Chef Daniel Klein is off to Arkansas to learn about shiitake mushrooms grown in a purely sustainable way. Then it’s on to the northwest to dig for geoduck and harvest sea salt and sea beans. Back in the Victory Garden, Roger Swain shows different varieties of cherry tomatoes and Marian Morash makes a delicious garden fresh salad.
Chef Daniel Klein is on the road to South Carolina to learn about the value of heirloom seeds and how they produce flavorful and sustainable food. After that, it’s time to explore community supported rooftop gardens in Brooklyn and the Bronx, New York, before heading back to the Victory Garden. Roger Swain plants potatoes and leeks, while chef Marian Morash makes a garden-to-table rhubarb crisp.
In this episode, see an entirely different approach to dairy farming — the cows are raised naturally and humanely, producing exceptionally delicious milk. Then venture to North Carolina to meet a farmer growing heirloom corn and sugar cane. Back in the Victory Garden, it’s time to harvest some greens, which chef Marian uses in a crisp spinach salad.
Sail a small boat off the coast of Louisiana, harvest local shrimp and fish, and prepare an amazing lunch onboard, complete with fresh herbs from a local garden. After that, set off to the canyons of Utah to learn how two brothers farm in a truly sustainable way in one of the most remote areas of the country. In the Victory Garden, Roger plants his own corn and beans; then chef Marian sautés bok choi fresh from the garden.
It’s a good and full day on sea and land, first to harvest crab and sea urchin off the California coast. Then, with the catch in hand, prepare a feast with local farm workers who strive to maintain their traditions and culture while doing the hard labor of sustainable farming. Further up the coast, at Magnolia Farm in Oregon, learn the story of naturally raised lamb and a feast to celebrate it. In the Victory Garden, Roger checks on the endives and makes mulch; chef Marian creates an artichoke appetizer.
In upstate New York, learn about the devastating impact on local farmers by Hurricane Irene and the importance and role of CSAs in helping them weather the storm. Chef Daniel demonstrates how to make some wonderful side dishes with farm-to-table ingredients. Then, ride the river in Peoria, Illinois, to catch the sustainable Asian carp. Back at the Victory Garden, Roger plants eggplant and chef Marian makes a Chinese cabbage salad.
This week, take a trip to Vermont to meet people involved with sustainable farming and see the foods they produce. In San Francisco, three local farms combine the foods they produce for one amazing restaurant meal to celebrate their hard work and support of local agriculture. In the Victory Garden, Roger explains how to grow butternut squash, and chef Marian makes cilantro and mango chutney.
Off the coast of Maine, catch lobster and learn about the sustainability issues faced by the local captains. Then meet a unique man who’s discovered a way of life that feeds his soul while harvesting seaweed to feed others. Staying on the water, head to Maryland and learn about the virtues of oyster farms and their critical role in helping preserve natural resources. Back in the Victory Garden, Roger demonstrates how to prepare a garden bed and plants leeks and tomatoes, while chef Marian prepares a broccoli and crabmeat quiche.
In the mountains of the Eastern Cascades, hunt for morel mushrooms and see how they’re prepared for an unforgettable dinner around the campfire. Outside Taos, New Mexico, meet a farmer and outdoorsman who illustrates how to find flavorful food growing naturally on the land. In the Victory Garden, it’s time to learn about apples and sorrel; chef Marian uses the sorrel to prepare farm-fresh salmon.
In Arkansas, we catch and prepare frogs, before traveling to Maryland to explore the other end of the spectrum, meeting a local farmer who’s created an animal sanctuary to save livestock from slaughter. It’s a study in contrasts of two approaches to sustainability. Back at home, Roger plants and harvests peas, and chef Marian makes a pea and cucumber side dish.
In Montana, meet a rancher and his family with an entirely new take on raising cows and horses and the related management of the land. In Florida, spend a day with a fisherman — armed only with a hand net — who catches local mullet that chef Daniel prepares for a local dinner. At the Victory Garden, Roger checks on the onions and potatoes and chef Marian makes a braised broccoli rabe.
