I don’t love growing bulb/common onions since pests can be a big issue where I’m at. However, I love growing green onions (also called scallions or bunching onions) as a great alternative! They are much easier and are still pretty versatile. If you are growing green onions and want to save seeds from your plants …
Plants & gardening
One of the more interesting things in my kitchen’s tea cabinet is a big bag of deep red dried up hibiscus calyxes. I love using them for tea. It has a super tangy taste that is perfect for lovers of tart, sour things…like me 🙂 The calyxes are from a type of tropical hibiscus called …
Today we’re talking about propagating cuttings of maypop vines! The full name of a maypop vine is Passiflora incarnata, and it’s also called purple passionflower. Maypop is a hardy native to the U.S., and it’s known for its striking, unique flowers and edible fruit. Maypops are aggressive growers, spreading through prolific underground root systems. So …
Raspberries are one of my favorite fruits, and they can be pretty pricey to buy. Luckily they are some of the easiest fruits to grow! Unlike blueberries, the plants don’t take years to get established and start fruiting. And they are prolific growers! Sometimes a bit too prolific, honestly. They can spread like crazy, which …
Dill is one of my favorite herbs to grow in the garden. And not just because I like making pickles with it…I mostly grow it for the butterflies! Dill is one of many host plants for black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. I plant parsley for them, too—but it seems they gravitate toward the dill the most. …
One of my favorite perennials to grow in the garden is sage. I love the low-growing, mounding types that can spread slowly and fill in areas between other plants. These are great low-maintenance plants, too. And that’s always a win for my garden! So let’s take a look at the reasons I love growing perennials …
Hi all! Today we’re talking trellising tomatoes. There are loads of ways to trellis tomatoes. They all have pros and cons, in my opinion. This post covers the two ways I’m supporting my tomatoes as they grow this year and why I like both! First, we’ll talk about trellising determinate tomatoes. These tomato varieties are …
Hey all! Today we’ve got a quick little post about saving spinach seeds. I love growing spinach because it’s one of the hardiest greens. It’s a cooler weather crop, so we grow it in the spring and fall here. You can even overwinter it and get a super early harvest in the spring, too! I …
I have been wanting to try out growing some new edibles—some more non-traditional things to complement my tomatoes and peppers and all of the other “normal” stuff I grow. So when my cousin gave me a few sunchoke tubers this year, that was the start of my edible tuber bed! Sunchokes are prolific and spread …
Today I’m sharing our BIG project for this year, our front lawn conversion from a traditional turf grass lawn to beautiful, productive gardens 🙂 We get great light in our front yard, and it was seriously under-used before this project. So this post will walk you through all of the steps we took to convert …
Arugula is one of those plants that is so easy to save seeds from in the spring. Not only because one plant produces a ton of seed pods, but because each seed pod has a bunch of seeds in it. I usually sprinkle my arugula seeds in a row and then thin out the plants …
If you’re looking for a vibrant, low-maintenance way to cover bare spots in your garden and support pollinators, then creeping phlox might just be your new favorite plant! I know it’s one of my favorites. From its super early bloom time to its gorgeous green foliage all growing season long, creeping phlox checks a lot …
Perennials are one of my favorite topics to teach people about—why? Because you plant them once and you’ll have them forever! Well, technically a perennial plant is a plant that lives for at least 3 years…but many perennial plants can live for decades. What’s perennial in your area depends on your grow zone. For example, …
Wondering if those cheap shop lights from the hardware store can really grow your plants? Or if you actually need to spend more on full-spectrum grow lights? I tested both myself this spring, and this article shares my findings 🙂 I’ll walk through the differences between the lights, what approach works best, and how to …
Today we’re talking about how to grow spinach—one of the easiest and most nutritious leafy greens you can grow as a beginner gardener. And it’s one of the hardiest greens, meaning you can grow it earlier than some other greens in the spring, as well as later in the fall! It also works really well …
We are huge fans of composting! We have large bins in the back of our yard for leaves and yard waste—I shared those in my post about How to Make Leaf Compost. We also have a compost tumbler and an electric countertop kitchen composter we use in the winter when it’s freezing out. Today we’re …
If you’re getting started with gardening because you want to grow your own food, lettuce is a great option! Gardening is all about building your confidence as you go, and lettuce will help you do that. Now I’ll be focusing specifically on lettuce in this article, but keep in mind that most of the tips …
Hey all! Today we’re talking about a super quick and easy garden DIY to help you extend your growing season. I have a post about how to make low tunnels/hoop houses over a raised garden bed. Which is essentially a cold frame. This method is a bit different and is just another way of extending …
Today we’re talking about how to fill a big raised garden bed without breaking the bank. Because even though I said I was done putting in raised garden beds…I think we all know that was a lie. And if you’ve ever filled a raised garden bed, you know that you always need more soil than …
Bamboo is one of my favorite things to use in the garden. It is prolific and very sustainable, meaning I don’t feel bad cutting it down and using it. I just don’t want it in my yard since it spreads so fast…but the good news for me is that my uncle’s yard is teeming with …
