soil
Improve Your Soil: Know How To Lay Mulch
Add to Favorites Mulch, mulch, and then mulch some more. Knowing how to lay mulch is one of the greatest skills any gardener can have. Using organic mulch is how …
Read More
What is the Best Mulch to Prevent Weeds?
Add to Favorites All Photos By Shelley Dedauw The best mulch to prevent weeds depends on where the mulch lies, what else you need it to do…and, of course, cost. …
Read More
Growing Cherry Tomatoes in Pots is Perfect for Everyone
Add to Favorites No matter your location, if you have access to even moderate sun, growing cherry tomatoes in pots is for you. With the right varieties and soil nutrients, …
Read More
Growing Shiitake Mushrooms on a Log
Add to Favorites By Anita B. Stone, North Carolina – If you ever wanted to grow mushrooms on the homestead and make a decent wage, growing shiitake mushrooms is the way …
Read More
Jamming with Rhubarb
Add to Favorites By Allison Carroll I love rhubarb season. Here in Maine, where I live with my family in an old farmhouse on a few acres, rhubarb is one …
Read More
How to Grow Rhubarb: Diseases, Harvesting and Recipes
Add to Favorites By Teresa Flora – In much of North America, spring is welcomed with the tart and tangy taste of fresh rhubarb. Rhubarb is one of the easiest and …
Read More
Garden Hoops: Low Tunnels for Frost and Insect Protection
Add to Favorites When you’re itching to get your hands dirty, garden hoops can extend the season enough to avoid disaster. Midway between full-sized greenhouses and the gamble of throwing …
Read More
Recycling Water at Home: Grey Water for the Garden
Add to Favorites Using pure fresh water in the garden — while sending only “slightly used” grey water into the septic or sewer system — is considered wasteful in some …
Read More
Growing Jalapeño Peppers
Add to Favorites I remember well the first time I started growing jalapeño peppers in my vegetable garden. That was years ago, when growing jalapeño peppers was considered a novelty. …
Read More
Why Raise Miniature Cattle?
Add to Favorites By Professor Richard Gradwohl Washington – As 100-500-acre family farms continue to disappear, the small acreage family homestead farm is becoming more common. Miniature cattle breeds are particularly …
Read More
Cherishing the Natural Beauty of Icelandic Sheep
Add to Favorites By Marguerite Chisick – We discovered that Icelandic sheep were our ticket to a more sustainable way of life! It is not uncommon for people who are living …
Read More
Wild Plant Identification: Foraging for Edible Weeds
Add to Favorites On a sleepy Sunday afternoon, on the grounds of an ex-horse stable, Nate Chetelat presents a wild plant identification tour for a local gardening group. The focus …
Read More
Planting for Seasons and Garden Zones
Add to Favorites Knowing when to plant your garden involves a combination of researching garden zones and knowing the individual crops. If you’re new to gardening, you may not know …
Read More
Crop Rotation: Benefits and Why it Matters
Add to Favorites Not sure about crop rotation benefits? Here’s a science lesson for you. Our produce contains wonderful nutrients. After all, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants are the reasons our …
Read More
How to Work a One-Acre Homestead
Add to Favorites When we purchased our home in upstate New York, we had no intention to create a one-acre homestead. We were thrilled that we had so much space …
Read More