Meet Steven Biggs

I Help People Grow Food

I’m Steven Biggs. I help people grow food.

MY PASSION is incorporating edible crops into the landscape to create beautiful, edible landscapes with a long and varied harvest.

I was recognized by Garden Making magazine as one of the “green gang” of Canadians making a difference in horticulture.

My yard includes a driveway straw-bale garden, rooftop kitchen garden, wicking beds, an edible-themed front yard, and fruit plantings.

My gig is communications. I work as a horticulturist, college instructor, broadcaster, speaker, and author. The common thread is that I shares ideas about how to creatively use edible plants in the landscape. And I make it fun.

I am available for:

Speaking engagements
Radio and podcast interviews
Newspaper, blog, and magazine interviews
Freelance writing work.

Contact me if you need a professional communicator

At the studio

Where to Find Me

On Air. The Food Garden Life Show

In Person. Toronto, Ontario, Canada

On Stage. Speaking Engagements

In Print: My books include:

No Guff Vegetable Gardening

Growing Figs in Cold Climates: 150 of Your Questions Answered

Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t

Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t

Gardening with Emma

How I Got Here

I have worked in horticulture and agriculture for more than 25 years.

After getting a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Guelph, I worked in greenhouse and nursery production, plant propagation, biological controls, horticultural supplies, farm marketing, freelance communications work, and teaching college horticulture courses.

Other Parts of my Life

Children. Raising three children (my teenage daughter Emma and I co-wrote the book Gardening with Emma, a book to inspire kids to garden).

Food. Admission—I actually enjoy grocery shopping. Food really interests me. So I've been known to do unconventional things like make parsnip wine or come home with a few laying hens. I covered the Toronto food scene when I was the Contributing Editor for Country Guide magazine.

The Outdoors. I love foraging for mushrooms with my kids, camping, or just going for a picnic.

Community. Toronto is an amazing city for food. Southern Ontario has diverse agricultural and horticultural operations, giving me lots of neat things for to write about. I live in a part of Toronto called Willowdale, where I've found that one of the best way to meet my neighbours is to garden in my front yard.

Music. I’m no musician…just a hack. But I have fun jamming with my kids and neighbours.

Hanging out with my children.

Becoming a Writer

I NEVER THOUGHT I’d be a writer or speaker. I’m a horticulturist.

But every so often I get impulsive (and that can drive my wife, Shelley, crazy). Luckily for me, one of those impulsive moments brought me to where I am today.

I can still picture the look of surprise on Shelley’s face the day I came home and casually mentioned that I’d quit my job as a recruiter. I sucked at that recruiting job. I left a job….

Click here for the rest of the story of how I became a writer.