Today we’re talking all about how to grow potatoes! Potatoes aren’t the most expensive thing to buy at the store, but they are cost-effective and can produce high yields. A single seed potato can produce multiple pounds of potatoes. You can also store your harvest for several months without freezing, drying, or canning. And most …
Want to give your seeds a head start without building a greenhouse or investing in a ton of supplies? You can turn a simple storage tub into a mini greenhouse 🙂 I love helping people overcome obstacles to growing, and seed starting can be an expensive venture if you’re not careful. This easy, budget-friendly setup …
Hey there! Today we’re talking about how to extend the growing season by using low tunnels and mini hoop houses 🙂 Also referred to as grow tunnels (and similar to cold frames), low tunnels use a semi-circle frame and either frost cloth or some sort of plastic sheeting to protect crops you’re growing. They work …
Today it’s all about green onions—a simple, low-maintenance crop to add to your garden. It grows wonderfully in traditional gardens, but it also does great in containers and even windowsill gardens. So if space is a concern, green onions can be a great choice! I love that they are biennial plants, meaning they take two …
Today we’re getting back to basics and covering everything a complete beginner needs to know about starting a vegetable garden. Because that’s a question I get often…how do I start if I’m starting from the absolute beginning? This guide covers everything I think you need to know so you can grow a vegetable garden with …
Today I’m talking about 7 easy beginner-friendly houseplants that you probably haven’t heard of. Because these beginner-friendly lists always have the same plants on them! One of the plants I’m spotlighting starts with an X, and I had to look up how to properly say the name several times 🙂 And I’ll probably still butcher …
Today we’re talking about the right way to water your houseplants. I know—it sounds like something so easy that it doesn’t need a tutorial to explain it. But it’s entirely possible you’re watering your houseplants wrong if you’re just getting started. And that’s because there is a massive difference between overwatering, which is something you’re …
I love a simple salad with olive oil as the dressing. And although I really enjoy infused olive oils from a fancy place near where I live, it can get expensive! So sometimes I like to make my own infused olive oil at home. Especially rosemary-infused olive oil. I love the taste and smell of …
Hey all! A few months ago I wrote about choosing a vinyl privacy fence over a standard wooden privacy fence. The fence is gorgeous, easy to keep clean, and doesn’t have any gaps between the slats. But one thing I do miss about having a wooden fence is being able to easily drill into the …
Today we’re making an herbal salt scrub! I got the idea to make this scrub when I got a sugar scrub for Christmas and noticed it had dried rosemary in it. I love making salt scrubs and have a ton of rosemary and lavender in my garden. So I decided to dry a few sprigs …
Today we’re talking all about how to dry lavender…without using a dehydrator! I have been on the hunt for a solid secondhand dehydrator for a few months now and haven’t found one yet. We downsized ours when we moved to this house, and I kind of regret the convenience of it. But, never fear! If …
This article contains affiliate links Shopping for garden tools can be overwhelming. What is worth it, and what isn’t? What will last? A lot of the answers to those questions will be based on personal preference, and this article is certainly my personal preference. But I’ve used a lot of tools and garden-related things, and …
It’s time for another garden tour! I did a quick little fall garden tour a few months ago, and before I knew it, it was Christmas! I did this tour around Christmas in Maryland zone 7A—so squarely in winter! We’re seeing temperatures down into the 20s and even teens some nights with typical yo-yo daytime …
Have you ever gotten a seed catalog in the mail?? There’s nothing like getting a beautiful seed catalog in the mail to make you drop some serious cash on seeds. But over the years, I have narrowed down some of the things I like to grow and the places I like to get seeds from. …
Hey all! Today we’re covering how to winter sow seeds in jugs. Well—you can use other stuff like takeout containers with clear plastic lids or clear plastic clam shell salad containers. But I’m using old mild jugs for mine because we always have them. Winter sowing seeds is a great way to efficiently start seeds …
I have been on a fall bulb kick at the new house. I’ve done articles on How to Grow Allium, How to Grow Hyacinth, and How to Plant Tulips. I’m looking forward to seeing them sprout in the spring—but for now, I have indoor bulbs to tide me over. While you can force many bulbs …
Hey all! Today I’m sharing all about my experience with the Gardyn 4.0, a completely hydroponic indoor gardening system designed to help you grow fresh produce at home. Huge thanks to the folks at Gardyn for sending me a Gardyn 4.0 to review! I’d actually gotten a chance to see one of these gorgeous growing …
If you use a lot of potting soil when gardening, you know that you can end up spending a lot of money very quickly when buying it in bags. But buying the ingredients separately and mixing up big batches isn’t hard—and it can save you some money! Especially if you find raised bed soil on …
Want to grow food or ornamental plants instead of grass? Me too! But the first step to doing that is getting rid of your grass and preparing the soil. Sure, you can dig the grass out…but I don’t recommend it. Why? Well, it’s a lot of work, it’s less sustainable, and it doesn’t do anything …
Catmint is one of my favorite perennials. It’s hardy, mounding growth makes it a solid choice for filling in areas under taller plants—or just for ground cover in general. And its small flowers are highly attractive to beneficial pollinators. It’s part of the genus Nepeta, and its leaves have a slight minty fragrance because Nepeta …