On the podcast this week we review different approaches to backyard vegetable gardening with “Gardenerd” Christy Wilhelmi of Gardenerd.com. Christy is also the author of Gardening for Geeks and has a podcast, The Gardenerds Tip of the Week. During the show we discuss:

• Biodynamics
• Biointensive/French Intensive
• Alan Chadwick’s Garden at UC Santa Cruz
• John Jeavons
• Double digging vs. no-till
• A documentary about Ruth Stout
• Breaking up soil with permaculture method
• The power of mulch
• Square foot gardening
• Peat moss vs. coir
• Growing carbon and compost crops
• Heavy metals
• Phytoremediation with milk thistle and chicory
• What to fill a raised bed with
• How to deal with shade
• Integrating livestock: chickens and bees
• What to do with Peruvian pepper trees (Schinus molle)
• Attracting pollinators

You can also connect with Christy on Facebook and Twitter.

If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. Additional music by Rho. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.