds
Katie Elzer-Peters tells us about kitchen gardening. That is, gardening in the kitchen -- with leftover greens, seeds, and roots.We talk about growing:* sweet potato* carrots* lettuce* celery* beets* green onions* leeks* turmeric* gingerAnd saving seeds f
Jul 21, 2022 · 26 min
Rooftop Veggie Garden and Figs in Pittsburgh
Container GardeningPittsburgh gardener Seth Finn talks about his container garden and the container garden on the roof of his daughter’s restaurant.The restaurant rooftop garden furnished the restaurant with fresh figs and shishito peppers amongst other t
Jul 14, 2022 · 34 min
Rose Garden Rejig Creates Balance
A Rose Garden Re-ImaginedIn this episode we speak with Alex Henderson about the rejuvenated rose garden at Royal Botanical Gardens (https://www.rbg.ca/gardens-trails/by-experience/whats-in-bloom/rose-garden/). Henderson, Curator of Living Collections, exp
Jul 7, 2022 · 1 hr 1 min
Summer in the Vegetable Garden and Hardy Apples
Summer Vegetable GardenIn the first part of the show, we chat with vegetable gardening expert Niki Jabbour.She shares tips about:* Summer vegetable garden succession crops* Growing vegetables in pots* Supporting tomato plants* Managing slugsJabbour is an