Tag: gardening
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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…
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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…
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Seed Saving Tips
It’s getting to the point that fruiting vegetables will no longer be producing this year, and time to starting thinking about next year’s crop. Purchasing seeds every year will quickly add up, and many of the crops that are commonly grown produce seeds that can be collected and saved for next year. Here are some…
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Indoor Pets for Your Outdoor Garden
Unfortunately, some people just can’t see the benefit of backyard chickens, and they can’t let others be. You may live in an area that doesn’t allow for livestock such as chickens and have neighbors that have a lack of appreciation for self-reliance and fresh food. But does that mean that you have to…
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How to Build a Potato Tower
Potato towers are a way to grow more potatoes in a smaller area by growing vertical. There are a variety of techniques to build potato towers using different materials but the basic principles are the same. This article will describe how to build a potato tower using fencing or hardware cloth. You will…
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Growing Onions from Onions
If you are looking through a seed catalogue or a selection at your local gardening store, it is not at all unusual to see onion seeds. That being said it is a little unusual for most people to be able to grow onions with any real rate of success from seeds. The germination rate is…
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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…
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Companion Planting Overview
Gardeners are often described as an optimistic group of people. No doubt, with each seed or plant that gardeners put into the soil, they hope to have something to harvest later in the season. A variety of factors go into growing a successful garden that yields a bountiful harvest. Some variables, such as the weather,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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3 Tips for Steady Potato Harvests
If you don’t have a root cellar, then you probably don’t want to have a 100-pound potato harvest. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t want to grow 100 pounds of potatoes or more. Instead of planting for one large harvest of potatoes, here are 3 tips for getting a steady supply of smaller harvests that…
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How to Make Biochar (Video)
Often when production in the garden is low the response will be to add fertilizer. But is that really what your garden needs? Your garden is not simply the sum of its chemical components; it is a web of life. If your garden is not a desirable environment for beneficial micro-organisms, then everything that depends…
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Growing Shiitake Mushrooms
Do you have a shady area in your yard that you wish you could grow some food in? Well, not every crop craves sun the way most due. Get yourself some hardwood logs and spore dowels and you could be growing delicious and valuable shiitake mushrooms for years to come. Here are some tips to…
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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…
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DIY PVC Hoop House (Video Instructions)
It’s getting cold, and your crops are certainly feeling it when they are left exposed. A greenhouse is a great thing to have, but they are also expensive. A cheaper alternative is a hoop house. There are lots of videos that people have put online of their hoop houses and how they built them,…
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How to Keep Rabbits Away from the Garden
Sure, they might look cute, but wild rabbits can be a lot more trouble than they’re worth when it comes to the safety of your garden. If you and your family depend on the garden for your food, you can have rabbits coming in and devouring everything in sight. If you are proactive when you…
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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…
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3 Things You Should Stop Doing in Your Garden
There is no one right way to garden, everyone’s resources differ and everyone’s approach will also differ. That being said, there are some practices that will tend to yield better results, and there are some that should be avoided. This is a list 3 things that people commonly do in their garden that you should…
