garden tips & tricks
tis the season to get growing!
SEED STARTING 101
Get growing! Join us as we cover everything from when to start sowing to seed viability to setting up your grow station and much more!
garden planning
Before you sow that first seed, grab a piece of paper and pencil and spend some quality time thinking about your garden goals. Do you want to maximize your growing space? Are you interested in extending your season? Do you want to diversify your crops? Want to attract pollinators?
companion planting
Imagine me and you…SOW happy together! As an organic gardener, you need to arm yourself with whatever tools are available in the battle against garden foes like the dreaded cabbage worm, or the beastly borers, or those huge, hulking hornworms. Interplanting with plants that not only get-along, but actually boost each other, definitely helps in the fight.
attracting pollinators
Incorporating a pollinator garden is a winning strategy to garden success. You’ll get not only endless eye candy, but you’ll be in the midst of all of that buzzing, flitting and feeding activity, which is…well…it’s heaven! The pollinators get to fill their bellies and the veggies get fabulous companion plants and pollination. So bring on the sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos and phlox!
SUCCESSION SOWING
Succession sowing = three season growing…It took me several years of gardening before I started getting the whole succession sowing thing down. Today, it’s what I rejoice in come September and October and my garden is still putting out basketfuls of harvests.
propagating via stem cuttings
I love rosemary and lavender…truly love them! But they are so very frustrating to start from seed. Poor germination and snail slow growth often makes these feel like more work to grow than they’re worth. But then I tried growing them from stem cuttings…it changed my garden life and I’ve never looked back!
edible flowers
When I began my entry to edible blooms, my biggest question was…what do they actually taste like? Truth be told, the overall taste of edible flowers is fairly subtle. Toss a few into an ice cube tray and transform any drink instantly. Sprinkle onto salads or sip as soothing elixirs for the soul.
pests & diseases
There you are out in the garden, soaking in your self-created Eden, when bam…out of the corner of your eye, you spy a cucumber beetle nestled in your squash blossom. As you go to nab it, your arm brushes against your beloved rosemary that is now coated in mildew. As your heart picks up in pace, you realize, relaxation time is over…it’s time to go to battle.
garden resources
Growing your garden library…aside from gardening, my other true love are books. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves line our walls, shelves bowing in the weight of seemingly endless cookbooks, classic literature, vintage finds and garden reference. But by far, it’s my garden section that is most dog-eared and battered. In the winter I curl up with my collection and dream green.
Top tomatoes to grow
Who doesn’t love fresh garden tomatoes? Join us as we chat favorite varieties to grow, what variety works best for you, the difference between determinate and indeterminate, secrets to seedling success and more!