Grow Inside with Jackie from the Green Organic Garden Podcast

I have pulled one of my favorite instructional podcasts out of the archives for today! It features my great gardening friend, Jackie Marie Beyer, of the Green Organic Garden Podcast, as my guest. I do not have a green thumb, and this show has helped me a lot with gardening!

Jackie started the Green Organic Garden Podcast in 2015. Her initial motivation was to give her husband, their head gardener at home, a platform for teaching people how to garden. He has a lot of gardening knowledge to share, and when Jackie started her podcast, she knew very little about gardening.

Jackie is now my resident expert for all things gardening! Over the last five years, she has done more than 300 interviews on the Green Organic Garden Podcast with some of the most incredible gardeners who have all shared their knowledge! And although Jackie works full-time as an elementary school teacher, she has found that she is spending more and more time in the garden each year.

Jackie will be talking to us about some of the things that we can do for Mother Nature that will help people learn, and she will tell us about some of the easier vegetables to plant indoors. Be sure to stay tuned for more!

The Organic Oasis Guidebook

There are all different kinds of gardeners. Jackie and her husband wrote a book called The Organic Oasis Guidebook to help people grow vegetables because growing vegetables is a different learning curve from gardening.

Jackie’s husband’s goal

Jackie’s husband grew up on a cattle ranch. His current goal is to grow as much food as he possibly can to supplement the produce that they need. It involves intense gardening, and Jackie refers to his garden as his “mini-farm”.

Jackie explains why her podcast is so successful

One of the reasons why Jackie’s podcast is so successful is because of all of her amazing guests and their willingness to share their tips, their expertise, and their gardening secrets.

Authentic, garden math problems and challenges

Jackie is an elementary school teacher, and for the last two years, she has been posting videos online, with authentic, garden math problems and challenges for her students to solve.

Carrots

Carrots are easy to grow but hard for adults to plant because the seeds are so tiny. Carrot seeds fit very nicely into the hands of little kids, however.

Kids

Contrary to popular belief, Jackie knows that kids love eating freshly harvested fruits and vegetables!

Indoor gardening

Jackie’s favorite things to grow indoors are herbs in pots on her window sill. She loves to have basil plants growing indoors at all times.

Arugula

If you grow arugula indoors, you can start picking and eating the leaves when they are still tiny, and you will get lots of flavor out of them. The leaves will keep on growing until they eventually reach the size of a lettuce leaf.

Cherry tomatoes

You can grow cherry tomatoes indoors. Cherry tomato plants might be a bit too big for a window sill, but you can grow them in a pot on the floor next to a window. Then you can also put the plant outside on the patio in the summer.

Seeds, versus starter plants

Gardening is a bit like an experiment, and some seeds are easier to propagate than others. Growing vegetables from starter plants, if you can find them at a farmer’s market, will be faster than growing them from seeds.

Sprouts

Jackie likes to start growing her sprouts in December. You can buy a seed sprouter, or you can make one from a large mason jar covered with a piece of window screen fabric. Place a layer of organic radish, alfalfa, broccoli, or any other sprouting seeds on the bottom and soak them in two inches of water for twenty-four hours. Then, pour the water out and rinse the seeds in clear water every day until they have grown big enough to get eaten.

Bigger container gardening

It is possible to grow your herbs and vegetables in all kinds of different containers, and some people even like to plant their vegetables in specially designed cloth bags because they are easier to haul around.

Soil health

With container gardening, you have more say about the kind of soil that you use because you can decide from which source you want to take it.

Companion planting

Marigolds are good for planting with tomatoes because they put out a strong scent that repels the bugs that eat tomato plants and leaves. Nasturtiums are also good companion plants for planting next to vegetables in containers to repel bugs.

Container plants

Vegetables that grow above the ground are better for planting in containers. Root crops, however, usually do better growing in outdoor beds.

Referral Links and Products:

The Green Organic Garden Podcast

Free Ebook on Organic Gardener Basics

Other Podcasts with Jackie: Organic Gardener and Grow Outside with Jackie

EGH Shop – Self Watering Planters

EGH Shop – Seed Sprouting Jar Kit

EGH Shop – Seed Sprouting Lids

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