Today we’re talking through planting our mini orchard in our backyard. One of the things I always hear from people who are looking to expand their gardens and increase their self-sufficiency is to plant more fruit trees. So how that we’re somewhere with a little yard,…
The new in-ground beds we put in this year are putting in some serious work…the first two rows are for asparagus, but I’ve been doing greens and fava beans between those plants. The third row had sweet potatoes in it. But now that I’ve dug those…
Learn how to propagate sage from stem cuttings! Sage is one of those plants that you either love or hate the smell of. While I don’t eat a ton of sage, I love the smell of it! And I love growing perennial sage in my garden…
Every year I do an update about the changes we’ve made in the garden. This is our third update for this house—here are the first two: And for year 3…well, we really went off the deep end. I thought it was going to be a chill…
Elephant ear plants are one of my favorite plants to decorate our patio with. I sometimes plant them in the ground, too—and they can get quite large! Regardless of whether you plant them in the ground or in pots, you’ll likely need to dig up your…
I am really excited to share something a bit different today…a post about how to raise black swallowtail butterflies! Our focus this year has been largely on adding butterfly-friendly plants to the garden, so we’re swimming in caterpillars. Identification The black swallowtail—otherwise known as the eastern…
Today’s post really gets back to basics, because I’m walking you through how I start my seeds indoors. If you’re wanting to start gardening and starting some seeds, you might be a bit intimidated. I know I was. In this post, I’ll walk you through what…
How to grow gorgeous alocasia odora Alocasia odora is probably the first elephant ear plant I ever grew. It’s definitely a “gateway” elephant ear plant because it’s so easy to find in garden centers in nurseries. You’ll often find it either as a potted patio plant…
Today we’re talking about how to propagate basil from stem cuttings. It’s a super easy thing to do if you want to enjoy fresh basil for your whole growing season. And you can continue chopping and propping basil stem cuttings pretty much indefinitely, meaning you really…
Our DIY landscaping progress & a Vego beds review! I’m home from work and puttering around this week, reading and whatnot. I figured it’d be a nice time to go through some of my blogging backlog. And one of the things on my list was my…
Today I am talking about one of my favorite plants to grow in my garden: ipomoea alba, otherwise known as moonflower vine. I absolutely adore this plant because I love anything vining and climbing. And I grew this plant in containers before I moved to our…
Hey all! Today I have another product review for you. If you’ve been on Instagram or YouTube and gone down the gardening rabbit hole, you’ve probably encountered the GreenStalk vertical garden. It’s a quality product that solves a few problems many have. A lack of space for…
All about caring for Meyer lemon trees in pots Growing a Meyer lemon tree in our garden is something I’d wanted to do for years before finally getting one. Because it gets very cold where we live, we can’t have certain fruit trees in the ground….
I’ve been writing a lot about some seasonal holiday plants. And today I’m writing about a plant that is lesser known than the poinsettia but produces lovely colorful flowers—cyclamen! Have you heard of it? Cyclamen is a genus of flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They…
Learn how to care for your poinsettias and keep them looking beautiful all holiday season, and then learn how to make the re-bloom and turn red again next year! From watering to potting soil, my poinsettia care guide has you covered Today I am sharing a…
I’m still on my seed-collecting kick this fall and wanted to share some gorgeous pictures I ended up grabbing while I was trying to collect clematis seeds. My mom has three clematis vines that are throwing out seed heads left and right, so I swooped in…
Asters are now one my one of my favorite fall-blooming perennials. And I kind of fell into this one by accident. When I decided to focus on perennials and pollinators for the first year of our new home’s back garden, my strategy was kind of shooting…
It’s currently fall, and we’ve been in our new house for about 6 months. So I am excited to get our first round of spring flower bulbs in before winter fully sets in. I have a few places I will be planting a few different types…
Senna Didymobotrya, aka the popcorn cassia plant, is a cool plant that you’ll want to consider adding to your collection. And popcorn plant care isn’t difficult indoors or outdoors! Learn all about it here. When I first came across the popcorn plant, I knew I had…
One of the biggest draws for our new house was the yard. It’s big, flat, and pretty blank. Just a lot of grass. Which means endless possibilities (especially with no home owner’s association here!). And A LOT of work. I mean, looking at these before pictures,…
Hey all! If you’re new around here, once upon a time I did a ton of DIY stuff. We’re luckily in a spot now that there isn’t really much left to do in our house…so I’ve done mostly smaller projects and plant care posts lately. This…
I didn’t know if I’d actually get around to doing a backyard post this year, but here I am! I decided last night to grab my camera and take a few shots. We didn’t put nearly as much work into the yard this year as we…
Learn how to care for a banana plant, including how to help it winter over! How to grow gorgeous banana plants! I’m excited to be writing about caring for banana plants today because it is one of the plants that first piqued my interest in gardening….
How to care for the gorgeous potted eucalyptus plant Eucalyptus is one of my favorite scents. I’m not an essential oils person in that I think they do anything other than smell nice. But I have gone through my fair share of lavender and eucalyptus essential…
I have been excited to write this post all summer! A few months ago I shared a spring update on what we were doing to clean up and prep our small backyard for spring and summer. If you’re new around here, we completely redid our backyard…
Today I am sharing all about how to decorate a small outdoor space, including beautiful patios, balconies, decks, porches, and backyards in a variety of styles. You’ll surely find something to inspire you! 1. Small Front Porch budget makeover by Cassie Bustamante My friend Cassie just…
Hi there! I’ve been sharing sporadically these days. But rest assured, we are keeping as busy as ever with projects around the house. I wanted to pop in today to share an update on my tiny backyard (which you may remember me making over for the…
Wondering how to keep squirrels off your balcony garden? Here’s how I do it using a DIY spray approach! Here’s how I keep squirrels off my little garden… I absolutely love my apartment balcony garden. This is the first time we’ve have a balcony sunny enough…
I’ve got some seriously awesome herb production going on in my balcony garden. So much that I’ve started to harvest and preserve many of them so that we’ll be able to enjoy them all winter. I used to think that drying your herbs was the only…