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A Vegetable Growing Cheat Sheet

I love a good, detailed infographic, especially when it comes to gardening. A lot of the gardening infographics that show up on my feed on Pinterest are pretty simple, so I was stoked when I found this one from Anglianhome.co.uk recently. It’s an all-purpose cheat sheet for vegetable growing, from what’s best for plot vs. patio (or potted) vegetable gardens, where to plant, when to plant, and a handy companion planting guide as well. I think the companion planting guide section is my favorite, with handy color coding. It can be overwhelming trying to decide what to plant with what, […]

Black Fly Control

If you have been growing fava beans then it’s likely that you have run into black flies. Black flies love to damage fava bean plants and ruin your production. But there are a few simple ways to fight back if you notice an infection and even measures you can take to prevent your plants from ever getting infected while increasing the food you get out of your plants. Here’s how. Check your plants regularly. Black flies will only ever affect the tops of the plants, so keep a close eye on the tops especially. If you see black flies on […]

Soil Tests

Soil test kits are one of the most under-used tools for backyard homesteaders in their gardens. Most gardeners seem to prefer to treat all soil as equal, equally bad, or equally good. Adding compost and fertilizer to every square inch of growing space, and treating soil for every crop that goes in. But money and hours of hard work can be saved though testing your soil for pH and mineral content. pH Without knowing what the pH of their soil is, most people will add acidic soil amendments like elemental sulfur to their soil if they are planting […]

Saving Space While Growing Corn

Corn is a crop that has disappointed many backyard gardeners. Mostly because they watch lush green stalks grow up with anticipation, only to find that the ears didn’t produce any corn. One of the more common reasons why is that they didn’t plant enough corn. In order for corn to properly pollinate it needs to be planted in several rows, if you are planting in rows. This can take up more space than most backyard gardeners have, or are willing to give to one crop. But there is a way to grow corn successfully without using so much space. […]

Demonstration of Proper Tomato Pruning

Pruning is a great way to control the growth of your plants. It can help you increase yield and reduce disease by focusing your plant’s growth. One crop that pruning is a must for, but often gets neglected is tomatoes. Tomatoes can be difficult to prune because it is not always visually obvious which portions should be targeted for pruning and which should be left alone. This video does a great job of show, and explaining just what to remove and why, complete with close ups. If you liked this, you might also enjoy… Natural Healing Techniques Doctors Don’t […]

Wood Ash for the Garden

Any way that costs can be cut while increasing productivity and health in the garden is a good thing. One way to do just that is to use wood ash in your garden as a fertilizer. Not only does wood ash contain calcium and potassium, along with other nutrients, but an easy-to-obtain byproduct of heating your home with a fireplace, wood stove, or a bonfire to get rid of dead branches and yard waste. All that being said, don’t run out and smother your garden in a layer of ashes, it won’t have the desired result. Here are a […]

Tips to Help You Improve Your Soil

If you are going to be successful at homesteading, you need to have good soil. There are no two ways around it. However, this doesn’t mean that the soil on your land right now needs to be great. There are some simple things you can do to improve the quality of your soil so you can grow your food, and that’s what we’ll be covering over the course of this post. Composting Take the yard waste and your kitchen waste and create compost. Grass clippings, leaves, vegetable and fruit peels, coffee grounds, eggshells, and the like can make great compost. […]

Growing An Edible Garden Landscape

Gardening is a hobby that can be enjoyed by everyone. With the numerous types of accessible gardening methods available, physical limitations or mobility concerns should not prohibit you from growing a garden. An online search of photos of accessible gardens that creative individuals have designed will give you some ideas as to how you might want to design your garden. Keep in mind that accessible gardening is just like traditional gardening in that the design you choose and the plants you include can be tailored to your individual preference. Raised beds are a popular form of accessible garden. When you […]

Watering Wisely to Conserve Water, Time, and Energy

Whether you get the water for your garden from rain collection or from the tap, you are going to want to conserve this precious resource as much as possible. You don’t want to run out, and you don’t want to add unnecessary cost to your garden. You also don’t want to have to take the time and energy to water your garden inefficiently since you have enough to do already. Here are a few tips on how to get the most of your water by watering wisely. Check First Check the soil to see if watering is necessary before […]

Horizontal Pumpkin Trellis

Pumpkins are not the first crop most people think of when they think of trellising, and horizontal is not the orientation most think of when they think of trellising. But having a successful garden on the cheap requires thinking outside the box. Using a trellis to grow crops like pumpkins that would sprawl and crawl all over if left to themselves will save tons of space. Likewise, orientating your trellis horizontally can also save space. That might seem counterintuitive, but if your trellis is vertical it will shade out the area behind it. Depending on your space and garden design […]

