184: Michael Phillips on Holistic Orcharding

Greg has found an east coast twin when he talks to a fruit tree farmer named Michael Phillips who has been growing apple trees in New Hampshire with a care that works for the health of the trees and the ecosystem in which they live. Michael grows and sells fruit trees and he focuses a lot of offering tree growing education as well.  He shares his main points of growing healthy fruit trees and explains why some of the steps are so beneficial to trees.

Newcomers in the Garden in 2016: A Boom or a Bust?

By Anne-Marie Miller. Every year I try to add some newcomers (things I have never grown before) to the garden. In 2016, some were a boom and some were a bust. Find out which ones you might like to add to your garden this spring. I always like to disclose my location up front when I write an article like this because I have often been so excited about something after reading an article, just to find out that the author gardens in Oregon or California.

183: Shawn Jadrnicek on The Bio-Integrated Farm

Maximizing functions from landscape elements to save time, energy and money. Greg meets Shawn who explains a key permaculture concept of having multiple functions from one element. Shawn tells how he has designed many projects focusing on elements that have at least seven functions each. With his experience, he has brought together several examples in his new book and so he shares some ideas in this interview.

182: Matthew Shepherd on Planting to Feed Bees

Expanding the habitat of an essential pollinator through garden choices. Greg chats with Matthew of the Xerces Society to learn more about their latest book titled 100 Plants to Feed the Bees, as well as some of the projects the Society has been working on.  Matthew’s story of how he got to work for the Xerces Society is a little world tour and then he helps explain more about different bees and what they need.

181: Quita Jackson on Thrifty Self Sufficiency

Being green is all about having less of a negative impact on the planet and here Greg chats with Quita who has fully adopted a new lifestyle and loves helping others find their way into it as well. Quita tells how she got the courage to start gardening, and how that gave her confidence to try new ways to become self-sufficient even while living in a major city. Her encouraging attitude and caring nature helps as she spreads the word about little steps people can take in their own lives.

180: Brian Smith on Biochar

Greg talks to Brian Smith, a transplant to Arizona who needed to improve his gardening results and found out about biochar. Brian explains the process that was used over 2000 years ago, to transform burned wood into a long lasting organic super buffet with nutrients galore. He tells how he was so interested in the results that he took his research to the point that he can now make his own biochar in his backyard.

179: Penn Parmenter on Passive Solar Greenhouses

Greg reconnects with Penn to talk about the greenhouse designs she and her husband create, sell and teach about. Penn tells how her husband Cord took passive solar concepts and implemented them into the first greenhouse they built from reclaimed and scrap materials, and how they have made many improvements over time.