Emma Biggs | Mother Earth News FAIR

Emma Biggs is a 14-year-old gardener and garden communicator. She raised more than 130 tomato varieties in her Toronto garden in 2019, gardening in containers, in straw bales on a driveway, in a neighbor’s yard, in wicking beds under a walnut tree, and on the garage roof. Her garden is the source of many of her stories, and it’s the source of produce that she sells in her neighborhood. Emma gives talks at libraries, seed exchanges, garden clubs, and garden shows. She’s the co-host of The Garage Gardeners Radio Show and co-host of kids gardening videos on the From Dirt to Dishes gardening channel on YouTube. She has a monthly blog on the Harrowsmith magazine website about growing tomatoes. Her latest book, Gardening with Emma, helps kids find the fun in gardening (and helps adults remember how much fun gardening is!).

Emma is a contributor to Mother Earth News Fair Online.

Workshops

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Trials and Tribulations of a Teenage Tomato Grower

With an urban garden and more than 130 tomato varieties, 14-year-old Emma Biggs knows how to fit lots of tomatoes in a small space. She grows hers in the ground, in a neighbor’s yard, in wicking beds, on the roof, and on the driveway. In this workshop, she looks at different ways to grow and train tomato plants — everything from staking to cages, from trellises to straw bales. She shares some of her favorite varieties. She also talks about how she overcame the toxicity from her neighbor’s big black walnut tree and now grows tomatoes underneath it. Leave this talk with ideas for varieties to try, ways to grow, and techniques to train your tomatoes. Let Emma inspire you to figure out how to grow tomatoes in a way that suits your garden.

Organic Gardening Hands On

Speaking At:

Mother Earth News Fair Online

Gardening with Emma

If you’ve heard adults say, “Kids these days aren’t interested in gardening,” 14-year-old Emma Biggs can share the flip side of the story. In this workshop, she talks about the fun she has in her own urban garden and how she inspires friends and neighbors to garden and to grow new plants. Always looking for more space, Emma gardens on the roof, on the driveway, in wicking beds, in the ground, and in a neighbor’s yard. She grows more than 130 tomato varieties, giant tomatoes, and lots of fun and unusual plants. Leave this talk with fun project ideas (sunflower house!) and fun plants (exploding seed pods anyone?) that can help draw young people (and adults) into gardening.

Organic Gardening Hands On

Speaking At:

Mother Earth News Fair Online

Emma’s Cool Crops

It’s all fun and games. A great way to grow new gardeners, for both adults and children, is to make gardening fun. In this workshop, 14-year-old Emma Biggs shares some of her favorite “cool” crops that make gardening fun for her. Hear about striped tomatoes, edible flowers, tongue-tingling Szechuan button, sour-leaved sorrel, making art with lettuce, hot peppers that aren’t hot, and lots of other fun and colorful crop ideas. Leave with ideas for fun crops to pack in your lunchbox and cook in your kitchen.

Organic Gardening Hands On

Speaking At:

Mother Earth News Fair Online