5 Steps to Growing Watermelon (Video)

5 Steps to Growing Watermelon (Video)

I know it’s only April, but I’m already thinking about summer! And what better way than to prep for summer now than to plant some watermelon? It’s finally getting warm enough to plant these heat-loving, delicious melons, and this great, five step video will help you figure out if you can manage it in your garden. Enjoy, and happy gardening! If you enjoyed this, you might also like…. Long-Term Survival for Homesteaders… Natural Healing Secrets You Need to Know… Effective Primal Diet Hacks…

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Why You Should Keep a Homesteading Journal

Why You Should Keep a Homesteading Journal

As you embark on your homesteading journey, whether that is buying several acres of land and starting a full-fledged farm, or simply growing herbs on your windowsill and trying a few simple home ferments, it is incredibly beneficial to keep a journal.  Heres a few tips on why and how to journal. Why?  Journals are, literally, records of events. So as you begin gardening, raising animals, trying home cultures, and generally doing more things simpler, greener, and for yourself, you’ll want to keep track of your efforts, method, and progress. First of all, it’s fun! You can look back in […]

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Seed Starter Chart By Temperature (Infographic)

Seed Starter Chart By Temperature (Infographic)

It’s been officially spring for a few weeks now, but depending on where you live in the country, you could be already wearing your summer clothes, or still shoveling your driveway. Temperature is a far better indication of official spring weather than the calendar, and I thought these handy infographics from Cultivatorcorner.com were a great resource to determine what you can plant and when. If you’re already ordering seeds and planning out your garden, this is a great quick-glance guide for when you can get them started. Enjoy, and happy planting! If you enjoyed this, you might also like…. How […]

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Straw Bale Gardening (Inforgraphic)

Straw Bale Gardening (Inforgraphic)

Straw bale gardening has gotten very popular in recent years. It is a great option for smaller container gardens, and takes away a lot of the demand for buying and/or building soil. The idea is simple, you take a straw bale, condition it over a season so it begins to decompose and form a perfectly shaped container garden, full of fresh nutrients, and you plant directly in it for a very low-maintenance, weed-free garden bed. If you have a hard time getting soil, creating compost regularly, or weeding, straw bale gardening might be a great option for you, and especially if […]

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Getting the Garden Ready for Spring Now   

Getting the Garden Ready for Spring Now  

Just because you don’t have a garden, or if yours is covered in snow and not producing, doesn’t mean there is nothing you can do now to get ready for next season.  Getting ready now will help you start early and thereby increase the length of your growing season and with it, the amount of food you are able to produce next year.  Here are a few things you can do now to be ready early for next spring. Start shopping now for deals on spring crop seeds. The longer you wait, the more uniformity you will see in rising […]

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Hot Beds

Hot Beds

  With winter closing in I’ve recently been talking a lot about getting your crops covered up to extend your growing season.  But in some of the colder zones retaining what little heat is in your garden might not be enough, or you might not have the resources available to build a greenhouse or hoop house.  So instead of concentrating on insulating the heat in, you might want to focus on increasing the amount of heat in your soil to begin with.  This is usually referred to as a “hot bed”.  Here are some tips on how to increase heat […]

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Extending Your Growing Season

Extending Your Growing Season

Recently I posted a video demonstrating how to build a PVC hoop house that will help extend your growing season.  In this article, I’ll give a few more tips about extending your season and maximizing the benefits to your hoop house.   Seasonal Crops While your hoop house will protect your crops from extreme temperature change, temperatures will still drop even inside.  But more importantly the days will be shortening and not all crops can handle the decrease in sunlight.  Leafy greens, carrots, and green onions are examples of crops that cope well with shortening days. Layers For those that […]

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Winter Composting Tips

Winter Composting Tips

A compost pile that has done fine all year long can freeze solid on you in the winter.  This could leave you having to buy soil or compost in the spring when you are planting again.  To avoid this, keep these tips in mind this winter for your compost pile.   Build it Big A large compost pile will remain hotter than a small pile.  There will be more food in it for composting organisms and the outer portion will insulate the center.  When temperatures drop, worms and other organisms will simply migrate to the center of the pile until […]

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How to Use Fall Leaves

How to Use Fall Leaves

This time of year many of us are going to have a layer of leaves all over the lawn.  Many people simply rake and bag them to put on the street for the trash men to pick up, others will even pay someone else to do this.  But there are more options for what to do with this fantastic free garden resource. Fall Mulch Mulching with leaves can have a drastic impact on your garden’s soil mineral content.  Not only do the leaves of many deciduous trees have an NPK of around .5, .1, .5, but they also have calcium, […]

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Garden Calendar (Infographic)

I came across this great infographic on Pinterest today for what needs to be done in the garden during each month. Given we have Fall and Winter well on the way I thought it was perfect for this time of  year. Not only for what to do in the garden as the seasons are changing but also because winter is a great time to start planning next year’s garden. As the weather gets cool and you harvest your summer crops, it’s the perfect time to think about next year’s garden. Garden journals are great for this: you can write down […]

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