Volunteer Gardener Episodes featuring Jeff Poppen
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Spacing in the Vegetable Garden | Volunteer Gardener
One goal in a vegetable garden is to get the maximum production per plant. Biodynamic farmer Jeff Poppen shares recommendations on proper plant spacing for tomatoes, sweet potatoes, watermelon and winter squash.
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Backyard Biodynamics | Volunteer Gardener
We learn about biodynamic farming and its emphasis on creating a balanced and self-sustaining ecosystem. Jeff Poppen, a long-time practitioner, shares key elements involved in achieving a rich humus soil that in turn produces a rich humus soil that in turn produces a vitamin-rich harvest of food crops.
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Row Covers | Volunteer Gardener
Biodynamic farmer Jeff Poppen discusses the benefits of floating row covers. They help to extend the fall growing season for kale, cabbage, and spinach. Row covers are also helpful in warming the soil in early spring. Jeff appreciates how row covers provide protection from insects, and the soil loosens up under them too.
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Growing Veggies at Home: Ground vs. Raised Beds
For home growers, there are choices in how to go about it. While some vegetable crops are best to grow in the ground in rows or a patch, others can be well-suited for raised beds. Jeff Poppen visits with a Clarksville, TN gardener to see how she does it.
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Home Blueberry Production | Volunteer Gardener
A mature rabbiteye blueberry bush should produce more than ten pounds of blueberries annually. Jeff Poppen visits with a family that has a substantial blueberry patch as part of their home garden.
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Wood Chips in the Garden | Volunteer Gardener
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.
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Bermuda Grass | Volunteer Gardener
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.
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Late Summer Veggie Garden | Volunteer Gardener
Market gardener and biodynamic practitioner Jeff Poppen talks about the heat-loving crops that thrive in summer. A variety of peppers, eggplants, sweet potatoes, okra and beans keep yielding up until first frost.
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Garden Beds or Rows? | Volunteer Gardener
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.