Learn what potting mix is and how to quickly and easily make your own.
Potting Mix: A Simple DIY Recipe
Category: Garden
Seed Starting Mix: What is it and how to make it?
Learn all about seed starting mixes and how to make your own!
Starting Seeds for the Home Garden
Our small homestead is located in upstate NY, in a zone 5 growing zone. We’re able to grow most annual vegetables, thanks in part to getting an early jump of the growing season by starting seeds indoors. Life on the homestead is often marked by the passing of the seasons. The stark contrast of
Planting Garlic
It’s fall in upstate NY, the days are getting shorter, mornings are crisp and cool! We’ve had our first frost (and some snow flurries), which subsequently ended our summer garden, and we’re thinking about all the tasks that we need to complete before the real winter weather sets in. Warm sweaters, thick socks, and wood
Ten Benefits of growing in Raised Beds and Why We Have Raised Beds in our Garden
There are a multitude of benefits of gardening and growing plants in raised garden beds, keep reading to learn about ten benefits of having raised beds in the garden and why we have raised beds. Our first season on our homestead we put in a small and simple traditional garden. We borrowed a rototiller, picked
How to Build a Raised Garden Bed for Less Than $15.00
We do most of our gardening in raised beds – for us, this method works very well. We average around 148 frost free growing days in our zone 5, upstate NY garden. A short growing season, coupled with our poor draining, thick, heavy clay soil that is often waterlogged well into late May, means that
Planting and Growing Potatoes in the Home Garden:
Are you looking to grow potatoes in your home garden? Not sure where to start, or what variety to pick? First check out our post on Choosing a Potato Variety to Grow in the Home Garden. If you have a bag of potatoes that you purchased from the supermarket or a local farm stand that
Harvesting and Preserving Dandelions – Roots, Leaves, and Flowers
To most people dandelions are a common weed and they don’t give them much thought. To others, they are the bane of their existence and there’s little that they wouldn’t do to get rid of them from their yard. I’m here to show you that dandelions are so much more than just a nuisance weed!
Choosing a Potato Variety to Grow in the Home Garden
Choosing a potato variety to grow in the Home Garden doesn’t need to be a difficult or daunting task. I don’t think I’ve ever met a potato that I didn’t like. Boiled, fried, baked, mashed, as a side dish, even as the main course, they all work for me. Potatoes are versatile, easy to cook,
Gardening with Ladybugs
A few weeks ago, I brought home some potted herbs from the grocery store, rosemary, cilantro, and sorrel. The late winter blues had set in, I was cooped up in the house recovery from a recent surgery, the herbs that I had overwintered were leggy and anemic looking from low levels of light. I desperately