Garden Guys: Recent Episodes
Garden Guys
Tom and Darrin take a light-hearted look at gardening in the Four Corners and Southwest Colorado. Darrin is the CSU Extension Director in La Plata County and Tom runs Grow Food Well.Com. Each week, Garden Guys topics could include: growing a diversity of fruits and vegetables in a challenging climate; tips on seeding, planting, processing, and eating the bounty around us; garden disasters (and how to avoid them); and storing, canning, and preserving. Got a question for the guys?They might have the answers. If not, they'll make something up.
It’s late season already and we go for broke talking about successes and failures in the garden this year. Listenfor some tips about what to be looking at for garden chores during the later part of summer - what you can still plant in those empty spots and essential cleanup tips (Get those weed seedheads!). All in all, your gardens shouldbe riding the momentum of the warm months as we head into cooler temps.
Did you miss us? We missed you! After a couple weeks off, Tom and Darrin are back on air as we venture off to Montezuma County and McElmo Canyon to visit David Temple and Trees of Trail Canyon. David is an amazing human (and storyteller!) and hopefully you all will feel his passion and love for all things trees - especially those that produce fruit and nuts!
Eddie Rabbitt was right - nothin' better than a rainy night. Another wacky June with cool temps and all sorts of moiture to end the month - there are many benefits to all this rain, but in the garden you also need to keep the airflow going to avoid some waterborne issues. Oh, and it wouldn't be a complete show without some amazing bacteria facts from Tom. They (Tom AND bacteria) never cease to amaze me!
It's not that we're lazy - just busy. And mostly out of town. And Darrin's dealing with a deer in his yard that found their strawberries and he's grumpy. But back in 2022 we went out to Mancos to interview Mike Nolan from Mountain Roots Farm. Mike has been a longtime veggie farmer in SW CO and with his partner Mindy Perkovich they are at the forefront of vegetable and flower production down here. Enjoy!
Yup. I took high school French. Can't you tell? This week we redeem ourselves from the depths of the manure from last week and rise to the beauty and function that flowers provide for our landscape. Darrin and Tom will go through the list of our favorite flowers and why we plant them. They provide great services (other than beauty) that can help your garden thrive!
You may think that Tom and Darrin talk crap every week, but this week we actually do! All kinds of it: manure, meadow muffins, cow pies...chickens, alpacas, llamas and bats. We'll go over all things excrementum and how we, as gardens, can utilize (or be cautious of) its powers.
Tom and I put the jokes aside this week and welcome you to listen to a topic that resonates with many of us. Deeply. Emotionally. And if you haven't watched it yet, find 45 minutes and watch the recently released Colorado movie: Legacy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b75IPokq28E - it will give you a better appreciation of what our farmers and ranchers go through - every, single, day. We were lucky enough to interview Chad Reznicek, Behavioral Health State Specialist with CSU Extension, who gave amazing insight into the signature challenges in agriculture and how all us can find those tools to help us.
Ugh. You get all excited to garden and in comes the pill bugs, pocket gophers, and mushrooms. Wait. Mushrooms? Listen to learn more - and maybe commiserate.
We filled out our permission slips and got to go on ANOTHER field trip! Tom and Darrin got to buddy-up and visit Scott Smith and his 2 year-old greenhouse east of Durango. Sampling ready-to-eat herbs, kale, carrots, and artichokes made us a bit envious of the early harvests, but not sure we're ready for all that work!
Paul Simon once wrote "...and touched the sound of silence". Well, we know that he wasn't applying compost to his garden because scientists are now able to "hear" all the bacteria and fungi that love that organic matter. The Garden Guys delve into microorganisms and the ways they help our bodies and our garden beds - and how those two are so similar.
Free advice and crisis mitigation. For plants. Learn what to look for with all those seedlings in the nurseries and farmers market. All the spring questions are flowing, and so are the sarcastic answers this week on Garden Guys.
One of our favorite places (Manna Garden in Durango) with one of our favorite people (Brooke Frazer)! The Manna Gardens are prepping for the upcoming seedling sale happening next weekend (May 10-12). She shares some of the varieties that will be available, as well as touching on the history of Manna and the wealth of services it provides for the local community.
