Feeding humanity doesn’t need to come at the Earth’s expense. This week Erin interviews Elspeth Hay about nut trees, ecosystems, and humans as keystone species...and how it all comes together in Elspeth's new book, Feed Us with Trees. plantsalwayswin.com/2025/12/02/e... #agroforestry #permaculture

Kids ask the darndest things! Actually, they ask the coolest things. For this week's episode we got questions from a class of elementary-school kids who wanted to know the whys and wherefores of why plants are the way they are. It's a delight! plantsalwayswin.com/2025/11/25/e... #gardensky

Our Halloween analysis of Little Shop of Horrors is inching its way out to podcast platforms now...but if you've ever thought about becoming a patron, it's a good day to make the move! Our patrons got a slightly early, slightly extended cut this week. www.patreon.com/posts/early-...

ClearWater Farm runs one of the coolest apprenticeship programs I know. Their "agripreneurs" learn skills in regenerative agriculture and experiment in a safe environment, driving innovation. ClearWater has been nominated for an ECO Impact 2026 award. Learn more & vote: ecoimpact.ca/conference/f...

As you may have heard in this week's episode, Wait Like a Seed by our co-host Erin Alladin has been nominated for a people's choice Horti Award for best gardening book! Want to support a picture book about monarchs & milkweed? Cast your vote here: vote.gardencomm.org/2025-horti-a... #gardensky

If you are feeling frustrated and anxious and helpless about the need for stronger communities...if you have ever craved a community garden but didn't think you could make it happen...if you simply want to lift your spirits with a good-news gardening story, this is episode is for you. #gardensky

Biologist Dr. Dana Green wanted to bring her work home with her and play a bat character in #D&D. Luckily, someone else had created a homebrew bat species. Isn't her character cute? Listen to Dana's interview here: www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis... #bats #gardensky #dungeonsanddragons

I'm up for a Horti Award! If you'd like to support Wait Like a Seed as a People's Choice gardening book of 2025, cast your vote at vote.gardencomm.org/2025-horti-a... #GardenCommUnity #HortiAwards @transatlanticagcy.bsky.social @pajamapress.bsky.social

The following is a thread of bat facts pulled from our two-part interview with Dr. Dana Green, a.k.a. The Eyepatch Biologist. It is by no means complete. If you love cute sky puppies and ugly echolocating microchiroptera, these episodes are for you. #bats www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

This week we're in a flap about bats! Do they really eat a thousand mosquitoes an hour? Was Hank Green's viral video about scientists not knowing where they go in winter correct? Dr. Dana Green, The Eye patch Biologist, answers all that and more. #bats www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

Our favourite thing to do on Plants Always Win is answer listener gardening questions. In Episode 33 we have a bushel of apple tree questions (grafts? root flares? root stocks?); we also cover horsetail and bindweed management and how to fertilize flowers 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

You have garden questions and we have answers! Our listeners asked about planting fruit trees, about managing horsetail and bindweed, and about fertilizing flowers without discouraging blooms. We cover all that and more in this week's Q&A special #gardensky 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

What are the top myths you hear about compost? Delaina Arnold helps us bust some of them in this week's episode: www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

There are so many good reasons to compost at home! You're building your own soil (with no transportation costs, fuel requirements, or risk of herbicide contamination). You're putting carbon in the ground. And you're NOT putting methane in the air. Learn more: www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

Everything you ever wanted to know about home composting! (And if the interview doesn't deliver on that promise, send us your questions and we'll answer them in a future episode ☝️). www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis... #gardensky 🌱 #compost #soilbuilding

Do you make your own compost? Do you delight in the experience? If your answer to either question is no, this week's guest is here to help. Listen to Ep. 32: Home Composting with Delaina Arnold of the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere #gardensky #compost 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

Is your garden FUN? Does it being you delight? After our interview with @chrispaulrainbows.com we are delighted to share some of their whimsical garden spaces, including a raised bed decorated as Mr. Dressup's Tickle Trunk. Hear the story here: www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis... #gardensky 🌱

“I am very enthusiastic about [gardening]. I don't know if I'm that great at it....I can't really answer any of your garden questions, but I love getting my hands dirty.” Get some garden joy from Chris Paul Rainbows' interview! #gardensky 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

This week we are thrilled to bring you an interview with speaker, storyteller, human ray of sunshine, and exuberant home gardener @chrispaulrainbows.com. If you need a reminder that gardening can be play, tune in on your podcast player of choice. www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis... #gardensky 🌱

If you haven't encountered Chris Paul Rainbows' garden homage to 80s and 90s children's television, you're missing out. Listen to the interview for an injection of sheer inner-child delight, chicken-based audacity, and pumpkin-patch sincerity. www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis... #gardensky 🌱

It's a banner week for us here at Plants Always Win! The podcast has hit thirty episodes, and we've been featured in our first news story. We can't wait to reach even more gardeners to fall down nerdy plant-fact rabbit holes with! #gardensky 🌱 www.baytoday.ca/local-news/r...

My little soda pop!🎵 Ever wondered about the origins of soda flavours like root beer and cola? The root in root beer is North America's Sassafras albidum. Cola comes from the nut of West Africa's cola tree. But which is the most interesting? Listen and decide! www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

"The Environment is the economy and the economy is the environment." That mindset is part of what Lauren Saville emphasizes in her role as Community Climate Initiative Coordinator in Muskoka, Ontario. And it's making a difference. #climateaction #muskoka www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

What does it look like when a regional government puts their resources behind their climate policy? It looks like Lauren Saville, the District of Muskoka's Community Climate Initiative Coordinator, and her colleagues. #climateaction #ontario www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

What does KPop Demon Hunters have to do with a gardening podcast? We're in the recording studio today, and Sean is about to find out.

