‘HomeGrown,’ a Volunteer Gardener Special, Premieres Aug. 10

Here’s something to help your garden grow: A Volunteer Gardener special full of tips shared by experienced gardeners from across Tennessee. The 90-minute program premieres Thursday, Aug. 10, at 7 p.m. during our August Membership Campaign. Jeff Poppen and Annette Shrader host from Poppen’s Long Hungry Creek Farm in Red Boiling Springs.

The Aug. 10th broadcast is also a live night of pledge programming with Shrader, and fellow Gardener personalities Troy Marden, Phillipe Chadwick, Julie Berbiglia, Tammy Algood and Sheri Gramer staffing the phone bank in NPT’s Studio B. Call in, say hello, and support NPT. When you make a donation to NPT, you’ll be able to choose from a selection of Volunteer Gardener-related thank-you gifts, including autographed gardening books by Algood, Marden and Poppen; as well as NPT Tervis mugs and the “HomeGrown” DVD.

In Part 1 of “HomeGrown,” we’ll visit the terraced vegetable garden of architect David Allard, designed to take advantage of a sloped area that gets full sun. We’ll also visit a Shelbyville gardener who grows grain corn in raised beds and we’ll get an update on White Creek’s Flower Farm, a cutting garden of fresh, organically grown flowers. Appropriately for August, Part 2 visits a man who Volunteer Gardener producer Greta Requierme calls a “crazy good” tomato grower in Wedgewood-Houston (right in NPT’s backyard, so to speak) and stays in the neighborhood for a look at the Nashville Food Project’s organic and sustainable farming practices. We also travel to Amber Falls Winery in Hampshire, Tenn., where the soil on the ridgetop is perfectly suited for growing Chambourcin, a grape used to produce red wine.

Part 3 of “HomeGrown” looks at two innovative gardening techniques: aeroponics and growing in a straw bale. Finally, “HomeGrown” highlights gardeners who are, well, a little obsessed with ornamentals.

Additional airtimes for “HomeGrown” are Sunday, Aug. 13, at 9 a.m. on NPT; Monday, Aug. 14, at 7 a.m. and Tuesday, Aug. 15, at noon on NPT2.

Find gardening inspiration each week with Volunteer Gardener Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 9:30 a.m. on NPT. You’ll find more tips on the show’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.