Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature

So excited to welcome Toby Adams, the Director of the Edible Academy for the New York Botanical Garden onto the show to talk all things vegetable gardening!

The NYBG Edible Academy is a state-of-the-art educational facility featuring hands-on activities and innovative programs that help children, families, teachers, and the general public learn about growing and preparing vegetables, fruit, and herbs while encouraging a lifelong interest in gardening, nutrition awareness, and environmental stewardship. Toby has worked at the NYBG for almost 20 years, and has a passion for helping people understand how to grow food- as you’ll see in our interview.

We don't talk a lot of about herbs because I've already done an Herb Garden 101 episode with a horticulturalist from NYBG on another episode! If you are interested in growing herbs check out Episode 22: Windowsill Herb Gardening 101

I’ve been taking a lot of online courses in this time of isolation and spending a lot of time focusing on what I will grow on my tiny balcony garden this spring and summer. The New York Botanical Garden has an unbelievable array of online courses and even have a Horticulture Certificate degree you can complete! I've taken several NYBG courses and am totally hooked! The first course I took was Fundamentals of Gardening and I’m currently enrolled in the virtual Soil Science 101 class. Plant friends... I am loving these classes so much, as I’m finding they are teaching me the underlying reasons behind so many basic plant care techniques I know.

Learn with me! I’ll be taking Intro to Plant Science with the NYBG starting April 23^rd and I’d love for you to join me! I cannot WAIT to dive into the scientific processes our plants go through that I don’t quite understand and would love to have you in class with me!

In case this episode gets you excited and you want to learn more about vegetable gardening, they also have four virtual courses focusing on vegetable gardening coming up!

• Rooftop Gardening (Starts April 22)
• Mastering the Art of Tomato Gardening (April 23)
• Vegetable Gardening Saturday (April 25)
• Super Small Space Veggie Gardening (Starts April 28)

In this episode we learn:

• Maria's overview of the main takeaways she took from her Fundamentals of Gardening Class
• Annual vs Perennial
• Compost vs Mulch
• Basic Garden Design Strategies
• What is the Edible Academy at NYBG and how is it reconnect kids with food
• What are the Fundamentals of Vegetable Gardening
  • Understanding what you want to grow
  • Understanding what you CAN grow
  • Understanding your growing conditions
• The pluses and minuses to container gardening vs bed gardening
• Best soil to use for vegetables and herbs
• How to assess your garden sunlight
• General fertilizing guidelines
• Easy to grow Spring edibles: Lettuce, Radishes, Sugar Snap Peas
• Easy to grow Summer edibles: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, beans
• What not to grow (and why)
• Why everyone should try vegetable gardening this year

Mentioned in the episode:

Take the Plant Parent Personality Test!: Unlock your Plant Parent Potential by taking the test below and get curated recommendations for plants, projects and resources inspired by your lifestyle.

NYBG Online Courses

• Intro to Plant Science (Starts April 23 and I'll be taking it!)
• Rooftop Gardening (Starts April 22)
• Mastering the Art of Tomato Gardening (April 23)
• Vegetable Gardening Saturday (April 25)
• Super Small Space Veggie Gardening (Starts April 28)

All of NYBG's virtual content, including a link to online classes, can be accessed through NYBG at Home

USDA Hardiness Zones: enter your zip code in the map here to find yours!

Soil Testing: find your local cooperative agent for testing guidelines

Thank you to this week's episode sponsors!

For more information on Modern Sprout's amazing *NEW* line of indoor grow lights and adorable and innovative hydroponic grow kits, seed starter kits, seed pops, planty accessories and more visit www.modernsprout.com and use code "15BLOOM" at checkout for 15% off. For responsibly made, fabulous indoor and outdoor organic soils, fertilizers, pes...

So excited to welcome my MOM back to Bloom and Grow Radio today! It feels very fitting to have her joining us so close to Mother's Day! You might remember her from Episode 20: Talking Tomatoes when she gave us her Italian secrets to tomato gardening, and now she's back to talk about what she's learned with 5 years of edible landscaping under her belt (and a lifetime of general gardening experience). She shares her top 10 tips for Edible Landscaping and Gardening with our audience today and has a LOT to share.

