- [Male Announcer] Growing a Greener World is made possible in part by: - [Female Announcer]: The Subaru Crosstrek, designed with adventure in mind, built in a zero-landfill plant, so you can roam the earth with a lighter footprint.

Subaru, proud sponsor of Growing a Greener World.

- [Male Announcer] And the following: the US Composting Council, Milorganite, and Rain Bird.

[gentle instrumental music] JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): I'm Joe Lamp'l.

For 10 years, Growing a Greener World has told the stories of the people and the places who are making a difference in the health of our environment and the sustainability of our global community.

But as we embark on our 11th season, life changed overnight.

So many things we took for granted would never be the same again.

Now, it's up to each of us to take a more active role in not just saving our planet, but making it better, feeding our families with organically grown food, conserving vital resources, protecting natural habitats starting in our own backyards.

Growing a Greener World, it's still our mission.

And it's more important than ever.

[alarm ringing] [water boiling] JOE LAMP'L: Now, take a break.

[rooster crows] [music playing] [rooster crows] [switching on lights] [chickens clucking] JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the world.

But for some, myself included, it's literally a way of life.

It's my career.

And while I absolutely love it and can't imagine doing anything else, that passion doesn't make it any less of a job, one that requires a lot of hard work.

[rooster crows] As someone who makes their living with plants, I get asked all the time what a typical day in my garden is like.

Well, not every single day is wall-to-wall gardening.

But there's no shortage of work to do for a garden that's this big and this productive.

And as the sole gardener on staff at the Growing a Greener World Garden Farm, it's all on me.

SPEAKER 4: Let me get you miked up, Joe.

JOE LAMP'L: OK. TODD: Yep.

JOE LAMP'L: Thanks, Todd.

With a really busy travel schedule that has me all over the country filming episodes for this show, it's really important that when I'm finally back home, I'm doing all that I can to keep this garden as healthy as possible so that when I am traveling, I don't have to think about this garden for a few days.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): While there's a lot less traveling this year, there is no slowdown in the demands on my schedule.

And those days off the road that had me dreaming about finally getting caught up in the garden have instead been replaced by other duties related to my life as a gardener who does it for a living-- teaching online classes, doing podcasts, producing videos for brand partners, taking care of social media responsibilities.

JOE LAMP'L: It never ends.

And through all of it, the garden just keeps growing.

But just like every gardener, it's my job to keep up with it.

You know, I've always been an early riser.

And I think part of that, in fact, I know a lot of that has to do with the fact that I have a really nice garden to come out to early in the morning.

I love the mornings.

And I love that peaceful time when the sun is coming up, and the birds are singing, and it's just me and the garden and my coffee.

And it's one of the most important things I do in the course of a day is just observe, you know, just sit back, be quiet, and take it in.

But while I'm taking it in, I'm making some important observations because no two days are the same, let alone no two seasons.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): How you make and organize your own garden observations is entirely up to you and the way that you prefer to work.

For some folks, a pad of paper or a good old-fashioned diary works best.

Others like using a garden app on their phone, which can also incorporate photos that you take at the same time.

That handheld technology is great for researching a new pest or plant problem right on the spot.

Taking an up close and personal inventory of your entire garden and every plant in it is really easy to do if you do all of your watering by hand.

And since you should be doing your watering in the morning anyway, it's a simple way to knock two items off the to-do list at once.

JOE LAMP'L: Now to be clear, I am a drip irrigation guy.

It's the most efficient way to water.

And it can put your watering on autopilot.

But you know, every now and then, you need to provide some supplemental water.

And for that, when I do, I'm using a watering wand.

I like that because it, too, puts the water right at the base, right where the plants need it.

And I can control the flow and the volume.

So that's really important.

But you know, no matter how you choose to water, timing is everything.

And the best time to water is early in the morning so your plants are fully hydrated before the heat of the day comes on.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): How often I water my own garden is one of the questions I hear most.

Unfortunately, there's not a one-size-fits-all answer.

It depends a lot on the weather and even more so on the plants themselves.

JOE LAMP'L: Really looking good, lots of tomatoes on this-- JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): Some crops like water every day, while some do just fine once or twice a week.

