Cabbage Worms – How I Finally Got Mine Under Control
The first year I grew cabbage, I walked out one morning to find half my crop reduced to lace. I hadn't seen a single bug the week before, and...
How to Plant a Banana Tree: What I Learned Growing My Own
I planted my first banana tree with far more enthusiasm than knowledge. I dug a hole about the size of the pot it came in, dropped it in, and...
When to Harvest Watermelon: The Signs I Check Before I Ever Cut One Free
My first year growing watermelon, I cut one open three weeks too early because I got impatient watching it sit there looking huge and perfect. The...
9 Crops Homesteaders Grow That Are Cheaper to Buy at the Store
You've probably heard it a hundred times: grow your own food and you'll save a fortune. And sure, a good garden can absolutely save you money. I'm...
How to Start a Permaculture Garden That Basically Runs Itself
My first vegetable garden was a straight line of raised beds, tilled every spring, weeded every week, and thirsty every single day of a hot July. It...
Why “Weird” Crops Make Your Garden Better
Walk through the produce section at almost any grocery store and you’ll see the same familiar lineup year after year. Tomatoes, green beans, iceberg...
Compost for Raised Bed Garden: Everything I’ve Learned Building Healthy Soil
When I built my first raised bed years ago, I made the rookie mistake of shoveling in dirt from the yard and calling it a day. My tomatoes sat there...
Succulent Soil: How to Mix Your Own and Actually Get It Right
I killed my first three succulents before I figured out that the problem was never the plants, it was the soil I was using. Regular potting soil,...
If You See This Weed, Your Garden Is in Trouble…
Nobody plants weeds. They just show up. You pull them, you toss them, you move on, and I've done it a thousand times. But weeds aren't random. Each...
Aged Chicken Manure – What It Is, How to Make It, and How to Use It Safely
If you keep even a handful of hens, you already have a steady supply of what old-timers used to call brown gold. Chicken manure is genuinely one of...
9 Vegetables That Grow Better in Fall Than Summer
Fall is not the end of the planting season. Quite the contrary. Fall is another planting season and you should take advantage of it because it can...
10-10-10 Fertilizer – The Complete Guide
10-10-10 is probably the most recognizable bag on the fertilizer shelf, and also one of the most misunderstood. It gets reached for as a default,...
How to Grow Spinach – The Complete Guide
Spinach is one of the first things I plant every spring, and one of the first things I lose to bolting if I'm not paying attention. It's a fast,...
2,4-D Weed Killer – What It Is, How It Works, and Whether It’s Safe to Use
If you have ever bought a bag of "weed and feed" for your lawn, there is a good chance you already own 2,4-D without realizing it. It is one of the...
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...
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...