In California, visit with farmers and community groups who distribute excess crops to food pantries and people in need. In Rhode Island, learn about small stock food strategies and the role that insects can play in food production. In the Victory Garden, it’s time to harvest cauliflower, onions and leeks, and chef Marian then makes a garden-to-table lettuce salad.
Travel to Georgia to meet farmers and foragers who gather local ingredients for a feast in the fields, with chef Daniel showing how to make a spectacular farm-to-table meal. Back in his home in Minnesota, Daniel takes fresh, local ingredients to make bread and pickles. In the Victory Garden, Roger shares the secrets of growing garlic and eggplant, and chef Marian uses them to make a delectable eggplant and goat cheese dip.
Visit Minnesota, and a Hmong family, once refugees from Laos, today organic farmers! Then check out the duck farm of a young "DIY" couple, and learn about tomato trellising and harvesting basil from a permaculture gardener.
Explore Memphis, Tennessee, where an organic garden in a tough South Memphis neighborhood has become a source of community unity, Chef Miles McMath is bringing fresh local food into the cafeterias at St. Jude’s Hospital, and expert gardeners are planting burlap sack gardens!
In Ohio we meet a man who started his own grass-fed dairy, and a couple who runs their own fermenting business. We also learn about Volunteers for Veggies, an urban gardening program that donates food to the needy.
Watch innovative gardeners and farmers making it work in New York City! Explore Manhattan rooftop salt making, and rooftop farms in Brooklyn. Then, come down to earth for some urban foraging in city parks.
Travel to San Francisco for some valuable gardening tips form Edible San Francisco Editor Bruce Cole, to Inna Jam’s Dafna Kory making jam with fruit straight from the farmer's market, and to the Mandela Foods Coop, a cooperative grocery store created by the community.
In Palm Beach, Florida, Dr. John Zahina-Ramos of Just One Backyard plants sweet potatoes in a wheelbarrow, and makes a wall garden, while on a rural farm, Jojo Milano makes cheese from the milk of purebred Nubian and Lamancha goats. Also watch Eric Finn sustainably diving for the invasive lionfish and delicious spiny lobster.
This week, see what's on the menu at the first Laotian restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin, and learn how to make an herb spiral using repurposed bricks, with creative vegetable gardener Megan Cain. Then, from the pig farm to the Underground Food Collective, watch an entire pig become charcuterie, and lastly, visit the first organic cranberry farm in Wisconsin.
This week, we’re in Vancouver, Canada, learning how to create a worm composter, propagate herbs by taking cuttings, and harvest flax seeds. We'll venture out on the crab boats with fisherman dedicated to keeping low impact practices viable for small-scale harvesters, and later, we’ll visit a mobile Truck Farm owned by Judy Kenzie.
Visit Winter Hill Farm in Maine, where a herd of very rare Randall cattle provide milk for a small farmstead creamery. Then, explore Bantam Cider and the apple orchards of Tower Hill Botanical Gardens to see how hard cider is made in Boston. At Green City Growers, learn how to make a cold frame from the ground up, then watch as Chef Carolyn Johnson cooks up two delicious apple-inspired dishes.
Travel to Omaha, Nebraska to learn gardening tips from an urban farmer who turned his home into an oasis of fresh produce. Cook with Chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who opened the first vegan restaurant in town, and visit an organic farm outside of Omaha, to make caramels with urban gardener Ali Clark.
Head to the Big Easy to see all that New Orleans has to offer, including two first generation farmers, whose 10 adopted children learn important life lessons growing up on the family farm. Visit B&B Farms/Indian Springs Cooperative -- an African American Farming cooperative in Mississippi, and then Paradigm Gardens, for some valuable gardening tips, such as how to make homemade insecticide.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, we're learning gardening tips at an eye-catching urban farm, and we're meeting Robin Emmons, who started gardening in her backyard to provide fresh food to the mentally ill. Then we’ll go foraging in the woods with expert (and mushroom cultivator) Ken Crouse.
