On this week’s Good Growing podcast, we talk with Local Foods and Small Farms Educator Grant McCarty about how things are going in northern Illinois and some of the different crops he's been trying in his garden, like day-neutral strawberries, grapes, and fall-planted blackberries. We also discuss an orchard crawl Grant did, and Ken gives updates on his rice and glass gem corn. Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GPLfk0Mavp4 01:35 - Rice and glass gem corn update 03:45 - Welcome Grant 04:35 - Growing conditions this year in northern Illinois 07:18 - What is an orchard crawl? What did you see and do? 10:25 - How are commercial and backyard orchards looking? 13:20 - Growing day-neutral strawberries 20:02 - Growing table and wine grapes 26:40 - Planting blackberries in the fall 30:39 - Thank you, what's up next week, and goodbye Some helpful resources on this week's topics: Iowa State Grape Cultivars - https://www.extension.iastate.edu/viticulture/cold-climate-cultivars Day-Neutral Strawberries in Minnesota - https://extension.umn.edu/strawberry-farming/day-neutral-strawberries Impact of Heat on Vegetables - https://blog-fruit-vegetable-ipm.extension.umn.edu/2021/07/vegetables-not-yielding-well-blame-heat.html Check out the Good Growing Blog extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing --- Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.