Passing on traditional skills like foraging, cooking from scratch and living well on less
A few years ago, we purchased a little sour cherry tree from some big box store because it was on clearance at the end of the garden season. That little cherry tree is now a huge, productive tree that we love! It makes the most beautiful white flowers in the spring. And then around July […]
I have a new favorite book that I’ve been having a lot of fun using for my garden dreaming. The Everyday Sanctuary workbook is a companion book to Jessi Bloom’s popular Creating Sanctuary. I was able to read a digital advance copy of that book and loved it, so I was thrilled when the publishers […]
Flowers can turn meals positively magical. From drinking out of tulip cups to to scattering flower petals in Wildflower Pound Cake to tossing brightly colored nasturtium petals in a salad, edible flowers can take an ordinary dish and make it extraordinary. There are plenty of flowers that are edible, but you need to be sure […]
The garden may be put to bed in most of the country, but we don’t have to give up all of our marvelous garden herbs. Many of them can be enjoyed inside year-round. Hobby Farms has made it easy to know how to grow herbs indoors, with free printable ID cards for 11 garden […]
If you’ve always wanted to compost but didn’t know where to start, or if you’ve been composting for years but want to switch up your methods, a great new book has you covered. Michelle Balz’s Composting for a New Generation: Latest Techniques for the Bin and Beyond is a phenomenal book to answer any questions […]
Just because your yard is partially shaded doesn’t mean you can’t grow your own herbs this summer. Plenty of herbs actually prefer partial or dappled shade, especially in warmer climates. You often hear that herbs are sun-lovers, but its surprising how happy many herbs are in shade. In our zone 4 Minnesota garden, we […]
Here’s a wonderful free booklet to help you use permaculture principles to harvest rainwater and put it to use in your yard and gardens. The wonderfully-illustrated 8-page primer was created by by Joe Linton (of LA Creek Freak) to accompany a workshop he did in 2008. The guide draws heavily from Brad […]
If you want to extend your back yard bounty of fresh veggies, now is the time to start your fall garden. There are many garden crops that can handle some frost and some that can tolerate temperatures well below freezing. Root veggies such as carrots, beets, kohlrabi and turnips actually taste better after some […]
I’ll mostly be focusing on 10 main ways to save money on healthy and organic foods in the FYFO-100 series (Feed Your Family Organic for $100 (or less!)). Everybody has different circumstances, so different strategies will be better for different families. You do not need to do all or even most of these to save […]
Yes, you can feed your family healthy, organic, non-GMO food and not go bankrupt doing it! Welcome to FYFO-100, where I’ll share how we feed our family of 7 for around $100 a week. Every few days, I’ll share more tips for how we make it work. You can go all-in and learn skills like […]
If you have soil that’s been contaminated by lead, you know that it’s probably not safe for vegetable gardening and it can also be a hazard to children and pets who play on your property. Lead can be a serious problem in gardens, ponds and wetlands, in addition to posing health risks for growing kids. […]
I’m a big fan of square foot gardening and I use it in my own gardens quite a lot so I was excited to read the recently released Square Foot Gardening: Growing Perfect Vegetables (affiliate link). There are lots of things I liked about this book but also some major drawbacks. PROS: The book […]
Banana peels are some of the best food sources you can give your houseplants and your garden. Yes, you can just toss them in the compost pile, but you can put them to even better use in other ways. Banana peels are full of nutrients that plants need. The Micro Gardener says these include: […]
Think June is too late to start seeds in your garden this year? No way! There are still lots of veggies you can direct seed in your garden. Indeed, many garden plants grow much more happily in June when the soil has warmed up. Some bean varieties mature in as little as 35 days, […]
The recent hot, dry weather has brought a small plague of grasshoppers to my garden for the first time in years, and I’ve been working hard to defeat them. We garden organically and I didn’t want to douse our family’s food sources with pesticides and poisons. Also, they’re just not terribly effective. Timing […]
If you want to extend your back yard bounty of fresh veggies, now is the time to start your fall garden. There are many garden crops that can handle some frost and some that can tolerate temperatures well below freezing. Root veggies such as carrots, beets, kohlrabi and turnips actually taste better after some frost, […]
When you stroll through the farmers’ market or pick up your CSA box, you’re likely to find something that you won’t find in area supermarkets — whole plants. Local growers tend to leave the leaves on root vegetables like beets and carrots, keep the flowery fronds on the fennel and otherwise give you […]
If you have clay garden soil, you know that it can be tricky to get some perennial flowers to grow in it. Clay soil can be tough on plants because it easily becomes compacted, drainage is poor, oxygen content is low and roots have a tough time working their way through the soil. Those with […]
Are deer treating your landscaping plants like a buffet line? One easy remedy is to plant flowers and plants that deer tend to avoid, either because they are toxic, smell bad to them or have textures that they find unpleasant. Here’s a round-up of 50 flowers, plants and herbs that deer tend to dislike. All […]
Even if your back yard is full of sandy, clay or otherwise miserable soil, you can convert it into rich, healthy soil. While you can purchase specialty products to help you do this, you can use a variety of natural materials and creative methods to do it yourself — virtually free. The key is to […]
Mint is one of those workhorses of the garden. Once you plant it, your hardest job is keeping it from overtaking everything else in the yard and figuring out what to do with it all. It grows easily in most of the country and robustly returns to even the coldest gardens every spring, where it […]
We all know that most garden crops want as much sun as possible. Tomatoes, melons and peppers will positively pout if they don’t get oodles of light. What you may not realize is that many other garden crops will do quite well with limited sunlight. Which plants will put up with lower light levels? A […]
If you’re new to flower and vegetable gardening, it can seem overwhelming. There are so many varieties of flowers, herbs and vegetables to plant. Some need to be started indoors six to eight weeks (or longer) before transplanting into the garden. Some need very long growing seasons or special conditions. Some seeds need to be […]
Do you mulch your vegetable gardens? If you don’t, you should. The right mulch helps retain moisture, prevents weeds from getting a foothold and even enriches the soil as it breaks down. Here are 12 great sources of natural mulch (many of them free!)… Bagged leaves (except from the black walnut tree due to the […]