Get 45% off the Magic Mind Mental and Sleep Performance bundle with my link:
https://www.magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHINGJAN All this month we’ve been talking about garden planning because it’s that time. The slower month of January means taking the time to really figure out what we want to grow in the garden and last week we talked about how to fit it all in.

This week, we’re talking about my secret weapon to keeping on track – the humble calendar. This may not seem like a big deal but, let me tell you, my entire operation is run on a calendar that I put together in January and it is the key to how productive my gardens are. It does not matter how big or small your garden is, although the bigger the garden the more you really need a calendar to keep you on track. But even small gardens have certain tasks that need to be performed at certain times to optimize the harvest, whether that’s fertilizing, pruning, trellising, or succession planting.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re completing the planning puzzle by filling out our calendar. We’ll talk about the general information you should be putting on the calendar and then do a detailed look at how to decide what goes in the calendar and where. By the end, you’ll see why it’s so important to track these tasks early on so nothing gets missed. Let’s dig in. References and Resources: Plan Like a Pro course: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/pro Find my Garden Planning Workbook in my shop: https://justgrowsomething.com/shop Garden Planner from the Girly Homesteader: https://payhip.com/b/aiIN5/af667ebf3155ff8 code JUSTGROW for 10% off. Sugar Paper Planners: https://amzn.to/4jogDm4 Just Grow Something: ⁠https://justgrowsomething.com⁠ Just Grow Something Merch and Downloads: ⁠https://justgrowsomething.com/shop⁠ Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/508637300354140/⁠ Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/JustGrowSomething⁠ Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast: ⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/justgrowsomething⁠ Amazon storefront: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething

Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with with my link:
https://www.magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHINGJAN

If you have struggled in the past with how to fit all the plants you want to grow into the space you have available for gardening, you are not alone. It’s probably the number one question I get from clients when I step into their yards: how do I lay out my plants so they all fit?

This not something that is intuitive or easy to figure out without a lot of trial and error, so don’t feel bad if you have tried it several times and don’t feel like you’ve gotten the hang of it yet. There is a step-by-step process you can use to get yourself off to a really good start and then modify based on your specific garden conditions.

Today, on Just Grow Something I will guide you through a step-by-step process for mapping out your garden to not only ensure a productive season but to find space for more plants through intercropping and succession planting. Whether you’re a beginner or have a few seasons under your belt, this method will help you plan efficiently and maximize your harvest. Let’s dig in.

References and Resources:

Plan Like a Pro course: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/pro

Days to Maturity Chart: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/maturity

Just Grow Something: ⁠https://justgrowsomething.com⁠

Just Grow Something Merch: ⁠https://justgrowsomething.com/shop⁠

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/508637300354140/⁠

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/JustGrowSomething⁠

Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast: ⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/justgrowsomething⁠

Amazon Storefront: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething

Last week we defined our “why” for gardening as a way to help determine our goals. Part of that goal requires us to think about the types of things we want to grow in our garden and the number of people we’re feeding in our family or whomever we are growing for. This also helps determine how much space we need for the garden to meet those goals and whether or not our existing space is big enough, or even too big.

It’s very easy to overdo it, especially in the first few years because you don’t know how many plants you need in order to get the volume you want your garden to produce. It’s also very easy to plant too much of one thing and not enough of another and leave yourself overloaded or coming up short. I was guilty of not planting enough leafy greens the first few years but way overplanting the cucumbers and I very quickly had to learn how to make pickles, something my family still does not eat in abundance.

Today on Just Grow Something we’ll talk about how to determine the number of seeds or plants that you for your garden in order to achieve the harvest you want so you can more accurately plan your garden space and leave nothing behind. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Plan Like a Pro Course: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/pro

MU Extension Vegetable Planting Calendar: https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g6201 (click to download .pdf to the right of the page) Plan By Yield Chart: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/yield

Just Grow Something: https://justgrowsomething.com

Just Grow Something Merch: https://justgrowsomething.com/shop

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/508637300354140/

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JustGrowSomething

Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/justgrowsomething

Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething

Okay, my gardening friend, tell me this: why are you gardening? Did you start gardening during the pandemic because everything was locked down and you were at home all the time and needed some sort of contact with another living thing and that living thing ended up being plants? Or is gardening something you grew up doing and just automatically continued as an adult? Do you garden to reduce the family food budget or maybe your goal is to grow all your family’s produce for the entire year? Maybe it’s just a way to get outside and get some fresh air and exercise and it just feels good to tend to something.

In order to know what we want out of our garden, we have to know why we’re gardening. That “why” is going to help us determine our goals. It’s also going to help dictate exactly how ambitious we get in terms of what we grow, how much space we use, how much we’re willing to invest, the types of tools and supplies that we buy, all the things.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to look at our “why” and how knowing that answer can help us set our goals for this gardening season and maybe even our budget. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Plan Like a Pro course: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/pro

Garden Planner from the Girly Homesteader: https://payhip.com/b/aiIN5/af667ebf3155ff8 Use code JUSTGROW for 10% off.

Just Grow Something: https://justgrowsomething.com

Just Grow Something Merch: https://justgrowsomething.com/shop

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/508637300354140/

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JustGrowSomething

Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/justgrowsomething

Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething

I went back through the episodes for this season and looked at the statistics to find which episodes really stood out for you guys this year and thought I would share those so, if you really need a garden podcast fix this week you could jump back and listen to one of those. There was one surprise on the list that I will cover at the end and one all-time favorite, but first let’s look at the top 5 for 2024.