In this episode we learn:

• My Mom's history as a plant lady
• Her garden growing up with my Italian Grandparents
• Her tip for how to memorize your houseplant names
• Her process for evaluating her new house and figuring out how to start a garden on new land
• How she chooses plants for her garden
• How she grew the "Failla Farm" section by section over 5 years
• Mom's top 10 tips for edible landscaping and beginning gardeners!

Read the top 10 tips on the blog! https://bloomandgrowradio.com/momtips/

Check out the Youtube Tour of my Moms Garden!

My Fiance, Billy, joins me today to give you the inside scoop on what the last year has looked like for us. As most of you know I left home for an entire year to travel with Cats the Musical, and Billy was left to care for all of our 150 plants all by himself. This was a HUGE undertaking for him, as I was the "primary caretaker" for our plants when we lived together, so we break down exactly how both of us went into this new phase of life and lessons learned along the way. Thank you to Billy, my partner in plants and partner in life, who greets every challenge with an open heart and open mind. I'm so thankful to have you to grow through life with.

In this episode we learn:

• Billy's reaction to me leaving him with our 150 plants for tour for a year
• Billy's journey warming to my passion for plants when it began
• An overview of our "plant pause"
• How Billy managed caring for our 150 plants on his own while I toured the country with Cats
• Maria's strategies for helping Billy learn how to care for their plants

Mentioned in the episode:

Billy's first episode on BAGR: Tips for Living with a Crazy Plant Person

Thank you Plants by Post for sponsoring today's episode! Plants by Post is a family-owned nursery located in Northern California cutting out the middleman and delivering beautiful and healthy indoor and outdoor annuals and perennials directly to your doorstep, nationwide. I have used them several times and have been blown away by the quality of their plants, intention behind their shipping and love how environmentally friendly they are! Spring is here, Plant Friends! Time to stock up! Head to plantsbypost.com and use code BLOOM20 for 20% off your order!

Follow Billy

Instagram: @atadashbilly

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Support Bloom and Grow Radio by becoming a Plant Friend on Patreon!

Instagram and Facebook: @BloomandGrowRadio

Subscribe to the Bloom and Grow Youtube Show! /Bloomandgrowradio

Website: www.bloomandgrowradio.com

Join the (free) Garden Club: www.bloomandgrowradio.com/garden-club

Brittany Gowan, the plant lady behind @ihavethisthingwithurbanjungles on IG and the Pause with Plants Podcast has been a #plantfriendIRL for a while now and a lovely lady. She has been practicing and teaching her Pause with Plants Method and we thought today would be the perfect time to discuss how to use plants to reduce stress. There has never been a better time than to have houseplants and practice houseplant care than now, when many of us are confined to our homes in the midst of this pandemic! It's important to understand tools and techniques for us to use our houseplants to reduce our stress. I've never been more thankful for my houseplants than the last 8 days of quarantine! This talk with Brittany inspired my to do a planty workout you can find on my IGTV. I hope it inspires you to bring a little calm into your "work from home" days!

In this episode we learn:

• How Brittany became the plant lady she is now and why she started Pause with Plants
• How to incorporate plants into your mental wellness routine
• How to use plants in your morning routine
• The importance of breath while practicing mindful awareness
• How to use plants in your meditation
• The importance of routine while working from home
• Techniques to incorporate more calm and recenter yourself
• The "Pause with Plants" Method: connect, move and meditate with plants

Mentioned in this episode:

Brittany's comprehensive guide to how to Pause with Plants

If you've got time to spare and want to boost your plant care education try these episodes of the Bloom and Grow Radio Podcast:

Episode 03: How NOT to kill your succulents!

Episode 02: Top 5 Houseplants for Beginners

Episode 18: Prepping your Plants for Spring

Episode 19: Terrarium 101

Episode 20: Talking Tomatoes

Episodes 46/47: Understanding Natural Light

Episode 71: Low Light Plants

Episode 74: Grow Lights 101

Also scroll the podcast feed to find 101 episodes on: orchids, airplants, fiddle leaf figs, monstera, peperomia, african violets, prayer plants, windowsill herb gardening, container gardening and more!

