Never Plant These Vegetables in a Container or Bucket
Maybe your garden is small. Maybe the only decent soil on your place sits in the wrong spot, or you're renting, or your back isn't up for digging...
Foods That Grow Under Snow – A Homesteader’s Guide to Winter Harvests
The first winter I left carrots in the ground past the first snowfall, I figured I had just lost the crop. I was wrong. When I finally dug through...
How Are Cover Crops a Good Solution? A Homesteader’s Guide
I used to leave my garden beds bare all winter, figuring the soil just needed a rest between seasons. What I actually got was compacted, weedy,...
How to Grow Sunflowers from Sunflower Seeds (Complete Guide)
Every summer I plant a row of sunflowers along the south fence of my garden, mostly because nothing else gives me this much payoff for this little...
Bee Balm – How to Grow, Harvest, and Use It On Your Homestead
I put my first bee balm in the ground along the edge of my herb beds mostly because I wanted more pollinators around the vegetable garden, and it...
These 10 Watering Mistakes Waste 50% of Your Water
There’s a high chance you water the garden, walk away, and maybe think the job's done. But a lot of the water you use never gets near a root because...
Organic Weed Killer – The Complete Guide to Every Method That Actually Works
I gave up on chemical weed killers years ago, not because of any single scary headline, but because I did not want that stuff anywhere near the...
How to Grow Bell Peppers – The Complete Guide From Seed to Harvest
Bell peppers earn their spot in my garden every single year, and if you have ever paid grocery store prices for a bag of three peppers, you already...
Planning a Cottage Garden – A Practical Guide from My Own Backyard
When I started planning my own cottage garden, I made every mistake you can make with a wheelbarrow and a stack of seed packets. I bought plants...
Calendula Oil – How I Make It and Use It
Calendula is one of the first things I planted when I started my homestead garden, and it's never left. It reseeds itself, it keeps blooming from...
Why Your Garden Wilts in July Even When You Water Every Day
It’s such a beautiful summer day and first thing in the morning, you walk into the garden to see what’s happening over there. Everything seems fine,...
Seaweed Fertilizer – The Complete Guide to Feeding Your Garden with Ocean Nutrients
The first time I hauled a feed sack of storm-tossed kelp up from the tideline, my neighbor asked if I'd lost my mind. Two months later, when my...
Glyphosate Herbicide Weed Killer – What You Need to Know
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in many of the most widely used weed killers on the market, most famously Roundup. It is a broad spectrum, non...
Spider Pest Control – A Complete Guide to Managing Spiders Indoors, Outdoors, and on the Homestead
Spiders occupy a genuinely complicated position in the homesteader's world. They are, by any practical measure, some of your most valuable allies...
How to Get Rid of Poison Ivy for Good, Without Chemicals
You pulled it last summer and you were sure you got it. Then this spring it came right back up along the fence line like nothing ever happened, and...
What to Grow in a Greenhouse – A Complete Homesteader’s Guide to Year-Round Production
A greenhouse changes what is possible on a homestead in ways that a good outdoor garden never quite can. You are no longer entirely at the mercy of...
Weed Killer Safe for Pets – The Complete Guide to Pet-Friendly Weed Control
If you have dogs or cats that spend time in the yard, choosing a weed killer is not just a gardening decision. It is a safety decision. Most...
7 Seeds You Should Never Buy From a Big Box Store
Every year, the same thing happens. You walk into the local gardening store full of hope and preparing for the new garden, and there it is by the...
What Happens if You Bury Tea Bags in Your Garden
You've probably seen the advice floating online. People say you should toss your used tea bags in the garden and then watch the magic happen right...
The Native American Remedy For Mosquito Bites
Mosquitoes and other insects have been a problem since ancient times. Before the salves and topical creams, our ancestors relieved insect stings...
Why Tap Water Might Be Slowly Killing Your Garden (And What to Use Instead)
Has this ever happened to you? You feel like you've done everything right, but something is still off with your garden. You’ve followed everything...
How to Keep a Greenhouse Cool in Summer (10 Proven Methods)
A greenhouse is one of the most rewarding investments a homesteader can make. It extends your growing season, protects tender plants, and gives you...
How Much Does Pest Control Cost? What You’ll Pay vs. What You Can Do Yourself
Pest control is one of those costs that can range from almost nothing to several thousand dollars depending on what you are dealing with, how...
Organic Gardening: The Complete Guide to Growing Food Without Chemicals
Organic gardening gets described in two ways that are both incomplete. One framing treats it as a set of prohibitions: no synthetic fertilizers, no...
How to Grow Carrots: From Seed to Root Cellar
Carrots are worth the trouble. That is the honest starting point for any guide on growing them, because they do ask more of you than most...
Raised Bed Gardening: The Complete Guide to Building, Filling, and Growing
Raised bed gardening is one of the most practical decisions a homesteader or serious backyard grower can make. The reasons experienced growers keep...
How to Identify, Get Rid of, and Prevent Pantry Beetles
You open a bag of flour you bought two months ago and something moves. Or you pour out a scoop of cornmeal and notice tiny brown specks that were...
If Prices Doubled Tomorrow, I’d Build This First…
Fertilizer prices have already doubled in the last few years, and water bills keep climbing. If that trend keeps going, and to be honest, there's no...
Easy Pruning Techniques for Flowering Shrubs
While on my self-sufficiency journey, I realized that I can use my yard as efficiently as possible and I decided that I will not just plant shrubs...
You’re Not a Real Homesteader if You Don’t Grow This…
You've got your potatoes hilled, your tomatoes staked, and your beans climbing. That's solid work, and it covers the basics. But if your garden plan...
DIY Fruit Fly Trap: 7 Homemade Traps That Actually Work (No Chemicals Needed)
If you have ever set a bowl of peaches on the counter and walked back five minutes later to find a cloud of tiny flies hovering over it, you already...
The $0 Garden to Build in 2026
Starting a new garden might feel like a burden when you consider the expenses. But I want to share something with you: In reality, gardening doesn’t...
