Corinne Beirne and Michael Tove - How Creativity Takes Root in Gardens and FIlm

The Maria Liberati Show

In this episode of The Maria Liberati Show, host Maria welcomes Corinne Beirne, an edible garden design expert, to discuss fall gardening tips,

Key takeaways

• Fall is an ideal time for gardening, offering a second growing season with cool-season crops like leafy greens and root vegetables.
• Beginners should start with easy-to-grow plants such as herbs (parsley, cilantro, dill) and radishes, which offer quick harvests from seed.

Main topics

• Fall gardening tips
• Cool-season crops and planting from seed vs. starts

Notable quotes

"Fall is actually a fantastic time, especially for beginners." – Corinne Beirne

Conclusion

The episode closes with a reflection on the parallels between gardening

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Hey, it's Maria, and welcome to the Maria Liberati Show, your weekly escape into the flavor stories and simple joys of the Italian lifestyle. This is where we slow down, gather around the table, and remember what really matters. So wherever you are in the kitchen, on a walk, or easing into your day, I'm grateful you're here. Speaker 2 (0:28) Let's begin. Speaker 3 (0:33) And my special guest today is Corrine Byrne from the Nourish Garden. She is an edible garden design expert and she's been here before and she's given us some great gardening tips. So I've invited her back because fall is almost here and I've invited her to give us some some tips on fall gardening. Corrine, thank you so much for being here. Speaker 1 (0:56) Thanks for having me back. Great. Speaker 3 (0:58) So I know that, I was just telling you, I know that people think when summer's over, like that's it, they can't plant anymore or have a garden, but that's not the truth, is it? Speaker 1 (1:09) Not at all. And yes, that is the common misconception is that once the summer garden is done. And if I didn't do all my planting in spring for summer, then I have to wait till next year. And I'm here to say that couldn't be farther from the truth. Speaker 3 (1:25) The Speaker 1 (1:25) fall is actually a fantastic time, especially for beginners. And Speaker 2 (1:31) we Speaker 1 (1:31) can grow different things in the fall that we can't. grow in the summer. Things like kale, Swiss chard, all your leafy greens, spinach, arugula, all the lettuces. We can't grow those in the summer, but we can enjoy all of that in the fall. Speaker 3 (1:48) In the fall, yeah. And you probably, I know sometimes like in the summer when the sun is so intense, it just dries out like your lettuce and stuff, which I guess, I mean, probably depends on where you live too. But you probably, it's probably less likely to happen in the fall. So that's great too. So what types of plants are good to grow in the fall? What should we look for? Speaker 1 (2:16) Yeah, so the kitchen garden fall crops that I like to focus on are all the cool season crops. Your carrots, your radishes, your peas, green peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas, and then all your leafy greens. So your lettuces, your arugula. your kale, your Swiss chard, even cabbage and broccoli are also beets. Those are all cool season crops that we can't really grow in the summertime. So this is a huge abundance of kitchen garden food that we get to do all over again. It's a second chance at the garden for the year. Speaker 3 (2:55) Exactly. And that's great. And prices just keep rising. So it's really a good idea. Not only that, but there have been so many outbreaks of all kinds of different things. So it's great to control your own fresh produce. Also, are there certain plants that are easier, like for say somebody's a beginner and they just want to get started? What would you recommend as an easy kind of a plant to grow? Speaker 1 (3:26) Yeah, I think if you're just getting started and you want to be able to harvest right from your back door. for your kitchen. I think herbs are a fantastic place to start. And right now we're able to grow some cool season herbs like parsley and cilantro and dill. We couldn't really do so well with those in the summer. And of course, always in the fall is great for rosemary, thyme and oregano because they're really easy and beginner friendly. And as far as vegetables go, radishes are really easy to grow. very almost instant gratification because when you grow those from seed, they sprout pretty quickly and you can harvest them in about 40 days. So that's Speaker 2 (4:09) an Speaker 1 (4:09) easy one to grow. And also lettuce. I always advise beginners, and this is great for your listeners if they're just looking to get started with a small space, a pot. will give you a chance to grow. You can put parsley and dill and cilantro and lettuce all in one pot. There you go. You have your little kitchen garden. Your Speaker 3 (4:28) little Speaker 1 (4:28) salad. Yeah, for salads. Yes. So Speaker 3 (4:31) would you recommend for people, like if they're starting, say in the fall, would you recommend them to start from seed or do you think it's better to get like something already that's begun since we're in fall now? What would you recommend? Yeah, that's a Speaker 1 (4:46) great question. So there are some vegetables that I suggest buying from starts from the nursery only because they take so long to germinate. And that would be something like broccoli, you know, cabbage, those you want to buy from starts. Lettuces, if you want to be harvesting, I always tell people, if you want to be harvesting your lettuce in two weeks and you want a quick jumpstart, go buy the starts. They'll last you throughout the season. Speaker 3 (5:14) But Speaker 1 (5:14) then sprinkle seeds around those starts and then you'll have succession harvests coming in. a few weeks later. And so it really is. Yeah. And so lettuce is a great beginner starting plant along with your herbs. A lot of herbs I like to buy from start, like from the nursery because they can take a little bit longer. Radishes are quick and easy to start from seed. Carrots, all your root crops, you want to start by seed because they don't do well when you transfer them. It disrupts the root system. Speaker 3 (5:46) Ah, so even carrots, it's better to start from seed. Yeah. Oh, wow. And so radishes, did you say radishes to start from seed also? Because they're quick. Speaker 1 (5:57) Yeah, they're quick. And they're, again, a root crop like radish, you really want to start from seed. Because if you don't, then when you transition them into the garden, you risk disrupting the root system too much. So it's just a matter of really being familiar with which vegetables. do I start from seed? Some makes more sense to start from seed and some makes more sense to start from a vegetable start. One of the favorites of my family is sugar snap peas. And we like to start those from seed as well because they're climbers and they will produce sugar snaps all season long for packing lunches for kids. And it's great. Wow. Speaker 3 (6:39) Oh, that's great. So those are all, and that's all great stuff to, you know, to, to make your own, make your own salad. What about