When it comes down to very basics, it's all about the carbon. The building block of really, everything. The basis of much of life on the planet, and how it relates to the growth cycle, microorganisms in the soil and the planetary carbon cycle which is having some hiccups as of late.
Join the Garden Guys (Darrin and Tom) for the season opener! Spring is here and so are the chores. How do you procrastinate? What do you do first? And what’s your view on using Dibble Boards? Because you will definitely get ours! We all have work to do, so let’s just talk about it. Oh, and Darrin got worms! They may not be as hardy and strong as Tom's but they're learning (and so will you!) on how to start that worm bin.
As spring is just around the corner, we just wanted to step outside and admit that another planting season will soon be upon us. On this episode, Tom and Darrin discuss the finer points of “dialing-in” your early-season planning when it comes to new plant choices, and adjusting for mistakes from last year. We also go over details about our new favorite winter squash. And if that wasn’t exciting enough, the annual Garden Guys Seed Sale is Next Week! Wahooo. Let’s go!
We're back and better than ever! Well, maybe not 'ever', but we are back for one show right before Christmas hits. Darrin and Tom have interrupted their hibernation to come give you tips on LMG’s (Last Minute Gifts) as well as a list of other (somewhat related) garden subjects. Learn about last year’s failures and find tips for next year’s mistakes in the garden! And look for our upcoming seed sale at the Fairgrounds in March.
This week (our final weekly show for the 2023 growing season) we travel to The Old Fort at Hesperus to see what’s up with the dynamic ‘Farmers In Training’ program (FIT). We are guided by interviews with the Farmer Training Program Coordinator, Elicia Whittlesey, and the Education Garden Manager, Maggie Magierski. Several of the FITs chime in as well, giving us insight on what it’s like to be growing all the various vegetables at the farm. Such an inspiring visit.
We follow our show with the esteemed Jim Dyer with one full of banter of "crisp vs. cobbler", how do we get the job of naming vegetable varieties, and season extension techniques (winter is coming...)!
This week we have an in-depth conversation with Jim Dyer and his decades of work with Healthy Community Food Systems. We dive into some core issues regarding future sustainability in the ‘Greater San Juan Food Shed’. Join us for some good food for thought!
Yup. Tom and I create hypothetical stress situations, pretending we are gardeners on the prairie in the 1800s. Not sure if I want to be Charles Ingalls or Almonzo, but either way, we're nervous that we aren't going to survive for very long!
From Apricots to Wasps - and everything in-between - Darrin and Tom catch up on what’s happening in their gardens, what’s getting harvested, and what they’ll do differently next year (including the relocation of a pesky deer).
Probably my favorite show so far! Tom tries to calm me down after our office's efforts at the County Fair. Then we cover some of the decisions involved in deciding what to plant in smaller garden spaces. We culminate with an impromptu garden tour of Tom’s home garden.
It's Fair Time! County Fair is back for its 75th year here in La Plata County, and boy those squash...! This week we delve into the mystery of Cryptobiosis, the fascinating process of‘pausing’ a living organism. Darrin’s tomatoes have also been put on permanent pause for the season, with no chance of cryptobiosis. Which leads us, inevitably to the discussion of weather. And whether or not Tom should have camped up high in a lightning storm. (strictly as a sacrifice to the weather gods).
With all this heat (and little to no rain in the area), Darrin and Tom do a mid-season garden check-in. Can you plant citrus in the four corners? What can you still plant now? And also some background on what originally inspired them to geek out on plants.
Well, if 1 show on the heat wasn't enough... We have some solutions, some laments, some salves, and a positive outlook (which helps). We also have some ideas of how to plan for success in our gardens in a hotter future.
We grabbed our snacks, water, and found our field trip buddy - off to the SOIL Outdoor Learning Lab at Riverview Elementary. Wow!
This week the garden guys came back all rested from their vacation and all they can do is complain about pests and failures in the garden. But really this episode is about ‘Pivoting’ from early summer garden failures to replanting in bare spots to feel better about the rest of the summer.
Darrin and Tom preach the importance of getting your garden soil tested and then walk you all through how to read it. We also cry (and sneeze) while discussing these very odd temperatures and the prolific pine pollen season we are encountering.
We dig into the enormous bag of email questions and try to answer a few (at least the easy ones). Growing in containers, how to read a seed packet, and doth thou inoculate thy beans and peas?
