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Tips Techniques

Reggie's Veggies on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Reggie’s Veggies

Tammy Algood gets inspired by this grower who has planted out an intensive market garden plot on 1/4 acre to demonstrate how densely food crops can be grown. A lot of Reggie's plants are started by seed in float beds commonly used in tobacco farming. Plus, Reggie has a very sensible and smart sales outlet for the herbs and vegetables.


Hybridizing Daylilies as a Hobby on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Hybridizing Daylilies as a Hobby

Cross a diploid with another diploid. Tetraploid with another tetraploid. Hybridizing hobbyists love to work with daylilies because it is a relatively simple process. Annette Shrader visits with one such hobbyist to learn more and see some of her creations.


Wood Chips in the Garden on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Wood Chips in the Garden

Are wood chips and hardwood mulch good for the garden? It is organic matter, and organic matter is necessary to make humus, and humus is good for the garden. The problem with this logic is time. And the factor of time involved is about a decade.


5 Parts of an Ecosystem Pond on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

5 Parts of an Ecosystem Pond

Outdoor home water features work best when 5 elements are present: a mechanical skimmer, gravel, biological filtration, plants, and fish. Tammy Algood visits with Derek Johnson, a master certified aquascape contractor/JVI Secret Gardens to learn all about each element.


Plants that Please on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Plants that Please

Troy Marden spotlights a whole host of tried and true native plant specimens and proven hybrids. Realistic growth expectations, growing conditions and attributes are discussed for each selection.


Year in the vegetable garden on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Year in the vegetable garden

Annette Shrader has the vegetable garden of her dreams. It is 10,000 square feet and has had a high-yielding spring and summer. Now that it is fall planting time, Annette takes time to look back and share successes, and things learned along the way.


Gardening around Bermuda Grass on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Gardening around Bermuda Grass

Organic farmer Jeff Poppen looks at the origination of Bermuda grass in the United States and its growth characteristics. It is a formidable opponent for garden space. We look at a couple of ways to battle it.


Simple Methods

Simple Methods, Big Rewards

Larkspur, lupine, foxglove, poppies, sunflowers - these are but a few of the flowers that Alecia Welbern grows from seed in her home landscape. She shares her tips and tricks with host Troy Marden.


Indigo: Agriculture Research and Production on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Indigo: Agriculture Research and Production

A goal of Stony Creek Colors is to replace at least 3% of synthetic blue dye with natural indigo produced on Tennessee farms. Currently, TN has the most indigo in research and production than anywhere in the U.S. with all of the biomass coming from within a 60 mile radius of its factory.


Garden Beds or Rows? on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Garden Beds or Rows?

Jeff Poppen gives us an overview of the operations of Long Hungry Creek biodynamic farm. He discusses the reasons why he plants some crops in rows, while others he grows in beds.


Terracing to prevent soil erosion on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Terracing to prevent soil erosion

Farmer Jeff Poppen shows us several examples of terracing on his organic farm. All are designed to prevent soil erosion.


Cherry Tree Maintenance on NPT's Volunteer Gardener

Cherry Tree Maintenance

Cherry tree maintenance includes substantial winter pruning, spraying, and ample watering to produce a tasty, plentiful harvest.