Canada's Local Gardener Podcast

It is seed starting time across Canada. From March through June, depending on where your garden is, you may be starting seeds indoors and out. Kevin Twomey, former owner of T and T Seeds in Winnipeg, has grown vegetables and flowers from seeds throughout his life. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener print magazine, is preparing to put in her first full-sized vegetable garden this year, and she talked to Kevin about wha...

For many gardeners, power tools sound like something their partner or friend would be more interested in. But at some point, even the luddite might be interested in getting jobs done faster and with less pain, if a little more noise. Kris Kiser is the president and CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) in the United States. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener print magazine, talked to Kris about lawn mowe...

Did you know that you can give too much compost to your garden? Also, there isn’t a “best” fertilizer for tomatoes or roses or trees. Robert Pavlis is a garden writer, speaker and educator with a background in science. He lives in Guelph, Ontario and gardens at his six-acre home called Aspen Grove Gardens. He has published a handful of books and maintains two websites, gardenmyths.com and gardenfundamentals.com. He speaks with Shau...

Strawberries and raspberries have been growing in gardens across Canada since we became a country. Haskaps, sea buckthorn and ground cherries are more recent introductions for many of us. All of them and more are covered in the book Prairie Gardener’s Guide to Growing Fruit by Sheryl Normandeau and Janet Melrose. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, talks to Sheryl and Janet about their book and about growing ...

The Edible Flower is a thick book with gorgeous photos. Erin and Jo write about how to grow edible flowers (that’s Jo’s department) and how to use them for cooking (Erin’s). Erin always hoped to write books because she loves them, so when she became a cook (a title she prefers to chef) she knew she wanted to write a cookbook. She uses flower petals in salads, but also in a larger way in recipes like folding them into a babka for a ...

orget about oceans of calamine lotion, this is the real dirt on poison ivy and all of its kin. Susan Pell, executive director of the United States Botanic Garden. She did her PhD on members of the pistatchio family (Anacardiaceae), which includes the genus Toxicodendron, of which poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac are members. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, had a talk with Susan about these plants: ...

People of all ages become fascinated with the monarch butterfly when they learn about its long flight from Canada to Mexico in a single generation. Joan Harvey is a member of Monarch Teacher Network, and she joined Master Gardener Julianne Labreche in an event called Meet the Monarch last summer. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, chats with the two about the life cycle of monarchs and how to build a monarch...

Bamboo is a kind of plant in the grass family (Poaceae) with over 100 genera. Most of them are tropical, but a few will survive and even thrive in Canada. Garry Hedberg and his wife Brenda had several clumps of them growing in South Surrey, in the Vancouver area, some as tall as 60 feet. Shauna Dobbie, editor of Canada’s Local Gardener magazine, talks to Garry about his experience growing this plant, which is fairly uncommon in Can...