This week the Garden Guys had a site visit to Beet Street Farm in the Animas valley north of Durango. Brian & Stacey Petrie, and Chad Goodale let us in on some of the details of running a local farm. The good, the challenging, and the ugly garlic…
Just kidding. We discovered nothing, but do give some good ideas on how to manage. PLUS: another Garden Guys department - Mistakes Garden Guys Make (MGGM) and our inquiries into artificial intelligence.
Tom and Darrin sneak out of the studio to go visit a new(er) gardener's backyard where we find worms, onions, and corn transplants, oh my!
Two good news stories from the Garden Guys Good News Department (second left in the basement, by the boiler): Colorado’s ‘Right to Repair’ bill passes and why dandelions are so helpful. Plus we pontificate on why growing one's food helps feed the soul at the same time it feeds one's belly.
The Garden Guys discuss facing the garden tasks of spring, and how one of the best starting points is choosing the right crops for our growing season length here in the Mountain West.
So many questions this week…. starting seedlings under lights, replacing peat moss with coir, ‘air-pruning’ with soil blocks, and have you ever tried Trombone squash?
Tom and Darrin get their Zen on, pontificating about insects, diversity in the garden, letting things go, and even throwing out some made up words like procrastgardening and procrastplanting
In this first Garden Guys podcast for the 2023 season hosts Darrin and Tom talk about:
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How abnormal is the new normal as far as the weather goes
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Managing the Impact of soil temperatures on spring planting
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Seed sale recap
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Darrin’s medical adventure.
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Making healthy food choices, even if you can’t grow a garden
We reached 20 - we're almost legal! We cover a bevy of topics - thinning, irrigation, and farmer market bucks - before we take a bit of a breather.
They let us out of the studio again! We accost patrons at the Durango Farmers Market to see why they support our local farmers and ranchers.
July is a chance to sit back, enjoy your garden while it's growing - observe what's successful, what you'd change next year, and learn from your hands-on experience.
We enter the doldrums of summer with some tips to keep up with the garden beds, the weeds, and the compost pile.
Tom interviews while Darrin works. Hmmm.... And a couple secrets come forward as Tom gets Beth, Darrin's wife, to divulge some dirt.
The rains come for most, hail arrives for others. We will discuss how the microclimates in our area greatly affect our gardens.
Mike and Mindy welcome us to their farm: Mountain Roots Produce out in Mancos, CO. A diverse farming operation at its finest.
Where to find locally grown seeds? Can I eat weeds? How do I get rid of pocket gophers and other rodents? Pros and cons of vermiculture (worms)?
Spring flowers are critical for our pollinators. Not only will they help pollinate your fruit trees, giving you loads of pears, apples, and plums in summer and fall, they are critical in our ecosystem.
The challenges of gardening during the worst prolonged drought in 1200 years. Plus, busy weeks ahead for southwest gardeners.
To frame or not to frame? That is the question. Pros and cons of building raised beds or just planting directly in the soil.
See, told you. April is mean. Cold temps do some damage to fruit tree buds. And some discussion on all things amendments (cover crops, compost piles, and the dreaded herbicide carry-over).
We get in the helicopter and take a trip up the Animas Valley to visit Adobe House Farm and their amazing greenhouses.
On this week's Garden Guys, Tom and Darrin cover a lot of ground – discussing infrastructure: trellising, container gardening, and irrigation systems, in some depth.
Seriously. There are some months you hope to skip - April is quickly becoming one of those. Bring on summer already!!!
On today's program, Tom and Darrin geek out a bit, discussing spring soil temperatures, germination and types of soil (especially clay vs. sand), as eager gardeners await the right time to plant.
Now that it's spring and you have your seeds (or plan to get them soon), what are the next steps?
We got a full 30 minutes! We'll cover flowers, fruits, and veggies oh my! Expect discussion on planning out your garden space, saving seeds, and the differences between heirloom and hybrid seed selection.
Tom and Darrin are back this week to talk about season extension, food storage, the importance of composting your leaves, food miles, and of course what are you serving for Thanksgiving that came from the garden?
The Garden Guys share their favorite seed catalogs, new plants to consider, Tom's favorite tomato, Darrin marvels over the durability of kale, plus holiday gift ideas and more.