For me, every bed at the Garden Farm has its own spigot built right in with its own drip line that's controlled by a timer.

That way, I can have my bed of tomatoes set up automatically to get water way more often than my beets, which don't require nearly as much.

[music playing] JOE LAMP'L: You know, one of the benefits of spending more time at home these days is the opportunity to catch up on some much needed projects.

And for me, that's a lot of projects around the garden.

And the first for me was this compost bin, rebuilding that.

I love my pallet compost bin, untreated hardwood pallets.

Now, they're readily available.

Just ask around to your local stores.

And sooner or later, you're going to find them.

Most people are happy to give them to you.

This is nine pallets.

And it's good and sturdy.

And I'm really happy with it.

So how it works is I fill up the first bin.

This is the first bin that I filled up about eight weeks ago.

Now, it's finished compost.

This bin is in process.

This is that in between fully finished and the raw stuff.

But this is the raw stuff.

And so right now, I'm continuing to add to this.

And this is right about at capacity.

So what goes in here are greens and browns.

Greens are nitrogen sources, like grass clippings and food scraps from inside the house, mostly veggies and fruits.

And then there's carbon.

And that would be like the shredded paper from my office and semi-composted leaves.

I have lots of those.

But the ratio is roughly two to three times carbon, or the browns, to one part nitrogen.

So that's why I keep all those grass clippings off to the side.

I have so much.

I don't want to add too much of that at one time.

But the key is to be consistent with what you do add.

Now, the key to getting quick compost is making sure that you keep it aerated.

So you're introducing oxygen.

And you're keeping it moist, like a damp sponge.

And the more you do that, the faster it's going to break down.

Now, at a minimum, I try to do that once a week.

But if I can do that two to three times, all the better.

And in about eight weeks, I can go from this to finished compost, and then add it to my garden.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): I go through a lot of compost at the Garden Farm, with 16 4 by 12 foot beds, and all the perimeter plantings.

But an increasing amount of that compost gets used in a small side business run by my daughter, Amy.

It began three years ago in an episode you may recall from season 9, when Amy wanted to try her hand at raising and selling heirloom tomatoes to earn some money.

Well, she's now in her third season of growing and selling tomatoes, peppers, and various herbs.

She's built up a list of loyal customers and done well at local farmer's markets.

But with so many of those markets shut down in 2020, we've had to tweak that business model a little to set up shop right here at home.

She can still sell from her inventory while practicing safe social distancing with her customers who are willing to make the drive.

On sale days, that can take up a pretty sizable chunk of time-- setting up, hauling out plants, running the sales table, talking with customers, helping load plants, and restock the bench, and then taking it all down at the end of the day.

So on a day when she's not selling, it's a chance for me to make some serious headway on my own to-do list.

JOE LAMP'L: One of the big things on my to-do list for today is to plant this fourth and final row of bush bean seeds right here.

Now, a month ago, I planted a single row along that edge, knowing that I would come back the next week and plant the second row, a week later, the third row, and this week, I'm planning the fourth row.

And that's called succession planting.

And the reason for that is I like my beans young and fresh and tender.

And I like to snack from the garden.

And the only way I can really do that over a longer period of time is to plant it in consecutive weeks.

Now, bush beans are really productive over a short period of time.

But then they're kind of done.

So by staggering that planting time, you have more beans over a longer period of time.

So that patience and that discipline really pays off.

But if you're into canning and preserving, and you're good with all those beans coming on in a relatively short period of time, then go for it.

But for me, I really like the way this works.

So let me show you my technique for getting those bean seeds in the ground.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): Keeping my rows nice and straight, and my seeds properly spaced is all made super simple with my DIY planting board.

The notches in my six-foot-long planting board are cut every three inches, with deeper notches at the 6 and 12-inch marks for easy visual reference.

Even after planting, there are a dozen different ways I use my planting board.

And I can't recommend this simple tool enough.

Best of all, it takes less than 30 minutes to make one and uses a length of wood you probably already have lying around.

To learn more about making a planting board or anything else discussed on today's show, go to growingagreenerworld.com and check this show notes for this episode.