DIY Flow Through Worm Bin

Worm castings are a great natural fertilizer that not only add plant-available nutrients, but also increase long-term soil structure and health. But at over $20 a cubic foot, worm castings can be expensive to add to your garden. So don’t buy them, make your own flow through worm bin and easily harvest your own worm castings. This video shows the materials and tools necessary and gives simple-to-follow instructions on how to go about building your own flow through worm bin. It even shows some examples of bins of different sizes made from different materials to give you an idea of what […]

No Thin Method for Planting Carrots

Anyone who has grown carrots knows that many of the carrots are lost to thinning. With seeds as tiny as carrot seeds are, it is difficult to handle them and space them out when planting. Even if great care is taken not to plant too many in one area, you might wait only to find large spaces in your row with no carrot sprouts at all. If they do sprout close together they are difficult to thin out without removing and killing more than you need to in order to thin. But, there is a method to plant carrots that, […]

Making Your Own Potting Soil

Whether you are growing in raised beds, containers, or even in rows, you can benefit from starting your crops on tables and even under cover. But starting your crops outside of their final location, or growing in containers will mean that you need potting soil, which is expensive. Reducing this cost is a crucial step in lowering the overall cost of your garden. Here are some tips on making your own potting soil to cut costs. Peat It’s unlikely that you will be able to build your potting soil without purchasing anything, but purchasing individual ingredients in bulk, and […]

Keeping Toxins Out of the Garden

Having a garden and growing your own vegetables and herbs can be a great way to stay healthy. It will undoubtedly increase the amount of fresh greens in your diet, provide you with safe alternative to treat illness, and for most it will give them more time out in the fresh air. But if your garden is full of toxins, then the plants will inevitably contain toxins, and ultimately you will consume these toxins and be in a worse state then if you hadn’t had spent all that time and energy growing unhealthy foods. Here are a few tips […]

Questions About Woodchips

After writing several articles in which I proclaimed the various, near-miraculous benefits of wood chips a handful of people commented with questions. These questions are common judging by online comments and video or article titles that are about wood chips. I’ll try to answer those questions here with what I have found in my research and personal experience. What Woodchips are Best? People often wonder what wood chips offer the most benefits to their garden. In my opinion, it’s the ones that are free. If you have an unlimited budget to go out and pay for your preference of […]

Banana Peels in the Garden

Bananas are an awesome food. They taste great, help with muscular recovery, and come packaged in fertilizer. That peel that your banana comes in is itself food, for your garden. If you have a compost pile you are probably already adding your kitchen waste, but if you are like most people you slack on taking it out if it’s cold, or wet, or late, and so forth. But after looking at some of the benefits banana peels provide to your garden you might be a little more willing to make an effort to be strict in your peel collection for […]

Adding Calcium to Your Garden

Calcium is an essential nutrient for a healthy garden. If your soil is lacking in calcium your plants will not be able to transport other soil minerals to the leaves and fruit. Obviously, this could lead to a variety of health issues for your plants including blossom end rot. Having to purchase fertilizers can be avoided by adding natural sources of calcium to your garden soil and compost that you might already have, and might even otherwise be throwing away. Eggshells Eggshells are a great source of calcium for your garden that most of us already have. The calcium […]

Natural Tips for Aphid Control

Aphids are a nightmare for anybody who has a garden, and if you have a garden, there is a very good chance that you have or will have aphids at some point. What you need to do is learn how to get rid of them so they do not destroy your supply. Fortunately, there are some good ways that you can get rid of these nasty little pests. First, you might want to consider adding some plants to your garden that help to repel aphids. Fortunately, some of these plants are going to be very useful and will likely be […]

Safe Homemade Weed Killer (Video)

If you are homesteading and have not heard about the dangers of using chemical herbicides like Round Up, then you have probably been living under a rock. For everyone else, controlling weeds with natural methods can be time consuming and energy intense. Aside from mulching your garden heavily, what can you do? Here is a short video of a recipe for homemade weed killer, it even shows some of the results at the end. If you liked this, you might also enjoy… Natural Healing Techniques Doctors Don’t Want You to Know… The Weight-Reducing Magic of Yoga… The Ultimate Woodworking […]

What Items Should You Never Compost?

Composting is something that every homesteader should do. It allows you to recycle food and other material and to create richer soil at the same time. However, there are only some items that you should not add to the compost pile. Let’s look at some of the elements that you should not add to the compost pile, as well as the reasons why. Never put any meat scraps into the compost pile. The same goes for bones. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it has the potential to attract vermin. In addition, it is going to cause […]