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What is The Urban Farm?
The Urban Farm is an educational hub for growing your own food, led by Farmer Greg Peterson. It combines online courses, a long-running podcast, free monthly classes and a fruit-tree offering, with a practical focus on home-scale food growing and, for Phoenix readers, desert-adapted fruit trees.
What you'll find
- Online Courses — structured lessons for people who want guided, self-paced learning.
- Free monthly classes — a low-commitment way to sample the teaching style and pick up seasonal tasks.
- Podcast — more than 1,000 episodes, including interviews with experienced growers. One listed episode features homesteaders Shawn and Beth Dougherty discussing growing food and building a farm ecosystem with minimal outside inputs.
- Fruit Trees — fruit trees suited to the Phoenix area.
- Online Store — related products in one place.
Who it suits
- Beginners in a city or suburb who want to start with containers, raised beds or a small yard.
- Desert gardeners around Phoenix who need locally relevant fruit-tree and planting advice.
- Listeners who prefer learning through interviews and real farm experience rather than textbooks.
If you are deciding where to begin, start with a free monthly class to test whether the approach fits your climate and space, then use the podcast for background while you plan a first season. For a different style of structured food-growing instruction, GrowVeg offers garden-planning tools, and RHS provides UK-oriented growing guides.
What can I learn from Farmer Greg Peterson's online courses?
Farmer Greg Peterson's online courses at The Urban Farm are aimed at people who want to grow food in city or suburban settings, with a strong emphasis on fruit trees and desert-adapted growing. The site also offers free monthly classes, a podcast with more than 1,000 episodes, and an online store, so the courses sit within a broader learning ecosystem rather than standing alone.
What the course catalog suggests
- Food growing fundamentals. The courses are framed around learning to grow your own food, which suits beginners who want a structured starting point rather than piecing together scattered advice.
- Fruit trees. This is a named focus area, so expect material on selecting, planting and caring for fruit trees — useful if you are planning a backyard orchard.
- Desert and urban conditions. The Phoenix location and the emphasis on low outside inputs point toward warm-climate, small-space growing. That is a real advantage if you garden in a hot, dry region, and a limitation if you garden in a cold, wet one.
- Podcast-style depth. The episode excerpt features homesteaders Shawn and Beth Dougherty discussing living soil, biological wealth and reducing off-farm inputs. That signals the teaching style: philosophy and ecosystem thinking alongside practical technique.
Who gets the most from it
A reader in Phoenix or a similar hot, dry city who wants to plant fruit trees and build soil fertility without relying on bought-in inputs will find the material directly applicable. A beginner in a temperate climate can still use the general principles — soil biology, water-wise design, observation — but should expect to adapt specifics like planting times and variety choices.
A useful next step
Before enrolling, listen to one or two podcast episodes. They are free and give you a clear sense of Peterson's approach and whether his climate assumptions match your garden. If the episode on growing without outside inputs resonates, the paid courses are a reasonable next investment; if the desert framing feels remote from your conditions, the free monthly classes and podcast may be enough.
How do the free monthly classes work and who are they for?
The free monthly classes are one of several ways The Urban Farm delivers its teaching, alongside online courses, a podcast and an online store. Based on the page's own structure, they sit at the low-commitment end of the offering: a recurring, no-cost entry point rather than a full curriculum.
How they likely work in practice
The page lists "Free monthly classes" as a standing feature, which signals a repeating schedule rather than a one-off event series. For a reader, the practical steps are:
- Check the class listing on The Urban Farm for the current month's topic and date.
- Join the email list, which is listed separately, to get notified when each month's class is announced.
- Attend once at no cost, then decide whether a paid online course or other resource is worth it.
Who they suit
- Absolute beginners who want a taste of growing food before spending money on a course.
- Local growers in the Phoenix area, since the site also covers fruit trees suited to that climate and the teaching is tied to Farmer Greg Peterson's own experience there.
- Listeners of the podcast who want a live or scheduled complement to the interview episodes, such as the discussion with Shawn and Beth Dougherty on growing food with minimal outside inputs.
They are less suited to someone who needs a structured, multi-week program with assignments — that is what the online courses are for — or to growers outside a hot, dry climate looking for region-specific advice.
A useful next step
If you are unsure whether the classes match your level, listen to one podcast episode first. The episode notes show the style: long-form conversation with experienced growers, heavy on philosophy and soil biology rather than step-by-step instructions. If that format keeps your attention, the monthly class is a natural next step; if you want a defined sequence of lessons instead, go straight to the online courses.
What fruit trees are available for Phoenix and how do I choose one?
The Urban Farm's fruit-tree section is aimed at Phoenix-area growers, so its main value is matching a tree to desert heat, chill hours and soil rather than offering a generic nursery catalogue. The site pairs that selection with Farmer Greg Peterson's Phoenix-specific growing advice and podcast episodes, which is useful because a tree that thrives in a milder climate can struggle in the low desert.
The Urban Farm lists Fruit Trees as one of its main sections, alongside online courses and free monthly classes. Its podcast includes long-form episodes on growing food with minimal outside inputs, such as a conversation with homesteaders Shawn and Beth Dougherty about living soil and farm ecosystems. That is their experience and philosophy, not a Phoenix planting guide; the practical takeaway for a desert gardener is to treat soil biology and low-input growing as design goals, then confirm local variety and timing details with desert-specific sources.
What to check before choosing
- Chill hours: Many fruit trees need a period of winter cold to set fruit. Phoenix's mild winters make low-chill varieties the safe choice; a high-chill tree may grow well but crop poorly.