[rooster crows] JOE LAMP'L: You know, I've been so busy with gardening projects this year, I've been a little remiss in getting everything planted out and starting my seeds.

And that's certainly the case with this basil, but no worries.

Unlike tomatoes, where you're planting them as early as you can because you know you have months before you're going to get to harvest the tomatoes, basil is ready to go as soon as it leafs out.

And it's fast growing too.

So I have no worries about the fact that I'll be enjoying fresh basil well before my first tomato harvest.

But it is time to plant them.

I need to get them into these beds because they're becoming root bound.

These small 72 cell trays don't have a lot of growing room for those roots.

And you can see that they are root bound at this point.

So they're not going any further if I leave them there.

It's time to get them out.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to lightly tease this pattern apart to liberate them is what I like to call it.

And that's going to allow these roots to spread out.

And I'm going to plant about three basil plants around each corner of each bed.

I've got 72 or more here to plant.

But I like my basil, right?

And who doesn't?

It's that easy, with good soil, a little mulch around it, water it in.

Once this grows up a little bit, I'll cut off the top.

And that'll generate new growth.

So every one cut that I make is going to sprout two new branches.

So basil is a plant that you can start eating early.

And the more you cut it, the more it gives you.

It's a really economical plant.

You don't need to plant a lot of basil to get a lot of basil on to your pizza or into your kitchen.

[rooster crows] [thunder rumbling] JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): Like any gardener, I'm often at the mercy of Mother Nature, who sometimes seems to have a to-do list of her own that may not always match up with mine.

Today, for example, I'm chased inside by a midday rain shower that's making it too wet and muddy to work.

But for me, lunchtime is always a great opportunity to do a little multitasking inside and out of the elements.

Today, that means a little geek-out session on an insect pest I found on one of my tomato plants during my morning inspection.

Here's where technology can be a gardener's best friend.

With a basic plug-and-play digital microscope, I can zero in and get a good look at this tiny guy.

It's just a common aphid.

But it's always fascinating to study any insect or bug under a microscope.

There's so much more to see.

JOE LAMP'L: 3 2.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): A rain delay is also the perfect opportunity for me to catch up on emails and messages, do some social media work for the show, or squeeze in a podcast interview.

JOE LAMP'L: --guest, Craig LeHoullier talking live from Zoom.

He's in his home now in Hendersonville, North Carolina, his new home, a fantastic place.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): Just because you can't be in the garden, doesn't mean you can't be getting better at gardening.

Reading gardening books and magazines, visiting gardening web sites, watching video tutorials, listening to gardening podcasts, and interacting with online growing communities are all so important to increasing your knowledge base as a gardener.

It's where I learn new ideas, hear about new techniques, and get inspired to try new things.

By making the most of my time outside the garden during breaks like this, I know I'll be able to be even more productive when I get back in the garden.

JOE LAMP'L: Just a few more things on my to-do list for today.

I am excited because I'm going to pick up some flowers from my friend Peter.

He's got some foxgloves that have self-seeded.

And I'm trying to add more flowers around my raised bed garden to attract the pollinators.

And so I'm off to pick those up from his house.

The weather's breaking.

Sun is finally out.

Hopefully, it stays that way.

And then I've got a trellis to make.

So we're not through.

But that's OK, still some fun things ahead.

Wow, that is nice.

I love Peter.

Besides being a great guy, he makes the most of his relatively small-scale landscape.

He's a landscape architect.

So it only makes sense that he knows what he's doing.

But boy, does he pack the food in.

Like, right back here, there are 64 tomato plants.

And what I love is his system for supporting his tomatoes.

Now unlike my tomato cages, he's got this string trellising system.

And that's another great way to support those tomato vines as they're growing up.

Trimming them down to just one or two main leads, there's some special things you need to keep in mind.

But oh, what a simple way to grow a lot of tomatoes in a relatively small space, without all that extra wire.

So let's go take a look around.

And I'm going to pick up those plants on the way.

And here are my plants on the wooden table, just like he said.

I have my foxgloves.

And these are some giant Rudbeckia, which will be great to mix in with all the other flowers that I'll be planting around the vegetable garden.

Nice.

