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

See the online classes: Landscaping with Fruit, Grow an Olive Tree in a Pot.
---

Common quince is beautiful, fragrant, useful in the kitchen—and still surprisingly uncommon in Canadian gardens. In this episode, I talk with Matt Soltys, The Urban Orchardist, about why this old fruit deserves another look.
Matt shares what he’s seeing as he visits urban fruit trees across southern Ontario: backyard quince trees, older pawpaws, locally adapted genetics, and overlooked trees that could become the foundation of future breeding work. We talk about common quince as a small garden tree, how it differs from Japanese quince, why one tree can be plenty, how the fruit is used, its role as pear rootstock, and simple pruning ideas for healthier fruit trees.
In this episode, we cover:
Growing common quince in cold-climate gardens 
Why quince is such a good fit for home gardeners 
The difference between common quince and Japanese quince 
Quince preserves, cider, and other kitchen uses 
Fruit-tree breeding and locally adapted genetics 
Pawpaws, pears, and other unexpected urban fruit trees 
Pruning quince and other backyard fruit trees

 
---
There’s a whole world inside figs. I explore it in my Fig Culture podcast—varieties, recipes, collectors, and the stories behind them.
Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started.   [Join the newsletter]

See the online classes: Landscaping with Fruit, Grow an Olive Tree in a Pot.
---

Growing tomatoes in a cool or maritime climate can feel like an uphill battle. It doesn’t have to be.

In this episode, I’m joined by tomato expert Holly Farrell, author of The Tomato Grower’s Handbook, to talk about how to get reliable, flavourful harvests even when summers are mild, damp, or unpredictable.

We dig into practical strategies for gardeners in places like coastal Canada, the UK, and the U.S. Pacific Northwest—where heat is limited and blight is always lurking.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why variety choice matters more than anything else 
The difference between bush (determinate) and cordon (indeterminate) tomatoes 
How to use microclimates (walls, courtyards, sunny corners) to your advantage 
Simple ways to add protection—from cloches to greenhouses 
How to reduce risk from blight in damp conditions 
Tips for growing tomatoes in: Balconies 
Containers 
Garden beds 
Tunnels & greenhouses 

How to deal with wind exposure (especially coastal winds) 
Holly’s favourite tomato varieties for different uses 
If you’ve ever struggled to ripen tomatoes or deal with disease pressure, this episode will give you a clearer path forward.
If you would like to see what Holly is up to in the garden, here is her Instagram handle.

 
---
There’s a whole world inside figs. I explore it in my Fig Culture podcast—varieties, recipes, collectors, and the stories behind them.
Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started.   [Join the newsletter]

See the online classes: Landscaping with Fruit, Grow an Olive Tree in a Pot.
---

Pears deserve more respect in cold-climate gardens. While apples dominate the conversation, there are pear varieties that are just as hardy. The problem is, most growers don’t know about them. Varieties like Krazulya, Vekovaya, and Ure aren’t widely planted, but they probably should be.
In this episode, I chat with Elisabeth Racine from Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery, where they’re testing about 200 pear varieties. We talk about what it takes to grow pears successfully in colder zones, including variety selection, pollination, feeding, and training.
We also talk about some top cold-hardy pear varieties and the most common mistakes home growers make when planting pears.
If you’ve ever wondered whether pears are worth the space in a northern garden—or which variety to choose if you only have room for one tree—this conversation will help you decide.
Topics covered include:
Why pears are a worthwhile cold-climate fruit crop 
How far north pears can realistically be grown 
The importance of variety selection 
Top cold-hardy pear varieties for home growers 
Pollination requirements 
What most people get wrong when planting pears 
How long it takes for pear trees to produce 
And if you’re looking for more on cold-hardy fruit, tune in to this episode about growing fruit in cold climates with Veronique from Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery!  

 
---
There’s a whole world inside figs. I explore it in my Fig Culture podcast—varieties, recipes, collectors, and the stories behind them.
Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started.   [Join the newsletter]

See the online classes: Landscaping with Fruit, Grow an Olive Tree in a Pot.
---

Designing a vegetable garden can feel simple—until you try to make everything fit. Rows or raised beds? What goes where? And how do you plan it so it still makes sense in July?
In this episode, I sit down with Natalie Bogwalker and Chloe Lieberman, authors of The New Natural Food Garden, to talk through practical, thoughtful ways to design a productive vegetable garden.
We cover the decisions that matter most—layout, crop choice, and how to make a plan that you’ll actually follow through on.
In this episode:
Rows vs. beds: what works, and why 
Choosing crops for your space, climate, and habits 
How to place crops so they grow well (and don’t get in each other’s way) 
Making a garden plan you’ll stick with 
A look at no-till methods and how they fit into garden design 
This is a conversation about making your garden simpler, more productive, and more doable—not more complicated.
Find out more about the book and about their online gardening programs on their website.

 
---
There’s a whole world inside figs. I explore it in my Fig Culture podcast—varieties, recipes, collectors, and the stories behind them.
Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started.   [Join the newsletter]

See the online classes: Landscaping with Fruit, Grow an Olive Tree in a Pot.
---

In this episode, I chat with Michalina Hunter, founder of Cicada Seeds, about edible perennial crops.
We explore:
Ways to use perennial vegetables in a home-garden setting
Why perennial vegetables are a game-changer for sustainable gardening 
Top crops for home gardeners
Michalina’s top recommendations for home gardeners
And we also take a tangent to discuss an interesting tomato that Michalina introduced, the ‘Venus of Willendorf’ tomato
Whether you’re curious about food forests, edible perennials, or just want to try something new, tune in for practical advice from a seasoned grower.

 
---
There’s a whole world inside figs. I explore it in my Fig Culture podcast—varieties, recipes, collectors, and the stories behind them.
Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started.   [Join the newsletter]