There is nothing better than growing your own food! But if you have a shady yard, it can be very frustrating. Even with the best soil and constant care, if you can’t provide most vegetables with full sun they will never perform their best. When looking to start a vegetable garden, it’s important that you …
Anytime you can practice gardening without harmful chemicals and synthetic fertilizers your garden will thank you for it. The most successful gardens are the ones that follow the cues of nature rather than trying to fight against it. Once you start to introduce non-natural elements you often times end up struggling in other areas (like …
The best time to start a backyard orchard is a couple years ago. But since we don’t have time travel, let’s say the best time to start is today! Most fruit trees will take a couple years to get established and start producing fruit. It can be a few years beyond that before they are …
During WWI and WWII Americans (and residents of many other countries) banded together to help supplement the food supply chain amid food rationing and shortages among agricultural workers. During WWII, 1/3 of the vegetables produced in America came from the over 18 million Victory Gardens. Growing a Victory Garden not only helped to feed your …
Calendula is an often overlooked, but excellent addition to any homestead garden! Calendula officinalis—also called pot marigold is an annual flower that grows easily in USDA zones 3-9. Calendula should not be confused with common marigold (Tagetes – also sold as French or African Marigolds) although they are in the same family. French or African …
One of the biggest reasons backyard gardeners list for growing their own food is the desire to limit chemicals in their diet. After a season or two of growing your own fruits & veggies, it can be easy to see why big commercial farmers might resort to spraying and sprinkling their crops with chemicals. There …
Every homestead needs a great herb garden! The good news is many herbs are easy to grow and can even happily grow in containers for the space challenged homesteader. The hardest part is deciding which herbs to grow! Narrowing it down The first thing you need to determine is your growing zone to make sure …
You don’t have to be a commercial farmer with 100 acres to reap the benefits of crop rotation. Actually it is even MORE critical for garden success for the small scale backyard farmer to rotate crops! What is crop rotation? Crop rotation is a centuries old practice, and a way to ensure many years of …
Sweet little wiggly noses, cute puffball tails, soft silky ears – there are so many reasons to love rabbits! Some backyard farmers are hesitant to add rabbits to their little farm because they don’t raise animals for meat. Rabbits are so much more than a source of rapidly reproducing meat! I keep Angora rabbits, usually …
Testing your garden soil is an important first step to having a successful garden each year. Yet it is a step that many gardeners skip out on. Let me show you how easy, fast, and inexpensive testing your soil health can be to help you get your best garden ever! The ideal time to test …
