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The Simplest, Safest Pesticide On Earth

Long before war profiteering corporations began flooding the civilian market with their chemical products, people had been killing insects without blanketing their homes and gardens with carcinogenic and costly poisons. You don’t have to be a chemist to prepare the age-old insecticide either, and you most likely already have what you need in your home. It’s so simple that if you haven’t tried it already you probably won’t believe it until you do. It’s soap and water. That’s it, soap and water. It kills nearly every insect, and even spiders and centipedes. Some take a little more than others, but […]

Coffee Grounds For Your Garden

Coffee grounds are a common cheap and easy form of organic material to add to your compost pile or garden. Here are a few tips for how, and why, to use them in your garden. Coffee and pH Despite what you might have heard, coffee grounds in your garden will have little to no effect of your soil pH and will not harm plants even when applied directly as a top dressing in generous amounts. The acid that is in the coffee you drink is there because it is water-soluble, meaning that is has been removed from the coffee grounds […]

Is it too late to start my garden?

Summer isn’t going to last forever, so should you just wait until next year to start your garden? No. While your potential for late planting will depending on the zone you are living in, there is still time to get plants in the ground for almost everyone even without season extension tools like a green house or low tunnel. Leafy greens and root crops like carrots and radishes easily tolerate the declining amount of sunlight and cooling temperatures this time of year in most places. Late-Season Start Find out what the first frost date is for your zone, and check out the packages of what seeds you have […]

Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Garden

Most gardeners don’t live in the tropics or have acres of land to spare, so choosing the right crops and materials to start a garden with is something you aren’t going to want to take lightly. It could be a third of the way through your growing season before you realize that you wasted all of that time, energy, money, and space in your garden just to grow crops that you aren’t going to benefit from. Over-enthusiastic seed purchases One thing to avoid is getting your ideas of what crops you are going to grow from a seed catalog. Seed sellers don’t make most of their money […]

2 Ways to Preserve Spinach

Spinach is a very easy vegetable to grow, and it offers a ton of nutrients. Plus, it’s tasty, and you can use it for numerous recipes. Of course, if you want to use your spinach after the growing season is done, you’re going to have to know how to properly preserve it. Here are a couple of simple preservation techniques that will keep your family eating spinach all year long. Dehydrated Spinach Rinse your spinach, remove any brown or unappetizing spots, and cut off or tear out thick stems. Once your leaves are prepared, lay them out evenly on a […]

Benefits of Compost Tea

When it comes to a thriving, healthy garden, one of the quintessential components is a good fertilizer, and homemade compost is one the best things you can make. Using kitchen scraps, garden cuttings and locally sourced organic waste like grass clippings, manure, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc., you can-and should-make your own compost pile for a consistent supply of amazing plant superfood. There are many different options for how to build a compost pile and what to build it with, so if you’re not already composting, you’ll want to start there. But if you do already have a successful compost […]

3 Tips for Growing Potatoes

Potatoes are one of the best staple foods for almost any diet. They’re full of fiber, complex carbohydrates, and nutrients that can enhance anyone’s health. Better yet, potatoes are actually pretty easy to grow in your garden, making them even more attractive to homesteaders everywhere. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you grow better potatoes in your garden. Pick a Sunny Spot No matter what kind of potatoes you’re growing, always pick a spot that gets full sun. You should also ensure that the soil is light, loose, and slightly acidic (ideally with a PH of 5.0-7.0), […]

Tips for Saving Seeds

Seed storage seems like it should be simple, but it’s actually more involved than you might think. After all, you don’t want your seeds to germinate while they’re in storage. With proper storage, though, a good collection of heirloom seeds could help you grow a full garden, complete with all of the fruits and vegetables for your cooking needs. Put Them in the Fridge and Leave Them There First of all, seeds do best when they’re stored in cooler temperatures. 40 degrees – the temperature of most refrigerators – is perfect for keeping seeds fresh and avoiding early germination, mold, […]

Top 3 Reasons You Should Be Growing Your Own Food

Whether or not you’re a homesteader, there’s no arguing that vegetables fresh from the garden just taste better than the ones you buy at the store. Even organic store-bought veggies just don’t have that same delicious taste that you get from vegetables that you grew yourself. If that isn’t enough to convince you to grow your own food, let’s take a look at just a few of the top reasons you might want to start a garden today: No Fear of Food Recalls Every year, we hear about different food recalls in different areas. People get sick from eating tomatoes, […]

How to Propagate and Use Comfrey

Free medicine doesn’t just come from the government (kidding!). The wonder plant comfrey is one of the easiest herbs to grow and among other amazing benefits it has been known to speed healing in bruises and broken bones. One hardly needs a green thumb to take advantage of this plant’s healing properties. Comfrey is most commonly grown from root divisions. These can be purchased online from your favorite gardening website, or even on Amazon. But even easier, they can easily be taken out of ground from any mature comfrey plant that you have access to without doing the slightest damage to the existing parent plant. If making your own […]

