Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping cover art

Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping

By: Steven Biggs: Horticulturist and edible landscaping expert.
Listen for free

About this listen

Want to grow your own food but need creative ideas so you can get the most from your space and your growing zone? Our passion is the edible garden. We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard. There are many ways to approach edible landscaping. Find out how to harvest enough fruit, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. Get top tips for exotic crops. And learn how to garden in a way that suits any situation. Host Steven Biggs was recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the “green gang” making a difference in Canadian horticulture. His home-garden experiments span driveway straw-bale gardens, a rooftop kitchen garden, fruit plantings, and an edible-themed front yard. He's a horticulturist, award-winning broadcaster and author, and former horticulture instructor with George Brown and Durham Colleges in Ontario, Canada. Get started with one of our fan favourites. Season 6, Episode 10: Big Harvests from a Small Space with a Vertical Vegetable Garden.Copyright 2025 The Food Garden Life Show Art Cooking Food & Wine
Episodes
  • Long, Skinny Garden? Hear How We Tweak This Space
    Jun 19 2025

    Want sneak peaks? Some neat recipes? I'm collaborating with Chef Signe Langford on a delicious book: Olives, Lemons & Figs. Find out how to use olives, lemons, and figs from fruit to root to shoot, including fig-wood smoked fare, fizzy lemon-leaf apéritifs, and lots more. Click here so you don't miss our updates.

    ***


    Not sure what to do with a long, skinny, straight-edged garden beside a driveway, patio, or building?


    In this episode, we take a long, slender ornamental garden and reimagine the space with edible plants.


    The garden we’re thinking about is actually a little sliver of the Joan of Arc Garden in Quebec City. But these same ideas work well in in many home-garden situations.

    We talk about:

    • Crop ideas (kales, Thai basil, borage, shiso, and fern-leaf parsley)
    • Groupings vs. individual plants
    • Urns for adding height an interest in this skinny space
    • Plants that last into the fall vs. plants that fade with fall weather


    If you’re looking for more on edible flowers like borage, check out this article about edible flowers.


    ***

    - Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

    - Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

    - And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

    Show More Show Less
    19 mins
  • Want to Switch Out Your Annuals? Try These Herbs Instead
    Jun 5 2025

    Want sneak peaks? Some neat recipes? I'm collaborating with Chef Signe Langford on a delicious book: Olives, Lemons & Figs. Find out how to use olives, lemons, and figs from fruit to root to shoot, including fig-wood smoked fare, fizzy lemon-leaf apéritifs, and lots more. Click here so you don't miss our updates.

    ***


    Do you have a garden where you use traditional annuals, but you want to switch it up for something edible?

    Herbs are one option.

    In this episode, we look at a space that has a tidy, slightly formal feel.

    We replace the tightly clipped shrubs with edible alternatives.

    And then we change out the annuals for herbs.

    If you’re looking for more on using edible plants instead of traditional bedding plants, check out this post.


    ***

    - Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

    - Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

    - And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

    Show More Show Less
    19 mins
  • Hear How We Tweak a Public Space to Keep the Aesthetic but Add Edibles
    May 22 2025

    Want sneak peaks? Some neat recipes? I'm collaborating with Chef Signe Langford on a delicious book: Olives, Lemons & Figs. Find out how to use olives, lemons, and figs from fruit to root to shoot, including fig-wood smoked fare, fizzy lemon-leaf apéritifs, and lots more. Click here so you don't miss our updates.

    ***


    Wondering about adding edible plants to an existing gardening without spoiling the aesthetic?

    With the right plant choice, along with an understanding of how the space is used, you can add edible plants without spoiling the looks.

    In this episode, we take a public space and reimagine it with edibles.

    It’s a big space, with lots of lawn. We talk about plant choice for this shady spot, and about plant placement that doesn’t interfere with how this space is used. We include:

    • Edibles as bedding plants
    • Using height to make a focal point
    • Edibles for colour
    • Edible perennials
    • Fruit for shade

    If you’re looking for more on crops for shade, check out this post.


    ***

    - Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

    - Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

    - And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

    Show More Show Less
    23 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.