Thank you, Peter, wherever you are.

So this is one of the beds where I'm going to plant some of Peter's foxgloves.

And I had intended to do that right away because when anybody goes to the trouble to dig up some plants for me, I want to get them right in the ground.

Plus, it's exciting to do that.

So that was the plan and on the to-do list for today, but not anymore.

We've had so much rain over the past few days.

And I live in Georgia where the soil is clay and heavy, especially when it gets wet.

In fact, let me show you what it looks like.

So see that, when it's wet like that, that's really sticky.

And that is not ideal conditions.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): So the foxgloves and my other pollinating plants will wait for another day's to-do list, after the ground has had a chance to dry out.

And that's OK. You roll with it because there's always another project to tackle.

JOE LAMP'L: The big project on today's to-do list is to build my string trellis for my cucumbers.

Now, I love to grow cucumbers.

And when I do that, I always use those livestock panels in a teepee style.

But this is a vertical string system, where the cucumbers are going to go straight up and down.

So I'm going to give it a go.

In the past, I've had too much disease on those cattle panels.

So I think this is going to do the trick.

And it's really been something that farmers around the country use with great success, including my friend Phil just down the street.

So I'm just modifying his system with some simple parts, just three 2 by 2's and some hardware.

And you'll get a better idea of how all this works once I get it assembled.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): I've cut the ends of two of the 2 by 2's on a diagonal to help me stake them into the bed.

These boards are pretty long.

18 inches are buried in the soil.

And the tops still stand a good 6-and-a-half feet over the bed.

That gives the cucumbers a long way to grow vertically.

The soil will help hold the post.

But I also anchor them to the bed with outdoor grade deck screws.

The third 2 by 2 will rest on top of the post.

So make sure yours is long enough to do that.

A helper might come in handy for this step.

You may recognize Todd from our Growing a Greener World crew.

He's our writer, producer, resident DIY guy.

And today, he's also my extra set of hands.

I secure the top board to the post with a couple more screws.

And the simple trellis structure is done.

To get each cucumber vine to grow to the top board, I'll use string.

In this system, the string hangs from a wire running between the post.

That will allow for easy side-by-side adjustments as the vines grow upward.

With the wire stretched taut and strong, metal hangers hold the extra trellising twine.

Run the string down to each plant.

Prune each plant to leave the strongest lead.

And secure the twine around the base of the plant with the plastic clips.

JOE LAMP'L: Essentially, the clip is just there to keep the string close to the vine.

And as the vine grows up, I'll add additional clips along the way.

And if all goes well, in about four weeks, I'm going to have a beautiful wall of cucumbers.

They're going to love it.

And I'm going to love it.

TODD: Yeah, I don't think Carl loves it.

JOE LAMP'L: Ah, right.

Good point.

So what Todd was referring to is the fact that Carl is the director of photography.

So he's doing his job, always assessing the next shot from an aesthetic standpoint.

And he's worried, in this case, that this wall of cucumbers is going to be a shot blocker for future shows that we're going to do.

But the challenge is, when you're filming in the gardener's garden, like we always do here, I get to make that decision.

And sometimes, I win.

And in this case, I want my wall of cucumbers, so I win.

CARL: Yeah, but who makes you look good, buddy?

JOE LAMP'L: I hate when he says that.

I never have a good comeback.

Clearly, I love growing tomatoes.

But it does require a lot of hands-on work.

And I do that late in the afternoon so I'm sure that the plants have had plenty of time during the day to dry out because when you work with wet foliage, you run the risk of spreading disease.

So save your tomato maintenance for late in the day.

Now, there are three things that I typically look for when I'm inspecting my plants.

And one is disease.

And if I see any disease, I'm typically cutting that out to try to stay ahead of the problem.

Next is an unruly plant.

Tomatoes, especially indeterminate ones, are going to continue to grow.

And I'm trying to just keep them contained within the cage as best I can.

Eventually, they're going to escape.

But along the way, I do want to try to maintain some sort of control by pushing some of these young flexible branches back in the cage before they get too stiff.

And then the third thing is that I'm looking in here to make sure that I have a good balance of light and air circulation into the plant.