- Heat and sun exposure: Afternoon sun in summer can scorch bark and fruit. Plan for reflected heat from walls and pavement, and consider afternoon shade for sensitive trees.
- Pollination: Some trees need a second variety nearby to set fruit. Check whether your choice is self-fruitful or needs a partner.
- Rootstock and size: Dwarfing rootstocks suit small yards but can be more demanding in heat and wind. Standard trees need more space and stronger staking when young.
- Soil and drainage: Desert soils are often alkaline and calcareous. Poor drainage kills more young trees than cold does, so amend and mound where needed.
- Water and harvest timing: Fruit ripens in intense heat for many species; choose types whose harvest window fits your willingness to water and pick.
A practical next step
Start with the site's Fruit Trees section to see what it actually offers, then use its free monthly classes or podcast episodes to hear Phoenix-specific reasoning before you buy. For independent variety and planting guidance, compare with University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, which publishes desert horticulture advice for Maricopa County growers.
A useful decision rule: if you cannot confirm a variety's chill requirement and heat tolerance for your part of the Valley, choose a different tree. A well-adapted tree that fruits reliably beats an exotic one that survives but never crops.
What topics are covered in the Urban Farm podcast episodes?
The Urban Farm podcast centers on practical food-growing and small-scale farming, with a strong emphasis on growing food in city and suburban settings. The show is hosted by Farmer Greg Peterson, and the page's own description points to a catalog of over 1,000 episodes alongside online courses and free monthly classes.
Recurring themes
- Urban and backyard food production — growing vegetables, fruit and herbs in limited space, and making productive use of ordinary residential lots.
- Fruit trees, especially for warm, dry climates such as Phoenix; the site treats fruit trees as a distinct interest area alongside its courses and store.
- Homesteading and farm ecosystems — episodes with experienced growers about building a working farm system rather than a single crop.
- Low-input and regenerative approaches — the featured episode with Shawn and Beth Dougherty covers growing food with minimal outside inputs, living soil and "biological wealth," which indicates the show returns to soil health and self-reliance.
- Guest interviews — the format leans on conversations with growers, homesteaders and specialists rather than solo commentary.
How to use the catalog
The topic range is broad enough that the most efficient approach is to search by subject rather than listen chronologically. If your interest is a specific fruit tree, a soil-building method or a particular guest, search that term first; the long archive means older episodes on a topic are often still relevant.
For a concrete example: a beginning gardener with a small Phoenix yard might start with episodes on fruit trees and desert-appropriate planting, then move to soil and low-input fertility episodes once the basic planting is underway. The free monthly classes are a lower-commitment entry point than the paid online courses if you are still deciding how deep to go.
Related general resources worth knowing: Cooperative Extension System for regional growing guides, and Permaculture News for broader low-input growing discussion.
How can I grow food without relying on outside inputs?
The Urban Farm approaches this question through the idea of a closed-loop system: build soil fertility, capture water, and cycle nutrients on-site so you buy fewer bags of fertilizer, amendments, and feed over time. The site's own material frames it around homesteaders Shawn and Beth Dougherty, who have four decades of experience farming with minimal outside inputs, discussing living soil, biological wealth, and farm patterns on the podcast The Urban Farm. Farmer Greg Peterson's broader teaching — free monthly classes, online courses, and podcast episodes — is aimed at home growers learning to produce their own food.
Start with the inputs you can stop buying
Most external dependence enters through four doors. Closing them one at a time is more realistic than attempting total self-sufficiency in year one.
| Input | Why it's hard to drop | Practical first move |
|---|---|---|
| Fertilizer | Yields dip before soil biology recovers | Compost everything, add mulch, plant cover crops |
| Water | Municipal or pumped supply feels unavoidable | Capture roof and greywater, mulch heavily, build organic matter |
| Feed | Animals need calories year-round | Grow fodder, let animals forage, graze paddocks |
| Seed | Hybrids must be repurchased | Learn to save seed from open-pollinated varieties |
What "biological wealth" means in practice
The Doughertys' framing — as summarized in the episode description — treats soil life, not purchased inputs, as the farm's capital. In practice that means feeding the soil organisms that make nutrients available to plants, rather than dissolving nutrients in a bag and pouring them on. A reader with a quarter-acre backyard can test this cheaply: pick one bed, stop buying fertilizer there, and instead sheet-mulch with leaves, kitchen scraps, and grass clippings for a season. Compare it against a bed you treat as usual. Most growers see the gap narrow by the second or third year, though the first season often disappoints.
A realistic sequence for a home grower
- Audit what you buy. Track fertilizer, soil, feed, and seed purchases for one season. That list is your roadmap.
- Build compost capacity first. Compost is the hinge that lets you stop buying fertility.
- Add animals only after you can feed them. Chickens on kitchen scraps and forage work; grain-fed livestock in a small yard usually increases outside dependence.
- Save seed from your best performers. Start with beans, tomatoes, and lettuce — the easiest wins.
- Capture water before you expand beds. More growing area without more water storage just multiplies risk.
Where to go next
If you want guided instruction rather than trial and error, the site's online courses and free monthly classes are the structured path, and the podcast archive is the deep, interview-driven one. Listen to the Dougherty episode first if your interest is homestead-scale; browse the fruit tree and store sections if your interest is planting perennials that produce for decades with little ongoing input. Perennial systems are the slowest to establish and the least input-hungry once they mature, which is why they suit growers planning to stay put.
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