Wondering about fruit to grow in a cold climate?

Today we head to Alberta, to find out how to grow saskatoon bushes. Arden Delidais grows in Zone 2—and doesn’t get any winter dieback on her saskatoon berries.

Delidais’ orchard and winery, DNA Gardens, has a number of cold hardy crops including saskatoon berries, apples, plums, rhubarb, currants, and haskaps.

Saskatoon bushes (Amelanchier alnifolia) are native to North America. (South of the border you might hear them referred to as juneberry or shadbush.)

Delidais tells Steve and Donna about:

• How to prune saskatoon bushes
• Saskatoon varieties
• Saskatoon pests and diseases
• How to propagate saskatoon berries
• How to use saskatoon fruit

If you’re looking for more on saskatoons, here’s a guide to growing them.

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Have you tried direct sowing but didn’t get good results? Wondering how to direct sow seeds?

Direct sowing—a.k.a. direct seeding or direct planting—is when we sow seeds straight into the garden. We skip starting transplants indoors.

It gives better results for some crops—because there’s no transplanting shock. And that’s great, because it saves you the hassle of growing transplants.

But some crops need extra growing time…and that’s where transplants make sense. Or sometimes, hot summer weather causes spotty germination outdoors, meaning transplants are a better option.

To ace your direct seeding, you need to know which crops it works with—and how to do it.

In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about:

• Why and when to direct sow
• When it makes sense to grow transplants instead of direct sowing
• How to direct sow seeds
• What crops are best for direct sowing

If you’re looking for more ideas for planting your vegetable garden, here’s an article with 7 Vegetable Garden Layout ideas.

-->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time!

-->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates.

-->And say hi—we love to hear what you think!

Want to harvest more veg from the same amount of space? You can get lots more from a small space by growing in containers. (If you get it right…but that’s not difficult!)

If you get these 4 things right, you’re on the road to container gardening success:

• The right container
• Good soil
• A suitable location
• Proper care

In this episode, Donna and Steven share top tips for container gardening success, including choosing pots, selecting soil, finding a suitable spot, and caring for your container vegetables.

If you’re looking for more on container gardening, here are top container garden crops.