The first episode of Martha Knows Best is all about the first rule of gardening: Take care of the soil, and it will take care of your plants. Here, Martha shows the ideal soil called loam, which she compares to a good pie crust dough, or pate brisee in French — both crumble but will hold together when pressed.

By Martha's side in this series is her gardener, Ryan McCallister. Here, he hands Martha the phone so she can answer call-in questions. One question comes from a couple looking for vegetable gardening advice. Martha's advice? "The couple that gardens together, stay together." (Of course, there are exceptions.)

In each episode of Martha Knows Best, she takes a call from someone who aims to "Impress Martha." For the first episode, Elise from Florida shows Martha how she collects condensation from her AC unit and diverts it to a rain barrel. The rain barrel is outfitted with a pump so the water can be used in Elise's vegetable garden. Martha is impressed.

Martha and Ryan demonstrate different methods of tilling soil to prepare for planting. Martha takes the power tiller while sticking Ryan with the broadfork — a traditional tool that's a lot of hard work. As Martha says, it's good exercise: "Keep young, keep gardening."