Crops You Can Plant in August

As summer is winding down, many crops planted in spring and early summer are ready to be harvested and your garden beds are getting bare. But you don’t have to go fallow just yet-here are a few great options for crops you can plant in August for Fall or Winter harvest. Kale The choice vegetable of hipsters is at the top of this list for a reason. Quite possibly the perfect fall and winter crop, they are very cold-hardy, and may only require something as simple as a heavy row cover to protect them from cold and frost. But what most people […]

5 Easy Plants for Kids to Grow

Teaching children to garden is one of the best lessons they could possibly learn. And the younger, the better! There are so many benefits to getting them out in the garden with you: sunshine, fresh air, exercise, bonding time away from distracting devices and the basic essential skill of growing one’s own food. To guarantee a young child’s interest in gardening, it’s good to plan on some crops that will be sure to grow and be productive. Below is a list of some of the easiest and best plants for kids to grow to initiate them into the wide and wonderful world of gardening: Sunflowers: Most […]

Understanding Gardening Zones

When planning a survival garden, it’s tempting to just start with a list of vegetables that you like to eat, or the ones that will offer the most nutrients and highest yields in the least amount of space. But it’s probably best to begin by learning about your gardening zone, so that you don’t waste your time with plants that aren’t a good fit for your area. Garden zones, also called hardiness zones, are the areas that have been defined by the USDA, that show which plants grow best in which areas. These zones are defined by the temperate range […]

Turn Your Garden Into A DIY Spa

Besides creating a surplus of food, and being used for medicinal and cleaning purposes, your garden has many other uses. One of those is allowing you to pamper yourself once in a while! After you’ve put in all that hard work, you can harvest a few ingredients out of your garden and use them to create your very own DIY spa day. Citrus fruits are perfect for giving oily skin a detoxifying facial. Mix the juice of a lemon, orange, or other citrus fruit, with honey and yogurt for a creamy cleanser that can also help lighten sun spots and […]

[Video] Avoid these 10 veggie garden pitfalls…

This video does a great job addressing many common vegetable and home gardening problems and how to fix them. Some of these issues have popped up for me in the past and they are easily misdiagnosed. Watch this video to help identify your potential garden problems. If you liked that, you might also like: Learn How To SUPER-CHARGE your garden or farm… Click Here To Get The Best Survival Medical Course… Check Out These Mind Blowing Survival Skills…

Keep Your Produce Fresh Longer

One of the many benefits of having your own vegetable garden is the constant availability of fresh food in the summer and fall. But there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’ve wasted your hard work when you find produce you just picked wilted and not ready for anything except the compost bin. Here are some tricks that farmer’s market sellers use to keep their produce fresh during market time. Don’t pick your produce until the absolute last second. It’s tempting to go ahead and harvest what you’ll need for dinner when you’re watering your garden in the morning, but that’s […]

Garden DIY Pharmacy

You may be imagining the satisfaction you’ll feel at having a pantry full of canned vegetables and dried herbs come winter, but there’s another very important role your garden can play in your life. All medicine that is used today has a common ancestor: herbs and other plants that were once used to treat almost every ailment known to man. There are many plants that can be used for natural remedies to your every day medical needs. Even if you aren’t quite sure about the herbal “medicine” that you’ve seen as a promise for cancer, consider that some things are […]

Garden DIY Pharmacy

You may be imagining the satisfaction you’ll feel at having a pantry full of canned vegetables and dried herbs come winter, but there’s another very important role your garden can play in your life. All medicine that is used today has a common ancestor: herbs and other plants that were once used to treat almost every ailment known to man. There are many plants that can be used for natural remedies to your every day medical needs. Even if you aren’t quite sure about the herbal “medicine” that you’ve seen as a promise for cancer, consider that some things are […]

The Future Of Home Food Production

I was blown away by this invention. It’s called “Farm Bot” and it is probably the future of home food production. While it looks like it might be a little more advanced (and expensive) than the average gardener / hobbyist can handle, it is interesting to see what these inventors were capable of creating. One of the things I really like about it is how it is “open-source”, meaning they give their plans and software away for free. So that others can freely learn from them or contribute to the project. If you want to learn more about Farm Bot, […]

10 Gardening Tips For Survivalists

One big factor of being able to survive any crisis is understanding both short term and long term food preps. For long term, gardening is going to be one of your best ways to maintain a constant flow of healthy food. Check out these 10 quick tips >> If you enjoyed this you might also like: Click Here To Get The Best Survival Medical Course… Check Out These Mind Blowing Survival Skills…