Skip to main content

Good Growing

Good growing text over soil and gardening tools background
Talking all things horticulture, ecology, and design.

Latest Episode

September 29, 2023
This week on the Good Growing Podcast, Chris and Ken chat with state climatologist, Dr. Trent Ford. During the episode, we chat about what’s up with the weather for 2023. Soils are dry across Illinois. Is there any relief in sight? Will El Nino play a role in our weather this winter?

Ep. 130 New Veggies for 2023 | #GoodGrowing

February 10, 2023
On this week's Good Growing podcast, we welcome horticulture educator Emily Swihart to share the new and strange seed we have ordered for our vegetable gardens for the 2023 growing season. Plus, Chris has a monumental task of narrowing down his list of shade trees to only one for his front yard. We...

Ep. 129 Part 2 of growing ginger, turmeric, and galangal | #GoodGrowing

February 3, 2023
This week on the Good Growing podcast, we finish our conversation on growing ginger, turmeric, and galangal. Last week we got through pre-sprouting indoors, this episode we dive into getting your sprouted rhizomes planted, growing, and then harvested. We take you through a growing season with these...

Ep. 128 Growing ginger, turmeric, and galangal in Illinois, Part 1 | #GoodGrowing

January 27, 2023
On this week’s Good Growing Podcast, we have the long-awaited, often teased episode on growing ginger, turmeric, and galangal in Illinois! We discuss what they are, why you may want to grow them, where to grow them, presprouting, and more. Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1V121FzkJus Skip...

Ep. 127 A year in review of our 2022 vegetable gardens | #GoodGrowing

January 20, 2023
On this week's Good Growing podcast, we look back at 2022 to review what went well in our vegetable gardens, and also some lessons learned from the struggles of growing food in Illinois. From annoying critters to the beauty provided by some of our edible crops we cover it all. Watch on YouTube...

Gardenbite - Amaryllis care and getting it to rebloom | #goodgrowing

January 12, 2023
On this week's Good Growing podcast Chris Enroth talks about amaryllis care and how to get it to rebloom for next year's holiday season. Check out the original text by Ken Johnson https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2021-12-03-how-take-care-amaryllis-and-get-them-rebloom Check out...

Gardenbite: Some things to consider while going through garden catalogs | #GoodGrowing

January 6, 2023
Garden and seed catalogs have been arriving for a while now. When flipping through catalogs, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the choices. Unfortunately, you probably don’t have room (or time) to grow everything you see, no matter how amazing it seems. So how should you go about choosing what...

Ep. 126 Last-minute gifts for gardeners | #GoodGrowing

December 22, 2022
Did you put off gift-buying this year? You’re in luck! On this week’s Good Growing Podcast, we’re talking about last-minute gifts for gardeners. Get some ideas for gifts for the gardener in your life. We also take a look back on 2022’s podcasts and look forward to what the new year is bringing....

Gardenbite: Exploring reduced tillage in vegetable production | #GoodGrowing

December 15, 2022
This week on the Good Growing podcast local foods educator Nick Frillman examines the impacts of tilling the soil and alternatives to lessen the damage tilling can have. Check out The Vegetable Beet podcast on reducing tillage when growing vegetables https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reducing-...

Gardenbite - Squirrels: Illinois species and their shenanigans

December 7, 2022
This week we take a clip from a webinar about wildlife damage in the landscape. In this clip Illinois Extension horticulture educator Ken Johnson talks about the different species of squirrel that can be found in Illinois, identifying their damage and what to do to manage squirrels from damaging...

Ep 125 - Christmas trees: real, fake, potted, and alternatives

December 2, 2022
On this week’s Good Growing Podcast, we’re talking Christmas trees. We discuss some of the different types of trees you can find, which are more sustainable cut or fake trees, potted Christmas trees, as well as some alternatives to the typical evergreen tree. Watch us on YouTube: youtu.be/1Ask9-...