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

Jun 30, 2022 · 50 min
Weed-Free Bale Gardens and Mushrooms
Straw-Bale GardeningIn this episode we speak with Joel Karsten about straw-bale gardening.He is the author of Straw Bale Gardens Complete.We chat about: * Straw bale gardens as a way to grow in very wet conditions* Making non-straw bales out of other avai
Jun 23, 2022 · 32 min
Four-Season Food Gardening
In this episode we visit Misilla dela Llana in Washington State to talk about growing food year-round.She is the host of the YouTube channel Learn to Grow (https://www.youtube.com/user/LearnToGrow1), where she shares her passion for growing food.In this e
Jun 16, 2022 · 38 min
The Garden Life and Mud Pies
Year of the Garden2022 is The Year of the Garden here in Canada.This year of celebration includes lots of ideas to help people weave gardens and gardening into their lives.We chat with Michel Gauthier and Cheney Creamer about their weekly Year of the Gard
Jun 9, 2022 · 54 min
No Groceries North of 60
Eating Locally in YukonSuzanne Crocker joins us from Dawson City, Yukon to tell us about the year she spent knowing where all the food on her plate came from.There was no salt, no sugar, and no caffeine. There were three hungry (and sceptical) teenagers,
Jun 2, 2022 · 1 hr 2 min
Cold-Hardy Fruit and Nuts, Gardens for Native Pollinators
Cold-Hardy Fruit and NutsIn the first part of the show, we chat with veteran fruit growers Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano, founders of Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.Their focus is cold-hardy fruit and nuts with good disease resistance and minimal
May 26, 2022 · 39 min
Food, Flowers, and Fun for Urban Gardens
Today we hang out with 2 urban gardeners who brainstormed 101 ways we can grow food and beauty in urban gardens. Teri Speight and Kathy Jentz talk about creative ways that city dwellers can make productive, functional, and beautiful gardens.Jentz is a jou
May 19, 2022 · 30 min
Raised Bed Gardening
Gardener and author CaliKim joins us from southern California to talk about growing vegetables in raised beds.Grow Vegetables in Raised BedsRaised beds can have a number of advantages:* Soil warms more quickly in spring* Less back and knee strain* A solut
May 5, 2022 · 1 hr
Gardening with Chickens, Grow Fruit Trees
Gardening with ChickensIn the first part of the show, we chat with chicken expert and author Lisa Steele.Steele is a Maine Master Gardener and 5th generation chicken keeper.In this episode, she tells us about:* Integrating chickens into the garden* What t
Apr 28, 2022 · 35 min
A Passion for Heirloom Vegetable Seeds
Heirloom Vegetable SeedsJere Gettle from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds joins us to talk seeds, seed saving, and seed collecting.He loves meeting gardeners, chefs, and farmers who share old seed varieties and the stories behind them.Lifelong Passion for Heirl
Apr 21, 2022 · 35 min
How to Raise Baby Chicks
What do you Need to Raise Chicks?We’ve talked about backyard poultry here on the show before, but we’ve never explored raising chicks. Our guest today is Dr. Scott Gillingham from Guelph, Ontario. He’s a poultry veterinarian who works with big flocks. But
Apr 14, 2022 · 34 min
Press Seed and Nut Oils at Home
Make Seed and Nut Oils at HomeOur guest today makes oils from a wide range of nuts and seeds. Bevin Cohen runs Small House Farm in Michigan, where he specializes in oils, seeds, and cosmetics. Home Oil PressingCohen says home oil pressing gives fresh oil
Apr 7, 2022 · 1 hr
Toronto Microfarm, Compost Tea, Honey, and Bees
Crooked FarmzIn the first part of the show, we chat with Sean Smith from Crooked Farmz (https://crookedfarmz.net) in Toronto. Smith talks about his journey into growing food, learning about soil and composting, and the beginnings of his Toronto microfarm.
Mar 31, 2022 · 39 min
Cricket Frass as Fertilizer and Crickets as Food
105 Million Head of LivestockJarrod Goldin, one of the founders of Entomo Farms, talks about how he and his brothers got into the business of raising food-grade crickets, the use and benefits of crickets as a food source — and about using cricket frass as
Mar 24, 2022 · 23 min
Finding a Home for Extra Harvest
Sharing with CommunitySusan Antler joins us to talk about the Plant • Grow • Share a Row program. This program helps groups and individuals to grow extra vegetables to share with nearby food banks and soup kitchens.First StepAs a first step, Antler sugges
Mar 17, 2022 · 35 min
Winter Vegetable Gardening with Wolfgang Palme
Winter-Hardy VegetablesWolfgang Palme joins us to talk about winter-hardy vegetables and year-round growing. He is an agronomist, and head of the Research Institute of Horticulture in Austria.Accidental DiscoveryPalme’s journey into winter vegetable growi
Mar 10, 2022 · 30 min
From Ornamental Landscapes to Pretty Tasty Gardens
Edible LandscapesLindsay Stuijfzand talks about how she weaves her passion for growing food into her work as a landscaper.Pretty Tasty GardensStuijfzand is a horticulturist who runs Pretty Tasty Gardens, an edible-landscape garden company in Toronto. Roo
Mar 3, 2022 · 59 min
Grow Food Indoors + Regenerative Gardening
Grow Food IndoorsIn the first part of this episode we chat about growing food indoors with Kim Roman, a garden educator and square-foot-gardening instructor. Her new book is How to Garden Indoors & Grow Your Own Food Year Round. Regenerative Gardening
Feb 24, 2022 · 1 hr 4 min
Grow Epic Tomatoes, with Joe Lamp'l and Craig LeHoullier
The Best Way to Grow TomatoesThere’s more than one way to slice a tomato; there’s more than one way to grow a tomato.Growing tomatoes is like many things in life…there are lots of ways you can tackle it. Do you have a favourite way? Or a tomato-growing ti
Feb 17, 2022 · 42 min
Co-operative Growing
One Farm, Many FarmersDaniel Brisebois joins us from La Ferme Cooperative Tourne-Sol near Montreal. The farm operates as a workers co-operative, where farm owners are the workers. When the farm started in 2005, sales were through both farmers markets and
Feb 10, 2022 · 34 min
Attract Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden
Beneficial InsectsIf you’ve heard the terms beneficial insects, beneficial bugs, or biological control, these all relate to this ideas of letting some bugs help us deal with the challenges that other bugs cause for us.In commercial horticultural productio