Explore idyllic San Diego, starting with restaurant owner and gardener Trish Watlington, who teaches us important tips on planting fall peas as well how to combat white flies. Go diving with 30-year veteran sea urchin diver Pete Halmay, and visit the sisters behind the Suppanee House of Thai, who grow Thai produce at their home farm.
Recycling rainwater; a dry-laid wall; a fire-wise garden; a plot featuring corn, squash and beans.
Explore the Water Conservation Garden near San Diego, Calif. and learn about xeriscaping: water-wise gardening.
The best climbing plants; bougainvillea espalier; adding fresh juice to recipes.
Poolside landscaping; garden incorporates cool colors into perennial borders; best plants for winter interest; cool soup.
Huntington Botanical Gardens; staging plants; perennials; organic gardening; using fresh ingredients when cooking steak.
Plants that spread; cobble improves the look of a driveway; water-wise ground cover; squash.
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles; decorating a late-season garden with bold ideas for fall containers; growing vegetables and pickling.
Tracking tools; how weather and climate affect plant choices; designing with sight in mind; jam made with blackberries and jalapenos.
Old is new again. During World Wars I and II, home gardeners supported the effort abroad by growing their own vegetables to feed their families. Today, the Victory Garden movement continues—representing the need to work toward sustainability in an effort to connect the planet to the plate. Join host Jamie Durie as he visits San Francisco to see the installation of "Victory Gardens 2008" in front of City Hall's Civic Center. Jamie speaks with San Francisco Mayor Kevin Newsom and renowned chef and passionate slow food advocate Alice Waters about this special city project. Then, Paul Epsom visits Mixed Border Nursery in Hollis, New Hampshire, to show us how many old varieties of plants are still favorites today—and how they've evolved through hybridization. Chef Michel Nischan's "Homegrown" segment features a master gardener whose greenhouse and garden supply a new restaurant.
The best of the new! Jamie Durie takes viewers to Cornerstone Gardens—one of North America's premiere collections of exciting new garden design. Cornerstone presents gardeners with some terrific, fresh ideas to bring home to their own spaces. Ever wonder how new plants make it onto nursery shelves? Paul Epsom explores the path from seed to retail sale when he visits an All-American Selection trial garden. This week's "Homegrown" features a husband-and-wife team that bring the farm to the table: Chef Ana Sortun and farmer Chris Kurth show Michel Nischan the glories of freshly-dug potatoes.
Using light to your advantage in the garden is a skill. This week, The Victory Garden looks at light in many different ways: Jamie Durie visits the renowned Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California, to take a closer look at specimens that reflect light, absorb light, or bring light into your garden. Then we tackle one of gardening's most persistent questions: What's a gardener to do with shade? Paul Epsom gives a primer on the many different types of shade and how to choose the right plant for the right place. Our "Homegrown" segment this week features a Burmese salad with greens and herbs straight from the garden and greenhouse.
This week, we're keeping you in the dark! Deep, dark chocolate, and black plants look great in any garden. Join Jamie Durie as he visits the San Francisco Botanical Garden to see how they've worked dark plants into their collections. Paul then shows off his hands-down favorite groundcover for dark locations. Got shade? Get moss! Starting a beautiful moss garden is easier than you think—when you've got the right conditions. Not enough room in the city to grow everything you'd like? "Homegrown" this week introduces you to the best farmer's market in New England, in the heart of Boston—where you'll learn to select the best, diverse produce with a chef.
What's softscaping? Plainly said, it's anything that's not hardscape in the garden. Plants! But certain types of plants are better at softening than others. Paul Epsom visits a specialty grass nursery in New Hampshire to see some best bets, and there, he learns how grasses are year-round showstoppers. Jamie Durie visits the world-famous Filoli gardens in northern California to learn how good plant choices are used to soften design. Still have those green, hard-to-ripen tomatoes left in your garden? Use them up before the cooler weather sets in! Chef Michel Nischan shares a recipe for green tomatoes that you won't want to miss.
