It’s cold. It’s dark. It’s dreary. Winter was always my least favorite season, but it becomes more of a bother the older I get. I’m just not a fan, and I’ve grown increasingly bitter about it… I mean, winter just barges in the door, kills all of your plants, and leaves your hands a cracked,
Tag: Container Gardening
Look, I love the dollar store. I am a frugal girl, always trying to find some sort of a cheap deal. I not only find tons of useful things at the dollar store, I also find and make uses for the things that I find! Is It Possible to Start Homesteading on a Dollar Store
Consistent watering is pretty important for a garden. However, a lot of people have it set in their minds that the garden simply must be watered every day. Unless you live in an area with very sandy soil, you could be doing more harm to your plants than good! This even applies to watering every
For some plants, bolting, flowering, and producing seed is a bad thing for the gardener. Unless they’re saving seed, that is. Everyone dreads finding out that their lettuce or spinach has started to bolt; every year, we risk encountering bolted greens when spring arrives. Bolting is commonly associated with woody tubers, bitter greens, and reseeding.
With a new homestead comes lots of new challenges- for most people, they have to start entirely from scratch. For us, we purchased our home, had a baby, and we were faced with buying a new (to us) car within months of each other; therefore, getting our homestead up and running was quite the challenge, as
Lavender is such a versatile, therapeutic herb on the homestead; it is also deeply cherished throughout the farthest reaches of the modern and ancient world, being used medicinally, aromatically, and cosmetically. In France, lambs were released to graze upon Lavender, as it is believed to make the meat of a lamb more fragrant and tender (more
Indoor gardening strikes excitement within the hearts of homesteaders, because it allows us to deny winter (as much as we can, anyways…). Overall, being able to produce your own greens, fully grown vegetables, and even flowers indoors without sunlight is extremely exhilarating.
I sure do love pulling a massive, jaw-dropping sweet potato from beneath the soil. There’s just something so invigorating and satisfying about harvesting these tubers in particular, that no other crop can rival. However, I’ll tell you one thing I do not like: Voles. Filthy, thieving, over-populated voles. The war against these tiny demons is
 Asparagus is one of my top veggies; it also happens to be one of the most expensive vegetables! Even the cheapest bunches at the local grocery stores ring in at $3 a pound; now, let’s not forget that you still have to cut the hardened, tough, browned, and woody ends off of your asparagus
Establishing a new garden bed is so much fun! Well, that is, until you realize that the new spot is completely shaded…. Most plants will not tolerate full shade, especially during the spring and fall seasons. If you plan to place your bed: Within a breezeway Under an overhang or carport Underneath a large tree
If you have several pine trees on your property, it can be really hard to figure out what to do with all of those pine needles as they are shed. Pine needles are known to be very acidic, as they compost into the soil around the trees. Therefore, it may not be ideal to use
If you have a nice little bed for greens on your homestead (like many of us!), you’re probably finding out that spinach can be a very finicky, hard to grow plant. I’m going to guess that you either lost your entire spinach harvest last year due to bolting, or you are currently dealing with bolting
Strawberry seeds can require a bit of work in order to get started. They aren’t as simple to grow as other seeds, such as tomatoes or squash. As a matter of fact, growing strawberries from seed is one of the more difficult tasks that a home gardener might tackle. Want to know what you’ve done
Beans are a must-have on the homesteader’s menu. They’re easy to grow, they produce a lot of food, and they are multipurpose. You can grow them for green beans, or for shelling/dry beans! There are dozens and dozens of bean varieties, both bushes and vines. For containers, I recommend vining varieties (also known as pole
Are you addicted to root veggie harvest videos? I cannot get enough of them! Seriously. I think I may have to seek help for this little problem of mine… Harvesting sweet potatoes is a rush, especially when you can binge watch reveal videos on YouTube. I mean, how else are you supposed to get through
Growing a vegetable garden can be a heartbreaking process, because 501 things can go wrong all at once. Therefore, I present to you my MUST GROW list! These low maintenance garden vegetables will ensure that you have a successful harvest of SOME kind from your garden. If you are just starting out… Or if you
Seed Starting: It’s exciting. It’s liberating. It’s the best late winter tradition. When all else is cold, dead, or dormant, while the sun hangs behind the gloomy winter clouds, starting our seeds indoors or in the greenhouse gets us homesteaders pumped for the incoming growing season. But… What if I told you that sowing a
I love pasta. Lasagna. Spaghetti and Meatballs. Chicken Parmesan. Guess what? Most pasta dishes include basil. Basil is one of the hallmark ingredients of many Italian dishes; and it is absolutely delicious. Basil grows quickly, and is fairly easy to grow. Seriously, every new gardener should try it. However, as with any other plant that
It’s the middle of April, and spring is surging ahead here in our small southern piece of the pie. Strawberry pie, that is! Well, I wish anyways… I’m a bit impatient.
Personally, I find the paper towel method to be the best way to encourage a high germination rate among strawberry seeds. If you only have a few seeds to work with, I highly advise using this method; it’s important to know that berry seeds need light to germinate, as I found out through trial and
To the new homesteader or gardener, preparing potting soil before reusing it might seem to be simply removing the old plant and putting the soil into the next pot to be used. For the experienced gardener, there are so many different reasons to squirm at that thought! Used potting soil could carry diseases or parasites,