And one of the things that I can do to help with that is to remove the suckers.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): Tomato suckers are the small shoots that sprout out between the plants main stem and an established branch.

Think of the main stem as growing straight up and down.

Branches typically grow out at 90-degree angles.

But when you find an extra shoot at a 45-degree angle in between, that's a sucker.

It won't hurt your plant.

But leaving them does add to the volume of leaves and stems in an already crowded tomato cage for me.

So I remove some as needed to improve the overall light and air circulation.

Removing them is so easy, you can do it with your bare hands.

Find a sucker and grasp it between your thumb and forefinger.

Give it a good bend until the sucker breaks at the joint.

Bend it back the opposite direction to snap it off.

JOE LAMP'L: Now, a lot of people, when they remove the sucker, they just toss it.

Or maybe they put it into their compost pile.

I can't help myself.

To me, this is a brand new plant for free.

So why wouldn't I want to have more?

So that's what I do.

And in fact, all of these and many more that aren't on this bench are suckers that I've taken in the last couple weeks.

For example, this Sungold, I just took 11 days ago.

And it's already flowering.

And I could put this in the ground in a couple more weeks.

So that is great.

And it's so easy to do.

You just put it in some moist soil, and keep it out of the sun for about 10 days.

Keep it watered, and be sure to label it.

I have 25 varieties of tomatoes in this garden.

And if I didn't label this plant, there is no way I could tell what this is, which it happens to be a Striped German, by the way.

JOE LAMP'L (VOICEOVER): And suddenly, the day is just about over.

It always comes sooner than expected.

I rarely make it all the way through the daily list of chores.

But that just means there are things that will roll over to tomorrow's.

No matter what items I didn't quite get to, I always try to end the day by doing some cleanup in the garden, gathering tools, and putting them away, tidying up beds I've been working in, pulling a few weeds every time I see them, and, hopefully, harvesting one or two things to bring inside for dinner.

That's the whole reason for growing a garden!

And it's why I try to have four seasons worth of production.

No matter how the day in the garden went, finishing up with something that I grew and can now feed my family with, that's what it's all about.

JOE LAMP'L: This is Salanova lettuce.

It is delicious.

You don't need to add anything else to this.

Top it with a light coating of your favorite dressing.

And that's as good as it gets.

You know those days where you've worked really hard, like the whole day?

But at the end of the day, even though you're exhausted, you feel really good, like exhilarated?

Well, that's how I'm feeling right now.

It's a very good tired.

The crew has long gone home.

I'm sure or I hope they've had great meals because I sent them home with some of that amazing lettuce.

And yet, here I am, after my great dinner, taking in the garden one last time.

But this time, it's not work.

It's reflection, and relaxing, listening to the birds and the wind, and just taking in nature and the plants, and celebrating the experience of being in the garden.

It's a great way to end the day.

And it's a great way to begin the day.

The work never goes away, for sure.

But that's OK. Just embrace that.

And be thankful that you have an opportunity, whether it's your own garden, and you can grow your food, or you're in a community garden, or just a chance to visit a public garden.

Take advantage of that because we need that now more than ever.

And I'm glad that you were able to spend some of your time with me here in my day in the life at the Garden Farm.

So thanks for joining me, everybody.

I'm Joe Lamp'l.

And I'll see you back here next time for more Growing a Greener World.

- [Male Announcer] Growing a Greener World is made possible in part by: - [Female Announcer]: The Subaru Crosstrek, designed with adventure in mind, built in a zero-landfill plant, so you can roam the earth with a lighter footprint.

Subaru, proud sponsor of Growing a Greener World.

- [Male Announcer] And the following: the US Composting Council, Milorganite, and Rain Bird.

[gentle instrumental music] ♪ - [Male Announcer] Continue the garden learning from the program you just watched, Growing a Greener World.

Program host Joe Lamp'l's Online Gardening Academy offers classes designed to teach gardeners of all levels, from the fundamentals to master skills.

Classes are on demand any time, plus opportunities to ask Joe questions about your specific garden in real time.

Courses are available online.

For more information or to enroll, go to growingagreenerworld.com/learn.

[funky techno jingle] ♪ ♪