With so much pressure on internet bandwidth from #CanadaDay population growth (hazards of living in cottage country!), we weren't able to record this week's episode. We're taking the holiday off instead. Please enjoy some of these past episodes featuring wonderful Canadian gardeners:

If you enjoyed Ep 28: Cultivation Activism with Lorraine Johnson, you'll love her book on growing native-plant gardens for pollinators (see images for titles in Canada and the US). I learned how buzz pollination really works & met SO many great plants. 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

But we'll be good neighbours and share the grass-and-weed bylaw reform resources here too. First up, The David Suzuki Foundation Action Alert Bylaw tool. Everyone should visit this page and add their voice to support bylaw reform that permits native-plant gardens: davidsuzuki.org/action/bylaw...

Grass and weed bylaws! Their outdated regulations and vague language are a threat to pollinator gardens in cities everywhere. What to do about them? Lorraine Johnson shares excellent resources in Ep 28, and we've compiled them in the show notes: www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis... #gardnesky

In Episode 28 Lorraine Johnson gave us a gentle, warmhearted pep talk on the value of gardening to the world. Want to feel better about what you're doing, or to feel re-energized about what you can do? Listen to Lorraine's words of wisdom. #gardensky 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

We had the honour of interviewing Lorraine Johnson, an influential author and advocate of many decades for native-plant gardens. We talked about being a "cultivation activist", the joy vs. burden of growing habitat, native groundcovers & fighting bad bylaws 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

Blossom end rot in tomatoes or peppers is not usually a LACK of calcium in the soil. More often, stress is preventing the plant from taking up the calcium that is there. Keeping a consistent watering schedule is an important preventative. #gardensky #tomato www.plantsalwayswin.com/pod...

Have you heard the argument that tomatoes are indirectly carnivorous? Flies die when they come into contact with the hair-like trichomes on the tomato's stem, and when they fall to the ground they feed the soil microbes that feed the tomato! #gardensky www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

Oh, yes, that's a rufus floofus! They thrive in full sun.

How many tasks are going undone in YOUR June garden? How many are you managing to get done? It seems like they never end.

ABUNDANCE! What's bringing you joy in your garden? #garden #gardensky 🌱

It's Part II of the Tomato vs. Pepper face-off! Tell us who convinced you their plant is the most interesting by casting your vote with the hashtag #PAWFaceoff. www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

Now that we've solved The Case of the Vanishing Upload, Episode 26: Tomato vs. Pepper is finally available! Sean and Erin compete to see who can deliver the most interesting (and useful!) information about these two garden staples. www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast #gardensky 🌱

Jennifer Holston shares her story as a smart hydroponics pioneer who now grows a "living pantry" in her home using attractive, AI-enhanced hydroponic gardens. Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts or at www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis... #gardensky 🌱

Jennifer's first home hydroponic garden has given her lettuce through southern heat waves and northern blizzards. Listen to the full episode to learn how her indoor gardening has leveled up since then. #gardensky #hydroponics 🌱 #gardening www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

Home hydroponics have come a long way in the last decade! From timers to AI to attractive indoor gardens the size of a bookshelf, Jennifer Holston takes us through what's new in sustainable, accessible water-based home gardening. #hydroponics #gardensky 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

It's a shrub showdown! This week's Plant Face-Off is Serviceberry vs. Haskap. Depending on where you're from, you might call it Saskatoon vs. Honeyberry. Or Shadbush vs. Swamp-Fly Honeysuckle? Plants have a lot of names! Tune in and vote for your favourite. www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

Are you growing serviceberries? How about haskaps? If you're in Ontario (or a similar climate), these are the berry shrubs for you. But which one reigns supreme? Listen to this week's Plant Face-Off and cast your vote with the hashtag #PAWFaceoff. #gardensky 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis...

Have you ever gotten to know your new community by seeking out its gardeners? Cole Imperi @imperi.bsky.social did when she moved LA, and our co-host Sean Patchett did the same in small-town Ontario. Hear their stories on this week's episode. #gardensky #gardening 🌱 www.plantsalwayswin.com/pod...

What does the study of death, dying & grief have to do with gardening? For @imperi.bsky.social a lot! From meeting one group Master Gardeners at a cemetery to coaching another in the wake of wildfires, she's seen first-hand how everything connects to the soil. www.plantsalwayswin.com/pod...

Sean weighs the pros and cons of participating in No Mow May in North America. For the full nuanced discussion, listen to the episode on your podcatcher of choice or at www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis... #gardensky #nomowmay #gardening #lawncare #pollinators

So maybe No Mow May isn't a great idea for most of us in North America. But could your yard's seed bank be full of native flowers after all? Sean shares ideas for doing a case study on your own lawn before committing to ditching the mower. #nomowmay #gardensky #gardening

Find out how Sean's laziness turned his lawn into a glorious display of blossoms one year in Episode 22: No Mow May...Debunked? www.plantsalwayswin.com/pod... #nomowmay #gardensky #gardening #wildflowers #lawn

This statement is unusually absolutist of us, but we wanted to get your attention. Here in Ontario, and in other parts of North America, not mowing your lawn in May may not be as helpful to pollinators as you think. It might even cause harm. www.plantsalwayswin.com/pod... #gardensky #nomowmay 🌱

Is No Mow May relevant in Ontario? Does it help our pollinators? Does it HURT our pollinators? We won't keep you in suspense: there are much better things you can do to help native insects here. Get all the nuance in this week's show! www.plantsalwayswin.com/podcast/epis... #gardensky 🌱 #nomowmay