2.2 What are the easiest veggies to grow in a regen backyard?

Part One

R: Hello folks and welcome to episode 2 of season 2 of RegenEarth! This is the podcast of the second RegenEarth online conference. We’ll deal with the question of the day shortly but firstly, hello to co-host Jon and welcome to the show!

J: Hello one and all.

R: Ok, easy veggies? In your experience as a regen farmer, what works best for you?

J: The key, I think, is to first pick veggies you like.

R: So, we’re not going to eat it if we don’t like it.

J: Exactly. In the one square metre garden I presented at the last conference, and which we spoke about last week, radishes were included in the plan. I don’t particularly like radishes so I just left them out and pushed the cultivars around where they would have been into their space. What veggies have you found to be the easiest to grow in your backyard Rich? Bearing in mind that you live in a cool climate region of Australia.

R: Thanks John. Apart from the time I lived in Sydney, I’ve always managed to find myself in a cool climate zone. Must be something to do with the Tassie upbringing! So you get used to finding out when frost finishes and begins. This gives you your framework to plant in and it is possible to grow plants such as tomatoes and pumpkins in a cool climate. In answer to your question, we’ve always found it quite easy to grow heaps of tomatoes (mostly heirloom for the taste), scarlet runners, broad beans and silverbeet (which actually don’t mind a bit of cold weather) and pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchinis. There are many others once you nail the frost times, which, and here’s a good hint, you can find out by asking gardening neighbours if you’re new to the district.

J: Good choices there Rich. My prefered veggies would include: bush beans, climbing beans, peas, rocket, cress, mizuna, chinese cabbages and cos lettuce. What all these have in common is speed of return, ease of starting and they’re foods I really like to eat.

R: So you’d put all of these in together Jon?

J: Not necessarily Rich. Some of those things will grow all year, some won’t. It’s about planning the succession planting [bit more about succession planting to finish the thought].

R: Jon, you’ve been writing about backyard regen veggies for many years. One of the first practical theories that I remember you putting to paper was the Change Underground? It’s the earliest one I remember, where even rabbits were included in the backyard. So I know you’ve refined this over the years but the basic principles still apply. Can you outline it for the listeners please?

Part Two

R: OK, now to launch into our last segment; news items, blog posts, podcast episodes that have caught our eye.

J: And I believe you’ve come across an interesting podcast this week Rich…

R: This podcast: Bite: Episode 101. Michael Pollan and Iowa Farmers

J: OK, that’s it for this week. Thanks for listening. We’ll have all the links in the show notes including one to the Change Underground system.

R: Thanks for listening folks, we’ll be back next week with …Bye.

J: Bye!

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