Don’t stop growing food in the fall – let’s grow all year round!
You Could Have a Salad Bar in Your Backyard in January! Cold-Weather Gardening Tips for Zones 6 and 7
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Welcome to a vibrant community where your love for gardening can thrive, no matter your level of expertise or the scale of your space. Whether you’re cultivating a charming balcony oasis or managing vast fields, our weekly articles, tips and tricks, and shared knowledge offer the encouragement and practical guidance you need throughout your gardening journey. Together, we’ll revel in the joy of growing food and beauty, and we’ll have fun along the way.
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Gifts from the Garden: Herb & Spice Rack Refill! (I bet yours are reeeeeaaaally expired)
Quick! Run to your pantry and check the expiration dates on your herbs and spices! I’ll bet you they are out of date by A LOT. At the same time, if you are one of my gardening people, I bet...
Starting from Seed: Step 2 Down and Dirty – What Should You Put in Those Pots?
Don’t attempt to dig up soil from your back yard. Don’t buy topsoil. Don’t use compost or whatever you found in an old pot in the garage. Potting soil is for pots. And it is important that you use it to give your seeds the best chance to turn into thriving, healthy seedlings.
Step 3 Purchasing Seeds: How Do I Know What to Buy?
So you want to start your garden from seed this year and you don’t know what seeds to select? Let’s answer your questions: who are the best suppliers? heirlooms or hybrids? organic or conventional? and how much you should buy?
Organize Your Pantry with an Eco-friendly Home Edit! (No New Plastic)
I love the current trend of editing our living spaces and creating beautiful organization, but oh! All that PLASTIC! Here is a chic pantry redux that includes only natural materials, no new plastic and you may even have many of these items on hand. Beautiful organization can be GREEN! Let’s get started with some before pictures…
Stylish and Sturdy Organizational Boxes for the Pantry or Closet (or anywhere you need to organize!)
Here’s a quick project that will make your pantry super cute but you’ll also know you are being oh so responsible and teaching your kids to be good stewards of our planet as well. It’s easy! Let’s go…
On Camomile and Failure…
“I’m just not a gardener…I have a brown thumb.” If you have ever said this, or if you have felt any kind of despair after a failure in the garden, this post is for YOU! All too often people imagine that I must have success with everything plant in my garden and that I don’t fail at anything after all these years. Not true! Failure is a part of gardening and farming every year – and it offers life lessons that are about more than gardening.
12 Days of Gifts for the Gardener in Your Life!
Gifts for your favorite gardener – or if YOU are the gardener, send this list to those who love you and are asking, “What can I get you?” Every year during the holiday, I struggle to think of gifts I might need in general, and then in the spring I think – shoot! I should have asked for garden stuff! Garden gifts may have to sit around for a few months until it’s time to use them, but once you need them, you’ll be so glad you don’t have to run out and buy them.
Beneficial Nematodes: A Powerful Organic Pest Control Method
There’s nothing worse for a gardener than to check on your crop and find it destroyed by pests – sometimes overnight! It’s enough to make an organic gardener run to the nearest store for some chemical pesticide. But wait – there are many other methods available that are safe and organic to help keep pests under control and keep your plants healthy and strong. Beneficial Nematodes are one of the most potent ways to protect your garden.
Saving Pepper Seeds: When You Should and Should NOT!
Saving pepper seeds should be a slam dunk, right? Just save the biggest, best pepper from your harvest and remove the seeds for next year. But wait…there is something you need to know.
Saving Bean Seeds for Cooking and Replanting
Did you grow green beans this summer in your garden? Before you yank those spent plants out and throw them on your compost pile, stop! You can save seeds for next year and you won’t have to buy them. And if you tried growing beans for storing and cooking, you’ll need to use this same technique to harvest them. It’s easy. Let’s go!
When to Harvest Butternut Squash
If you are growing butternut squash for the first time, you really need to know when to harvest it. Many first time gardeners make the mistake of treating butternut squash like zucchini, and pick them when they are full size and green.
Growing Ground Cherries! (aka Dwarf Cape Gooseberries)
Gooseberries are such a fun little fruit to add to your garden. They are sweet! (think pineapple and lemon combined) And kids will love peeling back the papery outer lantern to find the sweet little skittle-sized fruit inside. Plus, they commonly re-seed themselves, so if you are lucky, plant once and have them forever!
Test Your Soil pH! (Don’t be scared. I’ll help you)
Testing your soils seems super intimidating for most home gardeners. It also feels unnecessary – until something goes wrong. When you see your plants are suddenly not thriving and you’ve done everything you think you can do, it might be that your soil is out of balance. The first thing you want to check is your soil pH.
Saving Seeds: Preparing the Garden
In order to have seeds to save from your garden for next year, there are a few things you need to do in your garden right now. Watch this quick video tutorial and then jump to the section below for a list of seeds you can save and how. Later in the fall, I’ll share specific information on each type of plant and how to save the seeds.
Growing Blackberries!
Once you get your blackberry patch started, you’ll likely find it becomes a maintenance free source of berry goodness for years! Let’s get started…
Growing Beets (Spring and Fall)
As gardeners, it’s so easy to think of beets as a spring vegetable. The are one of the first vegetables you can plant directly in the ground. But wait! You can plant a whole other crop of beets in the fall to extend your gardening season. Let’s get started!
Yikes! Squash Vine Borers Are Killing Your Zucchini!
Here’s how to find them, fix your plants up, and prevent them next...
Tomato Cages – Tutorial Video
How do you know which tomato cages to buy? Here is the standard option, a free option, and then my recommendation for the best cages on the market! Here is a link to purchase Texas Tomato Cages from...
Growing Quinoa – Tutorial
It’s easier than you think, and beautiful in the garden!
Organic Fertilizer! It doesn’t need to be complicated…
I like to garden as organically as possible, so I rely on three forms of soil enrichment: compost, chicken poop and Alaska Liquid Fish Fertilizer. I’ve had such success with fish fertilizer that I just don’t recommend anything else anymore.
How to Grow French Fries (Just kidding – Potatoes!)
I’m obsessed with potatoes. I think my kids and I could eat them at every meal and never get tired of them. Remember that scene in Forrest Gump when Bubba starts listing every shrimp dish he can think of? That’s me…but with potatoes.
Green beans. Let’s grow lots of them!
Green beans are so easy to grow – why isn’t everyone doing it? With very little effort, you’ll have green beans from June to October. Let’s get started!
Growing Quinoa
Yes, you can do this! I used to be so intimidated by growing any kind of grain. Technically, quinoa isn’t a grain – it’s actually the seeds of the plant you are harvesting and eating, but since it is used like a grain, I stayed away. Such a shame!
Growing Radishes
Looking for a new superfood to add to your diet? Don’t ignore those poor radishes. They are the wallflowers of the vegetable world while the avocado and cauliflower get to walk the red carpet. Let’s fix that right now.
Starting from Seeds: Step 1 Choose Your Containers!
Once you have decided to take the plunge and start your vegetables from seed, you’ll need a few materials. Choose the right containers that are best for YOU – your space, your available sunlight, and the kind of vegetables you want to grow.
The Birds and the Bees….
Gardeners, let’s talk about plant sex. There. I said it. It’s a thing. And it’s kind of important for you to understand it to keep your garden thriving. I’ll be brief, but maybe send the kids out of the room (just kidding).
The Importance of Flowers in the Vegetable Garden
For years I made this mistake. I had one area of my yard that was for vegetables, and another that I landscaped for beauty. What a shame! What a missed opportunity. I have learned the error of my...
