Growing a Greener World

- Season 5

(2014)

On Growing a Greener World, we often celebrate the fact that vegetable gardening has become more popular over the years. Many people just like us garden to get the best and freshest flavors, to keep it local, and to have more control over how our food is grown. For those very same reasons, we should grow more fruit.

Ever wondered how we find the people, places and stories we feature on Growing a Greener World? We go behind-the-scenes and share how we film, produce and create the gardening series you love. (We even give away a few of our secrets.)

For several years now, we've heard and talked about the significant and ongoing loss of the honeybee population. It is still a Mason Bee mystery as to why these bees are disappearing, but we are starting to tap into the use of other types of pollinators. One of these types of pollinators is the solitary bee, or Mason Bee.

We're very excited to be able to have a garden set that we can use for filming as well as growing delicious fruits and vegetables. Growing food at home has Raised Bedsincreased in popularity over the recent years.

Over the years we have talked a lot about edible gardening and people all over the country growing food in many unusual places. We have seen many random places, but one thing we know for sure is you do NOT need a whole lot of space to grow delicious, organic produce. In fact, all you need is some sort of container.

Margaret Roach traded in her high heels for garden boots when she left her high-powered executive job, for a job of writing books and her award-winning garden blog, Away to Garden. She is now the virtual mentor to thousands of fans who glean her garden wisdom, tips, interviews of garden experts and an occasional vegetarian recipes.

If you've ever had an interest in growing a garden, chances are we've covered the topic in a relatable way on this show. From how to get started to managing a large food crop, we have featured a variety of food growing subjects. One topic that we have not covered in the past is hobby farming. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to take your gardening passion to the next level, this show is for you.

Our goal as gardeners is to have an abundant harvest, but what are some of the best ways to get the produce we desire? Joe shares tips for achieving that desired harvest. He also answers some of those tough questions every gardener faces over the years about when to harvest or plant disease.

For decades, the typical model of the suburban home included crowded housing, water and chemical hungry lawns, and maybe even a sprawling golf course. Today there is a new vision that is sweeping the country. Today's communities are trading in those golf greens for something more sustainable, salad greens. We'll tour one of the countries first and most successful conservation communities built around a working farm.

Joe takes us to the Sonoma Valley Worm Farm to meet Jack Chambers. Trained as an airline pilot, Jack found his true passion in gardening. Jack was directed to the "Worm Farm" by a friend who suggested he buy worms for his compost pile. At the time, Jack didn't realize how important of a place the Worm Farm would become to him and his family. After putting the worms into his compost bin, Jack left on a 5 day trip not thinking about the effects the worms would have on his compost. After his trip, Jack found the worms had fully transformed the bin into rich, black ...

Sooner or later most of us discover the therapeutic powers of connecting with the outdoors. Nature has an almost magical way of calming and sometimes even healing our mind and body-from a simple walk in the park, to facilities dedicated to using nature to manage the healthcare of children and young adults; with some of 300Around The Center May 07, 2013-14the most medically complex challenges. In spite of all the resources science has to offer, there's no substitute for the many benefits that nature has to offer.

Having a great looking landscape and garden requires time and attention all year long. If you want to know some of the surest ways to get your spring garden off to the right start, begin in the fall season. Today, Joe shares with you some of his favorite fall ideas that will help put your garden to bed and ensure that it wakes up ready to go in the spring.

Over all of the years of our travels, we've met many amazing urban gardeners. They have been able to make their gardens because of the desire they had for fresh, local produce in a place that mainly has concrete. Today we take you back over the past 4 seasons to look at all of the wonderful urban gardeners and the people who are behind them. We'll also take a look into the future at one very historic but progressive city, which has made a critical link between the local farm ThePetersonGardenProjectand market.

Independent Garden Centers, or IGC's, are some of our all time favorite stores. Today, we get to visit two of the countries best IGC's, The Natural Gardener and The Great Outdoors, both located in Austin, Texas.

Many of the most popular plants we have today, from the top arboretums to the backyard gardens, originated from plants from far away places. A simple little twig holds all of the genetic information needed to make an exact copy of the parent. Propagating plants is a simple process; however, the mystique behind the practice prevents many gardeners from trying to do it themselves.

Joel Salatin is one of the most celebrated pioneers in sustainable agriculture and his family business, Polyface Farms in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, is the model by which many farmers aspire. Joel and his family use careful farming practices, leaving the soil better each year - not depleted of its nutrients - which is the way it should be.

Many people are in the market for locally grown produce, but in urban areas the majority of organic produce is brought in from outside the city, making it questionable at best. A small group of farmers ahead of their time, found a way to grow local, high-quality produce within the city limits of New York City. With a little over 8 million mouths to feed within New York's city limits, the need to have a place where people could buy fresh quality food was in high demand.

We are deeply grateful to our veterans, men and women who offer their lives to defend our liberty. Now a growing number of vets are planting important seeds in our agricultural landscape - transitioning from their role in the military to that of the community - trading rifles for shovels as they embrace one of the oldest professions in the world - farming, with sustainability at its roots.

The words "eat local" have been the battle cry of the sustainability movement for quite some time now - not only for the environmental impact, but for the incredible FLAVOR.

There are many great schools across the country doing great things for their students. One in particular, located in the heart of the most densely populated city, is one such school.

As organic gardeners, we understand the importance of good seed. We care about where it comes from and how it was grown. And we want to know how to save that seed for later. But unfortunately, there has been a consolidation in the seed industry and today a handful of large, multi-national corporations own the majority of our seed. This means, they control the supply of that seed to our farmers and that in turn affects our food choices and the choices of what we can grow in our own backyards.

Farmers play an important roll in our every day lives. With the average age of a farmer close to 60, it got us thinking about the younger generation and how someone would become a farmer.

Of all of the topics we have covered on Growing A Greener World, homesteading is among the most popular. This doesn't surprise us because our audience and our GGW team understand that modern homesteading is about a whole lot more than just growing food. And we love connecting with people who live as we do and share their stories with you.

Although organic gardening may be considered a shift in thinking to modern agriculture, it wasn't too long ago that ALL gardening was done without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. However, the connection between soil and plants has not always been easily understood. One forward thinking gardener of the past also happens to have been one of the forefathers of our country - President Thomas Jefferson. He was a great plantsman and used his garden to test agricultural theories that we still apply today.

Our honeybees have a lot going against them right now. From their habitats being reduced due to urban sprawl, to the mysterious die-offs known as Colony Collapse Disorder, they need our help. So it is encouraging to see that backyard urban bee keeping is now more popular than ever. Home beekeepers are doing their part to help bees survive and we can do things in our own backyards to help as well.

Backyard birds offer so much enjoyment to our gardening experience. They are part of the reason we garden in the first place - to participate in and support the nature around us.