Edible gardens are making a comeback. The cost of food is skyrocketing—fuel costs are beyond what we've ever imagined here in the United States. Why not grow your own? This week, four different stories that feature edible gardening. Jamie Durie visits COPIA, the American Center for Food and Wine. There, he tours their extensive vegetable gardens and orchards to learn about their philosophy and, especially, their innovative beds that feature herbs, ornamentals, and edibles together. Paul Epsom visits an exclusively herb nursery where he learns about some very unique selections and this week's "Homegrown" will share a technique that will teach you how to dry some of your in-season produce for use throughout the winter. Then join Jamie as he learns about the benefits of compost tea in the garden.
Host Jamie Durie kicks off The Victory Garden's 34th season on PBS with an exploration of the Huntington Botanical Gardens in California, and explains how to use the art of staging to put your plants in the spotlight. Then, gardening correspondent Paul Epsom takes a trip to the world famous New York Botanical Garden. This garden is home to more than a million plants—including those in the vibrant, artist-inspired perennial gardens. Paul takes the tour and offers up his perennial favorites from this amazing collection. Still have those green, hard-to-ripen tomatoes left in your garden? Use them up before the cooler weather sets in. Resident chef Michel Nischan shares a recipe for green tomatoes that you won't want to miss!
This week Victory Garden host Jamie Durie demonstrates how to create a dramatic bougainvillea espalier of your own, inspired by The Getty Museum in California. Gardening correspondent Paul Epsom takes us on a "seasonal walk" through the world-famous New York Botanical Garden to demonstrate how to maintain a low-maintenance seasonal border all year long. Finally resident chef Michel Nischan teams up with renowned Boston-based chef Barbara Lynch to dry vegetables for year-round use and stir them up into a hearty Italian summer Minestra—a flavorful soup that uses the garden to its best advantage.
Host Jamie Durie visits the renowned Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA, to take a closer look at specimens that reflect light, absorb light, or bring light into your garden. Meanwhile, gardening correspondent, Paul Epsom is in New York City searching for a cleaner, greener Big Apple. The city is attempting to shrink its carbon footprint, and one of the ways it's succeeding in doing so is through the "Million Trees" initiative. The New York Restoration Project is behind this effort—and while it takes being out on the streets planting trees one at a time, it's starting to make a real difference. Finally, Chef Michel Nischan, will be on hand to take us from garden to table. This week he's creating a delicious, healthy "three sisters" succotash featuring beans, corn, and pumpkin.
This week we're digging in and showing you how to prepare, grow and feast from a victory garden of your very own. Gardening correspondent Paul Epsom shares tips from New York's finest—the edible gardens at the New York Botanical Garden. We'll also learn the art of seed saving, a technique that will enable you to grow the best from the past—magnificent varieties of antique flowers and heirlooms vegetables. Host Jamie Durie will be in Sonoma California to tour the Cornerstone Festival of Gardens which features garden ideas form the worlds' leading architects. And Chef Michel Nischan talks potatoes in his "homegrown segment" offering up practical tips on how best to grow, cook, and eat them.
We're going coast to coast on The Victory Garden today, starting with host Jamie Durie who takes you to a city oasis that sits on top of the Frank Gehry-designed Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Then, what do the rapper 50-cent, actress Bette Midler, and the Broadway show Wicked all have in common? Would you believe victory gardens? All of these folks are working with the New York Restoration Project's citywide effort to grow and eat local. And the result? Community gardens are popping up all over the city. Gardening correspondent Paul Epsom is in New York to check it out and gather tips on how you can build a community garden of your own. Finally, celebrated chefs Michel Nischan and Barbara Lynch visit Boston's oldest farmer's market and mix up a fresh salad using the very best local seasonal produce.