Hi, everybody. I'm Joe Lampel, the Joe behind Joe Gardner, and welcome to the Joe Gardner Show.

If you think you've got tomato growing figured out, you might want to think again. Today's guest is

challenging some of the most common advice that we've all heard about growing tomatoes and backing

it up with decades of real-world experience. Frank Hyman is an award-winning garden designer, long-time contributor to

many gardening magazines, former farm manager, and nationally recognized horticulturist. He's designed

and installed thousands of square feet of edible landscapes, and he spent years testing what actually

works in the garden, not just what gets repeated year after

year.

He's also written three books, including Hentopia, and How to Forage Mushrooms Without Dying.

In his new book, Ripe Tomato Revolution, Frank reexamines everything from pruning and staking

to spacing, soil prep, and disease prevention. And in some cases, he turns conventional

wisdom on its head. Tomatoes are the plant that hooks so many of us on gardening, but they're also the one that

frustrates us the most. So today we're digging into smarter strategies, better support systems,

and practical shifts that can lead to healthier plants and better harvest.

If you grow tomatoes, this conversation could change how you do it.

So let's get started.

And as we do, thanks to our sponsors for today's episode, Soil Cubed and Territorial Seed.

You probably know by now, having access to high-quality compost is my not-so-secret weapon

for the success of everything I grow in my garden. And that's why I'm so proud to be partnering

with Soil Cubed. If you live in their delivery zones within Georgia, North Carolina, South

Carolina, Tennessee, most of Alabama, and for some of my Texas listeners, Soil Cubed is now in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,

so this message is for you.

...