I will leave links to each of these episodes in the episode notes and it was also in this morning’s email for your convenience!

References and Resources:

Starting Flower Seedlings Indoors - Ep. 183

Maintaining Fruit Trees, Bushes, and Canes

Different Ways to Grow Potatoes - Ep. 186

Ep. 135 - Growing Potatoes Steps for Planning the Fall Garden (and Why You Should Grow One) - Ep. 205

Growing Strawberries - Ep. 194

Ep. 106 - Introduction to Vermicomposting (Worm Farming!)

Ep. 89 - Growing Peppers

Just Grow Something: https://justgrowsomething.com

Just Grow Something Merch: https:/justgrowsomething.com/shop

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/508637300354140/

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JustGrowSomething

Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/justgrowsomething

Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething

Save up to 48% on your Magic Mind subscription! https://magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHING20 with code GROWSOMETHING20

Depending on where you live your gardening season may just be winding down or at least slowing a little bit or it may have been done for a couple of months now. This is a great time to take a deep breath, recover from the busyness and demands of the garden, and then to look back and reflect. Planning for next year’s garden will be happening soon enough and I know some of you have already started because I know the seed catalogs are rolling in and that gets us excited for next year. But, you can’t know where you’re going if you don’t where you’ve been.

What went well in your garden this year? I mean really well? What didn’t go so well? And what was a complete flop? Do you know why these things happened? And is there any way to either duplicate those results or make corrections so they don’t happen again?

Today on Just Grow Something we’re taking the first step toward planning next season’s garden and that’s reviewing and reflecting what happened this season. I’ll take you step-by-step through the things we should record, if we haven’t already, and how to evaluate what we experienced in the garden in terms of moisture levels, weed pressure, insect damage, and harvests, so we know what went right and how to do it again, or what went wrong and how to avoid doing it again. Let’s dig in.

References and Resources:

Integrated Pest Management in the Home Garden - Ep. 228

Attracting Pollinators and Predators to the Garden - Ep. 229

Winter Produce Storage: Tips for Keeping Your Fall Harvest Fresh Through the Cold Months - Ep. 225

Garden Planner from the Girly Homesteader: https://payhip.com/b/aiIN5/af667ebf3155ff8 code JUSTGROW for 10% off.

Just Grow Something Merch: https:/justgrowsomething.com/shop

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/508637300354140/

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JustGrowSomething

Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/justgrowsomething

Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething

If you’ve ever had shrunken ends on your zucchini or curled ends on your cucumbers, then you have seen the results of a lack of pollination. This doesn’t always mean we don’t have enough pollinators, sometimes it means the pollinators couldn’t do their job for some other reason, like heat, humidity or the density of our plants.

But, it is becoming more and more common for us to see a lack of pollinators in our vegetable gardens. Neighboring pesticide users, invasive species, widespread habitat loss, or disease can all affect the diversity of insects we want in our gardens and these aren’t often things we can control. But we can control what happens in our own yards and garden spaces and use that control to help out the pollinator insect population. If we understand some of the strategies to help pollinators, we can also positively affect the number of predatory insects we draw to our gardens which falls right in line with the Integrated Pest Management strategies we talked about last week.

Today on Just Grow Something we’ll talk about why we might have a lack of pollinators in our garden and strategies to correct that, five annual and five perennial plants that attract pollinators to a vegetable garden, along with their benefits, the pollinators they attract, and growing tips. We’ll also cover which of those attracts predatory insects to the garden to help with some of that pest pressure many of us seem to face. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

The Great Marigold Debate - Ep. 147 Marigolds as Companion Plants: Know How to Use Them

Just Grow Something: https://justgrowsomething.com

Just Grow Something Merch: https:/justgrowsomething.com/shop

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/508637300354140/

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JustGrowSomething

Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast!: https://buymeacoffee.com/justgrowsomething

Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething

Save up to 48% on your Magic Mind subscription! https://magicmind.com/GROWSOMETHING20 with code GROWSOMETHING20

What is your biggest problem in the garden? If you’re like most gardeners, this can be any number of things … weeds, deer and rabbits, diseases. But the number one thing I hear from gardeners that they feel is so out of their control is insect pests. Once we think we have one pest figured out another moves in to wreck as much havoc as the first, sometimes more, and it feels like a losing battle.

There are a lot of things we can do in the garden to mitigate these pests right from the beginning and it all starts with our garden plan, before we even plant a single seed or buy our first transplant for the season. The way in which we plant our crops, in terms of companion planting and intercropping, is just the start and I’ve talked a lot about that on this podcast. But, if we look at this from an even more detailed perspective, home gardeners should be using a multi-layered approach to battle pests. In sustainable agriculture we refer to this as Integrated Pest Management and you may very well be practicing some of the principles already in your garden but you may be missing some components, too.

Today on Just Grow Something we’ll break down the core principles of Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, and how we as home gardeners can easily apply those principles to manage pests effectively while still protecting beneficial insects, the environment, and our plants. Let’s dig in!

References and Resources:

Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/justgrowsomething

Companion Planting episodes, videos, blog posts: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/search/companion

Companion Planting chart: https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/chart

Grow and Flourish Planner (use code JUSTGROW to save 10%): https://justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/planner Just Grow Something Merch: https:/justgrowsomething.com/shop

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/508637300354140/

Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JustGrowSomething

Bonus content for supporters of the Podcast!: https://buymeacoffee.com/justgrowsomething