It’s intriguing to watch a small group of deer prance through the yard, until they decide to stay. I remember planting a small orchard of mixed fruit trees — apples, pears and peaches. They were saplings with a trunk about ...
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6 Secrets To Growing Better Bush Beans
Also known as snap beans for their distinct “snapping” sound when ripe, bush beans are the most popular home-grown beans for novice and expert gardeners alike. They also are easy to grow. As an added bonus, these plants tend to ...
Read More »4 Free Mulches That Can Revolutionize Your Garden
Gardening season is well under way, which means it is time to think about mulching. Instead of running to your local lawn and garden store, though, consider organic mulch choices, which are readily available and provide more benefits than basic ...
Read More »4 Steps To Storing Your Seeds For 30 Years (Or More)
We gardeners are a frugal lot. Few of us would throw out seeds that we don’t use. Whether there are too many seeds in the packages we buy (and we don’t plant them all), or whether we save our own ...
Read More »Everything You’ve Wanted To Know About Mulching (But Didn’t Want To Ask)
The question came during a car ride to the annual co-op tree sale, when my farm apprentice asked one of our passengers, a seasoned self-described permaculturist, for a definition of what she did. After a few halting starts describing site-planning ...
Read More »5 Beneficial Garden Bugs You Should NEVER Kill
As a professional gardener and farmer, one of the questions I field most frequently from people sounds something like this: “I have XYZ in my garden … how can I kill it?” Usually, this refers to some form of insect. ...
Read More »6 Reasons You Need A Gardening Journal This Year
Each growing season brings a new opportunity to create a fantastic garden, but every year also brings its own learning opportunities and challenges. The best way to make the most out of these challenges is to remember them so that ...
Read More »Vegetables In 1950 Were More Nutritious. Seriously.
Most potatoes we eat today have 100 percent less vitamin A than potatoes did in the 1950s. One hundred percent. That may sound unbelievable, but it doesn’t end there. An analysis of nutritional records done by Canada’s national newspaper found ...
Read More »8 Ways To Fertilize Your Garden With Household Items
Self-sufficient gardeners avoid the use of pre-packaged fertilizers and soil from the store. But chances are you have plenty of items in your house that can be used to fertilize your garden, saving you money and time – and giving ...
Read More »DIY Seed Tape: The Fast, Easy Project That Saves Time And Money
I don’t know who invented seed tape, but that person deserves a gold star. If you’re not familiar with it, seed tape is tissue-thin biodegradable paper, usually about an inch wide, that has seeds embedded in it. There are several ...
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