Thank you Plants by Post for sponsoring today's episode! Plants by Post is a family-owned nursery located in Northern California cutting out the middleman and delivering beautiful and healthy indoor and outdoor annuals and perennials directly to your doorstep, nationwide. I have used them several times and have been blown away by the quality of their plants, intention behind their shipping and love how environmentally friendly they are! Spring is here, Plant Friends! Time to stock up! Head to plantsbypost.com and use code BLOOM20 for 20% off your order!

Follow Brittany and Pause with Plants:

Follow Maria and Bloom and Grow Radio:

Support Bloom and ...

Today's episode is simply me sharing things that are inspiring me in this weird time for our country. There is so much to be scared of, but so much to be thankful for and inspired by. A lot of people are feeling helpless and alone, and this is a list of ways that you can help those in need and yourself in the Age of Corona!

Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode:

#PlantOneForward Initiative

Summer Rayne Oakes' #plantoneforward initiative: Summer Rayne is encouraging everyone in our community to support local growers and plant shops by sending one plants to one person who could use cheering up in this moment: a loved one, a plant friend, or maybe even someone you've lost touch with. If you can afford to, this is a great way to help our beloved plant shops (and the growers that supply them) stay in business. I sent a thank you plant from @plantsbypost

From Summer Raynes' Blog post: "If even 100 of us do so, we’ll positively affect the lives of 300 people (you, the person who owns the shop, and the person you give the plant to); 300 becomes 900; 900 becomes 2,700; 2,700 becomes 8,100; 8,100 becomes 24,300; and so on and so forth. It’s simple acts such as these that not only help our communities—but also help us stay connected to one another. "

Click here for SRO's blog with all of the plant shops mentioned

To buy something for yourself AND sending a plant to your friend visit Steves Leaves to take advantage of their #plantoneforwardbonus. Purchase a plant (or more) and then add the item Promo to their cart (it can be found by searching promo on the site). Use promo code #PLANTONEFORWARD to send an airplant to a friend at a separate address when you place your order. You will need to put the name and address of who you are sending the air plant to into the comments section of the order so we can mail it to the other person.

Victory Garden Movement or Cooperative Gardens Commission

Click here to read the NY Times article about it!

The Victory Garden movement was a result of World War 1, when people were encouraged to grow as much food at home as possible to become self- sufficient. It was so successful that it was predicted that up to 40 % of the countries vegetables were grown in community, home and school gardens. In 2020 as a response to the Covid Pandemic, the Experimental Farm Network is swiftly pulling together the Cooperative Gardens Commission (renamed after they decided to move away from the Corona Victory Garden Network). The commission is pledging to helping connect experienced gardeners with supplies to help their communities grow their own food. You can visit www.coogardens.org to pledge supplies or volunteer time to help the movement.

In their own words:

"In response to this crisis, Experimental Farm Network (EFN) is urging all people who can to establish "Cooperative Gardens" to grow as much food this year as they possibly can. We hope this effort will help people across the country (and potentially in other countries as well) to provide themselves and their communities with healthy fresh food, reduce our reliance on the faltering industrial food system (which is terrible for the environment and human health even when fully functioning), and make it easier for folks to stay in their communities and avoid further transmission of the virus.

We hope people in cities will take over defunct community gardens and vacant lots and fill them with life once more. We hope people in towns and suburbs who normally work hard to keep their lawns green will instead rip up grass and plant vegetable gardens. And we hope rural farmers who normally grow big fields of commodity crops — folks who know how to farm and have a great capacity to produce lots of food — will set aside at least a portion of their land and labor to grow fruits and vegetables for their neighbors and for those in need in nearby communities (especially in cities, where people are likely to suffer greatly in the event of major supply chain disruptions).

This is a time for social solidarity on a scale not seen since wartime — though such solidarity would inarguably be welcome in peacetime too, given how many people already lack food sovereignty, particularly in historically oppressed communities. During World...